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LOGAN NEILLWarming up for their first big gig, novices in a marching band seek direction from a man who's new at this, too.
Band director John Dupuis displays the deft touch of a maestro.
"Have I told you how good you look today?" Dupuis calls out to the ensemble standing at parade rest on a recent broiling afternoon. "I know we can be perfect if we all try to be."
With that, the members of Nature Coast Technical High School's fledgling marching band, Sounds of Excellence, run through a portion of the drill that will be part of their halftime performance. With eyes fixed straight ahead, they count their paces in a sideways march.
One-two-three-four-five-six-seven-eight.
From his 10-foot-high platform, Dupuis checks them over, making certain that every body is perfectly aligned in its movement.
For the most part, he's impressed with his young troops, the majority of whom have never marched on a football field before. He could choose to pick out the minor flaws he sees, but at this point he would rather emphasize the unit's strengths. "It's a big challenge for all of us," Dupuis said later as he sat in his sparsely decorated office. "I'm new to this, and so are a lot of the students. The way I see it, we're all here to learn from each other."
At 22, Dupuis, a recent University of South Florida graduate with degrees in music education and music composition, has assumed the responsibility of putting together an entire new music program - from assembling an array of brand-new instruments and equipment to conducting an introductory band camp made up entirely of new recruits. In addition to developing a broad curriculum that includes music theory and music history, he will direct the school's concert and jazz bands, as well as an orchestral ensemble.
The most immediate challenge is to prepare the school's marching band in time for football season, which begins next week. The 10-minute halftime show will be something of a new experience for most of the 42-member ensemble, about three-quarters of whom are freshmen with no marching experience.
Dupuis wants the unit to be both musically and visually compelling, although the band is roughly half the size of most of the area's high school ensembles. But for Dupuis, the music must come first. For the score, he adapted several themes from the Broadway musical Les Miserables, music he felt his students would identify with and appreciate performing.
"It's different from a lot of the stuff you hear at football games," said Holly Green, 16, piccolo player and woodwind section leader in the new band.
"It's very moving and dramatic sounding. And I think it's going to say a lot about the standard we want to set as musicians."
A junior, Green transferred to Nature Coast from Hernando High partly because she wanted to be involved in the school's music magnet program. As one of about 10 veterans in the band, she relished the opportunity to become a leader in the new program. Though she understands that it may take some time before the band is as polished as the experienced Hernando High unit, she is still impressed with the enthusiasm shown by her younger peers.
"We practice hard every day to get better and better," she said. "We're like a big family. We all know that it's going to take a lot of effort and hard work to become a great band, but that's part of the pride you have to have to be in band."
Dupuis admits he expects excellence and discipline in all areas from students. After morning practices, they arrange their music stands in perfect order. They routinely police the music room. And each player using a sparkling new instrument may only handle it after donning white cotton gloves. As much as Dupuis preaches success, he doesn't want to set up his students for failure. He chose to forgo more difficult marching drills in favor of simpler routines that he thought would be easier for his freshmen marchers to master.
"Marching is something that takes time to get comfortable with, and it wouldn't have made much sense to throw a lot of complicated things at them their first year," said Dupuis. "We're not out to win awards with our show, but I think audiences will be impressed with what they see the kids are doing. It looks more difficult than it is."
Trevor Voscinar, 14, thinks Dupuis' nurturing has contributed to the band's rapid improvement. The freshman who played trombone in the Powell Middle School band was eager to join the fledgling program after talking with Dupuis last spring.
"It's pretty cool to be part of building something new," he said. "Mr. Dupuis is kind of like a coach. He gives us pep talks and he's really good at explaining things. You don't mind practicing all afternoon in the heat as long as it's helping to make the band better."
Dupuis said his high hopes for the band largely come from his observation of how diligent the members are to their mission.
"These are real good kids who know how much of a commitment they have to make to reach their goal," he said. "They make a lot of sacrifices because it's important to them, and it's important to me to do whatever I can to help them achieve what they want to become."