Benjamin Button

Right Past Splat!

This weekend we moved a bit past SPLAT! We didn't even know it at the time though. This weekend all of our hard work paid off as we earned our way in to finals at the Bands of America Regional Championship at Towson, Maryland. It was quite rewarding to see the kids walk a bit taller today in the halls. I even had kids ask if they could rehearse today. (We are taking today off to recover from our trip!) I truly believe most people give up right before they get to their goal. I am glad that was not the case this past Saturday. The words still ring in my ears from the final announcement for the band as we left the field Saturday night. "The Dutch Fork High School Band has a long tradition of excellence and now they are a Bands of America Finalist!" They can never take that away. I would love to take credit for the story below but it is not mine but it sure fits the situation.

"Which way is success?" the man asks. The stoic sage points down the path to his left. The man, thrilled at the prospect of easy success, rushes off in the appropriate direction. From the distance comes a loud SPLAT! The man reappears. He is bruised and tattered. Again he asks the guru, "Which way is success?" Once again the wise man says nothing. He simply points down the path to his left. The man quickly races down the path a second time. From the distance comes a much louder SPLAT! The man returns crawling on his hands and knees. He is bloody and beaten. He yells at the guru, "Twice I have asked you about the path to success. Both times I followed your directions and both times all I have gotten is splatted!" He screams at the top of his lungs, "No more pointing, talk to me!" The wise man calmly replies, "Success is that way. It is just a little past SPLAT.

Bands of America at Towson, Maryland

Dutch Fork High School Marching Band - Finalist at Bands of America - Towson, Maryland

This is the first time Dutch Fork has ever made finals at any BOA event. Way to go!

Time To Really Work

This is the time to pull it all together. This is the place in which I really like to work a band. They have the abilities to do what they are asked and they have the physical attributes to do it to. We must pull together though. Today the band got a bit down and didn't seem to want to work. I sat them down for a bit and then they came back. Then some work happened. We did certain sets about...10 or 12 times and then added sets. I am sure the band didn't really like this but guess what happened? It started to get better. A lot better and quickly too. Muscle memory is what Mr. Apple preaches and I believe it was happening. It might not have been the preferred method or technique but it worked! I think we will use it some more. Here is what is scary. There are only two more weeks until state finals and then it will all be over for a year any way. For some, this will be their last few weeks in a competitive marching band. They may not realize it yet but they will miss it and remember it forever.

P.S. I am sorry for the numerous grammatical errors in this post. I am kind slow you know.

2nd Place Brady!

Unfortunately if you are reading this you know why the title of this post. I and my bands have been second place all to often! Sometimes that stings but not this weekend. Yesterday we journeyed our way to North Augusta and I am glad we did. The folks at North Augusta treated us great. We had plenty of room and they were very courteous too...but any way back to second place...We were second in prelims by .5 and then came finals. I thought we were much better in finals but we just could not over come the fact we went one hour before the final band. You might think that was a poor result but not yesterday. Yesterday was the first day this season that things came together for us. We were finally together in more ways than that word can express. So when the final score were announced, I was gratified to see smiling faces and hear laughs. We all know greater things await us. Although I still think second place is the first loser, I think we actually did a bit more than that yesterday. I am glad we leave ole South Carolina for a bit for the next few weeks because I think we may just have something for them in a few more. Remember if you are scoring at 90 in September, you just have peaked a bit early...like a month early! Watch out, here we come.

An Explanation?

Many look to me for an explanation as to why the band is not scoring well this year. I really don't have all the answers and that may seem strange coming from me because I usually have most of them but not this time. But perhaps here are a few:

1. We had a great week of rehearsals but yesterday you would not have been able to tell that by the performance. We get one chance and it just seemed as though the band thought we could just "restart" or "do it over". Unfortunately sometimes in the real world you only get one chance. Can you image a heart surgeon saying, "Well I messed that one up! I'll try again on you!" The changes and additions on Saturday just were not executed.

2. The overall attitude of unimportance could be a factor. I was really surprised to hear from one of my assistants that the kids were talking and cutting up in the stands at awards. So much so that another band asked them to be quiet.

3. The show may just be too hard. I will take the blame for that one. Although the show is very effective, you will not get the overall effect points until it is clean and it is not. The show is difficult both musically and visually and although it is getting better it is just not better consistently. We seem to need " restarts" and "do overs" and, oh I hate this one, the kids seem to need to be "coached" in effort. If I spend my time teaching effort instead of band, we have a problem.

4. We are out gunned. If you bring a bb gun to the shoot out at the OK corral you might shoot out a few windows but you really aren't going to do much other damage. It was very enlightening to listen to the other bands staff being called out as they took the field. Most bands had at least 3 or 4 directors and a whole list of other help. My staff was easy to keep up with yesterday as there was on 3 of us.

With these things being stated, I watched the video last night and it was not bad. The show continues to get better in all aspects. Perhaps the thing that truly needs the most work is number #2 above.

A Nice Flight with a Rough Landing

Yesterday was a pretty band day by most accounts except for the end result. The weather was great and we all looked great too. We even had hot dogs before we left. But something I feared from the beginning with our new innovative show was that it may just go over some of the judges heads and last night it did just that. South Carolina is just not a place where new ideas and innovation often go rewarded. Things just chug along as they have for many, many years for the most part. The band's placement, 3rd in the top class, was not nearly as disappointing to me as was the score. It was an 82. 423. The band that won the show scored over a 90 and that is great for them. I guess my confusion comes from that fact that just a week ago we were second to that same group by only 1.3 points. I guess we got 8 points worse this week. Of course we didn't. We were actually better this week in many aspects. It is just time to perfect the show and quit accepting mediocrity especially at rehearsals. The show is on the field and now is the time to find something else inside to take it to the next level. And yes, I do pick the show so the ultimate responsibility for the show being criticized or praised lays on myself. But I know I just can't do the status quo and hope we win. I chose to go for it time and time again and in the end my bands may not always win but I will guarantee you this...THEY ARE ALWAYS REMEMBERED! Perhaps one day I will just buy my shows out of a catalog and take a break and make it much easier. Perhaps one day I won't wear a suit to contests any more either. But then how would you tell my band from the others. If everybody wore white T-shirts and shorts, you could still always know who was directed by Jon Brady. As the title of this post state, nothing ruins a nice flight like a bad landing.

Off to White Knoll

We are off to the White Knoll Silver Invitational this weekend. The band has cleaned up a bit and we are trying to be more musical too. This is big competition and one easily viewed by local family and friends so we certainly have the incentive to do well. The weather should be much improved too. The show is difficult and we have a long way to go before anybody would say we were clean and although it would be great to win this one, that is not our ultimate goal. We have business at BOA and state that takes the top priority of our goals. Our goal this week is to be better than we were last week. If that happens to put us at the top...We'll take it!