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Shows That Have Deeply Moved You


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i can't recall a recent time i was moved to the point of tears by a marching show, if that's what u mean. there are many that have given me major goosebumps though. honestly most of the ones that try to make me cry make me slightly annoyed, bc they're too facile and manipulative. hahahaha.

a personal one would be Marian Catholic's 2002 show, Dialogues with a Muse. we were in the tunnel waiting to perform in our first ever national finals and Marian was playing their ballad, the slow section to Harrison's Dream. serenely beautiful and a little anxious. the music was perfect for that moment, kind of like a movie scene. it still takes me back. had i decided to not do something "more" with my life than "just" be a band director, Gregg Bimm would have been my model. brilliant guy who directs the band, writes the drill, arranges the music, etc. crazy! u don't need to spend the big bucks when u can do it all yourself!

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28 minutes ago, packwick said:

a personal one would be Marian Catholic's 2002 show, Dialogues with a Muse. we were in the tunnel waiting to perform in our first ever national finals and Marian was playing their ballad, the slow section to Harrison's Dream. serenely beautiful and a little anxious. the music was perfect for that moment, kind of like a movie scene. it still takes me back. had i decided to not do something "more" with my life than "just" be a band director, Gregg Bimm would have been my model. brilliant guy who directs the band, writes the drill, arranges the music, etc. crazy! u don't need to spend the big bucks when u can do it all yourself!

One of Marian Catholic's very best shows. Gregg Bimm is THE genius of the marching band world!

A personal one for me would be Westfield's 2003 show. Obviously I had graduated by then, but my feeling watching the show was that the Eagle was finally going to happen. Finally!

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1 hour ago, takigan said:

LD Bell 2006 - "The Remaining" Not so much "moved" my soul but was just so deeply awestruck by what was being performed it was enough to be moving.  There wasn't anything else like it at the time.

LD Bell 2008 - "The Quest" The soloists! I still hum that closing flute solo to myself all the time, it's such a pretty solo.

Marcus 2009 - "A Midsummer Night's Dream" Namely the English Horn solo.  I've thought for years that's the most beautiful solo to ever be played on a marching field. I only learned in more recent years that the player was essentially a child prodigy who was 1st chair All-State as a SOPHOMORE and has had a pretty illustrious college and professional career performing with several world class orchestras.

LD Bell 2010 - "Honor: We Will Remember" The only show to this day that actually legitimately made me cry.

The Woodlands 2011 - "Uninvited" The Seventh is already gut-wrenching enough as it is.  What moved me about this was the genius that came from interweaving it with Uninvited.  It worked SO WELL to the point of giving me chills!

Reagan 2015 - "EveryOne" The ballad defined that entire year for me.  I remember seeing them in Finals at Conroe under the nighttime stadium lights and it making me reflect on just my own band journey that I had undertaken until that point.  People I'd met, places I'd been and great music that I'd performed.

Hebron 2021 - "Penstriped" Because Holy Sh**!

OMG! I completely forgot about LD. Bell 2010! That show brought me to tears! Kinda wished they won..... in my heart they did. 

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4 hours ago, takigan said:

The Woodlands 2011 - "Uninvited" The Seventh is already gut-wrenching enough as it is.  What moved me about this was the genius that came from interweaving it with Uninvited.  It worked SO WELL to the point of giving me chills!

i've concluded that layering music is one of Vanderkolff's obsessions. it's in so many of the shows he's involved with, starting w/ TWHS in 2006 and continuing into his work with SCV winter guard and the Bluecoats. hearing Imogen Heap on top of Bartok was weird af at the time. the vast majority of designers simply sequence pieces if they include more than one piece in the same movement.

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I'm going to list some lesser known shows that not everyone has probably heard of or saw. 

1: SFA 2021- After this band was slowly growing in numbers for years, they got hit super hard by the pandemic, and had the smallest band they have had since 1996. When I first saw the show, I was unsure what the season would look like, but when I saw them in area finals, I was shocked. I had never seen a more refined product from SFA, and it was nice to see SFA going so strong even with a massive cut in numbers and talent. 

2: Westfield 2019- When I was in high school, Westfield was in a very tough time. They rarely marched more than 60 winds, rarely made finals at any contest, and always had holes littering the field, so when I heard the massive wall of sound from them in Friendswood prelims, my heart got very warm. 

3: Churchill Fulshear 2021- this program opened in 2016 with a great staff from day 1, and it was clear that everything had finally fallen into place. They will be a regional finalist very soon. 

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9 hours ago, Origin said:

Leander 2021. Clearly not a heavy show at all, but something about that SA finals performance really had me holding back tears. They had a somewhat turbulent season so I think I was so proud of how excellent and moving the final product was.

 I understand exactly what you are saying. 

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14 hours ago, takigan said:

LD Bell 2006 - "The Remaining" Not so much "moved" my soul but was just so deeply awestruck by what was being performed it was enough to be moving.  There wasn't anything else like it at the time.

YES. Although I feel like if I included that one, I would probably just start regurgitating my "best ever" list, hence my focus on tears. Ditto for Marcus. That English horn soloist they used for multiple shows was just about perfect.

10 hours ago, packwick said:

i've concluded that layering music is one of Vanderkolff's obsessions. it's in so many of the shows he's involved with, starting w/ TWHS in 2006 and continuing into his work with SCV winter guard and the Bluecoats. hearing Imogen Heap on top of Bartok was weird af at the time. the vast majority of designers simply sequence pieces if they include more than one piece in the same movement.

Definitely. Have you posted on YouTube? I feel like I read a comment like this somewhere, but it was a little bit more... capitalized? 😂

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10 hours ago, Rubisco said:

YES. Although I feel like if I included that one, I would probably just start regurgitating my "best ever" list, hence my focus on tears.

A lot of these lists crossover each other.  I think LD Bell 2007 is a better show in just about every way and is higher up on my "best ever" list, but 2006 still "moves" me more than 2007.  Or I could say it had a bigger impact on me and moved me more at the time.   I also have "best ever" and "favorite shows" lists with their own overlaps.

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On 5/28/2022 at 2:46 PM, Rubisco said:

Definitely. Have you posted on YouTube? I feel like I read a comment like this somewhere, but it was a little bit more... capitalized? 

i would never! check ur messages on the Discord BD server, hon.

i thought of another one i thought was pretty haunting: Blessed Sacrament 1996, the year they did music from the film The Piano. Sac does such a good job of designing shows with deep wells of emotion without excessively telegraphing that emotion.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Too many to name. Of course, I cry for just about anything.  But one October night when I picked up my kid from band practice she said, "We added a new part for Houston." I thought, "are they insane?" but I smiled and said oh it's going to be great.

That Saturday, it felt like 600 degrees outside. Westwood came out and played the "Little Drummer Boy," segued into "Do you hear what I hear?" The majority of us parents had never seen it. We were looking at the video screen and saw "Joy," spelled out, then watched the band get on their knees and lean towards one side and belt out a note that still gets me to this day. One of the moms who was sitting behind me put their hand on my shoulder while it was happening. When it was over, we all yelled and I looked around and saw the same tears I was shedding across the Westwood band parent community. 

At this point, that was almost 4 years ago. It was so great for the kids...and us parents. 
 

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  • 2 months later...
  • 1 month later...

Chaparral 2022 "To Build A Home" It didn't make me cry, however it did tug at my heartstrings. Those kids had a challenging year to say the least. Being moved from their original schools to open a new school and literally start over again from scratch. They definitely overcame the odds and built their home, earning their first Division 1 in school history. The way they incorporated their alma mater into their show in between Into The Clouds and A House is Not A Home was beautiful, to the soloist singing their school song as the band rotated the props to read "CHS IS HOME" was simply *chef's kiss* Go Bobcats!!

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1 hour ago, RooBandAlum2004 said:

Chaparral 2022 "To Build A Home" It didn't make me cry, however it did tug at my heartstrings. Those kids had a challenging year to say the least. Being moved from their original schools to open a new school and literally start over again from scratch. They definitely overcame the odds and built their home, earning their first Division 1 in school history. The way they incorporated their alma mater into their show in between Into The Clouds and A House is Not A Home was beautiful, to the soloist singing their school song as the band rotated the props to read "CHS IS HOME" was simply *chef's kiss* Go Bobcats!!

Just curious, when was the school opened? Super exciting they got their first 1!!! 

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