Parents, come to band camp for a day or two!

Band Camp is an incredible environment.  The positive family atmosphere we bring to everyone at the camp is truly life changing.  The band learns the entire show in 7 days while building relationships through living, working, and playing together as one big family.  We already have one or two parents in each bunk at camp, something we do here at Roslyn.  The parent responsibility is simple, to let me or Mr. Coffey know if anyone is missing or if anyone leaves. You are not a policeman, counselor, or disciplinarian, you leave that to the band director and assistant band director, Mr. Coffey and myself.

We totally encourage any parents to come up and check it out for an overnight to see what all the excitement is about.  You would stay in a boys or girls bunk, depending upon if you are male or female.  If you have a child with you (any age below HS age) they may be in a bunk of that same sex as them as well.  You would eat meals with us as well. We don't charge anything for this.  We do have a full slate of parent chaperones so we can only allow additional parents who come to do two days with a night in between so that you can get the full experience.  Camp Taconic is about 4 hours away, in the Berkshires of Massachusetts.  It is a fun area to visit as well.

If you want to come to see the full experience just send me an e-mail at pattersax@gmail.com

You can see what parents are going to be chaperoning by going to the roslynband.com website and clicking the "Band Camp" page in the top menu.

Today's Parade at Epcot

We will be performing at 10:30 at Epcot today.  Our performance starts behind Canada, we march towards the big fountain by the huge Epcot ball, we turn around facing the lagoon and away from the fountain and perform for 5 minutes, then we go around future world a bit and back to the Canada area.  They may have us come out early again like they did yesterday so be ready.

For tonight's dinner we will meet at 8pm the top of the stairs that lead down to the Terrace des Fleurs, which is the landing on the England side of the bridge between France and England.  I will hand out wristbands there.

Where to stand for the Magic Kingdom Parade on Wednesday

Since Disney eliminated the afternoon parades they now have bands March in the morning with no parade following them. A detailed map of both parade routes are on roslynband.com.

Since there is no parade following us you do not have to get there very early. Parents who have done this in the past have gone an hour to an hour and a half prior to get a good spot to see the band. With no parade there is really no need to be there more than 15 minutes prior to Parade time.

For Wednesday's parade we are marching at 10 AM coming out next to the firehouse just inside the front entrance of the Magic Kingdom. We are then marching down towards the castle, around the circle in front of the castle and out through frontierland. The best places to watch the parade from are on top of the train station by the main entrance. You'll be able to watch the band go around the circle there. Another great place where out parents will be meeting will be in front of the castle by the circle. The kids will then get released out of a door next to the Pirates of the Caribbean after they change into their street clothes..

We are scheduled to play at 10 o'clock which means we would probably be coming out at the beginning at 10 AM if there is not another band before us. I will try to tweet our progress from backstage if I can.

Tuesday morning trip update

Yesterday was Hollywood Studios day. We couldn't have ordered better weather.  Not a cloud in the sky, warm in the 70s, absolutely beautiful.  We got into the park at 9, left at noon for a break at the hotel, rehearsed for an hour, band looked and sounded great, then a break for swimming, napping, eating until 5:15 when we returned to Hollywood Studios for the Fantasmic dessert and show.  Then more park time, it was extra magic hours so we got on some more rides.  Then back to the hotel at 12 midnight, kids went to bed quickly and quietly.  An amazing trip so far.

We had a bump in the road, forgot the flags for the colorguard.  It was on about 5 of our lists and I guess we were all so excited that we left them at home.  As we do everything with the band, it was clearly a team effort that we forgot them.  I looked at my list of 200 plus things to do and I didn't check it off.  Whoops.   Terri and Mitch Kurtz saved the day, got into the high school and sent them UPS, we will have them this morning in plenty of time for the two parades on Wednesday and Thursday.  Thanks so much to the Kurtz's!

If you are having problems getting into my piccasa picture album for the trip, please e-mail me and let me know so that I can fix it.  I am getting some confusing e-mails asking me to approve the viewing of the album.

The kids are great, everybody is happy and healthy and the weather looks to continue to be amazing!

Monday morning trip update

We didn't have any traffic all the way down to Florida.  It was amazing!  Check in went smoothly.  We did the bed bug check, something we will always do from now on whenever we check into any hotel.  Got in around 7pm to 70 degree weather.  The band checked in, ate at the food court, and enjoyed the resort for the rest of the night. They all went to bed without any problems at 11pm.  We had 2 official dedicated disney security officers on duty watching our rooms from 11pm through the night. We had that built into the price, something very important to protect our band.  I always do that.

Felt the pools with my hand, like bathwater.  They have upgraded all our rooms, each now has a refrigerator and all spanking new furniture, beds, rugs, etc. We are very excited about that.  And now we go to Hollywood Studios for the morning, a rehearsal and hotel break for naps, pool time and to enjoy the resort during the day, then back to the Studios for our Fantasmic Dessert and the late night magic hours because we are disney hotel guests.

Thanks for having such great children!  It is a total pleasure to run a trip with such great human beings. Parents, you should be proud of the job you have done raising these kids.  I don't take it for granted for even one minute!

I will try to post each day.

Today's weather and departure for Florida

Since we have snow in the forecast for today I am sure you may be wondering how this will impact our trip.  Well, it looks like the snow will be finishing up at about the time we are scheduled to leave, at 8pm.  We could have anywhere from 3 to 6 inches when it ends. The storm will be hitting Boston after it leaves our area.  If we have to wait a while we will just stay at the school, I have to have a meeting with the band anyway and can do that here.

Remember, we will be traveling on highway's all the way down to Florida and it will be clear skies ll the way to Orlando.  The temperatures will warm up significantly as we go south.  The highways we travel will be well plowed by the time we get to them, with plenty of salt and sand throughout the Northeast.

And for those of you who haven't been on any of my overnight trips, I monitor everything and am on top of the entire travel situation on every trip.  Our school district runs a rigorous inspection on the busses when they arrive before we can even load.  I am overly cautious and I stay awake through the entire night watching the road.  I know and trust our drivers. I always know the outside temperature and am on a continuous lookout for black ice conditions when we are anywhere near the freezing point.  If I ever feel we are in any kind of an unsafe situation we pull the busses off the road and wait it out.  The safety of the entire group is the most important thing at all times, overriding absolutely everything.  Please do not worry, we will take care of everyone.

When you see the snow today, don't fret.  The most impact it will have on us is getting to the school to drop the kids off.

Next Year's Show Announcement

Next Year's Marching Band Show

The First Thing that Happened

Ok, so I was pretty much set on the Elton John Show, Beatles or Les Mis.  As I listened over and over none of them were really doing it for me, they seemed cheesy and I couldn't get excited about it.  After finding multiple bands at all levels who did each of these shows on youtube I was further unimpressed.  I started looking for other shows, round the clock in my free time.

The Second Thing that Happened

We were looking at the old shows on youtube after band on the smartboard. After talking to the Seniors in the Wind Ensemble who did marching band, a group of them said that their favorite show was the Wedding show, when we did Emperata Overture, Song Without Words, and Chorale and Shaker Dance and not because of the theming as much as the music. I took a quick vote (broadway, rock show, or classical music as the choices) and the last choice won.  I was surprised.  This coupled with my lack of excitement for the other shows continued me on my quest.

The List

Before looking further I put together a list of what I feel we need to take care of to move our entire marching band forward to the next level.  These are my goals as director of the band for next year.

1. A show that is musical, with catchy melodies
2. A show that either Stephanie or I can write the drill and teach it in case Stephanie is teaching in some other part of the country and I have to write and teach the drill
3. Feature the entire guard (they were awesome, see the youtube videos of met life, they reached an incredibly high level this year)
4. Feature the dancers (classical style is better)
5. Continue to feature the drumlin as we have done for some time now
6. Feature the Woodwinds
7. Feature our amazing three freshmen soon to be sophomore floutists, Alyssa, Kat, and Kellie.
8. Feature the pit. After watching/listening to the metlife video, the pit was amazing.
9. Feature and add body moves for the band proper, during winter rehearsals, awarding points to the band member who come so that at least half of them know all the body moves before camp, in the featured playing/body move spots in the show.
10. I feel that we have a very advanced band program here at RHS and we need to work on a more difficult show, more challenging and one that has educational merit.   The Broadway show thing isn’t meeting that criteria.
11. A show that is 7 minutes long.  With the short amount of time that we rehearse, we really do not need to add a minute. This past year we were over 8 minutes.  The top bands in the country do the least amount of minutes required, which is 7.

The Show

So here it is, I am so excited about this show.  Each time I listen to it I get more and more ideas.  The theme came to me after I compiled the three works.  I call it “Butterflies.”  It will illustrate to music, the life of a butterfly.

The beginning would be the dancers, or entire guard in a cocoon.  The cocoon opens up, the butterflies come out with the music, either the entire guard will be the butterflies, or just the dancers, with the guard being the elements that come in contact with them, then everyone dances, and go through the various things that butterflies come in contact with during their life cycle (wind, sun, calm, etc.).  The first pit feature, about a minute in, would be with the three flute soloists with wireless mics which we already have, featured within the drumline playing the unisons along with the pit.  Those three flute would be featured throughout the show with the wireless microphones.We would put the entire guard into uniforms and flags depicting butterflies or something embellishing that.  We could do anything, just in the planning stages right now, but all around that basic concept.  The band proper will do dance type moves (those things that all the bands are now really starting to do) during the percussion and pit features.

In Conclusion

I am very excited about this show and concept. Listen to the show a few times, it will totally grow on you and these melodies will stay with you throughout the day. Also watch our show "The Wedding" from 2010 on our youtube site.  It was a successful show for us, where we put classical wind music to the field with a simple theme.  And thanks to the seniors for pointing me in this direction.  I am truly and totally into doing this incredible show, I hope you all are as well.

Hit the link below to listen to it.  Give it a minute to load.

patpat15.com/Butterflies2014

Great Year! Post season wrap up.

Wow, we had a great year in 2013!  The best band we have had, the highest score we have had, 2nd in the State and 9th at the Nationals.  The sound, look, guard, pit, winds, dancers and drum line was firing on all cylinders.  Now to my take on the Nationals last night.

I sat and watched the entire class 5A.  I personally had the top three bands in that order, they were clearly, in my opinion, above the other 6, and in that order, and the scores showed that (remembering that these are all subjective).  As far as 5 through 9, I couldn't have made a call or put them in order at all, and this includes us.  We were all about the same in terms of guard, musicianship, and marching…..everything.  We all had great moments and all had moments that weren't so perfect. But one thing stood out for sure. They were all GREAT bands and I told  the band members I came in contact with that we could be 5th, 9th, or anywhere in between.  We received 9th but went on to receive the highest score we have ever achieved, a score of 85!  We were all excited.

As far as the conference switch, I think we made the right move.  We were placed in a class of great bands in the appropriate point range and it was clear to me that all of these bands were much stronger than the other conference. This was clearly a National Championship at a great venue, the MetLife Stadium.

From a band director's standpoint, US Bands is up to 780 bands for a reason.  They are a "Child Centered" conference.  Not once did I or any of the staff get treated in a mean fashion, or with a businesslike, tense demeanor, by anyone at any of the shows.  The judging seemed fair to me, yet subjective. Everything was relaxed, calm, and we had a great experience from beginning to end.  We could have done without the 2 in the morning return last night but that won't happen every year.  The classes are scheduled at different times each season.  At least it is not on a school night.

In addition, the Columbus Day parade was a great trade for the late weeknight Newsday Festival.  In addition, I think that the 2 weeks off and spread out in the season gave us the energy by recharging, doing college visits, and tending to life and school needs.  For the first time we didn't have that crazy last week of the season in which we are all stressed out and staying up super late to get everything done.  I am truly not done processing it all because the season just ended, but overall, I think we are all happier.

In addition, going to Syracuse to see my son in Mineola last week, I had no idea how much that trip costs for a family.  Joey and I went and the costs involved with going to Phoenix and the Dome championships were astronomical.  I was not ready for that.  Obviously that is why we have more people going to Florida this year.  We usually take around 60 and this year we are at 90.  By pulling out the $1000 costs of paying for your son/daughter along with the family to go to Syracuse, we have gained more participation with the Spring Trip which is awesome!

So, in a nutshell, a great year was had by all!  Thanks to the Pit Parents for all their help, thanks to the Parents and administration for all your support, and thanks to the "Band Fans" for being the best band support group on the planet.

I know I keep harping on the 80 hours thing, but it is a reality and something we cannot overlook.  We practice much less than other competition bands, much less.  Sometimes it catches up with us.  Sometimes we don't have that clarity and perfection that another 80 or 100 hours would accomplish, the stuff that the judges see but we don't.  The pure fact that we are even scoring within points of these top bands in the nation is absolutely phenomenal.  Think about it.  And for our school, our band, and our culture here at Roslyn I wouldn't change a thing.  This is so much fun.  The music we pick is always enjoyable to rehearse and listen to. We have all built friendships that last a lifetime.  Our band camp is incredible, like no other anywhere. We are absolutely amazing.  A powerhouse National Class Band.

Great job everybody!

And to the band, I know it sounds crazy but I already miss you!  

My Pregame Speech for the National Championship!

We have the Nationals today. I am so excited for all of us. It’s our first time at the Nationals at MetLife Stadium and I cannot wait for the day to start! Today I really want to just reiterate that you should keep it all in perspective.  Today we have 10 people making a decision, putting a number on the bands in our class and ranking them.  What they really should do is bring the 10 judges down in front and say in the opinion of these 10 judges today here are your scores.  I know it may sound cliche, but there is really no ultimate champion. Anyone in the entire activity, in any band, is a champion.

Don’t get me wrong, sometimes we are caught up in this too, the numbers, the placement, as if it really means something.  Remember that the reason we compete is to push ourselves and we are all better because we compete.  

Remember, your work means a heck of a lot more than 9th place, 3rd place, 1st or 8th.

We are an art form incorporating drill (which is art work) music, dance, and flag/dance together in a broadway show type production on a huge canvas.  Now think about it. Trying to judge an activity that ultimately cannot be judged, anything in the arts, dance, art at any museum, a movie, a rock concert, is kind of silly. We are an art form, remember that.  Even 5 of us looking at any of these art forms may get 5 different opinions and if we had to put a number on each performance what would that really mean?  Just keep it all in perspective.

The proudest thing about directing you in Roslyn is your hard work, your compassion for each other, your love of life, and your perspective on life. I love all of you for being such great people. Lets have a great day today at the Nationals.

The good, the bad, and the cold!

I have received a few questions about the cold next week at the Nationals.  I then realized through the questions being asked that none of you know how I as a director, handle this whole performing in the cold thing.  We have had a bunch of warm seasons so I have to update you on my philosophy.  A famous marching band instructor once said to me "Marching Bands are a slave to the weather."  I totally agree!

We have to always take that into effect with band camp, the season, performing and most importantly, keeping the kids safe and healthy. I totally agree, and since right now we have no idea how cold or what the weather will be like next Saturday at the Nationals, I can give you some information on where my philosophy lies in terms of dealing with the weather. Please read on.

My band director real weather story #1

In 1990, my first year at Mineola with 46 total in the band we drove all the way to the TOB Northeast Championships in Scranton, PA.  Over a hundred family members drove down.  It was raining, sleeting and 40 degrees out with the wind blowing.  I asked a band director next to us in the warm up area if they were competing, with the sleet and soaking rain bouncing off the timpani drum next to him he said to me "of course!" That image of the drum with his reaction, a few feet away is seared in my mind.  Yes, every single band was playing. I put my instincts into play, I thought that this was nuts! I made the call,  Mineola left the venue, we all went to the Mall, and all our parents lost all the ticket money, registration fees, etc.  Not one parent or kid complained, not one.  It was obvious, crazy to perform in those conditions.  

My band director real weather story #2

I am proud to state that I am one of the two band directors at Giants Stadium in 1996 that had our entire band of 250 members warm up on the busses, wear their coats into the stadium, make a big pile of outerwear just inside the stadium by the tunnel, play the show, then put their coats, gloves, and hats back on when exiting the stadium.  Every other band warmed up for hours outside, in the wind, freezing, without coats, because "That's what you do."  No way for our kids.  Incidentally, Mineola got 3rd out of a bunch of bands, and Piscataway, the other band that also looked weird walking into the building with parkas, ski gloves, and winter hats over their uniforms like us, got 1st.  None of the kids from either band got sick (I called that director after about a week) and today I believe that both of our scores were greatly impacted by their keeping warm. 

My band director real weather story #3

St. Patrick's Day parade on Long Island, once again with Mineola.  We had 250 band members, we got off the busses at the beginning of the parade route, the trombone and trumpet slides froze. We couldn't keep warm even with full winter attire over the band uniforms. I believe it was 1998 0r 1999.  The temperature was 30 degrees and was about 22 with the wind chill.  Pretty simple, we got on the busses, went back to Mineola and released everyone.  I had my drum majors put their parkas on and walk to parade route to let everyone know.  No twitter or texting back then.  For this one I got a lot of backlash at first, parents standing in the cold were mad, yelling at me when they went to pick up their children, calls to the administration on Monday.  It was bad publicity for about two days, until the stories came in of the little cheerleaders who got sick, the kids who were freezing, and the whole thing turned around to a backlash at the people running the parade and why they didn't cancel it.  I knew I made the right call as we pulled out to go home, watching the little children, the same age as my kids at the time, freezing and crying in the lot, huddling together to stay warm.  Another image seared in my memory, that I will never forget.

Please remember, I treat them as if they are my own children, winter coats on when it is 50 or below with the wind.   We are a child centered program here and we will take care of the kids. Trust me, I will make the right call on this.  If the weather is going to be warm, frigid, or simply cold, I will totally update the directions on roslynband.com and tell everyone exactly what needs to be packed.  I have Directed bands at the old Giants Stadium 8 times.  I’ve got this covered. We might lose some money, but we will not lose our health.

Please realize that playing the 8 minute show in uniform is feasible and safe.  The kids’ adrenaline to  perform and inner excitement protects them for that short time frame. They are moving and keeping warm.

We also have 320 hand warmers, 320 body warmers and 320 toe warmers donated but the Small family to help us keep warm.