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The rush of words pumped over the phone, much like the 180-beats-per-minute excitement of the famed ramp entrance of The Ohio State University Marching Band.
“The greatest feeling in the world is when you hear the roar of the crowd when you’re about to dot the ‘I’ (leading the band in ‘Script Ohio’) and you snap the baton onto the field,” drum major John LaVange of Howland said from Columbus during a telephone interview.
“Being assistant drum major this past year – we did a lot of Double Scripts – I would always lead the opposite side,” the 2014 Howland High School graduate said. “When I strut off the sideline onto the field, it’s really an awesome feeling – this is about to happen. It’s unbelievable.”
Last weekend, LaVange bested the competition to earn the job of head drum major for the 2016 football season. He is the 61st drum major in the history of the 225-member brass and percussion band.
“He is the face of the Ohio State Marching Band,” Director Chris Hoch said. “The drum major is considered to be the primary student leader of the band.”
“I’m very excited for the upcoming season,” LaVange, 20, said. “It’s something I worked for for a very long time, ever since I was in Howland.”
He was a freshman trumpet player for the Howland High School Marching Tigers Band when he saw a video of Ohio State drum major Jason Stuckert, now a friend and mentor.
“It just blew me away. I didn’t realize this kind of drum major existed in the country,” LaVange said.
The backflips, handsprings, the strut, and the traditional OSU drum major backbend and the baton toss over the goal post – it all appealed to his sense of flair and athleticism.
Hoch said drum major is a specialized position.
“There are two things that we look for. (One is) performance ability,” Hoch said. “That was judged at tryouts this past Sunday and we look for the ability to do twirl routines to the musical performances, the high tosses and the catches. We also look for how they would lead the band onto the field, our traditional ramp entrance.”
About 19 minutes before each football game at Ohio Stadium – the Horseshoe – the band pounds out of the ramp tunnel to chants of “O-H-I-O,” with arm swings, high steps and a series of elaborately timed flanking maneuvers. The drum major dashes down the ramp, struts through the band and executes the famous back bend to form an “O”with his body. After a dramatic pause, the scarlet plume atop his white shako (hat) touches the turf while the band plays the “Buckeye Battle Cry.”
The routine eventually leads to Script Ohio. Band members – with the drum major in front – march single file across the football field, curving, snapping and weaving through the floating procession until they spell out the word “Ohio.” Then the drum major leads a sousaphone player – both high stepping as fans in the stadium cheer – to the top of the “I.” The drum major marks the spot with a theatric sweep of his baton. The player pounces, and the bell of his big horn punctuates the performance with the dot.
It’s a famous and beloved routine the band has performed since 1936.
“The other thing we’re looking for is leadership skills,” Hoch said. “They are going to be the face of the band, the leader of the band.
“John was our assistant drum major last year. There was never any doubt of his ability to perform. Where he really shined this year was his leadership ability.”
Greg Rezabek, Howland High School band director, said, “We’re really proud of John. He’s done a great job. What an honor to lead the band in Script Ohio and do all the wonderful things a drum major does.”
LaVange led the Tiger band his junior and senior years. Rezabek said LaVange conducted the band during on-field performances as well as worked up sparkling mace – or baton – twirling routines to the music.
“That was something he was excellent at. He was fantastic,” the director said.
The Howland Board of Education will honor LaVange at their meeting May 23, Rezabek said.
LaVange said “one hundred percent without a doubt,” growing up in Howland helped fit him for the drum major’s black boots, scarlet jacket and white shako.
“In Howland, there was a drum major before me, Travis Seagraves. He started the OSU style of drum major here. He helped train me and helped me develop the moves. That’s how it happened.
“The Howland vs. Harding games were extremely advantageous,” LaVange said. “It was performing for a huge crowd under a pressure situation.
“But not just those size crowds, but the Howland band program. I don’t know if I would be in the position I am today if I hadn’t come from the program I did. I had a director who supported and did those things with the band.
“My parents (Scott and Elaine LaVange) are incredibly happy, incredibly proud,” he said. “My parents, my grandparents (Tom and Helen Ditchey), my sister (Courtney), my friends have been so supportive from my freshman year of high school to now. To me, it was just as much a victory for them.”
His family and many friends attended tryouts in Columbus.
“They were ecstatic as soon as my name was announced,” LaVange said. “It was such a cool day to have them there for that. It’s really nice.”
“It was extremely emotional,” said Elaine LaVange, a special education teacher at Champion Middle School. “To see your child reach their dream… I know it sounds cliche. But I saw how hard he worked. I have a bare spot on my lawn to prove it. I have the gouges in my ceiling to prove it.”
She remembers senior night at Howland High School, when seniors told of their plans. “The thing he said was ‘I plan to go to Ohio State and become the drum major.’ You go, ‘Uh-huh, OK, that’s nice.” It only took him two years.
“He’s driven. He’s focused. He lays out his game plan and goes for it,” Elaine LaVange said.
Oh, and the full scholarship that comes with being drum major is rather nice, too.
“When he was the assistant last year, he got half a scholarship,” she said. “This year, he gets a full scholarship – and he earns every penny of it, trust me. It’s pretty grueling.”
Along with the hours of rehearsals – the band typically practices three times a day for the two weeks before school starts and two hours a day, five days a week while classes are in session, plus all the individual practices – LaVange works to keep in shape.
“All of our students have to be somewhat athletic,” Hoch said. “They have to be in good condition. It takes physical stamina to do the shows we do at the speed we do them. It takes great coordination to march and play the instruments at the speed that we do. They’re going nonstop for 12 straight minutes.
“The drum major may be the most athletic position of all,” Hoch said.
“My freshman and sophomore year (of high school), I didn’t know I could develop the athletic skills I possess now,” LaVange said. “I like sports. I’ve done sports my entire life.”
LaVange laughed. “I think I have the record in Howland for the most sports attempted in a single year.
“I do cardio a lot, swim laps in the pool a lot – that works both stamina and builds muscle – running, swimming, weight training as well. I was probably 110, 115 pounds and 5-7 in high school. Now I’m 5-10 and 155 pounds (of toned muscle). It’s a pretty crazy transformation and it was because I wanted to become a drum major.”
His freshman year at Ohio State, he sat with the “D Row” reserves. Drum majors are required to spend a least a year learning the craft.
“The drum major position, you are the leader on the field,” he said. “You have to organize the drum major program. You make appearances throughout the year, you represent the band, you are the liaison between the students and the band staff and university. It’s a very multifaceted and involved position.
“With Ohio State, we say you want to be the drum major on the field, but just as much or more, you want to be the drum major off the field,” LaVange said. “It’s as close to being a politician as you can be without being a politician.”
Which plays in well with his future. LaVange is a finance and economics major who is considering a career in politics.
“I’d like to get my MBA – Master of Business Administration,” he said. “I plan to work in the finance field for a few years and see where the business world takes me.
“I’d like to get into business, and own my own business. I have some very intelligent friends as well. One is into computers, one is into material engineering. We have this thing where we’d like get back together in our own business.
“Past that, I want to get into politics as well. I’m interning at the Statehouse, that’s been cool. I’m getting my feet wet.”
And he is forever a drum major.
“A special part is after OSU, alumni continue investing time into making sure kids are learning and getting it,” LaVange said. “Winter sessions especially, alumni come out and teach kids.
“Me as an alumnus, I don’t know where I’ll be 10, 20 years from now – maybe California. But if I’m ever in the Columbus area, I want to make it a point to help out those who come after me.
He considers the band his extended family. Much controversy surrounded the culture of hazing in the Ohio State marching band in 2014, while LaVange was still in high school. Those problems don’t exist now, he said.
“Since Day 1, it’s been the greatest community I could have been part of. It’s very positive,” he said. “Everyone is willing to help each other. They are my best friends. I couldn’t be happier.”