Recollections of MICHAEL MULLER (1962-1967) 

MEMORIES OF THE CHEVALIER COLLEGE CADET UNIT BAND IN THE 1960s
I had the pleasure of being part of the Chevalier College Cadet Band from 1962 to 1967, the last two years as Drum Major.  I came from the family dairy farm near Nowra and started as a boarder at Chev in 1962, in the first year of the new Wyndham scheme, which meant six years of secondary school rather than the five years of our predecessors.  I think I may have established some kind of record by being in the Passing Out Parade for all six years of my time at Chev.  In those days, you didn’t join the Cadet Unit until Second Form, but just a couple of weeks before the Passing Out Parade towards the end of 1962 the Band had a vacancy for the cymbal player.  I used to learn piano and the practice rooms were just across from the Refectory and beside the room where Father Prentice resided.  At the time he was in charge of the Cadet Unit and, having heard my piano sessions, he “conscripted” me into the Band on the basis of a “good sense of rhythm”!  I vaguely recall being slightly overawed at first by all the “men” I was marching with, but quickly picked up the routines and the music.  And I can also remember marching down the driveway towards the Main Oval for the Parade and one of the cymbals turning inside out.  We stopped marching briefly before resuming our progress onto the oval, just long enough for the Drum Sergeant Paul Dalton to whack the cymbal back into shape over his knee. 

The following year I moved to the drums where my sense of rhythm could take on a bit more of a challenge.  I went to Singleton for the annual Cadet Camp drum specialist course, I think in 1963.  That was my first experience of straw palliasses on duck boards in six man tents, church parades with RCs and OPDs, and salts in the tea!  But I did enjoy the music side of things. 

Memories of drumming include the Band leading the Anzac Day march, down the main street of Bowral to the Cenotaph and then back to the Catholic Church for a Memorial Mass.  On one Anzac Day, probably 1963, as we were marching back to the Church, the hook on Paul Dalton’s drum decided to liberate itself, with the result that Paul’s drum went rolling down the street a little faster than we were marching, passing the startled Drum Major on its way to the gutter.  In the Church, two drummers and two buglers would be part of a catafalque party which slow marched in two columns down the aisle and provided a musical salute at the Consecration.  The aisle was very narrow and I’m sure the ends of some of the wooden seats still bear the scars inflicted by the tightening rods on the snare drum bouncing on my thigh. 

At the end of 1965 I was asked to be Drum Major for the next year and went to the training camp at Singleton where I managed to come second in the course.  My prize was a book of Australian short poems and stories, which was the start of a lifelong love of collecting such literature.  I was Drum Major in 1966 and 1967, and remember the band competitions at the annual camps at Wallgrove in both those years.  In ’66 the arch enemy was Marist Brothers, Forbes, and there were two other schools, which I can’t remember, also competing.  It was a big event on the Sunday afternoon, with all the Units from all the schools as spectators.  We were assessed on our marching and drill as well as our music.  When results were announced, the prize for Best Drum Major was given first, and I recall the mixed feelings as my name was called out, because I didn’t think the same school could win both prizes.  But I was wrong and we took the double, much to the delight of the assembled Chev throng.  The following year we took the double again, although there was only one other school in the competition that year.  I still have both the books I won for those Drum Major’s prizes as well.  
Being Drum Major had other advantages – I had the flashiest uniform in the Unit which was “useful” at the annual cadet dance.  The Elm Court Dominican Convent girls came in off the buses as we all lined up in full uniform, except for the boots.  Standard black shoes were a little kinder on the ladies’ toes!  After the supper dance, you expected to escort your partner to supper in the Refectory.  My partner just happened to be Jenny Clout, an Elm Court daygirl from Moss Vale.  Thirty-three years later, after twenty-eight years of wonderful marriage and four children we are still partners.  Any mention of “She only went for the uniform” is guaranteed to entice a vigorous response! 

I still have a photo of the Band at the 1967 Passing Out Parade with me out the front taking the salute.  On the back of the photo are the signatures of, I think, all the members.  Among them are my brother Greg, one of the tenor drummers, and a young Drum Sergeant by the name of Xavier Desmarchelier who I gather went on to have a bit more to do with Chev!  Last September the photo was part of the rogue’s gallery for my 50th birthday. 

I have continued my interest in music with singing ever since my days at Chev, in various church and secular choirs and choruses.  In 1977 Jenny and I moved to Brisbane and in 1980 I discovered Barbershop singing, four-part acapella close harmony.  I was part of the first official Australian group affiliated with the world body of this craft and sang with a quartet on the Boardwalk at Expo 88 on weekends as part of the street entertainment.  The Barbershop movement in Australia has now spread across the continent and continues to grow.  I’ve had the good fortune to win national and regional awards in a range of quartets and a chorus.  (Do a net search for QuadraVox Barbershop Quartet!) 

I have fond memories of all my days at Chev, and particularly good ones associated with the Band.  Unfortunately I won’t be able to be with you to celebrate the golden anniversary of the Band, but I wish the current members and managers happy playing and all the best for the future.

(Recollections of Mike Muller Chevalier College 1962 – 1967)