VocalMotion

Alexis Merrell, Valley HS

Some students wish to be in band or choir outside of or in addition to school. Las Vegas Marching Arts is giving those students the chance to do just that. It has been started by Randy Warner, animal rights activist and musician, to give the students of Southern Nevada something to do. The high school students in Las Vegas do not have much of an opportunity to work as part of a team and to develop themselves. Once again, here is their chance. With LVMA, Randy Warner is working to develop a strong and impressive infrastructure for growth and expansion into a multilevel youth music education organization. He can be contacted by e-mail at 21stcares@citlink.net. Here is what he has to say about his program.

What exactly is Las Vegas Marching Arts?
Las Vegas Marching Arts is the newest and one of the most creative youth music education organizations. Our goal is to become the sponsor and supporter for a world- class competitive Drum and Bugle Corps by 2010. And we also will be having competitive dance teams and percussion teams through Winter Guard International and Color Guard competitions. One of the most creative ideas that we are going to be doing is working with our choral experience called VocalMotion, one of the programs that we have already started. It will entail large numbers of very creative and talented singers that can come to us at any level. We will bring the staff to help them become the singers and entertainers they hope to be. We will be a choir that doesn’t stand on risers and look over our left shoulder with an artificial smile. Rather we will be in motion or performing without being called a show choir at all.

Not being on risers, what are you expecting to do?
For example, if you were at a convention with your best friend in the world and you were looking at the exhibits through the different aisles that go just like a checkerboard and all of a sudden at a cue, all of the performers would start singing a capella throughout the convention center, bringing all the attendees right into the middle of a musical production. It’s something that just doesn’t happen everyday. What we’re trying to do with Las Vegas Marching Arts, especially VocalMotion to start with, is to gather ideas to where each one of our programs and performers can offer in Las Vegas something very unique and different that you could not get any place else in the country. We will be performing in parades, and we will not be marching, but will be strolling down the street as they do in the Disneyland Parade, as an idea.

What are your plans for VocalMotion specifically?
We want these kids to become entertainers, more confident within themselves, to learn public performance and speaking. We want these performances, instrumental and vocal, to enhance and enrich the currently existing programs of Clark County and other Southern Nevada School Districts amongst junior and senior high schools and colleges. We do not have a minimum age requirement. We also do not have a maximum age requirement in most of our programs. We want them to learn how to become individuals and perfect their individuality while learning to be creative, stand on their feet and also work as a team.

Why did you start Las Vegas Marching Arts?
Well, I’ll tell you a little short story. Everyone has their own gimmick, something they’re just born with. Whenever my parents would go to parades, I would kick and scream with joy when the marching band would go by. By the time I was three and we would go to the Ohio State Fair, my parents would go and sit at the tent to visit with people from our church and all of a sudden they would realize that I wasn’t beside them anymore. Anyway, they knew where to find me. They would call the police and say, “Our little boy is lost. We don’t know where he is, but we know where you can find him. You can find him behind whichever marching band is performing at the moment anywhere on the fairgrounds.” I could hear the bass drum and the band playing. It was a requirement that I be there to help them. So I’d run across the fairgrounds. It didn’t matter where they were. I could find my way to where that band was and I would start following them. So I have been thinking about this for 51 years to answer your question. I have been in marching band every minute I could, in high school and college. I have been involved with 12 or 13 Drum and Bugle Corps in the last 35 years in every aspect including Board of Directors, food preparation, bus driving, T-shirt sales, housing kids, and working their bingo games for fundraising. I thought it would be fun to try and do something like this. I have been successful in my life. It’s amazing to me that with the entertainment and the gross that Nevada has that there has never been even a Drum and Bugle Corps competition held in Nevada. In perspective, Oregon has two competitions a year and three Drum and Bugle Corps. It shouldn’t surprise me saying that Las Vegas is an extremely adult-oriented town and the kids are just here and don’t really matter.

How many youth are you looking to join?
It would be perfect if we had 150, for the simple reason that the bigger parades--such as the Fiesta Bowl, Hollywood Christmas Parade, and the Rose Parade--that have asked us to sing or send in applications require large groups. For Disneyland and Huntington Beach, we can easily squeeze by with 50. Not a problem at all, but obviously the more, the better.

We even have means for the singers to earn full scholarships in a variety of ways. We just want them to enjoy this unique experience and take some marvelous education away with them, too.

Thank you very much for your time.