The Pride of the Dakotas

Light Out of Darkness (a tribute to Ray Charles); Shirley Horn, piano and vocal

I cherish the memories I have of my days in the SDSU “Pride of the Dakotas” Marching Band. As I’ve said before, as a pianist, I’m the one that moves the show when I make an appearance by myself. It’s typically a one-man show. I’ve decided what to play, how to play it, when to play it, where to play it and what to wear while I play it. My successes and failures are my own.

In the marching band – I found an opportunity to hide amongst the numbers. No matter what I did individually, it was done as a member of the ensemble. I was one of one-hundred seventy-five members. I was one one-hundred and seventy-fifth of a marching band.

We played some pretty decent music. But it wasn’t about the music. Music schmusic. We were part of something bigger than any of us could ever be on our own. And we put on a fantastic show five to six times per season.

We only took one big trip during my four years in the “Pride”. In the autumn of 1987, my senior year, we went to Greeley, Colorado, where the SDSU Jackrabbits played the University of Northern Colorado Bears.

Here’s what happened: they seated us in the stands on the other side of the field from the main part of the stadium. Then, during the half-time show, we took the field and played the show for the main part of the stadium.

Our marching band director, Mr. McK., had missed a whole week of rehearsals two weeks prior to our trip. It came to our attention that his fortieth birthday would happen during our time in Greeley. So, while he was gone, we rehearsed a little routine that we nonchalantly inserted into our half-time show. At a specific part of the show, - “We interrupt this half-time show performance to wish our illustrious director Jim McK. a happy fortieth birthday!” - we broke ranks and spelled out “Jim’s 40” on the field and played “Happy Birthday” – “This has been a special announcement. We return you now to your regularly scheduled half-time show!”

We all had lots of fun, Mr. McK. thought it was a riot and we all had cake before sitting down for the second half of the game. I asked one of the spectators seated next to us how the show looked. “Great. You guys have a fantastic band.” Did our little scheme come across on this side of the field? “Well, I don’t know. Was it your intention to spell out ‘Oh sh~t’ on the field while you played “Happy Birthday”?

Since my time in the “Pride of the Dakotas”, the band has grown considerably – almost four hundred playing members! – and taken much more impressive trips. They have traveled twice to the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, California. They have also traveled twice to Washington, D.C.

Their first trip to our nation’s capital took place on the occasion of President Clinton’s second inauguration in 1997. The band took a second trip to Washington, D.C. for the Independence Day Parade in 2000. Upon their arrival into town, they had a picnic in a park and they asked me to put together a jazz trio to play music while they chowed down on some barbeque.

An interesting thing happened during their preparations for this trip. They received a call from someone associated with the “Capitol Fourth” concert that PBS broadcast on Independence Day evening. It seems that actor and singer Barry Bostwick, host of the concert, wanted to sing Meredith Wilson’s “Seventy-Six Trombones” from “The Music Man” for a show opener. Since the setting of the song concerned a marching band, it had been suggested that they choose one of the bands from the Independence Day Parade lineup to accompany him on the song. They went with the “Pride of the Dakotas” because it was the biggest.

I saw the “Pride” march in the parade but I couldn’t go watch the concert. The broadcast of the “Capitol Fourth” happened while I was with the Marine Band on the south portico of the White House. But I had set up the VCR to tape the extravaganza and when I got home from the White House, I relived my “Pride” days vicariously through the spectacle played before me on the TV.

On the day before, the band rehearsed with Barry Bostwick, the National Symphony “Pops” Orchestra, conductor Erich Kunzel and the PBS live broadcast crew. It had been a hot day – over one hundred degrees – and the band had been out in the sun for quite some time. All of a sudden, a rainstorm whipped up. No lightning, no thunder … just rain … lots of it … and it stayed for about twenty-five minutes

As college kids are wont to do, all four hundred members of SDSU’s “Pride of the Dakotas” Marching Band cheered, whooped, clamored, hollered, shouted and erupted in general celebration and revelry. The drumline went into their twenty-minute routine, the other members of the band rocked the joint with singing and choreography while the symphony, crew and other performing artists watched on in amazement.

When the rain had passed on and the crew could uncover all of the electronic equipment, the rehearsal went on as planned.

Several months later, Mr. McK. received a letter, recounting all of the excitement that had happened on that day in July the previous summer, “when the heavens opened up and poured” and “your band exploded. I will remember that moment for a long, long time. Signed, Ray Charles.”

I don’t have any Ray Charles albums. I need to get some. But his spirit lives on through this tribute album by Shirley Horn.

Credits: To the South Dakota State University athletic teams. GO JACKRABBITS!!!

This is the forty-third of my final forty-five CD’s.