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March 28th, 2024

shelter article posessions 2022 new1=====AUG. 11, 2000=====

 By: JANICE NORTHERNS,  Southwest Daily Times 

Crumpled paper cups litter the edges of the practice field as band members mill about, finding their spots. The students are dressed in faded T-shirts and shorts of every description.

The scene is anything but orderly, until the band is given the command.

"Horns up!" shouts Liberal High School band director Eric Stambaugh, his voice hoarse from four days of yelling instructions.

Horns snap up in unison and there is perfect silence.

Then, on cue, the band blasts Alice Cooper's "School's Out for For Summer" across the field.

It's Thursday evening and "That" Liberal Band goes through its paces one more time.

"That song is a little ironic," Stambaugh said of "School's Out."

"It has not been 'school's out' for the band at all," he added.

These musicians have been practicing day and night, literally, since Monday, with band two-a-day sessions scheduled for three hours each morning and three hours again each evening.

The drum line started even earlier, getting in an extra week of practice. Before that, there was a month of summer band in June, mandatory for all new band members and required as well for section leaders and others who helped.

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"They've had summer band, many of them have gone to band camps ... they've gone above and beyond," Stambaugh said.

And that's what it will take to equal last year's record of solid Division I ratings in marching contests and the pleasing half-time show the band put on at football games, Stambaugh believes.

"The expectations are higher this year," he said. "They know they have a tough act to follow."

But Stambaugh is confident the band will live up to last year's standards.

"Practice is going well," he said. "We've had about a 95 percent attendance rate this year, which is up from last year. Right now, we're already where we were last year about two weeks after school started."

The band is working up a marching show for fall that will feature classic '60s and '70s rock tunes. In addition to "School's Out," the program features "Purple Haze" by Jimi Hendrix, as well as tunes by Iron Butterfly and Jefferson Starship.

Stambaugh said he chose the program with parents in mind, hoping to come up with another winning half-time show.

"Our goal last year was to keep the crowd in the stands at half-time at the football games, and we did that," he said. "I think the parents will get a kick out of this music -- I think the crowd will like it."

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Even though the songs they're playing were hits before the band members were born, they enjoy the tunes, too.

"The music is hip to the kids. They really like it," Stambaugh said.

The public will get a look at the band's show at the first home game Sept. 1.

The group is already looking ahead to contest season as well.

"We have several important events coming up," Stambaugh said. "There's the WAC Marching Festival in October and the Fort Hays State Marching Contest. We'll be marching against Salina Central, Hutchinson, all the WAC schools."

"That" Liberal Band has been under Stambaugh's direction for a year and a half, but last fall was his first crack at working with them on marching.

Even though last year's record will be hard to beat, Stambaugh said he has no fears of going into a sophomore slump, mainly because he knows he can count on his band.

"The musicality and the intensity is greater this year," he said. "I have a strong senior class. You can see the glimmer in their eyes. Most of the time they take care of any problems without me having to say anything."

The freshman class is strong also, adding 38 new members to the band this year.

Helping with band workouts this week are assistant directors Sherry Curtis and Will Teufel, as well as Lydia Augustine, who is in charge of flags.

The band has also benefitted from some extra help from Kansas State University, Stambaugh's alma mater.

Tremon Keiser, a K-State drum major, has been on hand all week working with the group.

"K-State has kind of adopted Liberal as their band," Stambaugh said. "They sent their drum line down, and then Tremon called and just asked if he could come down and help this week for free, just to see what this Liberal thing is all about and to get some experience."

The "Liberal thing" is all about work ethic, Stambaugh said.

"Our motto this year is, "There's no such thing as hard work, just work that needs to be done,'" Stambaugh said.

A visit to a practice session bears that out, as band members, necks sunburned and muscles aching, march and count, march and count, march and count and play, and then do it all over again.

They finish a piece, and Stambaugh, 50 feet above the crowd, yells into the microphone, "OK, everybody who messed up on that one, give me five."

Immediately, a few musicians here and there drop to the ground and do five quick push-ups.

They come up smiling, ready to do it all over again.