clarineticorn

Don't know how I feel about this. It's going to be weird trying to get used to referring to schools as 6A. I've always thought of that as something for Oklahoma.

I hate that guy. I hate him so much. Aaaaargh. *angry muttering* That said, I'm super stoked to see what happens this year. If that dude doesn't screw things up like he did last year (I did a comparison between him and the other music GE judges and he was multiple places off of the other judges on over half the bands.) Johnson may have a chance at a medal. I think it was my senior year (2011) when Marcus placed fourth...I wonder if there's going to be another massive upset like that, based on what others have said about their show. Then again, if it's anything like last year's, they may earn another well-deserved gold medal. The only show I've really seen is Johnson's (and even then, only the crappy videos on the BOA site) and so I can only make judgements based on previous competitions. I'm expecting a great bloodbath Saturday night. It'll be a fight to the death for the top six in finals, what with Bowie, Hebron, TWHS, CTJ, Bell, and Marcus all stepping up their late-season game. Johnson's won multiple captions this year ahead of TWHS and Bowie, and Hebron beat out Marcus at Allen. This year is gonna be wonderful.

Most directors don't want their shows being publicly released yet. I do know that Johnson will probably be calling theirs "El Toro part 3" until further notice, though.

I totally agree with the band facebook group. I spend so much time checking my band and section FB pages. What I really love about my college band group is the director posts rehearsal info -- where we're practicing, what time, any new gigs coming up...in addition to a bajillion emails covering the same things. Heh. And yes, section parties are a great idea. Just make sure that EVERYONE is invited. I would always be left out for some reason...my section leaders didn't seem to like me much (it was mutual) so I was never invited. Luckily, now that I'm in college I get invited...I just don't go because I'm always tired and there's alcohol involved and that's not something I'm particularly interested in. My 2nd high school started holding a few single-section practices during the summer, where we'd get together and go over marching technique and a little bit of playing the music. I got a lot closer to my section my senior year. We also did 'fitness days' throughout the summer where we'd get together and work out, play games, and just generally stay active so that by the time band camp rolled around we wouldn't be dying after the first run block of the year. Also, encourage upperclassmen to "adopt" underclassmen buddies. I ended up with 12(!) by the time I graduated. I was closer to some than I was to others, but they all knew I was always good for a hug and some kind words to cheer them up when they needed them. I got pretty motherly around some of them, and it really brought the whole "band is a family" saying some truth. My boyfriend's high school assigns seniors to freshmen as big/little siblings. I'm currently rushing KKY (a service fraternity for band) and the brothers talk about their 'big' or their 'little' -- when you cross you get a 'big' who's like your mentor in the fraternity. We also have a lot of social get-togethers after practice (which is made easier by virtue of the fact that we're all in college and either driving or living on campus) and it's a really good way for us rushees to bond with the brothers. You might want to talk to some people and organize a games night or a movie night as a way for the band to bond. As for pride... My first high school usually had spirit bags done by one person in the section (it rotated week to week) and it was SO much fun to do. Yeah, some people mooched and didn't do anything, but it was still a lot of fun just making the spirit bags. We'd dump in some junk food, sometimes a small toy or three, CONFETTI...decorate the bag with stickers and things like GO ROOSEVELT BEAT CHURCHILL and #1 BAND. At my second high school, it was "band buddies" which was really cool in theory (you only have one person to buy band buddy gifts for) but sucky in practice if you got someone who didn't want to put in the effort/money to get you anything like I had my senior year. It was a good way to get to know people and to get some school spirit flowing. You've gotta start building traditions if you don't really have any to speak of. My 2nd school was 4 years old and we already had traditions of section time before competition warmups and the low brass and flutes singing their songs during that time. Our director would read a book to us before our final competition of the year and seniors get their own copies signed. My boyfriend's band sings Precious Lord and they have the seniors try to march their freshman show at the last home practice of the year. They march into football games really formally with a drum cadence, and they leave the same way. My college marching band does a Patterns in Motion style show every year where we bring back the style the band marched back in the 70s under Bill Moffit. We sing the alma mater after every rehearsal and football game. Find something that you can make uniquely yours as a school and start doing it. Keep doing it every year. It's up to YOU the students to make traditions happen...you can't just wait for them to magically come about. And it's up to YOU to have pride in your band. Lead by example. People are probably apathetic. Start changing attitudes with the younger people coming in. It's easier to get them excited and proud, and get them to care about band. "Why do you care?" "Because this band is my family," you say. "My section is my brothers and sisters and the people I go to when things get tough." And you have to create this mentality of the band is my family. My first high school, people were apathetic, but we had that family bond. My second high school has the family thing going strong, and people care about the band. It's hard to get people to care once they've stopped. You have to figure out how to get people to care again. I don't know if there's any magic formula to make that happen, but starting traditions is a good way to begin.

As did Lafayette! Their show was all Debussy.

CTJ's is the finals run. They didn't use the Coldplay in Prelims.

I think part of what's made Johnson so successful is a staff that always tries to remain positive and students who do the same. Mr. Lipman himself told us many, many times that what set CTJ apart was our attitude. I also seem to recall a poster in his office... "Sometimes, the solution to morale problems is to just fire all the unhappy people." Looking at Marcus, you won't find a more polite group of high school students in all of Texas, or so we all say. Everyone who runs across a Marcus student or parent will come off of that interaction a new Marcus fan -- you can't help but love how nice they are! They obviously have a great attitude, and looking at all the other top groups, the students are all incredibly polite and positive. I would definitely say that the best bands have a lot of cooperation and teamwork, and not a whole lot of cattiness and infighting. I won't say that everyone likes everyone else but at the very least everyone is willing to put up with and work with each other for a cause greater than themselves. Like...winning state!

You're welcome

Daniel Valdez incorrectly stated in the live blog that it's CTJ's first time at state. We made state in 2010 with You Are -- placing thirteenth, just behind Reagan. It's the first year Johnson's made finals, though. Sadly, I managed to get distracted and I missed Johnson's finals performance But I'm still excited to see finals results. Prelims were a bit shocking, to say the least. I never would've thought that TWHS would be 10th...or Bowie in 6th.

- I really loved Marcus -- those gates and the emulation of them throughout the band was SO EFFECTIVE. Amanda Drinkwater is the best kind of crazy, I'm telling you. - I absolutely loved Johnson's show. Man oh man was that awesome to see live again. - I loved every bit of bassoon that I heard this year, especially Round Rock's. - Flower Mound! I didn't really think it was cute so much as just a lot of fun to watch. - Plano East and their bells...I'd been thinking about how cool it would be to have handbells going on in a marching band show and then what does the Plano East guard do but break out the handbells. My favorite moments from shows...when a line in Marcus's brass opens like a gate and the rest of the block starts marching through. Westlake's drunken trumpet solos. Leander's drums. All the bassoons. Flower Mound's BANG! flag and the random small ensemble band playing. Round Rock's gock blocks (Hey, that rhymed!) and then their first big hit.

Johnson is doing the Rose Parade next year. I don't know if they're going to nationals but I would say more than likely not -- the directors don't want to tax the families too much financially.

Last year I want to say Johnson had at least 120 sets (including subsets) and the year before was around the same. I actually counted the sets in You Are when I got bored, but I don't have my dot book and I don't remember the exact number Don't know about this year but I'd be quite willing to bet that it's up in that 120-130 area. As for my college shows...they've all been less than 20 so far Not that I've marched (dammit, ankles, get better) but I've still gotten drill charts for everything. And our show for this weekend is actually probably about 25 sets, but it's really weird to me since it's our Patterns in Motion show and I didn't get my chart for it.

I think "School for Scandal" really fits in with the program -- think of the storyline of the show. You've got Eve in Paradise (the Coldplay and Polovtsian Dances in the opening movements) and then suddenly, everything goes wrong. You know the story of Adam and Eve. She accepts the apple from the snake and God finds out and kicks them out of Eden. It's a bit of a scandal when that happens -- hence the School for Scandal. Plus, it adds a lot of darkness to the show. At the end, when the music gets lighter, Eve's been forgiven (at least a little bit), and Polovtsian Dances and Paradise return.

I was sitting in front of a family from Marcus and behind some Cedar Park moms. I kept noticing the moms on the liveblog, haha. And the Marcus family were all very nice and my interactions with their band, the staff, and their parents just keep making me love them more and more. I think I'm officially a Marcus fangirl now, haha

I'm really super-excited to see The Woodlands this weekend. I absolutely loved their show last year and from everything I've heard about this year's, it's shaping up to be at the very least one-and-a-half times as awesome as last year's. As for Johnson, I asked a friend there for a recent video of them. I ended up watching one from the UIL regional, and it was a lot cleaner than the Denton video, and they'd added on to the end. (I was happy that the stab chord before the School for Scandal bit in the final movement was cleaner, in particular.) I'm still trying to decide how much of my excitement is from getting to see my kiddos this weekend and how much is from gettin' to watch me some marchin' band! I can't wait to actually watch a competition, for once. That'll be weird. heck, it was weird going to band camp and not being out on the field with them...but time passes and so do we and big names come and go but there will always (hopefully) be that same love for music we all have. Good luck to everyone tomorrow and on Saturday, and may the judges be fair and neither blind nor deaf.