By: DANAE KING
Record Herald Writer
As printed in the Weekly Record Herald on Friday, June 10 2011
WEST MILTON – Milton Union Schools Band Director, Sergeant Ron Duncan, got the opportunity of a lifetime Sunday May, 29, 2011 when he played “Taps” at the Indianapolis 500.
“I marched out to the center and pulled my trumpet up to play and I didn’t even recognize any of the crowd, I was so focused and in the moment, making sure that I played everything perfectly,” Duncan said. “I just didn’t recognize anything around me, it wasn’t until after I played that I really noticed that this was just a once in a lifetime experience.”
Duncan got out of the Marine Corps in 1997 and auditioned for the 129 Army National Guard Band in Tennessee that same year. He joined that unit while he was getting his master’s degree at Middleton State University in Tennessee. Duncan stayed in Tennessee and taught at a high school until 2002, when he moved to West Milton and became the band director, a position he has held for the past nine years.
Once in West Milton, Duncan joined the 122 Ohio Army National Guard Band but transferred to the 38 Division Infantry Army National Guard Band in 2007 in Indianapolis to be able to visit his brother when practicing with his unit.
The 38 Division Infantry Army National Guard Band has been sending a member to perform “Taps” at the Indianapolis 500 since 2006. Duncan received the honor of performing this year from his commanding officer, Chief Warrant Officer Pat Palumbo.
“In January, I went to my commanding officer and told him that [playing at the Indianapolis 500] was something I’d like to do,” Duncan said. “A few weeks before, he asked me if I would play at it and do “Taps” and I was thrilled to death to be asked.”
Duncan has extensive experience playing “Taps” but said this was an experience like none other.
“This was the largest audience I’ve ever played for and it was just, it was really exciting,” Duncan said. “It was great to be able to share it with 350,000 people and be able to commemorate the people serving right now and all the active members across the world and all the people that had come before us.”
Duncan played “Taps” as the lone bugler with a regular B-flat trumpet.
“How many people can say that when you stop and play, 350,000 people stop and listen to you,” Duncan said. “The moment was just so awe-inspiring; you could hear a pin drop in that racetrack.”
Duncan’s family attended to see him perform.
“It was a moment that, as a family, we’ll never forget,” Duncan said.
Duncan said he was thankful for the opportunity.
“There’s only been a few times in my life where I’ve played in front of people and I just get that thrill,” Duncan said. “It’s been a long time since I’ve felt like that when I’ve played, since we play so much it becomes, I don’t want to say like a job, but it becomes just another thing that you need to get done and that definitely wasn’t the case on Sunday. It was a moment that I will remember for the rest of my life.”
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