Tag: marching band

This morning Koa’s high school band had their annual fundraiser parade through the neighborhood. It’s always fun to watch them go past near our house, and the music is so loud and powerful. Incredible! (He’s the one with the green sunglasses)

During his freshman and sophomore years, he played marimba in the front ensemble. Of course you cannot march with those huge instruments, so during the parade he would just walk with the rest of the band. But this year he is playing snare drum so he was right in the middle of the action. It was really cool!

As a senior, this is his last time playing with this band so it’s pretty special. No one knows if school will eventually become fully virtual or not, but at least he’s already gotten in a few live performances.

It’s always amazing to see the marching band parent preview concert knowing that the students have only been practicing the new piece for a couple of weeks. And even more amazing is the fact that the freshman musicians have never marched before! I bet it was a real thrill to finally perform on the field in front of an audience. Way to go, kids!!

Tonight we went to the stadium to watch Koa perform in the marching band for the band parents. Due to the COVID-19 situation, the marching band competitive season and all travel was cancelled, but they still were able to rehearse (both virtually and socially-distanced in-person) and perform at a few home-field football games. The show was redesigned to keep space between each band member, although I have to say there were a few moments were it got closer than 6 feet. But still, it was nothing like past shows, which was appreciated. All students wore masks, the wind and brass instruments had coverings, and many of the kids also wore face shields. Happily, we haven’t heard of any band kids nor band staff testing positive for COVID-19.

New this year, Koa switched instruments from marimba to snare. This meant he was actually marching in the field instead of just up in the front ensemble. I think he really enjoyed it. He was also a drumline captain! Yay, Koa!

The photo above was taken through my binoculars in case you were wondering. I don’t have a long telephoto lens, so this will have to do. 😆

You can watch the show below:

The angle of the camera makes the crowd appear packed, but actually the seats were marked off with tape so that groups would be kept apart at a safe distance, and masks were required. I was reluctant to let Koa return to marching band this year (many of the students attended 100% virtually), but after seeing a few of the rehearsals, I was more comfortable with how seriously everyone was taking it. And Koa has some pretty sweet tan-lines on his cheeks from wearing his mask! 😄

Normally we attend several of the football games to see the band perform but this year we only saw the show once. Hopefully next year the pandemic situation will be over and Koa can enjoy a normal senior year performing at more games and competitive events.

This year’s marching band season is continuing on, but of course it’s not nearly the same. For instance, there are no competitions, and the band will not be traveling to away football games. The actual show they are working on is designed to keep the kids socially-distanced, and all the kids wear masks (and many have face-shields as well).

I went to the rehearsal today to see how they were doing, and was really impressed with the mask-wearing. This was honestly a big concern for me. But I think it will be okay.

So after yesterday’s bus debacle, Koa’s high school band performed at 9:30 am in the preliminary competition, and scored third in their class, which meant they earned a position in the finals, which are held in the evening. It’s pretty impressive that they did so well after waking up super-early (I dropped him off at the high school at 4 am).

But what is even more amazing, is that in the finals, which started at 7:30 pm, they came in third place, which is the highest they’ve ever achieved at Bands of America! They have a fantastic show this year, but honestly, we kind of knew two other bands would capture the top spots. It was just a question of where Koa’s band would end up. All the bands in the finals are really terrific, so when they kept announcing the bands (in order from 14th on up) and Koa’s band wasn’t mentioned, Mariko and I were very excited. And when they announced 4th place, and it wasn’t Koa’s band, I was very happy – a third place finish (out of a total of 64 in all) is awesome!

This is the last marching competition that they will participate in this year and what a finale! Next weekend the drumline goes up to Dallas to compete, and of course there are a few more football games to perform at, but I think the pressure is off for the band kids. Another fun season (for the band parents too) is in the books.

I hope you had a nice day!

またね～