Chi-Hi band moving forward

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By JEFFREY HAGE jeff.hage@lee.net
Monday, October 16, 2006 10:07 AM CDT

You could hear a pin drop as the Chippewa Falls High School Marching Band marched onto the field.

As the band and color guard members took their positions on the football field-turned performance stage, a voice rang out over the public address system.

“Chippewa Falls, is your band ready?” the voice called out.

Then it happened.

From the spectator-filled stands, a number of people called out the words that may have described the Chi-Hi Marching Band to a T.

“They’re always ready,” rang the words from the stands.

Through good times or bad, the Chippewa Falls High School Band is always ready.

But today — Oct. 16, 2006, the one-year anniversary of the school bus crash that killed band director Doug Greenhalgh and four others — is a different day.

It is the day the band members, their families and the Chi-Hi music faculty take a giant step forward towards the future.

Over the past year, the band has become so much more than a group of people who make music together, says junior band member Ryan Burk.

“We have grown beyond a band to a level that is immeasurable,” he said.

That closeness brings even more meaning to the phrase, “Forever Cardinal Bound,” which is what the band gathers to sing after each performance.

After leaving the bright lights of Dorais Field and the roar of the home crowd Saturday night, the band gathered in a circle with their arms around each other, swaying back and forth and softly singing, “All the good times we'll remember, Forever Cardinal Bound.” (For the complete lyrics, see sidebar.)

Burk and many others at Chi-Hi know the time has come to move the events of Oct. 16, 2005, into that place where memories are kept.

“We know what happened; we’ve remembered it, and now we’re ready to move on,” Burk said.

The process of moving on began with the first band practice of the 2006-07 school year and the introduction of the band’s repertoire, “Triumph of the Spirit.”

The school took another step forward this morning when band director Brian Collicott, who was seriously injured in the crash, planned to lead students and teachers in a moment of silence following some inspirational words of his own.

The band comes full circle this Saturday, when it returns to the state band championships in Whitewater.

“So many people rose to meet challenges,” Collicott said. He said he is proud of all his students who tackled those challenges head on.

Burk says he’s confident in speaking for the entire band program when he says they are proud of Collicott, too.

“He tells us he’s proud of us, but with everything he’s done for us — the support he’s showed — I’m more proud of him than he is us. Everyone is,” Burk said.

Dr. James Sauter, Chi-Hi principal, said the healing at the high school will continue and the legacy of Doug Greenhalgh will live on.

“We are still in the process of healing both emotionally and physically from this tragedy,” said Sauter, reflecting on the spirit of the school as he prepared an introduction for the state band competition program that will be distributed Saturday in Whitewater.

“We are moving forward as a music program and as a school,” Sauter said.

Along the way, lives have been enriched through the experiences the school community shared with Greenhalgh.

“The Triumph of the Spirit continues to influence our school and our lives,” Sauter said.

“G’s masterful work is not finished and continues in the music and lives of all those he has influenced over the past two decades.”

Forever Cardinal Bound

As we stand here all together,

Pride fills all our hearts.

As we think about our friendships

Though some day we’ll part.

Sound the trumpets, marching onward / To the beating drum. / All the good times we’ll remember, / Forever Cardinal bound./

Starting out with new faces / Together we become / Chi-Hi’s finest Marching Cardinals, / Achieving goals as one./

Sound the trumpets, marching onward / To the beating drum. / All the good times we’ll remember, /Forever Cardinal bound.