takigan

Wow, looks like Leander really sucked it up in the finals. Weren't they third going into prelims? Still waiting for this miraculous turnaround I've been hearing about that's supposed to bring them back to their old glory days. I was talking to a Leander alumnus today while working the marching festival that Blinn College hosts (which had crappy turnout this year due to BOA I might add >_>) and she mentioned how Leander and Cedar Park are rivals. Cedar Park's rivals? Psh....Don't brand yourself with a title until you've earned it I always say . Oh yes....and a congratulations to the winner....Akins....and of course a personal congrats to my alma mater (or whatever the word is for High Schools); Georgetown for winning Guard caption. Awesome.....

Heh...So what are ya'll doing show-wise this year? More of Uematsu's music from Final Fantasy maybe? lol, that would be pretty sweet. I about wet myself when I heard the opener for ya'lls '04 show. Big FF fan right here

Yup....sent you a PM, we can continue this there...

Yeah....I've heard rumors about that myself (prob not to the extent you have though), but let's just say I'll believe it when I see it ^^....(My roomie in College this year played Trumpet at CP --class of '03-- so I've heard a few things >_> ). ....They say all of Leander's powers went to Cedar Park when they opened, and CP took it and ran with it. To hear that Leander might be gaining back the power it lost sounds very disheartening.....this stupid area just keeps getting more and more competitive *sigh*.

Not sure why you have Leander as an Area D notable. Leander is more of a second-tier band like Georgetown, Round Rock and Stephen F. Austin, which trade rankings on a constant basis in this neck of the woods. Before '02 it may have been....but nowadays....not really. ....Also, please note that none of this is bias that comes from me being from Georgetown, and Leander being Georgetown's eternal rival since the early 80s. That would be childish .... On another note, Reagan and Churchill are in our area now?!! Swapping Spring, Westfield and Woodlands for Churchill, Reagan and Judson is NOT a fair trade I'd say *sigh*.....they'd better have 5 seeds this year at area, or there's going to be some really good bands getting the shaft for state.

Good, well-educated staff that know how to walk the fine line between making the kids want to give their all.....while still making it fun enough so that they actually want to give their all. The more kids a director can make respect him/her, the more willing those kids will be to go all the way for him/her. Other than that, the students need to be educated with what they're really about. Exposure to what DCI is and how it relates to them is also important. I didn't even know what Drum Corps was till I left HS when I met people at college who marched in it. I hated marching band, but as I watched tapes of DCI shows and documentaries showing these kids at camps and how hard they work to produce the high energy shows that they do, I was opened up to a whole new world I never knew and gained a newfound respect for the sport. I think having a video day of one of these documentaries in HS would instill a respect for the sport and a new desire to work hard for their own HS program wherever that may be.