The Mighty Ram Band, unsung heroes of football season and beyond

September 17, 2007
By Bill Sontag
Feature Writer

Sunrise cloud formations give the illusion of dawn practice, yet even as non-band, non-football team classmates remain abed, relishing the last few days of summer vacation, Mighty Ram Band musicians and leaders work on new formation and marching patterns at the Del Rio High School asphalt practice “field” on Wildcat Drive. Just east of the band practice, Ram footballers work out, exercise and practice plays for the upcoming season. (LIVE! photo/Bill Sontag) (click image to enlarge)

Before practice begins, Ram Band members stretch and limber up to avoid pulled or fatigued muscles as they rehearse formations on the blueprints for performances in the season ahead. (LIVE! photo/Bill Sontag) (click image to enlarge)

Del Rio High School Music Director Juan Nañez describes new formation patterns for the 2007 season of Might Ram Band marching performance and competition. The animated computer programs are printed out for each student’s positions, studied by each musician, and marked on the asphalt practice field with colored crayons for rehearsals. "We go through crayons like you wouldn’t believe!" Nañez quips. (LIVE! photo/Bill Sontag) (click image to enlarge)

"Who are you supposed to be watching?" demanded Band Director Raul Escobar, center, blue shirt, beating out a pace of march. "Me? No! You watch your drum majors. You take your tempo from them." Escobar puts the Ram Band marchers through their paces, asking for proper interval between musicians, attention to footfall with his metronome-like beat. (LIVE! photo/Bill Sontag) (click image to enlarge)

Flash and dash notwithstanding, the position and activity of the flags of the Rage Color Guard are still important visual cues to band members. A variety of foot positions seen here shows that precision is not quite where color guard captains want it to be on an early August morning. But summer band practice was just barely underway at the time of this photograph, and weeks of improvement opportunity were ahead. (LIVE! photo/Bill Sontag) (click image to enlarge)

Slow, exaggerated pacing and step placement at the beginning of summer band practice help band members get a feel for what’s needed when the pace and the tempo pick up. (LIVE! photo/Bill Sontag) (click image to enlarge)

(LIVE! photo/Bill Sontag) (click image to enlarge)

“O.K., everybody in the band hall,” barks Juan Nañez to all in hearing distance, assembling the entire Mighty Ram Band – all members present, that is – inside the spacious five-year old addition to the band building, completed with voter approval of a 2000 bond issue. Here, the band holds a prolonged – several minutes – single note just to master finding and accurately mimicking that tone emanating from a chromatic strobotuner at Nañez’s conductor’s stand. (LIVE! photo/Bill Sontag) (click image to enlarge)

Bianca Morales, the sole bass clarinet musician in the Ram Band this year, warms up with scales, flanked by other clarinet players. “You have to warm up your lungs, you have to warm up your lips, you have to warm up everything! proclaims Music Director Nañez, admonishing members of the importance of preparation before performance. (LIVE! photo/Bill Sontag) (click image to enlarge)

Examining the chromatic strobotuner, red lights right, for conformance with a tone played by a single instrument, Nañez prepares to ask the entire band to mimic the note in tuning up for practice. (LIVE! photo/Bill Sontag) (click image to enlarge)

Section-by-section, Nañez brings the Ram Band to full throat on a single, sustained note. Trombones, foreground, trumpets and woodwinds are already sounding as other sections find the tone under the conductor’s direction. (LIVE! photo/Bill Sontag) (click image to enlarge)

Vibraphone musician Victoria Puente and others in the "pit," or stationary instrument section respond to Nañez’s direction. (LIVE! photo/Bill Sontag) (click image to enlarge)

DRHS Music Director Juan Nañez shows off the Mighty Ram Band shrine at the front of the cavernous band hall where, during practice, all students are reminded of the band’s recent accomplishments. “I like them to be able to see – all the time – what they’re working so hard for,” said Nañez. Tangible reminders include the uniform, competition sweepstakes trophies, and a rich heritage passed along from previous band members. (LIVE! photo/Bill Sontag) (click image to enlarge)

Seventy six trombones caught the morning sun,
With a hundred and ten cornets right behind.
There were over a thousand reeds,
Springing up like weeds,
There were horns of every shape and size.

There were copper bottom timpani in horse platoons,
Thundering, thundering, all along the way.
Double bell euphoniums and big bassoons,
Each bassoon having its big fat say.
-- Meredith Wilson, “The Music Man,” 1957

What sets the Mighty Ram Band at Del Rio High School apart from the mainstream of Del Rio youth is not simply a line of gleaming, $6,000 sousaphones, not crisp blue-and-black uniforms, not a grumbling thicket of drums, nor fancy field maneuvers and flashy formations. Juan Nañez, music director, his band directors, drum majors, and more than a score of students know that what makes them unique and successful is nearly blind dedication and incalculable hours of preparation.

Intangible and unseen by Friday night masses in Ram Stadium and along North Main Street during the fall Veterans Day Parade, a month of practice before classes start is a risky balance aimed at reducing confusion, building confidence, and fighting the boredom of repetition. This ensemble of 200 young men and women is surely one of the hardest working, most competitively driven clans in southwest Texas. Band hall shelves and storage boxes spilling over with hard-won, richly-deserved awards, are mute evidence of institutional excellence in the DRHS music program.

But the surest proof follows the director’s raised baton or the drum majors’ whistled signals. It’s the air-splitting volley of blended tones and rumbles that signal the beginning of a march, an anthem or a show tune. No longer are the field appearances of the Mighty Ram Band a show of marches with only hand-carried instruments, explained Nañez, Wednesday (Aug. 8).

“The concept now is to put a full concert band on the field,” said Nañez. By this, the 45-year-old music boss means that bands of yesteryear sacrificed the added glitz, depth and ear-candy of vibraphones, kettle drums, xylophones, marimbas, bells, and chimes because they were “stationary,” not portable. Nañez loves having the “stationaries” on the field, and knows they’re expected in competition.

Success in University Interscholastic League (UIL) and Texas Music Educators Association (TMEA) competition has secured the award-winning Mighty Ram Band a niche of financial and community support. Parents, school district administrators, elected officials, boosters and many former band members all praise their experiences and cherish their memories of band affiliation.

Marlu Parker bridged the 1971 transition from the Del Rio Wildcat Band to the first Del Rio High School Mighty Ram Band, when court-ordered school consolidation merged San Felipe High School, with its Mustang Band, and Del Rio High School. Parker attended Del Rio High School in the now-historic building on Griner Street, only a block west of downtown, until the new school was built in her senior year at 100 Memorial Drive.

“I dreaded summer band,” Parker said, Tuesday (Aug. 14), reflecting on her four years of band marching and competition on the bass clarinet. Though the Wildcat Band and the Del Rio Dolls flag and drill corps fielded only 74 participants, there are strong similarities in how Parker viewed her music director and the views of Ram Band players today. “Mr. [Carlos] Garcia was very tough, and he was always very aggressive about his program. It had to be perfect for the first football game of the season,” Parker said.

“He was fantastic, and could play just about any instrument, but he wanted excellence, and he didn’t tolerate us being late. If you were, you would be embarrassed, and you didn’t want to be late more than once. Nobody wanted to disappoint him. But at the same time, if you needed something you could always go to him,” Parker said.

This year’s Mighty Ram Band Drum Majors Amber Aldaco and Sable Galindo say Nañez is no different. “You don’t want him yelling at you,” Aldaco said, Wednesday (Aug. 15). Laughing, Galindo added, “He’ll pick on you when we’re practicing. Then he’ll make a joke out of it, like, ‘What kind of noise is that? You sound like a goat!’” It works. Kids raised in the sheep and goat center of Texas know well the bleat that can come from a horn.

And band members today are no happier about the long hours and rigors of “summer band” than was Parker who still nurtures her aversion to it, 36 years later. “It was mainly because we had to start school weeks before anyone else,” Parker said, adding that heat, humidity and demands of new marching routines and music took their toll – as they do now.

Aldaco: “Some people think band is easy, like it’s a nerd thing because you have to be smart. But I think we do a lot more work and spend more time practicing than the football guys.” Summer band at DRHS began the week of Aug. 6, Nañez said, and continues to the last Friday before school starts, with seven- and eight-hour days. It’s a month of diligence carved out of each student’s precious summer break, dedicated, first and foremost, to the discipline of learning new music and mastering eye-catching field formations. And therewith are the three Ds of every successful band member’s lifestyle – diligence, dedication and discipline – all magnified or tempered by talent.

Aldaco and Galindo, both 17 and DRHS seniors, were carefully selected for their jobs they see as “assistant, assistant band directors,” judged on their content of marching, conducting and guiding fellow musicians through the scales, do, re, mi, fa, so, la, ti, do. Then, June 17-21, the pair attended Drum Majors’ Camp at Texas State University to learn additional skills. Galindo is a clarinetist, occasionally picking up tenor sax, while Aldaco’s instruments include French horn and violin. This year, as drum majors, their primary instrument is a whistle on a lanyard, announcing commands to the band.

These young women brag about the hours of time their fellow musicians put in to prepare for the rigors of the coming season, while balancing academics that are necessary to participate in band and competition. “It’s called House Bill 72,” explained Nañez. “No pass, no play.” A select committee chaired by billionaire H. Ross Perot for the 1983 National Commission on Excellence in Education opined that kids should demonstrate their scholarship proficiency to enjoy the privilege of extracurricular activities.

So, at DRHS, study groups are formed among band members to ensure that everyone is passing every class in each student’s curriculum. “It’s all like a big family. Everybody’s boyfriends and girlfriends are here, and there’s almost no drama, just a lot of pride in all of the sections,” said Galindo. “And the last several years, the top band [highest musical achievers] has had the senior class valedictorians in it,” Aldaco said.

Nañez is driven to ensure his young charges remain eligible to play, and tracks performance in other classes rigorously. Receiving an academic performance chart every day, he tracks each subject class for all band members to discover who needs encouragement and tutoring assistance. “The kids don’t like their homework. They’d rather be on their computer, or their iPods, or cell phones, or just out on the street. But, it’s the discipline. ‘Just sit down and do it!’”

Amelia Moreno, secretary to City Manager Frances Rodriguez, is one parent who remains grateful for the band’s emphasis on academics. Her son, Arturo “Alan” Moreno graduated last year, after serving in the band since the sixth grade. Before he was selected as a drum major, Moreno was first-chair trombone player. His mother told LIVE, Aug. 13, “They have to keep passing grades, so along with band they were always tutoring each other so they could all go to competition.” Alan Moreno now majors in engineering at the University of Texas.

No one understands the legal and moral imperative for academic grounding better than San Felipe Del Rio Consolidated Independent School District Superintendent Roberto “Bobby” Fernandez. Fernandez is an ardent supporter of the colorful, entertaining, motivating forces in the arts and sports. “Extracurricular activities are very important,” Fernandez said, Aug. 9. “They’re an integral part of every student’s school experience. It’s important for every child to have these kinds of experiences, particularly in a remote area like this.”

Though he plays no musical instrument, Fernandez has stories about his evolving appreciation. He is a proud graduate of the University of Texas, but it wasn’t the university’s distinguished academic reputation alone that got him there. While a student at Pan American University, Edinburg, Texas, Fernandez saw his first University of Texas football game and, at halftime, the famed Texas Longhorn Band, “Showband of the Southwest.” He changed schools the following semester. “And it was the Longhorn Band that motivated me to do that!” Fernandez said, laughing.

That episode was only the first in a long list of factors that nudged Fernandez into his supportive role of the Mighty Ram Band. Nañez enjoys Fernandez’s backing in many forms. Raul Gonzalez, highly-respected retired Eagle Pass High School band director serves as a consultant to Nañez. “They are great partners, and they can fine-tune anything,” Fernandez affirmed.

Nañez gets help, too, from his staff, band directors Raul Escobar and Ricardo Rios at DRHS, Daniel White, 6th-grade campus, Joel Wagner and Jesse Brihalba, Middle School, Belia Hernandez, color guard instructor, and secretary Alma Crisp. Critical help also comes from Key Poulan and Ron Hardin, members of the Santa Clara Vanguard, a California-based professional, but non-profit drum-and-bugle corps. Poulan composes original music for the halftime extravaganza, and Hardin designs the Rams’ formations and marching blueprints for it. For this year, Poulan has written a three-movement concert entitled “Rio,” in honor of Carnaval in Rio de Janeiro. Hardin has created configurations of showy steps and patterns, crafted them into animated computer programs. Nañez and the band are in the midst of practice, giving life to the Poulan-Hardin masterpiece for 2007.

As with any show band, spiffy appearance is critical, and Fernandez has supported Nañez in his designs and petitions for funding for new uniforms. Nañez has personally designed four uniform changes in his DRHS career, the most recent to be donned by the band next year if the SFDRCISD Board of Trustees approves the project. “We have budgeted $125,000 for the new band uniforms,” Fernandez said. Nañez took over as DRHS music director in 1985, and quickly made another change in uniform protocol. “At that time, the uniforms were 13 years old, and the kids took them home to be ‘cleaned,’” which, he added, meant that the uniforms were anything but clean, and rag-tag, to boot.

The Mighty Ram Band Boosters Club is another valuable source of support for the band. According to Karen Dunlap, “It’s all parents. We had our first meeting last week and have about 25 to 30 members right now. We do a lot for the kids, including a party for them coming up in a week or so.”

Nañez explained, “They provide for the students what the school district cannot.” In addition to occasional parties and an end-of-year banquet, the boosters also provide water and other beverages before and after outdoor performances to keep perspiring members hydrated. But, according to Nañez, high on the Boosters’ list of accomplishments is the group’s effort to provide five scholarships to deserving seniors headed for college in the fall. One, the $1,000 Frank Cardenas Scholarship, is the result of a 12-year pledge from the Cardenas family, now in year four.

Instruments are another matter, however. Many of the band members have purchased their own instruments, and some borrow school equipment, understandable considering costs of ownership. “Those trumpets run about $2,000 each,” said Fernandez. “And a French horn will cost about $2,500. The tubas [sousaphones] are $6,000, but the kids don’t own them. They’re all borrowed from us.” But, ownership notwithstanding, all players are required to take the portable instruments home for practice. He is less certain that the practice he’d like to see is happening, but routinely demands evidence of improved abilities. “We’re pretty easy with the kids, but they know we expect results,” Nañez said.

Nañez holds high expectations of himself, too, ensuring the band has all the competitive advantages needed to maintain a string of honors at UIL and TMEA. He’s a member of the Texas Music Adjudicators Association entitled to judge UIL music competitions for both concert and marching bands outside of his own UIL area, Region 11G. Nañez arrived at this distinction, in part, by the superior performance of the Mighty Ram Band at UIL competitions. He sees his membership with TMAA as a boon. “So, when I direct my band here, I’m not guessing what the judges are looking for. I know.”

Nañez has a fistful of musical scores to keep everyone occupied in summer band in preparation for the first football game. In the playlist folder, for performance from the stands during each half, are a few familiar tunes, including John Lennon’s “I Saw Her Standing There,” Stephen Sondheim’s “Everything’s Coming Up Roses,” Francis Scott Key’s “The National Anthem,” and “Tear the Lid Off the Sucker,” better known by the refrain “Give Up the Funk,” by George Clinton Jr., William “Bootsy” Collins, and Jerome Bailey. When the Ram football season comes to an end, Nañez and his band directors, move on in preparation for contests. “Then we break up into wind ensemble, symphonic band and concert band to get ready for UIL,” Nañez explained.

“Before I retire, I want to plan a performance where all the performing arts groups perform together,” Fernandez said. Among the stars in Fernandez’s dream concert are the Mighty Ram Band, Mariachi Media Noche, the Del Rio High School Dance Company, Queen City Belles, Choraliers, Jazz Band and Concert Band. For now, Fernandez searches for the best possible venue to show off these products of talent and training that so enrich most students’ high school experiences.