MBandMom2008

Congratulations to Marcus and to all that participated. Band kids are the best <- from a completely unbiased source

After seeing all the hard work and dedication it takes to participate in marching band, all the bands that make it to the state level deserve extreme congratulations. The competition in Texas is top notch and no matter the results, they are all "The Best"

Thanks! My son has moved on to the UNT Green Brigade but I'm still curious about the results. Once a Band Mom, always a Band Mom

Does anyone know if they are pretty much on schedule? And how long it takes once the last band performs before results are announced?

Sorry if I offended you. I was trying to lighten the tone of the thread as sometimes these things tend to get waaay too serious. It was not meant in a mean way and I apologize if it came across that way. I intended this to be a discussion, and not an argument. A discussion based on opinion and my recollections and not on fact. While many of my generation lived in a chemically induced haze in those days, I still have quite clear memories. We'll have to agree to disagree if that's ok BTW you seemed to have changed the topic from dedication and discipline to difficulty, but that's ok. If you're the type that wants to have the last word, it's ok. Go ahead and I will not respond.

Yes - you must watch out for those band parents. They are very cunning.

And where does the money for those supplies come from? From fundraising. Car washes, bake sales, concession sales, clean ups. If they will pay us for it, we'll try it. No one in our band program has an open checkbook to finance what we have. Oops, we're off topic again....sorry

Oh yes...Topic.... hmm...was there a contest recently? Sorry for getting off topic. Congrats to all the bands attending BOA SA and good luck to all those heading to GN.

How is it that most people seem to think it takes a lot of money to afford props? Props in the band program I'm involved with are not purchased. They are built, and sewn and painted by band parents and kids who spend countless hours working on them. And where does the money for those supplies come from? From fundraising. Car washes, bake sales, concession sales, clean ups. If they will pay us for it, we'll try it. No one in our band program has an open checkbook to finance what we have. It's not about the money. It's about the effort. You know.....that effort that today's kids don't have.

Sorry it took so long to repsond, but I was cleaning up the coffee that I choked on while reading this!!! Either you are misinformed or uniformed. The level of discipline 30 years ago was nothing compared to today. We practiced about an hour a day before school. It was too hot after school. (That's what we thought - it was in Texas on the asphalt parking lot that bands now spend 2 hours a day in the heat of the day rehearsing on) We were considered one of the top bands of our day, with consistent top scores to prove it and yet there was nothing near the effort as that put in by today's band kids. Ask around to the parents of today's band kids. Many of them were in band back in the day. The ones I've talked to, from all over the country, agree that much more effort is put in today than it was then. It was the 70's - rebelling against tradition and establishment was the rule of the day. "The same way they dumbed down the SAT because too many kids were failing it and they wanted to raise the pass rate which had been slipping in recent years at that time. " I seriously doubt it was the band kids that standardized testing was "dumbed down" for. Perhaps you should take a look at the following Music Education Facts. http://www.menc.org/information/advocate/facts.html If you're talking about kids today as a whole group, then you're completely changing the topic and should be considered on a different forum. This one is about band and the kids, teachers, parents and fans of such. I think if you reshearch a little more, you will find that band kids ranked amoung the highest performing on standardized testing before and after it was "dumbed down"

I don't know which Texas bands you've seen rehearsing every day, but the ones I've seen are no where near sloppy. Our school district sends several high schools to these competitions and I've seen all of them rehearsing. They are among the most dedicated and hard working group of kids anywhere in Texas or any other state. It's not the 8 hour rule that is the restriction. It's what you put into those 8 hours. "Old Days"??? You're a kid yourself. The old days were back in the 70's when marching was straight lines marching up and down the field. If you put a design in your performance, you were considered quite the rebel. We stood in the shap of a locomotive and played Chattanooga Choo-Choo. The audiences loved it, but other bands thought it was silly. Marching band has evolved and continues to evolve every year. Every new band director that takes on their job comes with new ideas. How long has the head band director been in place at the "top tier" schools? Some for many years and some for only a few. The evolution continues. You can't compare today's scores to the scores of old. Performances evolve, judges evolve, and ultimately scores evolve. My congratulations to all the bands that competed yesterday. They all deserve accolades for the hard work that goes into reaching this level. Band kids at most schools do not get the recognition they should from their peers. That is usually given to athletes that do well. Those of us who are involved in the fine arts should continue to build up those programs and perhaps not spend so much time arguing among ourselves over things that will become irrelevent is a very short time. Everyone has an opinion and is entitled to it, and my opinion is we need to say more good things about the band programs we like and a little less bad things about the ones we don't.