SABand

Awesome.

Was this recently, Jeff? Unfortunately, some of the programs you'd mentioned, and TOB in general in this area, have dropped considerably in quality over the last few years. PIMBA seems to be where the better quality stuff is these days in southwestern PA. Overall, IMHO, I'm soured of competition in general in this area anymore, regardless of the circuit, especially for percussion. We're just not producing the monster drummers we used to back in the day, when kids were allowed to drum, instead of being tacet or background accompaniment. But that's a whole other soapbox. I doubt I'll ever do a competitive band again. This festival stuff is a blast, and there are no limits, no sheets to write to, and most important.... our only "score" is a crowd reaction.

Well Norwin and Kiski are nearby so I wouldn't say all of the area has seen better days. A few other real nice programs hanging around in the competitive world as well. Overall, though, a lot of the area is still stuck in the 70's. The school itself is actually in Port Vue, PA, but it's a McKeesport mailing address. The stadium is in Glassport. All three border each other. I'm sure there was a corps show somewhere back in the day. They were all over the place then.

Thanks for posting the link. Again, it's dirty, dynamically challenged, etc. etc..... but the kids got exposed to music they might not have otherwise explored, and they ended up loving it. And the demographic of the crowds, being largely made up of parents of band kids (who would probably rather be somewhere else on a Saturday night after their own kid performs), was perfect for this music. We grew up with headphones on listening to this stuff. Was refreshing to see it at band festivals, instead of the stuff normally seen/heard at these things.

Sorry to drag this back from the dead, and not sure on how to post link or even if I'm allowed to... But if you do a youtube search for "South Allegheny Marching Band 2014-2015" under phd12volt as the channel, you'll see an entire Pink Floyd show with the tunes "In the Flesh?", "Happiest Days of Our Lives", "Another Brick in the Wall Part 2", "Welcome to the Machine", and "Money". Before flaming, remember: 1. First and foremost, the ending chords were NOT ripping off anyone, as the show was designed and penned in March/April of 2014. You'll know what I mean when you hear it. Yes, we did try to go with an actual sample of the band after seeing the corps made famous for this, however the intonation was putrid... so we stuck with stock library samples as originally designed. But we were doing this in the spring before any corps hit the field. 2. This is a festival band. They don't compete and have no interest in subjective scoring. Therefore, nothing needs written to sheets, and dynamics are basically thrown out the window. These crowds are used to loud and proud big ten stuff, with a focus on cheeeeeeze. The more gimmicks, the better. 3. These kids rehearse about 2-4 hours a week, and not consecutively. The get 3-4 days of 40 minute field practice during their band class, and maybe an hour on a Saturday. A large percentage of the members also play sports, so time is very limited. In addition, the entire design and instructional staff for the whole marching band program consists of three people total. 4. This isn't meant to show technical or performance mastery; it's just meant to show that yes, the source material can be made entertaining in this medium, and I'm actually surprised more competitive organizations haven't messed with it in various ways, especially in marching band. 5. If nothing else, and even if your ears are cringing from intonation and quality of sound issues to that point, please listen to the alto sax (gasp... woodwinds) solos in "Brick" and "Money". Kid can play. 6. For those not yet in tune with how the technology is moving in to the medium, the LED's on the drums are controlled via wifi, with a router front field and individual wifi receivers on each drum. The overall control is done through an iPad controlled front field. Anyhow, thanks for providing info and entertainment over the years on this forum. I hope I don't get too flamed on my first post.