2B
Thursday, April 28, 1988 / University Daily Kansan
Band director adds pep to basketball games
By Elaine Sung
Kansan staff writer
Ron McCurdy's official title is assistant professor of music, specializing in jazz.
But people recognize him as "the band man." He earns recognition as the director of the basketball ball that plays at all the Jayhawks' basketball games.
"Up in Detroit, it was 'Hey, there's the band guy.' In Kansas City during the national championship, it was 'Hey, there's the band guy,' " he said.
Conductor has taken the jazz program far
But for the last five years, McCurdy has proved that he is not just the band man. He is an unusual combination of jazz and basketball, Miles Davis and Larry Brown, silky harmonies and the thumping yells of "Hey" at ballgames.
His personality lends well to his job. He manages to convey his emotions into music, into his musicians and eventually into the crowds in the stands. The music is effervescent, enthusiastic, spirited and energetic, drawing the fans permanently into the game.
In his office in Murphy Hall stands the obligatory equipment of a jazz teacher: color photos of his jazz singers on the wall, a black upright piano with sheets of music, a music stand loaded down with more scores and a keyboard with a turntable, tape deck and speakers.
The tape is a recording of the sounds of this year's national championship season. Everything is included on that tape, from the standard pieces of Jayhawk fade to clips from the pep rally in Memorial Stadium after Kansas won the national title.
McCurdy fiddles with some dials on a recording machine, and instead of the wailing trumpet of virtuoso Wyton Marsalis, the sounds of "I'm a Javahawk" flood the room.
The end is a half-pop, half-jazz piece
sung by McCurdy, a basketball team tribute
that he composed on the trip back from the Midwest Regional in Pontiac, Mich.
The song was played first at the basketball banquet two weeks ago. Members of the band, who usually regard their conductor as a star, stunned to hear McCurdy actually singing.
"I was surprised myself," he said, grinning,
"too much. Pop music. I consider
itself a killer."
A jazz pursist who conducts a basketball band. Ironically, McCurdy's original fantasy was to be a basketball player, a dream shattered when he injured his knee as a teenager. But even now, he goes to Robinson Center frequently to play basketball.
"My dream was to become the next Dr. J.," McCurdy said. "I'm somewhat of a frustrated athlete. When I'm playing, I can hear the crowd. Two seconds left, and 'swish,' — he pretends to shoot a jump shot — "and it's all over. But that's just fantasy."
He is the director of the jazz choir, the one that will be going to Switzerland in July for the Montreux Jazz Festival, the most prestigious gathering for jazz enthusiasts in the world.
McCurdy equates the trip to the festival with the trip the Jayhawks made to Kansas City.
"I've been here for 12 years, and we have had a group tour overseas representing the U.S. in international diplomacy."
When he first started revamping and rebuilding in 1893, the jazz program was the weakest program in the music department. It had a small band, faculty members specializing in jazz, but he
Five years later, he has managed to turn it into a respected program that has brought in several famous and talented guest musicians.
"I could virtually do no wrong with the program, because there wasn't much to tear up." McCurdy said. "They let me develop and hone my skills in jazz."
Music has been a part of McCurdy since he was a small child. Music came easily to him, as easy as going to the piano and banging out songs, including rhythm and time. That was from a 4-year-old.
His father was a high school principal who played trumpet on the side. Piano lessons were mandated by the parents, but he had to go to school and be 10 and went with the trumpet instead.
"I pretty much knew that I wanted to pursue music as a career," McCurdy said. "But I wasn't sure to what extent. As a performer, as an educator, I didn't know."
McCurdy attended Florida M&M as an undergraduate. His aspiration at the time was to be a high school band director. "I thought that was the ultimate," he said. "That was my own utopia, to have my own little marching band."
Then he came to the University of Kansas for a master's degree and experienced the college world and saw professors specializing in jazz. He had the idea of focusing on jazz appealed to him.
McCurdy stayed at KU and received a doctorate in 1983. He stumbled into the world of Kansas basketball in 1983 when Coach Ted Owens was fired. McCurdy was still a graduate student and inherited the basketball band after the previous director did nt want to return.
Specialization has turned into working double duty without the pay. McCurdy is doing almost exactly what a high school band, jazz band and choir, and fund-raisers
Being in his basketball band has been the dream of several hundred music students each year. For McCurdy, the basketball season starts in September, when he holds a practice game and listen to "I'm a Jayhawk" for what seems like forever, selecting only the best.
"I will not put a mediocre product on the floor," McCurdy said. "I will not let my singers and my band be mediocre. It's as much that I will do whatever it takes to make it good."
Keith Bland, Prairie Village junior, has been in the band the past two years and understands the demands that McCurdy makes in producing a good band.
"With any kind of music, you have to try for the best," he said. "To settle for any less would be really compromising. He wants people to realize that they're not there just to watch the game but they have to get the crowd into the game, too."
During the five years McCurdy has been
during his work, he has never been paid
for his work.
"I still enjoy it, I really do," McCurdy said. "It's just that it's such a time-consuming endeavor. I love these guys, and for that reason, I don't mind doing它."
"As far as the financial part of it, if I were
independently wealthy, I wouldn't take a salary at all for what I do because I think my job here is so special."
One of the benefits of the band, however, is the exposure and recognition that accompanies it. It has helped him become recognized as a performer, and Ccurd said would always be his main cause.
He juggles a tight schedule, teaching several classes, conducting clinics and participating in festivals, some of which conflict with a few of the basketball games. He also teaches his jazz program, the quality of his jazz program at KU with quality students from around the country.
"My true calling is really education and teaching and shaping young minds and helping young people to mold their talent," McCurdy said. "I get my gratification from that. It's incredible to watch them mature musically."
To bring about the maturation, he employs innovative teaching techniques to inspire his students. Each year, he puts together a "Tribute to . . . series," focusing on one important musician, his style and technique. The program culminates in a concert.
Next year, McCurdy plans to focus Count Basie and bring in members who used to play in his band, including Snoookie Young, and the orchestra on the "Tonight Show."
"I also dream about what would be the ultimate concert," McCurdy said.
"I start dreaming. I get on the phone, call some friends and we do it. People say we can't do it, we can't afford it. My philosophy is where there is a will, there's a way. I will do it. I will find a way to fund it, and we will do it. I'm a buster and I'm a dreamer."
And he knows how to make those dreams come true.
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