Marching Band Competition

Date: Saturday, September 25, 2004

Path: Pictures / Events / Marching Band Competition

Contains: 93 Photos

Rachel and I went to a marching band competition to watch her old high school compete. As I'd never been to such a competition, and she'd participated during high school, she kinda showed me / told me what all was going on. I was a big fan of the Petoskey High School marching band, who did a Riverdance themed performance. They ended up winning. Woo!

I didn't really know what to expect, having never been to one of these things before... but the parking lot was packed, as was the practice football field, where we parked... This woman here doesn't seem all that jazzed to be in the picture.

That's where we're headed. The class D(?) schools had already played at this point, but the ones we wanted to see were starting around 1ish/1:30ish.

Here we go.. This guy checked to make sure we'd paid. [They stamped your hand]

Band! All the big percussion stuff is driven in on these carts pulled by a 4-wheeler or lawn tractor. As the day went on, the pulling vehicles got crappierr and crappier. From snazzy 4 - wheeler to a pack of squirrel rickshaws.

There we see a band in the stands.. waiting for the show to start... Maybe they had gone already? I don't really know.

But at this point, that side of the field is pretty empty. The crowd was only allowed on the one side, and it was very full.

Here comes the 1st band.

I was trying to be sneaky and get a shot of Rachel, but the camera takes a second after making a noise to actually shoot... so she was able to turn away in time.. but that kid was able to pose... Way to go, kid!

Next she just covered up the camera with her sleeve. Effective.

There we can see the colorguard walking along the back. Rachel was in colorguard for part of high school as well, so I was given all sorts of insider information on the ins and outs of colorguard.
Stewie:: Now you can be somewhere else when the boys don't call.

And they were followed by the band...

Once you start, you're given 2 minutes to set up.

This is the first band to set up.. This was Lakeshore.

Lakeshore is all ready to go.

And there they go.. marching, and playing, and waving flags, etc.

A clip of Lakeshore's performance, expecially colorguard.

Another clip of colorguard, the drumline, and the band marching in a spiral.

More Lakeshore performance.

Close-up on percussion. The Xylophoniots with 3 or 4 mallets impressed me.

Here's a horn solo, accompanied by a flag solo(?).

More of Lakeshore's performance.

More Lakeshore, featuring backwards marching drummers.

Lakeshore finishing out the performance in formation.

Here we have Kenowa.

Rachel cheers, and doesn't notice my camera.

Here's a clip of Kenowa's performance.

Here's a clip of the colorguard.

More of Northview's performance.

Here's a clip of the colorguard... doing ballet stuff.

Now a clip where they're using the flags...

Their show was called "Storm" and included a piece from A Perfect Storm. I wasn't blown away by it. (*rimshot!*)

Then the colorguard got giant metal rods, and ran out and clubbed the other bands in the legs.. I did not see that coming at all.

Then they returned to do kendo tricks.

Here's a good clip of the changing formations, and the way they crisscross and formed new shaped, etc. It looked pretty kewl.

Here we're approachign the finalie, and the colorguard has grabbed their 20th new prop.

We were apparently sitting in the Northview section (Rachel went there as well), cause the whole section gave a standing ovation.

Here we have Muskegon.. Their stuff was pulled by a nice 4-wheeler.

They certainly had style. And the conductors were really getting into it.

Here we have a clip of their performance. Everyone in my section was pretty quiet, until they got out those green flags, and all the old ladies started whispering [well, loudly whispering] how the flags clashed with their outfits. Old ladies are awesome... Oh wait, no, I meant the opposite, they suck!, that's what I meant.

Truth be told, the most entertaining part of their performance for me was watching the synchronized conducting. Those two were really good.

The ladies were relieved when the colorguard grabbed new flags that went with the outfits a bit better.

The conductors switched spots for the next song.

...and he was really getting into conducting as well.

And the colorguard sported matchign flags, and the ladies in my section could return to saying nothing.

We have a clip of them doing the two blocks of people passing through each other, I think it looks kewl.

And here we approach the finalie of their performance. I thought they were pretty good.... But as I kept reminding/mentioning to Rachel, if one of these bands started playing video game music .. like old school 8-bit theater (Super Mario Bros., Zelda, Tetris, Pac-Man, maybe even a little Metroid to shake things up.) They'd win instantly. Jplant called me when Michigan's band was doing that, now I very much want to go to a U of M game to see it. Imagine how perfect a marching band playing Tetris while marching as blocks falling would be.

I saw in the program the woman in front of me was holding that one of the teams was performing Riverdance music... then this band, Petoskey, showed up. I was jazzed.

They even brought their own kegs!

The only downside... those band uniforms... Powder/Baby blue just ins't a good color for a uniform... Think about the UNC football team... is anyone ever intimidated by them? They may as well be wearing coolats.

Here we hav ethem all set up.. They stretched across the entire field.

The colorguard began dancing.

Each band had a number of conductors.. one lead conductor, and then others at certain locations that would follow the lead conductor, so everyone could see.. well, at times during the performance, these other conductors had to book across the field to get to their next station.. Some of these people were pretty fast. I think if I had to perform, I'd want to be one of them.. at least you get to run every once in a while, and perform some weird complex saluting thing at the beginning and end.

Here you see Petoskey performing, and I gotta say, I really liked it. The music was good and recognizable.. and I was just waiting for them to start using those keg drums up front.

Their formations seemed to be pretty well done as well.. though I was mainly watching the colorguard do riverdance stuff, and the percussion people up close, who were really good... they had a xylophone section that was just plain impressive.

Keg Drums!!
Then from out of nowhere, they brought up these metal pipes, and the drumline started going off on them. It sounded sweet.

Riverdance!... and the drumline was preparing for something..

Full band in formation, and the colorguard with their flags..

The drummers set down their drums, and then joined two by two and started playing on their own and each others drums.. it was impressive.

The colorguard got out orange, white, and green flags.. and the performance started to seem like an Irish propaganda program.

and back to the keg drums... Right now the other bands in the background are thinking "I hope we get 2nd place".

Now we have Irish flags in the background.

With the performance over, they marched past us, and we all cheered. they did a little special saluting thing as they past by us.

And the drumline played a cadence

And then came the conductors.

And there they go. I think they weren't allowed to smile. People don't smile in band.. or in Ireland, I guess.

Here's the second last school to perform.. They were some big school from Illinois I believe.. they were in a different division, so they'd not be competing with anyone.. so they were guarenteed a win, which I guess is nice for them... I didn't think they were that good. They played Styx music.. and, well... even if you liked Styx you'd prolly not be a fan. "Come Sail Away" is not a marching band song.
Play Freebird!

You can tell I didn't care for that other band, cause I took one picture. Now we have the exobition. And I liked the colorguard outfits.

You can see that the back area has gotten prett full at this point.

The colorguard outfits look like dresses/skirts, but it's really pants with material sewed on to make them look that way.

See what I mean about the pants?

I still like them, though.

This might be Kenowa Hills performing.. that's where the competition took place. I'm not certain. (about the band, not the place.. I know where we were at.)

Their performance was pretty good... but it was no Riverdance.

Each team had a different setup for conductor's stands too. Some looked kinda rickety, others, like this one, looked like they could handle a ground attack without giving an inch.

I liked that one girls hair.. it looked like it had bits of red in it..

Rachel thought she had successfully avoided the camera... but I got her.

Now it's time for the judging.. including some teams that played before we got there.. (from smaller divisions, I guess)

here we have all the captains/conductors etc.. From far to near: that Big Illinois team, Petoskey, Muskegon, Northview, Lakeshore, um.. so and so!

Here's a quick scan of the teams.

That's Lakeshore there.. Rachel wanted to make sure Northview beat them.. I guess they're big Band rivals or something. (Not "Big Band" Rivals, mind you. just Large Rivals when it comes to marching band.. I can understand your confusion... I should have been more clear.) Anyway, I liked the Tie-dyed shirt.