Band Complaints Strike Sour Note

* Re “Drumbeat of Criticism Hits O.C. School Marching Band” (Nov. 15):

Dedicated teachers who start their day at 7 a.m.? Dedicated students willing to be at school at 7 a.m.? Placentia is going to the dogs! Keep it up--I love it.

JEAN S. HILL

Placentia

* Dr. and Mrs. Evans, parents of Olympic superstar Janet Evans, ought to be ashamed of themselves. How can they honestly believe that just because they have a splinter, everyone in the school district needs to have their hands amputated? Give me a break!

I live in the El Dorado High area and have many friends whose children are in the band, but I am not a member of the Band Boosters. If you buy a home next to an airport, you live with the noise from the planes taking off. If the Evanses bought their home in 1971, as the article states, the school was already there, and they should have considered traffic and noise then.

DIANE BROWNE

Placentia

* Like the Evanses, I also live in close proximity to El Dorado High School. I too am treated to the collective efforts of over 100 marching band students blasting out their music for all to hear. But unlike the Evanses, the sound of the marching band fills my heart with joy and pride; their music is jubilant, full of spirit and hope in a society plagued with violent, destructive youths. Those kids are as dedicated to developing their musical talent as Janet Evans is to her swimming talent. That means practicing before, during and after school. It is incomprehensible to me how Dr. and Mrs. Evans could even think of thwarting the efforts of such a dedicated group of students. (No, I don’t have any children attending El Dorado.)

CARRIE HOWE

Placentia

* As band students at Esperanza High School, we are outraged by the actions that the parents of Janet Evans are taking to disrupt the normal rehearsal procedures of the El Dorado High School marching band. Every marching band in the Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District can be found rehearsing each morning at 7 a.m., regardless of the location of their practice field.

The Evanses are blaming the band director for deliberately placing his “drum corps” directly behind their house. In any field show, the percussion section is generally charted in the back of the field, near the center. According to the map in The Times, that just happens to be where the Evans home is located; thus, this is not a deliberate attempt by anyone to annoy the Evans family.

JOE McCANTA

JENNIFER LANE

Anaheim

* The format of the marching band field show is based upon its roots as half-time entertainment at football games, therefore utilizing the football field and its markings. The Evanses’ suggestion that the El Dorado band practice elsewhere is analogous, then, to a suggestion that swimmers practice their strokes in the gymnasium. As it is, marching bands have to work around football practice and game times because they are, of course, secondary to the football program. As a credit to some fine music programs in our area, the field show has been transformed into a music and dance spectacular involving the dedication and talent of often over 100 students. JOYCE THOMPSON

Mission Viejo