and a great time was had by all

[saffronhare]

Last night, I got to take the two older girls to see Brass Impact, a Drum Corps International competition event. OMG, it was so awesome I almost died. Our seats were pretty darn good, we were able to find PB's friend for after-show visiting, and we had some breezes in the shade most of the time. Also, caramel popcorn.

They were throwing! sabers! And there were metaphorical angels and demons and vampires! Also the French Revolution. And then some things I didn't quite understand but which involved terribly mod moving structures on the field. One of the groups did a version of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" that had most of the folks in my section in tears. Did I mention the sabers?

The drum majors were so adorably SERIOUS.

This was pretty epic stuff. I lost count of the number of times I got goosebumps from the BIG SOUND and the drumming drums. So. Much. Fun. If I could view/post video at the office I'd totally be spamming you all with YouTube today.

Comments

[rebeccafiddler.livejournal.com]

Even for someone (moi) who was raised on classical symphonic orchestra stuff, drum corps can be a soul-searing experience.

I teach band these days, and I know that my school superintendent would dearly love to have a marching band on his new football field, but with a total high school population of less than 100 students, that is a less-than-fulfillable dream. But a drum corps/rhythm troupe? Yeah, that is far more doable, and something that I have been and will be working to fulfill during the coming school year.

[saffronhare.livejournal.com]

That sounds great! (no pun intended)

I'd watched a lot of DCI on YouTube, because diermuid's oldest girl is in the marching band here and she loves DCI very effing much...but I don't think it prepared me for the effect of LIVE performances. I suspect I'm preaching to the choir on that point.

Having graduated from a high school with only about 100 students, I do understand the population challenges. We ended up playing eight-man football my senior year and I don't think we had a music program at all.

[rebeccafiddler.livejournal.com]

Eight-man football here, too, and this is only the second year of the high school program. The district has had basketball and baseball/softball for many years, but only recently decided to restart football after an 80+ year hiatus.

There used to be marching bands here - we have old uniforms and there are trophy plaques on the wall from local parades back in the early '90s, but the original music program died after the last band teacher retired in 1995 or 96. When the current superintendent agreed to a football startup, he also said that he wanted a marching band on the field, too, so he pushed for a restart of that program as well.

I have hopes for a drum corps because I can use younger students in it and avoid the problem of high school students who are a little too involved in the events of a Friday evening (moving from the field to the stands, and back again). We won't be able to do competitions with a mixed jr/sr high group, but I am not particularly concerned about that.