Headed to Dayton, OH tomorrow

[BackInTex]

I seem to recall we have a BB that lives in or near, or is originally from Dayton. Am I correct?

We will be attending the WGI World Championships. My son's indoor drumline will be competing in the Scholastic Marching Open class.

Interesting situation....in order to participate in extracurricular activities students must pass all their coursework. We had two members fail classes and thus will not be making the trip to Dayton. The two members were part of the pit (xylophone and misc percussion) and were non-marching parts. We were able to get two other band members who had not been part of the indoor drumline to step in and learn the parts and come to Dayton with us.

Our district rival is also going to Dayton. They have been working on their show for 2 years. We've beat them in all but one competition this season, taking 2nd to their 3rd at the state championship last week (beat them by 2.400 points where we were only beat out by 1st place by 0.175 points). Anyway, they were pretty cocky to our kids just prior to them being announce 3rd place. As I said they've been working on their show for 2 years, we have only been working on ours since November/December. They had three members fail classes, all marching positions. They will not be able to find alternates. The new eligibility period begins this Saturday. Prelims are Friday, finals are Saturday. So they will travel to Dayton and compete in the Prelims, but regardless of how they do, they will not be competing in Saturday's finals. Very disappointing to those kids who have worked so hard for so long, only to be let down by their fellow members. Our members who failed will not be making the trip and have had their names removed from the final version of the t-shirts. A tough lesson but a good one.

This is my son's first trip to the national competition. Our school went four years ago and placed 7th, two years ago placing 5th. We are looking to better that this year. Fingers crossed.

We have a good show that has been improved on each week based on feedback from the judges at all of the preliminary and state competitions. Its amazing how these kids can learn and memorize the music and choreography and then each week add or change something and perform like its been that way all along.

[MarleysGh0st]

Good luck, BiT, Jr.!

[Pastor Fireball]

I seem to recall we have a BB that lives in or near, or is originally from Dayton. Am I correct?

I used to live there. Of course, I'm only a half-hour away from there right now.

There is another BB who lives (or lived) in the Dayton suburb of Trotwood. He was in the ROF during the 10th anniversary primetime specials. I can't remember his real name or BB name, though.

[Bob78164]

Be sure to say hello to Wilbur and Orville. --Bob

[Spock]

Good Luck.

[BackInTex]

I seem to recall we have a BB that lives in or near, or is originally from Dayton. Am I correct?

I used to live there. Of course, I'm only a half-hour away from there right now.

There is another BB who lives (or lived) in the Dayton suburb of Trotwood. He was in the ROF during the 10th anniversary primetime specials. I can't remember his real name or BB name, though.

We are actually staying in Hamilton, OH. Prelims tonight are in Oxford, OH at Millet Hall. Finals tomorrow, if we make it, are in Dayton at the U of Dayton Arena.

[BackInTex]

Update: The kids did fantastic. On Friday, we placed 2nd among 42 schools. Finals were Saturday. Even with a screw-up by a parent (failing to properly plug in one of the lighting effects) we took home the bronze medal.

We had no idea how much the lighting snafu was going to cost us. Prior to the announcing of final scores and placements, our band director said it could be as mush as 8 placements. In the end we are thrilled with 3rd place.

Some schools go to this event every year. The two schools that beat us were there last year so I assume they are yearly participants. We only compete nationally every other year. Four years ago our school got 7th, two years ago 5th, this year 3rd. If the pattern holds, when we return in 2 years.....

It was an exciting event and to be able to participate as a parent was very rewarding. I'm just glad my responsibility was the house and not the starry night.

For those interested, you can watch our prelim show here (so you can see how it is suppose to be). My son plays the bass 5, the largest marching drum.

Enjoy, The Lighthouse

[MarleysGh0st]

Well done!

And thanks for the video!