OCDM wrote:
Larry Martin -- Mace Vista HS 1972 -- also mentioned elsewhere in this string. Great competitor, but bad luck in competition (dropped at Arcadia, for example). 4th at Santa Monica and 5th at All Western. Wonderful DM teacher. Now teaching junior college music.
Well, what a surprise to see me mentioned a couple of times on this board, in this thread after all these years! (OCDM: who are you!?) I'm "the artist formerly known as Larry Martin".
I have some wonderful memories of the DM and MB scene in SoCal from the early-mid 70s. My DM role models were the amazing Tim Heron and Bob Grindrod from Loara, and Dwight Shepherd from Glendora. My best buddy as a DM colleague was the incredible Bob Naeve from La Canada. Competitive highlights for me were: 1st at the San Diego Autumn Band Review, 4th at Santa Monica, tie for 4th at All Western, 1st at an L-pattern at Mayfair HS, 2nd at Arroyo. The Arroyo L-pattern was memorable because my best friend Bob Naeve won with a 99.0 and I was second with 98.5. Third was a 91, as I recall. The judge was a wonderful guy named Ron, who walked up to me before the awards and said, "Really great job! I gave you a 98.5." I thought that I won, of course!
All Western was my best parade performance, by far. All of the top 5 places were within 2 points. The guy from Loara who got 5th is now the choral conductor at Golden West College, and we ran into each other recently. Kippy Wooten from Villa Park won, and she kind of came out of nowhere. She was later the band director at Chino, and is now an attorney in Orange County, last I heard. Brian Fox was one of my main teachers, and is a dear friend. After Vista High, I didn't do college marching band because I needed to concentrate on my horn and on conducting, which has always been my first love. I did teach all of the camps of the day (Redlands/Cal State Long Beach, Hibbards, USA) for several years, and a lot of judging for Tom Peacock (also a dear friend back then), Hibbard, and SCSBOA. I taught HS band/orchestra for about 7 years (including Arroyo), and moved to the college level. I did the Pasadena City College/TofR Band for a year, where I failed miserably! (Ryan Turner was my WONDERFUL DM there) The Band did OK, but I didn't like the department, and they didn't like me. The person who replaced me, the gifted Jim Arnwine who is now the Dean there, was kind recently to say that I just "ran into a political buzzsaw". Jim remains a great friend. Since Pasadena, I left the MB world and concentrated on conducting, and today I'm the wind ensemble conductor/Chair of the Performing Arts Division at Cuesta College in San Luis Obispo. My career has been wonderful to me.
At Vista High, the DM's role was always for the band first, DM comps second. The band program was SO good then, and the DM leadership was great training for my future as a conductor/teacher.
I hope that my DM colleagues from those days are doing well: Conrad Lucero, Fred DiLuzio, Pat Briney, et al. Bob Naeve and I are no longer in touch. He is a lawyer in Orange County, like Kippy. I think of DM students that I taught/helped to teach quite often: Rusty Givens, Bob Suh, Kevin Brown...so many more.
If anyone from that eara is still around, please feel free to contact me;
jennconducts@mac.com. Thanks for letting me share those old memories!
Jenn Martin