The Sewing Mom

Our high school band succeeded in getting a ranking of 1 in the Regional marching contest last Saturday, so today, we are off to watch them at the Area contest. My daughter is all ready at the practice field and where they have been rehearsing for over an hour. They’ll be boarding the 23 school buses that it takes to transport 650 students and heading out for the 40 minute drive to the site of the contest today. My husband and I won’t be too far behind them. This could turn out to be an extremely long day because there are scattered thunderstorms in the area. Anytime there is even a hint of lightning, the performances will be delayed. Right now they are scheduled to perform at 2:30 and will wait to hear results scheduled for 5:30. Top finalists will move on to the State competition in San Antonio, so this is very important. With a band this size though, while they are really good and amazing to watch, it is difficult to maneuver and get everything perfect. I am hoping they do really well, but it has been a very long time since they’ve moved on to the State contest.

Here are a few photos I took from last week’s contest.

If we’re not attending softball, we’re out watching the largest marching band in the country. This is the Allen High School Escadrille, which includes the band and the color guard, a total of over 650 students. It really is an amazing site to see. This photo was taken a week and a half ago at their first marching contest of the season. They received a ranking of 1 and took 4th place overall. The drumline received the Outstanding Drumline award.

The area contest is this Saturday. It is the first contest on their route to the state competition. They have to receive a ranking of 1 in order to move on to the next contest, so let’s keep our fingers crossed!

What happens when 700+ band kids want to spell? They run like mad around the field until they form the perfect letters to spell out the team mascot, EAGLES!

Personally, I thought they did a great job, especially since it was the first performance and the first football game of the season. By the way, the football team won, 33-27 in a real nail biter of a game!

In case you’re wondering (I know you are!), my daughter is somewhere near the top of the L.

Last week was my daughter’s introduction to marching band. She will be a freshman next near (OMG!)

All incoming freshman met on the high school practice field for 2 hours of instruction from the high school band director. Keep in mind, this is THE larges marching band in the continental U.S.! The pictures here are only the incoming freshman and there were so many, even though I was sitting up high in the bleachers, I couldn’t capture them all in my photo.

A Band!

Thursday night we attended the annual tail gate party sponsored by the local high school band. What you see in the picture is approximately 1,000 students, all members of either the high school marching band (around 650), or one of the 3 middle schools in the district.

This is an incredible evening filled with fun, food and music. Our daughter is somewhere in this photo wearing a white shirt, she is in her 4th year of playing baritone and is in the 8th grade Honors band. Besides the goose bumps we get when we hear them all play, we also got to watch the high school marching band perform their contest piece to the music of Carmen. It was their first time to perform it for an audience. I have to say, the band is so HUGE, it’s hard to watch all that is going on, but they sure did sound terrific!