color guards using wooden poles?

[byline]

Her name is Erin Stevenson.... she was in band all 4 years, but did color guard her freshman year ( the year Madisonville did Don't cry for me Argentina, SImple gifts, and Jupiter).. she's what got me started!

Ah, yes, I remember Erin! A real sweetheart. And now that I think of it, I think you've e-mailed me before, Will. Anyway, it's kind of neat to think that I indirectly influenced someone to get into guard. It's weird, because I'd forgotten what our repertoire was my first year in Madisonville. I tend to be inspired by the music. The better the music, the better my writing. And I consider my first guard book in Madisonville, and my last one, to be the best writing I ever did. But those poor girls my first year there . . . God bless 'em, they couldn't remember anything! And, of course, I insisted on writing harder shows that didn't have a whole lot of repetition. And I wouldn't budge on watering things down (I gradually learned the necessity of that as I got older). So it took us halfway through the season before things even started to get readable. But I do remember being really impressed with them at our last show in Murfreesboro, where everything finally came together the way it was supposed to.

OK, enough reminiscing! Glad to know you're still teaching, Will! :)