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The tuba ensemble of the UVa-Wise Marching Highland Cavaliers at a recent home football game
‘Band’ aid UVa-Wise helps restore Dickenson County band program, reaches out through music education BY KATHY STILL ’84 Like most Dickenson County residents, UVa-Wise Campus Police Chief Steve McCoy remembered fondly the days when the rousing sound of the Clintwood High School fight song echoed across Ralph Cummins Stadium at Friday night football games. The sound of the mighty Green Wave Marching Band was silenced nearly a decade ago when budget concerns and diminished participation ended band programs in Dickenson County. Clintwood fans cheered loudly when visiting high school bands performed at half time, but it just wasn’t the same. The Green Wave was facing a tough battle with the J. I. Burton Raiders last fall in a key Southwest Virginia matchup. McCoy knew Burton’s talented marching band would be in the stands energizing Raider fans and inspiring the football team in the process. Thinking it would be nice to even the playing field a bit, McCoy had a thought. Why not invite the UVa-Wise Marching Highland Cavaliers to play for the Clintwood fans? McCoy had no idea that the conversation
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he would later have with UVa-Wise Director of Bands Richard Galyean would play a big part in the rebirth of band programs in Dickenson County. “The whole thing started with my conversation with Steve,” Galyean recalls. “The Clintwood High School principal called soon after and asked me to bring the band. I was happy to oblige.” Galyean asked the high school staff to locate music for the Green Wave’s fight song. Music major Ben Harding arranged the piece and the Marching Highland Cavaliers traveled to Clintwood. “We arrived in town and received a warm greeting from the fans,” Galyean says. “That’s really how it got started.” Several weeks after the game, Jewell Askins ’73, director of teacher education at UVa-Wise and a member of the Dickenson County School Board, asked Galyean if he would speak to her fellow board members about ways the College could help the county rebuild the band program. “Community outreach is one of the goals of our music program,” Galyean
says. “I told the school board that we would love to do all that we can to help them re-establish band programs in Dickenson County.” At the request of Dickenson County Schools Superintendent Haydee Robinson, Galyean brought the Wise Guys tuba/euphonium ensemble of talented students to perform for fifthgraders to introduce them to band. “The fifth-graders were one of the best audiences I’ve ever played for,” Galyean says. “They were just wonderful.” Earlier this summer, Dickenson County hired band directors Jason Sparks and Shelly Molinary to teach music to fifth-, sixth- and seventh-graders in all of the county schools. It will take several years for today’s elementary and middle school students to take the field at Haysi, Ervinton and Clintwood high schools at half time, but band is back in Virginia’s youngest county. “It’s so exciting to be a small part of this,” Galyean says. “Our mission is to reach out to the region’s communities.”