CONNEAUTVILLE — New Conneaut Area Senior High School Director of Bands Glenn Cameron became a bit teary-eyed during the new school’s first march at the Conneaut Valley Homecoming Parade on Saturday.

Sixty-seven members strong, the CASH marching band progressed down Main Street in Conneautville on Saturday as its first time as a unit. A positive response came from the hundreds of onlookers, which left Cameron with nothing but a proud feeling for his young musicians.

“To go down the street and see 21 years of alumni all give me the thumbs up, all shouting my name and clapping and praising the kids and being supportive (was great) when you’ve heard all the negative press about how everybody hates the idea of consolidation,” said Cameron, who previously spent his past 21 years at Conneaut Valley High School before Valley, Conneaut Lake and Linesville were recently consolidated into Conneaut High School. “At least the people in the arts appreciate the fact that this can be something really cool for the kids. That was reflected today going down the street.”

The CASH marching band’s inclusion in the parade was deemed nothing less than a success even after the musicians had such little time to practice together.

“We’ve been playing together for a week,” sophomore Becca Brown said. “And we’ve gotten into a little bit of our show music. But that’s about it.”

Brown, one of two baritone saxophones in the band, went to Linesville last year. She’s ecstatic about how family oriented the newly formed CASH marching band is, even if it contains former rivals.

“I feel like everybody is welcoming each other and we’re not arguing at all,” Brown said. “I thought it was going to be a rivalry thing, but we all put the Lake, Valley and Linesville thing behind us and moved on with the new school. We’re setting a role for when we go into school. ... We can show the other students that we are consolidated and that’s OK.”

Cameron, who said he was proud of two-plus decades he spent at Valley, has been striving for a family oriented band for years. And this year, band members had a chance to truly feel part of the planning process when they voted on show music for the 2012 season.

A Wikispaces account was created for Conneaut Area Music, and more than 50 percent of the members selected “The Piano Lesson” over two other choices that Cameron provided.

“It makes it a lot easier for me to sell it if they already like it,” Cameron said. “If you get them involved in the decision making, they have more empowerment and feel more entitled so they work harder.”

Cameron said the show includes various classical pieces from the likes of Mozart. It basically includes songs children would have learned during beginning piano lessons.

The show is a bit of a spoof, Cameron said. It starts with the stationary percussion ensemble, or pit, erroneously playing scales and melodies before the band jumps in and plays it correctly.

Another new wrinkle for this year’s marching band is that it includes just ninth- through 12th-graders, since CASH is just a senior high school. In the past, each school included seventh- and eighth-graders as well.

“All nine through 12 — no beginners this year — has been really kind of exciting because we haven’t had to step back to pick anybody up,” Cameron said. “We just kept right on going where we left off last year. So we’re playing better, we’re marching better and we can get more results right off the bat.”

Cameron said he has also received a ton of help from guard adviser John Spencer, assistant directors Matthew Rendulic and Daniel Drumm, and percussion adviser Michael Szallar, among many others.

One things didn’t go exactly as planned, however. Midway through the band’s march and while it was at parade rest, Cameron called the band into detail instead of attention to resume marching.

Cameron said that a switch in marching style and the emotions getting the best of him led to the minor snafu, and the band members were sure to poke fun at him after they were done marching.

“I made a mistake. I made a mental error,” Cameron said. “I was excited about the change and then I made a mental error because I was getting a little emotional actually. They were doing better than I expected.

“We got a chuckle out of that,” he said. “The band all laughed at me when we were done. If we had to make a mistake, better me than them.”

If that’s the largest mistake the new CASH marching band will make in its first performance together, things may be more seamless than expected.

“I thought it went really well,” Brown said. “I believe we’re going to have a really good season.”



Dan Walk can be reached at 724-6370 or by email at dwalk@meadvilletribune.com.