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

[goofy4tink]

None of the bands in our area travel to away games so during our pre-game show our band has a tradition of facing the visiting school and playing their teams fight song. Then they turn back to our side of the field and play our fight song. I'm not sure if that happens all over, but I think it's a nice touch.

What a terrific thing to do. Talk about setting good examples!!

 

[momof1princess]

Gosh, we are an inner city school, and play some other inner city schools, and we don't have to "pack" to go to a game. It's too bad that you feel so unsafe there! I hope it goes without a hitch!

the game went very well our team won, 36-7, and while the town we played in is VERY rural (took us almost 1 1/2 hours to drive there), there was no point where we felt unsafe. when we traveled there year before last, which was before my daughter was in the band, so i got this from the band director, some of the opposing fans threw bottles and cans at our band, while shouting threats and obscenities.
however, last night, we got many compliments on our band, and since the opposing team is a very small, rural school, they have no marching band, and several of their fans expressed to us that they really enjoyed our band, and wished they had one too. it made me sad for them, as our kids enjoy being in marching band so much. we're a small school as well, and our band is small (57 students), but we're very dedicated.

 

[jen0610]

None of the bands in our area travel to away games so during our pre-game show our band has a tradition of facing the visiting school and playing their teams fight song. Then they turn back to our side of the field and play our fight song. I'm not sure if that happens all over, but I think it's a nice touch.

This is what we do. The play the national anthem, the visitors fight song, then our fight song. The only time they can play during the game, is after scoring.

We play at all games, both home and away. The furthest away game was 2.5 hours away. Most of them are within a half-hour. Our school district stadium is right behind our HS, so easy traveling there! Our kids get school bused to all away games. We have 260 in our band- that's a lot of buses. The football team gets bused as well, and the cheerleaders, but they are separate from the band. We have nothing to do with them as far as travel and stuff go. Any instrument larger than a clarinet goes on the instrument truck, which is owned by our school district.

We do our field show at every half-time. We do pre-game at home games. We play in the stands (pep music). Pep music is big here...each section has their own special tradition of songs...it's fun to watch!

Our first home game is tonight. I'm so excited to see DS16 march!! They have had two away games in a row, so hopefully they've worked the kinks out of the show.

When you say your districts stadium, I take it that all of your high schools share a single stadium? For us, every school, but 2 have their own stadium on the school grounds. The 2 that don't, one is one of the catholic schools and the other is our main FWCS rival. Both schools pay revenue to have use of a stadium. Our rival school, has to pay us to use our stadium. They are a better football team than we are and they love to taunt it's their field. Our kids usually have a sign about the rent being due.

Last nights game was an exciting one. We finally won a home game - we won two away games last year. We actually won it in the last minute of the game. It's the coaches 2nd year. He was so excited, that when the band got done playing the fight song at the end of the game, he came over jumping around and yelling play it again. They ended up playing it 3 times before he was happy.

 

[marcyinPA]

This is what we do. The play the national anthem, the visitors fight song, then our fight song. The only time they can play during the game, is after scoring.



When you say your districts stadium, I take it that all of your high schools share a single stadium? For us, every school, but 2 have their own stadium on the school grounds. The 2 that don't, one is one of the catholic schools and the other is our main FWCS rival. Both schools pay revenue to have use of a stadium. Our rival school, has to pay us to use our stadium. They are a better football team than we are and they love to taunt it's their field. Our kids usually have a sign about the rent being due.

Last nights game was an exciting one. We finally won a home game - we won two away games last year. We actually won it in the last minute of the game. It's the coaches 2nd year. He was so excited, that when the band got done playing the fight song at the end of the game, he came over jumping around and yelling play it again. They ended up playing it 3 times before he was happy.

Yup, our two high schools and the Catholic HS in town use one stadium. We are a very large district, with 22 elementary schools and 4 middle schools, but they all feed into just two high schools. Two very LARGE high schools.

Last night was our first home game. What a nail biter! Our team is (was) ranked 7th in the state. We lost to another very good team in our conference- 42-41. We were leading until literally the last minute of the game.

The band sounded great. Unfortunately, the show is not my favorite that they've done. I found it boring. That sounds horrible, but it's true. With 260 kids, they were loud and musically great. But visually, eh.

 

[jen0610]

There are just some night, as parent and staff, you just know it's not going to be your night. There is just that one judge that no matter what you do on the field, they aren't going to like it. You could do the exact same show as the 1st place school and they would rip it to pieces, because you did it. That is what we had Saturday night. They had a judge replacement at the last minute and the guy they got - nothing we do pleases the man. So, as soon as we heard his name, we knew we were going to have a huge gap in the scores between us and 1st place.

According to this judge, the show is is disjointed, dark, and depressing. The way the show opens, needs to be scrapped and rethought. Everybody in the stands, from all the comments that we have gotten the last 2 weeks from parents of other band's, is that they love the way we take the field for competition.

We just have to be thankful that this guy doesn't judge at the class A level for the ISSMA contests. We only have 2 more invitationals that he could possibly show up at and rain on our kids hard work and dedication.

 

[klj27]

We had our first competition on Saturday. I ended up helping with pit crew and didn't see any of the other bands play. I didn't have a good view of our show because I was at field level but I really liked it! It is amazing how I have changed from liking the traditional marching band show to the "artistical" show in only a year. It is probably from all of the winterguard shows I have been to.

We placed best visual, best general effect, best auxiliary (yeah guard!!) and first in Class AA. I was surprised they didn't get best music but I think that will come. I keep checking the msba website for scores to be posted.

 

[jen0610]

We had our first competition on Saturday. I ended up helping with pit crew and didn't see any of the other bands play. I didn't have a good view of our show because I was at field level but I really liked it! It is amazing how I have changed from liking the traditional marching band show to the "artistical" show in only a year. It is probably from all of the winterguard shows I have been to.

We placed best visual, best general effect, best auxiliary (yeah guard!!) and first in Class AA. I was surprised they didn't get best music but I think that will come. I keep checking the msba website for scores to be posted.

As in MidStates Band Association?

Congrats on the 1st place finish!!

 

[klj27]

As in MidStates Band Association?

Congrats on the 1st place finish!!

Yes, do you compete msba also?

Our scores were just published. We came in 4th overall. It wasn't a big competition but there were 3 Open class bands, 2 AAA, 4 AA, and I think 4 A class.

 

[jen0610]

Yes, do you compete msba also?

Our scores were just published. We came in 4th overall. It wasn't a big competition but there were 3 Open class bands, 2 AAA, 4 AA, and I think 4 A class.

We are doing 1 show this year to see how we like it. We are going to be at Hamilton Southeastern, Fishers IN next weekend. We will be in the AAAA division.

 

[klj27]

We are doing 1 show this year to see how we like it. We are going to be at Hamilton Southeastern, Fishers IN next weekend. We will be in the AAAA division.

I like msba but I don't have anything else to compare it to. Our next comp will be BOA regionals. Then we have four more msba before boa nationals.

You must have a large band!

 

[Gina]

So far, I haven't been at a game in the past three years that the band hasn't been in attendance but after all this is Texas, the band is a vital part of a football game. There was one game that a band played in a contest about 2 1/2 hours from their school, traveled the 90 minutes to our 2:00 game, played through half time, qualified for contest finals, loaded the buses and traveled the 90 minutes back for the evening finals and then the 2 1/2 hours home late that night.
We will miss an away game this year to travel to BOA Atlanta and that was almost an act of Congress to get it approved. Who knew that it would be the end of the world if the school song and fight song weren't heard at a football game (Yes, that is heavy sarcasm but we almost didn't receive approval to go because the football game conflicted)

Good thing it's an away game for you guys and not a home game!! Still sad y'all aren't going to be there.
Is your band doing the Galena Park competition? I have yet to figure out how this is going to work this year. Competition starts at 9am, our slot is at 11:15. Last band doesn't take the field until 5:30. They won't be done until 5:45, then the judges will confer for a while, then awards will be announced. But we have an away game, in Clear Lake, that starts at 6pm. To not even be able to stick around for the awards announcement seems really pointless... and to me robs the kids of the "thrill of victory", of that awesome moment, if it came to that. Stinks!

What instruments are we representing on this thread???

I'm a trombone mom!

I'm an alto sax mom!

 

[jen0610]

What instruments are we representing on this thread???

I'm a trombone mom!

DS is playing Tenor Sax this year.

 

[Katy Belle]

DS is a Sousaphone/Tuba player. We have 10 shiny silver Sousaphones in our band of 105 kiddos! Our Director is a Tuba player

 

[jen0610]

I like msba but I don't have anything else to compare it to. Our next comp will be BOA regionals. Then we have four more msba before boa nationals.

You must have a large band!

We normally just march ISSMA, where the classes are based on school size, not the band size.

I don't think we have an overy large band. We march 120 kids which includes the color guard. Our main competiton in our city, they march 240 kids, with another 20 kids on the side line as subs. We have several other schools in our ISSMA class, with the 200+ members.

For our 4 classes, the enrollment breakdown is:

1 - 525 kids, you march D class
526 - 950 kids, you march C class
951 - 1789 kids, you march B class
1790+ kids, you march A class

It will be nice to test the waters of marching against a band class based on the number of people in the actual band versus your schools enrollment numbers.

 

[lovegrumpy]

Glad I found this thread. This is Ds#1 first year on marching band. SO far he is loving it. We had tag day last Saturday and have a compation this Saturday at the Navel Academy. I have yet to see the show. We missed the first football game and they did a special one because of 9/11 last Friday.

They are planning on going to WDW in April. I have already asked to chaperon. Can't wait for that. Find out more info this Wednesday on are band meeting. Forgot to add my ds plays the Tuba.

 

[jen0610]

Glad I found this thread. This is Ds#1 first year on marching band. SO far he is loving it. We had tag day last Saturday and have a compation this Saturday at the Navel Academy. I have yet to see the show. We missed the first football game and they did a special one because of 9/11 last Friday.

They are planning on going to WDW in April. I have already asked to chaperon. Can't wait for that. Find out more info this Wednesday on are band meeting. Forgot to add my ds plays the Tuba.

Welcome to our little group!!

Band can be such a fun thing for both the kids and parents.

 

[marcyinPA]

DS16- trumpet
DS12- percussion

 

[klj27]

We normally just march ISSMA, where the classes are based on school size, not the band size.

I don't think we have an overy large band. We march 120 kids which includes the color guard. Our main competiton in our city, they march 240 kids, with another 20 kids on the side line as subs. We have several other schools in our ISSMA class, with the 200+ members.

For our 4 classes, the enrollment breakdown is:

1 - 525 kids, you march D class
526 - 950 kids, you march C class
951 - 1789 kids, you march B class
1790+ kids, you march A class

It will be nice to test the waters of marching against a band class based on the number of people in the actual band versus your schools enrollment numbers.

I like marching based on band size. If I remember correctly you actually march based on number of musicians, which helps us a lot. We have 22 guard members and they don't count in our total. I think we march around 55 musicians. We would really suffer in we were in a circuit that march based on school size because we go to private Catholic high schools that are single sex. They would count the number in the boys school we march for and all of the girls schools that we draw from. We also have 8th graders that march with us, which would add a whole other problem because they come from at least four different elementary schools.

 

[Tigger2252]

Hello everyone. I have been lurking this thread for quite some time but though I would finally say hi. I have really enjoyed reading about how your season runs, the band trip locations, etc. We don't travel far, and sadly have never been able to go to Disney. China and some of the other places would be a fantasy trip .

The kids start practicing in July and have two weeks of band camp in August (double sessions). Our competition season begins the first Saturday in September and ends at the end of October with our state championships. We usually travel to an USSBA or BOA competition in October or November. This year we are going back to Annapolis in November.

This is my DD's senior season so it will be bittersweet for me. I love being part of our band family and will miss them terribly! I love our show this year though, and am so happy that my DD has such a great way to finish her marching band years. I have been a uniform mom for the past 5 years, but this year has been the most challenging as our band director is having the woodwind and brass sections completely change their uniforms mid-show. Looks awesome, but man is it work!

I hope you all have an awesome season!

 

[KristiMc]

My son who is in 5th grade just started trumpet this year. I'm so excited and hopeful that in 4 years he will be in marching band. I was in band and can't wait to be a "band mom".