top of page

Sherrie Hafley - Co-Founder, F-Horn, Mellophone

Member since? 

Founded the band in January 2015

What is your musical background/history? 

  • Started out in 5th grade on the clarinet. Our school was small, so I was able to join the HS marching and concert band in 7th grade. Our band was comprised of two schools – Elmore County High and Wetumpka High. We were Elmore County’s “Big Blue.”http://elmorecountyband.com/musicnotes.htm (I played under the direction of Truman Welch, Jr and Eddie Mann, with guest appearances by Truman Sr.) Big Blue was disbanded – no pun intended, when I was in 9th grade and for some reason my school had mostly woodwinds and not much brass, so at band camp that year, my director handed me a mellophone and said “you are playing this now, oh and by the way, here is the fingering chart and you have a solo in… get this… Send in the clowns.” Hmmm… Well, I did ok and went on to play F horn in concert band. At the end of 10th grade I tried out for drum major. Lost to someone else, so that crushed my ego, but honestly she put on a better “show” than I did and I eventually quit band in 11th grade to pursue teen angst.

  • After graduating from HS, I joined the Air Force and found myself living in Germany and playing in one of the local Oompah bands. Work and travel got in the way, so I put my horns aside once again.

  • In 2009 I joined Atlanta’s Seed and Feed Marching Abominables - http://seedandfeed.org/ . I didn’t much care for the dressing up part but enjoyed playing with a group, so when Stacey and I moved over here, we thought it would be fun to have some type of group that was a combo of the Oompah band (playing for the community) and Seed and Feed (just being irreverent) and so here we are today.

 

What is your favorite “Band Song” to play? 

Of ours, I like Mancini and now Sweet Caroline, and anything by John Williams.

 

 

What do you do when you are not playing music? (work/hobbies/for fun???)

Uhm, lately, just Nursing school. After I graduate -  golf!

 

 

What type of animal/breed of dog/cat/bird/fish/other etc…. best reflects your personality and why? 

I am a cat. Independent, self-reliant. I like being around people who don’t annoy me and I can manage on my own, thank you very much. 

 

 

Tell us something fun!  You know, like “That one time at band camp…” Or elsewhere.  (funny anecdote/story/amazing coincidence/hidden talent/celebrity encounter, etc…) 

Not sure how funny this is cause it was quite scary for me. Typical football marching band half-time show, we were on a field I had never been on before, must have also been a fairly new show, I think (my excuse anyway.) We’re playing along and ended one of the songs. I think the band director was making an announcement so there was a brief pause. I decided to look up into the press box and our drum major was there! She was NOT supposed to be there. We did not rehearse this. Holy crap, I just had my first Alzheimer’s moment at the age of 16. I forgot everything from that point on. I was first in the line-up and was supposed to lead off the next song and I had no idea who I was. Thank goodness I had a partner on the other line that I could mimic cause I had no idea where I was supposed to go, what I was playing or where I was. I remember NOTHING after that. Not sure how we ended or how I got home.

bottom of page