Nancy Waidelich:  

I am from Austin, Texas. My primary education included Zilker Elementary, Porter Junior High, and Crockett High School in Austin. After high school, I enlisted in the United States Army as a Clarinetist, attending 2 months of Basic Training (ugh) at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, then attended 6 months at the U.S. Armed Forces School of Music (Clarinet Major) in Virginia Beach, VA. For my first band assignment, I auditioned for and was accepted into the U.S. Army's European Touring Band stationed for 2 years in beautiful Heidelberg, West Germany (1975-77). Tours included all throughout Europe and the Middle East (tons of fun, but also exhausting). BIG THANK YOU TO PAULA CRIDER FOR DEMANDING SO MUCH FROM ME (and all of us who were in the Crockett Band)...I don't think I would have become such a good Clarinetist and made it into the Touring Band without her demanding excellence from all of us. When my first enlistment was nearing its end, it was my plan to re-enlist, and I wanted to see what my options were regarding assignment. I could have stayed in the European Touring Band for an additional year (a trip to Ireland was already planned, and i so much wanted to go), with the Army deciding where I would be stationed for my final two years of my second enlistment. Everyone that I knew who had taken that option had ended up in Panama for their final 2 years, writing back to us about the horrors of being stationed there. This didn't seem like a good deal to me, so after 2 years in Heidelberg, upon re-enlistment I chose assignment to the 6th U.S. Army Band stationed at the Presidio of San Francisco, CA (everyone told me it was the best s...Expand for more