By Eric Eyre - SUNDAY GAZETTE-MAIL

AS NIGHT descended on Dunbar Lions Field and football players twitched on the sidelines, the South Charleston Black Eagle marching band launched into ‘The Star-Spangled Banner.”  But there, right there, smack in the middle of the Black Eagle Band stood three trumpet players dressed in blue and silver. Cougars, no less. Capital High School band members. The opposing team that night. The opposing band.  What was going on?
    South Charleston’s lead trumpeter — responsible’ for playing the melody — couldn’t attend the game. The band director asked to borrow a trumpet. player.from Capital’s band.  Capital Band Director Bob Scott sent him three.
    “I didn’t want our guy standing there alone,” .Scott said.  Six years ago, South Charleston’s marching band boasted 106 members. This. year; it closed the football season with about two dozen.   “The band represents South Charleston High,’ said Principal Bill Walton. "When you put 25 people on a 100-yard field, it looks small.  Our Band has dwindled, but everyone’s
down.”
    Indeed, band enrollmentshas decreased at most high schools in Kanawha County.
    In 1992, Capital had 153 band members. The band brought 85 students to Morgantown on Friday night for a state playoff game against Morgantown High School. Still, Capital’s band remains the largest in the county.

        “They took the grade school program away years ago, and now we’re paying for it. Students don’t know notes. They don’t know rhythm. “ Bob Scott, Capital High  band director

During the same period, ‘Herbert Hoover, St. Albans and East Bank high school bands also have seen steady declines. DuPont and Nitro high schools’ numbers have fluctuated in recent years, while George Washington’s band has grown.
   Most high schools hope to field a band made up of at least 10 percent of the student body. Only George Washington met that mark this year. By contrast, South Charleston had only 3 percent of students in band.
    Why worry about the shrinking numbers?
    “Band plays an important role in high schools the same way athletics does,” said Kanawha County school board member Bill Raglin.
    “It teaches camaraderie and team work."
    There’s no consensus on the reason for the declining numbers of students who participate in marching band.
    Some target the four-classes-a-day block schedule. Others talk about the gutting of elementary music programs years ago, a drop in student enrollment, high turnover of band directors and competing activities that draw students away from band.
    Under the block schedule, Students take four classes a day - 90 minutes each - instead of the traditional seven periods of 50 minutes each. Fewer classes a day often means fewer chances of taking electives such as band. The block schedule also may force students to skip a semester without playing in band.
George Washington and Capital are the only Kanawha County schools that don’t follow a block schedule. Other high schools switched to the block schedule, starting four years ago.
    “The block hurts me, yes,” said Patrick Cole, band director at Nitro High School. ‘“I lost a kid this year because she needed Spanish, and band was on the same block.  Are we telling our kids the only thing that matters is math, sdence, English and social studies?’
    George Washington High School operates on a flexible “modular schedule” that gives students a free period each day. Band.members often use that time to practice.
    Band Director Mark Hardman doesn’t hide his distaste for the block schedule.
   “That Would totally annihilate the music program here,” Hardman said.
    South Charleston's Walton defends the block schedule. Look at Capital High School he says: No block schedule, but declining band numbers.
    Most students recieve grades for band, which includes marching band. That discourages many from joining, Walton said.
       Many students cannot attend football games every Friday night and competitions on weekends. They don’t want their gades to suffer as a result.
      “If you don’t go to the’ Walnut Festival, then they can cut your grade for it, Walton said. ‘That’s crazy". Walton and others also say that other activities compete for students’ time these days.
      Many students work. Many want to play sports, such as soccer and volleyball. Many want to hang out  with friends.
      “Band is a tremendous commitment of time,” said Richard Clendenin, principal of Riverside High  School which opens next fall. "It’s very rigid, very structured. Kids aren’t willing to do it.”
      Marching band practice starts in July. Each band usually goes on a weeklong retreat. In the fall, bands usually practice every day after school. That leaves little time for  homework.
      The long h6urs of  practice, parades, competitions and football games also put a strain on band directors. They lose enthusiasnm They hop from job to job. They struggle to keep students interested in marching band.

   “They say the life of a band director is seven years. I’ve got two years in. I wonder if I can keep up for another five. You’ve got to push, push all the time.” Patrick Cole,  Nitro High band director

    The gutting of elementary music programs m Kanawha County years ago hasn’t helped them.
    “They took the grade school program away years ago, and now we’re paying for it,” said Scott at Capital.
    “Students don’t know notes. They don’t know rhythm.”
    Students who previously learned to play music recorders in the fourth grade didn’t touch a recorder until sixth grade. Students who started band in elementary school weren’t starting until junior high
   That has changed.
    Three years ago, former Fine Arts Director Barry Bowe, now principal at Chandler Elementay School, restored music in elementary schools. In 1995, there were four elementary school music teachers in the county, Bowe said. Today, there are 21 serving 59 elementary schools.
    High school band directors won’t know whether that will increase their student numbers until a couple of years from now.
    Meantime, they try to spark enthusiasm.
    Winning competitions is one way. Students rally around a band that hauls in trophies.
    In Kanawha County, George Washington has the highest percentage of its students in the band. It also wins the most awards.
    Band directors also recruit students from junior high and middle schools.
 Cole at Nitro has taken his marching band to Cross Lanes to play for students at Andrew Jackson Middle School.
    Thirty-six middle school students will graduate from Andrew Jackson’s band next year. Cole knows he won’t get them all, but he wants at least half to replace the 18 outgoing seniors in this year’s marching unit.
    "I have to get those middle school kids fired up,” Cole said.
    At South Charleston, Walton and Band Director Michael Bowers have invited Dunbar and South Charleston junior high bands to play with the high school band during an up-coming holiday concert.
   "I'll talk to every band member at both schools if I have to,” Walton said. "I'll personally go to those schools if I have to."
    More money from the school board also would help improve bands, principals and band directors say.
    Cole said the school board gives his band $600 per year. That money can only be used to repair broken instruments.
    Bands pay to travel to competitions. They must purchase expensive instruments for some students.Tubas cost about $10,000 each.
     Uniforms also cost a lot. Nitro’ band booster club paid $25,000 for 85 uniforms this year..
     Two weeks ago, Capital marching band members LeGretta Newcomer and Andrea Dodd hawked oranges, grapefruits and tangerines  to raise money for the band.
     Newcomer and Dodd, both juniors who play saxophone, have spent countless hours together at practices, halftime shows and parades. They have forged lasting friendships.
     “You form a family in the band," Newcomer said.                         .
    “We know each other better than our own families."
      Newcomer doesn’t want to give that up.
    “I’ll be back next year;" she said.  Dodd isn’t as sure.
    "That’s a lot of commitment,” she said. “You can’t make people, be in band. They have to want to play music.”

     To contact staff writer Eric Eyre call 348-5194.

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