Arthur's Blog 2011-10

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Published on Thursday, 06 October 2011 15:26

Some Things Aren’t for Sale

On September 11, I joined Geof Whiting, Neil McMillan, and Paul Amirault in representing the Crusaders Senior Corps by playing “Taps” at the Boscewan Veterans’ Cemetery in Boscwan, NH.  This was the closing ceremonies of the 100 Nights of Remembrance, a program conceived by Noel Taylor, a member of the Manchester Muchacho Drum and Bugle corps.  Volunteers are recruited to sounds “Taps” singly, each night from Memorial Day until 9/10. Then, on 9/11, all available horn players are invited to meet to sound “Taps” in unison at a very dignified ceremony.  This year, the key note speaker was a highly ranked female officer from the Air Force.

I thought it might be fun to leave my Crusaders issued horn in the case, and play my old one valved Getzen bugle that my father bought for me prior to the 1962 season.  Well, the appearance of this relic from the past created some immediate interest.  An old drum corps fan in the crowd wanted to buy it from me.  He pulled out a wad of money and said, “I have plenty of cash.  What do you want for it?”  I told him that it wasn’t for sale, no matter how much he would be willing to pay for it.  I thought back to the fall of 1961. My first corps was the Peabody Musketeers, and the director called a meeting of the corps’ parents.  He suggested that for Christmas or Hannukah, the parents should consider buying their sons (there were no girls in the horn lines of coed corps in those days.) their own horn.  My father was a laborer in a leather factory, and we were far from being wealthy, but for Hannukah of that year, I got a shiny new Getzen soprano horn, with my name, “Art”, engraved in the bell.  As a matter of fact, I was the only kid in the corps that got such a gift.

In 1962 and 1963, I proudly used that horn in competition with the Musketeers, and in 1965, with the Majestic Knights of Charlestown.  The inspections we had in those days, even though I hated them, forced me to polish the horn constantly; and that is probably why it is in great condition today.

When I joined the Princemen in 1966, we used large ring slides on our horns, so my trusty old Getzen was becoming obsolete. I entirely missed the era of rotaries and two valvers, when my bugle and I were both retired from drum corps, until 1991 when our corps was started.
 I remember my first practice as a Crusader.  I brought my horn to practice, but found that our arrangements require notes, especially in the lower range, that the old models are incapable of playing.  I received a broken down valve rotor held together with an elastic, and after a few weeks was given a two valve.  A several years later, we were all playing three valves- that is until 9/11 of this year.

When David LaFond (Muchacho staff and Bridgemen member) approached me and asked me to give a little history lesson to the youngsters in the Muchachos, I was happy to do it.  They were very interested in what I had to say, and were amazed at how light the horn was to hold.
 I played “Taps” with the rest of the group and felt great about doing it on my father’s wonderful gift.

Then, the spectator approached me one more time to offer to buy the horn, but I told him, “Some things just aren’t for sale.”