The Michigan School Band and Orchestra Association (MSBOA) Festival is one of those events we all look forward to. It's one of two major performances during the year where the Marching Band gets professional feedback so they know how well they're doing.
It's a big deal for the Marching Band directors.
This year, our school was hosting, so all of us who normally volunteer for Marching Band were there, handling the parking lots, preparing food at the concessions, guiding the guest bands to their warm-up spots, and helping out on the stadium with equipment.
As pit crew chief, my responsibility was to make sure that all the equipment was ready for any band's use (podiums, ladders, generators, extension cords, carts, tractors, tools, etc.). Including, of course, ours.
[Deb also made sure there were hand-warmers and foot-warmers available since the nights are getting colder.]
So after a full day at work, I headed over to the school around 4 pm to get the pit crew stuff going. Pulling out carts, setting up podiums, checking for power on the field, delivering a tractor and cart to the pit area that the visiting bands would be using. Running around like a chicken with no head, mostly.
The show started promptly at 6:30 with the National Anthem, and then the bands started coming in, one at a time, to do their shows in front of the judges, and then roll off the field and into the stands so they could watch the other bands. We weren't scheduled to perform til 9 pm, so we got to see a lot of bands, starting with Class D (schools with less than 360 students), then Class C (less than 600 students), Class B (less than 1000 students), Class A (less than 1200 students), and finally, Class AA (1600 students or more).
Our school is Class AA. Actually, the only school in that class for this competition.
There were some awesome performances ... and some not quite so awesome. But there was one performance that stood out, not so much due to the quality of the performance (which was very good), but because of the circumstances they overcame to even show up.
As I mentioned, we were supposed to perform at 9 pm, but the band right before us had a bit of an accident with their equipment trailer. From what we were told, the trailer hitch separated from the tractor while it was going 60 mph down the freeway, then dropped and dug into the road, which spun the trailer around and smashed it into the guardrail. Most of the front-line percussion instruments inside were destroyed -- about $50,000 worth.
Luckily, no one was hurt! But it put a big dent in their performance plans.
So when the band showed up -- late -- they were short a few instruments. Graciously, our percussion director volunteered ours for them to use, so the show went on.
And they actually performed very well, even given the fact that some of them were dealing with the shock of knowing that the accident had occurred.
As it turned out, our school performed on-time, so the only effect from the audience's point of view was that the show went on for an extra fifteen minutes. No big deal.
As always, my pit crew had to put everything away and then wait for all the students to get picked up before we could leave, but there were only a couple late-comers tonight, so I was able to head home by 10:30.
Man, I was tired. Wanted to sleep in this morning, but that wasn't going to happen because I had to be in the lab at 7 to install some new equipment.
Fought sleep all day long. Finally got home a little after 5 and went straight to bed. Til 7.
Can't wait for all this band stuff to be done.
It's a big deal for the Marching Band directors.
This year, our school was hosting, so all of us who normally volunteer for Marching Band were there, handling the parking lots, preparing food at the concessions, guiding the guest bands to their warm-up spots, and helping out on the stadium with equipment.
As pit crew chief, my responsibility was to make sure that all the equipment was ready for any band's use (podiums, ladders, generators, extension cords, carts, tractors, tools, etc.). Including, of course, ours.
[Deb also made sure there were hand-warmers and foot-warmers available since the nights are getting colder.]
So after a full day at work, I headed over to the school around 4 pm to get the pit crew stuff going. Pulling out carts, setting up podiums, checking for power on the field, delivering a tractor and cart to the pit area that the visiting bands would be using. Running around like a chicken with no head, mostly.
The show started promptly at 6:30 with the National Anthem, and then the bands started coming in, one at a time, to do their shows in front of the judges, and then roll off the field and into the stands so they could watch the other bands. We weren't scheduled to perform til 9 pm, so we got to see a lot of bands, starting with Class D (schools with less than 360 students), then Class C (less than 600 students), Class B (less than 1000 students), Class A (less than 1200 students), and finally, Class AA (1600 students or more).
Our school is Class AA. Actually, the only school in that class for this competition.
There were some awesome performances ... and some not quite so awesome. But there was one performance that stood out, not so much due to the quality of the performance (which was very good), but because of the circumstances they overcame to even show up.
As I mentioned, we were supposed to perform at 9 pm, but the band right before us had a bit of an accident with their equipment trailer. From what we were told, the trailer hitch separated from the tractor while it was going 60 mph down the freeway, then dropped and dug into the road, which spun the trailer around and smashed it into the guardrail. Most of the front-line percussion instruments inside were destroyed -- about $50,000 worth.
Luckily, no one was hurt! But it put a big dent in their performance plans.
So when the band showed up -- late -- they were short a few instruments. Graciously, our percussion director volunteered ours for them to use, so the show went on.
And they actually performed very well, even given the fact that some of them were dealing with the shock of knowing that the accident had occurred.
As it turned out, our school performed on-time, so the only effect from the audience's point of view was that the show went on for an extra fifteen minutes. No big deal.
As always, my pit crew had to put everything away and then wait for all the students to get picked up before we could leave, but there were only a couple late-comers tonight, so I was able to head home by 10:30.
Man, I was tired. Wanted to sleep in this morning, but that wasn't going to happen because I had to be in the lab at 7 to install some new equipment.
Fought sleep all day long. Finally got home a little after 5 and went straight to bed. Til 7.
Can't wait for all this band stuff to be done.
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