An “opus” to our own supreme band director

“It was twenty years ago today,
Sgt. Pepper taught the band to play
They've been going in and out of style
But they're guaranteed to raise a smile.” - Lennon/McCartney

Well, it was actually forty-five years ago when Paul, John, George, and Ringo made it America and the pop music scene was changed forever.

However, a little over a year after the Beatles made their triumphant assault on our country, a young first-year teacher from Tennessee came to Camilla as the band director for Camilla Consolidated School (CCS). Though his stay was short, only four years, he left a lasting impression on those that he taught and forever changed the musical landscape of the town.

Alvin E. Fulton began his tenure in 1965, taking over the reigns as band director from the previous director, Mr. Sims. I was in the seventh grade, having spent the previous year in the junior band, “perfecting” my skills on the trombone.

Mr. Fulton came in with all the youthful enthusiasm of a beginning teacher, building on what Mr. Sims had started and creating his own unique style into his program, turning us into a unit that soon became the envy of much larger schools in the area.

Mr. Fulton ran us like a drill sergeant, expecting all, male and female, to eat, drink, and sleep band. Save for a terminal illness, you had better not miss band practice.
Only “divine intervention” could keep any band member from a scheduled rehearsal!

But, all the hard work paid off. During football season, the halftime crowd - who traditionally vacated the bleachers for the concession stands or restroom relief - remained seated, anxious to see what kind of show that Mr. Fulton had arranged for us to perform.

And, boy did we work wonders!!!

We played all the tunes of the day, from R & B classics like “The Horse” to Motown favorites to standard marches. We created a sound that transcended the usual high school fare.

Some of the most memorable highlights of the four years under Mr. Fulton were shows patterned after college bands. In one, we performed in the dark, illuminated solely but flashlights attached to our shoes!

Another triumph involved the popular “Theme from Goldfinger.” As we played, our put-Beyonce-to-shame head majorette performed as “The Goldfinger girl,” appropriately dressed in sequins.

Not only were we known for our skills as a marching/performing unit, we excelled in the classical arena as well. In area competitions, we often came back with superior awards and recognition for playing some much more advanced than the average high school played.

Like I implied before, Mr. Fulton settled for nothing but the best.

He also was responsible for us going out of state to both Knoxville where we performed at his alma mater, Knoxville College and Miami. Both performances were well-received and we solidified our reputation for showmanship.

Mr. Fulton also got together a small jazz combo, comprised of some friends and fellow bandmembers who did “gigs” throughout the region.

All good things, as they say, do come to an end; thus, Mr. Fulton left us in 1969 to pursue his educational career elsewhere.

However, the metronome does go in two directions and Mr. Fulton and his wife Nadine, along with their daughter Sterling and son-in-law Carlton, recently returned for a gala in his honor, organized by those of us that fondly remembered those years and wanted to say “thank you” to the man that meant so much to us.

For three days, from July 10-12, over sixty of us former band members, from near and far, returned to walk the halls of CCS (now Walker-Inman Elementary) in order to reflect on those cherished days of four decades ago and pay tribute to the man who was “instrumental” in our lives as musicians and human beings.

Starting with a fish fry, held at the Plant Mitchell clubhouse, and culminating with a memorial gathering at the Sunday morning worship service at Open Door Church of Praise, we of the CCS band enjoyed a weekend of reminiscing as well as basking in the glow that all of us, for the most part, had weathered the passage of time.

In simple language, we all looked good and The Fultons, now past the age of retirement but still working, hadn’t aged at all.

Instead of looking like our former teachers, they look as though they were our classmates!

During the Saturday afternoon banquet, Mr. Fulton, ever the educator, challenged us to remember the past but always be mindful of the future, continuing to put our best foot forward in anything that we did.

He directed us to keep on “marching,” something that he had instilled in us so long ago.

For that, we will forever be indebted to him, as well as to the school called CCS that brought him into our lives.

Mr. Fulton, we take our “pirate” hat off to you!