So, yesterday (Saturday) our high school marching band competed in
state competition, and achieved a "Division 1 Rating". That's the best
rating. By itself, it may not seem significant, but consider that this
is the 27th year in a row that this band has achieved it. As two other
schools with very long standing records have failed this year, we may
be the band in the state now with the longest unbroken record.
Where the other competitions in the season are against the other
bands, this one is graded on its own merits. Lots of hard work and a
couple months of practice every morning.
They didn't do the interweave "scrambler" move this year because
almost half the band are freshmen, but they still did a very complex
routine. (the interweaving scrambler move is so complex and unique
that you almost have to do a frame-by-frame study of the video to
figure out what they are doing--it's also dangerous because of
proximity and speed--we've had some pretty good injuries doing it).
You may or may not be able to view this video I made with my
cellphone, but if so, it will give you an idea of how much work this
3A school put into it.
https://www.facebook.com/image66/videos/10204743985709408/
We may be a smallish school, but we do compete against the biggest
schools in the region, from the greater Lincoln, Omaha and Des Moines
metros. In the previous week, we competed at Valleyfest, which is an
invitational, and has bands come from as far as 250 miles away. We
crashed-and-burned in one of our performances, but it does give us an
idea how we'll do at state. So, that last week between Valleyfest and
state is the last chance to get things nailed.
There were a couple things which were a little off at this
competition, but it was still good enough to make it. The color guard
had done much better in the previous week, but we had two students out
because of sickness. In fact, I think we were down five people,
altogether.
We watched most of the schools in competition this year (of the larger
ones), and the competition is getting tougher every year. So is the
scoring.
Now, on to Jazz, concert band and drumline. If you get a chance to see
a drumline competition in your area, definitely check it out. Omaha is
one of the major spots for it, and I think we're one of only two
schools in all of Iowa that compete. It's like marching band
competition on a basketball court, except it's percussion instruments
and the "pit" of marimbas, keyboards, etc. Again, the choreography
verges on manic and probably would violate all sorts of work place
safety standards. Special theatrical effects are par for the course
with non-flamable pyrotechnics, smoke and fog machines, multi-level
props and costumes. The only thing is that you've got like 2 minutes
to setup and 2 minutes to tear down. It takes an army to do it and
that also includes covering the floor with your painted "drop cloth"
that covers an entire basketball court and you have to do your routine
on it.
This is DD#2's last year in high school and she's involved (and first
chair) in pretty much everything.
--
Ken Norton
ken@xxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.zone-10.com
--
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