THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, June 9, 1996 TAG: 9606070219
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 14 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY TONY STEIN, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: 109 lines
A CHAPTER IN Craig Mills' professional life closed the other night with what you would have to call the sweet sound of success.
It was the sound of the Symphonic Band of Great Bridge Middle School South playing its last concert. The band members are almost all ninth- graders. There won't be a ninth grade at the middle school next year - they'll be students at either Great Bridge or Hickory High schools.
The final concert became a tribute to Mills because he was the man who created the Symphonic Band in 1975 when the middle school was Great Bridge Junior High. Mills directed the band until 1991, building a program that Jim Page, music supervisor for Chesapeake schools, calls ``one of the best in the state.''
It got that good under Mills and remains that way under current director Michael Oare, Page said.
Oare was the one who made Mills the focus of the concert. ``It was a nice way to bring the band's career to a close,'' Oare said. His personal tribute was composing a Suite for Band dedicated to Mills. Then, when the Symphonic Band played the suite, it was Mills who stepped to the podium as guest conductor. When the music died away, the audience rose to give loud, long applause for Mills, Oare and the talented youngsters who played so well.
Mills, now assistant principal at B.M. Williams Primary School, is a 44-year-old Richmond native. ``I've always loved music,'' he said. ``My best friend played the clarinet so I started playing the clarinet, too.'' By the ninth grade, he had swapped the clarinet for a bassoon and an oboe, instruments he still plays.
Armed with a degree from East Carolina University, he started his teaching career in Jacksonville, N.C. In 1975, he came to Great Bridge Junior High. It was a trip into troubled territory; just how troubled he told the concert-goers the other night.
There had, he said, been seven band directors at the junior high in seven years. And when he cleaned out the tubas, he discovered that firecracker bombs had been exploded inside them. Clearly, there was a challenge.
``I don't think musical knowledge was the reason I was successful,'' he said. ``You have to be able to understand the age. You have to be able to motivate the youngsters.'' The age he's talking about is 12 to 15, years when kids are struggling through the turmoil of constant physical and emotional changes. Years when they can switch from child to young adult and back again as rapidly as the flip of the page of a book.
Mills said he responded to the child side of their personalities by trying to be a good listener. In class, before school, after school. When they would stand in his office door, just wanting to be noticed. ``Sometimes,'' he said, ``they just wanted to be paid attention.''
There were fun times outside of school as well. Like when Mills would organize Saturday bicycle rallies with crazy searches - counting mail boxes, for example.
``He wasn't just a band director and teacher,'' said Cammie Umphlett, whose two sons played for Mills. ``He was like a second father.''
Music supervisor Page calls Mills ``a great educator who communicates well with both students and adults. He's a fine musician and a real gentleman.'' For his part, Mills credits Page with a solid boost of professional encouragement and support.
If building a good personal relationship was one part of Mills' agenda, equally important was instilling a young adult sense of discipline and responsibility. In the band room, Mills said with a smile, he was a task-master. Practice at home. Know your music. Be on time. Take care of your instrument.
He pushed them to develop an inner pride, to strive for the best they could give. ``Doing your best is better than being the best,'' he would say.
He laid down the kind of a challenge a football coach might throw at a team before the big game.
``But in music,'' he would say, ``nobody sits on the bench. Everybody gets in the game. And if one person plays badly, it affects everybody else.''
Did it work?
``Expect the best and the kids will give their best,'' Mills said.
Back in 1975, Mills grouped his talented ninth-graders into the Symphonic Band and started handing them tougher music to learn.
In band competitions, music is graded from 1 to 6, with 6 being the hardest. The junior high kids tackled grade 4, usually played on a high school level. And they started winning awards, a tradition that continues.
Five years ago, Mills moved to his current job as assistant principal at B.M. Williams. The hardest part of the decision was leaving the kids in the band, he said. But he still serves as a judge and conductor at music competitions and he still loves to listen to all kinds of music.
Or almost all kinds. You might not think a classically trained musician would enjoy country-western, but he picks up on the lively lyrics. He skips over rap because there's no melody and he tunes out hard rock. ``It doesn't make me feel good,'' he said.
But he was surely feeling good at the concert the other night as he made a little speech tracing the life of the Symphonic Band. ``I hope,'' he said, ``I have given you just a taste of the rich heritage and fine traditions of this musical organization. I have many fond memories and lots of friends who constantly remind me of the great respect they have for this band's accomplishments.''
Then there was a tip of his hat to Micheal Oare.
``Five years ago,'' Mills said, ``I was able to pass the baton to a fine young conductor and, as you will hear tonight, composer. I burst with pride whenever I get to hear this group perform. They are super.''
And in their last hurrah, their last crisp, bright, precise performance, they were. ILLUSTRATION: [Cover, Color photo]
MUSIC MAKERS
Craig Mills directs the Symphonic Band of Great Bridge Middle School
South in a final tribute to himself.
Photos by GARY C. KNAPP
Craig Mills created the Symphonic Band in 1975.
Michael Oare, right, made Mills the focus of the band's concert. by CNB