Ep. 208 - Forward March: Restoring A Legacy

Reviving a Marching Band Legacy: How Teachers Build Community in Forest Lake | The Kindness Chronicles 

Steve and Jeff fill in for John and discuss Steve’s volunteer experience at the Special Olympics USA Games ESPN Unified Sports Challenge at Allianz Field, where he accompanied producer Jimmy "Jam" Harris and various celebrity sideline coaches. 

They then welcome Forest Lake educators Jake Matheson and Katie DuBois to discuss how music and marching band create belonging as the U.S. nears its 250th birthday. Jake recounts starting on tuba, being mentored by teachers like Sandy Briggs and Rich Hahn, advocating to restore Forest Lake’s marching band, and later rebuilding it in 2016 from a program that had disappeared to 140 members, supported by fundraising and scholarships. Katie describes how her passion for the clarinet evolved, joining the University of Minnesota marching band, and helping design field formations for her alma mater, while both emphasize teacher support, community, and inclusion.

Transcript

SPEAKER_07 0:10

We're listening to the number two kindness podcast in the world, according to Twitter.

SPEAKER_13 0:23

Welcome to the kindness chronicles, where we hope to inject the world with a dose of the Minnesota kindness that it desperately needs. Yes, you're not hearing John's voice, you're hearing me, Steve Brown. I'm here with Jeff. Jeff. Jeff, you and I are in charge today. We're doing the best we can with just two of us. The uh our our fearless leader John is out. We are we've taken over the KCP studios in his house. Where is John? He's he's at an Earth, Wind and Fire concert, right? Is that Lionel?

SPEAKER_03 0:54

I think Earth Wind and Fire is opening for them, but both good good musicians.

SPEAKER_13 0:58

Yeah, Lionel Ritchie and Earth Wind and Fire. And apparently he he said he needed to go because um his wife forgot to tell him that they had tickets on this date where we're recording. And it's they went on their first date together. Is that what he said?

SPEAKER_03 1:10

Yeah, they saw Lionel Ritchie in 1986. I don't know if it was their first date, but it was uh their first concert. 1986? Yeah. That's a long time ago. Speaking of a long time ago. Yeah. What did you do this week, Gary? You had kind of a cool week.

SPEAKER_13 1:25

I did, I had a great week. So our we had our guests, Kelly and Eric Olsen. On last week, they were our guests. Kelly asked me to be a part of the Special Olympics. It was the actually the Special Olympics USA Games, ESPN Unified Sports Challenge. So it was a big volunteer event, but Kelly and Eric are like in charge of the thing, and it was an enormous event at Allianz Field, and we had uh celebrity coaches, so there was football players, uh athletes, all kinds of different people. Adam Thielen from the Vikings, Joe Maurer from the Vikings or from the Twins, uh, Walter Rouse was this great dude that I met, new Vikings player, Jalen Jalen Stugs from the Orlando Magic. Just a bunch of great people that were there at this event. So there's celebrity coaches, and then there were athletes and then uh students that were uh student athletes with the athletes. So it was this great huge promotion. That's really cool. Steven, what was your job? My job was to hang and uh and be sort of the uh accompany Mr. Mr. Jimmy Jam.

SPEAKER_03 2:26

Okay so of legendary music uh uh Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Grammy Grammy winning, Grammy Matt Rock and Roll Hall of Fame winner, Grammy winner.

SPEAKER_13 2:38

Yeah, just uh an all-around uh incredibly talented guy in the Minnesota music scene. He was a member of the Time at one point, uh member of the of Prince's whole gang of people. Um he had incredible stories to share with me. We talked all day, I hung with him, I helped him get from place to place as far as uh getting through the crowds and stuff.

SPEAKER_03 2:57

What is that that we're looking at right now on that monitor?

SPEAKER_13 2:59

That's his DJ booth setup. So he was on the field uh playing music in between uh events and you know, kind of like setting the stage. And um it was he just it was great. I was actually literally I wasn't standing on the stage all day. That was just helping get some stuff out of all. But yeah, I was with him all day and watching him scratching and you know doing the DJ stuff was really cool. What's he like as a person? He is an incredible guy, um, super smart, super kind, super gracious, super talented. Everybody that was in his orbit uh that came near him, wanted to say hello to him, and he had a gracious smile and a handshake or whatever, whatever anyone needed. He was just really uh everyone got a chance to say hi to him if they wanted to. He was just great, really great guy. And he he loves music, he understands what music does, he understands what he means to Minnesota, and uh it was just great for me to spend a day with him. I I was super lucky to do it. So it's a whole uh group of other people here. This is uh Matt from the uh American Ninja Warrior, he's the host of that. This is John Barry in the center. He is a Timberwolves uh sideline guy. This is uh Carrie uh Tollifton. Okay, she's an Olympic runner, she was super great doing these guys were all kind of on field reporting and and guiding the whole thing. When Matt was the lead the lead guy explaining how the event went, but incredibly incredible day, exhausting, but uh still worth it. I'm so proud I I'm actually wearing the uh the shirt that it they gave me and stuff. So cool.

SPEAKER_03 4:25

It was great. I I as you were sort of feeding us images throughout your week uh working with him, I was reminded of a cool documentary I saw back in 1988 when I was a senior. I was super into drums. I thought I was gonna move to New York or LA, and it was called the Minneapolis Sound, and there's a really cool segment where Jimmy Jam Harris takes you on a tour of Flight Time Productions where all the magic happened. I never met him, but he just seemed like he would be a fun guy to hang out with.

SPEAKER_13 4:52

He was, and I was a it was a pleasure. And not only that, but uh this amazing event. So this was really a promo event, like ESPN promo event for the special and man, the joy and the uh just what's coming out of that is spectacular. Spectacular to see. It was actually kind of moved, really moved to see, even in this promo thing that I was watching, these people were having a great time and some great, great experiences. Crowds were going crazy. It was great. Fine. Well, congrats on that. So we have some guests here in the studio sitting patiently listening to us banter Jake and Katie. Jake and Katie, you have an introduction for that.

SPEAKER_03 5:27

We want to hear all about what they're doing. As America approaches its 250th birthday, it's hard to imagine our nation's history without the sound of marching music. From Revolutionary War fifes and drums to hometown parades and Friday night football games, marching bands have provided the soundtrack to American life for generations. For more than a century, Forest Lake has been a part of that tradition. As a member of the school's marching band myself in the late 1980s, I experienced firsthand how music connects people, builds community, and creates a sense of pride and belonging that spans generations. Today, that tradition's being carried forward by two people committed to ensuring the next generation experiences that same sense of community. Jake Matheson and Katie Du Bois have helped revive a proud tradition while creating a place where hundreds of young people have discovered confidence, belonging, and purpose. Today we'll explore their stories and how the influence of great teachers echoes across generations. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to the Kindness Chronicles, Jake Matheeson and Katie Du Bois.

unknown 6:38

Woo!

SPEAKER_03 6:39

Thanks for having us here. Yeah. All the way from Flurse Lake, Minnesota. The White Bear. Yeah. It's great to have you here. Thank you for coming down here. Let's just begin with how did you get into music? Tell us the origin story of Jake Matheeson.

SPEAKER_05 6:56

Uh well, my story begins on kind of a kind of a unique note compared to what you might expect from a music teacher. Um, I joined the school band in sixth grade, um, mostly to get out of the general music class, um, just to try something new. I wanted to play the saxophone. Um decided I'm gonna play the saxophone, and then music connection in Forest Lake um at the time was transitioning from an older model um onto a new system where you had to have a credit card to get an instrument. Um this makes me sound older than I am. Um credit cards. Right. Uh my parents didn't have a credit card, so I was told, like, you can be in the band, but you got to play something the school owns. Um, so Sandy Briggs, who was my sixth grade band teacher, found me in in the hallway and she's like, Do you want to play the French horn or the tuba? And I'm like, I don't know what either of those things are. Like, well, just tell me what to do. Um, she's like, Well, you're tall. I've been almost the same height since. Um you're tall, you can play the tuba. Like, okay. Uh went home. This also makes me sound old, looked up in the encyclopedia. Wow. The tuba. There's a picture of a Susan, actually, the giant, you know, marching tubas that wrap around you. Um was like, I don't know what I got myself into, but um kind of from there, you know, I'd found a place to belong. I hadn't been in other school activities or any really anything outside of school. I did a lot of you know, stay-at-home reading, that kind of stuff. Um so being part of part of the band um started in sixth grade and just kind of evolved from there.

SPEAKER_13 8:34

Were you ever bummed out like that that's what you'd got? Because it's kind of a big instrument to carry in a bus is a good thing. Like, you know, the the the flute or the piccolo or the even a saxophone is smaller. It's kind of you you gotta that's your partner on a bus seat. I mean, that's pretty big, right?

SPEAKER_05 8:49

Yeah, I mean the nice thing when you play a big school-owned instrument is you know, the the band wants somebody to play the tuba, so they give you two of them. Okay. So one stays at home. Okay, there you go. Yeah, so you don't have to have to haul it around on the bus as much. Yeah, I mean, obviously, marching band, you gotta haul it on your shoulder, but yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, okay, that's good.

SPEAKER_03 9:06

I saw a story about you um uh taking private lessons with Mr. Hahn. I played under Mr. Hahn during the the years of 85 to 88. So he was uh a big influence. Um the the band was at its peak then. We went to the Rose Bowl and played for the World Series and just a number of things, but I that caught my attention. Tell us a little about your exposure to Mr. Hahn.

SPEAKER_05 9:30

Uh so my sixth grade band teacher, Sandy Caslow Briggs, um saw something in me that, like, hey, this kid's got talent, this kid uh is gonna work hard. Um and Mr. Hahn at the time was doing some summer lessons. The marching band program had kind of gone by the wayside um by that point. Um he was teaching some summer lessons, and and Sandy Briggs was like, Hey, you know, Rich, you gotta take this kid. I think he was mostly working with high schoolers that are, you know, like preparing for all state auditions and college and that kind of high-level stuff. Um, and me being a 12-year-old, it was like, hey, like he had to be kind of convinced, like this is gonna be worth your time. Um and that first summer I took lessons with him, he just he pushed me like crazy, like I didn't know. Um, you know, coming from a beginning band, like you learn to play you know three, four notes at first. And um, and then you've got like, okay, you're gonna go have lessons with this high school band teacher that's um you know, done all these amazing things. And were you nervous at all? Because he's kind of an intense guy. He yeah, he I mean he was you know, one-on-one. He I would say he's a lot less intense than when he was in front in front of a group. Um you know, at the time I was didn't really know a whole lot about him, other than that, you know, he was the recommended um you should really take lessons with this guy. I think you'll learn a lot. Um and he he pushed me, he taught me so many things, and like he gave me long assignments of like, you gotta do this, you gotta do this, find this recording of this Mozart horn concerto and listen to it and tell me what you think about it. Um, just really like making me think about music in a different way than just like the mechanics of like, you know, here's what we do. Yeah.

SPEAKER_13 11:09

Did you have piano or anything as a bassist in the beginning? Nope.

SPEAKER_05 11:12

Okay. Started on the tuba.

SPEAKER_13 11:13

Good. I I feel like that was kind of the thing with band. Uh everyone wanted I wanted to play the drums, and everybody did. But they said they they they pushed us back and said, Well, you gotta learn piano first. Like, ugh, yep.

SPEAKER_03 11:25

I just want to play drums. Do you guys remember Quiet Riot? One way to get attention as a drummer was to play their song, Come On Feel the Noise, and I would play that beat, and you would instantly get everybody looking at you and going, Yeah, because that was the hot thing on the radio. So it was fun to be a drummer. That's 80s.

SPEAKER_05 11:41

Everyone wants to be a drummer.

SPEAKER_03 11:42

Yeah, until it's time to move all the drums all the time. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that's difficult. It doesn't get fun then. All right. So I have a piece of media that I'm going to show, and I'm interested in the backstory of this.

SPEAKER_00 11:55

Each school in the district has been asked to submit proposals on ways of reducing costs by 10%.

SPEAKER_13 12:02

This is what I've decided. The entire music program and art and drama.

SPEAKER_00 12:07

Jake Matheson of Forest Lake has the same problem. The marching band in his future school no longer exists. Jake actually carried his vintage tuba in two different bands in the July 4th parade. First, the yellow-shirted city band, and then running to the back of the line of march, he joined his junior high school band, still wearing the city band's yellow shirt. The 15-year-old is on the march with a mission. His is a solo song for now in Forest Lake, but he's not giving up.

SPEAKER_05 12:39

I think there's a possibility. And I think, you know, related to my personal experience, like being out um in the junior high marching band, uh, the picture that's on the screen there is me in seventh grade. Um and one of you know one of the guys in the row in front of me there is still my best friend to this day. Uh he was the best man in my wedding. Um when kids are looking for a place to belong and they don't necessarily have um another place or another support network, um, I think the band really became that for me in a lot of ways. Um I was in junior high at Century Junior High with Mario Lockway and Carol Rupart. Um and just going through my own, you know, like pretty being a teenager, it sucks. It's hard enough. Pretty important phase.

SPEAKER_13 14:08

And to have something to go to and to work toward and work together on, that's amazing. That's exactly what you want. That's what you need in high school. And yeah.

SPEAKER_05 14:16

So somewhere you where you feel valued and somewhere where you feel like you belong, um, you know, that is what it was for me. Um, and I I didn't want that to end as why I was pushing for like we gotta have a high school marching band. Like, this can't just be right seventh through ninth grade and then done. Did you know about the legacy of what had happened in the 80s back then?

SPEAKER_09 14:34

From just north of Minneapolis and St. Paul in the land of 10,000 lakes, my home, Minnesota, the Forest Lake High School marching band.

SPEAKER_05 14:42

I mean, I I didn't know to the extent of what the Forest Lake High School Band had done. Um, you know, I'm sure I saw them when I was a little kid at at the parades. Interesting. Okay. So you didn't have the backstory. But I didn't really have the backstory of like, you know, all the the Rose Bowl and the and the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade and all that stuff at the time.

SPEAKER_03 15:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 15:03

Um, obviously more of that came out when it's like I was asking about this, and then there's like this community uprising of like, yeah, we need to do that again. Um and I I mean I knew a little bit about it just from my parents both being of course like high school alumni and um and their friends having friends that were in the band.

SPEAKER_13 15:21

So how did how did the news story come to you? How did that how did you become a centerpiece of that news story?

SPEAKER_05 15:28

Uh so when I was 14 and 15 years old, I was like petitioning at the school board. Like, hey, you gotta bring the marching band back.

SPEAKER_03 15:36

Um, that's not a real typical 15-year-old set of behaviors. So there's gotta be more to it than that. Who did someone push you? Did you say I really want this? And your mom and dad helped you, or what would tell us about the support structure?

SPEAKER_05 15:51

Um, I think just like the local civic engagement. Um my grandparents were involved in local politics. Um and my mom was like, if that's what you want, like I'll you know, I'll support you, whatever, whatever it's gonna take. Pretty awesome. Um, so for her to like like here's who you should ask, and okay, we gotta message the the principal of the high school at the time, and you know, get get this answer from the activities director. And that's it, you know.

SPEAKER_13 16:16

And I I think that probably is more powerful coming from a kid than from another another teacher or director or someone in charge. Like, if the kids want it, this kid's passionate about it, he loves it, he's finding connection. I mean, that's so smart. Uh of whoever was encouraging you, but I mean, not that it's manipulative, you really want to do it. You you know, you're just being the voice of it. That's great. That's fantastic.

SPEAKER_03 16:38

Yeah. And so the just so I'm understanding, you're seventh grade here. You must be in Mr. Ron's band. Yep. Phil Ron.

SPEAKER_05 16:46

Yep. Um, Phil Ron was the Southwest Junior High Band teacher um from 1980 until he retired in 2011. Um super awesome guy, relaxed, fun to be around. Yeah. Um, and he was the marching junior high marching band director for many, many years. Um, and he was the marching band director when I was in it.

SPEAKER_13 17:10

And are those considered tubas or sousaphones or what are those? They're huge. That's why I'm like, Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 17:18

And and you weren't marching here. Is that because the band was so small that you were just riding in a pickup here playing?

SPEAKER_05 17:25

So I didn't realize it at the time, but you know, because it was just normal, I didn't know any better. But um, the marching band had shrunk to the size. I think there was like 25 to 30 people in it. Um, and he had made the decision that we were gonna ride on a float that year. So the band's on a float on a trailer behind that truck. Uh, and then the low brass folks got shoved in the in the trailer bed there.

SPEAKER_03 17:48

Funny. So you're you're like, I kind of I like this, but I want to make it bigger, and you start um pulling the school board and things like that. And and and what were the results of that?

SPEAKER_05 18:02

Um, I mean, it definitely got attention, you know, when you bring up when you bring up something that's been such a legacy and tradition in the community. Um when you set a community uprising, give us an example. It works in uh, you know, all of a sudden, you know, all of a sudden it's like, okay, a front page of the newspaper in the Star Tribune on Care 11, like um, you know, marching band directors from Rosemont Apple Valley are calling my parents, like, hey, did you want to drive them down to be in the art program? Um I feel like I poked a bear that I didn't quite know. I think it was kind of a sore spot for a lot of people that loved that program so much when it was eliminated.

SPEAKER_03 18:40

Um that like it it sounds like not just in Forest Lake, but in the state of Minnesota in general, you ta you poked a bear.

SPEAKER_05 18:47

Yeah. I mean when you look at school funding across um across decades, it obviously hasn't kept up with inflation. Yeah. Um and things that are considered extra would be the first, you know, the first to go on the list of priorities. A lot of times, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 19:03

Yeah, which is too bad. Uh just because it's it's it's such a great program. There's uh float that came out in I think it was 2022.

SPEAKER_08 19:12

It was like band directors. This is for you. We've got a precedent-setting double entry. It's a float and a band that salutes America's band leaders. First, the float, we teach music, we teach life.

SPEAKER_03 19:27

As you've developed it, um you've seen what these kids are capable of when you give them a good task or something that stretches them.

SPEAKER_13 19:38

I want to talk to Katie sitting there quietly and patiently. You guys know each other because Jake was your teacher, yeah. Okay, so that's fascinating. I know you're gonna get to it, but I that's kind of interesting, right? You're you're uh uh you have a grad, but you also you also went to Forest Lake.

SPEAKER_04 19:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_13 19:53

Okay, cool. You have questions. I just wanted to kind of clarify and let her say her, you know, say something.

SPEAKER_03 19:59

Well, tell us about tell us about your background. You grew up in Forest Lake, and how did you get started and what instrument do you play?

SPEAKER_11 20:06

Yeah. Um, I went to Wyoming Elementary. I graduated from Forest Lake in 2022, just for reference to um so when it was like fifth grade, time to pick instruments or whatever, I did not want to join band. Um, my mom made me because of the fact that like I could read notes and my parents weren't involved in music. They can't read notes or like thing anything like that. Um, so they were like, well, you can, so you have to, you have to at least try it out.

SPEAKER_03 20:35

So we deem our family in some way first with the reading music, so you have to.

SPEAKER_11 20:40

Yeah. So um I when it was time to pick instruments or whatever, I we had played recorder like all through elementary school. And I was like, oh well, one of my friends at the time was like they started playing the clarinet because it was like the recorder and they were good at it and it was easy. So I was like, okay, I'll do that.

SPEAKER_04 20:59

And it's small, it's not a tuba, but you can make it, yeah.

SPEAKER_11 21:02

Yeah. Um, so I was like, okay, I'll just play clarinet for a year and then I'll quit because I don't want to I don't want to be in music. So my mom made me join band. I picked clarinet, um, and I fell in love with it really quickly. I really liked it.

SPEAKER_13 21:17

Um did you think it was gonna be too much work? Like, why didn't you want to do it? And then why did you end up loving it? What yeah?

SPEAKER_11 21:22

It was too much work and I didn't want to play an instrument. I just wanted to do general music, get that requirement done with, and then drop out. But yeah.

SPEAKER_13 21:31

So what'd you love about it?

SPEAKER_11 21:32

I just liked playing it. It was fun. Um, I liked being in band class in sixth grade. It was fun because it was like a once a week kind of on Fridays type of thing, and I thought that was fun. I don't know, I just really liked it.

SPEAKER_13 21:44

And and playing with other people is kind of cool. Is any gratification for that? Like once you get going, like it's kind of moving, right? To actually start playing something and find out that you're creating a piece of music together. Yeah. I've never played in band, I played in bands. I've never played with a a big uh high school band. That would be so Gratifying, I think, to be a part of something really big.

SPEAKER_11 22:03

Yeah. Yeah. I made a lot of friends in like sixth grade band too. Um, and especially because we had like private lessons with like just like clarinets, like just flutes, whatever. That was really fun too, because I got to just do kind of what I could on my instrument.

SPEAKER_03 22:19

So when did you become Jake's student?

SPEAKER_05 22:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_11 22:22

Seventh grade. Okay. Seventh grade band.

SPEAKER_05 22:24

I started teaching band that fall at Southwest. So I had I had interacted with Katie, but I wasn't her teacher in sixth grade. We were in the rooms next door to each other. I was teaching choir, um, shockingly. And um then she was in my first seventh grade band class of my band teaching career. What was it like to be his student?

SPEAKER_11 22:47

It was great. I liked, I really liked middle school band there. I say I liked it a lot more than high school band. It was really fun. Really? Yeah. It was just because it was such like, I don't know, what was it like 70?

SPEAKER_05 22:59

There were 72 seventh graders in that room. Yeah. Yeah. That's a lot. And a first-year teacher, yeah.

SPEAKER_13 23:04

That sounds like a lot for you to have to handle, right? Control everybody and like keep them all engaged and keep them interested. Yeah, that's not easy for anybody.

SPEAKER_11 23:13

Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. It was just a really fun environment. I know everybody was like a moment of school was kind of like a time before people kind of like spread off into like their own kind of like cliques and different friend groups and stuff like that. So just like everybody in the whole class was friends, and it was like a really supportive and good environment to be in. It was like my first or second class of the day. So it was always something I looked forward to. It was a good way to start my day. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 23:38

So this struck me when I was listening to your showcase concert last year, Jake. So we'll just pay attention to the announcer and the mission of the band.

SPEAKER_02 23:47

Over the course of this summer, the band has spent countless hours together with 20 performances across our community and the state of Minnesota. The Forest Lake Marching Band continues to live out its mission to cultivate teamwork, leadership, and personal responsibility, to deliver high-quality musical performances, to create engaging and memorable performances, to strengthen the bond between our schools, music programs, and the community, and above all, to have fun while creating unforgettable experiences through dedication, leadership, and joy. This band has become more than a program, it is a family.

SPEAKER_03 24:38

How is it a family, if you can react to that, either of you?

SPEAKER_05 24:44

Um I think when you when you share a common goal with people um or a common experience, um, it just ties you together. And the marching band specifically, like you're you're doing academic-ish type things, um, but largely, you know, you've got the opportunity to go out to different communities, you've got all these different um facets of the program where you're socializing um as well as making music together that just kind of brings you together like a you know, like a team mentality.

SPEAKER_13 25:19

I saw the Manitou Days parade, and it was a rainy day. So you have to obviously be prepared for whatever is gonna be coming your way, whether it's really hot, cold, rainy in Minnesota, you have to you as a director have to be ready. Let these kids help these kids be ready. Um what what I was gonna say was aside from being a musical, you know, it's they have to be smart enough to be able to uh play their instrument, learn their instrument, play together, but there's still a physical aspect to it. You're marching, you're walking a long way, and you have to keep people focused, and there's it's a physical, it's a physical thing. Sometimes a pretty grueling endurance factor. Yeah. Um that's something that people don't think about. They just, oh, that's great, that's a parade. But these kids are walking a long time in the heat, in the rain. Um, how do you prepare for that kind of thing?

SPEAKER_05 26:10

Um, I mean, we do a lot of marching around the streets of Forest Lake um to prepare them, talk a lot about hydration and you know, to be able to mentally prepare for like you are on display all the time, you're representing the band, you're representing the school. Um, and really the people come to parades to see you. Like, no one's going to the parade to see the politicians, right?

SPEAKER_13 26:31

The reality truck with people for the reality company. No, you want to you want that excitement, and that's what that's me and Jeff were talking about. That just the what what a parade does, uh, what the what the uh marching band does for a parade. It just it it that's the that's the reason you're there. It's a spectacle of sight and sound, and it everybody perks up when they hear the drums coming. It's just a really cool experience.

SPEAKER_03 26:56

This is uh article um indicating how you were awarded uh the prestigious national award by Yamaha 40 under 40. And I was reading all about the culture, the leadership, your approach to the band, uh leading the kids, creating a culture of inclusivity and things like that. That was kind of where I wanted to get to, and and we've got a picture of teachers up here, and I know you've you're in the you're pretty young guy. I mean, and you've you've been inducted into the Forest Lake Hall of Fame. Wow. Are there some lessons you learned from some of these people that informed your leadership style and how you approach the band?

SPEAKER_05 27:38

I mean, yeah, the picture on the screen is you know, that's the team that's backing me up outside of my family, um, still to this day. Um who are we looking at? So Phil Ron on the left there is um was the Southwest band teacher. He wasn't my actual band teacher, but I had him for marching band. Um and then Maria Lockway is next. So she was one of my two middle school band teachers uh at Century Junior High, along with Carol Rupar in the middle there. Carol's definitely like the heart of the the heart of the music program to me um when I was a student. And then on my um my other side there is Sandy Briggs, who was my beginning band teacher and continued to um show up and provide opportunities even when I was out of her classroom. So you've got a you know a team of a team of educators that um went way above and beyond for me throughout my whole force leg education.

SPEAKER_13 28:36

So I just want to what do you think they saw in you um as a kid? Aside from just it sounds like you were hardworking. What what was it what is it that you're looking for in a in a kid, you know, and what do they see in you? How do what are the elements and those traits that you're kind of looking for and that they they maybe saw in you early on?

SPEAKER_05 28:54

Um something that I always tried to do was I would try to give back to the to the program. Um like when I was in high school, I would go over um and teach lessons at the junior highs or help with uh help with their concerts, or you know, the school timelines wouldn't would line up so that I could go to an elementary school at 2 30 and help with their band rehearsal. Um so I did a lot of that like volunteer work. Um because of that, you know, when I was in junior high, I had decided that that's what I wanted to do with my life was to teach band.

SPEAKER_13 29:26

That's cool. So you automatically realized you gotta share this stuff. It's so cool and it's so gratifying.

SPEAKER_05 29:32

And I I think in a lot of ways, the ways that these teachers showed up for me inspired me to give back and show up for others.

SPEAKER_03 29:38

Another story I saw Jake, your alma mater for college, maybe got wind of you and then put on a concert at Forest Lake, that's University of South Dakota, right? Yep. Tell us a little about that.

SPEAKER_05 29:49

Um so when I was in high school, I was looking at college choices as as one does, and uh I wanted to go somewhere that was number one, affordable. Um, and you know, I I kind of wanted to be a little ways away from from Forest Lake, um, being a third generation graduate and like knowing everybody in town, um, my you know, my family. Sure. It felt like, you know, I could go try something new. Um, so I was looking at a couple of a couple of colleges in North and South Dakota. Um, and when I toured at University of South Dakota, the low brass professor there, um, Dr. Jonathan Alvis, just was like, we need you to come here. Like, we need a tuba player, we need you to come here. What can I do? Um, he was like writing me letters and like offering me virtual lessons. Uh that's cool. Uh and he was, you know, at the time he was a young guy uh that was just getting started in his his collegiate career.

SPEAKER_13 30:43

Um they want motivated people, they want someone who's gonna help hold up their team. That's cool.

SPEAKER_05 30:49

So as a result of that, um the South Dakota Coyotes, for whatever reason, ended up playing uh football at the U of M. And so their their stop on the way, their their practice performance was in Forest Lake. So they came, he brought the whole marching band up, played at Force Lake High School. Wow. Uh played in the stands with us. It rained then too. Of course, and then uh yeah, that was kind of the the story with him recruiting me.

SPEAKER_13 31:16

Wow. Really cool. He really sought after you. He he didn't want to stop to you, and and it worked.

SPEAKER_05 31:21

Yeah, and he he too had a lot of the same traits that I'm talking about with you know going above and beyond to support kids, and um, you know, he's he was a mentor and a friend to me too.

SPEAKER_03 31:32

That's so cool. Last year you put a showcase concert on, and when you introduced Katie to the crowd.

SPEAKER_05 31:38

Tonight would not have been possible without Katie. She single-handedly wrote and taught all the fieldwork. She even took the time to watch videos of Mr. Richard Hahn's field shows from the 80s and 90s and was able to recreate some of the fortunes formations, excuse me, that Mr. Hahn wrote. Katie has been bugging me since she was 12 years old, asking why does Forest Lake not have a field marching band? And it turns out she grew up to make it happen herself. Let's please give Katie a round of applause.

SPEAKER_03 32:08

How did you go from I don't know if I want to play clarinet to asking your teacher if you step?

SPEAKER_11 32:15

Um, yeah. So after sixth grade ban ended, I got really into just watching like college marching bands, so like the U of M and like Ohio State and just whatever I could find online. Um and coincidentally, that's the year that you brought the marching band back. Oh, cool. And I didn't realize that was happening until I saw like the newspaper article about it and like the Fourth of July parade. And I was like, oh, like I didn't realize like we had a marching band. Um, so I joined my summer after seventh grade. So 2017 was when I joined on clarinet, which was a lot of fun, and then I fell in love with it even more. Um, but I would often compare like things I'd see from other high school bands and what we were doing, and that's when I got really annoying with all my like, hey, why don't we do this? Or we should do this, we should do this.

SPEAKER_13 33:08

Umbitious, ambitious ideas, yeah. Because you'd been seeing such big things at these big college stuff, you were like, let's we can do better.

SPEAKER_11 33:17

Yeah, I uh I just had I had a lot of ideas, and then um the following year, so when I was going into ninth grade, um I became the drum major, which I had for five years, and that allowed me to really just like do a lot of different things, um, help out all in a lot of unique ways because I wasn't playing the clarinet and I was at the front of the band conducting. Um, that was really fun, and then I just fell in love with it even more.

SPEAKER_03 33:43

This is from 1986, the the NFL um Viking show. Um, and Mr. Han was very much an innovator, and I don't know if you had ever heard the name Red McLeod from the University of Minnesota, but I think he learned a lot through him. Um, I was too young to understand all the dynamics, but I remember him coming into our band room and being really excited. Just got off the phone with Red McLeod, and we would laugh at it. But he was excited, and that was that got us excited. But had you ever seen footage of a Force Lake band doing these kinds of things on the field?

SPEAKER_11 34:17

I hadn't until we had just digitized these like last year, I think. Yeah. So I hadn't seen any of this until like last year. I'd seen videos from like Macy's Day and Rosebowl, but I hadn't seen actually any like field shows. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 34:32

So you saw the street marching, but when Mr. Hahn passed away and tragically he he and his wife uh were hit by a car.

SPEAKER_06 34:39

A beloved band director and his wife were killed in a car crash on Friday. And tonight, former students are remembering Richard Hahn, who worked at Forrest Lake High School for decades. His impact though, lasting lifetimes.

SPEAKER_05 34:52

Yeah, I had I'd seen some of the videos because they were in a file cabinet up in the music storage when I was in high school. I watched some of them just because I was interested. Um, but I thought that all the videos were gone until his son Marcus reached out and he's like, Hey, do you have a use for these? Like, I don't need to just hold on to them. Um, and I offered to digitize all of the all the archival videos that Mr. Han had.

SPEAKER_03 35:16

And so Katie's at the U of M and joined the marching program. Was it cool? Was it everything you ever wanted it to be? A Big Ten marching band?

SPEAKER_11 35:25

Coming from Forest Lake, where we just practiced for a few weeks in the summer, all of a sudden having rehearsal like every single day from August to end of November. So definitely was a good kind of like Big Ten band experience.

SPEAKER_13 35:38

I went to one U of M game uh just last or maybe a year and a half ago. Fantastic. It was just a super uh impressive and passionate way to kick off a sporting event, and that's the way it should be done. The power of music is vital to that to that moment on the field.

SPEAKER_03 35:56

You're studying or studied psychology.

SPEAKER_11 35:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 36:00

Um commentary on the psychology behind why that works so well. Any any thoughts?

SPEAKER_11 36:07

No, it's okay. I just I just got my degree. I should put it to the right. Um I think it's just kind of like you know, the energy of it being there. It's loud. It's like it's not like listening to something over a speaker. It's kind of like the same reason why people go to concerts, just more immersive. You can see actually like what's making the noise rather than something like playing over a speaker. Um kinetic, yeah.

SPEAKER_13 36:31

That's actually happening in front of you.

SPEAKER_11 36:33

The band is like in the crowd too at those types of games. So it's just echoing everywhere and just it's exciting. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 36:42

Back to Jake for a second and him being your teacher. I think I read somewhere where you were impressed with the fact that he sent out a survey to his kids and said, What are your extracurriculars and would you like me to attend an event? Tell tell us a little about that.

SPEAKER_11 36:56

In middle school band, there was like a like it was kind of like an envelope where you could write like any upcoming, like if you're in like sports or if you're in like musicals or anything. Um you could just like write the date and like who from band class was like in it, and then you could just put that in the envelope and you'd show up to things like that.

SPEAKER_13 37:17

So Jake would.

SPEAKER_11 37:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_13 37:19

So what what was the point of that? Tell us what you're trying to figure out there.

SPEAKER_05 37:23

We're trying to I mean, I think to build a culture or to build a you know, to build somewhere where people know that you've got their back. Um, you gotta show up. Like the the biggest gift you can give someone is your time. Right. So cool. I would ask the kids, like, you know, if you got anything going on, like I will show up, I'll come to your concert, I'll come to your, you know, I'd go to softball games or volleyball practice or whatever.

SPEAKER_13 37:46

Um Did you have any kids that were in bands that like rock and roll bands that like said I have a gig when you come out and see my band play? No, no side, no side bands out of the band groups.

SPEAKER_05 37:56

I used to do a lot more of that before I had my own kids too. Of like, obviously now my time is yeah, yeah. I got three little kids at home.

SPEAKER_13 38:02

So what was the reaction when you did show up at things?

SPEAKER_05 38:04

Like, what did what did what did you find the kids was like, wow, like you know I feel like some of the kids would be like, he's actually here, like he actually, you know, and then they talk about it during class, like he actually came to my game. Yeah. That's smart.

SPEAKER_13 38:17

Smart to do that. It's really getting yourself involved in the community and showing the kids you actually aren't just a guy in that classroom that one hour of the day, like you're actually a person out there involved and you know, interested. That's really cool.

SPEAKER_03 38:31

Would you say that this team of people taught you that? Or how did you learn that? Or were you just born with that kind of emotional intelligence to know that the kids might respond well to it?

SPEAKER_05 38:45

That's a good question. Um you know, I think my my teacher showed up for me. Um if I was performing, like I if I'd played at church, Mrs. Rupar would come um, or like Mrs. Briggs would say, Hey, do you want to go down and play in Tuba Christmas? Have you ever heard of Tuba Christmas? It's like No, it's a it's an international event that happens all over the world. Oh, funny. Um that tuba players gather and play Christmas carols. There's one in St. Paul that I've played at a number of times. There's like 200 tuba players that gather. And everyone's just playing the bass notes? No, they play the melody and everything else. But I mean, when you got that many tubas in a room, it like shakes the whole city block fully. Yeah. So just other opportunities like that that you know, my teachers were like, hey, like you should do this. Hey, like, hey, you want to go do this? Um, is that when you got the nickname Tuba Jake? The nickname Tuba Jake actually came from uh in sixth grade. I was in honor band, and Mr. Chuck Dodson uh couldn't remember my name, but I was the only Tuba player, so he'd be like, Hey, tuba.

SPEAKER_03 39:50

Mr. Dodson taught me drums. He was my first uh private lesson teacher and he was a great guy and another one that passed too early.

SPEAKER_13 39:58

Did Tuba Jake stick? And you still call Tuba Jake with your with your pals?

SPEAKER_05 40:02

Uh tattoo. You got a tattoo. Is this tuba junk? No tattoo back. Okay. A lot of people still call me Tuba Jake. I tell the I tell the kids too, like, because they'll hear about the name. Yeah. Like you got to call me, you know, at least Matheson until you like get to be a senior in high school.

SPEAKER_03 40:14

Then you can call me what you want, but yeah. So on the topic of kindness and then just sort of lifting a person up and being there when the chips are down, you went to USD and and tell us what happened with regard to your vision.

SPEAKER_05 40:29

Um, so when I went to c off to college, uh obviously I was all gung-ho about I'm gonna be a music educator, um, study performance and and do all the things. Um and then spring of my freshman year, I started noticing that my vision was deteriorating. And you know, you when you're 18, 19 years old, you're just like, ah, just ignore it. Yeah, it'll go away, right? Um, but by the time I was a sophomore that following fall, um, when I went into an eye doctor, I actually was back in in Forest Lake at an eye doctor, and he's like, I think there's something else going on. Um, so I was diagnosed with keratoconus, which is like a misshaping of the cornea that it it can mask as an astigmatism, but it basically makes everything blurry and hard to um hard to see, progress makes it progressively worse. Oh boy. Um so yeah, at that point it was your teaching career at this point is uh threatened. Yeah. Right. Yeah. I mean at that time it was like, okay, what's you know, what's your life trajectory? Like there wasn't um reliable procedures or anything at the time. Um until luckily a few months later there was an FDA trial that I was a uh case file number one uh in the Midwest for a clinical trial that and you learned about that through Yeah, I learned about the clinical trial through um my friends and colleagues and former teachers, Mario Lockway and Carol Rupar. Um they had a another former Force Lake friend um that was working as a nurse at True Vision Institute, and they were talking about like these clinical trials that they were doing, and and they were like, I think this might be related to what Jake has. Really? Um, so of all things, they like they ran into my parents at uh the Taco Days Festival in Scandia and were like, Hey, like you might want to call this place um and find out about this because it might I think it's related to what Jake has going on. Um so my parents called and they're like, How do you know about this? Like it's not even published yet. Um wow. And I I was eligible for the trial. And again, that force lake comes through. We have some pretty cool teachers up there, as you can tell.

SPEAKER_13 42:43

We often talk about Mani Midai High School or Hillmory High School or St. Thomas, and but yeah, a lot of Force Lake. This is a that's that's beautiful, actually. That's really cool. That I thought Force Lake is pretty essential to your uh foundation, it sounds like yeah, and not only that when he was in limbo with this whole thing, was it Mrs.

SPEAKER_03 43:02

Briggs brought you back and helped you student teach so you have something to do because you had to take school off?

SPEAKER_05 43:07

Yeah, so I took a semester off of school. Um, and basically every day I'd go to Southwest Junior High, where I later replaced um Mrs. Briggs when she retired, um, and I volunteered and taught and helped with jazz band and taught lessons and you know organized music and all the like daily tasks that a teacher would have to do. Um it's basically like on-the-job training. Um the circumstances weren't good in my own personal life, but um the way that that played out, I think, is what led me number one to pursue music education for sure. Um, and number two, just to like that's pretty much what landed me the job when you're when you're interviewing for a job against a number of different candidates. Like here you've got this guy that doesn't have experience necessarily, but has experience in this building with these. kids.

SPEAKER_13 44:00

You're already doing the job in a way. Right.

SPEAKER_05 44:02

It's like, well, what would you, you know, what would you do if you got this job? Like, well, I'm already teaching jazz band here and helping there. And like, you know, I had my job interview was in that classroom. You know, it's like that you spend every day in. Right. I can name all the kids that sit in these seats already. That's a that's a plus, right?

SPEAKER_13 44:18

Yeah. Yeah, that's that's really cool. That's so you you the clinical I'm back to the medical issue. The clinical trial worked and it cleared up or how long did that take?

SPEAKER_05 44:31

So the first surgery was in November and I went back to school in January or February. And the second surgery was in March over spring break. The first surgery had a longer recover recovery period for whatever reason. Where I was like in the dark and it was miserable. But ultimately like the the procedures stopped the progression of the disease. So I do I mean I still have eye issues but um not nearly to the extent that they once were and kind of things are stable.

SPEAKER_13 45:08

So that's good. That's fantastic.

SPEAKER_03 45:11

As I was reading your story I couldn't help but keep thinking about Mr. Holland's opus. Mr. Holland didn't want to teach he wanted to compose music because he wanted to be famous and create this opus that would make lots of money but he ended up kind of getting this teaching gig and it was sort of just a job and a paycheck but then he really loved it and star started making connections. They had a kid who was born completely deaf. And it's like life throws these things at you these curveballs and there's another saying man plans, God laughs because it's like you just don't know what's going to happen. But I just was very struck with how your teachers all had your back and helped you and I can't help but think that is fueling what you are doing for the students and giving back to them.

SPEAKER_05 45:59

Absolutely yeah I was definitely I mean I'm still inspired by um by the teachers that I had and um you know and I still interact with them regularly which is a super unique and cool thing that I um am still in contact with all of my living music teachers.

SPEAKER_03 46:17

This is Mr. Hahn and prior to him there was a guy that I didn't know but also was part of the city band Raleigh Nelson. And I just thought it was a super kind gesture that you put together a musical eulogy for his funeral and directed the kids in three different tunes along with the school fight song with that. I don't know if you want to comment on that but I'm interested in learning about the Tefla thing and Poco a poca.

SPEAKER_05 46:42

Poco a poco?

SPEAKER_13 46:43

Yeah I want to hear about that.

SPEAKER_05 46:45

So Mr. Han um helped with the marching band when I was a student obviously had this giant legacy of uh marching bands and concert bands and his symphonic wins that was award winning and traveled the world. I had him as a high school teacher for one year his his last year before he retired um in addition to having lessons with him for for several summers um on my tuba and he you know I think when he retired he he kind of felt like he was pushed out a little bit um times in education were changing like is this a priority kind of similar to the Mr. Holland's overleep yeah um and he made the decision to retire him and his wife both retired um so you've got these giants of music education that have taught literally thousands of kids um you know stepping down to to leave it for the next generation um and I corresponded with Mr. Hahn he was he was kind of a private guy in his retirement um but he reached out to me several times after I started teaching of like like here you might be interested in the history of this or have you thought of you know have you thought of um doing this with the band um not in like a pushy like you're not you know you're doing it wrong kind of way but just in like a helpful um you know kind of behind the scenes way um and he would always answer if I asked a question or um you know we'd we'd talk once in a while about the history of things or you know when a new when a newspaper article would come out and he'd reply to me and say hey this is all wrong like yeah I know I didn't write it.

SPEAKER_13 48:26

So he was still kind of connected yeah and but yet sort of passed you the baton and and sort of kept like showing you interesting things that he was finding. That's cool.

SPEAKER_05 48:36

And I had a I had a unique connection with Mrs. Hahn as well. I started teaching at Wyoming Elementary mid year I graduated in December started in January um and there had been a long-term sub and the long term sub that was at Wyoming elementary was Mrs. Hahn um so I was overlapping with her and like she um she was in a position where she was able to have some overlap with me um to be like here's what you can do with these kids or here's like here's what I was doing. You might want to try this so she was kind of like my you know hands on the ground mentor for teaching elementary music which I had no intention of ever doing um that'd be tough. Like hey you're gonna teach these 633 kids about music here you go um you know I was like two weeks out of college but she um so she was an influential mentor too um and they both I mean they both were just genuine kind human beings that were involved in their community and their church and they passed it on it's it's still going that's that's exactly what they were trying to do you know to keep it rolling.

SPEAKER_13 49:37

I have a I'm gonna channel John for a second. Go for it. Okay. What is this is for either of you guys what's the pinnacle for a field or marching band? Like I'm thinking like if the marching band is is it Macy's Day Parade is it the Rose Rose Bowl what's the what's the pinnacle for march or for a field event? Those are the two kind of big categories right from what I'm understanding.

SPEAKER_11 50:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_13 50:01

I'm gonna let you answer that Katie yeah maybe she might have a different opinion than you do.

SPEAKER_11 50:05

Well I think personally it's not like it's not like what you do as a band. I think it's more of just like the community that's like created within the band which I think we've talked about this before just like 'cause like you can do like a bunch of fun things but or like you can do like Macy's Day, you could do Rose Bowl, you could be at the Super Bowl even um but I personally think like none of that matters if like the program itself isn't good. Like because like if like the directors aren't talking to people if like just the band as a whole isn't like a good environment or community to be in it's like really competitive or whatever. I think it doesn't matter what you've done at that point. I think it all just depends on like the community right itself.

SPEAKER_13 50:47

It takes the fun out of it. Why are you doing it if it's not for fun if it's not a good experience if everyone's competing for the best position or whatever, right?

SPEAKER_03 50:55

Yeah that's that's a pretty that's a pretty good uh approach to to to anything I would say yeah I have a piece of media to help illustrate what Katie just said but from a a a local news personality that we all know and love.

SPEAKER_12 51:09

I definitely believe they're smiling down. Smiling down and appreciating the finale the same battle hymn of the Republic that ended every school concert directed by Marcus's dad.

SPEAKER_10 51:21

A bluster we'd have teachers like that in the state I was in band and we had an amazing band teacher Mr. Zuron and our little teeny prescott high school went to all of these amazing events Vikings games halftime shows St.

SPEAKER_05 51:39

Paul winner carnival big impact yeah bands are like family so oh thank you for that wonderful family yeah beautiful kid look how touched she is you know I saw I couldn't believe that reaction when when that report played but did you catch that when it happened last year too it meant something to her obviously yeah I think I think for me too like the you know you talk about what's the pinnacle experience of of a marching band yeah um for me it's always been what do the kids want to do and I think why why Katie has been so empowered and so um you know played such a big role in this is that even when she was in seventh grade it's like well what you know what do you want to do? Like what do you want it to be? It's not about me. So I think the for me the pinnacle experience is when the kids are all happy the kids are engaged the kids are um really excited about it. You know a band director can plan tours to Europe and um you know to go play at Disney World or whatever. You know there's there's a million opportunities out there um that you can do and it seems like a big deal but really in my mind it's what you know what what's gonna make the kids feel like they're a part of something powerful.

SPEAKER_13 52:55

That's fantastic. That's that is what you want. I mean I would think as a kid like to go to Europe with my with band would have been like the cool thing to do but I I'm sure that's just a logistic nightmare for a band director uh or a parent's an extra extra expense I'm sure all that stuff but but uh at the same time you also want to push them a little bit right you want to push them to find goals and to like you know Katie is that kind of person where she was like why don't we why don't we do these cool formations why don't we keep going like kids kids will just do nothing if you don't push them a little bit correct right yeah yeah is my is my guess as I'm not a teacher.

SPEAKER_03 53:30

They need a compass. I can a teacher has two jobs fill young minds with knowledge yes but more important give those minds a compass so that that knowledge doesn't go to waste now I don't it seems like you got to work right away with rebuilding the marching program tell us about the innovations you've done to try and make this thing happen. Because it's now a hundred and forty members strong.

SPEAKER_05 53:54

Yeah um up from what thirty yeah when I when I took it over in twenty sixteen well maybe not took it over but um because there was no band in 2015. Um so when I brought it back in 2016 um it was the summer after I'd been at Wyoming elementary doing general music so I didn't have I know if if it hadn't been for my years of volunteer work I wouldn't have had a connection with the secondary band kids to even like who is this guy that's running a marching band. At that point I'd gotten hired to be at Southwest uh junior high but um I think the the years of volunteer work that I would that I did um gave me that connection with the kids and um the goal you know the the goal all along I think it does tie really well to that Mr. Han quote um one of my my email my last email with him um before he tragically passed away um he's like keep your eyes on the prize poco a poco which is a musical term for little by little um so little by little you you build a community little by little you build experiences um little by little you learn a piece of music by practicing yeah yeah you can apply it to anything and that's really what you've been doing.

SPEAKER_03 55:16

You did a greenhouse thing and it was pretty cool and r raised like a lot of money within a very short period of time. So I want to hear that story.

SPEAKER_05 55:24

Yeah so a couple of years ago um I was approached about like hey you should you should apply for this fund a grant thing um through Tesla and Tefla does you know crowd fundraising um by way of their events for um to support school programs and opportunities for kids. And I applied for it thinking like oh yeah like it'd be nice if we could replace like one Susaphone because one SUSA phone's at the time was $7,000. Wow um and some of the instruments that we were using were probably on the shelf when my grandparents attended Force Lake High School. It's like this is held together with duct tape and hope hopes and dreams. So we we were selected as the fundagrant for Tefla and they they hold um they used to hold a gallery kind of a thing at um at Waldock Farms in Lino Lakes and I brought the band down to play and the the auctioneer kind of kicked off of like you know who who can donate 100 bucks 100 bucks um and Katie and I were there she was a student at the time um I was expecting you know oh we might make a couple thousand dollars be able to replace something that'd be that'd be super awesome and within like 10 minutes there was over fifty thousand dollars raised was the biggest fundraiser they've done in the history of the organization.

SPEAKER_03 56:46

Was it the auctioneer that good or what people were excited people were Steve I think it's the pride of Forest Lake and there's a memory there of the band and people want it back.

SPEAKER_05 56:56

That's so do you would you agree Jake it's yeah it's absolutely the legacy and the and the pride of Forest Lake people that have gone through the program and or even just been a part of the community um yeah I was in shock.

SPEAKER_13 57:10

Yeah you had to feel good about that that's awesome.

SPEAKER_03 57:12

Wow that's and so we're looking at uh new fundraiser you've got up right now um you're just about at 18k which is your goal what was this to raise money for this latest one?

SPEAKER_05 57:25

Well the original goal was 15,000 this this website keeps bumping it up which works for me the the $15,000 will get the band um to the University of Minnesota this fall um to play on the field alongside the gopher band. Oh fun and then in addition to that it cut our covers a bunch of our costs for um our performance trips and we've got um some more drumline equipment to replace um one of the big priorities with the marching band is always like I say all the time like money is not a barrier to be here. So we've got a whole scholarship fund and um some crowdsourcing this way and through businesses that um make sure that everybody can be a part of part of that legacy without um without it being a burden on families.

SPEAKER_13 58:15

So instruments break down over time especially when it's generations of kids playing them and and you know what what instrument are you surprised that it's lasts longer than it should like what's one thing you're like this thing just doesn't die some kick drum or something or a you know a heavy bass drum um what is it that doesn't break down as much as you think when you're playing outdoors yeah the drums break down yeah pretty quick um they say that you know like the expected lifespan of a you know marching snare drum is like five to seven years.

SPEAKER_05 58:48

Yeah I suppose um I've got a Susaphone that I bought at an auction that you saw in that uh clip from when I was in junior high that that's from 1918. What it's a hundred and okay that's the kind of instrument that's what I'm looking for.

SPEAKER_03 59:00

That's the kind of instrument that will just kind of keep going if you keep it working and and cleaned and and you know yeah I mean it it's beat to hell looks like it's been yeah but that doesn't matter for you know for Tuba Jake I mean well it's sound like Nigel from Spinal Tap and his guitars he just babies them right and wipes them with a diaper oh that's really cool.

SPEAKER_13 59:21

That's that's if stuff is interesting to me. Like I I yeah band gear goes and I was watching that marching band like these poor kids you know they're they got to carry that thing and they're high school kids or whatever junior high kids they're they're not always going to be the most careful with these things you know sometimes so I imagine this stuff needs to be replaced you got to keep it serviced. Yep.

SPEAKER_03 59:41

Well I'm glad we got to give people uh that that website to be involved in that fundraiser help out a little bit is is there anything we can do to help get the word out about any other initiatives for sure want to just share our gratitude to Forest Lake and first of all the two of you for coming here but as we near the Fourth of July parade is there any message you've been sharing with parents the community forest lake in general to understand what you're doing I know they'll they'll love hearing these this these stories um I think for me the biggest the biggest event of the season is our showcase concert um you know the 4th of July probably has the most exposure and that's what you think of when you think of the marching band you think of think of the parade.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:22

But for us the showcase concert because if you're along the parade route you see the band for one minute right and then they're gone. Yep. The showcase concert held at the high school um in July is kind of like our you know kind of our homecoming so to speak where you fill the crowds and um talk about the program play all the music uh recognize all the sponsors and um recognize the kids that have that have worked hard all season.

SPEAKER_13 1:00:46

And that's where they get to show all the stuff they've been doing. Marching that's just kind of walking but when you get to show a full show of stuff they've been rehearsing and working on for a whole year of course they want to show that to people.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:57

And Jake delegated that task to Katie to create those formations. I don't know if there's anything you can share there with doing that because you've never done that before.

SPEAKER_11 1:01:06

Yeah um so obviously at the U of M like we do like a whole 17 minute pregame show and then a whole like 15 minute halftime show. So like marching it and doing it is like a completely different side than like sitting down and like writing where like each person stands, each person moves from here to here and it's just and then aligning with the music is just I feel like there's like math involved.

SPEAKER_13 1:01:30

Could you use AI for that somehow to line it up because it's like math you gotta get people I mean I used to use graph paper.

SPEAKER_05 1:01:37

I remember it was all just graphs. I've tried to use AI, it doesn't work. Probably yeah doesn't understand.

SPEAKER_11 1:01:42

Yeah it's it's like yeah you pretty much just put like the football field on like a grid. Yep. I mean I have a program called Pi War that I used to write it but before you can even go into that program you have to like pull out the graph paper, make the formations, figure out how many people are standing in what side of the field and making sure there's a spot for everybody and but I think even my brain goes oh that's got to be math evolved because of steps and pacing and timing right it's amazing.

SPEAKER_13 1:02:10

And then and then rehearsing it you know that's one thing to get it planned out now you have to get kids to actually run through it and make sure everyone's like that's takes a lot of work on their end to be patient and to follow through and like stay straight and you know that's yeah I don't know how they do that. I don't know how you do that. That's amazing. I can't wait to see it.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:28

Yeah yeah it's a lot of I have a story for you with regard to that Mr during one of our performances Mr. Han found a megaphone someone had left it behind from another band and other than that he had been like yelling just to kind of project because we're a 200 member band. But he's like you know it's amazing now that just the the whole culture responds so much better because I'm not yelling like it's louder but I'm just using my regular voice. So I just I just thought that was funny and I I I think about that sometimes just little memories like that of probably saved his voice too.

SPEAKER_11 1:03:02

Yeah yeah that's that's how I communicate with them I have my I have a megaphone.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:07

Do you have a megaphone? I do have a megaphone he he loved that thing and then somehow I think it broke or got lost or someone took it you know we're a bunch of hoodlums back in the 80s but uh um well this has been so fun for me um Steve any other questions or I just think it's it's fantastic that you're continuing music is so important.

SPEAKER_13 1:03:28

Me and Jeff always talk about it. John believes it too this show ends up going a little too sportsy sometimes and I love when we get to talk about music and this is kind of a weird thing where it's kind of sports and music are kind of involved in this in this and what you guys are doing. But uh I I'm so glad you're doing it keep doing it kids need it we need it and uh and off we go