Forest High School Band Program
SINCE 1922
Mr. Scott was a trombone and tuba player. He taught at Lake Weir HS from 1970-1972 and Forest HS from 1972-1980. He was a mentor to several Ocala area band directors such as John Leschak (Lake Weir HS) and Alonzo Braddon (Vanguard HS) early in their careers. He taught several students who became band directors as well, such as David Fritz and Jim Peronto, while at Forest High School.
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During his tenure he was active in the Florida Bandmasters Association, having been instrumental in introducing several directors to the organization and having served on the FBA State board as a District Chairman in the late 70’s. He was in charge during an expansion period of the Forest HS Band program, having two concert bands and a Jazz-Rock Band, all having several performances throughout the year. He was known for his rigid but fair sense of discipline and his 4 tiered "Musicianship" system, which is still in use today at Lake Weir HS. The band program was at its peak membership, nearly 100 members, during his time at Forest High School. Former students remember that he arranged much of his own music for the marching band, pit orchestra, and concert band. He taught private lessons to many area students and was known to play bass guitar in several local groups. He was one of the founders of the Ocala Festival Orchestra, which is today known as the Ocala Symphony. Their first rehearsals were at the junior college, and later using the FHS Band room. Mr. Scott was the conductor for the third and fourth season of the orchestra.
He was active with the College of Central Florida (then known as Central Florida Junior College) providing many of the musicians for the pit orchestra for their theater productions using the band members from FHS. He encouraged many of his to students to participate in local performing opportunities such as at Six Gun Territory, the junior college, and with local combos and rock bands in the Ocala and Gainesville areas. His connection to the junior college was instrumental in helping to establish the first annual Marion All-County Honor Band, as the clinics and rehearsals were held at the junior college. During his tenure, FHS received many superior ratings at both Concert and Marching MPA's and attended the State Concert MPA several times. The marching band received many invitations to perform in parades all around Florida and the concert band perform at several events around Ocala and Gainesville. He was the first director in the area to add a dedicated auxiliary group to the marching band, first at Lake Weir (the Lake Weir "Canettes") and at Forest, the flag corps.
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Mr. Scott was chairman of the All-State Marching Band for one year, and on the Florida Music Curriculum Committee of the Music Educators National Conference in 1979.
At the end of the 1980 school year, Mr. Scott left Forest High School to pursue other opportunities in Tucson, Az. While there, he entered into the aerospace industry in which he continued to work for the next 21 years. He was still performing on a regular basis in Arizona for several years afterwards. He is currently retired and living in Colorado where he is organizing a brass band.
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