Stephen F. Austin State University

“Dah-dah, dah-dah, dah-dah-dah, dah!”

The conductor articulated the proper rhythm for some instrumentalists who were having trouble timing it just right.

Turning to a group of students in another section of the band, he asked /them/ to sing along with him.

Dutifully they responded, “Dah-dah,dah-dah, dah-dah-dah, dah!”

"See, they can do it!” the conductor said to the first group. “And they don’t even have your music in front of them!”

Everyone laughed. Point taken. The next time the students tried it, they got it right.

This wasn’t just any band rehearsal – it was rehearsal for the high school honor band at the Stephen F. Austin State University band camp. And this wasn’t just any conductor – it was Col. Arnald Gabriel, who served as commander for the U.S. Air Force Band from 1964-1985. Gabriel conducted the USAF Band as recently as June 6, when they performed an outdoor concert at the Air Force Memorial in honor of D-Day. Gabriel served as a machine gunner with the 29th Infantry Division during World
War II, landing on Omaha Beach on D-Day. He was twice awarded the Bronze Star and earned the French Croix de Guer.

Gabriel has been conducting the SFA band camp for 19 years. Next week, he’ll visit the University of Kansas, where he has conducted the past 39 years. Working with students is one of his greatest passions. Students said the energy he brings to the stage is one of the camp experiences they look forward to year after year.

Some observant audience members note that Gabriel does not have music in front of him when he conducts.

A few years ago, when he conducted a performance in Italy, Gabriel recalls a little old woman walking up to him and saying, “You’re really good. Imagine how good you would be if you could read music.”

With a chuckle, he explained that he commits his music to memory.

“It’s a challenge to me,” he said. “The more I memorize a score, the more I internalize it. It allows me to have better eye contact with those who are playing, and better control.”

That level of control was clear during a rehearsal Thursday in Turner Auditorium at SFA. Gabriel’s charisma, his stage presence, his humor and ability to relate to the musicians gave him an air of authority. As the two-hour rehearsal quickly passed, Gabriel reminded the students, “The concert is tomorrow, not a week from tomorrow!”
With his strong physique, boundless energy and powerful gestures on stage, he inspires musicians to perform with gusto.

Dr. Gary Wurtz, SFA band camp director called Gabriel “a legend in his own time.”
Part of the mystique surrounding Gabriel is the fact that he reached the pinnacle of success in the band world, Wurtz said.

“Military bands are the only professional bands,” Wurtz said. “There a e concert bands that pay musicians by the gig. But the only bands where you can make a living are the military bands. Col. Gabriel was a conductor for one of these top, professional groups.”

Wurtz added that military bands play the toughest musical literature, and they keep the band tradition alive in a way that many students cannot fully appreciate at this point in their lives. In addition to Gabriel, another major draw for SFA band camp is the university’s own Fred Allen, Wurtz said.

“Students across the state know him,” Wurtz said. “Allen is a heavily published composer. Students play his pieces at UIL. He conducts their All-Region clinics and high school bands. He is someone whose name students have heard, and they come to camp because they want to study under him.”

Putting Allen’s photograph on promotional materials this year helped to boost enrollment, Wurtz said, adding that “they know him on sight.”

Allen is frequently commissioned to write music for special occasions, Wurtz said – adding that some of those occasions have been somber. Upon the death of a high school student last year in the Houston area, Allen was commissioned to write a commemorative piece. The young man had played the trumpet, and when the piece was performed, trumpet players lined the sides of the concert hall so that their sound surrounded those in the audience.

“People were weeping,” Wurtz said.

This speaks not only to Allen’s talent, but to the power of music to move people.

Perhaps it is that power that motivates professionals such as Allen and Gabriel to work in music education — ensuring the future of the arts. “I want students to understand that the most important thing in life is involvement in the arts,” Gabriel said. “Nothing nourishes the soul and spirit more than the arts.”

Gabriel said he is encouraged by the quality of musicians today, adding that he believes that level of quality has steadily improved over the past couple of decades. He attributes the high caliber of students to music educators who are graduating from universities such as SFA.

Megan Robinson of Denton and Alan Ward of Kingwood are two 2007 high school graduates who plan to pursue degrees in music education at SFA this fall. Ward has attended camp at SFA for the past seven years, and Robinson has attended for the past five. Both students said playing under Gabriel in the honor band is an
experience they’ll never forget.

“He brings so much energy,” Ward said. “It’s really an adrenaline rush to play for him.”

Ward said when Gabriel sets foot on the stage the band automatically plays better.
When students come to him at the end of the week asking for his autograph, Gabriel said he is inevitably surprised.

“I’ve never forgotten my roots,” he said. “I grew up in the Depression. We were very poor, and I can remember my brother, my parents and I having a can f beans for dinner. In my mind, I’m still that dirty-faced little Italian boy in New York.”

Wurtz said he hopes students leave camp with new knowledge and a sense of inspiration. He said he hopes they’re motivated not only to be better instrumentalists, but better musicians.

“I hope they made friends, and quite frankly I hope they loved what they saw at SFA,” Wurtz said. “This is a great place to go to school.”

Robinson said the faculty, and the individualized attention they give to students, is one of the main reasons she chose SFA.

As for Gabriel, he plans to be back at SFA next summer conducting the honor band. He has no plans to slow down any time soon, adding that he signed a contract to conduct a performance on his 100th birthday.

Hopefully he will be involve with SFA band camp for at least that long.