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Every detail needs to be taught: how to stand, how to walk, how to hold a flute, keep a beat, twirl a flag. But just three weeks into a new music program at Delhi High School, hundreds of lessons have been learned.

Richard Gray has been on hand for most of them. He is the new director of music and one of the creators of a stirring, all-encompassing program at the school.

"Mr. Gray has lead us in many directions all at once, and they all are good," said Delhi Superintendent Bill Baltazar. "I'm just excited things are happening so quickly."
When Gray started work at Delhi in February 2008, there was no music program for high school students, no instruments and no band room.
Now students enroll in guitar classes, sing in a choir, perform in a color guard.

Gray is a salaried employee with the district, but he does the job of two people.
"It's not about the money for me," Gray said. "Anything I do here after 3:05 I do because I want to."
Gray moved his family to Delhi after hearing about the position. He couldn't resist the opportunity to build a program from the ground up, he said. And he wanted to see more of California.

Gray was born and raised in Lompoc -- where the marching band was a part of the very fiber of the community.
"You couldn't go to anything without hearing the band," he said. He played the saxophone. There were 150 members of his high school band and 25 members of the color guard.

He said he couldn't imagine a homecoming parade or big game without the fight song blaring from shiny instruments -- so he set out to make that happen in Delhi.
The band will try to do a small performance at this year's homecoming. "It will be a great event. A first for Delhi," Supt. Baltazar said.

Lynn Valerio, who teaches music at the other schools in the district, said it will be a dream come true. The music programs in the district have struggled for several years and "the music did die here in Delhi," Valerio said.

She remembers taking rickety instruments found in garages to repair and give to children. She remembers paying rental fees for determined, but cash-strapped students.

She also remembers the day the boxes with the bands new instruments arrived this summer. "It was like Christmas," she said. "From where we were to where we are today is phenomenal."
The program is moving forward at a speed and interest level unseen in the past, but Gray also realized many barriers stand in the way of some students. "We just want to get the instruments in the hands of the students and they will play them," Gray said. "Much like, 'If you build it, they will come.'"So, before practice every night, dinner is available in the band room. After practice, there are snacks. Jennifer Gray, Richard's wife, lugged a huge sack of snack cakes around an entire practice recently.

"She is my rock; she keeps this program alive," Richard Gray said. "She does all of the logistical stuff and all of the paperwork. And we get to spend time together here."
Jennifer was recently doing team-building exercises with the kids to recover from a tough afternoon earlier in the week. They did the note-on-your-back game, the shoe factory and the human knot. The mood was ebullient.

"Now this is the type of stuff these kids would do in summer camp," Valerio said. "They haven't had the chance to do this type of stuff yet."
But they just might. The students in the program are always looking for their next challenge or opportunity, Gray said. The girls of the color guard want to create a winter guard program to appear at basketball games. The choir wants to attend a concert in San Francisco. "These kids are pushing us to the limit," Gray said. "They just want to do everything and keep going from there."
To keep going, they have set up a number of fundraisers: a rummage sale, car wash and bake sale in October, a pre-game spaghetti dinner in November, and there are sure to be more.

Despite the funds already pumped into the program, some things are still needed. The band wears matching polo shirts, but no full uniforms. The flags for the color guard are made from PVC pipe and plain fabric from Wal-Mart.

"As we get some things, we need more of others," Gray said. "It is becoming a snowball."
He thinks the group will be able to meet and exceed its expectations with a lot of hard work.

Putting in all those hours teaches students valuable lessons like diligence, culture and pride, Valerio said. She says her students regularly excel in the classroom, due in part to their work outside of it.

Allen Holder is a senior at the school and plays trumpet in the band. He joined because he hadn't ever had the experience and wanted to pack in more extracurricular credits before college. Holder already volunteers in the community and is in other clubs at the school. He hopes the band will keep other students on a collegiate track.
"I think it's great. It keeps the kids busy," he said. "Instead of going out and doing things they will regret, they are here."
The Grays serve as mentors for students in the program and bend over backwards just to keep them involved. Many nights after practice they can be seen driving students like Sarah Silva home.

"They don't have to waste their time to do this for us. They could be at home having family time," Silva said. "But they are here - trying to be a family with us."
The band does operate like a big family. At a recent practice, the Gray's oldest son, Nicky, 3, kept running away from the group.

"Who is on kid watch?" the high school students would call out in jest, and one of them would run off and carry Nicky back over their shoulder.
Nicky would run off again immediately.

Richard Gray knows how to get his son back in line though.
"Do you want to practice marching with the band today?" he asked as Nicky started off again.
"Yes," the young boy sheepishly replied.

He fell right in line.

"My oldest son, Nicky," Gray said. "He is very musically inclined. Our little percussionist."
But while doting on his own son Gray was interrupted.

"What are you talking about, Mr. Gray? I am your oldest son!" one of his students called out.
And the band played on. Reporter Danielle Gaines can be reached at (209) 385-2487 or dgaines@mercedsun-star.com.

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