Books by A. R. Casavant

I did the drawings A. R. Casavant used in his books on Precision Drill.  The red and white one was the first (1957), and here's another of his many books (1959):

Mr. Casavant taught marching band and concert band at Chattanooga High School (my high school).  I played glockenspiel in the marching band and bassoon in the concert band.  (I also played bassoon in the orchestra, but that was taught by Jay Craven.)  Even before I graduated from CHS in 1958, I worked for Mr. Casavant's ARC Publishing Company, sending out copies of his books to people who ordered them.

I did a search online to see if I could find any of Mr. Casavant's books, and I did!  Here's what I found:

• The Online Books Page (at UPenn), where you can see the book page by page.
• Phalanx Drill Movements (on Amazon, not currently available)

And here's a two-page pdf-file about his life, followed by a snippet:

• A. R. Casavant - 2007

"During his tenure at City High, A.R. Casavant developed a style of marching drill that would become known as Precision Drill. ... Between 1959 and 1979, Casavant authored forty texts on drill techniques, including Precision Drill and the Exhibition Marching Series."

I had to look up "bell lyra," the label used in the book for the instrument I played; we called it a "glockenspiel" when I was in the marching band.  I found online that "a form of glockenspiel is called a bell lyre, bell lyra, or lyra-glockenspiel.  The bell lyre is a form of glockenspiel commonly used in marching bands.  One variation is played vertically and has an extendable spike that is held on a strap."

Yep, that last one sounds like what I played, whatever you call it.  Would you like to hear (and see) the City High School band playing while marching on the field?  I posted that in 2011, HERE on this blog.