Delve into 12: Ron Lambert

LAKEWOOD RANCH — The first time Lakewood Ranch High School Band Director Bob Schaer met Ron Lambert, he knew he’d met a great person.

Within the first hour, he knew he’d found a great musician.

And within months, he knew he’d found his future replacement.

“I knew seven years ago I wanted him to be the next band director (here),” said Schaer, who recruited Lambert in late 2003 to help with Lakewood’s band program and take it to a competitive level. “He has such a wide background in performance.”

Lambert officially will assume Schaer’s post in June, after Schaer retires.

“I want to continue what he and I started,” Lambert said. “I’m always trying to improve what we’re doing. I want to grow and improve the wind ensemble. I feel that that is the core of our program.”

Having marched with the prestigious Cavaliers Drum and Bugle Corps and the University of Illinois, Lambert has proven to be a perfect fit for Lakewood’s now well-established music program. And although Lambert ventured off to lead Southeast High School’s band program in 2008 and 2009, he returned to Lakewood when the assistant band director position re-opened.

“I knew it was the right thing to do,” Lambert says. “It was definitely a leap of faith to leave my own program (at Southeast).”

But upon his return to Lakewood, Lambert and Schaer both knew they would be preparing Lambert to lead the school’s band program.

“We have an incredibly active band program, but we created that monster,” Schaer said, chuckling.

FIRST NOTES
Lambert himself has been a percussionist since he was a high school student in Chicago. Although his first instrument was the saxophone, he began playing drums after hearing a presentation by a Chicago Symphony percussionist.

“I was hooked,” Lambert said. “I still see me sitting in that room. His name was James Ross. He had a timpani and a black drum set. When he played, there was something about it (that clicked with me).”

Lambert began playing drums at his church, taking lessons from a friend of his cousin. His passion for the instrument grew each time he played, he said.

“I beat on everything I had in the house — pots and pans and telephone books,” Lambert said.

Eventually, Lambert joined his high school band. Later, he won a spot with the eight-time world champion Cavaliers, for which he marched from ages 17 to 21.

Lambert started college at the University of Illinois as a chemical engineering major but quickly turned his focus to music and business while marching in the school’s band. He gradated in 1991 and began playing professionally, recording music, playing on tours and for commercials, among other ventures. He started teaching privately at DePaul University in 1995 and soon began running a music school called the Chicago Precussion Center.

In 2000, Lambert and his family moved to Florida, and he took a job as the director of the University of South Florida’s Show Band. A few years later, Schaer approached him about helping with Lakewood’s band program. Lambert knew he didn’t have the time, but after his first visit to the school, he knew he’d find a way to participate.

“He had a great program going,” Lambert said. “Bob was looking to make the move to being a competitive band. I saw it as a great opportunity to build that.”

The following year, Lambert accepted the assistant band director position. When Schaer became ill just before the start of school, Lambert stepped in to run the program in Schaer’s absence, which lasted about four months.

“You talk about baptism under fire,” Lambert said. “I never slept.”

Schaer returned to work in 2005, and he and Lambert began pursuing their bid to become state competitors. That first year, Lakewood made state finals — a feat it now has accomplished the five out of the last six years.

The two not only have built a well-respected program but also have become close friends over the years.

“(Schaer) is my mentor, no doubt,” Lambert says. “We’re great friends. We’ve been calling this (school year) a season of lasts.”

Contact Pam Eubanks at [email protected].

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