You Are My Sunshine, Oh Happy Day, Blue Rondo a la Turk, You Are the Sunshine of My Life, We Are the Reason, Higher and Higher transition into Georgia.
Corps Director Freddy Martin.
Program Director, Brass caption head, and arranger Gary Markham (1947-2022)
Percussion caption head and percussion arrangements Mike Back.
Drill design Mel Stratton.
This is the year I hit a wall in drill design. I was well-versed in the Casavant precision drill and Moffit Patterns in Motion styles. And I had some success in the contemporary styles involving curvilinear, asymmetric designs, and abstract forms. As tour was getting closer, it became clear that the drill I wrote (and re-wrote and re-wrote) was not going to be competitive. Freddy Martin had brought Gary Czapinski in to give me some private lessons early on, which helped, but ultimately I knew and Freddy agreed we needed to make a change. So, Freddy recruited Mel Stratton, one of the visual designers for the Blue Devils, to help me "fix" the drill. I flew out to Stockton, California and spent a week with Mel. We went to the art store and purchased the acetate, similar to Ralph Pace's approach. There was no "fixing" the drill, it just needed to be thrown out and started over. We worked in Mel's house in which he had a huge table with a green football field painted on it and 128 Blue Devil "dolls." My job was to set them up in the formation that Mel was drawing, while we considered how it would look and sound on the field. Working with Mel was a real light bulb moment for me. He showed me the thought process for designing the abstract, push and pull style of design. Essentially, when one element moved, the others interacted it with it in multiple ways, which are too complex to write about here, but for me it was EUREKA! When you look at the drill for 1982, you'll see the elegant, classical design principles that the Blue Devils were known for starting around 1976. All the instruments are in the right place, the forms move effortlessly and interact as if they are obeying the laws of physics. The devils used a 24" step for intervals (as opposed to 22.5" which is more typical). So, when a form is at a 3-step interval, it's 6 ft or 72 inches. Sounds good and looks a bit more open than a normal 3. And a LOT better than some of the 2-step intervals I had been using. While everything worked well, the show did not seem to break new ground or excite the crowd in the manner of 1980. After working with Mel, I returned to the corps and broke the news that we were going to learn a new drill. After a couple of minutes of disappointment, the members jumped in and made it happen. Shortly thereafter I got a call from the University of Kentucky to replace Gordon Henderson as Assistant Director of Bands. That ended my plans to teach school in Atlanta and work with the corps. I left the corps to start at UK, as it was no easy task replacing the legendary Gordon Henderson. I had contributed all I could to the corps at that point (and done as much damage with a poor drill), so it was not a loss for Spirit. Mel Stratton came in and everyone stepped up. The corps ended up with a successful season, making finals again, and entertaining the audiences throughout the tour.
Please note: I was shocked and saddened when watching the video that the rebel flag made an appearance at the end of the show. This must have happened after I left. All in all, the corps had a very strong bond among members/staff and to my knowledge people of all races were appreciated and loved.