NAfME collegiate advisor Passing the Baton: Calvin Brockman
in Memoriam, 1926-2013 Sheila Feay-Shaw, WMEA State Chair, NAfME Collegiate Advisor
It is often the case that we do not know what we have until it is gone. Luckily, this was not the case for this tribute, but none the less, it is a loss to music educa- tion in Wisconsin
that Cal Brockman passed away on May 17, 2013. In 2010, when researching the 50-year history of WMEA, I found the name of Calvin Brockman on the found- ing member list of what was then WMEC (later changed to WMEA). That inaugural meeting in November 1960 established Cal’s documented history of professional connection to WMEA. It would be my pleasure to play for him beginning in 1976, my freshman year of high school.
Those of us in the Shawano High School bands knew how dedicated Mr. B, as he was known, was to the concert stage. He endured having us march for the local parades and football games, and provide pep band accompaniment for basketball season. But his love and passion was con- cert music and his students. His concert band, wind ensemble and jazz ensemble became Cal’s pride and joy as a teacher and musician. A music educator before his time, Cal taught with a comprehen- sive musicianship model well before the Wisconsin Comprehensive Musicianship Through Performance project began. The Shawano High School bands competed in large ensemble contest every year in- cluding the sight-reading component. I remember weeks of sight-reading prepara- tion that taught us how to study our music for the components of key, meter, motifs, rhythmic patterns and more. It was when I auditioned for the music department at UW-Milwaukee that I realized how much I had learned about music under his tutelage. The jazz ensemble players were required to improvise which meant
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understanding the musical scales on which the tunes were built and recognizing the style in which they should be played.
Cal’s pride in his musicians did not always come across in the band room on the po- dium. He was a tough taskmaster, but he never missed an opportunity to showcase his ensembles or brag about his players. During his 37 years of teaching, his band was awarded the Governor’s trophy at the Wisconsin State Fair school band exposition, performed twice at the state teacher’s convention and was one of five bands chosen nationally to perform at the American School Band Directors Asso- ciation convention in Milwaukee. Small ensembles were often requested by the Shawano area service organizations for monthly meetings, and trumpeters were always provided when the American Le- gion called needing “Taps” for a military funeral. Because of his dedication and pio- neering vision, the community willingly expanded the Shawano music program to include a string component in 1975, which continues to this day. Even more of his legacy lives on through his students.
I spent four years playing French horn in band, sometimes being handed an Eb horn part with the expectation that I would transpose at sight just because he knew I could. Now, when I sit at the piano,
“He used to talk about moments when the music was so powerful that it touched the soul.”
I readily transpose folk melodies into whatever key my students need because I was pushed to use my skills. Mr B. and his wife (my former piano teacher) set me on a path to a career in music for which I am eternally grateful.
Cal followed my development as a music therapist and then a music educator, and welcomed me back to Wisconsin when I returned following graduate school in Seattle. It was wonderful to reconnect with him in retirement as he had turned over the reins of the high school program to a new director in 1986 and once again sat in the clarinet section of the summer city band and a local Dixieland group. He had passed his teaching baton on, and I had readily picked it up. I realize he is also the reason that even though it can be tough, I continue to practice my craft of music as well as that of teaching.
It was also Mr. B that taught me about the goose bumps that rise on your arms when music touches the aesthetic being in you. He used to talk about moments
September 2013
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