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

[Katy Belle]

That is exactly what it is!!! A lot of people are bashing BA's show on the BOA forums but there are plenty of people that are sticking up for BA-NONE of whom have seen the show. Even the BA parents we have talked to don't like the show. Overall BA is an amazing band but holy moly, BAND PORN is right.

I LOVE Owasso's show-very cute and the scarecrows do an amazing job at being, well, scarecrows. Unions show though is amazing. I don't see BA placing higher at Nat's then Union and Owasso (not sure if Owasso is going to Nat's I guess). OK, overall, has the best state for marching bands I think. It has to be fun going to local competitions and seeing all those high quality bands all the time. It gets a little boring here which is why we love going to St. Louis so much.

Oh, and for class ratings--every single show we go to had their own way to place bands. Some do it by band size, some do it by winds/percussion, some by school size, some just by where the directors want to be placed. The placements are consistent year to year at each competition but not from competition to competition.

I've been thinking about it.. and if were adults in a ballet or something I'd probably be ok. But really? I can't imagine watching my teenage son with a girls legs wrapped around his shoulders! Ick. And if were a daughter... no way.

It is fun seeing these great shows... but we will NEVER be in the top 3, ever. They are just too great. Rumor has it some of those bands march only Juniors and Seniors. We are just too small to compete. But I do love them and love watching them, even several times in a season.

Interesting about the placing of the bands. The one program said it was by school size, but then someone said school size is just grades 10-12. So confusing!!! There was one other band at State yesterday our size, in Finals. Not sure about Preliminaries. The rest are bigger, most considerably bigger. Union, BA, Owasso, have 50 in their Color Guard, we have 14!

 

[golfgal]

I've been thinking about it.. and if were adults in a ballet or something I'd probably be ok. But really? I can't imagine watching my teenage son with a girls legs wrapped around his shoulders! Ick. And if were a daughter... no way.

It is fun seeing these great shows... but we will NEVER be in the top 3, ever. They are just too great. Rumor has it some of those bands march only Juniors and Seniors. We are just too small to compete. But I do love them and love watching them, even several times in a season.

Interesting about the placing of the bands. The one program said it was by school size, but then someone said school size is just grades 10-12. So confusing!!! There was one other band at State yesterday our size, in Finals. Not sure about Preliminaries. The rest are bigger, most considerably bigger. Union, BA, Owasso, have 50 in their Color Guard, we have 14!

BOA is school size for grades 10-12. That REALLY helps one band from our state where their school is 700 kids grades 9-12 but they have over 200 kids in the marching band. They compete at BOA against bands that have 12 kids. Marion Catholic was AA this year, which helped US since we are AAA . We won our class championship because MC moved down a class .

I know for sure that BA only marches juniors and seniors for their competitions. Their "JV' band does their football games and practices so they are ready to march when they are older. There might be the occasional sophomore that is very good that gets a spot I suppose. Their color guard is required to train at a certain dance studio year round-and it shows. When you have 1300-1400 kids per GRADE, you can be that picky. Also, never say never. Eight years ago our band was ok, not great, goal was to make finals in most competitions, never thought we would win one, got in a couple new directors, haven't lost a local competition in 7 years...6 straight state championships. Bands like Marion Catholic are AA for BOA competitions which means they have between 700-1000 students 10-12th grades (so not tiny but not huge either) and they place well at BOA and especially nationals. It isn't always the size of the band but how cleanly you march--which is why BA does so well-they put on a superbly clean show--stride length all the same, feet moving at the same time in the same directions, lines straight, color guard flags/rifles, etc. all on time, same height, etc. For the most part, BA type bands have kids that all they do is marching band. The color guard practices year round either dancing or with flags, etc. We practice 2 days/week in season, they practice 5-6 days--again, makes a HUGE difference.

 

[golfgal]

I've been thinking about it.. and if were adults in a ballet or something I'd probably be ok. But really? I can't imagine watching my teenage son with a girls legs wrapped around his shoulders! Ick. And if were a daughter... no way.

It is fun seeing these great shows... but we will NEVER be in the top 3, ever. They are just too great. Rumor has it some of those bands march only Juniors and Seniors. We are just too small to compete. But I do love them and love watching them, even several times in a season.

Interesting about the placing of the bands. The one program said it was by school size, but then someone said school size is just grades 10-12. So confusing!!! There was one other band at State yesterday our size, in Finals. Not sure about Preliminaries. The rest are bigger, most considerably bigger. Union, BA, Owasso, have 50 in their Color Guard, we have 14!

For me it isn't even so much that they girls are hanging on the boys, it's the placement of body parts while doing that. I don't know that I would even like watching a ballet where a woman is hanging on a man in a way that pretty much looks like oral sex.

 

[jen0610]

Holy Cow!!!!!!! Avon was dethroned as the class A champ here in ISSMA!! One of our Ft Wayne bands - Homestead - knocked them to 2nd place.

Kind of interesting that performance order - Avon was 1st up and Homestead was the last band of the class. The were the last ones that could knock them from another state championship.

 

[golfgal]

Holy Cow!!!!!!! Avon was dethroned as the class A champ here in ISSMA!! One of our Ft Wayne bands - Homestead - knocked them to 2nd place.

Kind of interesting that performance order - Avon was 1st up and Homestead was the last band of the class. The were the last ones that could knock them from another state championship.

I saw that on the BOA forums, WOW. They took 3rd in another competition not long ago too. Is their show just not done yet or what's up? Do you know? They are the defending national champions and while it's not unusual for bands that focus on Natl's to have an incomplete show now, usually they are better than this.

 

[GoofyTroopOf6]

Hmmm... interesting about Avon. I wondered how they placed.

We got 4th in class B. Concord (not sure where they are from) was phenomenal. There was no way anyone was going to beat them. Greenwood was good, I must say (even though they're our number one rivals. The immature part of me hates saying they were good). I'm not quite sure that Jasper should have placed 3rd though. The thing that threw us back was special effects which REALLY surprised me. We placed 1st in marching, third in music and 5th in special effect. Shocked....I really was shocked at that.

I think we were placed appropriately for the most part comparing us to the other competition we had. I was actually not bitter about this as I was last year. I was VERY bitter and a sore loser (as my husband called me) last year. I felt more at peace this year with the placement. We still have 4 years left of band and I feel confident that ds will at least have 1 state championship under his belt before he graduates.

 

[GoofyTroopOf6]

Oh yes, here is a clip from the Pepsi Commercial we shot/starred in. At 24-25 seconds is my son playing the TRUMPET.

http://youtu.be/U91oS8NfRDg

edit: ds plays trumpet not tuba. lol I was still stuck on "tuba dude"

 

[GoofyTroopOf6]

I just found the other commercial too. At 26 seconds and 32 seconds shows ds again playing the trumpet. In the 32nd clip he is in the very top right corner.

 

[golfgal]

Oh yes, here is a clip from the Pepsi Commercial we shot/starred in. At 24-25 seconds is my son playing the TRUMPET.

http://youtu.be/U91oS8NfRDg

edit: ds plays trumpet not tuba. lol I was still stuck on "tuba dude"

COOL!!!!!

Did you download a copy of this to your computer?

 

[marcyinPA]

Well, today was the date of our annual Halloween parade in our city. It was canceled due to SNOW!! They may reschedule it, but with half of our city still out of power, I'm not sure when they will have it.

It was my DS12's last middle school band parade for the year, and DS16's last parade before the Hawaii trip.

We got about 8 inches of wet, heavy snow here. Trees are down everywhere. Even though today is sunny with bright blue skies, it is cold, and there is snow everywhere. Not a good day to sit and watch a parade!

 

[Pembo]

The marching season is Finished! YAY! Our kids got a 1/Superior Rating at the State yesterday. It was very exciting and they looked great. Today was our Halloween Parade and we had some very interesting costumes this year. DS's section was Star Wars. He wore the opening credits...lol...not a SW fan.

Right now I have 15 band kids in my house for a Halloween Party. They are all in my basement with half of them playing their instruments. I guess they can't get enough.

Interesing note...I read in the State program that Ohio started their own competetion based on the BOA model.

Our next event is a spaghetti dinner fundraiser and then the Band Banquet. I asked the band booster president when the parents get their night out! We're going to miss each other. lol

 

[mickeymo]

On the way home from being the band's roadies & groupies at BOA Atlanta super-regional. The kids performed their hearts out & finished 7th. They were absolutely thrilled that they made finals let alone placing well. Just three weeks ago at BOA Houston, we finished 21st. In fact, this was our first BOA finals appearance in three years!

For those of you following bands as BOA Grand Nationals closes in, unfortunately I didnt get to see any other bands. Tarpon's show intrigues me, it was a dark Alice in Wonderland theme. The costumes were amazing! Hopefully, a copy of their show will be posted online somewhere, i'd love to see it. James Bowie (Austin Texas) finished 2nd behind Tarpon Springs. Bowie swept 4a captions & finals music. Tarpon swept (I think) 3a captions & finals GE & Visual.

We drew the last performance time. As our kids marched onto the field to perform, the Bowie kids suprised us by singing "Deep in the Heart of Texas". Terrific show of support & Texas pride!

 

[golfgal]

On the way home from being the band's roadies & groupies at BOA Atlanta super-regional. The kids performed their hearts out & finished 7th. They were absolutely thrilled that they made finals let alone placing well. Just three weeks ago at BOA Houston, we finished 21st. In fact, this was our first BOA finals appearance in three years!

For those of you following bands as BOA Grand Nationals closes in, unfortunately I didnt get to see any other bands. Tarpon's show intrigues me, it was a dark Alice in Wonderland theme. The costumes were amazing! James Bowie (Austin Texas) finished 2nd behind Tarpon Springs. Bowie swept 4a captions & finals music. Tarpon swept (I think) 3a captions & finals GE & Visual.

We drew the last performance time. As our kids marched onto the field to perform, the Bowie kids suprised us by singing "Deep in the Heart of Texas". Terrific show of support & Texas pride!

I love watching the kids interact on the field after finals. The kids have a blast (I am assuming they have all the finals bands march on the field for awards at all the BOA's, correct)? When they break ranks and the kids can go chat with the other bands. Our kids usually end up with some phone numbers or Facebook contacts from kids all over the country. It's such a neat experience for them. Our first year going to BOA, one of the other bands that was staying at the same hotel had gotten back to the hotel before our kids and formed a tunnel for our kids to congratulate them (they took 7th, the other band took 11th or something). The kids STILL talk about that gesture (at homecoming games because those kids have all graduated now). I love BOA.

 

[mickeymo]

I was wrong, the last time we made a BOA finals was BOA Houston two years ago. So only the juniors & seniors knew the meaning of breaking ranks. Several of our parents were amused because the kids stayed formation for a bit as if they didn't know what to do. I was in the tunnel waiting with the kids after their finals performance when our director taught our full retreat, he didn't mention breaking ranks.

 

[golfgal]

For those that haven't been to BOA--this is what the final awards look like--it's quite colorful.

Here are the bands filing onto the field

I wish I had a wide angle to get all the bands into one shot.


The 12 kids on the white part of the endzone (far right of the picture) in the last picture is the Class A winner--they performed in exhibition. Pretty amazing for such a small band. Jackson Academy is the name of the school.

 

[sm4987]

I wished I had found this thread sooner. Band parents to talk to!

Our season has ended, we just have Veterns Day parade left this Saturday.

My sons school came in third place in the state competition class 4A. So proud. They worked really hard this year and I hope they keep on improving.

 

[golfgal]

I wished I had found this thread sooner. Band parents to talk to!

Our season has ended, we just have Veterns Day parade left this Saturday.

My sons school came in third place in the state competition class 4A. So proud. They worked really hard this year and I hope they keep on improving.

We will be back next year .

Next year will be my LAST year with high school marching band kids--WOW. Seems like yesterday that DS19 was a TINY freshman (and tiny as in the shortest kid in the marching band), now he is done, graduated and our twins are almost done.

 

[jen0610]

For those that haven't been to BOA--this is what the final awards look like--it's quite colorful.

I wish I had a wide angle to get all the bands into one shot.

ISSMA does these here at state finals was well. When you get Class A on the field, it's roughly 2000 kids on the field. It is an awesome sight to see.

 

[mickeymo]

I wished I had found this thread sooner. Band parents to talk to!

Our season has ended, we just have Veterns Day parade left this Saturday.

My sons school came in third place in the state competition class 4A. So proud. They worked really hard this year and I hope they keep on improving.

Glad you found us! Since there are several states represented, I'm sure there will be some posting for a few more weeks. Even though our competition season is over, we still have one more regular season football game left. In order to miss Friday's football game (against a fellow poster Gina's son's high school)our director had to promise we would attend the entire playoff run if our football team advanced. Ordinarily, one would think a team with a 2-7 record would not have a prayer, right? This is Texas after all, top 4 teams in each conference advance. If we win Saturday's game, we claim the fourth spot. if
Gina's son's high school repeats as state champion, she'll still be living marching band in December!

 

[golfgal]

ISSMA does these here at state finals was well. When you get Class A on the field, it's roughly 2000 kids on the field. It is an awesome sight to see.

I never really thought about it in numbers. Those photos probably have 2500 kids on the field-WOW!!! It's pretty amazing watching how talented these kids are.