Ready to pass on what they learned at Southern
University in Louisiana, five new instructors, under the
direction of Mr. Goode, prepare to drill the East Orange Unified
Marching Band Summer Camp students. L-R: Denzel Thompson, Darian
Bravo, Lloyd Tomlinson, Bria Douglas, David Friday and Mr.
Frederick Goode.
This is the first week of Summer
Band Camp. The students have been trickling in all week as they
learn of the camp. It is expected that there will be a total of
80 or so students by the end of band camp on August 31st. They
all seem eager and enthusiastic on the marching field. They
practice on the only area available to them, the abandoned
parking lot behind the former Elmwood School. Mr. Goode and his
students have marked off painted white lines to simulate a
football field so they can work out formations. The students
practice marching all morning long, and then take a break after
moving indoors for the afternoon.
The indoor music rehearsals take
place in a room of what is left of the old Cicely Tyson School
(formerly V.L.D. Junior High). The new Cicely Tyson School is not
yet ready to take them in, so they use the resources available to
put in a full afternoon of playing as a band.
In another room of the old Cicely
Tyson building, beginning drum students receive instruction from
Rasheem Franklin, an alumnus and former drummer from Clifford J.
Scott's former marching band. The students practice on desktops
and should be ready to start on drums in a week or two.
A big surprise for the band on
Friday was the first look at what will soon be their new marching
band uniform. Mr. Goode points out that once their legs have
marching stripes on them, all that work on the marching field
will pay off as hundreds of eyes can see their legs marching in
unison. The new uniform is modeled by Lloyd Tomlinson.
Lloyd Tomlinson gives us a better
look at the proposed uniform. If all goes as planned, the new
uniforms will be used this fall, after years of using make-shift
uniforms of their own design.
