2011 Marching Band Season post--already....

[Southernmiss]

Can I join too? Long time lurker new poster. I have a HS senior and HS freshman in marching band both alto sax. I have a 7th grade beginner baritone player so I'll be around band for a while.

Played another local High school in football tonight. Our nephew plays football on that team and we sat on his side of the field. It was good to watch all of them at the same game. Their football team out played ours and our band out played theirs--so it was all good!

Kids had contest last Saturday and another in the a.m. So far so good.

Good luck to all!

 

[Katy Belle]

Can I join too? Long time lurker new poster. I have a HS senior and HS freshman in marching band both alto sax. I have a 7th grade beginner baritone player so I'll be around band for a while.

Played another local High school in football tonight. Our nephew plays football on that team and we sat on his side of the field. It was good to watch all of them at the same game. Their football team out played ours and our band out played theirs--so it was all good!

Kids had contest last Saturday and another in the a.m. So far so good.

Good luck to all!

Welcome! Its fun to compare notes on all of our adventures!

DS Tuba Dude marched this morning. He's still feeling BAD, so I brought him home. They announce Finals at 4:30. About a dozen people are to text us when they know if we made Finals or not. I don't think we will. There are 9 really big schools marching.

Our band looked good today, for the most part. Our Melophone soloist had a lot of trouble, which has never happened before but everything else looked really good. Proud of those kiddos!

Good luck to all today!

 

[Pembo]

Our band got a superior rating last night and qualified for state! There were 6 bands in our class and we got 4th place but still had a superior rating or a 1. It was a beautiful night for a marching band show too, 60 and clear.

Question for all of you...is the judging based solely on the band? Or is there some politics involved?

 

[mrsklamc]

It's not impossible, in any given show, for a judge to be unethical. But usually, when I've seen that accusation, it's that people don't understand that the judges are not looking for 'crowd-pleaser' shows. The couldn't care less if everyone loved the show cause it was The Monkees and adorable. They are judging on technical abilities- things the crowd might miss altogether.

 

[momof1princess]

so, at the band competition yesterday, i was speared (think WWE) by a 200 lb. 8 year old. seriously, she could put the Crimson Tide's defensive line to shame. i never knew what hit me...i'm told she was airborne before she ever touched me. i just went down, saying a really ugly swear in the process (which i am still ashamed of, and profusely apologize for), and landing on my left hip. then she landed on top of me. i had to sit there for a couple of minutes and catch my breath (knocked the wind out of me) and wait for my hip to agree to work again. i hurt ALL OVER, and and barely able to walk today. did it teach her a lesson? did she stop running? NOOOOOO, she came running past me again about 15 minutes before the competition ended! i wanted to snatch her up by the back of her shirt and scream "stop running!", but i'm pretty sure she'd have been able to take me.

i am SO angry that another parent's lack of supervision of their child has caused me physical harm that may result in doctor visits and bills i can't really afford right now.

ETA: oh yeah, i almost forgot...we got all 1s!! highest possible scores!! YAY!!!

 

[klj27]

We hosted our band competition yesterday. It was a beautiful day! Because of my volunteer job I didn't get to see any of the bands perform but I did go out in time to see our band perform in exhibition. It was so fabulous!!!! They scored a 71 which was 3 weeks ahead of where they scored last year. We are off next Saturday and then competitions the next four weekends.

 

[Katy Belle]

so, at the band competition yesterday, i was speared (think WWE) by a 200 lb. 8 year old. seriously, she could put the Crimson Tide's defensive line to shame. i never knew what hit me...i'm told she was airborne before she ever touched me. i just went down, saying a really ugly swear in the process (which i am still ashamed of, and profusely apologize for), and landing on my left hip. then she landed on top of me. i had to sit there for a couple of minutes and catch my breath (knocked the wind out of me) and wait for my hip to agree to work again. i hurt ALL OVER, and and barely able to walk today. did it teach her a lesson? did she stop running? NOOOOOO, she came running past me again about 15 minutes before the competition ended! i wanted to snatch her up by the back of her shirt and scream "stop running!", but i'm pretty sure she'd have been able to take me.

i am SO angry that another parent's lack of supervision of their child has caused me physical harm that may result in doctor visits and bills i can't really afford right now.

ETA: oh yeah, i almost forgot...we got all 1s!! highest possible scores!! YAY!!!

So sorry you got hurt! I get irritated with parents not watching their kids. I haven't seen much problems with it at Marching Competitions, but our home football games are out of control . We always sit near where the middle school kids sit...not attended by school officials, but sort of a student section... we sit there because that is the best view of Tuba Dude during half time. Those kids are out of control! I hope you recover quickly.

Well, we did not make Finals at the Broken Arrow Competition. I'm not surprised at all, didn't expect to. DS Tuba Dude and I went home after the Preliminaries because he was sick. His friends told him that after the announcements of Finals, their Director gave them an inspirational speech and told them they were going to eat dinner and head home! They were told they would have to stay and watch the other teams compete in the Finals. We were happy that he was going to let them rest. So many are getting sick and they leave Friday for Saint Louis!

I am not going to Saint Louis I would like to see all of those big bands! Oh well, DS Tuba Dude will have a blast!

Glad to hear everyone did so well this weekend!

 

[wowsmom]

Interesting weekend for us.

Friday night, we had an away game, which we won 42-14. They actually showed a bit of our game on the news, which I don't think they've ever done before, so that was cool.

The tv station was actually going to come out Friday morning to film the band, football team and cheerleaders, but an area teen died on Wednesday in a car crash so our principal cancelled. (I think it was right that he did.)

Anyway, Saturday was our 2nd competition ever...and we did better than last week. Yay! There were 5 teams in our class and our band got 3rd, colorguard got 3rd and drum line got 2nd. One more competition (next weekend) plus 4 more games (2 home, 2 away) and then the Christmas parade in December.

My boys are also both trombonists in the jazz band and they had a gig today at a local jazz fest, so we're all music-ed out!!!

 

[KiminChicago]

There is a senior clarinetist (a girl) who took my DS under her wing and basically looked out for him all season. At the Homecoming game, she caught one of the t-shirts that the cheerleaders were throwing and she gave it to DS (she told him she already had one). When he couldn't find his friends at lunch one day, she invited him to sit with her and her friends. When they aren't playing on the field, DS sits with her and her friends in the bleachers.

I think that since he is one of the only freshmen in the marching band, his experience would have been less pleasant if she hadn't been so welcoming. I'm thinking of sending an email to the band director, letting the director know what an admirable young woman I think she is. What do you all think? Nice gesture or just embarrassing for DS? He's been really sensitive about me doing things that would be "goofy." I'd ask him, but right now I think enything I might do would be goofy in his eyes.

 

[momof1princess]

There is a senior clarinetist (a girl) who took my DS under her wing and basically looked out for him all season. At the Homecoming game, she caught one of the t-shirts that the cheerleaders were throwing and she gave it to DS (she told him she already had one). When he couldn't find his friends at lunch one day, she invited him to sit with her and her friends. When they aren't playing on the field, DS sits with her and her friends in the bleachers.

I think that since he is one of the only freshmen in the marching band, his experience would have been less pleasant if she hadn't been so welcoming. I'm thinking of sending an email to the band director, letting the director know what an admirable young woman I think she is. What do you all think? Nice gesture or just embarrassing for DS? He's been really sensitive about me doing things that would be "goofy." I'd ask him, but right now I think enything I might do would be goofy in his eyes.

well...it's possible the band director asked the girl to do this, or already knows about it, BUT, we hear so many stories about bad teenagers, i think it would be really nice of you to send an e-mail to the band director letting him know what a special young woman your DS's "mentor" is, and what a difference she made in your DS's first year in the band. she sounds like a very sweet girl, and i think she deserves a pat on the back.

 

[Gina]

Congrats to all the bands doing so well lately!! Pembo, congrats on y'alls band qualifying for State! I miss that this year... Since going to State is only possible every other year, we don't have that focus this year. There's just a (seemingly endless) stream of unconnected competitions, but they don't each build up more and more to the "big show" like last year. Oh well, we'll have that to look forward to again next year!

The kids do have a big competition this Saturday, and next week they have both a UIL contest our school is hosting midweek and another big out of town competition on the weekend. My friend emailed me and said, "I don't see anything on the band calendar for Oct. 24, 25, or 26! It must be a typo!!" Lol... Yep, that's about how October seems!

I am just SO loving the music for this year's show... seriously loving it. Great choice by the band directors. And the band is sounding better and better every week.

But get this: Today is a school holiday, yet the kids still have practice. At 2:15. Am I seriously the only working mom?? I had no idea I was holding up the entire economy all by myself. Thank goodness his friend lives right behind the school... I dropped DS off there at 7 this morning on my way to work and they'll just walk to practice. But I can't imagine what other parents would be able to do. I get that they have an away game on Thursday and a comp on Saturday and need to practice, but couldn't it have been in the evening or something since the kids weren't already at school? /vent off

Good luck this week to all our bands!

 

[Katy Belle]

There is a senior clarinetist (a girl) who took my DS under her wing and basically looked out for him all season. At the Homecoming game, she caught one of the t-shirts that the cheerleaders were throwing and she gave it to DS (she told him she already had one). When he couldn't find his friends at lunch one day, she invited him to sit with her and her friends. When they aren't playing on the field, DS sits with her and her friends in the bleachers.

I think that since he is one of the only freshmen in the marching band, his experience would have been less pleasant if she hadn't been so welcoming. I'm thinking of sending an email to the band director, letting the director know what an admirable young woman I think she is. What do you all think? Nice gesture or just embarrassing for DS? He's been really sensitive about me doing things that would be "goofy." I'd ask him, but right now I think enything I might do would be goofy in his eyes.

I think an email would be perfect. Don't make a huge deal... just "I noticed and appreciate it" kind of thing. I think the Director would be pleased to hear about it, even if he already knows!

Last year DS took a Freshman Tuba player under his wing... we were new too.. but he helped him out a lot. The Director noticed and thanked DS for how he was working with the Freshman.

Raining here today. That means no outside practice. They are having evening practices Tues and Thursday this week...and they leave Friday morning for Saint Louis!!! As badly as we need rain...I hope it holds off until they get out of town!

 

[jen0610]

There is a senior clarinetist (a girl) who took my DS under her wing and basically looked out for him all season. At the Homecoming game, she caught one of the t-shirts that the cheerleaders were throwing and she gave it to DS (she told him she already had one). When he couldn't find his friends at lunch one day, she invited him to sit with her and her friends. When they aren't playing on the field, DS sits with her and her friends in the bleachers.

I think that since he is one of the only freshmen in the marching band, his experience would have been less pleasant if she hadn't been so welcoming. I'm thinking of sending an email to the band director, letting the director know what an admirable young woman I think she is. What do you all think? Nice gesture or just embarrassing for DS? He's been really sensitive about me doing things that would be "goofy." I'd ask him, but right now I think enything I might do would be goofy in his eyes.

This is just something that is part of our bands structure. Every newbie, gets assigned a Senior or Junior buddy. Every senior has to have a buddy, then they start going thru the juniors. Your buddy helps you out with all aspects of the marching family. Sends you e-mail and/or text reminders of up coming events. The 1st competition, he got a message to remember his black socks. The newbies, got a snack package for every competition. She helped him on his backwards marching. I was picking up the one time and she came up and introduced herself and said if we needed any info, just let her know. For the marching band banquet, DS got her some flowers and a card telling her how much he appreciated her help and how she made some really great marching band memories for him. But I will say, that some of the buddies put more into it than others.

She went above and beyond just being a marching buddy. They were in Jazz band together. She did the same things, even though they don't do buddies in Jazz band. Before marching was over, DS had a t-shirt made with a picture of the two of them on it that said "My senior rocks!!" on it. She loved it and got a matching of with newbie on it instead of senior. DS took to calling her his flutie-flute girl, which always got her to laugh. I can't wait til he gets his 1st newbie. They will get spoiled.

 

[Gina]

...Your house looks like a dry cleaner because you have band uniforms hanging all over the place either just-washed or waiting-to-be-washed. I'm sure that by the time I get homefrom work, even with being hung up all of them will still somehow be covered in cat hair, lol.

Your turn!

"You know you're a band mom when..."

 

[Katy Belle]

You Know you are a band mom when... You can tell the uniform # and instrument played, of kids you have never met.

Also, when you know a kids personaity by what insstruments they play.

There is one mom, of a senior, that wants her daughter to date a tuba player because shes so tired of trumpets!

 

[momof1princess]

you know you're a band mom when....

you schedule everything, including your own medical/dental appointments, around band practice/events/competitions.

 

[Pembo]

Here's a link to our bands recent performance...the band show starts at 2min 30secs..
https://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?v=144299742335856

And you know you're a band mom when you know all of your kids friends by their band nicknames.

 

[jen0610]

You know your a band mom, when the girls at the donut shop have your order waiting on you on saturday mornings in Sept and Oct.

You know your a band mom, when for 2 months you never do the dishes, because you don't have time to do them, so you eat everything off of paper plates, use plastic cups and service wear. Or you don't need to do the dishes, because all you are eating is fast food carry out.

 

[Gina]

Y'all are all so funny!!! Love it, keep 'em coming. My contribution for today: You know you're a band mom when... You actually dream with the band's show music as the background. I woke up humming it this morning and remember it being in a dream, but can't remember the dream itself!

Also, when you know a kids personaity by what insstruments they play.

There is one mom, of a senior, that wants her daughter to date a tuba player because shes so tired of trumpets!

I read this one to my DS, and he laughed and said, "It's funny because it's true!" He said there are definitely different types of people that tend to play specific instruments, which I find just fascinating. We had a 30-minute conversation on different instrument "cliques", and keeping lines of conversation open with your 15 year old son is always a good thing, so thanks for the in!

 

[mickeymo]

You know you are a band mom when....

You've ridden more school busses than you ever did in your own high school career.

You eat more hotdogs and pizza during football season than any other time of the year.

Your oven is used for baking cookies and brownies and not meals.