Think the third trimester of pregnancy is easy? Think school buses are comfortable? Try combining the two. Then add 60 squealing high school marching band kids. Multiply that by 2 hours. Throw an icky, sunflower seed-a-spittin' bus driver in the mix. I would rather not say anything else and just let your imagination fill in any other details. It was, in part, this trip to Davis that really let me know that being on a bus for 24 hours in one weekend just wouldn't cut it.
The kids did have a bit of a rough run at the Davis Cup (Davis HS competition). We got there a bit late, were rushed in getting things out, our rehearsal was cut short and the walk from our warmup area to the competition site was not close at all. It was a good 10 minute walk. While this wouldn't normally be an issue, imagine you play tuba or are one of the many parents pushing pit equipment up and down these hills. Yuck. The guard didn't have their best performance of the season but I believe it was a good learning opportunity and they improved dramatically at the following show.
Our group was the last to compete in AA and as a result, they performed, pulled their equipment out of the arena and it was time for awards. They received the music caption and 1st place over all in the AA division. The funny part? Tooele HS received the caption in drumline, guard & visual and still took 3rd. The funniest part was seeing the looks on their faces as 1st place was announced. While it is (obviously) possible to take 3 of the 4 captions and not place first, neither Chris nor I in all of our years around marching band have EVER seen it work out the way it did.
The kids have done a nice job this season. We're still learning new things every day as a staff about how to better communicate what it is we're attempting to teach, how not to address certain issues, attempting to find a balance between correcting and complimenting (it is VERY difficult to not go to one extreme or another in a competitive setting like band) and how to keep the parents happy. Guess what? That comes from having responsible students! :D The fall season is over for me but my kiddies have one final competition tomorrow morning in California and then a fun parade in Disneyland on Monday. Obviously, I wasn't able to go with them. I'm bummed not to be with them at their competition but I'm sure they're going to have a blast with their last show!!
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