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


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Member since?
Founded the band in January 2015
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What is your musical background/history?
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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.
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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.
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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.
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What is your favorite “Band Song” to play?
Of ours, I like Mancini and now Sweet Caroline, and anything by John Williams.
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What do you do when you are not playing music? (work/hobbies/for fun???)
Uhm, lately, just Nursing school. After I graduate - golf!
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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.
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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.