No one group of individuals had more really-honest fun in college in the late fifties, in the Music Dept, at Tennessee Polytechnic Institute than did "The Puritanical Brethren" from Smith County: Carl Ballinger, Bill Moore and Lewis Butler. (The Brethren were originally four, but Glen Petross wised-up and changed his major to Business.)
Lewis, Carl and Bill each shared a Nemesis..... Dr. W. Jay Julian, Director of Bands at T.P.I. Julian enjoyed testing the mettle of undergraduate students who contemplated playing in a college band. Making a rash decision such as majoring in Music Education at T.P.I. was an open invitation to the testing-of-mettle in the extreme!
Dr. Julian was a most discriminating individual. That is a significant statement particularly so because he grew up in Silver Point, TN which is one of the least cosmopolitan areas of Tennessee! How he ever got from Silver Point to Northwestern University for a Ph.D. attests to a superior intellect. In any case the Brethren realized pretty soon that they were not big men on the TPI campus.
Upon arrival at T.P.I. the Brethren were subjected to Freshmen Hazing: A rite of passage, somewhat abolished hence, consisting of a variety of demeaning activities promulgated on unsuspecting Freshmen. We were "invited" to wear a sign around our neck proclaiming our lowly status as freshmen, and to wear our clothing in-side-out. On one occasion three of us were "invited" to stand on a bench on the "Quad" and sing the Tech Hymn at maximum volume. But hazing was "child's play" compared to what Dr. Jay had in mind for the Puritanical Brethren!
Bill Moore was the first to be exposed. Bill was an outstanding high school trumpeter! However, Dr. Jay had scholar-shipped several trumpeters from the larger high schools from Chattanooga, Tennessee. Therefore Bill was informed that he would become a Baritone Saxophone player!
I was next in-line: I was preparing for Tech Choir practice just standing around in the instrument room when Julian informed me that I was going to “run out of the program!” I had my sights set on being a band director since age eleven, and here was my future going down the drain, or so I thought.
I was upset and out of control. I sat through choir practice unable to keep the tears from rolling down my face. The rest of the group was in the dark about my situation, and I made a hasty retreat.
After a week of sulking around, trying to develop a plan to assassinate Dr. Jay, it occurred to me that I had not been sent home yet. So I changed my lifestyle and in a few weeks Dr. Jay commented to the band that I had been doing well.
I am convinced that Dr. Walter Wade who was the choir director and who had witnessed my initial meltdown, had administered a tongue lashing and probably threatened to go to President Derryberry to complain.
In lower schools I was a convert from trumpet to Alto Horn then to E-flat 'Mellophone' and then to Baritone Horn otherwise known as Euphonium or Tenor Tuba. Being a convert I knew fingerings for treble-clef. There are several clefs which change the fingering accordingly, and Dr. Jay ordered me to learn bass clef fingering.
Can you guess who had the most difficult assignment? And can you guess who did the most complaining? Suffice it to say that Bill showed greater maturity! He was destined to be a member of the Troubadours Stage Band and took his new assignment in stride. I was the winner of the whining contest!
Carl suffered an occasional jab and barb along the way, but was for the most part allowed to get away with it from day to day. Little did we know that Carl was destined to be singled-out during the most important concert in the history of Tennessee Polytechnic Institute as of late 1959 any way.
Raphael Mendez was the most famous trumpet player on Earth. Mendez even played in one of the movies that starred John Wayne. He was contracted to perform with the T.P.I. Concert Band in a concert at The Ryman Auditorium otherwise known as the home of The Grand Ole Opry in Nashville. The concert was attended by almost every high school band student in Middle Tennessee. The concert was a total success!
The Tech Band was over-rehearsed, as usual, but just to keep every member on their toes, Julian decided that he needed to see both of Carl's eyes. Carl played a bell-front Besson Tuba: a true monster of an instrument! It is impossible to, and totally unnecessary to use both eyes to see a band director - especially when you know every note and have no reason to anticipate any changes! But never mind logic, Julian wanted to see both of Carl's eyes. This became important while the T.P.I. Band was playing one of the most difficult band compositions ever written: "Tulsa, A Portrait in Oil".
Dr. JuIian gestured and gyrated and fumed until Carl was situated so that Carl's eyes were plainly in-view! We were all much relieved.
The concert was a great success. I had a few brief solos and played them in tune. The Ryman Auditorium was closed to large public performances soon thereafter because of the Fire Marshall's order. It has since been resurrected by Gaylord Entertainment Co. and is a popular music venue once again.
Jay Julian moved to the University of Tennessee in 1960 and built the program there until 1994. His stamina over the years was phenomenal. The UT Band under his direction became truly "The Pride Of the Southland". Before his arrival it was called by that name, but in fact, it was the joke of the southland. If the end actually justifies the means then Julian has been the greatest proponent of that ideology. But in the grand scheme of things I occasionally doubt the axiom.
I graduated from TPI as a music educator in 1962 and had a great adventure following my great uncle, Willy Butler as a band director in Macon County, TN. (See Welcoming the President in a former posting.)
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