Marching Band is oooooooooooooooover...or IS IT?

Hi fans and friends and fellows...what is? What up? What it be like? Get down, get funky, now get back up...

Boy WHAT a season this has been in the world of marching band. I wrote 11 shows, all of which have indicated to me that apparently I will be returning in the fall (NOT holding my breath--I know the nature of the business MOST definitely). I thought--or I think--or whatever...that I had my MOST successful season in that I had a good time writing, I was pretty dang disciplined (thank you Project Manager part of me), and I just had some really great feedback from some directors. I REALLY do like writing drill--actually, I love it. And I hopefully was able to make it show this year.

But on TOP of the drill writing, I had what I think is a far more successful season judging for the SCSBOA (and that one trip to Nebraska--brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!). More than drill designing, I love judging. The SCSBOA is in some need of some SERIOUS "thinking" about their field show side of things. They have a very capable Vice President (and friend) who hopefully will continue being PROGRESSIVE when it comes to the field competition part of what we do in the music education business. But--I'm quickly turning this paragraph away from what I REALLY want to talk about...AND THAT'S ME!!!!!!!!!! LOL!!! (Those that know me--know I don't like to type ABOUT me--I just like to type about THINGS that I happen to be involved in!!! LOL!!). ANYWAYS--stay on target Turner--judging...yes, judging. As indicated earlier in my blogocrap, I have been a visual performance judge for this past season in SCSBOA. Judged EVERY single weekend plus 2 weeknight shows. Pretty busy. What made this season great for me was the feedback.

You know, it's one thing to have someone email you and say "Thanks for the great tape" or "Your comments were RIGHT on" (which I REALLY appreciated hearing), but it's WHOLE OTHER LEVEL to be on the phone for a substantial amount of time with not one, but TWO different VERY prominent DCI people talking about and in a way defending your judging ability. The two guys I spoke with this semester I respect a lot, and both were professional, friendly, and were able to help me see THEIR viewpoint without bashing me over the head. That was a very cool deal. I felt like the reason that all the trouble was being made by these two to talk to me was that because I MUST have been doing a somewhat decent job in the first place. I mean, I know if I was in their shoes (which I am technically when I put my designer/instructor hat on), I could give two poops about some visual judge's opinion if I felt it was someone not really doing their job well or not really respected in the first place. So...that was cool.

I also had the very unique experience of judging the LAUSD Championships this past weekend. Now, it's pretty well-known that, with very few notable exceptions, music, and more specifically, MARCHING music, is NOT supported in the LA school system. I think they are the 2nd largest school district in the country, but have a pretty horrible music system. Well, someone must have sent them a memo about that a few years back. Because LA has started to turn things around. Their marching band championships was always judged independently--and like I said before, with very few exceptions, there was very little in quality. About 3 or 4 years ago, LAUSD Championship folks contacted SCSBOA and asked for SCSBOA to handle judging of the event. It was the first attempt to bridge what had been described as a bit of a gulf between LAUSD and SCSBOA. To be on this panel was an eye-opener because there were still some bands out there that simply didn't have a clue. BUT, according to some colleagues, what I saw last Saturday was a HUGE improvement from 3 years ago.

SOOOOOOOOOOOO...that being said...CONGRATS TO LA. Some of your bands are WAY on top of it (Granada Hills, Garfield--BIG TIME, Van Nuys, Verdugo Hills, Los Angeles, San Fernando...and yes, EVEN LOCKE HS), others are on the right track. VERY encouraging. Good job LAUSD. And I have to give out a special recognition to someone who seemed to me to be the man in charge of the whole event, and that was a guy named Tony White. What a GREAT guy--and he talked to us judges before the event, and talked about a program called "Beyond The Bell". Some kind of funding or something so maybe music is going to get the lift it needs in LAUSD. Sure hope so. For all the good that I got of instrumental music in high school (especially in marching band), I can hardly believe that anyone would think it's NOT worthy to have for kids nowadays.

OK--well, that's the end of THIS blog. I have a new interface I have to get used to and figure out how to make my blog look better. I'm increasingly tickled by hearing from people that say "Hey man, I read your blog." That AMAZES me.