Thanks so much for sharing this. I'm very sure that my high school band director modeled much of his teaching style and techniques from the Revelli model. He frequently went down the line in rehearsal and had individuals play their part. Woe be to the poor soul that wasn't prepared. My band director s son had come up through the same band program as a young clarinetist. That son would go on to major in music at the University of Texas at Austin . The son also went on later to serve as a music faculty at the University of Michigan, in the early 1980's, when, you guessed it, Dr. Revelli was at the twilight of his full time career there.. This son speaks with great respect for Dr. Revelli, to this day. By the way, that son has earned quite a name for himself in the band world too, and is known world wide as a giant in wind band conducting His name is Jerry Junkin, director of bands at UT Austin, the UT wind ensemble, and the Dallas Winds to name just a few . His dad was Fred Junkin, a legendary high school band director himself, in the State of Texas.
Do you have The Revelli Years album from UM? I had it many years ago and put it on cassettes. He did this same arrangement with the Symphony Band and directed every nuance just like he did on this recording. Except the Michigan recording is much higher fidelity.
@ChartrandR1 Yes - I played it with the band in the fall of '68/Bandorama concert. I remember he made all the woodwinds play the coda individually - one by one at a rehearsal. Chilling. I will post it somewhere down the line.
I wish I could have played in one of his bands, just once. Out of hundreds of teachers I've had, only a couple would even understand what Revelli was doing and they influenced me like Revelli influenced his students. Most of the potentially great teachers today are weeded out by the Teacher Education process. In another interview Revelli spoke of Sousa's "head", "heart" and "foot" music. All we hear today is "head" music and it's sloppy. Nothing from the "heart". It doesn't make you want to laugh or cry and god forgive us if the music makes us want to dance. Thank you for posting this.
@ChartrandR1 (an some not so fond) Indeed. It seemed he sometimes took pleasure in ridiculing individuals, esp. when there were others to witness it. I always felt embarrassed for his poor victims. I often wondered if he was even aware of how unnecessarily mean he could be. He could also be incredibly clownish and fun, but most never saw that side.Despite all that he was bigger than life and playing in the Symphony Band was a religious experience for me and many others.
There's a thin line between correction and humiliation that often gets crossed. Bruno Walter could say your playing disappoints me and crush his musicians when needed.
