I didn’t get a chance to blog yesterday. I’ve been on the go since Friday.
I took the day off on Friday so I could walk with Ella in the homecoming parade. After the Grand Marshall and Alumni Couple of the Year, the Kindergarten classes from the district were featured together. They walked behind a banner that said “Our Youngest Students – Class of 2038!”
Andrew and Ella hung out before we split up. He went with my wife to watch the parade (and catch candy), while Ella and I went to the staging area.
It was sunny and hot. The teachers did a good job keeping them focused for the 45 minutes we waited for everything to start. They played “telephone” and sang songs to pass the time.
Once the parade got going, we waved and tossed candy to spectators. The cars that had the Grand Marshall and the Alumni Couple were starting to break ahead of us. We certainly weren’t walking slow. They were going a bit fast.
So basically you had:
Alumni – space – half of kindergarten – space – rest of kindergarten – group behind them.
At one point, Ella and I, the principal and a couple others were stuck walking in the middle of the space. 10-15 feet of pavement in front of us and 10-15 feet pavement behind us. We couldn’t stand out any more!
I cracked jokes to the folks watching our little group along the route. “We’re pacing ourselves.” “Did you happen to see the front of the parade, we seem to have lost them.” “Wasn’t that invisible float in front of us fantastic?”
Ella, of course, took the opportunity to let the spotlight shine on her.
After about a quarter of the walk, she got tired and she wound up on my shoulders. I got quite the workout the rest of the way.
After the parade, the kids went home with Nana and Pa and I stayed for the football game. As you would expect, I was focused on the marching band.
The home team was up 21-0 at halftime. I was excited for the halftime show. The theme was “Black Widow.”. They had spider web things on the field and every band member changed from their standard uniforms into a spider designed outfit. That’s the first time I’ve ever seen a band do a show not in uniform.
It was a long day/night but it was a homecoming win – 42-8 was the final score. We got home pretty late and Andrew just slept in his clothes because he was fast asleep.
Yesterday morning was soccer time for Ella. We were there early for pictures. The game followed. At one point Ella was a goalie. Apparently this meant standing in front of the net with both arms stretched across the top of it.
Aunt Margaret came to the game and took the kids to lunch afterwards. They love her. She brought them some books and some fun sensory toys.
I love when we are able to get together, even if it was just for a short time. I’m so blessed with her friendship.
You may remember that last year we redid all the boards on our side porch. I never did get the chance to stain it because of the weather. It took me a week or two, but on days when I had time and the weather was right, I got out and did it.
Here you see the first coat and the original wood. The boards really soaked up the stain, so I put a second coat on and it looks great!
Now I have to get out and stain the columns. I have a white stain that should really make them look good.
This weekend, after a slight bout with vertigo, I was able to head to the Homecoming parade and football game. The kids love the parade (because they get candy!) It was a good parade with a lot of floats, kids from the schools, and of course, my favorite – the band.
This year, the weather was great, so they were actually playing songs. Last year, the band walked and did some chants or something.
The team looked great and would go on to have a homecoming win. This is Sam’s brother’s senior year, so it extra special to see them play.
When the halftime show happened, I was a little baffled. When I was in band, the halftime show consisted of four or five songs. The band played two songs and (as I have complained about before) there were times where the xylophones had the melody and no one in the stands could hear it. I will never understand why those things are on a marching band field. When the rest of the band played, they sounded good.
It was a bit bizarre, though, as their show was about outer space or the planets or something. On the field, they had these four big “planets” on some sort of “planet holder” on wheels. There were people whose job was to move these planets around on the field. It was … strange. It’s hard to tell in the picture, so I circled the planets for you. All in all, I wanted to hear more music.
I was thrilled to see many parents there with shirts that read “I’m with the band.” I had forgotten how many people in the stands just blow the band off. That makes me so mad. Those kids work hard to put on that show and you’ve got people standing in the bleachers, blocking the view of the field, or just talking loudly while you are trying to listen. Sigh. I wish more people had some respect for the band.
Now that I work Fridays, I rarely get to see events like this, unless it falls on Saturday, and so it all worked out this weekend.
I love time with the family!
Lots to tackle over the next few days – praying I have the strength.
It is no secret to anyone who follows my blog that I am a Band Nerd through and through! I have many wonderful memories of playing in band when I was in school. Many memories surround the high school Homecomings.
Homecoming was always on a Saturday. We’d start the day in the morning by marching in the parade. There would be an hour or so break between the end of the parade and the actual homecoming game. After the game, we’d all go home to shower and get ready for the dance that would take place that evening. It was an all day event.
Sam had mentioned earlier in the week that the homecoming parade for our local high school was tonight. We talked about taking the kids to watch it. The route is a short distance from our house, so we all dressed and loaded up the stroller and walked to get a good spot.
From where we stood, we could look down the street to see where the parade would be starting from. At 5pm on the dot, I could see the drum major leading the band out onto the main drag. Local police and fire trucks were usually at the head of our homecoming parades, but this one had the band front and center.
As the band approached, I awaited the “roll off” which would ultimately prompt the band to play the school song. The school song was always a song played on parade routes for us. There was usually one or two other songs we’d rotate through as we marched. If we were marching in a holiday parade, we might have a Christmas song in there.
The band kept coming closer and there was still no music. I figured they were waiting for a spot full of spectators before playing. Our drum majors often did this. If there was a stretch with just a few people, we marched without playing. However, if there was a big line of people along the route, you could rest assured we were playing.
Then I noticed why there was no music – the band members didn’t even have their instruments! The only ones who did were the drummers. I was floored (and disappointed) by this. It was a beautiful day – sunny and about 65 degrees at parade time – why were they not playing? I couldn’t even fathom this.
The band walked by and were all chanting or yelling something. It was probably “Go Mustangs” or “Hurray for Clio” or something like that. Why wouldn’t you want to belt out the school fight song along the route? I don’t get it. You are at the front of the parade – it’s your time to shine. You have that golden opportunity to set the stage for everything else that follows, and you just walk on by. Heck, they may as well have been throwing candy into the crowd like everyone else did in my opinion. They were no different than the boy scouts sitting on a flatbed …
When I think of a band in a parade, I think of brass players right out in front with their notes piercing through the air and letting everyone along the parade route know they are coming! They are belting out the school fight song that alumni along the road can sing along with and little kids can clap along with. Maybe it’s just a great march from John Phillip Sousa to fire up the crowd before they all file into the stands to watch the grid iron competition. The band is such an important part of a parade.
When they plan the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, they choose 10-12 high school or university bands from across the country to perform. That, in itself, tells you of the importance of the presence of a marching band in a parade. Last year in the Detroit Thanksgiving parade, there were 5 bands that performed. Even in the Mickey Mouse photo above, the characters are playing musical instruments. To me, this says that a band is vital to a good parade.
I remember vividly that our band director, Tom Shaner, would take us out at least once during homecoming week to march around the neighborhood in preparation for the parade. It was always neat to see people standing on their front porches to watch us go by. The kids who were too young to be in school would watch us and jump around and dance to the school song. Marching bands and music make people smile!
By definition, Homecoming is a long-standing American tradition where colleges and high schools would welcome alumni back to campus and the community. So when I graduated, we got some of the old band gang back together to march in the homecoming parade. Mr. Shaner was more than happy to have us back. A highlight of getting ready for the parade was meeting together a few weeks before hand to rehearse music. With all of us sitting around in the band room, it was like old times.
That first year we gathered up quite a group with good instrumentation and we marched. We used to joke that we’d need oxygen at the end of the parade! For many, we hadn’t picked up our horns in months or years! We always counted on the newly graduated to sort of carry the older folks.
A buddy’s brother designed our logo to put it on sweatshirts so we could all sort of be in uniform. What a blast we’d have getting together every year. Once Mr. Shaner retired, the interest to get together started to fade. I sure do miss playing my trumpet in those parades.
I’m not 100% sure why the local band didn’t play in the parade. Perhaps there is a specific reason. I don’t know. As a former band student, I was disappointed – not only for me, but for my kids (and all the kids on the parade route). I wanted them to hear the sounds of the band! I’m also disappointed for the band members. What is there to remember about your homecoming parade if you weren’t playing a special piece of music? Even if all you played was the school fight song 5-10 times along the route – play something! What kind of memory is just walking along? What is a marching band without music? I guess it’s just a bunch of people walking ….
Various Ramblings of a Nostalgic Italian 