Subscribe
Community
Strike up the bands
Huntingtown High hosts first band competition
Friday, Oct. 5, 2007
 Click here to enlarge this photo Staff Photos By Darwin Weigel
The Northern High School Marching Patriots march on to the field Saturday, Sept. 29, at the first Hurricane Category 5 Classic Tournament of Bands to perform their way to first place against Calvert, La Plata and McDonough.
|
E-Mail This Article
‘‘It’s a lot harder than it looks,” said A.C. Taylor, a 10th grader in the pit of Northern High School’s Marching Patriots.
Angela Kulasiewicz, a sophomore at Northern High School who plays the saxophone in her school’s marching band agreed.
‘‘The hardest part is remembering how many counts [for each set] and where the holds are,” she said.
‘‘There’s more to it than just football games,” said Calvert High School Marching Cavalier’s drumline captain Mason Garland.
‘‘It’s a sport, that’s why it’s on ESPN,” said Northern junior Andrew Fleck, a tuba player.
The Marching Patriots and Cavaliers joined the Huntingtown High School Marching Hurricanes, McDonough High School Marching Rams and La Plata High School Warrior Band last Saturday for the first Hurricane Category 5 Classic marching band competition at Huntingtown High School.
It was the first marching band competition the high school has hosted — called a Tournament of Bands — and according to Paula Robison, Huntingtown High School band booster’s president, there are plans to make it an annual event.
According to a tournament program, ‘‘Tournament of Bands is a nationally recognized organization which was formed to create, support and serve the development of young people in all forms of musicianship, including marching, concert, stage bands as well as majorette and color guard competitions. It is their belief that band competition is a broadening experience and a positive step toward encouraging those who choose to become winners by dedicating themselves to a purpose. The competitions also allow the general public to enjoy music and marching at its finest.”
Performances must be no shorter than eight minutes and no longer than 12 minutes.
Judges for TOB competitions walk around the field during performances and watch from various angles, judging bands on an overall scale of excellence that includes individual and ensemble proficiency, individual and ensemble music and the general effect of music and visuals.
Throughout the afternoon spectators watched a mixture of performances from bands. McDonough High School’s Marching Rams Band’s ‘‘Mangione Magic” showcased the music of legendary flugelhorn player Chuck Mangione, whose performances for five decades were distinguished by his enthusiasm and energy, according to a tournament program. Throughout their performance, the Marching Rams featured trumpet and saxophone soloists, horn pops and a large color guard. The La Plata High School Warrior Band presented its show ‘‘Latin Nights” last weekend, featuring the music selections ‘‘Conquistador,” ‘‘Evil Ways” and ‘‘Los Cuervos.” Calvert High School’s Marching Cavaliers took the crowd back in time with the music of Queen, featuring well-known pieces ‘‘Another One Bites the Dust,” ‘‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love” and ‘‘Bohemian Rhapsody.” Calvert’s drum major, dressed in a tie-died outfit, led the band through elements of surprise, including an end of show electric guitar performance with dancing band members that drew loud applause and cheers from spectators. The Northern High School Marching Patriots show, titled ‘‘Fusion,” took spectators through the colors of the rainbow with music that showcased a color guard soloist and music that had the crowd cheering. And Huntingtown High School’s Marching Hurricanes performed on an exhibition level at last weekend’s tournament — bands hosting tournaments perform but do not compete at the tournament. Their show ‘‘Tribes” carried the crowd through ‘‘a dark adventure,” ‘‘a solemn and introspective reflection” and ‘‘an aggressive and rhythmically intense ‘Warrior Dance.’ ”
It was the first competition for Caroline Richards, a sophomore at La Plata High School and a member of the school’s pit.
‘‘It was a little hectic at first,” she said. Those nerves were gone after her band’s performance. ‘‘I like seeing our drum major really happy.”
‘‘I like performing the best,” said La Plata High School sophomore Andie Younkin, who is also in the pit of La Plata’s marching band. ‘‘Watching other bands is fun too. It’s nice to see the competition and what they’ve been working on.”
Almost all in attendance — band members and supporters alike — we’re happy with what they saw.
Tammy Fox came to Saturday’s tournament to support her daughter Ali, a freshman in Calvert High School’s color guard.
‘‘I thought it was great,” she said after the performance. ‘‘It’s a lot of work. It looks great on the field but man it’s a lot of work.”
Calvert band director Patricia Fraley said that hard work paid off at last weekend’s competition.
‘‘I thought they did great. I’m very pleased,” she said. ‘‘Their energy was high, and I’m extremely proud of my students.”
‘‘I was amazed,” said Calvert junior Taylor Green. ‘‘We did really good.”
‘‘It was fun,” said freshman Elizabeth Giannuzzi from Calvert High.
McDonough High School drum major Helen Shin was pleased with her band’s performance as well.
‘‘I thought we did pretty well for our first TOB,” she said.
‘‘It’s amazing,” said McDonough senior Larissa Hardin, woodwind captain.
Shin, Hardin and several others in the band said they were grateful for the lessons they have learned over the years through the marching band.
‘‘You make some friends you’ll know the rest of your life,” said senior Matt Grimes, saxophone section leader for McDonough.
‘‘It teaches a lot of things that school can’t teach,” said senior Ben Coghan, McDonough brass captain.
Northern drum major Kati Bucklin has spent her entire high school career thus far as a member of the marching band. She was ecstatic after the band won first place at last weekend’s tournament.
‘‘I can’t even describe it right now,” she said walking off Huntingtown’s track holding the first-place trophy. ‘‘I’m corking out right now.”
The Marching Patriots scored seven points higher than they had at their first competition the weekend before.
‘‘We did really good,” said Northern junior Will Thayer, a baritone player. ‘‘It’s a really big improvement.”
Stadium coordinator for Huntingtown’s tournament Paul Robison said he was pleased with how smoothly the school’s first hosted TOB went. He also expressed his astonishment at all of the band performances.
‘‘All of them were great,” he said. ‘‘...They did wonderful.”
For band participants, being in the marching band has its rewards, and all hope their peers and others will understand all that goes into a performance.
‘‘I like to play,” Taylor said. ‘‘It’s fun with friends.
‘‘Numerous amounts of people think they can do what we do, but they’ve never tried,” Bucklin said. ‘‘It’s not as easy as it looks.”
E-mail Meagan Boswell at mboswell@somdnews.com.
