BHS Marching Band: Week 1 (BHS vs. Lahser HS)

Last night we had our first home game as Berkley played Lahser. It was a bit odd, because normally everyone kind of accepts that our team won't be dominant. This year, though, Berkley had won the opener, Lahser had lost theirs, and Local Channel 4 made us the Football Frenzy game of the year. Excitement in the air, right? Playoffs? I told the band at practice that if we won the State championship, I'd shave my head.

Well, the game didn't go as well as anyone in Berkley had hoped. And actually, we weren't completely surprised, since a prominent source close to the team told me beforehand how the game would likely end up. After the team held Lahser to a scoreless first quarter, they routed us 44-0. See the pictures, here:
http://studentandathlete.com/sa_football_lahser_0905.htm

The band on the other hand, did a good job for its first week out. I couldn't believe the reaction from the student section. Normally, I expect the band parents to dig the show no matter what. But the student section is tough. At my high school, not only would they completely ignore us (and we had 240 kids in the band!), they would often taunt us and even throw pennies at us. The Berkley kids, though, usually show us some love: singing along with our stands' tunes, clapping for us. But this was different last night. Kids were up out of their seats, let out big cheers when I announced the songs, and responded to the on-field visuals well (when the band swayed during "Piano Man," they swayed, too).

Next Friday we'll have the whole show on the field (we have one song, "American Pie," yet to add), and we'll have cleaned up all our little errors. That's right--we made a lot of little mistakes. But they were the kind that only I notice. Hopefully, we'll also have a few injured members back. For crying out loud, the amount of wrapped ankles in the band is crazy. Who knew marching band was as dangerous as it is.

We also head to Andover HS for their "Early Bird" invitational on Saturday evening. It can be both really cool and, I think, intimidating for some of the kids. They get to see how they stack up against area bands, some of whom are competitive bands with huge budgets (Troy).

More pictures to come from band camp...