Coral Gables Historical Archive
The Times
Wednesday, April 28, 1976, page 2 (of 32)
The page
The text of this pageRead by computer from the scan, so some words may be wrong. The page picture is the original.
Cobras will strike up the band in El Salvador
El Salvador: smallest country in Central America; population, four million; location, center of Central America, bounded on the north and east by Honduras and the Gulf of Fonseca, on the south by the Pacific Ocean and on the west by Guatemala; government, constitutional democracy; principal crop, coffee. The tiny Latin America country is the destination of South Miami High's Cobra Band April 29 through May 4. Band director Joseph Bragg, Ed Shutter, president of the Band Association, Marshall Brandon, vice-president, Sam Scarnecchia, athletic director, South Miami Mayor Jack Block and wife and a handful of parent chaperones will accompany 82 band members for six days of exploring and performing for the people of El Salvador. "We just want to see how the people live," said Bragg. "El Salvador doesn't have bands in its school system like we do, and the people want to see it. San Salvador, the capital, is trying to become modern not only in its architecture but in its attitude toward education." Cost of the trip is $236 per student, and the kids earned the money through Christmas tree sales, candy sales and a garage sale. A generous sum was contributed by the City of South Miami and band parents gave their share to make up the difference. The six sousaphones, eight drummers, six trombones, three baritone horns, nine saxophones, six trumpets, 17 piccolos, 11 clarinets, flag corps and majorettes will perform five times for the Latin people. In Santa Ana, the second largest city in El Salvador, the band will join local units in playing for the victims of the Guatemala earthquake. In all performances, the Cobra Band will march in traditional style outdoors, in parks and on soccer fields. Bragg said the band was invited by the country's Minister of Education and Minister of Tourism. The group will be guests of San Salvador Mayor Alcalde Ricardo Martinez. The South Miami Chamber of Commerce presented Bragg with plaques to give the Latin officials. The young musicians will not exactly feel like strangers on the trip. Fifteen in the group are Spanish, and one boy, Carlos Herrerra, has a family in San Salvador. For those students who cannot speak the language fluently, the school printed a list of useful Spanish words and phrases as part of the itinerary. "Donde esta el retrete?" (Where is the restroom?) is probably the most useful. A basic money equivalency chart was also given out. The gist: one "colone" is equal to 40 cents in American money. Perhaps the most exciting part of the trip — missing four days of school — was made possible by permission from the Board of Education. "They (the Board) felt the trip is just as educational as sitting in class," said Bragg. — ELIZABETH OWEN Photo: S. Miami Chamber president Judge Dick Lantz ... presents Joseph Bragg with plaques for Central America mayors
He built SW band into one of Dade's finest
By ELIZABETH OWEN Staff Writer Melvin Baker, band director of the Southwest High School Royal Lancer Band, is leaving his post of 11 years. Baker, who built the band into one of the most spectacular marching bands in Dade County, will become music department head and band director at South Ridge Senior High School when the new Cutler Ridge school opens in the fall. "It's been in the back of my mind to teach in the community where I live," Baker stated. "I think I've done about all I can do for the program here. "Maybe a change will make the parents and community get behind the band even more because the state legislature cannot help out financially for some time." Ironically, Baker began his band director's career in the same area that he will move to next year. In 1960 he was assigned to begin and develop the band program at the then newly opened Cutler Ridge Junior High School. Although he will have brand new facilities, instruments and equipment at South Ridge, Baker said he has mixed feelings about leaving. "The kids and the parents here at Southwest have bent over backwards. I wish I could take them with me," said Baker. "But the new job is a challenge, something different. I hope we can build a program in the south end of town that can become as good as this one. "It will take a good three or four years, but I already know many of the parents from church and the little league baseball team. The biggest challenge is to take the students coming from Palmetto, Killian and South Dade high schools and create a program as exciting as the ones they're coming from." Baker, a soft-spoken man with red hair and freckles, is reluctant to take credit for his accomplishments at Southwest High. He said he has merely carried on ideas begun by the directors before him. "What I've tried to do is maintain some of the traditions started by the original band director, Marvin Mockabee. He helped us style the band and we carried on what he did." Dr. Ray Turner, now principal at Palmetto Senior High, was also band director at Southwest for a year, Baker said. Looking back over the years, Baker said the highest honor the band won under his direction was in 1971, when the band was chosen as one of 11 from the Southeast to perform at the Southern Music Educators National Conference in Daytona Beach. But his most precious memory is of the band's performance at a state contest in Sarasota in 1970. "The kids played so excitingly, there was so much feeling, that after our performance the audience stood and applauded and the band members — guys and girls — cried. It was a really electric experience, the kind of thing a band director remembers all his life." On the weekend of May 1, Baker will direct his band at the 1976 state contest. "I feel like a senior in my last year of school," Baker admitted. "It's a big, empty feeling to leave the people I've known for 11 years. But I'm anxious to prove that kids are the same all over." Photo by ELIZABETH OWEN: Southwest High School Band Director Mel Baker ... will become band director at new Cutler Ridge school
inside this issue
Where does a Great Dane sleep? Anywhere he wants to Page 1B | Editorials | 6 | Letters | 6 | Look-alikes | 7 | Gables news | 8, 11, 15 | Sports | 20, 21 | Entertainment | 22 | Pat Gabriel | 1B | Clubs | 2B | Marion Richey | 3B | Religion | 4B | School news | 5, 6B | Classified | 24