A Legacy Project

“Music without dynamics is not music.” That’s what Mr. Nemvalts said.

We had asked him to listen to our new band. We called ourselves the Freeland Bean and Coal Company. To the usual ensemble of guitars, organ, bass, and drums we had added a trumpet so we could play “Groovin Is Easy” by The Electric Flag. We had begun to think of ourselves as a “horn band,” like The Electric Flag or like Blood Sweat and Tears, and pretty soon Chicago would come along. Even though had only one horn. Even though we had only one or two songs on our set list that featured a trumpet. That day, set up in the corner of the school cafeteria, we would have opened our twenty-minute set–the limited time the school principal allowed for our performance–with our one number that featured our one horn. I could hear it–because I was standing next to him in that corner. But he wasn’t miked, and behind him was Brian Bennett playing his farfisa organ, and playing it loud. As loud as he could get it.

Loud was essential. Loud was the point. Loud conferred a degree of authenticity on music. That’s what we thought. Groups we went to see and wanted to imitate performed in front of stacks of amplifiers. The idea was to produce a wall of sound. 

Across the cafeteria, in the opposite corner, as far from us as he could get, we saw Mr. Nemvalts step out of the teachers’ lunch room and stand with his arms folded over his chest. He was the school band teacher. Everyone loved him. Trumpet, he had said, was his instrument. We played. We did our thing. 

Next day in band class Brian asked him what he thought. 

“Music without dynamics is not music,” he said. He had crashed into the wall of sound. Or it into him.

We all read music by then, after being his students for three, four, or five years. We understood crescendo, its indication on the chart; we recognized his direction when the band played. 

I had a volume control, 1 through 10, on my amplifier and my guitar, Brian had a pedal or a lever on his organ that raised and lowered volume. I set mine on 8 or 9. I had to do that to keep up with Brian. If I played a solo I went to 10 and probably stayed there. We pretty much played full blast all the time.  

For Mr. Nemvalts, full blast didn’t get it.  Ten was not where it was at. 

We were disappointed. Also maybe a little perplexed. We wanted validation. Why we didn’t even try dynamics I’ll never know. We just kept on playing music that was not music. And loving it.