Dr. Richard "Ricky" Suk (rhymes with "book") is the director of Ohio University's Marching 110, an illustrious marching band that may fly under the radar because the school's football program isn't exactly among the nation's elite. In fact, the Ohio University Bobcats have only made it to one bowl game in the 13 years in which Ricky has been leading the marching band. Yet, the lack of national exposure doesn't stop the Marching 110 from putting on dazzling and electrifying field shows, with a high-intensity, athletic marching style that often includes elaborate dance routines. In fact, one could argue that the band's halftime shows are the highlights of the Bobcat football games, as Suk's ensemble routinely keeps the crowds ooh-ing, aah-ing, and cheering ecstatically throughout their performances – hence the nickname, the "Most Exciting Band in the Land."

After cutting his teeth at several high schools in Mississippi and Tennessee, Ricky followed his ambitions to the University of Illinois, where he earned a doctorate while studying under the Fighting Illini's distinguished director, Gary E. Smith. From there, Ricky packed his bags for Athens, Ohio, where he's been since. In a recent SBO interview, the Alabama native details his progression through the teaching ranks while stressing the importance of forging bonds between universities and local high school bands.

School Band and Orchestra: Thinking back to when you were a student, how did the idea of getting into music education first enter your mind?
Richard Suk: I don't think that came along until high school. I always liked the band stuff and I was always talking about the band pieces we were playing. One day, one of my classmates told me I should be a band director when I grew up, and I thought to myself, "Oh, wow! You can do this for a living?!" From that point on, I just focused on being a band director and that was that.

SBO: So you went to the University of Southern Mississippi to study Music Education and later started teaching band at a high school. Tell me about some of those early experiences?
RS: I taught in Mississippi for four years, and then I moved to Alabama, where I taught for another six years. In my first job in Mississippi, I was an assistant director at a small rural school, but I quickly realized that I really wanted my own program. So I moved to another small school outside of Hattiesburg. I had some really good groups there, and we were able to take advantage to the proximity of my Alma Mater, which meant that we were able to have some university students from there come out and teach sectionals and give lessons. We had a really good core of kids in the band and it was a great community. I also had help from some mentors in the area who showed me the ropes and basically told me what to listen for. I felt like sometimes I was listening to what I thought the music should sound like, rather than to what was actually coming out of the kids' instruments. Once I realized that, I started getting a much better grasp on how to fix the sounds the students were making.

After a few years, I moved back to my old high school, which was a catholic school in Mobile, Alabama, and I taught there for two years. When they opened up a new school just outside of Mobile, I switched over and taught there for four years. I had always wanted to teach in a college or university setting, I just didn't know how to do it. A buddy of mine was in grad school at the University of Illinois and he recommended that I join him up there. The only obstacle was getting my finances in order to make that leap and undertake a doctorate program.

SBO: It sounds like you had a fair degree of variety in your early teaching experiences.
RS: You're right, it was a good mix of situations. I went from a rural school in Mississippi to a Catholic school, to a larger suburban school in a more metropolitan setting.

SBO: Was moving from one teaching situation to another like night and day, or did you have a consistent method that you implemented regardless of the school's particular details?
RS: To a certain extent, a lot of the kids are the same, regardless of the setting, and they're motivated by the same things. However, economics plays a big role in whether or not a student can afford that upper-line, high quality instrument, or whether a parent is willing to invest in some private lessons; that does play a factor in the program. I will say that even though, for example, that first school I was teaching at in Mississippi wasn't in a very affluent community, the students there worked even harder to make music happen.

SBO: And that compensated for the financial disadvantage that some were facing?
RS: Definitely. I think you can find frustrating elements in any situation – you wish these students had the work ethic or those students had the money. It's just a matter of finding a program's strengths, and then you build on that.

SBO: So what was it like making the leap into the college ranks?
RS: I'm glad I had the experience that I did at the University of Illinois because I couldn't have made that jump straight from teaching in a high school without that. I needed those three years of learning about teaching at a higher level, and my mentor, Gary Smith, who was the marching band director there, really taught me a lot. Even just watching him work and seeing the differences between high school and college kids was really helpful. And then when I arrived here, I basically used a lot of the same systems that they used at the University of Illinois to teach drill and other components of the system. As far as the students go, I still think they're motivated by some of the same things as the kids I taught in high schools. They like to be successful. They like to hear applause. They like for the music to be good. I'm very fortunate here that I was able to step into a program where the students already had a great work ethic. These kids really want to excel, and we have a great tradition here.

SBO: What kind of things do you do to keep that work ethic and that motivation up?
RS: I'm not really a cheerleader. However, I think it's important to enable the students to be cheerleaders. They want to work for you, but they also don't want to disappoint their peers and their alumni. Allowing the student leadership to blossom is important in any teaching situation.

SBO: By student leadership, you're referring to section leaders?
RS: We have leaders for each section and then we have a field commander. I allow the section leaders to do sectionals. Very rarely, I'll have a faculty member come in and work with a section, but I don't assign TAs to a particular section; I let the students take care of that. That hones their leadership. And if a group is having trouble on a particular area, I'll counsel them on the specific area that needs work, whether that's pitch, intonation, completing phrases or something else. I simply try to provide guidance.

SBO: I suppose that also might instill that sense of ownership in the program for the students.
RS: It absolutely does. You know, it's a big deal when someone is selected to be the section leader, and a lot of students are very disappointed if they aren't chosen. Not everyone can wear the chief's hat.

SBO: I imagine there's a good deal of competition for those positions. Speaking of, what's your take on the role of competition in music?
RS: We like to preach that we want to be better than the best we've ever given. We have a motto, and that is to be "better than the best ever." We aim to better ourselves. However, I can't deny that when another band takes the field, our students want to be better than them. We want to have a better field show, want to have better musical and visual execution. In that sense, competition is a good motivator. That said, I try to just concentrate on our band and what we have to do. We played the University of Illinois a few years ago and the only thing I told my kids was, "Hey, you're facing a really great Big Ten band, so you have to be ready." It wasn't a matter of us having to be better than them, it was a matter of us having to be ready to turn in a great performance because we knew that the other band was going to be ready to play.

SBO: Do you have any game-day tips? Do you believe in those big motivational speeches right before a performance?
RS: Some days it's not needed because you can just feel the energy in the band, but other days you really have to kick them in the tail. At that point, I talk about our responsibility to our fans, about how much work and sweat we've put in on the practice field, and all the time we've spent memorizing and preparing the music. The performance is our opportunity to reap the fruits of our labors. The other thing I talk about is pacing. The college football game day is such a long day. It starts with a morning practice, then pre-game warm-ups and a parade to the stadium, the tailgate concert, then the pre-game, then we play after every play or so, and that's in addition to the highlight of the day, which is the half-time show. It's really important for the students to pace themselves so they don't run out of energy.

SBO: Energy is one thing your band exudes in spades. As for overarching goals beyond simply solid musical performances, what is it that you're hoping your students can take away from your program?
RS: For the music majors, which make up about 20 percent of the band, I hope they take away with them a system of running a marching band. Even if they don't choose to use the same style we have here, that they still do fundamentals everyday and they still concentrate on the details, and still hopefully have a band that will work as hard as they worked when they were here.

For the non-music majors, I hope they gain from the social contacts and networking opportunities presented by being in this ensemble, but also the work ethic and sense of accomplishment that they can then apply to whatever field they go into. For team leaders and section leaders, there are all kinds of lessons they will take with them about motivating their sections and other leadership skills that they will be able to apply to their own fields.

SBO: Is it challenging to work with both music majors and non-music majors? Is that a distinction that is noticeable in the ensemble?
RS: Well, the music majors are generally better players, but there are a lot of non-music majors in leadership positions. The non-music majors take it just as seriously, they just don't have the private lesson once a week, so they don't tend to improve on their instrument as much. Music majors are not required to take marching band, so the ensemble is made up of entirely volunteer members. In some respects that's good because it means that everyone who is here wants to be here. On the other hand, it doesn't give me that 50-member music major core.

SBO: Sure. How does the marching band fit into the overall scope of the Ohio University music department?
RS: We're part of the University Bands department. We try to be supportive of each other and inform the kids of the various band concerts and encourage participation in other ensembles. We have band members who play in our university concert band, which is open to non-majors, and I encourage that so that the non-majors can keep up their chops in the winter and spring, when the marching band isn't active. The marching band is one part of the large comprehensive music program that we have here. Is that too cliché? [laughs]

SBO: Not at all, many times the marching band is in the domain of the athletic department.
RS: Right, well we're not. We support athletic events but we're funded through the College of Fine Arts and the School of Music, not through the athletic department.

SBO: So is it extra-curricular?
RS: Yes, in that it doesn't count towards the credits of any major. It's an elective. The students do get two hours of credits, though, as a reward for the time and effort that put into it every day.

SBO: Earlier, you mentioned how beneficial it was as a high school band director to be situated near a university. Now that you're teaching at the college level, do you or any of your staff or students work with area high school bands?
RS: Yes. The CMENC (the Collegiate Music Educators National Conference) has an outreach program and through that we will offer sectionals and work with area high school groups. We're in an area of the state known as Appalachia, and the schools around here could really use the mentorship. We have lot of conscientious band directors in the area who want to have good programs and so they tap some of our students to come in and work with their kids. We have some alumni, too, who are teaching in these schools, and they've retained their contacts with us.

Our students and staff might lead sectionals or work on particular elements that the high school director is looking for help with. Sometimes we get a little bit of compensation for this kind of work, but often it's purely on a volunteer basis.

SBO: What do you hope to accomplish with the Ohio Marching 110 in the next five or 10 years?
RS: One of the things about teaching at the college level is that the marching band often only goes as far as the football team. I've been here for 13 years, and we've only been to one bowl game – which happened to be in my hometown of Mobile, Alabama, so that was a great experience – but I try to do other things that keep the students interested. Our kids look up the road and see Ohio State, which is going to the Fiesta Bowl every other year and all kinds of other big-time football events.

We've done a few Macy's Day Parades and this January we'll be in the Tournament of Roses Parade. I see us hopefully doing more of these types of events where we can get some national exposure for the university and the band.

SBO: Do you have any advice for band directors out there who are trying to keep their heads above water in these difficult financial times?
RS: Try to tap into area resources – especially universities. There are a ton of students at the college and university level that want to whet their chops teaching in the local schools. Band directors can take advantage of this to get some extra instruction in their classrooms, but also to help out these students who are going to be the future teachers that carry on the profession.