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C Melody Saxophone Forum / Community and Church Bands / Another Successful year for the Band!

WW2 User ID: 8973393	Jul 5th 12:29 PM Well, July 4th has come and gone. The Temecula All-city Community Band marched its smallest band yet with only 7 musicians! However, the musicians have impressive amateur credentials including two drum majors, six honor band musicians, and five section leaders in award winning bands. Yet most important was their desire to get out there and PLAY! Parade day was warm with temperatures around 80F (27C) at check-in time. By the time the parade stepped of at 10:00 AM the temp had climbed to 93F (34C). Then a nice off-shore breeze came over the mountains and kept the temperature at 97F (36C) for the duration of the parade. Later in the day temps climbed to 104F (40C) and the breeze stopped. Humidity was 14% so it was quite dry. By the end of the day humidity had climbed to 39%. I am quite pleased that the humidity did not climb during the parade as this would have made for a miserable muggy march. Just before stepping off I noticed that my silver-plated C-Mel was quite warm to the touch. At the same time, my Alto player told me “cover your mouthpiece”. As I covered the black plastic, I noticed it was hot to the touch. So, I had the band circle up and re-tune as our instruments had become quite sharp due to the heat and warming of the instruments. Not to worry, this small band of musicians all have good ears and kept in tune with one another! Well, we stepped of with a Flute leading the way and taking point in a small formation. The second rank included a Trumpet, Bass Clarinet, and Bb Clarinet. The last rank was the power rank made up of an Alto Saxophone, C-Melody Saxophone and a Bb-Tenor Saxophone. People applauded as we played “America the Beautiful”. But when we played “The Stars and Stripes Forever” people stood up and clapped in tempo (for the most part). Our Bass Clarinetist and Tenor Saxophonist said this was great as it relieved them of the chore of keeping the tempo with their parts and allowed them to play along with the band! We got the privilege of marching behind “Pole Position Racing Karts” which featured several quick go-karts zipping around in their formation. However, one kart driver decided that it would be fun to run his kart THROUGH the band on two occasions! The flutist said he scared the daylights out of her! But the band just kept on playing and marching. After all, in a marching band the rule is “the show must continue, do not stop for anything!” Parade officials and judges will take care of anyone needing assistance. The band support crew will pick up any dropped items, so keep on marching! All had a good time and used their God given talent to entertain the people lining the streets for the parade. All in all, it was a very good day!
Mal-2k8 User ID: 9335603	Feb 9th 10:54 PM The smallest "marching band" I've ever gathered numbered five -- trumpet, alto sax, trombone, and bari sax, along with a snare drummer with suspended cymbal. To accentuate the joke, we had a banner made from a shower curtain with "WORLD'S SMALLEST MARCHING BAND" painted on it, carried by two people. We also had a drum major and majorette, and two flags, meaning the auxiliary outnumbered the band! Other than the shower curtain banner and the wind instruments, all the equipment and uniforms were gratefully borrowed from Montebello High School. We marched this at a small local Christmas parade, and were quite astonished to find out that it was actually televised on the local access cable channel. Too bad I never got a recording of that!
alan (uk) '08 User ID: 1278884	Feb 11th 11:27 AM Wade - "The band support crew will pick up any dropped items" ??? I'm afraid if a go-kart whizzed anywhere near me whilst I was playing, it would be a case of "brain damage by Martin saxophone" for the hapless driver ! Let the Support Crew pick up the remains of the driver, rather than the remains of a saxophone...
jazzbug1 2008 User ID: 0735934	Feb 11th 2:43 PM I've only played in a few parades, but loved them all, except the four mile parade carrying the bass saxophone, when it was originally explained to me I would be stationary.
jazzbug1 2008 User ID: 0735934	Feb 11th 2:44 PM Good thing bugs are invertibrates.
alan (uk) '08 User ID: 1278884	Feb 12th 6:03 AM I saw a marching bari sax player put one foot down a pothole once - it wasn't a pretty sight...
Captain Beeflat 2008 User ID: 1738604	Feb 14th 6:22 AM Possibly not pretty but surely the best, and most entertaining, part of the show.
ukebert User ID: 1300074	Feb 14th 12:59 PM I was just thinking that I hadn't heard about your marching band in a while: glad it went well. Although i have to say that having people clap along is to me exceptionally irritating, to the extent that I do not clap along at events where that process is the accepted norm.
Mal-2k8 User ID: 9335603	Feb 14th 11:37 PM Go ahead and clap along, just do it in a manner that doesn't make much noise. For loud claps I generally cup my hands like ( ) but with the right closer to the body than the left, so the right hand fingers "pop" the air in the left palm. To "silence" this, I just hit the heel of the left hand instead of the cupped palm. It also stings a lot less, and it looks like I'm happily cheering away for whoever or whatever. As the applause dies down, I might actually start making sound so everyone thinks I was doing it all along. :) Or you could just snap your fingers on 2 and 4 and try to act cooler than everyone else in the room. :)