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Band tour survives blizzard
By Benny Poosawtsee
Staff Writer
FILE PHOTO
Calvin band members demonstrate how much snow fell during their extended stay in Colorado.
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On Saturday, March 15 at 7:15 a.m., while many students had yet to wake up in the various places spring break had taken them 40 students gathered in the FAC with music professor Derald De Young, his wife Marti, and tour manager Jeffrey Schra. ـThe occasion was the Calvin College band tour 2003, a trip to New Mexico and Colorado sponsored by the Alumni Association.
At an early morning devotional time in the rehearsal room, De Young told the band that unexpected things always happen on tours, and they would have to “roll with the punches.”
After an uneventful flight to Denver, the first punch came when the charter coach broke down, stranding the band at a Conoco station seemingly in the middle of nowhere for several hours. ـThe students found ways to amuse themselves including Uno games, lively conversations and soaking in the warm, welcome sun.
A replacement bus eventually arrived and driver Dan Teele got the band to Immanuel CRC in Ft. Collins in time for a quick rehearsal and chili dinner. After dinner, for the first of many times on the trip, the band employed the “Bravo” thank-you song which was carried over from the summer’s eastern European tour. ـRested and fed, they performed their first concert. When De Young asked how many members of the band were in
Colorado for the first time, over half raised their hands, to the delight of the audience.
During each concert student speakers introduced pieces and talked about their experiences at Calvin. The musical selection included such diverse numbers as the danceable “Cake Walk” by Robert Russell Bennet, a beautiful arrangement of “Be Thou My Vision” by David R. Gillingham, and the lively “Valdres March” by Johannes Hanssen. Also included was the 9/11 elegy “Come, memory…” by Donald Grantham.
Freshman French horn player Karen Dilfer said, “My favorite song was ‘Irish Tune from County Derry’ because it goes beyond just playing the notes. It’s a very emotional piece of music and each time we play it it’s a different experience.”
After the concert the students met their host families and went home for a night’s rest before getting up for church the next morning in Denver. A woodwind trio played at First CRC and a brass quartet played at Third CRC, where the rest of the band attended.
After church the students met new host families and went home with them for lunch. In the afternoon the band gathered at Horizon Community Church. More relaxed than the day before, they rehearsed and enjoyed dinner before putting on another successful concert. ـThat was followed by a large reception and a return to the host homes.
Junior tenor saxophone player Brad Schrotenboer said about the host families, “They welcomed us into their homes and treated us to great meals, great conversation and a good night’s sleep.”
When the band members woke up the next morning, they had two more host family stays on their schedule but it would turn out that neither would occur.
The first stop was a morning assembly at Denver Christian High School, where the band played an abbreviated version of their evening concert. They then packed into the coach and Teele drove them to Eldora Mountain Resort for a half day of skiing. For a large number of band members, it was their first time. The day turned out injury-free and enjoyable for all the students who skied.
Freshman alto saxophone player Ryan Colburn said, “I told everybody at home that I was going to come home with two broken legs, but it turned out that [skiing] was one of the best parts of the trip.”
From Eldora, the band went to the YMCA of the Rockies in Estes Park. They had dinner together, played games and enjoyed their break from concerts before settling into their beds. On Tuesday morning they discovered that over a foot of snow had fallen and the bus was unable to leave Estes Park. Instead of heading to Colorado Springs as planned, the band had to stay another night at the YMCA.
Schra made phone calls to cancel the next concert and arranged for the band to stay an additional night in Estes Park.
FILE PHOTO
The band bus begrudgingly bears a beautiful bounty of snow.
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Throughout the day it snowed, and the band found activities to do in the snow or indoors at the YMCA gym, pool, library and lodge where they were staying six to a room. The day’s activities included making a snowman replica of conductor De Young, playing water polo and holding a musical roller skating party in the evening complete with a nostalgic couples skate.
To top off the evening, a massive game of spoons ensued in the living room of the lodge. As the rush for silverware repeated itself over and over, the less adventurous played other games like euchre and “scumbag.”
The next morning found the snow persisting and the bus immoveable as ever, so the band prepared for another day at the Y. Schra once again worked his tour management skills behind the scenes so the band could stay another day. He also continued adding pictures and updates to the tour Web site.
“Jeffrey Schra was amazing,” said sophomore clarinet player Kristin Bush. “He was always working, but he was always having fun and enjoying himself too.”
Another water polo game ensued. By the end the band’s water polo enthusiasts had spent over four hours of the trip playing. A group picture by the snowbound coach was taken and posted online for the band’s friends and family, many of whom watched the Web site to see when the band would finally get to continue the tour.
After almost six feet of snow and continual plowing and shoveling by YMCA staff, clear skies appeared on Wednesday afternoon and the band enjoyed warmer weather and a view of the mountains around Estes Park. On Wednesday evening many of them attended a mini-concert by a local guitarist and singer in the YMCA’s coffee shop. The concert was interrupted by President George W. Bush’s announcement that war with Iraq had begun. A few students took time to pray and reflect after hearing the news.
Schra announced that the band would leave for Rehoboth, N.M., at 4:00 on Thursday morning. At this point the band had missed concerts in Colorado Springs and Albuquerque.
Although the tour had been altered by the snowy conditions, the band had continually found ways to pass the time and turn the mishap into a blessing as they weathered the blizzard together.
“My favorite part was the fact that everybody was together and having a really good time up there,” said De Young. “That really caused the group to grow together and bond and get to know each other even better than they did before.”
A 13-hour trip got the students to Rehoboth Christian School in time for dinner and their final evening concert in Red Rock State Park Auditorium. The RCS band, under the conductorship of Calvin band alum Kevin Zwiers, opened the concert before the Calvin band took the stage.
“I particularly liked [the last concert] the best because everybody was energized and well-rested from not having to play for a few days, and the audience was really receptive. They even clapped for the speakers,” said freshman French horn player Kevin Voogt.
Interestingly, John Philip Sousa’s “New Mexico March” was removed from the program in this sole New Mexico concert in the interest of time. However, the audience insisted on an encore so the band brought out the march at the end.
“They were so enthusiastic,” said sophomore flute player Janet Pawelak. “Especially since they wanted us to do an encore, and they gave us a standing ovation.”
The band slept in various residence halls on the RCS campus and woke up the next morning to conduct workshops with the inexperienced but eager sixth-grade band students.
Freshman bassoon player Alisha Nobel said about teaching music, “It was something we could share even though we were from very different places.”
The next stop for the band was a mini-concert at Zuni Christian School in the Native American village of Zuni Pueblo. This was followed by a local lunch made specially for the band by school parents and a presentation about Zuni history and culture. On a walking tour of the village, the band saw a centuries-old Spanish church and the plaza where religious dances take place throughout the year.
In the afternoon the band visited El Morro National Monument, known for Inscription Rock where Native Americans, Spaniards and American settlers moving west carved petroglyphs and inscriptions until the early 20th century. Hiking on the mesas, the band witnessed unpredictable weather that made Michigan’s climate seem boring.
“It was the only place I’ve been where it snowed, rained and hailed – and was sunny – in a single afternoon,” said freshman trombone player Josh Usadel.
Dinner at a Mexican restaurant completed the day’s travels, and many band members spent the last evening of the tour together in the dining hall at RCS, where some band members pulled out the school’s set of Boomwhackers, plastic cylinders used to make notes when struck against a surface. The big hit of the night came when Voogt, freshman percussionist John-Harmen Valk, sophomore percussionist Andrew Sinclair, sophomore trombone player Adam Medema, sophomore clarinet player Jeremy Beutlich and sophomore percussionist Tim Li played the “Mission: Impossible” theme by striking each other with the Boomwhackers. Li’s piano rendition of the Super Mario Brothers theme also got an enthusiastic response.
On Saturday, March 22, the band took their final pictures in Rehoboth and boarded the bus for Albuquerque. At the airport they said goodbye to Teele, who had become like one of the band during their week together. Two plane flights later the band arrived home and the tour ended. Summing up the trip, senior flute player Kate Poortenga said, “It was always an adventure.”
Be sure to visit http://www.calvin.edu/academic/music/ensemble/band/tour03/ to see a day-by-day photo journal of the band’s adventures. The band will present its tour concert for the Calvin community on Saturday April 5 at 8:00 p.m. in the FAC.
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