The post title this week is a quote from film composer Thomas Newman, who happens to be born on October 20 – the date of this Saturday’s competitions (mostly*). Happy Birthday to Thomas Newman and all of those born on 10/20. This weekend, we’ve got Troy Athens enjoying a trip to Indianapolis, three Scholastic contests and two MCBA shows.
In regards to the post title / Thomas Newman quote: This is the last weekend for Scholastic bands. There are more bands than there are flights, and not everyone is going to be capable of winning. Just know that you are all deserving of applause, for you all put in equal amounts of work and over the course of several months, have created something that never existed before. You’ve weathered challenges, exhaustion, heat, rain, and cold. You have likely ached, or been frustrated, and maybe even wanted to quit or give up, yet here you are: performing your 2018 show, likely for the last time.
Leave it all on the field. Make yourself proud. Do your best.
BOA Indianapolis
I sort of dropped the ball this week. Troy Athens took a trip down to Indy for this Super Regional and performed Friday at 11:00AM. We won’t know until Saturday awards (at 3:45PM) if they’ve placed in their class or advance to finals – as Friday Prelims and Saturday Prelims are the same “competition.”
Finalists will be known at that time, and if we are able, we’ll share who advances! BOA Indy Details.
Brandon
Brandon hosts 17 bands in five classes at their Scholastic competition. The event starts at 11AM. Awards for D, C, and B are at 1:00PM. Awards for A and AA are at 4:15PM. Here is the lineup.
Clarkston
Clarkston is hosting their MCBA competition this Saturday, and 20 bands will be competing, representing all flights. The event starts around 2:45PM. Awards for Flights 5, 4, 3 and 2 are at 6:15PM. Flight 1 awards are at 9:30PM. Here are the details.
East Kentwood
With the latest start time (2:30PM), and a final awards ceremony at 8:45PM, East Kentwood is officially the LAST scholastic competition in 2018. 19 bands are attending in competition. Awards for all classes is, as mentioned, at 8:45PM. Go bands! Full lineup here.
Jenison
The Wildcats host their annual celebration of the marching arts with the longest running single-site-multi-contest event. Scholastic competition begins way too early, at 8:30AM. Class C (8 bands!) compete among themselves, and get their awards at 10:45. 9 Bands in Class B and A, an exhibition performance by Jenison, and B/A awards at 1:45PM.
MCBA events start at 2:30PM. Almost all of Flight 5 performs; Flight 4 will join 5 for awards at 6:45.
Flights 3, 1, and 2 perform, and barring any weather issues, their awards are at 10:15PM.
Expect the parking lots to be crowded. Expect the stands to be crowded. I have been around so many well-behaved and talented students this year. Adults, please be like them, and stay chill and support everyone, okay? Here’s the super-full line-up!
Lamphere
Over in Madison Heights, Lamphere hosts their contest. While small, this competition starts at 4:50 with a playing of the National Anthem by Lamphere’s High School Quintet.
Performances from bands in Flight 3, 2, 1, and 4 conclude with awards at 6:45PM. Here are the full details.
Spectator Etiquette
Sean and I (Tim) are total band nerds who run this site out of the goodness of our heart and the detriment to our wallets. We don’t have kids, siblings, or cousins in any band; we go to watch students perform, support all bands, and collect scores and program information. It is easy to understand that all bands and all students work hard and deserve praise. And, it absolutely kills us when we sit in the stands and see and hear hatred being spewed by parents for no reason.
Please stop exclaiming to the spectators around you that “Everyone else can go home, my band is here!”, or making reductive comments like “I thought this was marching band, not (actively I don’t understand) band”. By all means: be proud of your band and your students, but also remember that the people sitting next to you likely have kids in band and they think their kids are the best, too. And, you are all correct.
Whoop and Holler for everyone, be kind, and don’t talk through anybody’s show. If you can give your student 7 minutes of your time, be polite and let someone else’s student enjoy 7 minutes of their time. If you want to talk during any band’s performance, just do me and everyone else a favor: leave. I bet nobody drove to a high school to sit outside in the cold on a Saturday in October to listen to you talk. We wanted to watch and hear bands perform. Let us do that.
Scores
As a friendly reminder: data on this site is collected through public means or user submissions. Apparently we do too dang good’a job, as most of y’all don’t submit things.
If you are at a competition that we are not at, stay for awards, help us out and SEND THEM IN.
If you don’t want to use the contact form, try: Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. We’d love to get the scores up on the site faster than we usually can – but we physically cannot be at every competition. I wish I was a timelord or a wizard or something and could do this better, but I am not. I am doing my best.