2009-2010 Marching Band Season is here!!

[Marla Hellwig]

Marla--do you miss band? Miss going to the shows, etc.? We have 2 weeks left in our season-I can't believe how fast it goes and then we will only have 3 years left of a kid in the band (and worse yet, they will all be in college ). Your DD looks like she is having a great time. Is she swimming in college?

She misses more than I do, she has lots of friends still there and they all call her 3rd quarter every Fri night or while on buses to and from competition

I miss seeing the band shows, but am not missing the sitting in the stands for hours or all the driving back and forth etc

Our band director usually doesn't just let former members into band stands each week, due think part is due to the size of band in it self - her freshman yr, they had like 260 or so, this year they are just about 180 - 190 i think

Not swimming at the moment, no swim team at her comm college, but she is lifeguarding for the Y down the street so is still getting some water time - her yr around coach said she can come back when she is ready.

Here's to a great week for eveyone

 

[rcraw45425]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,563741,00.html

I don't know if any of you band parents heard about this. but my heart goes out to both the band, their family members and also the family of the brave woodwind instructor.

 

[PixieFan]

You guys are so blessed to have band directors that care. Our director has been there for as long as we can remember. I think that he hasn't kept up with what the competitions are all about now. He doesn't use ANY props and rarely does "flash". We aren't really sure what that consists of, but we don't get any anyway!! We only go to one competition. It is in our state but I'm not sure that we will even make the finals this year. It is a really boring show called "Industry: the sounds of Industry in the 40's". These kids work too hard to do good and give up their "free time" to have the director not care. Last year they had a really nice show, made finals but came in 7 out of 8 in the finals. It doesn't look like he teaches the fundamentals. We lost points for stupid mess ups like not up on toes, etc. That is really sad. They don't practice much either. Maybe 1x a week if it doesn't rain. This Friday will be our 7th game and we only have 3 of our 4 songs done. There are only 38 sets in the WHOLE show!! Last year we had more than 60 sets. I'm really sad about all of this. I wasn't in band but love seeing my DS out there playing his drums and the whole "rock star" thing our drumline has going on. Homecoming is this week. Hopefully they can get the show done and try "perfecting" it before our only competition on Halloween. Sorry for the long vent session. There are only a few parents that feel the way I do about our director, the others just think he is great. Not that it means anything but he is about to have his 65th bday. Maybe he will retire. Any advice about how to cope with this would be great. Since so many of you have been doing this for years hopefully you have experienced something like this. Thanks

 

[rcraw45425]

MAn that stinks! OUr director is really "over dedicated". He roars at them like a bear but he loves these kids and he loves what he does. We don't do a lot of props, he thinks the band should stand on their skills, and it shows. They have been practicing 3 hours a day 4 days a week since July, the marching is pretty close to flawless. Playing is excellent as well. Easily known as the best band in our city.

 

[golfgal]

Yes, we are very lucky. We have 3 full time band directors that LOVE marching band--and all bands for that matter. They are very dedicated and expect a LOT out of the kids. There are days when they are on the kids a lot but they ALWAYS dish out praise for doing a good job too. The kids expect a lot too so it works well.

As for props--be HAPPY you don't use them. They really are just a pain in the rear.

 

[rcraw45425]

As for props--be HAPPY you don't use them. They really are just a pain in the rear.

I was sitting next to a mom on Saturday night who's son was a senior in one of the larger bands competing. I remarked that I was behind their tractor/trailer rig coming in. She said, yeah, that's for our uniforms, instruments and "the globe". I'm like "the globe"? Then I see it, it's a miniature of the globe for Illuminations! No video or lights but it spun (when it worked, according to her). THe weird thing was the globe realy didn't contribute anything to their routine, two men dragged it around to different points on the the field, it was rather distracting watching the kids dodge it. Plus, I would have expected music that coordinated with it in some theme. I'm really glad we don't use them, we have a hard enough time with our pit!

 

[babytrees]

We hosted 5A regionals last night......not sure how many bands played (I was in charge of one of the concession stands) but I was able to watch one or two at the beginning and heard the 5A state champs through the stands. I do believe they will be state champs again this year.

The 2 bands I saw were SMALL....less than half of our kids...and most of the bands have lost lots of kids. 3 had no parent help to get them on and off the field. I alway knew we had great parent volunteers, we have 20 or so to get them on and off the field. We had over 50 of our parents volunteering (the other school had less than 20) for this event....over half for the whole day.

Even though my kid is a senior...I've got another 4 years....as one of the parents from another band said..."You had your kids spread out just wrong" Although I am better than another mom....she will have spent 12 years at the high school as a parent.

 

[Marla Hellwig]

Oh props gotta love them

Freshman year they had these 10 ft tall 'walls' - you could see them coming from the parking lot

Sophmore year was the huge 10 - 11 ft digital clock that ticked down and when the clock got to 0:00 the show stopped - name of that show was Time was Running Out

Can't find junior year's pictures - had huge bell that rang (band director 'borrowed' the school's sprit bell from courtyard) and huge chimes - show was All the Bells and Whistles

Senior year - the colorguard was basically our props - their dresses were the clouds - floor length silver gray

Did find video from the Bells show - http://fairmontbands.org/BOA07.wmv

 

[golfgal]

Don't forget tarps-EVERYONE had tarps for a while. We were at BOA and kids were tripping on tarps, judges were tripping tarps-not a good thing. We had a ceremonial burning of the tarps and NEVER again!!!

 

[rcraw45425]

We saw one band Saturday that di a samurai theme, they had the japanese arch/ gate thing, screens, swords and ninja drumline. Awesome routine. Another school did a medieval theme where the flags literaly had costume changes, and there was even a ballet with the majorette (minus baton) and a male trumpet player (minus the horn) that included leaps and dips/kisses. Major Broadway type productions! One show that impressed me was called Black tie with a twist (I think). Classical music like William Tell OVerture, Barber of Seville, etc, tied in with Ironman and Paint it Black! It worked beautifully though!

 

[PixieFan]

All those shows sound awesome!!!!

 

[golfgal]

We saw one band Saturday that di a samurai theme, they had the japanese arch/ gate thing, screens, swords and ninja drumline. Awesome routine. Another school did a medieval theme where the flags literaly had costume changes, and there was even a ballet with the majorette (minus baton) and a male trumpet player (minus the horn) that included leaps and dips/kisses. Major Broadway type productions! One show that impressed me was called Black tie with a twist (I think). Classical music like William Tell OVerture, Barber of Seville, etc, tied in with Ironman and Paint it Black! It worked beautifully though!

One of the bands in our circuit did a Samurai show last year. It was really fun to watch. Often bands sell their shows when they are done so it is very possible that it was the same show. One band we saw a few weeks ago had OUR old show from about 3 years ago-we did it SO much better

 

[Marla Hellwig]

Not only do bands sell their shows/props - they sell old uniforms either band or colorguard

 

[donnajon]

My DS is just in the seventh grade - playing trombone for the past two years in middle school. However, I just got an e-mail today from the band director saying that the four high schools in our district have been chosen to play in Hawaii during spring break 2012! Can you say chaperone?!? How cool is that?

 

[golfgal]

My DS is just in the seventh grade - playing trombone for the past two years in middle school. However, I just got an e-mail today from the band director saying that the four high schools in our district have been chosen to play in Hawaii during spring break 2012! Can you say chaperone?!? How cool is that?

Our band is going to Hawaii in March. We haven't decided if we will go or not.


How is everyone's band feeling? Our directors CANCELED practice last night-just 3 days before the BOA Super Regional in St. Louis--because so many kids are out sick. They are asking the kids to wear masks today to and from their practice at the Metrodome and on the bus tomorrow down to St. Louis. 3 of our 4 drum majors are out sick along with several other kids (including our son).

 

[rcraw45425]

Our band is going to Hawaii in March. We haven't decided if we will go or not.


How is everyone's band feeling? Our directors CANCELED practice last night-just 3 days before the BOA Super Regional in St. Louis--because so many kids are out sick. They are asking the kids to wear masks today to and from their practice at the Metrodome and on the bus tomorrow down to St. Louis. 3 of our 4 drum majors are out sick along with several other kids (including our son).

THat stinks! I guess we should be glad that our entire family had H1N1 over LAbor Day (before festivals). NOw we just have three more football games and playoffs to get through. Thankfully it's casual for Saturday's game, I still haven't gotten around to washing Kelly's shirt yet. Had a band boostermeeting Thursday, he announced that we would be performing at Santa's arrival at the mall THE EVENING THAT SCHOOL BREAKS FOR THANKSGIVING! I looked at the booster Prez and said "we leave forDisney as soon as school dismisses" Thankfully it won't be a problem since he sprung this semi last minute.

 

[The Orchid]

My daughter is a senior and I'm beginning to feel sad that her high school band days are nearly over. I'm sure she'll always belong to some kind of music group (she's currently in six bands and orchestras) but the high school experience has been amazing. She has learned so much and I am convinced that the music has molded her into the wonderful young adult she is. I just love having a musical kid!

 

[profdsny]

Some of the shows mentioned above sound like they are from DCI 2 summers ago. There were some fabulous shows that year.
Interesting to hear about all the sickness out there. We are off to St. Louis tomorrow. We're glad it's indoors, but, given all that, I'll bet there are a lot of kids sick come Tuesday. Next week we have State, then another Regional before Nationals. We are hearing about a lot of kids sick at other schools. Our son's band where he is an associate director had 20 kids and a drum major out last Saturday for a performance. He's sick now.
See you in St. Louis. Stay healthy.

 

[profdsny]

Well? How'd it go? What do you think? I was so impressed with what some of these kids did to get to Regionals at St. Louis. Like 10 hours on a bus. Each way. For one day of play.
What are your thoughts?

 

[stego]

I really didn't think getting up 45 minutes earlier would be a big deal. Our son HAS to be at the school by 640AM: NO LATER. If you are there at 705am, you are late. Lovely.

As a fish, he is at the bottom of the barrel. With around 20-30 other students, he is not alone. They've had 6 games and no marching. He gets to move around props and that is his calling. I've swung by several open field practices in the evening and it is amusing...from my viewpoint. Whoever is in charge leads by belligerence.

A few weeks ago my wife made an appointment with the band director to talk about our son. She took off from work early and was early 5 minutes waiting at his door. She waited 55 minutes and the man did not show. He does not return her calls or her e-mails.

My wife is a nurse and because of her concern as a parent took off from her responsibilities as someone who heals people (and really, does it matter anyway what she does?). My issue is with how she is being treated and the common demonstration of behavior of SELF-IMPORTANCE.

What has become clear to me is the TOTAL disregard and disrespect by band leadership in regards to us as parents. If my wife or I in our professional capacity had behaved this way, we would have been disciplined swiftly and decisively by our superiors.

I have walked away from this because I know myself too well. I WILL react and I don't want to go to jail. Frankly, there is no argument to explain this man's behavior and no justification. I just needed to get this off my chest.

Please continue with your regular marching band program thread...