Hi Ellen, Steve, Everyone, Boy does this bring back memories! I can remember when I was a band director in Northeastern Arkansas in the late 70's and I was trying to spend some money for my percussion section. I went to the Superintendent and asked to purchase a pair of Tympani from monies my Band Booster Club raised at a Halloween fair we put on for the band. The first thing out of his mouth was "is this a Marching Band instrument"? At the time, no one used Tympani, and I would not lie, so no tympani. I did find a better job for the next year, by the way.
I too have to put up with my kids that have practically ruined their chops by all of this Marching and Mellophone playing they do during the fall of the year. Thankfully, it will soon be over for another year. In Michigan the MSBOA (Michigan School Band and Orchestra Association) has two kinds of Bands. There are competition bands that are quite a bit like DCI and for non competitive bands a Marching festival, where the bands are judged for a rating like in the winter when they take a band to festival. I've added an article from last Saturday's Detroit Free Press on competition Marching Bands in Michigan and what degrees of "Hell" these kids are volunteering for, in my opinion it's ridiculous! Walt Lewis WHEN THE BEST GO MARCHING IN WITH 14 STRAIGHT STATE TITLES, DISCIPLINE AND SUPPORT FROM PARENTS, PLYMOUTH-CANTON BAND SEEKS 4TH NATIONAL CROWN PEGGY WALSH-SARNECKI FREE PRESS EDUCATION WRITER The Plymouth-Canton marching band tallied an almost perfect score in a competition last Saturday in Clarkston. But almost perfect isn't good enough when you've been state champions for the last 14 years and have an excellent chance of keeping the crown in next week's state band finals at Ford Field. Never mind that Plymouth-Canton has won three national championships in a run that rivals any by a local high school sports team. The band aims to be national champions this year - and every year. What makes Plymouth-Canton different is hard to define. On a score sheet, the band's marks are just a little higher in each category. Its practices are as polished as its shows. The discipline shows in the way every student moves. Even at practice, chins and elbows are up, their instruments ready even when students know they aren't going to play a note. "It's a lot of work, but it's so worth it," said Jenine Rowe, 17, of Plymouth, a flutist. She is a senior at Salem High School, one of the three high schools that feed into the Plymouth-Canton band. "It's sooo much fun!" It begins with band members' approach. "The competition is extremely important, but second to teaching good people," said director of bands Marc Whitlock. "We focus on surrounding our kids with talented adults and passionate parents. When you're teaching the same thing at home, the message gets across a lot faster and a lot clearer." Perfection is the goal The band expects perfection, whether it's a practice or the national championships, and the seniors in the program make this clear to every incoming freshman. The moves are sharper and more precise. The sound is fuller - like an orchestra, minus the strings. "Attitude, bravado," Whitlock urged the band before a football game last week. Never mind that competitions, not football games, are their goal. "I still just want you to go for it, go for it, go for it!" That attitude pays off on the competition field. There were no nerves or horsing around in the ranks as they waited to take the field for the Clarkston competition. The students simply couldn't wait to get out there and put on their show. No detail is too trivial for the closest scrutiny. Because this year's show is titled "Out of the Shadows," the color guards rinse their hair black for each performance. It takes 30 to 45 minutes to rinse the color out - and not always 100% successfully - after the show, but these teenage girls do it willingly. "They're always consistently the best marching band in Michigan," said Steven Rish, 17, of Harrison Township, a senior alto sax player in the L'Anse Creuse High School marching band. "We all look up to them as an example of what we can become." Plymouth-Canton's success, and that of many of the state's top high school bands, is rooted in a change over several years from the high-stepping, football team-supporting bands still seen at most universities and high schools, to a more-sophisticated, heavily choreographed style of performance aimed at competition. This band wasn't the first to make the switch. Flushing and Durand's high schools already were winning that way in 1975, when former Plymouth-Canton band director James Griffith had an epiphany after watching a televised drum and bugle corps competition. "I can remember looking at that and saying, I've been doing this all wrong. That's what we should be doing," Griffith said. "The precision of the group in marching, the precision in playing. Not that we weren't precise but they were just doing things a lot differently." Commitment, support key Griffith changed the band's direction and also switched the band from a class - with rehearsals limited to class hours - to an extra-curricular activity. Any student can join, and all - even those with the weakest skills - march. None of the nearly 200 members sits on the sidelines when it's time for Plymouth-Canton to compete, no matter how big the contest. "We have a big brother, big sister movement," said Canton High School senior Lyndsay Johnson, 17, a clarinet player from Plymouth. "The older kids who have done it for a while are pretty good at helping those kids out." That inclusiveness overcomes school rivalries. Practice apparel is an eclectic mix of sweats and jackets from Plymouth-Canton Community Schools' three high schools: Plymouth, Canton and Salem, which share a campus. In sports, they are opponents. But when it comes time to take that same field for a band performance, everyone shares in community, not school, pride. "Compared to other high schools, the band is amazing," said Addie Soucy, 16, a junior at Salem High School, after watching the band perform at the Plymouth-Canton football game Oct. 19. "They're awesome." Making money to make music Unlike many bands, the Plymouth-Canton band is nearly entirely self-supporting. The school district provides only the facilities, including a band practice field; the band director and one assistant director, and a few of the larger instruments. About $400,000 in other annual expenses, from travel to the 10 additional instructors, comes from the students, who pay $1,300 to join, and from fund-raisers held by parents. "It's really helped my daughter," said Ginger Bitter of Canton, whose daughter Chelsea, 16, is the fourth of her children to play in the band. "It's a lot of commitment. But if anything, my daughter gets better grades during band season." The practice schedule also is more demanding than most. Plymouth-Canton practices four afternoons a week, 2 1/2 hours at a time, plus about eight hours on Saturdays. It's common for the band to practice all day Saturday, take a dinner break and then hop on buses for a competition. After the near-perfect performance at Clarkston, the band was back on the field this week, walking through changes in three of the 114 pages of the show's script. The tweaks were relatively minor, but nothing is too small for scrutiny. "Rifles, move four steps to your right," said Andy Ebert, head of marching "Let's see that one more time," he said, for the twelfth time. The constant tweaking will continue up until the national championships next month in Indianapolis. Asked when the last time his band didn't win a competition, Whitlock quickly replied, "Last year." Plymouth-Canton was ninth at 2006 nationals, making it among the elite but leaving it without a trophy. But first there's the state championship. And, at 9 tonight, the band will continue a long-standing tradition: a free performance on the high school football field, as a thank you for the community. Contact PEGGY WALSH-SARNECKI at 586-469-4681 or [EMAIL PROTECTED] ABOUT THE COMPETITIONS The Michigan Competing Band Association championships will be held Nov. 3 at Ford Field, beginning at 9:50 a.m. Tickets are $16, $12 for senior citizens and students. For more information, go to michcompband.org. Bands of America's Grand National Championship is to be held at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis on Nov. 15-17. For more information, go to www.musicforall.org. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com _______________________________________________ post: [email protected] unsubscribe or set options at http://music2.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
