I'm With the Band

September 19: Full house for homecoming.

Today is recovery day.

Yesterday the West Bloomfield High School Marching Band, including both kids, performed at The Michigan Competing Bands Association (MCBA) State Finals at Ford Field in Detroit. The band finished in 9th place in Flight I, with a score of 88.125. Two years ago, that might as well have been written in Greek, but today I can translate every word of it.

August 22: At band camp.

September 5: For the first half of the first game, the dress stayed casual.

Two years ago, I would never have expected to become a band dad. Aaron's school didn't even have a marching band, just a loose-knit ensemble of a few kids in a quasi-rock band that played various school events. They did ok, we had no complaints. Aaron played guitar, but with the encouragement of the group's advisor, he also tried electric bass, and it stuck. He started private lessons.

Then he decided to transfer to WBHS.

WBHS didn't have an ensemble, but they had a marching band. And the marching band had a pit section. And the pit section had a spot for an electric bass. Aaron had a new musical home.

A competing marching band in Michigan bears little resemblance to the high school bands of my youth in New Jersey. WBHS starts practicing in July. Once the school year starts, they practice for 3 hours after school, 3 days a week. Then there are competitions: two in September and then 3 more on October Saturdays, leading up to the state finals.

October 11. Final run-through for pit 
and battery before the Plymouth-Canton invitational.

October 11. The show was called "Rise and Fall."
This was the rise.

After playing in the pit last year, Aaron decided he wanted to march. So he quickly learned drums and tried out for tenor. Along the way, he talked Elianna in to trying out for vibraphone; she'd never played an instrument and she wasn't even a high school student or at one of the district's middle schools, but somehow she made it in. Being the right age and being resident in the school district is sufficient.

My involvement started in September. The band was heading to a competition in Dayton, Ohio. They needed more parent chaperones. They sent out an email. I looked at my calendar. I could do this. So I signed up to be with the band.

27 bands from 8 states showed up at Dayton's Welcome Stadium. For WBHS, it would be a chance to see some of the better regional bands, and to gauge our progress. My job was basically to make sure the kids didn't get lost during dinner, that they got to bed by the 11pm curfew, and that they were up the next morning in time for 6:30am breakfast at the hotel before playing at 9:45am. As long as I was there, I worked the pit crew, too. My assignment was to get a speaker stack on to the field for the performance, and off the field within 2 minutes after the performance. WBHS finished 24th place. But everyone seemed to have a good time.

October's 3 MCBA competitions would determine our seeding for state finals. We went as spectators twice and got to see the competition. For the other one, I looked at my calendar and realized I could work pit crew. I pushed a ramp up the hill to Clarkston's football stadium, and then out to the 10 yard line where the band used it in the show.

The rise. October 18th. Clarkston Invitational.

October 25th. Waiting to begin the show at Huron Valley.

The fall. October 25th.
Huron Valley Invitational, where the wind scored points.

The pit crew is responsible for ensuring the band's equipment makes it to and from the field. The band has an 18-wheel truck, and before every performance it is loaded with the props and the larger instruments. Before departure, the volunteers -- usually with a lot of help from band members -- load the truck in a specified order, led by a couple senior volunteers who have been around and can direct matters. Upon arrival, it's time to unload the truck and to assemble the various props. This year the band used 5 ramps that were acquired from an Akron-based band earlier this year; for each show the ramps had to be re-assembled, taped, and put on wheels to get them to the field. In exchange for the work, the pit crew is excused from paying the admission fee to the show (though typically the unloading/loading activities prevent seeing most of the other bands), and the pit crew can join the band for whatever pre-show food is offered by other parent volunteers.

After the 2nd competition in October, WBHS had settled in to 9th place in the Flight I standings. Flight I consists of the largest schools in the state. At 83 band members, WBHS can't realistically produce as much sound as bands of 150-200 or more kids, so we need other factors -- visuals, precision, etc. -- to work well. But there are also internal goals: can the band improve each week? There are inevitably mishaps along the way: missed notes, dropped flag tosses, bad weather (during the last competition in Huron Valley, a strong wind led to both prop walls and performers falling over). But, we hoped, it would all work out for state finals.

November 1: It's 8:30 am and freezing. Time to rehearse!!

November 1: Loading the truck. Destination Detroit.

State finals day started with rehearsal at 7am in blustery icy conditions on the WBHS football
field. By 9am the truck was loaded, and after a quick breakfast we headed down to Ford Field for a last warm-up and assembly of the props.

Getting down to the field at the stadium required a traverse down a very long, steep ramp. So steep that the MCBA provided wood blocks along the way to rest equipment during the frequent stops.

Bands play at 15 minute intervals, in reverse order of the standings. We started down the ramp at 12pm, while the 12th-place band was playing. We were not allowed to assemble in the end zone until half an hour later, when 10th-place Clarkston was playing.

Ford Field. At the end of the ramp, waiting to take the field.

Finally, it was WBHS's turn. I pushed the speaker stack I'd be assigned to the 30-yard line where the guitar player plugged in. The kids played their hearts out. Not that there weren't mishaps: in part due to the morning's wind, one streamer wasn't where Aaron was expecting, and he ended up running around the field holding air. An excellent acting job, I thought. The band scored its highest point total in 3 years.

After packing up the truck, everyone went back in to the stadium to watch the final 4 bands in Flight I. Pit crew normally aren't supposed to re-enter, but a few of us just played chaperone (the band needed a few, anyway). We're with the band.

Finally, the band had one last return and dismissal by 5pm, with complete exhaustion on all sides.

Elianna liked playing vibraphone. But she might want to try Color Guard next.

This is the only year that Aaron and Elianna could play together. Aaron will be off to whatever is next, next year. Elianna says she wants to try color guard.

For now, they get their afternoons back. Next week is the annual banquet. They'll get their patches for varsity jackets -- something Elianna won't even be eligible for until she enters high school next year. And they can say, "we played at Ford Field. We were in the band."

Running with air: At the state finals. Ford Field, Detroit. (photo: Cindy Lou Semrau)