Thundercrest March and my early band years

I started playing the horn in Beginner Band in the 5th grade, then advanced to Junior Band in the 6th grade. By the end of that year, however, I had progressed enough that I was able to play some with the Senior Band. One of their main pieces that year was the concert march Thundercrest. It was great fun and was a wonderful concert piece. (Concert marches are designed to be played in the performance hall, not on the marching field.)

Here is a LINK to a performance of Thundercrest. It is less than three minutes long. If you listen to it a couple of times, you will be humming it all day - it is that sort of piece. One thing I vividly remember involved Jimbo Dunn, the first chair trumpeter. You will note that the last four notes (ta-ta-ta-TAH) involve the lead trumpet on a fairly high note. In this particular run-through Jimbo split the last note, and the band director gave him an exasperated look and said, "Jimbo, don't splatter it!