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 bigger, the marching is cleaner, and the overall sound and colorguard is getting better each year.
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.
What I am telling you here is that this judging arena, like life, means that you have to pay your dues. We have to change our culture where many of our kids aren’t playing the music on the field (all bands that come in 3rd through last have this problem). We have to have our guard perfect, and we have to march great. We also have to pay our dues. Building a culture and paying our dues takes time, a tedious and sometimes upsetting process which can take not weeks or months, but years.
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 an “up and coming powerhouse.” We are proud as ever and I as director am so proud to run such a great group of kids and great parents. We had dads fixing the trailer for 3 hours last Saturday, 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? 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. The train is coming down the tracks of the tunnel, our train, and everyone, yes everyone, sees it and hears it coming! Let’s all enjoy the ride!
