Posted by Doug on March 14, 2003 at 12:16:17:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Promoting a marching band... posted by Jim on March 13, 2003 at 22:53:03:
Hey Jim,
I'm not SHS, but our Band of Silver was at West Hall HS in Northeast Georgia. In its prime, they literally ALWAYS won 1st palce in class AA (yeah, small band, but DANG they were good). The band grew to AA and finally AAAA as all the rifraff joined while I was involved in it. We were bigger, but the sound was actually weaker and the marching was pathetic. Not an impressive sight to see. Naturally, that's when the enthusiasm dropped off considerably.
We used the Band of Silver designation because our school colors were navy blue and silver, and all the school owned instruments were (naturally) silver. It wasn't really an accurate name, but it did manage to distinguish the band some from the other schools up in north georgia.
Maybe that's why i like college marching band, even at Georgia Tech. Everyone is there because they WANT to be there,a nd they want to produce a quality program. Forcing students to participate just to have a larger group will never help the ensemble, and it will weaken the reputation of any good band after a few years.
Doug