Cape Girardeau Municipal Band director Ron Nall honored for 25 years of leadership

Ron Nall is a musical man.

On Wednesday evening in the midst of the Cape Girardeau Municipal Band concert at the band shell in Capaha Park, longtime band director Nall was presented a proclamation from the City of Cape Girardeau and Mayor Harry Rediger for his service to the band and community. Two shiny blue balloons reading "2" and "5" hung near the rear of the shell, signifying Nall's 25th anniversary leading the city's historic musical group.

"This year's his 25th year serving as director," Rediger said in a phone interview Monday. "It's the longest-running director in the history of the Cape Girardeau city municipal band, which is in its 117th year. I thought it was fitting on this 25th year to give him some recognition for his dedication to our city and our citizens and also to his career, to the youth of our community."

The path to this honor has been full of different melodies, but the tune originally began in Butler County.

After graduating from high school in his hometown of Poplar Bluff, Missouri, Nall traveled to Cape Girardeau to study music at Southeast Missouri State University. But music had been on his mind long before he entered collegiate study.

Cape Girardeau Mayor Harry Rediger (left) declared July 12, 2017, Ron Nall Day on Wednesday night at Capaha Park. Nall has been conducting the Cape Girardeau Municipal Band for 25 years.Laura Simon

"I decided as a sophomore in high school I wanted to be a band director, so I spent most of my high school taking all the music I could get, band and choir and music theory and everything that was available, and then I majored in music in college and then a few years later got my master's in music," Nall said.

As a young director, Nall moved from position to position at area high schools, going from Woodland High School in Marble Hill to Caruthersville High School to Potosi High School. With 12 years of work as a band director under his belt, Nall landed back in Cape Girardeau at Cape Girardeau Central High School.

"I tell people, whenever you look where I've lived and where I taught, I've lived in all corners of Southeast Missouri," he said.

Although he enjoyed his experiences at the other schools, the goal for Nall had always been to find his way back to Cape Girardeau.

"All the time I'm kind of looking at Cape, I want to get back to Cape," he said. "I thought it was a good town; I wanted to raise my kids here, the university was here, so I knew they could go to school here. So I always kind of had my eye on Cape."

Once comfortable in the community, Nall decided to join the city's municipal band around the early 1970s. Originally a member of the French horn section, Nall eventually graduated on to become the band director in 1992 and has been in the position since, bringing his total years of involvement with the band to 45.

Having retired from Cape Central in 1998, Nall said he has enjoyed his continued involvement with the music community in Cape Girardeau, through his subsequent 11 years of organizing district band competitions after his retirement and his extended work with the municipal band.

"If you're pretty good and you really like it, it's something you just do, so that's part of the reason I've stayed with it," Nall said. "Another thing, I'm a little competitive in some ways, and the longest tenure of any band director for the muni band was 18 years, it was William Shivelbine. ... He was the band director at Central High School and he also directed the muni band. Well, I got to be close to 18 and I thought, 'Well, I'll try for the record.' So I hit 18, and 'Well, I'll just go 20,' and then once I hit 20 it was still fun, so I just stayed with it for 25."

For several weeks prior to Wednesday's concert, Rediger and Nall's wife, Anita, among others, colluded to keep the proclamation and presentation a secret from Nall.

Although well kept, a friend of his called the night before to congratulate him and unintentionally let him in on the surprise.

"It was a surprise, and you don't do things necessarily for the recognition. It's nice to be recognized, but I didn't direct the band all these years in hopes of getting a plaque from the mayor, you know? I just did it because I enjoy doing it," Nall said. "I don't know how every profession is, but band directors -- you stay a band director your whole life."

Rediger said it felt natural to present Nall with the proclamation because of his myriad contributions to the community throughout his career.

"Just the length of [his] service. He has done so much -- and this is not only just for municipal band ... he has led music festivals, district music festivals, he has taken high-school bands to governors' inaugural parades and gone to Washington, D.C.," Rediger said. "He's been active in church music for many years here in the community, and he has just touched so many lives in our community."

For Nall, his dedication to his role as band director and in other areas of the community all comes down to his passion and love for music, something he shares with a number of other members of the municipal band.

"I just love music, and most of us that play do," he said. "Dan Cotner's played for 77 years, he's in his 90s and still plays in the band. Jerry Ford's right at 60 years and we've got a couple other guys that are almost 50 years. ... Once you get active in music it's a lifetime activity."

Rediger said Nall has dedicated time and effort to many throughout the community during his career and after retirement, including leading music and acting as choir director at Mount Auburn Christian Church in Cape Girardeau for 33 years.

"I'm just very proud to be a friend to Ron and to have been able to know him and his family through the area," Rediger said.

At 73, Nall said as long as his health allows and he enjoys it, he will continue to direct the band. But for now, he's celebrating the big 2-5.

"It was a great honor, it really was," Nall said. "Like I said, you don't do this expecting anything like that, but when it does happen it's really nice."

lyoung@semissourian.com

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