MOC Day 11 Story
dbregant, Jan 23, 2021
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Journal says:
The 2014-2015 school year (aka band season) took us from the lowest of low to the highest of highs. There was never a doubt that Brycee would participate in marching band; however, she was nervous about auditions and learning to march her freshman year. Part of her motivation to transition from playing clarinet to baritone/euphonium was that she already knew most of the baritone section because they had been at our house all the time for the prior three years since Jed was the baritone section leader. (Besides, the clarinet section was HUGE and most likely
Mrs. Britton would move some musicians out of that section anyway...also, can you say *drama*?!) Ray Smith was the baritone section leader as a senior this year. (we will always remember him being a nervous freshman during the informational meeting before the season started in 2011). He had known Brycee for several years and was a great mentor for her as a freshman, he was so encouraging and helpful during auditions. Brycee was overjoyed and so relieved when she made the cut after auditions!
There were so many new musicians that we had to buy bibs from the drum & bugle corp in Arizona, and purchase bicycle-jersey jackets as we didn't have enough uniforms for all the incoming freshmen. The boosters also spray painted (gasp) the old blue shakos black to match the bibs and jackets. The 2014 show was "In the Dead of Night" and really went outside some traditional boxes for the Sandra Day O'Connor Eagle Pride Marching Band. The first movement of the show opened with skeleton/corpses laying on the field in a graveyard and a violin musician (hand-picked from the orchestra) playing a solo from Danse Macabre by Camille Saint-Saëns to wake the rest of the band up. It was a fun, light-hearted opening to see the kids join in with the featured violinist. The ballad was Claire de Lune by Claude Debussy and was so emotional as it depicted the loved ones who have gone before us as we reminisce and appreciate their presence. The final movement moves into The Black Parade by My Chemical Romance intertwined with phrases from Danse Macabre featuring electric and guitars, and the violin. The crowd LOVED IT! The show ended with a quiet drum cadence to put the skeletons back to sleep in their original graveyard position. There was always an erruption of applause and cheering with that final, eerie drum bass stroke.
About a month into the season, I received a call from Brycee in the middle of band practice first hour. A senior tuba musician had committed suicide that morning and she wanted to be sure I knew she was alright. Understandably, we backed out of the band competition we were scheduled to attend the next day. Instead there was a special gathering at the football field with Ryan's family, alumni students and parents of the band who knew him. It was an outpouring of love for his family in remembrance and a healthy time for the kids (and adults) to process grief, confusion and talk about hard things. In the months moving forward, the kids made tributes to Ryan and shared artwork with his family, committed to wearing bracelets in awareness of mental health, the tubas got featured in a special homecoming set where they carried Ryan's tuba to center field and left it there. One set in The Black Parade was changed to include a huge heart the flute section made with red scarves. I recall what a tight-knit group this large 100+ student group had become and how supportive they were of their peers.
The commitment to each other and their performances was more intense than we had ever seen and the end of the season proved it. The competition scores just kept climbing and climbing, we received so many captions and the kids were so proud of themselves and just kept working harder and harder. We made it through the State competition qualifying round and were ranked 7th going into the State Championship. That night was electric at Glendale Community college. Our family gets there early because the stands get packed for the section when the state’s top 10 Division 1 bands compete for the state championship, besides we really like to see all 10 bands perform. The performances were awesome, from patriotic to numerous props on the field and incredible marching! Once the bands are done performing, they sit in the visitor stands across the field from the audience.The O'Connor boosters always create some secret prop that we can hold up and "wave" to our kids. In the past we've used neon/florescent lights, pink boas, CD's (these work the best), but this year we made large glittering red hearts attached to paint stirring sticks to wave at the kids.The tabulation of scores always seem to take forever, and nerves just mount higher and higher. The scores are read from lowest to highest...10 to 1. We could hardly breathe when then they read the 3rd place and we were still in the running! They read the 2nd place and it wasn't us. Took a split second to realize that those precious kids won the State Championship for 2014. We spent a good 2 hours running around the field congratulating musicians, instructors and parents alike! It was a fitting end to a really tough season.
The rewards were not over; however, the kids got invited to the Holiday Bowl parade and perform at the Holiday Bowl pre-game show. A small group played on an early-morning newscast for the local NBC morning show. But, the biggest surprise was they got invited to a TOP SECRET task! They practiced for a couple weeks, had to sign a non-disclosure statement and had police escort on a closed interstate. Most of the kids had to take a couple days off from school when it was over to rest up and recuperate, but I think they would agree that performing with Katy Perry at the Super Bowl XLIX on February 1, 2015 was worth it! This school year was a winding journey, but one I never want to forget!
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- Category:
- Month of Challenges 9
- Uploaded By:
- dbregant
- Date:
- Jan 23, 2021
- View Count:
- 161
- Comment Count:
- 1
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