The [National Guard B]and was all right, but it was obvious that many of the players never practiced, especially the older ones. The eight or ten younger and newer members were the ones who sustained the band. There were a few good players in the “old” band who were happy to see us there, like Staff Sergeant Sal Carlucci on trombone, with his iron lip. During our time in service, he’d say, “Felix, I’ve learned more from listening to you than anyone in years,” but Sal taught me a few things, too. I’d always been instructed to play my instrument by the traditional and established rules. You tongue this way or breathe that way and play the shakes another way, and you weren’t supposed to deviate from those concepts. Hearing and seeing Carlucci play terrific shakes by moving his jaw made me look for a different way to do it, because that was one of my weaknesses. I experimented and learned to do them by slightly shaking my head and never did them better. In the final analysis, it’s the ultimate professional result that counts. << less