Submitted by Wendy Elkis Girnis, Class of 1977
Many of our age group consider ourselves lucky to have attended school in Hicksville. We had amazing teachers that we fondly remember and still hold dear. One important aspect of the Hicksville school district was the myriad of extracurricular activities available to a broad range of students. Whether you were in the ski club, participated in varsity or junior varsity sports, worked on the newspaper, yearbook staff, or supported the theatre shows, you had a great time with a great group of people. One favorite extracurricular activity for many was participating in the marching band. Even though I was a violin player in the orchestra, I was able to be in this august organization. Although violins were not part of the group, I was asked to play glockenspiel, which for those unfamiliar, is pretty much a portable, upright xylophone. We had a great time in marching band, between working out our routines, attending
Marching Band 1980 football games, and marching in parades. We were kept busy.
Introduction
Don Larsen 1977During my first year in high school, which was ’74-’75, a new teacher joined the music department. His name was Don Larsen. Don quickly integrated into the department activities, supporting the marching band and working with the concert band. It was a match made in heaven. Don quickly became one of the outstanding music teachers that Hicksville had. Don benefitted from working with music department veterans including J. David Abt (Symphonic Wind Ensemble), Thomas Buttice (Orchestra), and Chuck Arnold (Choral groups). Don was asked to conduct the Concert Band and took over the running of the marching band, with David Abt’s support. Don became a Hicksville institution, ultimately working with a number of grade levels during his career. Although now long retired from Hicksville, he has 
Don Larsen 1980become a source of institutional memory for many of the years from the mid 1970s to the end of 2006, when he retired.
Top- Tom Daly, Wendy Girnis, Hope Dagan, Bottom-Jeanne Dagna, Don Larsen, Deborah Elkis-AbuhoffRecently, several Hicksville High School alums had the privilege of joining Don in a Zoom call. In addition to Don, the call included Wendy Elkis-Girnis (’77), Jeanne Dagna (’77), and Tom Daly (’77). Hope Cedar Dagan (’80) and Deborah Elkis-Abuhoff (’80) also participated in the call. As we started our conversation Mr. Larsen remarked that out of five attending participants of our call, there were only two people that were actually in his classes (Jeannie, flute and Deborah flute and French horn). Tom (trumpet) had been part of the Wind Ensemble during those years, but got to know Don as drum major for the marching band, which Don ran. All of the participants of the call had one thing in common. We all marched in the marching band. Wendy, as mentioned earlier, played glockenspiel, while Hope, who played the viola in orchestra, proudly carried the Hicksville banner at the front of the group during our St. Patrick’s Day parade outing in Manhattan. Our Zoom call quickly turned to reminiscences about Tom’s unique entrance onto the field as our drum major for Hicksville’s halftime shows. Instead of simply marching onto the field, Mr. Larsen, for reasons unknown, had him “prance” (the technical term was “strut”), similar to what collegiate drum majors were required to do during that era. We thought he looked like a Lipizzaner stallion. Tom took a lot of teasing for his entrance, but it did give our marching band an air of professionalism. During our conversation with Don, we learned that after we graduated, the band later on upped its game when it reverted to the direction of Mr. Abt, who started entering the marching band in High School Band competitions each year that were held on Long Island. We also spoke about the odd band formations that Don dreamed up for us to make during halftime shows. The most famous was the time we formed both a mayonnaise jar and a ketchup bottle, which came together to make Russian Dressing. Unfortunately, we couldn’t remember what Russian song we played as we generated Russian dressing. But such was Don’s creativity!
We were surprised to learn that Don was only at the High School for another 6 years after we graduated. As student enrollment dropped in the 1980s, it became harder to maintain all of the musical organizations that existed during the peak of the baby boom.
Mr. Larsen's Path to Hicksville
Mr. Larsen started his path to Hicksville when he was an undergraduate at Buffalo State University and happened upon a Hicksville graduate who told him all about Hicksville and what it had to offer, musically. Don subsequently attended Hofstra University, working on his teaching degree and where one of his teachers helped him join the Hicksville Community Orchestra, at that time run by Dr. Charles Gouse, who was Director of Music and Fine Arts at Hicksville. Don played in what was then known as the Hicksville Community Orchestra circa 1971-72. He became aware of a music teacher who would be retiring from Hicksville and requested to do his student teaching within the High School. The rest, as they say, is history.
Following peak student enrollment and decreasing student numbers at the end of the baby boom, Don was eventually moved during the 1980s to one of the elementary schools, where he took on the important task of developing the feeder programs to keep talented students performing and enjoying music until they would be self-motivated to continue playing at the High School level. Later in Don’s Hicksville career, he was moved into the Middle School where he would teach students in the 7th and 8th grades. One of the challenges of being a music teacher in the middle school is the need to develop and send a balanced mix of instruments to the High School each year. Part of that problem was getting kids to actually stay with the music program. Middle School could be a tough gig. To keep students interested, you needed to choose fun but challenging music. Typically, the music program would lose
students between 7th and 8th grades. Don recounted that he would get a list during each summer of who was considering dropping music. Then he would call them up and try to convince them to continue. His approach did have a positive impact on students. His creativity and ability to be a role model for students allowed the program to keep talented students who enjoyed music, to have an important place to explore the arts.
At the same time that Don was trying to keep students performing, the decrease in student numbers took a toll on the number and makeup of many of the instrumental groups that would be supported by the school district. Eventually, the Symphonic Wind Ensemble and Concert Bands were merged into a single Symphonic Band, impacting the number of faculty required in the High School. The loss of the Wind Ensemble represented the end of an era, which eventually pushed many of the old guard faculty into retirement.
During our conversation, Don was curious about which teachers we had during our tenures in the district. The names of Mr. Pownall, Mr. West, Mr. Ward, and Mr. Sitterley were mentioned from the Middle School. Of course, in the High School, at least during the ’76-’77 school year, in addition to Mr. Abt, Mr. Buttice, and Mr. Arnold, we also had Mr. William Goleeke and Ms. Debbie Litwak manning the choral groups. All were truly amazing teachers.
After Hicksville
After retiring from Hicksville in 2006, Don has remained quite active on Long Island, routinely performing in a variety of musical groups. In addition to working part-time in Islip and Valley Stream school districts, he has also been an adjunct professor at Adelphi University for several years. Only in the last year has Don decided to end his association with Adelphi. Don noted that this is the first time since kindergarten that he hasn’t been in school.
Don still maintains a busy schedule, however. He routinely plays drums and percussion at Theater 3 in Port Jefferson. He also plays with the Atlantic Wind Symphony and does frequent freelance work. He is involved in the Huntington Choral Society, playing percussion/timpani, and still does theatre work and performs in the pit orchestras for a number of musicals. Presently, he is working on the show, Annie, and has plans to play in the orchestras for Urine Town at Suffolk Community College, Godspell, and Young Frankenstein.
Although Mr. Larsen does not get back to Hicksville very often, several years back he attended the dedication ceremony at the Hicksville Auditorium for Charles Arnold. Although he got to congratulate Mr. Arnold, he missed out on a chance to meet Billy Joel, who was a surprise guest for the dedication. Don and Mr. Arnold still communicate from time to time. Mr. Arnold still continues to live happily in Colorado at the age of 94.
Don is now one of the last of that era of music teachers who inspired so many in Hicksville. We were taken by how connected Don is to his Hicksville roots. Don seems to remember just about everyone who came through the music department during our years there. He seems to know where everyone is and what they are up to (Don was aware of Tom’s nephew, who teaches music at Walt Whitman High School). And to a great extent has become the institutional memory for an entire era of Hicksville music. Don and the other Hicksville music faculty from the 1970s and 1980s gave us the life lesson to demand greatness and to constantly challenge ourselves in anything we do. Most of us did not end up in music careers, but what we learned as musicians no doubt has taught us valuable life lessons.
Marching Band 1977
** A special thank you to Tom Daly for helping to edit this article.
