2009-2010 Marching Band Season is here!!

[babytrees]

well...they once again squeaked out of regionals...with a better call time for the next round!!

They had the last competition of the year, that isn't state, on Saturday and scored their best!!! All across the state marching bands have gone away from props in the last 4 years. Though there is one that had the most convoluted layout of tarps that I have seen on Saturday.

 

[golfgal]

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?

We were one of the bands that had the LONG bus ride-11 1/2 hours for the kids on the bus each way (including stops for lunch and dinner)=our drive was only 9 hours. Our band did not do all that well in prelims-you can tell they haven't had practice all week-but cleaned it up for finals and ended up 6th. This was by far the best group of bands we have ever seen at the St. Louis Regional. It was a lot of fun to watch all the shows this year. We had a lot of kids sick, a few more got sick while there too.

Did you see the poor tuba player from that one band fall and BENT the horn on his tuba-poor kid.

Which band are you with? You can just give the show name if you want (were you in finals?).

 

[profdsny]

We were backstage for all the final bands except ours so didn't see any of those performances. We did see a lot of them in prelims. Our band was the last one to perform in finals before judging. We are doing another regional in Indianapolis as well as Nationals. We also have our state competition this weekend. Surprisingly, there were almost no absences today.

 

[golfgal]

We were backstage for all the final bands except ours so didn't see any of those performances. We did see a lot of them in prelims. Our band was the last one to perform in finals before judging. We are doing another regional in Indianapolis as well as Nationals. We also have our state competition this weekend. Surprisingly, there were almost no absences today.

You should have won!! It gets old seeing BA win every year. Did you see their show in prelims? It is a very strange, strange show. There is no way their show was that much better then your show. We have our state championship this weekend and then our season is done. They have talked about going to Nationals but it extends our season by a month, no where to practice when it gets cold and we run into conflicts with winter sports seasons. Our son said that there were a lot of band kids out of school yesterday. Our DD woke up not feeling well and ended up sleeping most of the day. She is better today though.

On Saturday night the bands got into trouble at their hotel. There were 3 LARGE bands staying at their hotel and someone called and complained that they were making too much noise in the hallways--well, it was when they were all getting back from the competition-what did they expect with 500+ teenagers??? They were all just going to their rooms, they weren't running around or anything.

 

[profdsny]

Thanks. We have a great show, but our guard was sloppy. Never saw them so bad. Part of it was the field itself, which was weird, and part was the long pants on the costume. But they were way off our their tosses. Thanks for not mentioning it. BA beat us last year at Regionals also, but they did poorly compared to us at Nationals. Our son's band, where he is an associate, didn't make finals, and our other son's gf didn't either. His show was good, but needs work. Word is that they are up and coming.
Our kids weren't the ones at the hotels. Generally they sleep on the floors and gyms during shows. They only do hotels on special trips, like the Rose Bowl, which we are doing in January. The rest of the time it's way to expensive for us. There were two or three bands at the hotel we stayed at DT, and the kids couldn't have been nicer. We walked over to the Dome with some folks from Southhaven and had a great chat with them.
I can understand about cold weather and rehearsals. You must get some terrible weather by mid-November. I was out a few years ago trying to tape one of the band rehearsals and it was sold cold I couldn't keep the camera steady.
Anyhow, again thanks for the compliments. I hope you are a great rest of season.

 

[golfgal]

Thanks. We have a great show, but our guard was sloppy. Never saw them so bad. Part of it was the field itself, which was weird, and part was the long pants on the costume. But they were way off our their tosses. Thanks for not mentioning it. BA beat us last year at Regionals also, but they did poorly compared to us at Nationals. Our son's band, where he is an associate, didn't make finals, and our other son's gf didn't either. His show was good, but needs work. Word is that they are up and coming.
Our kids weren't the ones at the hotels. Generally they sleep on the floors and gyms during shows. They only do hotels on special trips, like the Rose Bowl, which we are doing in January. The rest of the time it's way to expensive for us. There were two or three bands at the hotel we stayed at DT, and the kids couldn't have been nicer. We walked over to the Dome with some folks from Southhaven and had a great chat with them.
I can understand about cold weather and rehearsals. You must get some terrible weather by mid-November. I was out a few years ago trying to tape one of the band rehearsals and it was sold cold I couldn't keep the camera steady.
Anyhow, again thanks for the compliments. I hope you are a great rest of season.

St. Louis is our big trip each year, the kids really look forward to the hotel stay. The rest of our overnights are spent on gym floors, which the kids love too. Our kids were at the Hyatt--hopefully you were there too because we like to think our kids are well behaved on these trips. We were the top finishing MN band there is that helps you locate our band .

 

[profdsny]

St. Louis is our big trip each year, the kids really look forward to the hotel stay. The rest of our overnights are spent on gym floors, which the kids love too. Our kids were at the Hyatt--hopefully you were there too because we like to think our kids are well behaved on these trips. We were the top finishing MN band there is that helps you locate our band .

Generally we never see band kids misbehave. It's part of their nature, though..... we have had a few incidents. Partly our kids are never allowed free time during these competition trips. They are to stay with the band, at the practice site, the whole time. We had our prelims Saturday at 9am, then it was back to the site and a few more run throughs of the show in case we make finals. They got about an hours nap time Saturday afternoon which they needed.
Btw, I hope you have good weather for your State. They are predicting it in the mid to low 40s for Saturday downstate for ours.
Now, if we can just got those tosses nailed we'll be okay.

 

[golfgal]

Generally we never see band kids misbehave. It's part of their nature, though..... we have had a few incidents. Partly our kids are never allowed free time during these competition trips. They are to stay with the band, at the practice site, the whole time. We had our prelims Saturday at 9am, then it was back to the site and a few more run throughs of the show in case we make finals. They got about an hours nap time Saturday afternoon which they needed.
Btw, I hope you have good weather for your State. They are predicting it in the mid to low 40s for Saturday downstate for ours.
Now, if we can just got those tosses nailed we'll be okay.

We are inside at the Metrodome this weekend so weather doesn't matter-they are supposed to perform for the last home football game tonight but it is pouring outside so no go on that.

 

[PixieFan]

Did a band from Arkansas make an impression on anyone? Lake Hamilton? We will compete against them in a few weeks. They are a "Big fish in a little pond" in their area. Does anyone where they ended up at BOA?

 

[golfgal]

Did a band from Arkansas make an impression on anyone? Lake Hamilton? We will compete against them in a few weeks. They are a "Big fish in a little pond" in their area. Does anyone where they ended up at BOA?

I don't think I saw them. They finished 26th overall which is about middle of the pack for this competition. They finished near one of the bands in our area and that band is a respectable band around here. In a competition where all the major bands perform, that band usually takes 4th. I know the feeling of the big fish/little pond-our band is like that too-typically win by 2-4+ points (which is a lot in marching band) but there is only so much we can do about that. Then we show up at BOA and run into bands like profdsny's and we look like kindergartners.

 

[profdsny]

Again, thanks for the kind words. Some schools are known for football or other sports, or for that matter, academics or theater. Ours has a legacy of band. You know our record so I don't have to repeat it. In some cases, it seems that it works against us. Judges tend to be much harder. And there are some that seem to have a real prejudice. One of the Nationals in the last few years all the judges but 1 gave us almost perfect scores. The other one gave us barely passing. Hard to say who was more accurate, but it was a heck of a show, one of our best in some time. We really felt like we were robbed that year.
And when you see some of the shows, as you just did, you wonder where the music is.
It's funny how when you get use to a program like ours we look are more professional (ie, university, or paid) and really compare them with ours. We were in London in June with our youngest and went to the Palace to see the changing of the guard. There were 2 of the Guards bands there, and they were horrible. I've heard some of the British Army bands before, and have been really impressed. But this was bad. And when one of the bands was playing, the other band generally stood around in formation chatting with each other. And, to top it off, they played pop music and Michael Jackson music.(!) Our director wouldn't have put up with that for a second. They would certainly not have made finals in any competition.
(I just looked at the overall scores for Saturday, and our son's band came in in the mid thirties, and the GF's band was somewhat below that.)
Anyhow, glad you are indoors this weekend. Weather doesn't look good. Down coats for the stands for sure for us.

 

[golfgal]

Again, thanks for the kind words. Some schools are known for football or other sports, or for that matter, academics or theater. Ours has a legacy of band. You know our record so I don't have to repeat it. In some cases, it seems that it works against us. Judges tend to be much harder. And there are some that seem to have a real prejudice. One of the Nationals in the last few years all the judges but 1 gave us almost perfect scores. The other one gave us barely passing. Hard to say who was more accurate, but it was a heck of a show, one of our best in some time. We really felt like we were robbed that year.
And when you see some of the shows, as you just did, you wonder where the music is.
It's funny how when you get use to a program like ours we look are more professional (ie, university, or paid) and really compare them with ours. We were in London in June with our youngest and went to the Palace to see the changing of the guard. There were 2 of the Guards bands there, and they were horrible. I've heard some of the British Army bands before, and have been really impressed. But this was bad. And when one of the bands was playing, the other band generally stood around in formation chatting with each other. And, to top it off, they played pop music and Michael Jackson music.(!) Our director wouldn't have put up with that for a second. They would certainly not have made finals in any competition.
(I just looked at the overall scores for Saturday, and our son's band came in in the mid thirties, and the GF's band was somewhat below that.)
Anyhow, glad you are indoors this weekend. Weather doesn't look good. Down coats for the stands for sure for us.

We are still trying to figure out the rat tails on the raptors. Aren't raptors birds??? Do you ever run into Avon-National's for sure but otherwise? Do they really have gold lame' pants? Someone posted a picture and I don't know if it is a joke or not.

 

[mickeymo]

Congrats to all of the bands who competed over the past few weeks. I've been watching, following and reading on the music for all website. Profdsny, I don't think you've ever who your band is, but I believe I know - yes, a very impressive history!

October has been a busy month for my son's band. We had a strong showing at BOA Houston, another good showing at Lone Star preview a non BOA competition, but using BOA judges, last Saturday. Our color guard won an award for best guard.

Tuesday night was our UIL competition, this is not a state year for our class size. We scored all ones - highest scores.

Saturday is BOA - San Antonio. The kids are looking forward to competing there. I'm chaperoning and it's going to be a long day! We leave the band hall at 5:00am and will return home about 4:00am Sunday morning. I can't remember when the last time was I pulled an all-nighter.

Today is supposed to be the last big practice before Saturday, they might have to swim through their show if it continues to rain. With UIL competition,Tuesday, Wednesday is traditionally our night off, tomorrow night is a football game, they were counting on practice tonight. (We're only allowed 8 hours of practice weekly by UIL rules)

 

[profdsny]

Good luck this weekend to you both, and/or everyone. We wish we were indoors,given the forecast. But, seeing how we didn't do our best show indoors last week, maybe this will keep people fresh. The only real bad part is that for the first 30 seconds or so the band is laying on the field. There is going to be some cleaning bills Monday!

 

[golfgal]

Good luck this weekend to you both, and/or everyone. We wish we were indoors,given the forecast. But, seeing how we didn't do our best show indoors last week, maybe this will keep people fresh. The only real bad part is that for the first 30 seconds or so the band is laying on the field. There is going to be some cleaning bills Monday!

That's so funny because when I saw this at BOA my first thought (having come off a week straight of rain at home) was "it's good thing they aren't outside". A couple years ago one of the bands around us had white color guard uniforms-to go along with their white marching band uniforms-and it was a wet and muddy season. Those poor girls ended up looking like they were having mud fights by the end of their show. I am glad I didn't have to get those clean!

 

[babytrees]

Well, our competition season is over....the kids moved up one spot in the state rankings 17th to 16th. The kids were consistent all season...which is better than all over the board. The band that was ranked #1 out of Quarterfinals was horrible (it wasn't just me...they've done better at other spots) so it will be interesting to see the scores tomorrow. It is human nature to score the last thing seen the highest.

 

[rcraw45425]

ARGH! Band director had a community performance for tomorrow on the schedule that we received at our last booster meeting, but he went into very few details. No mention whatsoever made to the kids all week long. TOday was a planning/furlough day so the kids were out. I have three of the 7 clarinets sleeping here tonight, get an email at 1:15 that the performance is tomorrow, meet at the mall at 12:15! I know our section leader and at least one more are out of town , it's gonna be a really bumpy performance tomorrow!

 

[profdsny]

Breaking news: We're Number 1. More tomorrow after some sleep.

 

[mickeymo]

Unexpected full night's sleep after an early departure from BOA San Antonio. Our band didn't qualify for finals. The kids were stunned and it was a quiet ride home. There were a lot of amazing bands! I am so glad I wasn't a judge! The top 4 finalists were:

1. LD Bell
2. Marcus
3. The Woodlands
4. James Bowie

I'm sure those of you who attend BOA Grand Nationals will recognize these names as perennially strong finalists. Texas will have solid representation at Grand Nationals.

The kids didn't find out their rankings or judges' comments last night. We've three weeks to prepare for Grand Nationals. They will be working hard to make sure they will also represent Texas well.

 

[profdsny]

Unexpected full night's sleep after an early departure from BOA San Antonio. Our band didn't qualify for finals. The kids were stunned and it was a quiet ride home. There were a lot of amazing bands! I am so glad I wasn't a judge! The top 4 finalists were:

1. LD Bell
2. Marcus
3. The Woodlands
4. James Bowie

I'm sure those of you who attend BOA Grand Nationals will recognize these names as perennially strong finalists. Texas will have solid representation at Grand Nationals.

The kids didn't find out their rankings or judges' comments last night. We've three weeks to prepare for Grand Nationals. They will be working hard to make sure they will also represent Texas well.

Hi, sorry it didn't work out for you. I know LD Bell and Woodlands. Possibly Bowie. I can't picture Marcus.

We won our Class competition AND the State competition last night. We've won our class 30 years in a row, but haven't won State in about 5 years. As this is our daughter's senior year, and our last one, this is really nice. We were up against a few tough bands. In the finals there were 3 bands from the same suburban school district. At least one of those band won State in the last few years. We have 2 weeks now to get ready for regionals in Indy, and 3 weeks to Nationals.