INTRODUCING A.R. CASAVANT
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Today we have the greatest fortune to hear from Albert Richard (A.R.)
Casavant, who will be delivering our Keynote Address on this year's
Symposium theme - Beginnings. He remarks will touch on many aspects of
his philosophy and experiences, as well as the characteristics of the
marching arts in the mid-twentieth century.
A.R. Casavant hails from Warren, OH where he lived until high school
graduation in 1935. He played Trumpet in the school band and in the
numerous community bands that flourished in the Midwest at the time.
After high school he enrolled in the Tennessee Military Institute (TMI)
in Sweetwater, TN. He studied business administration there and led the
regimental band. He graduated in 1938 and remained as an instructor
while attending the University of Tennessee at Knoxville on a track
scholarship. In 1938 he started the band program at McMinn County High
School in nearby Athens, TN.
Casavant went to Chattanooga High School to teach in 1944 and stayed
until 1959. He continued his education at the then private University of
Chattanooga as a pre-med student. In addition to his teaching and
college studies, Casavant led the local American Legion Post drum and
bugle corp to a state marching championship in 1952 and 1953.
Demand for Casavant's clinics became so great thatn in 1959 he left
teaching and began his career as clinician, author, publisher,
researcher, inventor, and distributor of marching materials. He led a
series of summer camps known as the Casavant Cavalcade and taught summer
sessions at VanderCook College of Music. These multiple vocations
continued until his retirement in the early 1980's. He continues to be
an observer of marching techniques and trends and was published in The
Instrumentalist in 1997.
Currently undergoing treatment for cancer, Casavant maintains a sharp
mind and sense of humor. He recently sent me his 'chemotherapy
prescription for sleep': "One pill - one night's sleep - 10 days of
severe vertigo - one step to nausea - one more step to vomiting - back
to no sleep." A.R. is as personable a fellow as I've ever met, modest,
and fascinating to listen to. In the time that I've spent assisting
Casavant (now in his fifth or sixth decade as published author) with
this Keynote Address, I've grown as fond of him as I have of his ideas.
His biography by Johnathan Wade Jones is the first publication I have
ever read with a section on "Marching Research." Likewise, it
is safe to say A.R. Casavant is the Father of Marching Research.
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