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!
