Unforeseen Events – Part III

Over the next two years Ethan continued his drumming, practicing at home every afternoon and working hard at developing energetic drum solos.

He enrolled every semester in Miss Marlowe’s band and orchestra classes where he consistently earned A grades. Miss Marlowe was especially fond of him for both his excellent drumming and his commitment to the work. An earnest collaborator, he was popular with the other musicians.

As time went by Ethan had put together a full set of brand new drums. With early morning paper routes, neighborhood yard work and help from his parents he purchased the set, piece by piece, as he could afford them. The snare drum came first, six months later the bass drum, then the tom-tom, and finally the floor-tom. He chose the Gretch brand with white pearl surfaces for their quality, appearance and because these were the same drums Shelly Manne played. To this core drum set he added a Premier Hi-Hat, a Speed King bass drum pedal and a complement of Zildjian cymbals. He had completed the set by the time he entered the 9th grade.

During the second week of the semester, a new boy showed up at the Orchestra class. Karl Prince was an 8th Grader whose family had just moved to California from New York City. He was short for his age with an unattractive and unsmiling face. Upon his arrival Miss Marlowe walked Karl back to the percussion section and introduced him to Ethan who had become the lead percussionist in the section. Ethan introduced Karl to the other drummers, Mike Tanner and Bobby Dodson. With Karl there were now four drummers. 

As the other musicians were warming up, Ethan asked Karl to demonstrate his skills, handing him a pair of drum sticks. Karl produced drumsticks from his back pocket saying, “I prefer my own.” He proceeded to tap out a quick combination of beats on the snare drum, ending with a flourish. 

“Good stuff,” said Ethan. Karl remained expressionless. 

Miss Marlowe tapped her baton on the podium. “OK people, today we’ll continue to rehearse ‘Les Preludes’. You have sheet music on your stands and let’s take it from the beginning.”

A week later, on a Friday night, Ethan’s brother Mark brought him to a variety show at a local civic auditorium. There were seven different performances that evening, given by musicians, dancers and singers. For the last act, stagehands brought out two sets of drums, setting them up at opposite ends of the stage. After a few moments two high school seniors, Russell Cooke and Tony Clayton, came out on the stage to light applause from the audience. As the house lights dimmed each drummer sat down at his drum set. Both were then lit with spotlights. What proceeded was a “Battle of the Drums”. 

For the first twenty minutes Cooke and Clayton took turns beating out complex solos. Then they went into a rhythmic duet, taking turns with various flourishes, bringing the performance to an end with a dramatic crescendo. An audience of over three hundred students and adults rose for a standing ovation. Ethan was transfixed by what he had just witnessed. Driving home that night in Mark’s ’55 Chevy he couldn’t stop talking about the battle of the drums. He told Mark that he’d like to do an act like this with another drummer. 

The following Monday Ethan arrived early for band practice. He wanted to speak with Miss Marlowe in her office about having a battle of the drums at the Junior High School. She asked who he would do it with, and suggested Karl Prince. He was cool about this idea. It was two weeks since Karl’s arrival and he had not warmed up to the other drummers or any of the other musicians in the orchestra. But Ethan had to agree with Miss Marlowe that Karl was the only drummer who played at his level. Also, Karl had a full set of Ludwig black pearl drums. 

When Ethan approached Karl with the battle-of-the-drums idea, he got a cold response. “Why would I want to do that?” said Karl.

“It might be fun?”

“I don’t know. We’d have to work out the particulars.”

“Of course,” said Ethan. “This won’t happen next week. We’d have a month or more to develop the act.”

“Where would we rehearse?”

“Miss Marlowe said we could rehearse after school in the auditorium.”

“I don’t know,” said Karl. “I’ll have to think about it.”

Over the next week Karl kept putting Ethan off with his decision whether or not to participate in the performance. Finally Ethan told Karl that if he wasn’t going to join him he would find another drummer from the high school.

“Why would you do that?” said Karl.

“Why wouldn’t I?”

“OK,” said Karl. “I’ll do it. But I’ll only be able to rehearse on Tuesdays and Thursdays.”

“Why’s that?” said Ethan.

“I have private classes on the other days.”

The rehearsals were difficult. Though he was an excellent drummer, Karl was volatile. On three occasions he had temper tantrums and stormed out of the auditorium. Ethan spoke to Miss Marlowe about Karl’s outbursts. She explained to him that great artists are often capricious and that she considered both Ethan and Karl to be in that category.

“If you go on to have a career in music,” she said, “you’ll encounter these kinds of difficulties with some of the people you collaborate with. It comes with the territory. Try to be patient with Karl. It’ll be good practice”

At their next rehearsal, Karl seemed to have a change of heart. He was less contentious and even offered Ethan some routines for his own solos. Ethan was glad about this and was cautious with his own behavior.

The evening came for the performance of their ‘battle’. Backstage Ethan was nervous while Karl was sullen. The tensions they experienced during their rehearsals were behind them and the two were now well rehearsed and ready for the show. When the M.C. announced their names they each walked onto the stage. Ethan entered from stage left, Karl from stage right. They sat down at their drum sets, ready to go.

As the lighting changed the house became quiet . The two began with a duet and then took turns playing their solos. In their rehearsals they agreed they would end the performance with another duet. However, during Karl’s solos he added material he hadn’t played during the rehearsals. Ethan was at first surprised and then agitated by Karl’s constant upstaging. 

When he came to his final solo Ethan got carried away. While beating out his rhythm he suddenly stood up from his stool and proceeded to dance around his drums like an Arapaho warrior. He danced and drummed, beating on the drum heads, the sides of the drums, the cymbals, even crouching down to tap out a rhythm with his drum sticks on the floor. He completely circled his drum set while playing his solo arriving back on his stool where he brought his exhibition to a dramatic end. Karl was unprepared for this and disoriented. It didn’t matter as the audience spontaneously leapt to their feet with a standing ovation that lasted for five minutes. 

First Ethan, then Karl instinctively stood up and moved to the front of the stage to take their bows. The audience let out a collective roar of approval and Ethan felt a gust of warm air rush past him. He later realized the warm gust was the combined affect of four hundred hot-breathed people shouting their delight.

Backstage Karl was fuming. “You bastard,” he said. “I hope you’re satisfied.” Before Ethan could say anything, Karl stormed out of the building.

Miss Marlowe came backstage and approached Ethan. “I’m not sure what happened but you definitely brought the house down.”

“Couldn’t help myself Miss Marlowe. He went off script so I did too.”

“Well the audience sure loved it.”

“I hope so.”

“Ethan, sometimes the best performances are spontaneous. They are the little miracles that occur in our lives as performing artists.”

Right then Ethan wanted to kiss Miss Marlowe, but he knew better. Smiling at her he simply said, “Thank you ma’am.” In that moment her beaming smile felt like a kiss.

to be continued…