Band Finale!

Eldest tries to look like an intimidating prison guard (despite being in band shoes which are completely non-intimidating)

 Last weekend, the girls' marching band competed in the State Finals Marching Band Contest. The Golden Sound of the Vikings marched onto that field and were spectacular.
It was an unpleasant weather night, cold, but the rain from Sandy was not here yet, so at least it wasn't sleeting. And, I had had my doubts that we would be there at all when the season began. Okay, that is overly dramatic. I thought the band would probably qualify for the finals, but was not prepared for what happened this season. That was, that this band, nearly half of them freshman marching for the first time, would be great. One of those marching freshman is Middlest. She is a saxophone and she is the one in blue.

 This is the band marching in for pre-placement. They are lugging in over sized chains with a ball on the end...prisoners, you see. The show was music from Les Miserables, such wonderful music! And, the band told the story in the music. There was playfulness, and a battle and a triumph...all on this field. Tough music, but they played it so well! And their drill (the figures they make on the field) was expressive and fun, dramatic and thrilling at turns- including the big WOW at the end that had the whole stadium making muffled clapping with their gloved hands and enthusiastic cheers.

 Eldest was the assistant Drum Major last season, and was selected as the big kahuna this year, a role she has thrived in filling. If she gets up in the morning for only one reason, it is band. From July through November.

 The hardy spectators included Huz and my parents who came to watch, and stayed despite the incoming doom of Sandy- incoming to their home 9 hours away! They left early the next morning, beat the storm to the coast and battened down the hatches, put life vests on the sheep and the donkey and waited it out. Everyone was fine, and they are in the clean-up phase now.

 I didn't take many photos during the performance as I wanted to enjoy it through life's big lens, but these big ones are pictures of Middlest.

Eldest, a bit teary, makes her last salute. She is now a Drum Major in history. The band was awarded the top rating in the State, a Superior Rating, and she was the first drum major in the annals of our high school to be leading the band awarded this rating both years she was DM. They also earned the highest scores they have ever achieved as a band. Admittedly, this is what I heard in the buzz that left her after the competition- there was a lot of information given and much I don't retain!

But, they "did good". Congratulations Girls!! And the rest of the Golden Sound. You were Marvelous.