Profiles in Life & Music
Meet some of the people who make the Hot Springs Concert Band a special community of musicians.
'Papa' Wilson: A band kid's story
By Millie Gore Lancaster
“Missing a Sunday high-school band rehearsal when I was in junior high school changed the course of my life,” said HSCB member Phillip Wilson.
Wilson (b. 1936) was one of a half dozen ninth-grade bandsmen who were selected from Santa Fe, New Mexico’s two junior high schools to play in the high school band. All the appointed ninth graders were nervous, as they should have been. The exceptional junior high band students were not warmly received by the high school bandsmen.
The Sunday rehearsal was the first of several Sundays that the band would rehearse in preparation for a concert with the famous trumpet player Rafael Mendez. Phillip, having forgotten about the unusual rehearsal schedule, had played the day away with non-band friends down in the gravel pits.
One of Phillip’s brothers had heard about him missing the rehearsal, and when Phillip arrived home, said, “Weren’t you supposed to be at band today?” Phillip’s stomach roiled. Mr. Shacklett will kill me, he thought.
The Santa Fe band director, Bennett Shacklett, had been like a second father to young Phillip Wilson since before the quiet lad had lost his father to a stroke when the boy was only fourteen. As the sole band director in the entire city of Santa Fe, Mr. Shacklett had started the boy in beginning band when he was twelve and knew his character well. He therefore elected a gentle approach when addressing the boy’s absence at the rehearsal.
On Monday morning, when Phillip, quaking in his shoes, reported to Mr. Shacklett and apologized, the band director’s soft response was, “You owe me two hours, Wilson.”
That resulted in Phillip being placed on the band equipment crew, and that changed his life. First, Phillip was no longer simply “a kid in band.” He was now “a band kid.” The difference between a kid in band and a band kid is that a band kid is one who is always busy behind the scenes doing the grunt work that’s required to keep the organization running. The work isn’t glamorous, and it’s often tedious. Band kids are “toters” because they tote stands, chairs, boxes of music, and countless other band-abilia to wherever it needs to be. They come to the band hall early and stay late. Band directors know their band kids can be counted on to tackle any thankless chore and see it through.
Second, being placed on the equipment crew changed the junior high boy’s life because the high school band kids on the equipment crew got to know him and learned that he had the heart of a band kid. They stopped resenting him and came to be his friends.
Because his family owned the largest transfer and storage (moving) company in Santa Fe, Phillip had valuable knowledge and skills about packing and loading household goods that translated into moving band equipment.
Equally important, he had free access to moving vans. Before long, he was not only on the equipment crew, he was also Captain of the equipment crew.
As a musician, Phillip excelled on the cornet, making All Sate four years running.
When Phillip was a junior, Mr. Shacklett assigned the now six-foot-two-inch bandsman and two other cornet players to learn to play Bugler’s Holiday for the governor’s inauguration. The boys required themselves to know all three parts and be able to switch parts midstream- all by memory. They also required themselves to be able to transpose the music into any key.
Following the successful gubernatorial performance with his band’s accompaniment, Mr. Shacklett set about to arrange for the trio to play Bugler’s Holiday at All State accompanied by the All State Band.
That year, Phillip decided he wanted to become a band director. The decision was almost preordained. He’d grown up in a musical home with his lullabies being church hymns sung by his mother’s congregation in his living room every week. He had discovered that he was a talented cornet player. He adored music. Mr. Shacklett was his hero. And he’d spent the happiest moments of his life in the band hall with other band kids. “I loved band so much that I wanted to become a band director so I could help other kids learn to like band as much as I did,” he said.
That year, he started courting a bassoon player, and they became engaged at nineteen. However they did not marry until Wilson graduated from college (Eastern New Mexico University) at age 22. They produced two bassoon players, two French horn players, two trombone players, and one flautist.
In addition to playing cornet, Wilson had started composing at age twelve, with each new note he learned allowing him to expand his repertoire. He excelled in composition and arrangement classes in college and began composing and arranging for his first band when he became a director in Clovis, New Mexico. He said, “Having my own lab band so I could try out ideas was a wonderful thing.”
Wilson later became a band director in Tucumcari, New Mexico, where he retired at age 51, He and his beloved wife had a total of 51 years of marriage before she died of cancer.
Because HSCB member Millie Gore Lancaster had been his student, friend, and band kid since she was eleven, she could see that the old musician was not coping well after the death of his wife. She began encouraging him to come visit her and her husband in Hot Springs Village. “Love, music, and my home cooking are what you need,” she told him.
She introduced him to HSCB, and when he was 77, she approached Craig Hamilton about having HSCB play one of his compositions, March Third. Dr. Hamilton not only embraced the idea, but he also asked Wilson to conduct it. Three years later, he invited Wilson to conduct his March April with the band.
Wilson began to consider Hot Springs Village his second home.
After ten years of cajoling, Millie finally convinced her old teacher to trade life as a hermit in the brown desert of New Mexico for life as part of her family in the green forest of HSV.
He quickly became known to the community as Papa Wilson as a nod to the great composer Haydn, who was called Papa by his musicians.
Papa Wilson joined the percussion section of HSCB. “With COPD, I don’t have the lungs to play trumpet anymore,” he said. However, he does play baritone with New Horizons Band, and he has become conductor of The Village Strings.
When asked about being part of HSCB, Papa said, “I can’t imagine my life without the Hot Springs Concert Band. Being a member of this band, and the other musical groups I’ve become part of here, will add years to my time on this earth. In New Mexico, I was dying of loneliness and the lack of opportunities to make music with friends. That’s been restored to me. I’m nearly 88, but I feel 35.”
With a modest smile and downcast eyes, Papa Wilson said, “I love this band, and I dearly love these people.”
Papa Phillip Wilson. First, last, and always a band kid.
PHOTOS -- TOP: Phillip Wilson directs the Hot Springs Concert Band. INSET: Phillip Wilson and Dr. Craig Hamilton take a moment for a photo at an HSCB concert.
By Millie Gore Lancaster
“Missing a Sunday high-school band rehearsal when I was in junior high school changed the course of my life,” said HSCB member Phillip Wilson.
Wilson (b. 1936) was one of a half dozen ninth-grade bandsmen who were selected from Santa Fe, New Mexico’s two junior high schools to play in the high school band. All the appointed ninth graders were nervous, as they should have been. The exceptional junior high band students were not warmly received by the high school bandsmen.
The Sunday rehearsal was the first of several Sundays that the band would rehearse in preparation for a concert with the famous trumpet player Rafael Mendez. Phillip, having forgotten about the unusual rehearsal schedule, had played the day away with non-band friends down in the gravel pits.
One of Phillip’s brothers had heard about him missing the rehearsal, and when Phillip arrived home, said, “Weren’t you supposed to be at band today?” Phillip’s stomach roiled. Mr. Shacklett will kill me, he thought.
The Santa Fe band director, Bennett Shacklett, had been like a second father to young Phillip Wilson since before the quiet lad had lost his father to a stroke when the boy was only fourteen. As the sole band director in the entire city of Santa Fe, Mr. Shacklett had started the boy in beginning band when he was twelve and knew his character well. He therefore elected a gentle approach when addressing the boy’s absence at the rehearsal.
On Monday morning, when Phillip, quaking in his shoes, reported to Mr. Shacklett and apologized, the band director’s soft response was, “You owe me two hours, Wilson.”
That resulted in Phillip being placed on the band equipment crew, and that changed his life. First, Phillip was no longer simply “a kid in band.” He was now “a band kid.” The difference between a kid in band and a band kid is that a band kid is one who is always busy behind the scenes doing the grunt work that’s required to keep the organization running. The work isn’t glamorous, and it’s often tedious. Band kids are “toters” because they tote stands, chairs, boxes of music, and countless other band-abilia to wherever it needs to be. They come to the band hall early and stay late. Band directors know their band kids can be counted on to tackle any thankless chore and see it through.
Second, being placed on the equipment crew changed the junior high boy’s life because the high school band kids on the equipment crew got to know him and learned that he had the heart of a band kid. They stopped resenting him and came to be his friends.
Because his family owned the largest transfer and storage (moving) company in Santa Fe, Phillip had valuable knowledge and skills about packing and loading household goods that translated into moving band equipment.
Equally important, he had free access to moving vans. Before long, he was not only on the equipment crew, he was also Captain of the equipment crew.
As a musician, Phillip excelled on the cornet, making All Sate four years running.
When Phillip was a junior, Mr. Shacklett assigned the now six-foot-two-inch bandsman and two other cornet players to learn to play Bugler’s Holiday for the governor’s inauguration. The boys required themselves to know all three parts and be able to switch parts midstream- all by memory. They also required themselves to be able to transpose the music into any key.
Following the successful gubernatorial performance with his band’s accompaniment, Mr. Shacklett set about to arrange for the trio to play Bugler’s Holiday at All State accompanied by the All State Band.
That year, Phillip decided he wanted to become a band director. The decision was almost preordained. He’d grown up in a musical home with his lullabies being church hymns sung by his mother’s congregation in his living room every week. He had discovered that he was a talented cornet player. He adored music. Mr. Shacklett was his hero. And he’d spent the happiest moments of his life in the band hall with other band kids. “I loved band so much that I wanted to become a band director so I could help other kids learn to like band as much as I did,” he said.
That year, he started courting a bassoon player, and they became engaged at nineteen. However they did not marry until Wilson graduated from college (Eastern New Mexico University) at age 22. They produced two bassoon players, two French horn players, two trombone players, and one flautist.
In addition to playing cornet, Wilson had started composing at age twelve, with each new note he learned allowing him to expand his repertoire. He excelled in composition and arrangement classes in college and began composing and arranging for his first band when he became a director in Clovis, New Mexico. He said, “Having my own lab band so I could try out ideas was a wonderful thing.”
Wilson later became a band director in Tucumcari, New Mexico, where he retired at age 51, He and his beloved wife had a total of 51 years of marriage before she died of cancer.
Because HSCB member Millie Gore Lancaster had been his student, friend, and band kid since she was eleven, she could see that the old musician was not coping well after the death of his wife. She began encouraging him to come visit her and her husband in Hot Springs Village. “Love, music, and my home cooking are what you need,” she told him.
She introduced him to HSCB, and when he was 77, she approached Craig Hamilton about having HSCB play one of his compositions, March Third. Dr. Hamilton not only embraced the idea, but he also asked Wilson to conduct it. Three years later, he invited Wilson to conduct his March April with the band.
Wilson began to consider Hot Springs Village his second home.
After ten years of cajoling, Millie finally convinced her old teacher to trade life as a hermit in the brown desert of New Mexico for life as part of her family in the green forest of HSV.
He quickly became known to the community as Papa Wilson as a nod to the great composer Haydn, who was called Papa by his musicians.
Papa Wilson joined the percussion section of HSCB. “With COPD, I don’t have the lungs to play trumpet anymore,” he said. However, he does play baritone with New Horizons Band, and he has become conductor of The Village Strings.
When asked about being part of HSCB, Papa said, “I can’t imagine my life without the Hot Springs Concert Band. Being a member of this band, and the other musical groups I’ve become part of here, will add years to my time on this earth. In New Mexico, I was dying of loneliness and the lack of opportunities to make music with friends. That’s been restored to me. I’m nearly 88, but I feel 35.”
With a modest smile and downcast eyes, Papa Wilson said, “I love this band, and I dearly love these people.”
Papa Phillip Wilson. First, last, and always a band kid.
PHOTOS -- TOP: Phillip Wilson directs the Hot Springs Concert Band. INSET: Phillip Wilson and Dr. Craig Hamilton take a moment for a photo at an HSCB concert.