Brigade repeats success of 1977; both bands directed by Aylsworths
By: Miles Flynn
Staff Reporter
Springs Valley Herald
FRENCH LICK, Ind. - “We just had a lot of classes through here that wanted to get better and better and bought into bringing the program back to where we wanted it to, and that led us to Saturday,” Luke Aylsworth commented. “It really is something we want to celebrate with all the alumni and all those bands.”
The Springs Valley Blackhawk Brigade’s first-place ranking in Class D competition at the Indiana State School Music Association Marching (ISSMA) Band State Finals Saturday marked the second time that the band has earned the coveted trophy. It also marked an ISSMA first, since a father and son have now taken their bands to the top spot.
In 1977, it was John Aylsworth. On Saturday, it was his son, Luke Aylsworth.
When the announcement of second-place was made and John Aylsworth knew what was coming, he took off his glasses and turned off his electric wheelchair.
“I knew I was going to get hugged,” he explained.
Luke Aylsworth said that getting his name next to his father’s in the ISSMA book means a lot.
“I just wanted to make him proud,” he said. “I wanted him to know I took the program seriously.”
He succeeded.
“I’m just so proud of him and that I got to play a small part in it,” John Aylsworth said. “I thought it was going to be once in a lifetime until Luke came back.”
He added that his son's done an incredible job.
But the beginnings of the local Aylsworth tradition go back even further to grandparents Gilbert and Helen Aylsworth at the old French Lick High School.
“In the 1930s and 1940s, it was one of the largest bands for a high school our size,” Luke Aylsworth shared.
The highlights of the next few decades included radio broadcasts and a sixth-place finish in the old non-class marching band competition at the Indiana State Fair.
John Aylsworth said he only wishes his father could have seen the win on Saturday.
It was in 1969 that John Aylsworth took over the program.
“About eight years after he was here, things started clicking,” Luke Aylsworth shared. “We enjoyed 16 State Finals appearances under Dad. In there, he had two state runners-up, the state championship and countless top-five finishes.”
Being the third generation of his family to lead the band isn’t something Luke Aylsworth has ever taken lightly.
“I knew pretty early on, maybe seventh or eighth grade, that I wanted to be a band director. Dad tried to talk me out of it. He knew how hard the job was and knew that it was physically and mentally demanding,” Luke Aylsworth remembered. “Not that he didn’t enjoy what he was doing.”
Luke Aylsworth’s preparation included a lot of time spent watching his father and other band directors.
“I was working bands and spending time learning the trade,” he shared.
Luke Aylsworth’s decade-long tenure as director of the Blackhawk Brigade began after a year spent working at Orleans Junior-Senior High School.
“It hasn’t been all fun the last 10 years. There’s been a lot of hard work in there that’s led to this,” he shared.
The first few years were spent rebuilding the program. In between John Aylsworth’s retirement in 1995 and Luke Aylsworth’s start, the band worked under a few other directors. Luke Aylsworth is quick to point out that these other directors did amazing things.
But, he explained, “Anytime that you have a program who’s had someone that long, it’s kind of like IU Basketball. You had Bob Knight, and even though some of the people who followed Bob Knight were really good individuals who knew their stuff, it takes a while for the program to readjust.”
As an example, he noted that his first band at Valley contained only 23 students. When the secretary gave him the list of band members, Luke Aylsworth laughed, he thought it was the color guard list.
“She said, ‘No, that’s everyone including the color guard,’” he remembered.
His father, who’s kept involved with the Brigade through the years, recalled that the low brass section of the band then consisted of one baritone saxophone and one trombone.
The band almost doubled in size by the end of that year.
“We thought it would take four or five years to develop,” John Aylsworth shared.
More growth followed year after year. Now the entire band program, Grades 5-12, contains 304 students.
The goal all along has been incremental progress and not necessarily the end result.
“As long as I’ve been a band director, we want the current season to be better than the last season, not in regards to awards but just the performance quality. And we want the next week to be better than the last week and the next performance better than the previous one... The way we look at it, if you do that every year, you’re always going to be in contention for awards,” Luke Aylsworth explained. “We really don’t put a lot of emphasis on the awards side. It’s kind of a by-product of our philosophy.”
After all, the trophy is just wood and plastic, he said.
“It really is about skills that kids are learning to be successful in life,” Luke Aylsworth shared. “They’re not always going to be successful. But at least you put yourself in position to be.”
That self-discipline came through strong on Saturday, Luke Aylsworth shared. He noted that despite tears of joy following the announcement that the band had just taken first place, band members remained at parade rest.
“They stayed respectful and classy that entire time, until they hit the tunnel,” he said. “Then everything broke loose. At the tunnel... it was a good and appropriate time to celebrate there.”
In Aylworth’s opinion, it’s the dedication of those students, year after year, that has meant success for the band.
“We just had a lot of classes through here that wanted to get better and better and bought into bringing the program back to where we wanted it to, and that led us to Saturday,” Luke Aylsworth commented. “It really is something we want to celebrate with all the alumni and all those bands.”
After all, to say that the ties have remained strong through the years would be an understatement.
“Jermaine [Williams] is a perfect example. He graduated in 2002. His last season was 2001. He flies in every year for the week of State Finals and helps us out for the entire week. We have people who drive up from Georgia and drive down from Michigan just to watch the Brigade,” Luke Ayslworth commented. “It’s a really neat situation having that many people involved, and you could definitely hear them cheering Saturday.”
Other good-luck and, subsequently, congratulatory wishes flooded in electronically.
“I’m surprised that we didn’t shut Facebook down. I’m surprised the Facebook server didn’t explode,” he joked.
Stepping back and looking at the bigger picture, Luke Aylsworth said the fact that all three Orange County bands were competing at the State Finals is quite a statement.
“That almost gives me more pride than about anything else,” he commented. “I think what’s most impressive is that we can all be at state, three in the county, and everyone’s cheering for everyone else.”
He calls the Pride of Paoli’s Bill Laughlin a mentor and a big reason for the Blackhawk Brigade’s ability to grow so fast.
Luke Aylsworth also has a couple of ties to the Orleans Bulldog Regiment. In addition to having led the band, he also marched with its current leader, Terry Burton, when they were both players in John Aylsworth’s band.
“As far as what it says for this area, I think it really speaks a lot to the value that music education has in this area,” Luke Aylsworth shared. “It’s something special.”
That community and school support means so much, he added.
“It makes everything easier, and it makes the kids understand the value of education,” Luke Aylsworth concluded. “Everybody’s played a part, and we just want to thank them for what they’ve done.”
His father agrees.
“For all three to make it, it’s just such a great reflection on what Orange County can be about and what it is about,” he concluded.
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