Old Time History

[Capuchino78]

I am new to the boards, but appreciate the old time history that some have shared. Ironically, I found the boards/groups when doing an off the cuff search to see what happened to Ray Lindsay. I remember Ray at Armijo, before he left to go to Clovis West. Of course, with all of the discussions about the Armijo Super Band days, I began a search to see if there was any mention of the Capuchino High School Marching Band. Surprisingly, there was a bit. one of the mentions was the following:

One of the most interesting themes of the past was at Capuchino HS in San Bruno. Their mascot was the Mustangs. Letter & flag carriers wore cowgirl uniforms & boots, tall flags had a Mustang image, band had American-style uniforms with tall shakos, and the mace drum major was in full Scottish kilt. At least they tied their green school color together … the DM wore green plaid. They received consistently high scores at one time and used to compete against Armijo in the same division. Haven’t heard much about them for a while. Don’t know if they still compete.


The Capuchino band was, until the early 1970's was attired exactly as described, although the first mace drum major there, wearing kilt, was in 1968. He was followed by Jim Harrington, who pretty much defined Mace drum majoring in Northern California. The kilt only lasted a few years after Jim, as by that time, Judges were starting to comment on the odd combination of white cowboy hats and spinning horse shoe shaped letter/banners with a kilted drum major. By 1976, the kilt was pretty much gone, but a Coldstream Guard style uniform with Busby became the norm. Throughout the 70's we marched on the order of 96 to 104 musicians, 5 or 6 majorettes, 9 or 11 banner girls, and later, 8 flags.

Ralph Bredenberg built the Capuchino Band into a monstar for whom anything less than a division win was unacceptable, and being in the mix for sweepstakes and top auxilliary awards each week was the expectation. He retired in Spring 1977 after I believe more than 20 years at Capuchino. Unfortunately, he passed away last year -- in his 90's.

Someone asked if Capuchino was still around. After Mr. B retired, the band went through a series of directors and continued to march successfully in competitions until sometime in the early 1980's, I believe. The High School still exists, but the band is a shadow of its former self. I believe that its demise was a result of the loss of music programs in the feeder schools, a redistricting in the school district that took a good portion of Capuchino's "territory" and reassigned it, substituting territory with no band "history" for all intents and purposes. The change in school administrations and in band directors played significant roles, as well. I always harbored a belief that many were not sorry to see the band dwindle, as while the rest of the school programs were good, the school was known for its band. While other programs struggled to raise money, the band was a well oiled machine in that respect. If the band needed money to go to Kennedy's inauguration, they raised it. If the band needed funds to go to All Western, they raised it. Portland Rose Festival? Rose Parade in Pasadena? Kamehameha festival? no problem......it got done. Maybe not possible anymore given changing times.

Thanks for letting me reminisce. Would look forward to hearing similar experiences/stories from other oldsters, like me......

[Hostrauser]

Capuchino wasn't big, maybe around 40 or so, but they were still competing in the early 90s when I marched. I've only seen them at a couple of reviews the past decade or so.

[Fillydog]

So.....it was a "small Capuchino"....mokay. I'll take a latte, LOL.(Now wondering if there's a "Latte" high school out there somewhere too, LOL.)

Sorry......couldn't resist.

[Cardinal Regime]

Before Capuchino, Ralph Bredenberg was at Chowchilla and did a great job with their band. He was my mom's band director. I still remember being a little kid at the parade for the Chowchilla Fair, (which just happens to be this weekend) and Mr. Bredenberg brought his Capuchino band to participate in this small town parade. Later when he went to Turlock Christian, he would bring that band to the Chowchilla parade as well, never forgetting his roots.

[ckly1958]

Ironically, Greg Christiansen, who built the amazing Golden Valley powerhouse was at Capuchino for a few years, but they lost him. The rest is history.