Drumline Memories  
  shared by Bryant Slimp
June 28, 2016
 
     
   
     
 
This is the R. E. Lee bass drum mallet that I used back in the day. This mallet worked along with Pat Kilman, Betsy Stark and Cathy Saunders to make a lot of pep rallies really fun. It made a lot of noise at games, helped on a lot of cheers and it provided the beat for parades, march-ins and band practices for a couple of years. Some insect(s) have enjoyed eating part of the felt head, the red and gray plastic tape barely clings onto the handle, and I can't get the strap over my hand and onto my wrist, but I still have it.
 
     
 
 
My own memories came flooding back when I read Sherry Stevens' neat article on the Reunion website titled School Spirit Memories.  Excerpt:
 
    In recalling how all the Lee fans would be in their seats, waiting, and the band, twirlers, cheerleaders and Lee-ettes would line up...and then....it happened!!!!! The drummers would start, our march into the stadium would begin, and the fans would roar.”

 

 
         
 
The following is taken from an email I sent to Sherry telling her how much fun we had doing this from the band's and drum section's point of view: 
 
   
I was the bass drummer then, and we (the drum section) were privileged to lead in a-l-l of those people in that great line-up.
 
   
Drum Major Ray Inzer (bless his soul) would give us the nod and we would we would start a long slow “open stroke” drum roll that increased in volume and intensity until he gave the 5 whistle command (one long and four shorts) to start.
 
   
We then started our first cadence that played off of that roll, as we stepped off following Ray & our twirlers.
 
 
   
We lined up on the track and played cadences (we had a long string of great cadences so that it didn't get boring) until everyone was in place and Ray would give the 4 whistle command (one long and three shorts) to stop.
 
 
 
 
It was magic.  The drummers have been in touch with each other via email and phone recently, and we all agreed that these were magical times … especially when we marched into Alamo Stadium and under the Alamo Stadium bleachers with all of the surrounding concrete and the amplification. One of our drum section members sent an audio clip recently of a couple of our cadences that he just recorded (yes, he still plays and sounds very good) and we all relived some of the magic times: the Battle of Flowers Parade, marching in the streets behind the school to practice for the parade, coming down the main hallway of the school after a pep rally with the band playing “Wipe Out” as loud as we could, and all the pep rallies, games, and so forth.
 
 
 
 
Ron McAnear remembers these litte known facts:
 
 
The '66 drummers played cadence for the combination of all Bands featured in the Band Festival. What a treat; we were all so proud to be up front playing for all the schools that participated, while their drummers just marched to our beat.
   
 
I was the one who painted the mad rebel character on the base drum head.
   
 
 
 
The senior drummers were Ron McAnear, Bryant Slimp and Jan Sawyer (who we can't find).
 
 
The junior drummers were Gary Crapster, Michael (Terry) Van Dyke, Buddy Howard, and Stan Garner.  
 
 
This was a great group of people and a bunch of really good drummers. We had lots of good drum cadences that were fun to march to.
 
 
 
 

We had Gary record a couple of these cadences.
The first one was our lead in cadence that Sherry remembers.
The next one the most complicated one was called “The Conquering Legions of Rome” and the title fit the cadence.  

 
 
Gary graduated a year behind us, and he was working mostly from memory from 49 years ago when recorded this last month.
The recording gets loud when he plays because, after all, these are drum cadences and are meant to be heard.  Whoever heard of a quiet drum cadence?
If you were a band member or a Lee-Ette, you just might remember these.
Select "Play that Drum" to listen to the cadences, and please remember to think ear plugs and/or volume control.
 
     
 
Gary found a copy of the original sheet music (quite faded now) of “The Conquering Legions of Rome” … attached this just for kicks so you can see just how good these drummers were back in ‘the day'.
 
     
 
 
     
  View original sheet music.