ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, January 19, 1997 TAG: 9701200076
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-19 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG
SOURCE: ALLISON BLAKE STAFF WRITER
Parades named for the Rose Bowl or Macy's department store may be bigger, but the Presidential Inaugural Parade is home turf for the Highty-Tighties regimental band.
"It's our history. Our heritage," said Greg Lowe, a cadet and commander of Virginia Tech's Corps of Cadets band company.
Any band member will tell you that the 113-year-old Highty-Tighties retired the Inaugural Parade's competition trophy in 1961 after three straight wins.
The 1980s and 1990s have proved a presidential drought for the band's proud tradition, however. Come Monday, that changes when the Highty-Tighties step off down Pennsylvania Avenue for the first time since 1981.
A fierce letter-writing campaign launched early in the school year helped secure the invitation to President Bill Clinton's second inauguration, said drum major John Kilareski.
The band's chances may have been helped when homestate Sen. John Warner, a Republican, was not only re-elected in November, but was named chairman of the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies.
Known for its tight-knit camaraderie, the 90-member band company includes students of all stripes. Some hail from Virginia; others from nearby states. Twenty-five women play in their ranks, and the students are majoring in all manner of subjects. There are communications majors, civil engineering majors, political science majors - but no music majors. "We had one," said sophomore Steve Kuntz. "He switched to poli-sci."
Joining the band members as they march 17 historic blocks for the 10th inaugural time will be five alumni returning to perform in this historic parade. The band will play "Tech Triumph," and a couple of John Philip Sousa standards: "The Washington Post" and "The Thunderer," Kilareski said.
Therein lies a nod to Highty-Tighty history. So pleased was Sousa with the band's rendition of "The Thunderer" during the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition that he dedicated his "Hands Across the Sea" to the corps band.
These were the early years of the Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College, a time when every town and hamlet had its own marching band, said Col. Harry Temple, a corps historian. The history of Virginia Tech's regimental band can be traced to 1872, the first year the college opened. The bass and snare drums kept cadence for the two regimental companies that made up the student body by the end of the year.
For larger events, the college hired bands from Roanoke and Lynchburg. Commencement of 1875 proved a turning point, however, because the Lynchburg band that played was awful. Gen. Lane, the professor in charge of cadet-related military training, distinguished himself when he ended the visiting band's Blacksburg career by calling out - midcommencement - "Stop that noise!"
"That brought to their attention the need for a local band," Temple said.
The next year, Professor J.B. Weiss of Tazewell formed the Blacksburg Cornet Band, a nine-piece group of townspeople that grew to 10 by the end of the year, and played for the college. They were nicknamed "Gabriel's Horn," and remained the local marching mainstay until their musical quality slipped after the professor left town .
Then came the Glade Cornet Band of 1881, a band of tubas, cornets and drums, formed by Professor Albert Lugar at the behest of the corps' commandant. They wore gray uniforms with gold Virginia state buttons, and the initials "GCB" on their caps - an appellation that led the students to nickname them the "Goose Creek Boys."
The Goose Creek Boys hung on for more than a decade. But in the spring of 1892, a drum and bugle corps organized on campus accompanied cadets as they marched to and from the mess.
"They made a big hit," Temple said. "Citizens of the town would turn out, and young boys would run up and down with the corps. That kicked off interest in the cadets to form a band."
In 1893, they officially did. That year, the college hired its first band director, James Patton Harvey, and the musicians themselves formed a company within the corps. The U.S. Army provided 23 instruments to the company's 20 members, and the Highty-Tighties were on their way.
By 1902, the band had begun to catch the presidential eye. President Theodore Roosevelt called them "the nation's strength" as he watched them march past at the Charleston Exposition.
Just how the corps band earned its unique name is the subject of more than one apocryphal story, and a bit of a controversy, too, Temple said.
"There have been a lot of legends," he said.
The wind blew hard one day in 1921 as the corps of cadets' regimental band high-stepped down Richmond's Monument Avenue. French Field Marshall Foch, touring the United States after his success in the great world war, reportedly stood at the reviewing stand as the corps approached.
The drum major threw his mace in the air. The brisk breeze captured it, and blew it slightly off course. The major managed to catch it as it came back down, then immediately saluted - a move that appeared to be nothing if not fancy.
"Hoity-toity!" said the Frenchman, using a term for "show-off."
Despite the story's popularity in Virginia Tech lore, its probably not true - and the cadets know it.
"We think that's the neatest [story]," Lowe said, "and probably the least historically accurate."
Temple, who has diligently researched the corps for more than 20 years, looked into the Monument Avenue parade parable and found the band didn't pass a reviewing stand. Foch, in fact, "reviewed" the band from his touring car as the band itself stood still.
Temple's theory is this: that the "hoity-toity" story grew from another band appearance, the inaugural parade of President Woodrow Wilson.
"I think what they did, in 1917, the band went to the inaugural parade of President Wilson. It was an extremely windy day," Temple said. Sand blew up from the street, and horses pitched as they were pelted with tiny grains.
The Tech band pivoted at the White House to head down Pennsylvania Avenue. They passed President and Mrs. Wilson at their reviewing stand, and the drum major saluted the president - and the wind grabbed the mace from his hand. The drum major was forced to lean down in undignified fashion to collect his mace, and the first lady reportedly was seen jabbing her husband in the ribs.
"I think somebody later confused the story," Temple said.
So how did the band get its name? Temple posits an intriguing theory: The New River region, as with much of southern Appalachia, was populated by descendants of Scotch-Irish - and their cultural anthem had been called "Ha Tutti Hightie."
Contemporary Highty-Tighties know their precision marching style may be less than modern-day.
"Some people say we are old-fashioned," says drum major Kilareski. "Our counter-marches, our uniform style. We're a parade-oriented band."
And one for which tradition is much of the appeal. As the band sweeps through Washington Monday, look for the white cords that encircle the shoulder of each musician. There's a tradition that stretches back a century.
"During the Spanish-American War, the entire band dropped out and enlisted in the army," piccolo player Matt Cordani said. "In 1936, President [Franklin] Roosevelt honored the band by giving them white citation cords."
Band members are proud they'll be wearing them - once again, and at long last - for a president's inaugural parade. It's a day destined for their own historical lore, and one in which the best of democracy goes on display.
"When other countries change governments, they have a war. When we change governments," Lowe said, "we have a party."
Fun facts about the Highty-Tighties:
*During President Reagan's first inauguration - in 1981 - the Highty-Tighties marched but did not play, following inaugural committee orders.
"They decided inasmuch as it was Reagan's first inaugural, VMI should play because Ronald had starred in `Brother Rat,''' said Charles Corneliuson, president of the Highty-Tighty Alumni Association.
*President Jimmy Carter was inaugurated in 1977, at a high for post-Vietnam, anti-military sentiment - and a low for Highty-Tighty membership. About 25 alumni joined the 55 student band members for the parade, making for a unit in which the oldest musician was close to 40.
*Of the current band's nine piccolo players, two are men.
*Of their seven tuba players, one is a woman
*The nine-member trombone section is all-male.
*Arguably the coldest parade ever marched: Gov. George Allen's 1994 inauguration in Richmond. Wind chill reached 33 below, say band members who were there.
*Into the 1960s, the Highty-Tighties put out the occasional album on the Century label.
*President Bill Clinton's second inaugural parade starts between 2-2:30 p.m., and will be broadcast on C-SPAN.
LENGTH: Long : 167 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: Alan Kim. 1. The Highty-Tighties practice marching forby CNBMonday's presidential inauguration parared (ran on NRV-1). 2. Major
George McNeil became the first non-civilian band director for the
Highty-Tighties in 1991. 3. The band practices marching down Preston
Avenue at the proper pace for the inaugural parade, which has been
set at 112 beats per minute and a 29-inch step. The White House has
also set distance between the parade participants at 10-yards, and
Marine guards will monitor and help maintain the pace and distance.
color. 4. The seven well-worn sousaphones (one missing with a cadet
still in class) dating back to the 1940's will be used in the
parade. 5. The Cadet Band in a picture circa 1910 or 1911 (Courtesy
of Virginia Corp of Cadets).