Happy Sunday everyone!
Thank you to everyone who took photos of the competition! They are great! Thanks in advance for the pics that have yet to be posted. :) Just curious, does anyone else feel like they’ve been run over? Ha! There’s a lot of information to be relayed tonight. I am so tired that I can’t formulate clever segues between points, so I’m just bullet pointing everything. You’re welcome.
SENIORS:
Send in your cute baby pics so we can guess who you are! Who is featured this week?? Let us know your guesses in the comments!
· Price increase on website payments: We pay a lot in “fees” (close to $500/yr) from online shopping/payments. To offset those fees, payments made online will have a $1 convenience fee. But wait there’s more: We now have an Order Online, Pay in Cash/Check Option so you can avoid that pesky “fee”.
· Bulldog Concessions We need a few more people on Friday to work the Bulldog Concession Stand. 3-4 students or adults for the food stand & 3-4 TIPS/LEAD trained adults to work the Beer Booth. Follow the links to sign up for the Food Booth or Beer Booth https://www.signupgenius.com/go/8050e48a5ac2cabfc1-1018
· Bierock Sales are on! For over 20yrs the Bullard Band has had a tradition of baking & selling Bierocks, and we intend to keep that tradition. I am challenging each student to sell just 2 dozen so we can surpass our goal of 125 dozen sold. In the past, we have sold upwards of 180 dozen, but in the last 2 years, we have had a really difficult time selling a minimum of 100 during the baking season. If each student sells 2 dozen, we will sell a little over 200 dz! That would be AMAZING. Orders are due no later than Wednesday, November 6th. We will bake & package them on November 9th. You can pay at pick up if that is helpful (although not ideal)
· General Parent Meeting Thursday 7 pm (Senior Parents, come at 6:30 so we can touch base on the Senior Dinner)
· Savemart Center Events: Please make sure you are signing up to work Savemart Center. There are a few more sign-ups coming as more events were added to the schedule over the last couple days.
· TRUNK OR TREAT at the LAST THURSDAY REHEARSAL! That’s right! After our last Thursday Night practice, which incidentally will be on Halloween, we will be hosting our very own “Trunk or Treat”. Traditionally families will come to the last rehearsal and watch the final run-through of the show. SO… come on out and do that, and then participate in the Trunk or Treat. (probably won’t be in trunks though, more than likely on the concrete in front of the Band Room). Bring your kids, dress up in costumes. The Seniors will apparently be in Togas. Please donate a big bag of candy for us to hand out OR bring your own “Trunk” and set up with us around the concrete circle and walkway. The kids can get their Trick or Treat on. For more info OR if you want to help facilitate this please contact me, Evelyn deGallery (aka Amazing Visionary and starter of things. Strong Finisher? Not so much, but she tries.) 5593679333 OR evelyndegallery@gmail.com
And now, what you’ve all been waiting for (imaginary drum roll) This week’s Look Ahead!
MONDAY 10/14:
TUESDAY 10/15:
Has anyone notice that October is HALF OVER?? What the actual heck?!
WEDNESDAY 10/16:
THURSDAY 10/17:
5 pm-8pm Rehearsal
(6:30 pm) Senior Dinner Planning Meeting
(7 pm) General Parent Meeting
After practice and the parent meeting, stop by the table and get your SaveAround Coupon Books, Jamba Juice Cards, Show Shirts & Show Stickers.
FRIDAY 10/18:
No Football This week!
Fresno State Concessions
We need about 4 people to work the Food Stand, this can be anyone 16 yrs and up. We also need 3-4 TIPS/LEAD trained adults to work the Beer Booth.
SATURDAY 10/19:
8 am - 1 pm Rehearsal
Inquiring Minds Want To Know
Earlier today on our Facebook Group, Doug Richardson asked Mr. Cargill about the way the WBA scores their competitions. If you didn’t catch it, I posted his answer below. (most likely if you were born after 1990 you will not understand the above reference.)
An Answer From Mr. Cargill:
WBA has about the world’s most complicated judging and scoring system so hopefully I can make sense of it:
Bands get judged in 4 main captions each with 2 sub-captions. To get the main caption score the 2 sub-captions are averaged.
General Effect: 30 points
- general effect Music
- general effect visual
GE is judging the total performance in all of its aspects as it relates to the students as performers. Is the band both musically and visually communicating ideas clearly and does it make sense from a visual and auditory stand point. Is what the Color Guard doing complimenting the music, are the winds and percussion adding visual choreography and “character” moments that are highlighting the story that is being told. Is the music being performed in a way that that shows a high level of musical understanding and execution in tandem with a high level of visual performance and control.
Music: 30 points
- ensemble music
- individual music
They are looking to see if every individual musician is adding to the excellence of performance by knowing their part, playing in tune etc. as well as does the larger group have a handle on blend and balance. Making sure there are no individuals who are sticking out of the texture and that the ensemble is playing with what essentially boils down to an excellent band sound.
Visual: 20 points
- ensemble visual
- individual visual
Is every student executing a high level of visual performance both in marching and in character/choreography moments. Is every dance visual from the winds and percussionists clear and defined and uniform. Is the guards choreography clean and precise and does it compliment the music I the planes that are being utilized, are the high points matching the high pints in the music and the low points matching the low points. When you’re marching are you together, is it good marching technique. In your character/choreography is it well executed, are tendus, piques, Ron de jambes and other ballet moves being executed with good technique and is their placement adding to the visual package in a complimentary way.
Percussion/Auxiliary: 20 points
- percussion
- Color Guard
How are these two sections elevating the performance and adding to the overall performance. Is everything they are doing complimenting the wind book and are they integrated in a manner that can both feature them individually and in the other ensembles a high level of execution.
What judges are looking for now is less of a “marching band field show” and more of a “complete performance program”. WBA is very much on the cutting edge of the art form and so they want to see things presented in big picture ideas and a high level of execution in the story you are trying to tell through your music and your visual performance. Marching, as those of us from the older days of marching band, has become less a focal point of judges and now they want to see if we can incorporate more of a ballet and dance aspect in almost equal installments with marching. It’s why we had the band doing dance blocks with our Color Guard for the first several weeks of school. Our drill was written to our strengths which is currently leaning towards the more traditional marching aspect, we are incorporating more of the opportunities for the “character and choreography” moments, while Clovis east built a program in the opposite fashion. So they’re playing to a different strength.
Judges don’t do what we call “tick sheets” anymore. Which is where they tick off boxes of what they don’t see. Instead they are more judging the product that they do see. Do they see a high level of execution in all of the areas. Is it a programmatic experience for the listener/viewer. Have you essentially staged a full play without words and instead are acting your story through music instead (kind of an interpretive dance vibe)
Side by side with Clovis East we’re only 1.5-2 points behind them in all areas (rough numbers I haven’t done the exact math like I usually do) so we’re right behind them in the sub captions, which is great for us. Keeping in mind the East has been undefeated in WBA 3A for the last 3 years, and unlike us who from what I recall was doing predominantly NCBA for the last several years, were needing to make some large programmatic over hauls as NCBA and WBA have EXTREMELY different judging systems.
If anyone is interested in seeing what WBA is looking for as their top echelon of performer, check out videos of James Logan High School. Logan has been the WBA champions for the last... 2 decades with 1 or 2 instances where Ayala high school edged them out. And we are extremely lucky that thanks to Dr. Gilroy we secured Scott Chandler to write our drill, as Scott has been the drill writer for Logan for the last two decades. And he has been extremely helpful in helping me design something that we can use to transition to the WBA scoring system.
I hope that all made sense and was helpful.