'How sweet the sound' - Famed New Orleans Catholic band back

NEW ORLEANS (CNS) - During a sweltering hot Louisiana day in late July, the sun was beating down upon the heads of about 70 teenage boys standing on the asphalt across the street from their school.

Their faces were set in determination, though beads of sweat lined their foreheads and cheeks. As their instructors yelled commands, they stepped into their formations and began to march, knees high as they were taught. Later that day, outside the school's gymnasium, the quick rat-a-tat-tat beat of the drum line echoed across the parking lot in a sound symbolizing a new hope for St. Augustine School and for the entire city of New Orleans. Daily practice for the nationally-recognized band, known as the "Marching 100," has resumed. The members of the band from this all-boys, historically African-American Catholic high school compared the practice days to boot camp. But for many, the hard work, sweat and sore muscles they experienced daily was sweet relief and a return to a new sense of normalcy. Affectionately referred to as "St. Aug," the school sits in an area of New Orleans that was ravaged by flooding after last year's Hurricane Katrina. The school's first floor was flooded and additional damage was sustained when more than 300 people took refuge at the school. The school's brand new band room, which included many instruments and the Marching 100's uniforms, was all but destroyed. Last year as students were displaced and scattered across the country, the St. Aug band, which plays in eight to 10 Mardi Gras parades each year, was silenced. Students had to go to the MAX school, a high school formed by combining St. Augustine, Xavier and St. Mary's Academy. The school formed a marching band, but for several of the St. Aug boys it just wasn't the same. Kenneth Caldwell, a cymbal player, lost everything in the hurricane and had to move to Texas with his family. Now when the drum line practices, the cymbal players clap in beat, twirling their arms around. The cymbals were a casualty of the hurricane, and until they can be replaced the boys who play the instrument are forced to simulate their part in the performances. "I was hurting," the 17-year-old senior said. "I really wanted to be here. I have nothing left, but I have this band. It's my everything. Without this, I would have had nothing to come back to. But I've learned you can lose everything, and this one thing makes up for it all," he said in an interview with The Georgia Bulletin, the official newspaper of the Atlanta Archdiocese. Virgil Tiller, a 1995 graduate of St. Aug and member of the famed band, is the new band director. Students have sacrificed to return to play in the band, he said. "Some of them have left their parents in other states and have come back to New Orleans and are living with other people just to be a part of the band," he said. "You have to really respect that and really respect the hope that they have." Tiller understands firsthand the significance of the band to his students. "Being a part (of this band) really kept me out of trouble," he said. "It taught me discipline and everything I do in my life I base on the principles I learned here at St. Aug." For 55 years, Edwin Hampton doled out that discipline. The creator and band director emeritus started at the school when it opened as the first Catholic high school in New Orleans for African-American boys in 1951. To this day, he still keeps a watchful eye over the program he began. He feels a sense of renewal that the band will again be taking the field. "Things are really starting to look like we're on a good roll," he said. "These kids are very eager and it gives a lot of us hope. I've learned that if you challenge them and give them a chance the kids have that spirit and can accomplish a lot of goals." Hampton led his band while they played in both the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York and in the Rose Bowl Parade in Pasadena, Calif. The band and school also boast impressive alumni, including: Victor Goines, the director of jazz studies at the Julliard School; Dean Baquet, editor of the Los Angeles Times; and former New Orleans Mayor Sidney Barthelemy. Ninety percent of St. Aug graduates go on to college. - - - The St. Aug Marching 100 is in need of donations. All the members' uniforms were destroyed, and replacement uniforms cost around $500 each. Donations may be made on the school's Web site at: www.purpleknights.com/M100.htm.

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