As a director I am tremendously proud of how far the Marching Bulldogs have come in terms of their development. The students have worked so hard, from the first step at band camp through the night rehearsals and the competitions. As most of you know, I treat band as a leadership training, character development, and goal setting class in addition to the marching and music instruction.
Our marching band is making incredible strides each year, therefore we should be filled with pride at what the band is accomplishing. We are competing with bands that have been in competition for 30 or more years, with deep rooted traditions in the community and schools. Secondly, a goal of the program, which is to steadily improve and progress each year, is clearly being met and should be apparent to all. The band is clearly getting better each year.
I have told the band many times, our long term goal is to be a “National Class Band” which is the class reserved for the best bands in the state, regardless of school size. They are the bands that perform at the highest and most proficient level of all bands in the country. We are 7 or more years from that goal. This year’s goal is to win the class, Small School 2. I feel this is a reachable goal. This is, of course, risky for me to say, however, I feel that we need to be aggressive in our goals and “reach for it.” If we don’t accomplish our goal, we will still feel great about “going for it.” No matter what the judges decide,e will still feel great about our accomplishments and how much better we are for aiming high. Although this philosophy is somewhat “competitive,” I believe that is what we are, a “competitive band.”
Many bands choose not to compete. They choose to perform a less involved and simpler show at only the Newsday festival and their home games. We, the “Roslyn Marching Bulldogs” compete. We are better for it and will accomplish great things by being a competitive band. If you get a chance to stay late at the Carrier Dome, watch the National Class and you will see what I am talking about. Those bands are magical and someday, we will be one of those bands. Short and long term goals are an important part of life and through this great activity, we will “shoot for the stars.” I know we will capture some of them within the next few years. We are already starting to!
Each set of judges give totally different scores, be ready for anything!
Judges are all different. Each judge has different tastes in music, and different ideas about the concept and quality of each show. Judges also have a tendency to keep bands in the same score range that they were in the year before. Bands literally have to break out of their score range by being much better. Keep it all in perspective. If we win,"Great". If we don't, there is always next week. Aim high, be patient. We will become one of the top bands on the Island. Remember, don't complain about the system of judging, in a few years these same judges will crown us champions. People watching in the stands know who the best bands are, regardless of the score!
Keep looking at the roslynband.com website. Also, read the blog the night after the show. I will put a blog of what happened with the scoring and my impressions of the day’s events.
