Video: Mark Vandermark – Man Behind the Band
Mark Vandermark’s office resembles a typical tool shed at first glance, but apart from a John Belushi “Animal House” poster, many people won’t recognize most of the objects hanging on the walls.
Vandermark has been restoring musical instruments for the past 30 years. He has collected hundreds of specialized tools designed for specific instrument repairs, some costing more than several thousands of dollars.
Vandermark was hired as the instrument repair technician in the LSU Department of Bands in 2007 and currently oversees the maintenance of more than 800 instruments for the LSU School of Music, including the Golden Band from Tigerland.
“I’m responsible for making sure all the instruments are up and running,” Vandermark said. “My main function is to keep Tiger Band going.”
On any given Friday or Saturday preceding a home game, Vandermark said he will have a dozen panicked Tiger Band players flood into his office needing quick repairs.
“I basically know what they’re going to need before they get here,” he said. “My job is to anticipate, because they are going to be wanting something in a hurry.”
Vandermark said his passion for music started early.
“I knew I was going to be in the music industry since the eighth grade,” said Vandermark, who is 54 years old. “I’ve never done anything else but this.”
Vandermark said he grew up playing different instruments, beginning with the trumpet in fourth grade and eventually adding the trombone, euphonium and saxophone, his favorite instrument.
Vandermark said his zeal for music continued in college, where he played in the Penn State Blue Band while secretly hitchhiking two hours to Pittsburgh for trombone lessons from a member of the Pittsburgh Symphony.
Vandermark said he has frequently played for hire over the years, including a gig with The Beach Boys at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Maui.
“They kind of ignored us a bit while we were all hanging out in the back room before the show, but after we played our first set, we showed them we could hang,” he said. “They even asked us to play the whole last set with them.”
After getting caught in the crossfire of a bar fight during a performance in Pennsylvania, Vandermark said he was knocked over and his trombone was smashed.
“I took it to the local repair man and he fixed it, but I knew it could be better,” he said. “I didn’t know how, but I wanted to learn.”
Vandermark enrolled in an instrument repair course at Western Iowa Tech Community College at the age of 19.
Vandermark said he worked in various music stores over the years, but in 1987, he opened his own brass and saxophone repair shop in Pass Christian, Miss., where he worked for eight years, gaining notoriety.
While the average repair takes around two to four hours, Vandermark said he once spent more than 100 hours restoring a Californian’s saxophone that had been run over by a car.
“There really isn’t anything I can’t fix,” he said. “If the damage is bad enough, I can use the best parts of the instrument to build a new one.”
While many repairmen will only return an instrument to playing level, Vandermark said he can take an old instrument, strip it down and restore it to mint condition.
Vandermark said he no longer takes on outside work, with the exception of repairs for anyone associated with the University.
“This is a rare job. There are maybe 10 other universities that have their own technician on staff,” he said.
Roy King, Tiger Band director, said he was on the committee that hired Vandermark. King said it was the first time the school issued a special test to assess potential employees.
King said one portion of the test required the candidates to solve a predetermined problem for a given instrument, one of which was a piccolo that was said to be out of tune.
“Mark was the only candidate who noticed that the piccolo was a very old model, and older models were set in D-flat,” King said. “Modern piccolos are normally all in the key of C.”
Vandermark currently teaches instrument repair and maintenance classes for undergraduates.
“I teach them how to diagnose the problem and then figure out how to fix it,” he said. “I teach them how to think like a craftsman.”
Amy Bernloehr, music education senior and one of Vandermark’s students, said Vandermark is a great resource to have on campus.
“It’s been really awesome having someone with such insight into the repair field and seeing how quickly he can do everything. He’s just a cool guy,” she said.
 
 
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Contact Sarah Eddington at [email protected]