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Post by boahistorybuff on Mar 21, 2019 16:56:23 GMT -6
I thought it would be interesting to get a little info about the folks and their bands on this forum or those who will likely be joining in the near future. Some of the info may be added into the season review section under the History folder. There may also be some questions I have of some of you that may help fill in some of the gaps on the history sections. So I thought it would be interesting to do a quick survey of the members (and new members as they join). I understand that we all like to keep some degree of privacy, so the questions will be very general. If you have the time, please reply with the answers to some (if not all) of these questions.
1. What state do you currently live in?
2. If you are a past or current student, what band were (are) you in (band and state) and what years were you active in it? If you are (were) a parent or instructor/director, what band do you associate yourself with and what years were you associated with that band?
3. Were you involved in drum corps, winter guard, indoor percussion, etc and if so what corps, guard, etc?
4. Tell us about your high school band. For instance, if you know some of your bands history, please share. What competitive circuits was your band active in (or band you are associated with)? Can you list some of your bands acomplishments (no need to be modest)? What other bands were your big competitors? Did you compete in Bands of America (or for old school folks Marching Bands of America) and if so what competitions did you compete in; was your band a finalists, semi finalist, champion, etc? (Again no need for modesty here).
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Post by boahistorybuff on Mar 21, 2019 16:56:44 GMT -6
For me,
I live in Michigan.
I was in Flushing (MI) marching band from 1988 to 1991.
I was not in drum corps but did march in college band.
I will discuss my bands history on the Season Review sections (for the appropriate years) under the History folder. While I was in Flushing, we competed in the Michigan Competing Band Association and Bands of America. Flushing was undefeated in every competition in Michigan from 1976 through the 1982 season, and won most of the 74 and 75 competitions. Since the formal Michigan state competition began in 1980, Flushing won the Open Flight and overall state title in 1980, 1981 and 1982 and the Flight One and overall state title in 1987 and were the Flight Two state champs in 1984 and 1986. Flushing has been a finalist in our flight at the Michigan State Championships every year since 1980, except 1989 (only 4 bands per flight advanced back then and we were 5th). At the BOA level, Flushing is an 11 time regional finalist, 6 time regional class champion and the 1979 Toledo regional grand champion. Flushing is also a 6 time Grand National finalist and the 1979 GN Open Class Champions. When I was in Flushing, we liked to think that Plymouth-Canton was our biggest competitor, as we beat them at state and nationals the year before I was in the band. In actuality, PCEP beat us every single time except for one early (mid September) competition in 1991. We were more on par with bands like Durand, Lakeland and Jenison (Mona Shores and Reeths-Puffer came into the mix shortly after I graduated). We competed in BOA three of my 4 years in band (we did not attend in 1989). So I was in the 88 Akron regional finals, and the 90 and 91 Toledo regional finals. I competed in the 88, 90 and 91 Grand Nationals (no semi finals back then). The highlight for me was my last BOA competition in 1991, getting to compete in Grand National finals.
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Post by SpartanMarcher on Mar 21, 2019 21:03:09 GMT -6
I live in Texas
I’m currently in the Porter (TX) band, and when I’m done I will have marched 2017-2020
I haven’t become involved in drum corps yet, but I’m hoping to join a corps in the next couple years
Porter’s a relatively new school, opened in 2010, and the band program has taken a while to get its feet underneath it. We qualified for Area for the first time in 2013, advanced to Area finals for the first time in 2015, and in 2017 we became the first non-academic program to advance to the State level in school history. We don’t currently compete in BOA, although I know a lot of our members are hoping to in the near future, but we were the USBands Houston champion in 2016 and Houston runner-up in 2018. We also placed in the top 3 at a competition scored using the UIL system (GPISD Marching Contest) for the first time in school history this year. The highlights for me so far have been marching in preliminaries at State last year, as well as our final performance this year at USBands.
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Post by abtwitch on Mar 21, 2019 21:37:37 GMT -6
I currently live in Austin, TX and go to college in the west Texas city of Abilene
I was in the Westwood (TX) marching band from 2013-2016 (class of 2017).
I have not marched drum corps yet, but I have auditioned before and plan to march my ageout year next summer. I currently march in the ACU Big Purple, where I also am studying music education.
Before my time, Westwood band started up with the school in the 80s and was never a major player in any circuit. at some point, the band began to fall off and by the mid 90s it was almost about to collapse. Jim Van Zandt came to the school in 1996 to take over as head director and built the program back up to be a strong program. He retired in 2001, leaving the director from my years there at the reigns. The band remained strong, competing at BOA San Antonio in 1999 and 2000, but still missing finals by a decent margin. In the late 00s, a new director came along as assistant (now head) and started a journey of growth in the marching band. In 2012, Westwood was named State Alternate, falling behind our district rival, Round Rock, by a single point. My time at Westwood were very historic years for the band. In 2013, we had competed at the first BOA Austin (and our first BOA since 2000) where we placed 13 out of 27 bands at a hefty (but not too hefty) 4 points away from 10th place (finals was rained out). Our last performance of the season was at the Duncanville Marching Invitational where we made finals fairly easily, but got rained out just as we were about to take the field to perform (sounds kinda like 2018's wet season, doesn't it?). In 2014, we went back to BOA Austin with our (in)famous golf show, this time placing 12 out of 25 and only 3.4 points out of finals. Our highlight of the season was for the first time in Westwood Band's history, making state in what was considered quite a major upset ahead of Hendrickson and Round Rock. At state, we placed 13th, which far exceeded our expectations. 2015 was another historic year for the band, this time placing 13th again and 3.6 points out of finals at BOA Austin, but our moment was later in the season at BOA Atlanta, where for the first time in school history we made BOA finals (9th overall). Our finals performace at Atlanta was my highlight because our prelims run was atrocious due to confusion with the prop team, we were crushed. However, we made it to finals and gave the most energetic run of our lives, which even led to one of the band directors saying "Y'ALL KICKED [expletive]" in front of the entire band. 2016 was a less historic year, but we did kick off the season 12th out 31 bands at Austin, this time only 0.7 points away from finals. We ended up as state alternate once again this season, being edged out by Cedar Ridge at 5th and one or two bands short from achieving a 1 at region to have a 6th group advance. Our last performance of the season however was in the Alamodome, making our long-awaited return to BOA San Antonio after 15 years of absence. Since I graduated, they made BOA finals once again in 2017 at St. Louis and were projected to make finals at BOA Waco (whoosh) in 2018. In 2018, I was a tech during the summer for Westwood as well. I plan on teching again this summer, but at a different band in the Austin area (I've got my eyes on a few in Leander ISD).
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Post by QuadSquad03 on Mar 22, 2019 0:14:40 GMT -6
I live in Oklahoma
I am a member of the Bixby (OK) band and will march 2018-2022 when I'm finished
I am planning on marching drum corp after high school. Hopefully for Crown and BD
Bixby has had a band program since 1932. It stayed a pretty small program that mostly kept to itself until the late 80s when it began competing in OSSAA and local contests like Owasso and Renegade Review. In 1991, Bixby made its first BOA appearance in the Forth Worth regional where it made a score of 46.90 and placed last in prelims. Bixby decided to hold off on BOA after that and just do state contests. Bixby won 5A state championships in 2002, 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2009. In 2007, Bixby was scheduled to attend the St. Louis Super Regional, but the summer before, two band directors left for Coweta, so the trip was canceled. In 2010, Bixby upgraded from class 5A to 6A2, and they would not see a state championship until 2015. In 2012, Mr. Parker, one of the directors that left for Coweta, came back and brought back a new show designer with him. They brought together all of the directors and created a 7-year plan for Bixby and discussed what they wanted the program to be. After a few years of building up the program, they won 6A2 state championships in 2014 and the program started really seeing change. In 2015, Bixby produced a show called Propaganda. Propaganda was a very solid show for them and got them another win in state championships. 2015 was also the year that Bixby first attended St. Louis. They ended up getting 8th in finals. They made finals every year since except for 2018 because they ended up not going because of a trip to London. Bixby has also won state champs in their class every year since. 2018 saw another big turnaround for Bixby. It wasn't the cleanest show, but it propelled us to getting better scored than we have ever gotten. Mr. Parker's 7-year plan ended with the 2018 season and has a bigger and better plan ready to start next year. Bixby will definitely be getting more competitive over the next few years.
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Post by dbalash on Mar 22, 2019 7:09:24 GMT -6
I currently live in Indiana. I marched Marian Catholic from 2001-2004, and currently run Illinois Marching Online. No drum corps for me (I played bass clarinet.) Past instructors give me a hard time about not doing drum corps. I think you all know the basics: 7 national championships, 5 summer national titles, 5 regional championships, 21 national class championships, 34 consecutive finals appearances, 40 consecutive ISU class championships, 21 Illinois State University overall titles.
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Post by boahistorybuff on Mar 22, 2019 7:58:46 GMT -6
I currently live in Indiana. I marched Marian Catholic from 2001-2004, and currently run Illinois Marching Online. No drum corps for me (I played bass clarinet.) Past instructors give me a hard time about not doing drum corps. I think you all know the basics: 7 national championships, 5 summer national titles, 5 regional championships, 21 national class championships, 34 consecutive finals appearances, 40 consecutive ISU class championships, 21 Illinois State University overall titles. Awesome to have a Marian alum on these forums. I just wanted to add that not only is Marian Catholic the most successful band in BOA Grand Nationals history, they have had an enormous influence on the marching band activity.
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Post by OldSchoolTrumpet on Mar 22, 2019 9:33:21 GMT -6
I marched for Fort Wayne (IN) Snider during the 76-78 seasons. High Schools in Indiana were three years back then. We were a decent sized band for the time, the old IN Field Bands showed 170 members my Sr year, which would translate to ~220 for a modern 4-year school. Snider today only marches around 100, even with 4 years worth of students. Hard for me to see them like that. Similar situation with Northrop. Too Long, Did Not Read Section ----------------------------------- Indiana during this period was pre ISSMA. There were two Indiana circuits, NISBOVA in the north, and ISMA in the south. Then at the end of the year there was an Indiana State Marching Band competition which you qualified for with a superior rating at either NISBOVA, or ISMA. This was held at Indiana State University in Terre Haute, and was the only competition where anyone got to march on artificial turf. There were three classes then instead of four and the State competition had maybe 15-18 perticipants in each class. The best finish for my band was 7th my Jr season. I don't recall the placements the other two, but IN Field Bands had them something like 11th, and 9th. (Too bad that site disappeared.) The top groups of the day were Chesterton, Kokomo Haworth, Ben Davis, Lake Central, and I recall Greenwood being solid. This was a time of change in HS Band in Indiana. Many bands had moved, or were moving, to what we referred to as "corps style" technique and design, and away from what we'd call "Big Ten" style, or "Show Band" style. That is, the sort of show you'd have seen a college band perform at halftime. Bands like Chesterton and Haworth already even had the corps style uniforms. Groups like Snider and FW Northrop had adopted the show style and techniques, but still had legacy uniforms, though we'd make alterations to try and create a corps look. Lake Central was still one group firmly entrenched in the old Show Band style. It was a jarring difference. The typical show would be 4 tunes, and a drum break. One tune would be a concert piece where the band was stationary and the guard performed. Shows were often (in our case) taken straight from DCI. Pieces we played included Legend of the One Eyed Sailor, Chase the Clouds Away (Blue Devils), What I Did for Love, Land of Make Believe (Bridgemen), Russian Sailors Dance (Cavaliers), The Way We Were (Madison), Appalachain Spring (SCV), etc. Straight ahead 70's drum corps. I never marched DCI. The summer before my Sr season the Kilties were staying at my HS, so some of us went over to watch them rehearse. This was early June. They were on a break and just milling around and we struck up a conversation with some of them. They were struggling and marching short. We joked that we'd go with them and they actually brought an instructor over and gave us a two minute...er, audition...on G Bugles. Sopranos for my buddy and I, and Baritones for the other three guys we were with. After that they said if we could be there before they loaded up a 4 pm for the show, we could go with them. LOL. This was the 70's after all. My mom said...no effing way that was happening, and my buddy's mom said the same. The three baritone players ended up going. The Kilties made finals in Denver that year, finishing 12th. That's the last time the Corps made finals. We spotted one of our friends on the live PBS broadcast. We always said we'd try and join the Guardsmen or Phantom, but we never did. Big mistake. We did go to a lot of shows throughout the country, even going up to Montreal in 81. Side note: Three guys that I marched with at Snider went on the be band directors at Indiana High Schools. Kevin Klee (longtime Snider director), Terry Fisher (Dekalb for many years) and Arlan Blackburn (a couple of season at Chesterton). Not sure what happened with Arlan. I understand he left that career at some point but I don't know the circumstances of his departure. (EDIT: a quick google search shows that Arlan passed away in 2007, and age 46. He was one of the baritones that ran off with the Kilties that June afternoon.) After the mid 80's I lost track of the activity until my own kids became active in 2011, at another Indiana High School.
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Post by lowbrasssax on Mar 22, 2019 14:34:39 GMT -6
I am a member of the Lincoln-Way Marching Band and will have marched from 2016-2019 when all us said and done.
So far no drum corps for me, but I'm hoping to march after graduating high school.
The Lincoln-Way Marching Band was formed in 2016 when one of the four schools in our district, Lincoln-Way North, closed. Since then, we have made Super Regional finals twice, won an Illinois "state championship", and marched in the Tournament of Roses Parade. I'm excited to get to know all of you on the forums!
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Post by 2baboy on Mar 23, 2019 8:10:49 GMT -6
I currently live in Florida
The band I'm currently but about to finish is Park Vista from 2015-2018
I plan on doing DCI after my first year in college hopefully and I've been in Stryke Wynds 2018 indoor winds group.
Park Vista was established in 2005 and took a lot of the good high school band members from nearby schools from what I know. Since 2006, we've had the same band director Mr. Aaron Snipes who devoted his time to the band until he decided to move one to another school in Texas in 2017. We compete in the FMBC Florida circuit, winning our first grand championship in 2009 in a local competition and making 5A finals since than at states. 2013 was the first year in BOA and decided to go to the Atlanta Super Regional. That year we got second in class 4A, 4th in prelims and 6th in finals. Many bands didn't know about us until that year's breakthrough earning a fun little phrase we had "Park Who?" In 2014, we decided to return to the Super regional again but ended up being disappointed that we didn't make finals, but later that year we ended up winning our first state championship. 2015 we took a break from BOA and focused on defending our state title, which we did successfully (also my first year in the band). 2016 we decided to go back to Atlanta and got second in class 4A, 5th in prelims and 4th in finals. That year was very exciting because we were worried about how we would do (One of my favorite designs that we've had) and we returned to states again to win for a third time in a row. 2017 was a wild year because we were director-less for almost the whole season when are director took up an offer in texas and our new one (Mr. Patrick Duncan, also a very accomplished director) wanted to stay with his band until the end of the season. Although it was referred to as one of our worst in recent years, I think we managed to hold up pretty well without a director to guide us, getting second in class 4A, 3rd in prelims and 5th in finals in the last Atlanta (rip Mercedes-Benz). We went to states that year and got second place to a deserving Stoneman Douglas. 2018 (my last one) was our first one with a new director and some changes to our staff, which benefitted us a lot (Michael Gaines lol). This year was probably one of our cleanest musically and visually satisfying. We went to the new BOA Orlando regional that year, winning our first class 4A championship and placing 2nd in prelims and finals. We didn't go to states due to being invited a year prior to march the 2018 Macy's day parade, which was extremely fun, besides being the coldest parade and we were a florida band. As a band program, we are trying to build up to Tarpon's or Wando's level, which we got closer every year, and our biggest competitors are Stoneman Douglas and Harrison High school during my time of marching.
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Post by LeanderMomma on Mar 23, 2019 20:46:54 GMT -6
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Post by twhsalumniparent on May 20, 2019 21:45:08 GMT -6
Oh why not...
Currently live in Texas.
I marched for Grant County (KY) 1984-1988. My wife marched for Adair County (KY) 1989-1991. Youngest kid marched for The Woodlands (TX) 2015-2018.
No drum corp or any other activity.
Hmmm, my high school band is relatively unknown. They've won 3 KY state championships (1 each class A, AA, and AAAA). Apparently they have competed in BOA, and attended Nationals twice that I quickly found (1996 and 2012). They finished 31st in 1996 for their best showing. Doubt that I have to say much about Adair County or The Woodlands, as they are pretty well known in these parts.
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Post by drumcorpsiscool on May 28, 2019 21:02:49 GMT -6
Hey, guys, I'm back lol but anyway
Currently, reside in Fort Wayne Indiana School: Carroll High School
Marching from 2016-2019, haven't thought about corps but our tech recommends I go for it,
Carroll placed 8th in class A state finals this year and is the highest placement in class A in the schools' history. Carroll hasn't been a competitive band until around 2013 where they made Class A finals for the first time in 6 years, it's been a pretty steady incline for the last few years and it's gotten better every year so I'm happy our class got to experience positive growth and contribute to the program.
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Post by jacobg on Sept 16, 2019 10:27:41 GMT -6
Hey!
I play trumpet for the CT Johnson Band (TX)
This is my second year here and it's been a lot of fun, can't wait to hear more about other bands!
Whoever is going to Grand Nats this year, can't wait to see you there!
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Post by LeanderMomma on Sept 16, 2019 13:52:54 GMT -6
Hey! I play trumpet for the CT Johnson Band (TX) This is my second year here and it's been a lot of fun, can't wait to hear more about other bands! Whoever is going to Grand Nats this year, can't wait to see you there! See y’all there!
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Post by musicgirl on Oct 2, 2019 10:00:07 GMT -6
I marched in Kiski Area from Vandergrift, PA from 1990-1992.My daughter is currently in the band.
It was awesome. Scott Koter was a tough but excellent director who reinvented the program and started taking the band to Bands of America competitions. I so wanted to be in the band in 9th grade but at that time it was only 10-12 grade. We won BOA Eastern regionals in Morgantown, WV in 1990 and 1992, second place in 1991. Grand Nationals in 1991 was awesome, 3rd place with the Beatles show. Everyone who was in the band at that time still talks about how the Beatles show was the best. We also went to the Orange Bowl and Citrus Bowl parade when I was in the band. I am proud that Kiski still has a strong tradition of excellent marching bands. I really hope they return to Nationals some day soon. Our main rival was in still is Norwin. I feel extremely lucky to have been in this band.
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Post by musicgirl on Oct 2, 2019 10:03:40 GMT -6
The highlight for me was my last BOA competition in 1991, getting to compete in Grand National finals. Hey we were on the field together at 91 Nationals!
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Post by LeanderMomma on Oct 2, 2019 11:51:28 GMT -6
I marched in a private school marching band (Memphis Harding Academy) from 1977 - 1982. I played flute during concert season and was in colorguard during marching season. I was captain my Senior year and was responsible for writing most of the drill for our competition show! I was fortunate to be able to make the Varsity band between 7th and 8th grade, so I had 5 years of high school band. At Harding Academy, the Junior High (7th & 8th) is on the same campus as the Senior High (9 - 12), so if you were good enough, you could do varsity band as an 8th grader. I had been playing the flute since 5th grade in the elementary band, so I had a bit of an advantage over those in 7th grade who were just learning to play an instrument in Jr High. I loved EVERYTHING about band, even back then, and when my youngest daughter (the older two were athletes) picked up my flute (a gift my Senior year) and began playing it in middle school, I was ecstatic. At the time, however, I had ZERO idea what was in store for us being in Leander ISD. It was an amazing experience all six years, but especially 2014, 15 & 16 with the incredible Leander band. Good stuff!! I'm the tallest one on the back row...
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Post by boahistorybuff on Oct 2, 2019 16:00:55 GMT -6
The highlight for me was my last BOA competition in 1991, getting to compete in Grand National finals. Hey we were on the field together at 91 Nationals! Yes we were. I loved your Beatles show. I still have finals (on VHS).
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Post by boahistorybuff on Oct 2, 2019 16:03:24 GMT -6
I'm the tallest one on the back row... Now those are some early 80s uniforms for sure, not to mention the 80s hair style.
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Post by LeanderMomma on Oct 2, 2019 17:26:29 GMT -6
I'm the tallest one on the back row... Now those are some early 80s uniforms for sure, not to mention the 80s hair style. Oh absolutely!
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Post by musicgirl on Oct 2, 2019 19:00:42 GMT -6
Hey we were on the field together at 91 Nationals! Yes we were. I loved your Beatles show. I still have finals (on VHS). I still have finals on vhs too!
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Post by bostonfan2004 on Oct 8, 2019 15:15:45 GMT -6
Since I'm new here, I thought I would tell you some info about my band.
I live in Massachusetts. Been here all of my life since 2004. I am in the Oakmont-Overlook Marching Spartans who are from Ashburnham, Massachusetts. I have been playing alto sax in the band since my 7th grade year in 2016, and when all is done, I will have been in this band from 2016-17 through 2021-22. I've also been involved in our winter percussion ensemble for the last two years. If you watch last year's show, I am really easy to spot, as I am wearing a Celtics jersey in our Finals performance. Show was called "Godzilla" if you want to check it out. We were in USBands for a while back when it was called USSBA. This is a much more competitive circuit than NESBA and MICCA. We won the group 3 open class in New England in 2005, 2006, and 2007. We went to Annapolis in 2010 and got to compete with some of the best bands in the mid-Atlantic/Northeast region. You can find videos of us at USBands comps in 2006, 2010(Annapolis), and 2011. We also competed in MICCA until 2012. I don't know any of our accomplishments in MICCA. We stopped doing USBands and MICCA after 2012. I don't know why we stopped doing USBands, but if I had to take a guess, it would be a low budget. We stopped doing MICCA because competitions were only held in October. In 2011, we started competing in NESBA. In 2012, we went to our first NESBA Finals, and have been doing it ever since. Our best accomplishment in NESBA was winning Division 3 at 2014 Finals with a score of 96.0, getting best music and best percussion and a platinum medal. Other accomplishments include getting best drum major awards in Division 3 in 2015 and 2017 and Division 4 in 2016 and 2018. Winter percussion accomplishments include winning 1st place in our class at finals in 2016. Winter guard accomplishments include winning 1st place in our class at finals in 2018. Bands that we compete with are King Philip, Salem, MA, Burlington. Some bands that were our competitors and could be future competitors include Norwood, Reading, Randolph, and Everett. Looking forward to seeing people from other bands!
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Post by ohbandmom on Oct 9, 2019 21:00:01 GMT -6
I live in Ohio and am a band mom of a senior in the William Mason High School Marching band. My daughter has marched all 4 years.
I never learned to play an instrument and as such was never in band myself. Until my daughter became involved with marching band, I had no concept about how much hard work goes into it. I am in awe of all of these kids and have the utmost respect for this sport/art. I have grown to love the Marching Arts so much. Just sad that it’s our last year.
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Post by emmam2019 on Nov 7, 2019 21:09:16 GMT -6
Hi! So a little about me.... I currently live in Michigan, I am a graduate and proud alumni of the Rockford High School Marching Band in Michigan! I played Alto Sax for the program from Fall 2015- Spring 2019 (my time in high school). I played in my high school wind symphony, symphonic band, jazz band #2, pep band, and obviously the marching band. I never was involved in drum corps, but absolutely love watching it!!!!! If I could learn another instrument just so I could do Drum Corps, I would want to choose either Mellophone or Snare on the drumline.
Next I will tell you about the history of my High School Marching Band!
My High School, Rockford, has been competing in the MCBA (Michigan Competing Band Association) For the past 22 years!! (They started in 2005!) They have been qualifying for the MCBA state finals every year since! In 2017 they won their first ever Flight 1 State Championship in school History!! It was awesome to be apart of that as a Junior! They have since added five more Flight 1 State Championships in 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022 and most recently 2023! They debuted in the BOA circuit in I think 2011, (someone can correct me if I am wrong). They are consistent BOA Regional Finalists usually in Pontiac, Toledo, and Bowling Green. The best they have ever done at a regional was in 2022, where they got 2nd Place in Toledo, OH. They attend Grand Nationals regularly, and have made Semi Finals 5 times. They made semi finals in 2011, 2012, 2018, 2019, and 2021!!! The highest Rockford has ever placed at Grand Nationals was 14th in 2018! In 2017, the band was given the honor to play at the 91st Macy's Thanksgiving parade in New York City!!! In 2020, just like most marching bands they did not have a competitive season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The band also had the honor of participating in the 2023 Rose Parade in Pasadena, California. I would say the biggest rival band for Rockford would be Plymouth Canton because we could not figure out how to beat them for such a long period of time. Other great competitors to Rockford are Lake Orion & Walled Lake in Flight 1, as well as Jenison in Flight 2.
Fun fact: Here are the MCBA state finals results from every year they participated so far!
- 2005 7th Place - 2006 8th Place - 2007 4th Place - 2008 6th Place - 2009 3rd Place - 2010 3rd Place - 2011 3rd Place - 2012 3rd Place - 2013 3rd Place - 2014 2nd Place - 2015 3rd Place - 2016 2nd Place - 2017 1st Place - 2018 1st Place - 2019 1st Place - 2021 1st Place - 2022 1st Place - 2023 1st Place
Here are the BOA Regionals Results
- 2011 Pontiac, MI = 7th Place Finalists
- 2012 Pontiac, MI = 5th Place Finalists
- 2013 Toledo, OH = 7th Place Finalists
- 2015 Bowling Green, OH = 11th Place (Missed Finals)
- 2016 Toledo, OH = 3rd Place Finalists
- 2018 Bowling Green, OH = 4th Place Finalists
- 2021 Toledo, OH = 3rd Place Finalists
- 2022 Toledo, OH = 2nd Place Finalists
- 2023 Toledo, OH = 3rd Place Finalists
And last, but not least are the BOA Grand Nationals results!!
- 2011 = 22nd Place (Semi-Finalists)
- 2012 = 19th Place (Semi-Finalists)
- 2013 = Prelims
- 2015 = Prelims
- 2016 = Prelims
- 2018 = 14th Place (Semi-Finalists)
- 2019 = 19th Place (Semi-Finalists)
- 2021 = 29th Place (Semi-Finalists)
- 2023 = Prelims
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Post by atxstrong on Nov 8, 2019 11:09:15 GMT -6
I was born and raised in Austin, Texas....and I am still here!
I attended Westlake HS (TX) from 1997-2001. I played the Bassoon (1st chair District/Region Band/Orchestra a couple years) and was in Color Guard for marching season (Guard Captain - can't recall which years). My son is currently on the Drum Line at James Bowie HS (TX). 2018-2022 My step-son plays Tuba/Sousaphone at James Martin HS (TX). 2017-2021
I attended George Mason Univ. near Washington D.C. for a dance degree and sadly did not follow my dream to join DCI. My son will be auditioning for Genesis this year. My step-son will be auditioning for Santa Clara Vanguard this year. They both have high hopes of many years with the DCI circuit.
I have the best of memories with Westlake HS. Randall Brownlee was our new Color Guard instructor when I started and it was an absolute joy to work with him. He really propelled our program in a big way with his show design for Marching Band and Winter Guard. We had LONG marching seasons since our football team was regular State Champions during those years. I now see both of our boys performing under the Alamodome just as I did so many years ago. Pretty magical.
Happy to be amongst all you marching band and music lovers!!
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Post by kvgdc on Nov 30, 2019 13:17:54 GMT -6
I now live in DC, but grew up in Ft. Wayne, IN. I marched tenor sax in the Northrop Big Orange Pride in the 85-88 seasons. My sister marched the four years before when Northrop won state (83) and made their first appearance at Grand Nationals in Johnson City, TN (81). 81 being the "Just Once" year where they actually tied Chesterston for the state title but were given 2nd on a tie breaker agreement whereby the judges made a 'final call' between the two ad their votes tallied to break the tie. The band theme song that year was James Ingram's Just Once and it remained the theme song until they won state the in 83 the last year it was held at Terre Haute. 84 State finals were moved to the Hoosier Dome where they finished 2nd to Ben Davis despite phasing badly in the opener (Savannah River Holiday). Then went to Grand Nationals, made finals solidly, and were plonked into 12th place in the finals night. Ben Davis ended up 3rd and there was a LOT of grumbling among Indiana band directors regarding what happened and Northrop, and other bands, stayed away from Grand Nationals fro a number of years until MBA became BOA. "MBA!" became a phrase whenever judging was considered suspect for a number of years thereafter. We'd even chant it at football games when the refs made a bad call, much to the amusement of band parents and the bewilderment of the football team.
During my years, Northrop transitioned from being knowing primarily for music to becoming a marching and maneuvering strength. That transition meant falling back to middle of the pack at state finals for a few years before contending again. But I remember doing a BOA regional in Terre Haute (the infamous rain soaked one) where we beat Lake Park and nearly pipped Marian Catholic during their string of national championships. My senior year season (88) an early season Chicago show was cancelled and the Chesterson show picked up Marian Catholic. They were still marching their summer show while learning their fall show and had won the old Summer nationals with it. We didn't do a summer show and were still learning our closer so didn't march it that show. Instead, we cleaned everything we had up to that point...and won by .2. It was a rush to realized we'd won and it put Northrop firmly back on the map as a contender.
A lot of changes happened during the years my sister and I marched. As mentioned above, ISSMA was still just coming out of the 'show band' era and going into corps style marching (other than Lake Central who kept that style well into the 80s). So the while the cotton swab hats Northrop had were put away for shakos, my sister, in color guard, was still a "pom pom" line and there was much arguing when they were made to carry small hand flags in 83 for a portion of the show. The notion of a fully cross skills color guard was not happening in most bands yet. By my senior year, Center Grove moved up from class B to class A and was immediately competitive (many of the B bands on the 'cusp' of A by enrollment were super good.). Center Grove did a show on the Mikado which pioneered what some call 'costumes' rather than uniforms as the entire show was themed visually and musically. Ben Davis was ginormous at the time at 300+ on the field and used acres of mylar fabric in their show for visual effect. Tarps and props were soon to follow.
We were one of the first bands to use electronics with a synth and amp on a rolling dolly cart. It was used for sound reinforcement (lows) for the most part when put in (i.e. some of the low hits in Jupiter in 83), but increasingly for other musical color/style moments (i.e. the synth patch when we did First Circle in 85). Starting 85, we also got a reputation for marching weird time signatures. We did Kenton's Time for a Change in 9/4 with a 2-2-3-2 count drag step. Once we learned it and cleaned it, it was very natural. One of the few judge tapes we got to listen to was a judge at state finals trying to figure out what the time signature count was and failing at it. My senior year, our Jazz Band I toured to do Purdue's Jazz on the Hill, North Side (Ft. Wayne) had their jazz band there too and after playing, we sat to enjoy their show. They were rivals in marching band but never touched us in Jazz Band competitions, particularly that year as we had the first of two really excellent bands. North Side did Time for a Change as a jazz band number but...in 4/4. We were not impressed. Our director (Barry Ashton) ribbed his director friend at North Side (Ed King) after they were done by yelling "Now do it in nine!" to which those of us who were seniors added, "and march it!" Ed laughed his head off on the stage at that and had to tell his students, "I'll explain later."
This was also the era high schools in Indiana began hiring outside staff. The director wasn't the designer and arranger as much anymore as drill writers were hired as well as cleaning staff at times. Chops Czapinski wrote drill during my sophomore and junior years and we had some incredibly tough things to learn and clean compared to the mostly symmetrical drills with the battery doing elevator up and down the 50 style my sister's time marched. My senior year, we had Greg Cesario write our drill and began incorporating more body motions ala the ballet positions with our feet and what we called 'leg-mimes.' Nothing big compared to the movement kids do today, but it was considered very innovative and daring at the time. Phantom Regiment was incorporating these in under Cesario's lead at the time and we were considered very much "drum corps style" at the time in our 88 show.
I marched with a number of people who have gone on to become successful directors and designers. Brad Watkins (now director at Homestead after being assistant there for a long time), Tim Cox (Decatur Central) and his twin brother Tom Cox (Goshen), Mike Hardiek (Viz design for DCI corps).
Like OldSchoolTrumpet, it's sort of bittersweet to see Northrop the size it is now (as it is to see Snider where it is, I remain friends with Kevin Klee who was assistant director at Northrop for my first year before going over to Snider). But the activity and the world changes. The demographics and the money that follows have shifted to Homestead and now Carroll as the powers for A bands in Ft. Wayne. The Northrop/North Side/Snider legacy now lies in the success of a number of new programs via the alumni leading them.
p.s. boahistorybuff, I may have marched against you at some competitions in our time! I remember seeing Flushing at MBA shows and we were all "whoa...that's a good band." Norwin often came around and impressed us too. Danville (Kentucky) was good and of course Marian Catholic and Lake Park. Indiana was all about Chesterston then Ben Davis in our time. Center Grove, Carmel, and Lawrence North came up from class B to A and became solid competitors fast.
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Post by sethb811 on Nov 30, 2019 16:10:45 GMT -6
Fort Wayne, IN (born and raised)
I marched clarinet for the Big Orange Pride of Northrop HS from 1997-2000.
Never marched DCI or college. Became involved with IndianaMarching, joined their staff in 2003, and loved every minute until it's retirement (RIP) a few years ago. I've been blessed to blog for MFA and TxBands since 2013 while I continue to obsess about band.
kvgdc covered the early history of Northrop very well. I managed to march toward the end of their glory years. 1997 was very much a transition year. Greg Cesario stopped writing our drill in 1996 so we hired Todd Ryan (I think). Despite a huge freshman class (over 80!) and late-arriving drill, our Roman Trilogy show (music of Respighi, arranged by Michael Klesch) managed a 6th place finish at State Finals that year. 1998 brought a new drill writer, I believe her name was Allison Miller. She wrote the drill for our tag ending in '97 and was brought on to do the whole show in 1998. The show was Romeo & Juliet, featuring music by Prokofiev and Tchaikovsky. It's my least favorite show I marched, yet we still managed to make State Finals, finishing in 10th (of 10), our lowest placement up to that point. 1999 was supposed to be our bounce back year and all early season indications were it would be. We hired Jay Murphy (of the Blue Devils) as our drill writer and combined with another solid Klesch arrangement of Bernstein's Age of Anxiety, we came out of the gate pretty hot (despite getting spanked by Center Grove the first week). We beat Marian Catholic in visual at an early season event and managed to steal the visual caption and score within a point of Homestead at Districts and were looking for a top 5 finish at State. Regionals turned out to be our last performance though. Despite 5 of the 6 judges having us in the top 5, one judge tanked us (14th) and caused us to miss State Finals for the first time in our history. The heartbreak from that was the first real seed to my current band nerd status. Combine that with going to Grand Nationals a couple weeks later as a spectator and watching the greatest show of all-time (PCEP) and I was officially hooked for life. My senior year was an extremely memorable one. The design team from '99 returned and we played Latin music. For the first time since 1996 we managed to beat Homestead, not once, but THREE times! They did manage to pass us at State, but we were thrilled to finish 5th! We also returned to BOA for the first time since 1994, finishing 19th in Semifinals! I was fortunate enough to stay with a friend for Finals and I've attended every BOA Finals since! Northrop managed to make State Finals three more times over the next five years but their best days are now a distant memory!
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Post by kvgdc on Nov 30, 2019 16:24:19 GMT -6
Good to see the latter history. I stayed in touch via 'talk' with some of what was going on. A lot changed after Ashton retired and there was instability in the directors position. Add to that the financial changes to how FWCS 'funded' the arts and the changing economic demographics of where the 'money' around town in families who could support band fees and the like to hire staff and designers it seems to take to stay competitive anymore and it devolved. They're still great music education opportunities, but they're not the competitive powerhouse they once were.
There's a history before my history too. That 'cotton swab' era BOP won a ton of trophies too. The band room had a large lay of lockers on each side and up top were all the trophies through the years, it was already packed by the time I was marching. When they won state in 83 a retrospective of all the shows going back to the start of the school in 1971. it may be laying around dad's house in VHS form still or with my sister's memorabilia but no idea what shape it's in.
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Post by OldSchoolTrumpet on Nov 30, 2019 17:46:04 GMT -6
For the first time since 1996 we managed to beat Homestead, not once, but THREE times! ! I predicted that, by the way.
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