Marching Band

[Kelly68]

As I mentioned in my other post my two kids are members of the Merrill Marching Band. This is my daughter's last year in the Colorguard section and my son's first year in the band section. This is a sad time for me and her dad as this season, this past weekend, has came to a close. A lot of tears were shed between members as there is a lot who are seniors. I would like to include (as a proud parent) some pictures of this. A few weeks back, Merrill hosted a competition where all bands in the conference would come compete. At the end of the day, they recognize all seniors who are members in Merrill. It is a tradition that the seniors when their name are announced will take off their shoes, hat, and put them on top of their instrument and leave that on the field before taking their place in line. It is a symbol to a future band member to honor them and take their place in their shoes. It was very touching. As you can see from the picture (and Merrill is not that big) we have a lot of seniors leaving us this year.


Senior's honored:




A full band picture:



My daughter...the one on the left



My son marching in the parade...2nd one in from left to right




As a proud parent I had to share in our sadness and joy. I don't know if anyone has ever had the opportunity to go to any Marching Band competitions, they are awesome. The kids work countless hours. It is well worth the time to go and see! Thank you for letting me share my story.

Kelly

[MrKhay]

Color Guard, and Marching Band activities are a good exercise in discipline and mental awareness.

Kelly, you should be proud of your children. They look like well rounded young adults.

Nice photos. Thanks for sharing them with us.

[LinksToThePast]

Great photos Kelly.

I wish more schools would see marching band as a sport. It has always amazed me how people can do two things at one time. Play the songs (often without the music) and keep to step and in formation.

You must be very proud!

[Kelly68]

We are extremely proud of our kids. For the whole band for that matter. My daughter and son that are still in school (I have three) that you just saw pictures of are 4.0 honor roll students as well. My daughter is a senior and taking AP (advanced placement) classes for college right now obtaining a 4.0 and my son who is a Freshman is taking Honors classes in several classes that most don't take til they are a junior or senior. The marching band is a vigorous time consuming "sport". They practice 3 days a week and most weekends during the season they are off at competitions. They did this and still held up their grades. I am very honored to have three very bright kids (my third is a Sophmore at UWMC and planning on attending UW Madision next year for the start of his 3rd year of college for Psychology). Anyway, thanks for the comments...I was getting sad there for a minute that no one would join me in my happiness. Here is what what printed in the Merrill paper regarding the Marching Band Competition.



"Congratulations to the Marching Jays. They took 2nd place at State and were only a little over a point away from taking 1st place. … The Jays were also awarded “Best Percussion”. There were a lot of people in the stands talking about Merrill after the band’s performance. Congratulations, again. You made us proud the way you conducted yourselves both on and off the field.

The Marching Jays went from roughly a beginning season score of 62 to an ending season score of over 80. This amount of improvement is highly unusual and almost unprecedented. It just goes to show you that hard work can pay off. We are receiving many emails from parents and directors. Here is one from Andy Brady, our field drill writer…
…………………………….
I have to take a moment to share with you all how happy and proud I am of the Marching Jays! Though I didn't get the opportunity to meet the students I felt like I knew every one of them watching them perform. They trusted the product, the staff, and most importantly each other and the performance was PHENOMENAL. After the show I was approached by many fans along with the "higher ups" of WSMA and the big talk was about you. One even stated "this is a whole new Merrill!"

It was great to see the show performed but without the students the show is non-existent and the achievements and goals met this year were wonderful!

Thank you so much for the opportunity to work with this fine ensemble and I look forward to speaking about 2008 (when you are ready...I know I am a marching band dork"

Congratulations!!!

Andy Brady

**please feel free to share this with the students**

Lead Designer - Plus One Drill Design & Consulting
Plusonedrill.com
UW - Whitewater Bands Dept. Visual Coordinator
MACBDA Board of Directors
MarchingTVChannel.com
608-628-7882

And one more:

We are getting all kinds of compliments from visiting bands. Here is just one of many…

Thanks for inviting us. We appreciate the time and energy that goes into putting on such a successful show! JOB WELL DONE.

I want to give a special thank you to the Merrill color guard. Wow! What wonderful young ladies. They were very helpful, polite, and informative when I had questions near the building. Your entire staff should be very proud of the character that you’ve helped instill in your students.

We look forward to returning next year!

Best,

Steve Fisher

Northstar Bands

[Kris10]

Originally Posted by Kelly68

I don't know if anyone has ever had the opportunity to go to any Marching Band competitions, they are awesome. The kids work countless hours. It is well worth the time to go and see!

I've seen the competitions on PBS... it is amazing. There are so many things going on at the same time, I don't know how they do it! They have to walk, play an instrument and battle the wind, rain or whatever elements come their way.

[Kelly68]

This time of year, in Wisconsin, it is fricken cold out. The girls in the colorguard wear uniforms (as you can see in the pictures) that don't have much too them. First year we went down to State it was snowing soooo cold and they had to perform out there. Unless it rains hard enough to wreck the intrustments they will go inside and do a "dry" field show. I feel so bad for the girls especially. We were lucky this year. It was cold but no where near what it has been previous years.

[MrKhay]

I was involved in the Color Guard/Drill Team as a recruit, in Navy Basic Training, at Great Lakes Recruit Training Center. Raising the Flag every morning for Revelry, and in the evening, lowering it for Taps.

If you care to watch a Drill Team/Honor Guard in action, I recommend audience at the Tomb of The Unknown Soldier, at Arlington National Cemetery in Washington D.C., Arlington Virginia. The timing is awe inspiring. Much discipline goes into the ceremony.

It can be a very emotional moment.

Photo Usage permission pending.