Reach Show - It's a Horse Race

Being a part of the Roslyn family has changed my life for the better in many ways. For instance, at Roslyn I learned how to apply to colleges. First you have 3 target schools, colleges you can realistically get into. Then you apply to 3 safety schools, colleges that you know you can get into. Then you apply to 3 reach schools, colleges that are possible to get into and/or your dream schools. I never knew any of this, and with my daughter only in 8th grade, did not realize the significance of it all as I embarked on my own children’s college quests. Stephanie is now in her 2nd year of college and I am going through the same college search with Joey, my son who is a senior (quad player) at Mineola. Yes, here at Roslyn we “Reach.” We go for it, we push the envelope, we shoot for the stars. No matter how you word it, we always strive to be better, greater, more advanced. It is something I have grown to respect, love, and have made it a part of my own life in so many ways. Thank you Roslyn!

Now to our show. A “Reach”, that is what this year’s show is. We are reaching for the stars, trying to do a show which is a “great one.” This show is very difficult musically and visually. We are going for it. This show is designed to “Win.” It is the the “Harvard” of marching band shows. Even the judges yesterday loved it, they said it has so much potential. They consistantly noticed the difficulty, the power of the entire show and said if we execute it, wow, anything is possible!

There is no question, for whatever reasons, this week we fumbled in the opening two tunes. We fell apart, had some major problems, and didn’t recover quickly. Things went wrong that never went wrong. There are so many variables, who knows why. Maybe we were nervous, maybe tired, maybe this is just human nature. We are in a performance medium. Sometimes you excel and sometimes you falter. Just remember, you can never get better at anything unless you hit some speed bumps once in a while. The third and fourth tunes were much better but the damage had already been done. You just cannot score well when you fall apart like we did. Let’s regroup, practice, focus, bring our best game to the table and be great.

I am so proud of the resiliency of this band. Everyone is in high spirits, knows what we need to do and will do it. The 8 point spread between Mineola and ourselves is mostly due to the band’s problems in the first two tunes. We are very close, let’s just get it done.

As Mr. Carman so perfectly put it, it’s better to have these problems in Connecticut at the first show of the season, than on Long Island at the end of the season. Yes, we started our season off and are now underway, big time. Not exactly the opening we wanted, that’s for sure, but we will learn from our mistakes and achieve greatness. The other Long Island bands will be starting at the end of the month while we are into the season and rocking! We have worked hard and will continue on our quest to build a dynasty.

Practice, have sectionals, and learn the music so that you can have a better personal best each and every week. Come to rehearsals ready to rock!

Remember, this is a horse race. The season ends at the dome and that is where we need to peak. That is where it really counts. Our show is a Championship Show, we just have to execute it!

What can you do? Practice, practice, practice. Come to lessons this week, the lesson rotations start, download it from the Symphonic Band or Wind Ensemble pages. All band members are in the rotations. Have sectionals. Practice on your own and learn your music so well that you can play it marching. Being able to play the show sitting down will just not do it, you have to know it cold, inside out. Colorguard, practice your routine so you can nail it and do it together. The routine is down but not together. Watch the youtube site to fix your mistakes. We have alot of work to do if we are going to master this show this year. Let’s do it!

We will be working on the opener on Wednesday night, breaking it down musically and visually. We have a home football game on Thursday at 4:30. Let’s be amazing at that and prove to ourselves that we can nail this show!

We're Already Ahead of Schedule

Here is the long term goal chart we set up in 2004. We set a long term goal for the band to be in the National Class by 2017. Long term and short term goals are important in life and by doing this we could get a good idea of what we have already accomplished and where we are going. This year, 2009, we are supposed to score in the middle of SS2 (small school 2). We already did that last year so our short term goal is to win the class or place 2nd this year, then we could petition to move up to SS1 next year or the year after. The obvious disadvantage to moving up a class is that the bands are stronger and harder to compete against. The advantage is that we are on later in each Long Island show (the only class that goes after SS1 is the National Class) and that we are on in the evening at the dome, with a huge crowd, higher scores, and a more prestigious environment. There is no pressure, just work hard and we will be going ahead, moving through these steps in the building of our dynasty!