drillwriter

Is anyone else tired of all the ramps, scaffolds, platforms and backdrops?

Woa. Can High Schools have individual school marching bands AND a co-op band? A co-op LW band would have the potential to be a big, impressive group.

I guess that depends on you definition of "poorly"

Do you really think a band is going to do anything very different whether they get 18's across the board at a show, versus 14's across the board?

...but I wish groups made my heart stop with their power. I think you need to go to Indiana for that

That's the part that concerns me. MANY pieces of music have some sort of tie to hymns. Stuff like this can, and eventually will go to court as some point, since we live in such a litigious society. And the definition of "religious" is subjective - who knows what a court would say? Question: can A Christmas Festival (with choir) be performed or is it too religious? Is it less religious if a band plays it without a choir?? I just see a slippery slope here.

I must say that I'm disappointed in the lack of responses to this topic. Did anyone read the article? Any concerns?

This isnt good: http://wreg.com/2015/08/21/brandon-hs-marching-band-pulled-for-violating-federal-court-order/

Um, anyone else think that this could be a very dangerous (in a good way) show? Glad to see Mr Snoeck back!

Wow - closing a school that was built only 8 years ago is a shocker. I always thought that the LW district had their act together, with purchasing land and planning for growth. The growth hasn't happened as fast as planned, but I assume it'll only be a matter of time before there are homes on all of that undeveloped land.

Based on past, history, I'd guess O'Fallon. Maybe Prospect?

NN's performance of PDQ Bach's 1712 Overture is a very memorable show from many years ago that I really liked.

There are more considerations than just trying to put together a "superband". For example, there's an economy of scale. Putting on a competitive show can be expensive. Instead of 2 times the cost of designing a show and 2 times the cost of a staff, you can get some economies with 1 show - nothing wrong with saving money, is there? This might also simplify the needs for rehearsal space. Also, perhaps they are going for a unification/equity across the district - nothing wrong with that, is there? Some people want to assume the worst about their motivations - I choose to assume otherwise. I find it really hard to believe that the primary reason for doing this was to "win".

Good luck to all bands performing this weekend!

I've seen some pretty great designs and performances over the years from bands that were clearly not going to "win" the competitions that they attended. So, yeah, it's not about winning. In fact, many times, I enjoy the bands that don't "win" more than the bands that do. It's about a lot of other things. Winning some trophy end up on the long list of those things, but I doubt that even the directors of the top echelon bands don't focus on "winning", but rather maxing out the show design and the execution - and, if you asked me, it's about entertaining the audience and having the students grow and learn and have fun along the way. Being a great band is a cultural thing that isn't founded on winning or defining the success or failure of a season based on "winning".