For the first time in more than two decades, Franklin High School marching band members began their annual band camp with a new face leading them. This fall, Daniel Ball, formerly the music teacher at East Franklin and Cartoogechaye and FHS percussion assistant, will lead the Marching Panthers.
“I’m really excited to be here. I’m excited to take on this role,” Ball said. “There are some really large shoes to fill and I’m excited to do my absolute best to fill those shoes and keep the Franklin High School band a pillar of this community.”
Ball steps into the band director role left by Buddy Huckabee, who left Macon County in June after 20-plus years at the helm of the FHS band.
Ball oversees everything band at FHS – marching, concert, jazz and even some theater, taking over Huckabee’s teaching schedule. And directing the roughly 80-member Marching Panthers.
Ball has had an eventful summer. In late June, he transferred from the K-4 music teacher position at East Franklin and Cartoogechaye schools, a role he had for the last six years, to being the music/band teacher at Mountain View Intermediate. Then on July 24, the school board approved Ball’s second transfer, naming him the new FHS band director.
Ball is already familiar with the FHS band, having worked with the percussionists since before graduating from Western Carolina University in fall 2016, working as an intern with Huckabee and FHS.
“If there were any time that Mr. Huckabee had a doctor’s appointment or anything like that, I would take over for the full band,” Ball said of his leadership experience over the previous six-plus years. “I led the band on a couple trips [Mr. Huckabee] couldn’t make due to prior obligations.”
Ball said he’s excited to learn more about the FHS band students, saying in his previous role teaching music at Cartoogechaye and East Franklin, he would see 700-plus students for 30 minutes once a week.
After growing up in Pittsboro in central North Carolina, a short drive from Chapel Hill, Ball attended Western Carolina University and was a percussionist in the Pride of the Mountains, one of the most prestigious marching bands in the country.
Ball remembers that in high school, he visited WCU for a football game and his family had to leave after halftime to drive home. He said after the band performance, there was a line to leave, since many people in attendance were there mainly to see the halftime performance.
“The band there is a huge part of campus…music education is why I chose Western,” Ball said. “Most of these schools that have a large band have a much larger everything else. Western is kind of this weird anomaly where it’s a smaller school, but the band is huge in doing these great things with high excellence.”
Before even graduating from WCU, Ball had a Macon County post-grad opportunity when a music teacher at the elementary school resigned in December 2016. Ball remembers being summoned to Huckabee’s office (now his office) and was offered that job starting in January 2017.
Since fall 2016, Ball has been with the FHS Marching Panthers, making all but one trip, due to the birth of his son.
Now, Ball gets to pour his knowledge and ideas into the Marching Panthers.
“You’re still going to see great shows…we’re striving for music and visual excellence. We’re going to put the absolutely best show on the field not just for our contests, but for Friday nights on that football field,” Ball said. “And above all, I just want to make good people.”
Ball said that while it would be easy to say he wants FHS to win awards at every marching band competition, he wants his kids to play to the best of their ability.
“What’s great about band is that we can’t play defense,” Ball said. “I just want us, when we go to competitions, I want kids to come off feeling proud of what they put on that field. If that leads to top three finishes and trophies and all that, that’s great. But I would rather have them not getting a trophy and be proud of what they put on the field than getting a trophy and coming off thinking “We could have done so much better.””
This fall at halftime, Franklin High fans will see a show titled “Welcome to the Jungle.” Other than the famous Guns N’ Roses hit song of the same name, Ball wouldn’t yet reveal the show playlist but offered a taste.
“It’s going to be fun; it’s going to be exciting. We got some music from some other popular movies,” Ball said. “When we were talking about the design process for this show, we wanted it to be fun. We’ve done some serious shows, but we really wanted a fun show…we’re going to be serious in our effort put into it, but the product on the field should be a great time.”
Ball credited his band students, especially the student leadership team, with their efforts, including doing a cleanup day in advance of camp and getting the rookies up to speed in advance of this week’s band camp.
“Anytime there’s a director change, anytime there’s a leadership change, it’s a scary, unsure time,” Ball said. “The leadership team that has been built here at Franklin High School is amazing, it’s crazy….I don’t think I could have asked for a better group of students to start my band [director] career with.”