Super Regionals

Wherein it is likely that if any of the sports teams practiced as much as the marching band, they would be in violation of so many regulations the high school would be reduced to a smoldering hole in the ground


Fifty high school bands are competiting today and tomorrow in St. Louis for one of the Bands of America Super Regionals. Our local high school is performing (2 National Championships and 5 Regional Championships). We'll go up in the evenings and watch them practice: neighbor's daughter is in the band. After winning a Super Regional last year, everyone thought this would be the year to return to Nationals. Turned out, this is the big trip, so maybe next year they'll go for the title. I don't remember the exact amount, but I'm pretty sure the fundraising is in the hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. The band owns two tractor trailers just to haul all their equipment.

Interesing:

• My MN high school is competing on Saturday
  
• There's a Super Regional next weekend in Atlanta that the local school will not be competing in. I'll have to ask the neighbors about that decision

Here's how the local HS describes this year's program:

This year’s show, Musical Tapestries, contains four movements based on famous painters of the 20 th century; Joan Miró, Pablo Picasso, Jackson Pollock, and Mark Rothko. In the first movement, John Barnes Chance’s Chance Symphony sets the mood for Miró’s style. The show then segues into Solitaire, the perfect ballad to portray Picasso’s Dove of Peace. Following the breath-taking ballad comes David Holsinger’s Scootin’ on Hardrock, accompanied by visuals based on Jackson Pollack paintings. This piece includes a thrilling percussion feature, a dizzying woodwind fugue, and brilliant brass. The show concludes with a goose-bump raising rendition of Eric Ball’s Kingdom Triumphant, featuring the trumpet section playing the melody, with Rothko’s vibrant colors bordering the field.

With band membership around 275 this year, we end our season in St. Louis at the BOA Super Regional on October 21.