The two elements are, the marching band achieving a superior grade, and have the top concert band in the spring achieve a superior grade at Concert Band Festival. Achieving two superior grades is a challenge with less than one out of twenty high schools achieving Honor Band in a given year….only a handful of schools have earned the Honor Band rank for more than four consecutive years.
Oakton has been an Honor Band thirteen in the last sixteen years (they earned their 10th during Jonathan's senior year). Last year was not one of them as its marking as the marching band fell short of the superior grade by one point from one of the five judges.
This year Oakton (classed at States as a class 5A band) has taken the first step to return to the Honor Band status by earning early Saturday evening a superior rating. Eight bands achieved that rating in the northern Virginia competition (one 2A, two 3As, three 4As, three 5As….class is by size of the bands). As you will see from the pics, the competition was held on the marching field but on the driver’s education track. As it had rained all day Friday and into the early hours the morning it was felt that the field could not stand up to having thirty-two bands upon it in one day. Sustained winds of 30 mph with gusts up to 45 mph increased the challenge…keeping hats on and for the guard flag drills. Due to the wind the guard had to forgo tossing the flags and drawing out the giant baseball flag (20’ by 40’).
The first pic from early in the show is the front end of the baseball diamond formation. The second pic is of seventh inning stretch where the band and audience sings “Take Me Out To the Ball Game” (Josh is in the five player ensemble in the center of the field).
Yes, in the third pic, that is fireworks going off from the scoreboard following the shooting of a cannon (placed behind the scoreboard). Throughout the performance, the score on the scoreboard changes. Also, on the scoreboard you will see the clock is set to the time of the performance…something that I did for the first competition in Winchester and the back crew continued doing throughout the season. The last pic shows Josh as a backfield conductor as the band moves away from the drum majors at the end of the show. You will also notice due to the wind three parents behind Josh holding the fence.
Other pics from the State Competition should be posted on Oakton’s web page later this week and join the other pics Evie and I have taken throughout the season.
5 comments:
This show was a great crowd-pleaser. The music pulled the audience right in and didn't let them go, the costumes (they certainly don't resemble band uniforms) were awesome and the drill was fun to watch. Everywhere we went, I overheard people talking about how much they enjoyed the show. It's going to be tough to top this one.
Glad to hear Josh's band did well. Elaine was in marching band and concert band, so she has enjoyed reading and seeing the pictures.
All this marching band stuff and competitions is a whole different world than what we're used to in Canada. I think it's great that music kids can have something like this to challenge themselves.
that's way confusing. I love how the band has the same uniforms as the players, does it help unite them a bit more than with the football players? and who knew that there was marching bands for baseball? do they go to hockey games too? - i guess that would be a little echoey
Jenn - the marching band does not play at baseball games; they just do football games and band competitions. The reason they are wearing baseball uniforms is because the show theme was baseball. It featured music from The Natural and A League of Their Own.
The color guard uniforms were patterned after those of the American Girls Baseball League that played in the 1940s and 1950s. They even bought authentic American Girls League patches.
Strangely enough, in the two years prior to this one, the band purchased football jerseys, which they wore when the played at football games. There were two reasons for this. One, it was a sign of solidarity between the two groups (which don't always get along very well). Two, it saved on wear-and-tear and dry-cleaning bills on the marching uniforms.
No, they don't go to hockey games. Oakton High School does not have a hockey team. And I don't think the kids want to try skating and playing at the same time. On a more serious note, if they had a hockey team, the band would probably have a pep band in the stands, like they do for basketball games.
In Iowa, Jonathan played in pep bands at wrestling matches! He loved playing, but he found wrestling extraordinarily boring to watch.
Post a Comment