Why we compete, from the mouthes of (older ) babes

Recently I have been pondering this whole "competing" thing with the marching band.  Two things have come into play to bring about my reflection.  The subjectivity and randomness of judging results, coupled with my coming in contact with many band directors at Newsday with fine bands who do not compete have forced me to grapple with this whole concept.  As a staff we struggle with the competition environment.  As I always do, I went on to poll some of our band members.  They were incredible with their statements.  I received these quotes.  "Competing makes us strive to be great." "We learn about real life and subjectivity."  "We form bonds which band members for the rest of our lives." "We become a family and work together to accomplish a goal."  So, as usual, and I say this many times as an adult with 6 of my own children....."The kids are fine, I am not."  I am referring to the fact that the kids are more resilient, more flexible, more adaptable to change, and more forgiving with the judging results than we as adults are.  While we, the staff and parents, are all upset about the judge's results, scratching our heads to figure out what they were looking at, our great band members are eating a hot dog and deciding if they will by the sprinkle cupcakes or the white frosted ones on the food line.  We will compete forever.  We must realize why we compete and although we aim to win, we must realize that the results, no matter what they are, in this environment are more like spinning a roulette wheel at Atlantic City.  If we win, we get excited and feel amazing.  If we lose, we knew it was just a gamble and go to the buffet.

Judging - Too Hot for the Blog

I want to meet with any parents who can stop by the field at 2pm today for about 10 minutes.  We can meet at the small bleachers next to the gate to the field. Don't change your schedule around, but if you can stop by for a quick meeting with me about the judging it would help us greatly.  No big deal, but I want us all to be on the same page before we go into these last three competitions.

The Last Two Weeks of the Season

This is an important e-mail about the last two weeks of the season.  Please read!

As director I always get complaints from parents and band members about the added night during each of the two weeks and the heavier rehearsal schedule.   Not many complaints, but enough to get me to write this blog explaining what is at stake here.  First of all, the schedule has been up since April so none of this should come as a surprise.   People start missing things due to their not being used to the schedule, fatigue, and not seeing the big picture.  Some band members have SAT and other classes scheduled on Thursday nights, fully knowing that we had these two Thursdays scheduled when they signed on with the band.  It is your responsibility to miss those things and be at these rehearsals. Our schedule is minimal and it is requred to be at each and every rehearsal.

Please realize that we rehearse 80 hours and that 11 1/2 hours are in these last two weeks. That is 15% of our rehearsals are ahead of us. Add the fact that these rehearsals are right before the Dome and on show days and the real impact in terms of concentration is pretty much doubled.  So, as a band director and staff we pretty much consider 1/3 of the rehearsals are in the last two weeks (in terms of how much work we can get done and how much better we can get).  These rehearsals combined equal band camp!  

THESE REHEARSALS WILL HAVE A HUGE IMPACT ON OUR SEASON!

OUR REHEARSALS DURING THE LAST TWO WEEKS

Thursday, October 20th - Newsday 6pm to 11pm (one hour rehearsal)

Saturday, October 22nd - Mineola Show 2pm to 11pm (three hour rehearsal)

Wednesday, October 26th - Rehearsal 6:30 to 9pm (2 1/2 hour rehearsal)

Thursday, October 27th - Rehearsal 6:30 to 9pm (2 1/2 hour rehearsal)

Saturday, October 29th- Rehearsal after Phoenix (2 1/2 hour rehearsal)

We need every single person at these rehearsals.  Students who miss any of our very light schedule will obviously be able to remain in the band because we will not hurt everyone by making a hole at this late a date. But realize that missing a rehearsal will eliminate you from the right to even interview for a leadership position. Since every single person expects one of the 25 leadership positions, this should be enough of a deterrent.  Once again, missing one rehearsal is the equivalent of 3 or 4 rehearsals in any of our competitor’s bands which would be an automatic out.

Our competitors practice 200 to 400 hours in a season.  We get it done with a fraction of that due to 100% attendance, focused rehearsals, and proper planning.  We need everyone to get enough sleep, keep up with their school work, and eat right.  We cannot afford to have anyone get sick this week.

Homework

You will be able to do homework in the Newsday stands during the show, and on the bus ride to and from Syracuse.  We have the busses with outlets in front of every seat so you can bring your laptop and plan on 10 hours of homework/study time.  We show no movies and leave that time open for you to use in any way you see fit.

New Confidential Post

There is a new confidential post on roslynbandonly.com  
Ask any of the band members for the username and password.  Your computer probably stored it from the last time you went there.  Will be up for one day.

Great Job at the "Friday Night Lights"

It is very difficult making the call with the rain.  It is the hardest job for any band director. You will get people angry if you go out in the rain, you will get people upset if you don't go out and it clears up.  The situation is further complicated by the fact that the field clears off and drains in about 10 minutes.  So we really had to stay to see if the rain would stop.  In addition, we have not been on the practice field in 9 days, a huge amount of time in the middle of the season.  If it rains this Wednesday, October 19th, we would be going to perform at Newsday without performing the show outside for 15 days!  So this was a difficult situation to say the least. At 7:30 we brought the band out to no rain but then at about 8pm it started to rain, borderline time to go inside.  Luckily, it lightened up a bit when we finally went on.  We got the run through in, and the band looked and sounded great!  This was very very important and we got it done.  Thanks to everyone for being so understanding with the inevitable confusion and for being a great team! The parents were amazing, drying off the instruments and putting them back into the trailer. We also made the necessary Newsday show adjustments.  We needed to get 45 seconds off the show.  With the Newsday rule of 10 minutes on the field, we were way too close with the 9:50 we have been running with the show.  Making the adjustments, we got it down to 9 minutes last night, perfect for the Newsday show.  The Newsday announcer makes an announcement, which will be as we enter the field, then Lindsay will talk over the band playing in the opening to set up the show, a few phrases which describes what is going on. In competition that introduction by Lindsay will be during the pre-game, which is that time when the band is first on the field, playing around.  We have 13 minutes total in the Competition environment so we can let the band play without the "set up phrases" covering up the music.  We also need the special announcement by the Newsday announcer because it sets up how great we are to everyone, reading our accomplishments and getting the attention of all the camera people on hand so that we get some good coverage.  Many bands at Newsday do not have a resume to talk about and those that do don't think about putting that in the announcement.  Last year the MSG Varsity crew put us as the second to last band in the entire telecast and said the phrase "And now from the best, to the biggest" between us and Northport.  The announcement helps facilitate this as well as the fact that we have a very entertaining show.  Great job to the band last night!  And thanks to everyone who helped and for being understanding with the rain.

Disney Trip Itinerary and Waiting List

We have just received permission from DIsney to add some people to the trip to fill the rooms to 4 in a room.  This all has to be finalized with Disney by Friday.  They are very strict about security due to our performing in Disneyworld. If you are currently signed up for this trip and would like to pull out, please let us know so that we can add a person in that spot. If you are on the waiting list, I will be contacting you to see if you still want one of the spots.

Our Performances and list of what park we are in each day will be posted here shortly.

http://web.me.com/patpatterson/Roslynband.com/Florida_Trip.html

Homecoming Schedule

Homecoming, Saturday, October 1, 2011

Report to the school at 12:30pm.  If you have an SAT get there when you can.  We need to work on the two parade tunes, Broadway and Rocky. 

About 30 of the older players will be performing at the Cafeteria grand opening at 2:00, we will all be performing the parade tunes at the field for a pre-game at 3:30pm. Game starts at 4 and our full half time performance will be between 4:45 and 5.  You will be dismissed after halftime but are strongly encouraged to stay for the entire game.

As always, in the case of rain, still report to the school at 12:30pm.  The cafeteria opening will go rain or shine and with our turf field's ability to drain almost immediately we will have to wait to decide what will be going on.

Great Job Today at the Brentwood Show

Great job today.  We never had a 70 in the middle of September.  We are an easy 5 to 8 points better than we have ever been!  The judges loved the show.  And our show would have been much clearer to everyone if Lindsay’s voice was heard, I didn’t get the PA fixed until the closer. Our overall score is the highest we ever had at this time of the year. Right now, the subjectivity is working in our favor.

And now for some big news. Our visual total was the 2nd highest in the entire show!  2nd on the Island!  Our colorguard and marching has catapulted us to one of the highest visual bands on the island!  Today, we beat some bands that we never beat before.  Special kudos should go to Mr. Downey and Ms. Lusardi for our visual numbers today.

Music we were 4th overall in the show.  Another first!  4th music on the island, even with a super low number by one music judge.

The audience loved the show!  The entire audience reacted to our effects, the ice cream truck, the sleeping, and the ending.  Everyone is talking about us once again.  We will really shine!  We are great!

On the way home on the bus I looked at the nysfbc.org website to check out last night’s scores.  WE ARE CURRENTLY IN 2ND PLACE IN THE STATE IN OUR CLASS.  Jordan Elbridge won with a 68.75, Johnson City with a 67.2, Norwich with a 66.95, Corning East with a 64.7  and Phoenix at another show scored a 65.05.  We are 2.15 points above the highest band in the class below us and within striking distance of the top band.  Of course, judges subjectively make the call on all of this, but right now it is pretty exciting to be placed that high on the opening weekend.

I will be putting the video up on youtube within the hour.  Sign up for the twitter tweets if you want to be tweeted when it is up.  I will send out a text if I get it up before 9pm.

I am so proud of all of you.  And congratulations for waiting on the field for 5 plus extra minutes while we tried to fix the sound system.  That was a great opening performance.  With a championship at stake we need to work hard and go for it!

1st Performance of the Season - Bravo!

Great job today!  The band looked and sounded great, especially for a first performance.  The video is now up on our youtube site.  Look for things we can fix before next week.  Make positive comments on the site.

Thanks to all the parents who helped and to the band members who helped out as well. A special thank you to Amy Pinchiaroli for filling in, you were great! And thanks to the 6 people who stayed an extra hour to help out loading the trailer.  I know you totally did it to help out the band, stayed there late while everyone else went home and for that reason you have "hit the jackpot" by getting awarded 200 points for showing me that you really care about the band!  Want to know who they are, just check the attendance and awards spreadsheet.  Yes it was beautiful out and I really don't blame people who went home right away after the game today, we are all very busy and some were taking in a nice day, spending time with their family, doing homework, or just getting a breather after a few days getting into the routine with homework.  Those special people who do that incredible amount extra may be awarded my special "jackpots" throughout the season.  They can come at any time and will be awarded to people who go "above and beyond" what is expected from any band member.  Congrats to todays "jackpot" winners.  And I want to continue our "no drama" policy with the band program.  We have taken some great strides this year in minimalizing the amount of drama between band members.  For instance, do not see people getting more points than you as a competition against you.  We are all on the same team.  Congratulate anyone in our band who excels.  Look around.  Did someone in your section or another section of the band do something great today?  Tell them, write them a text, compliment them.  Write a positive thing on the youtube site about something you see. Make freinds with everyone!  This is what is making our band great this year!

We have a very important rehearsal on Wednesday so lets all focus and be as great as we can next Sunday at the Brentwood show, our first competition.  I am so very proud of our entire program.  I left the school today thinking that I am a very lucky person to be the director of such a great group of people!

Competition Season is here!

As the season starts I will start posting about our up and coming competition season. This year’s show is very creative and you will see some very interesting things going on throughout it.  We have a crowd pleaser here and hopefully a “judge pleaser” as well.

I just posted the “Brentwood Show Sheet.”  I do this for every single event.  I will also blog about each show before and after so you can come right here if you want to know what is going on.

Twitter - I give twitter updates.  You can have every one sent to your cell phone as a text, or simply bookmark our twitter site to see what is going on throughout the season.  I will be tweeting more on competition days this year so put your phone on vibrate.  I will tweet out the score from the back judges room as well if I know before it is announced.  Just don't cheer and/or boo and get me in trouble.

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.

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.  Short and long term goals are an important part of life and through this great activity, we will “shoot for the stars.” 

Our scores have risen and we have been beating more and more bands each year at the dome.  And at the dome “ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN.”  When we received 2nd out of 12 we were ranked dead last all season in the competitions.  The dome brings in the best judges and doubles the slate to minimize the impact one judge can have.  Judges from outside our area are more likely to make the call and lead the local judges to do the right thing when we are at the dome.

And now a paragraph about all the band shifts this season. We are in Small School 2, which is a higher class than Small School 3 or Large School 3.  We get an automatic bump up for being in that class, or at least that’s what should happen.    The Field Band Conference did a spreadsheet of average scores over the past 5 years and adjusted, moving some bands into our class and some bands up a class.  Mineola got moved up to Small School 1 and Malverne got moved to Small School 2, our class.  Copiague moved out of the National Class and are competing in Large School 2 which is why Mineola, in Small School 1 will be performing last in the local shows, unless there is a National Class Band there which is the most prestigious class. We usually go on later in the local shows because of our more prestigious Small School 2 class.  We go on after all Small School 3 and Large School 3 bands, which is most of the bands who compete on Long Island.

The order within classes is done by a draw upstate.  This year, for instance, we are going after Malverne at the Mineola, Brentwood and Phoenix Shows.  Phoenix is going on after us at their show but before Copiague and Brentwood, which pretty much means that they are competing.  Some bands compete in their home show.  If they are scheduled with their class they compete. If they are at the end, then they are just doing an exhibition.  We drew a great spot at the dome, which is why we are checking out in the morning on October 30th.  We are towards the end of the class with just Corning East and Johnson City after us, both new bands which were moved to our class.

You need to be competetive but remember, this is totally subjective, like figure skating.  People who are sports people and are new to our idiom may have some trouble with this.  You may see our band, hear the score and wonder what happened.  Yes, the judges TOTALLY make the call, in fact, they decide everything, total subjectivity.  

Remember, we are great, look at how far we have come and everybody in the Marching Band community, judges, other band directors, audiences, and the public fully knows Roslyn as a “powerhouse” marching band.  We are proud as ever and I as director feel truly privileged to run such a great group of kids and great parents.  We had parents who bring out our equipment, parents running band camp, and the largest contingent of spectators go to the dome from Roslyn each year.  Our parents even cheer for our neighbor competitor when they win the class over us!  We are the greatest people anywhere!  Total team players.  The kids are perfect!  They give up part of themselves for the team every single day! Hard working, fun, smart, bubbly, and love band!  What more could I ask as a director?  A fair read from the judges?  YES, I want it all!  I want our kids to get the score they deserve!  I am very positive, a “glass half full” kind of guy!  It will happen, at some point, and you will know when my post simply says “YES, HERE WE GO.” It may be this year, next year, or 10 years from now, but it will happen.  It is inevitable. We are on the right track!