Welcome, students, parents, directors, and fans to the 2012 season!
Welcome to Illinois Marching Online. We have been gearing up for the 2012 season (our 9th full season), and we hope you all have as well. We have had a good deal of things going on throughout the off season that we feel will enhance the site even more.
We have not had an update in a while and we thought we would share with everyone what has been going on, the rules around here, and some new things we will be doing throughout the season.
1.) DO NOT BE AFRAID TO POST! Simply put, we’re welcoming of any discussion on the marching band and musical activity-either inside Illinois or nationwide that we all know and love. We understand that some schools do have social media policies that prohibit posting on message boards, and we will honor those requests. However, please be aware that we do have everyone’s email address, and we can track users to a general location-with very little effort on our part.
2.) Band directors get special treatment on these forums. If you’re a band director and you have any sort of feedback/concerns, e-mail me directly. I strongly prefer that you e-mail from your school account, so that I can be sure you are who you say you are. In addition, if you are an educator and you post on the message boards, please PM me or email me so I can change your account status.
For all the rules, visit the Message Board Guidelines at http://ilmarching.com/forum/index.php?action=rules.
Now, we’re done with the rules. On to the fun stuff of marching band, and some new features.
Thanks to the ILMarching survey that we conducted at the end of last year, we have a number of new changes that we hope will enhance your use of the site.
1.) As of this writing we have 758 videos (and growing!) in a new video database. These videos are viewable here: http://www.ilmarching.com/videos.php. If you have additional videos to add (such as on a DVD, VHS or YouTube link) or if you see a broken link, please contact me.
2.) We now have a writeup explaining how marching band competitions and judging run in Illinois as well as nationally. View it here: http://ilmarching.com/faq.php. On the other half of that tab, there is a link to some great suggestions regarding etiquette at a competition. I strongly suggest reading that as well.
3.) Each bands’ page has been updated to include their show title for the 2012 season. Do you know if your band has their repertoire listed for this year? Check http://www.ilmarching.com/bands_check.php to find out. If your band is in red, you do not have a 2012 show listed with us. PM Mark or me, email one of us, post it on the forums, or use our Info Submission pages: http://www.ilmarching.com/submit_band_info.php
4.) We have submission forms that make it easier on everyone. You can send your information on your band’s 2012 show/past information, festivals, and scores. In addition, we are asking users of the site to submit any old repertoires for bands that they know. Do you have an old program book lying around that has show selections for each band? If so, could you email us with that information?
Visit:
http://ilmarching.com/submit.php
http://ilmarching.com/upload_image_web.php
5.) As usual, we will be predicting all shows in Illinois this season. Those will be posted on Wednesday each week. In addition, we are going to try to cover any (and all) out of state shows that Illinois bands are competing in this year. In addition to that, we are going to post schedules for every Bands of America event this year due to overwhelming requests for that.
6.) There will be a myriad of features this year. We will have articles from an adjudicator describing what he looks for when judging, 2 music writers describing their job, and an article with our newest sponsor, Huddletrip. There will also be some surprises along the way.
7.) Anyone who writes a review of a show can send those to us, and we will post the reviews. The reviews must be unbiased. We had a few reviews last year if you want a reference. Don’t think you have to review every band at a show to submit it to us. While it is nice to see a comparison across all the performing bands, if you only want to review a few of the bands…send us those too! We will post them.
8.) We will be updating scores for each show as usual. That means if you have official scores for a show, email them to us. The quicker we have them, the quicker they will be posted on the site. They will also be posted on Twitter and the Facebook Fan Page. If you have recap sheets, we like those as well! They will be posted alongside the scores, as we have done in the past.
We are on Facebook and Twitter. We will use Twitter to update scores of whatever shows the staff is at, plus news going on around the state. We’ll also use the Facebook Fan Page to update users of scores as well, share some fun links, news, and maybe some video as well. The ILmarching Facebook page also allows users to message the page just like a normal person, which gives our users another way to contact us.
Tell your friends that use the site to become fans of the Illinois Marching Online page and follow us on Twitter! There is a link to both the Facebook and Twitter pages on the left hand side of every page.
Here’s the links to each site:
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ilmarching Use the hashtag #ilmarching to communicate with us faster.
To follow the ilmarching updates on your cell phone, text the following to 40404: Follow ilmarching.
Note: Standard text messaging rates do apply.
Facebook Fan Page: http://www.facebook.com/ilmarching
Illinois Marching Online has always been, and will forever be a free site for its’ users. Keep in mind the people that run this site are volunteers who have donated (and will continue to) hours upon hours of manpower to this site to make it what it is today. Mark is always taking my wild, crazy ideas that in a million years could never work, and somehow makes them work. If you have any ideas for improvements, do not hesitate to contact us.
Everything comes out of pocket for the site: hosting fees, advertising fees, tickets, gas, and other various items. If you like what you see, would you please consider donating with PayPal? There’s also a donation button on each of the main pages. If you do not have a credit card, and still wish to donate, we can work something out. Email Dan to discuss this. We understand times are difficult, and we will definitely appreciate any contribution that you make. In addition, as our way of saying “thank you,” we will have different levels of contribution, where the staff will give different items to thank you for donating to us. You will also be publicly thanked on the site as well.
The site probably would not be around anymore if it were not for the generosity of our sponsors-past and present. Thank you to the following past sponsors: Phantom Regiment Drum and Bugle Corps, The Blue Stars Drum and Bugle Corps, Paramount Theater, and KnightFire Drum and Bugle Corps. Thanks as well to Paul Katula, for his donations over the past couple of seasons. Thank you to our current sponsors: Fitzpatrick Music, Huddle Trip and Voxitatis. These sponsorships and donations are greatly appreciated.
We still have several opportunities for sponsorships available for the 2012 season. Contact us for more information.
We are glad you are here. Stay tuned throughout the season for the latest scores and reviews and good luck to all of the bands in Illinois. We at Illinois Marching Online hope everyone has a fun, safe, and successful season. Make sure to promote the site to all of your friends!
As usual, if anyone has any suggestions for any improvements, suggest them to Dan or Mark.
The Illinois Marching Online Staff
Staff Emails:
Admins
Dan Balash -guaranteed response time within 12-24 hours.
Moderators:
Paul Strain
John Donovan
Contributors
Andrew Beckwith
Chris Klaus