Marching Band preformances

Lord Relvenous · Post by **Lord Relvenous** » 2007-10-29 07:04pm

I don't know how many other marching band geeks like me are lurking out there, but seeing as how most seasons are wearing down, or already over, I thought I'd open up a discussion about marching band in general.

My band recently marched in what is essentially the state competition in Idaho. We have won it the past four years are were excited to get a chance at a five-peat. We marched the best we ever have and won by three points. then we went to Vancouver, Washington and got our butts royally handed to us by a few bands around that area. We marched well, but just weren't on their level. As a comparison, here is us at D3, the aforementioned competition http://youtube.com/watch?v=6LajSydNxsY and Southridge, the winner of the Vancouver festival at another earlier festival, http://youtube.com/watch?v=7J3lad7URUE. And they were better than the video when we marched with them, scary.

How did you feel about your season? How many members do you march? What cores do you follow? This is essentially an open discussion on marching band this year. Any videos of performances would be great.

Chardok · Post by **Chardok** » 2007-10-29 07:49pm

One thing I could not abide when I was in Marching band were those fuckin' high-stepping twisty-turny bullshit bands. Pissed me right the hell off. and don't ask me to quantify that either. I hate them because I hate them. I watched 15 minutes of the movie drum line and could stomach no fucking more. Marching bands are 8 to 5, intervals, dynamics, precision. Not "Bounce around like a monkey on crack while the tubas blast as loud as they can to overpower the entire universe and drums require Kevlar heads because we don't understand what that little greater than less than thingy means on the music."

Fleet Admiral JD · Post by **Fleet Admiral JD** » 2007-10-29 07:51pm

Heya. My avatar should help you determine what I'm up to

Anyway, the Oakmont-Overlook Marching Spartans marched 71 members this year. Here's the record thus far (we have one more small competition next week):

USSBA Putnam: 3rd Place (69.5)
USSBA Blackstone: 1st Place (77.1)
MICCA Preview, Chelmsford
USSBA Dartmouth: 1st Place (84.

USSBA Quincy: 1st Place (84.1)
USSBA NE Championship State Finals: 1st Place, NE State Champs, MA Champs (87.6)
MICCA Championship Finals: Gold Medal

USSBA (the United States Scholastic Band Association) is a competitive circuit wherein bands are scored and ranked against each other. MICCA (Massachusetts Instrumental and Choral Conductor's Association) simply evaluates bands on a star system. Five categories are judged and each earns a certain number out of five stars. We received fives in all categories except colorguard (who probably deserved a five based on comments given by the judges), and got gold.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dschlier/c ... 521091742/ Those are pictures from our season. For reference, I am the drum major who is center in our salute at the end. During the show I was either backfield or on the side.

What was your show, Lord R? We played an arrangement of The Witch and the Saint, originally by Steven Reineke.

EDIT: I'll grab a video as soon as we get a post-band camp one up.

EDIT 2: If you were/are in a marching band and are posting in this thread, what did you/do you play/do?

Raw Shark · Post by **Raw Shark** » 2007-10-29 08:03pm

Fleet Admiral JD wrote:EDIT 2: If you were/are in a marching band and are posting in this thread, what did you/do you play/do?

I played trumpet in the parade at Disneyworld once. Sure, all we had to do to get in was show up, but it felt awesome playing in front of that many people.

Fleet Admiral JD · Post by **Fleet Admiral JD** » 2007-10-29 08:07pm

We did that last year--it is indeed an incredible performance.

Lord Relvenous · Post by **Lord Relvenous** » 2007-10-29 08:15pm

You know, the Eastern style, or "high-stepping" in Drumline doesn't bother me nearly as much as the musical and drill differences from core style marching that you mentioned earlier. Show bands drive me nuts. The idea that bringing a rapper onto the field to perform while your band lays on the ground doing nothing and playing every five measures is a legitimate marching show insults me. So i definitely agree with you, Chardok.

Very nice scores Fleet Admiral, especially given the quality and difficulty of judging in the east and the competitions you compete in.

Our show was In the Shadow of Dragons, an original composition by Key Poulan. Our drill was designed by Jeff Fakkler. The undefined blob in the back field is actually a cave, from which a dragon head emerges from in the second show. The color guard captain, who can be seen marching around the field in the third movement, duels with the trombone section leader, defeats him then slays the dragon at the end of the show. You can't see all of this because of the poor resolution, but i assure you its great.

I play the alto sax, and was the principal section leader this year. Our band marched 147 members. Roughly 100 horns, 24 color guard, four snares, four bass drums, four cymbals, 2 quints and 11 pit members. I'm pretty bummed my senior year of marching band over.

Lord Relvenous · Post by **Lord Relvenous** » 2007-10-29 08:17pm

Fleet Admiral JD wrote:We did that last year--it is indeed an incredible performance.

The Disney Magic Music Days? We did that two years ago. What a blast. Three days at Disneyland, a session in a recording studio, and the parade.

Chardok · Post by **Chardok** » 2007-10-29 08:25pm

I did the magic music days in....1994? '95? something like that. My last days marching was in 1996...I actually cried. It was all a mistake...I wasn't supposed to actually go ALL the way through high school...just sort of...stay stuck at 16.

Fleet Admiral JD · Post by **Fleet Admiral JD** » 2007-10-29 08:25pm

Lord Relvenous--awesome drill!

Wait, four snares, four basses, four cymbals. . . no quads/tenors?

I'm bummed about my senior season being so close to done as well. I've really enjoyed my years in band, and I've made the closest friends I've ever had.

And, yeah, Magic Music days. Except we had a six-day trip--2 parades

The Dark · Post by **The Dark** » 2007-10-29 08:27pm

I have an unfair advantage due to being in Orlando, but I usually did about three Disney parades a year in high school

.

I don't remember a lot of the competitions we did as a marching band (pretty much all in Florida), but we did the Tournament of Roses in '98 and one of the festivals in DC in '00 (I didn't go on that trip). The drumline also won the Florida Indoor Percussion Association championship in '98 and '99, as well as competing at WGI Internationals in '99 (Dayton) and '01 (Milwaukee). In '99 we were ranked 16th entering the competition, but were eliminated in the quarters at 21st (top 20 made semis) by 0.2 points. In '01 we were ranked 11th entering the competition, and wound up showing for the bronze medal, 0.1 points ahead of 4th place.

edit: a 4-4-0-4 line? That's...err...small compared to what I'm used to. We had a 7-6-3-7 my senior year (7 snares, 6 basses, 3 quints, 7 cymbals).

Fleet Admiral JD · Post by **Fleet Admiral JD** » 2007-10-29 08:30pm

The Dark wrote:a 4-4-0-4 line? That's...err...small compared to what I'm used to. We had a 7-6-3-7 my senior year (7 snares, 6 basses, 3 quints, 7 cymbals).

Haha--we marched 2 snares, 3 basses, and one quad. No cymbals. Seven in the pit.

And we still rocked.

Chardok--what'd you play?

Lord Relvenous · Post by **Lord Relvenous** » 2007-10-29 08:33pm

Fleet Admiral JD wrote:Lord Relvenous--awesome drill!

Wait, four snares, four basses, four cymbals. . . no quads/tenors?

I'm bummed about my senior season being so close to done as well. I've really enjoyed my years in band, and I've made the closest friends I've ever had.

And, yeah, Magic Music days. Except we had a six-day trip--2 parades

Oops!! We had two quints! Why do I always forget about the quints

. Yeah small drum line compared to previous years. Our snares have projectors, so we don't really need more.

In fact, small band this year. Another high school was built in Nampa, so we lost members. Two years ago we were pushing 170, last year 160.

We had to drive on a bus all day to get there, and spent a day at Knotts Berry Farm or whatever, so it was a six day trip, just with 34 hours of driving total.

Frank Hipper · Post by **Frank Hipper** » 2007-10-29 08:36pm

Marching Band is both music and art, to AMP with you!

Drewcifer · Post by **Drewcifer** » 2007-10-29 08:47pm

Fleet Admiral JD wrote:EDIT 2: If you were/are in a marching band and are posting in this thread, what did you/do you play/do?

I played sousaphone in marching band and tuba in symphonic band during high school. That was too long ago for me to remember any specifics about it, but I do remember loving it and that we always did well in competition, whether on the field or in an auditorium. And also that the only that people that caused more trouble than us tuba players was the drum core. Band geeks rule!

Fleet Admiral JD · Post by **Fleet Admiral JD** » 2007-10-29 08:58pm

Lord Relvenous wrote:<<Snip>>

"Small" band my ass.

The only band that's even comparable around here (in size) that I've seen is Southington, CT. Certainly there are plenty of bands that could probably compete skill-wise, but size-wise, Southington is the only one I can think of.

Coriolis · Post by **Coriolis** » 2007-10-29 09:21pm

Dang you guys, you had to bring this up eh? I just got over my marching band withdrawal.

I did MB for three years in HS (Soph-Senior). I'm a freshman in college and I decided that band wasn't all that important next to my college education.

I marched Bass Clarinet, quite possibly the most awkward thing to wield on the field. I marched with the Green Hope Falcon Regiment from Cary, NC (I don't expect any of you to have heard of us). We usually had around 150+ members (including pit and guard). I was section leader my senior year (all five of us).

Our show last year was called "Moondances" and it was about the Apollo landings and such. It was ridiculous because the drill was circle-based (like the moon). Needless to say, circle-based drill is a bitch.

Oh, and I support the Blue Devils. Kudos to them for winning the 2007 DCI World Championships.

Hawkwings · Post by **Hawkwings** » 2007-10-29 10:04pm

I was in our school's marching band frosh-junior year, but this year my parents made me quit to work on college applications. Not a good trade-off in my book.

Southridge is good. Very good. I know them well, they compete in the Northwest Marching Band Circuit, and they're an open class band. They nearly won championships last year, but just barely got edged out. I marched in the Oregon Crusaders drum corps with some of their members and one of their drum majors.

I was with the Tigard High Marching Band, we won A-class championships last year, and we're looking to do so again this year. I'll be heading to OSU for the NWMBC championships this saturday.

Blue Devs are awesome: it's great that they won this year, because they're both a west-coast corps competing in the only west-coast Championships in like forever, PLUS it's their 50th anniversary. In the member picture thread, I've got a picture of me with the BD DM at championships

Chardok · Post by **Chardok** » 2007-10-29 11:26pm

Coriolis wrote:Dang you guys, you had to bring this up eh? I just got over my marching band withdrawal. I did MB for three years in HS (Soph-Senior). I'm a freshman in college and I decided that band wasn't all that important next to my college education.

I marched Bass Clarinet, quite possibly the most awkward thing to wield on the field. I marched with the Green Hope Falcon Regiment from Cary, NC (I don't expect any of you to have heard of us). We usually had around 150+ members (including pit and guard). I was section leader my senior year (all five of us). D

Pleh! Pleh, I say! Try a euphonium! (Trumpet on Steroids) My instrument of choice for two years, then Sousaphone. (Talk about wrecking your emborchure (SP?) ) God, I miss my glory days.

EDIT)_______

I will, howver, totally grant you super awkward on the Bass Clarinet thing. It's like a bassoon, but not quite. Sort of like a baritone (Euphonium) not quite a trombone, not quite a Tuba, but some unholy sterile offspring of the two.

Vaporous · Post by **Vaporous** » 2007-10-29 11:56pm

Playing at disney is one of my fondest high school memories. Marching band was great stuff.

Fleet Admiral JD · Post by **Fleet Admiral JD** » 2007-10-30 01:15pm

Chardok--have you ever seen UMASS Amherst's sousa line? If not, it's worth a look if you have time. They do some crazy ass stuff.

Lord Relvenous · Post by **Lord Relvenous** » 2007-10-30 02:55pm

Coriolis

We marched a show last year that was all curves and circles, almost no straight lines. I know your pain.

Fleet Admiral JD
Do you know who arranged your Witch and the Saint, and is it online? I love that music.

Lonestar · Post by **Lonestar** » 2007-10-30 05:48pm

The Fightin' Texas Aggie Band

Lord Relvenous · Post by **Lord Relvenous** » 2007-10-30 07:03pm

Lonestar

Holy huge band, Batman!

Really that's quite crazy that they would field that many members, and some of those moves are ridiculuos. Granted, I would much rather march a more modern show, but that was still very impressive.

Mayabird · Post by **Mayabird** » 2007-10-30 11:41pm

*smashes through the wall*

I heard the magic words!

Ah, marching band, how very many stories I have, now that I'm an alumnus...alum...alumni...how does that work, anyway?

I could write pages on it. PAGES. I was in it for ten years (one year of middle school, four years of high school, five in college). It was the thing that made high school barely tolerable enough for me to keep from stabbing people. And college...oh man...

The geekiest show I ever was in was in college, our Centennial of Flight show. It was synced up to a video on the Jumbotron, and one of our pictures was a giant airplane shape that rotated and flew on the field to the music. The video totally broke so many copyrights it wasn't funny (in fact, the DoD might have been able to come after us if they were so inclined) It was so geektastic that everyone leveled up their Geek stat just for being in the show.

It would have been only the second geekiest show ever, except Nintendo of America sent us a cease and desist letter before we could perform our Classic Video Game show. Oh man. It would have been synced to the Jumbotron too, but with video game music. Starting with the Super Mario Theme, so everyone would know that we were playing a video game music. Tetris (with the whole band forming Tetris blocks and stacking together), a little Zelda and Final Fantasy, and then end the whole thing with Ramblin' Wreck of course, with the entire stadium cheering and not sure if they should laugh or cry or shake their heads at the utter nerdom they just witnessed. But it was not to be.

Anyway, I got more band stories than Lonestar has sea stories, so I'll probably be dropping in here a lot with more anecdotes.

Lord Relvenous · Post by **Lord Relvenous** » 2007-10-31 04:11pm

Mayabird

You know, done right, you might hactually have been able to get permission for the show. That show would most likely have been the best show in the world, a show you could vanquish demons with.

What was your college band?