Under New Direction, 53-Member Golden Eagle Marching Band Plays to High Expectations

Amy Powers

Amy Powers

Published January 1, 1970 12:00 am
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cu-golden-eagleCLARION, Pa. — Knowing how to get a big sound from a small group of musicians is a skill, and it’s one that Dr. Casey Teske, professor of music, has finely tuned.

Teske took over leadership of Clarion University’s Golden Eagles Marching Band this year, and the result is a re-energized, reorganized, refocused repository of talent.

Drum major Jeremiah Dobo, a junior music education major from Allport, is the 53-member band’s student leader, second in command behind Teske. Dobo, whose history with marching band goes back to his 6th grade year, said this year’s experience is different from any he’s had previously.

As drum major, Dobo conducts the band, ensures a steady tempo and keeps the performance on schedule. It’s a position for which he auditioned last spring.

“You have to have a good ear and be knowledgeable of the fundamentals of music, knowledgeable of basic football rules, when we can play, what to play when. You have to be a good leader,” he said.

“Under Dr. Teske, (the band members) are put more in charge of the band,” Dobo said. “It’s more OUR band now.”

Although Teske allows the band greater autonomy, his expectations are “incredibly high,” according to Dobo.

“Dr. Teske is very respected. Many of us already knew him – we knew his style of teaching and conducting,” Dobo said. “When we’re rehearsing, it’s very no-nonsense with some humor thrown in. He gives us leniency when we meet his expectations.”

Dobo said anyone who understands music to some extent is going to notice that for the size of the band, the sound is much bigger and the music is much cleaner.
This season the band’s show features music from “West Side Story.”

“We have a very planned out announcement sequence before the show. Dr. Teske spent a lot of time on that; a lot of thought went into the shape of the show,” Dobo said. Teske hired professional drill writer Dan Ryder to write the drill. “He puts us in the perfect position to look great and sound great while we’re performing.”

The band purchased new equipment for the color guard. Their flags fit well with the theme of the show, and they have rifles to twirl, Dobo said. The Golden Girls do some fantastic twirling using ribbons and spinning knives.

“Through the first two quarters (of the football game) we hold back,” Dobo said. “Halftime is our time; we give it all we’ve got. We’re expected to leave it all on the field. We’ll be huffing and puffing and panting after the show is done.”

Band members arrived on campus about a week and a half before the start of the fall semester.

“Three days (of band camp) are leadership, percussion and the color guard preparing for everyone else to get here. Once everyone is here, we’re (rehearsing) from 9 in the morning until 8 at night for a week straight,” Dobo said. “Once the semester starts, we have practice from 4 to 6 p.m. every Monday, Wednesday and Friday until the season is over. Every once in a while we’ll get a Friday off if we’ve been really putting in a lot of effort. It’s a pretty big commitment.”

For that investment of time, plus weekend games, students earn either one credit or no credits, depending on how they registered. The payoff is the overall experience and the bond among band members.

As with previous years, band students reflect the broad range of majors – 23 majors in all – with the largest concentration of students studying early childhood/special education.

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