Ozark Mountain Band Festival-
This is a festival our school hosts (second year of it's existence) and it's all hands on deck to make it work. The kids were working for more than 12 hours. Most of the parents too, although I didn't get there until about 11 (driving Tyler to work), Steve was there in the morning and left about noon. I worked the concession for about 6 hours and decided that was about it for me! I didn't see the bands perform until ours did, while the judges tallied the scores. This is a picture of the band taking the field, waiting to start. It's the only picture of Maura looking straight on.
Later, I did get to see two bands perform in the finals. It was kinda confusing to me because the pieces they played seemed more like Winter drumline pieces than field shows. For the most part, neither pieces were melodic, mostly featuring percussion, with the band playing atmospheric types of sounds. (I'm not describing it well and I'm feeling kinda old even saying this next part)
I thought field shows were to excite you and be a spectacle for the eyes. I am more familiar with batons than flags, and a drumbeat you want to groove to, rather than a cacophony of sounds that are discordant to the ears. I sometimes wonder if I could puck the band from my high school and time travel it to the present, what would be the reception?
I remember every game having a different half-time show, that only because a piece was requested to be seen again would it be repeated. The guillotine with the horn section was one I remember. I also remember the band playing at away games too.
This band plays the same pieces all season. I'd say same "3" pieces except they haven't got the 3rd piece yet. I can't imagine going into competition without having it ready and I can't understand why. Are the pieces too hard? Are the kids not working hard enough? Maura would say, "I have band practice after school" and then she would ride home on the bus saying it was cancelled for a solid week before the first competition. I'm confused.