Conversation with Ron Lambert

As Lakewood Ranch High School marching band students hit the gridiron Friday nights during halftime, Ron Lambert will be on the sidelines.

Lambert, a lifelong percussionist who has worked with the band program at Lakewood for 12 years, has served as band director the last four years, and has created the vision — and sometimes music — behind each show, including this year’s performance, themed “Sirens.”

Under his leadership, and that of his predecessor, Bob Schaer, Lakewood’s marching band program has been a Florida Marching Band Coalition state finalist 10 of the last 12 years and earned superior ratings every year with the Florida Bandmasters Association Music Performance Assessments. Lambert takes us behind the band.

It’s important when we perform or are evaluated to have every student perform at a high level because they are all judged equally. To get new or less advanced performers up to that level, we spend a lot of time on fundamentals and up to three hours a week of our rehearsal time is spent with student leadership taking time for one-on-one time with the younger kids. Our entire Wednesday rehearsal is dedicated to mentoring and that really makes it so you can’t tell the freshmen from the seniors halfway through the season.

The most important aspect of our band, I believe, is what it gives back to the kids. I run the band with a strong philosophy of student leadership first. Our drum majors, and band captain, officers and section leaders are very instrumental in the day-to-day operation of the band — everything from setup and tear down to music library duties, attendance, discipline. They help me run the band. 

It really takes a cooperative effort of band boosters behind the scenes and our administration to make it possible for the kids to participate in as many varied events as we do. We perform at home and away football games, five Florida Marching Band Coalition regional and state competitions, the Florida Bandmasters Association Music Performance Assessments and community events, such as last year’s Macy’s grand opening event at The Mall at University Town Center. 

It’s not unusual for a band week to be a 70 to 80 hour work work for me and up to 20 hours of extracurricular hours for the kids. We have eight hours of rehearsals per week. Fridays are game nights and Saturdays are competition. That lasts through Thanksgiving. Once our marching band season ends, the time commitment shifts toward concert and jazz bands and chamber groups.

The tuba is the most important instrument in the marching band. A strong tuba section makes your band sound good in so many ways. It gives the other kids something to listen to to tune and play well. Imagine a car stereo with no bass. That’s a band without tuba. The bass drums work in tandem with the tubas to create that bass sound. 

If you look at those same kids (our student leaders), and how they perform academically, you’d see they are amongst the school’s leaders, as well. Two years in a row now, I’ve had officers score perfect scores on the ACT and SAT and a large number of the top 10% of the graduating class are also band kids.

I always tell the kids if you can read music, play an instrument, listen to the kids around you, match what they’re doing, watch and deal with the nerves that come with performing, you can ace any math test someone would give you.

Our boosters organization, LRBBA, is also a critical gear in the "green machine." Behind the scenes of every performance are moms and dads who are cooking, sewing, building, moving and facilitating for these kids. They are instrumental in planning the fiscal year along with me and fundraising to make up a large percent of our operating budget, which could be up to a couple hundred thousand dollars. We have so many fixed costs — insurance, dry cleaning, instrument repair and replacement, transportation, music and staffing — and there’s the above-and-beyond. There’s so much we do we take on to prove a more in-depth experience for the kids. 

To someone who hasn’t had experience playing a musical instrument or getting involved in the pageantry arts — that’s the color guard, marching band, musical theater, or things where there’s movement and music — I would tell them it’s never too late. Theres’ so much in the way of multimedia, like Youtube or Vevo, to expose you to music for free. Then, there are educators like myself to teach you. It’s never too late. That’s for sure.

This is a job for a self-motivated person. 

It’s challenging to balance this job with family life. I’ve made a huge effort to be even more organized and to implement technology to assist me to be organized so I have time with my family. The connectivity I have with the band families makes it easier. I use the band website and a management tool called Charmed Office Assistant to manage every aspect of the band program. From my phone, I can talk to every member of the band, staff and parent. 

For us here at Lakewood, keys to a successful band program are first and foremost organization, cooperation and 100% commitment by the staff, parents and members. 

It’s critical that I be organized so that the families can plan their lives around band and fit what we do into their lives.