What a strange day this was. A sudden dip in temperature made it somewhat miserable when combined with the strong winds from the cold front that was moving through. The fact that South Oldham's football stadium was constructed with its back facing a large downward slope meant that wind was directed straight up to the top of the stadium and over, so the wind experienced by the crowd was even stronger, especially at the back of the stands; I really wish the school would invest in some tarp material or screens of some sort to block the wind hitting the fencing on the back of the stands. The bands experienced their first challenge with cold instruments not performing as well. The top bands did a pretty good job of adjusting to it; the bottom 4 or 5 had some trouble. I'm sure at least some of you have noticed already, but I wanted to make this admission and apologize for it. I tend to lose the color guard in the shuffle when I'm critically observing a marching band's performance. Sometimes I do notice them, but most of the time, they are the one section I consistently neglect. I'm sorry for this, and I will try to do a better job of taking them into account in these last few weeks before state. One last thing before I begin my reviews: Campbell County's show title is pronounced "m-ow-ree" and not "may-or-ee". The contest announcers at Morehead State and South Oldham both got it wrong. Anyway, on to the reviews.
Corydon Central - "Cityscapes"
This show's musical selections were a refreshing change from the cliches that are usually injected into shows about cities, and it's a shame they weren't performed better. Air support was this band's achilles heel; they sounded so anemic and even meek at times throughout the show, and it really hurt their energy level. Exercises with breathing, posture, and air speed in the winds would help fill out their sound, and even fix some of the intonation issues the band experienced. It would also fix their entrances, and their soloists would sound a lot more confident, which would really add to their music effect. I noticed quite a few tempo tears, so subdivision will also be a key exercise to help clean up their music. Like many other bands I have watched so far this season, Corydon Central had a very bare show visually, and having only one guard member hurt their ability to add to it (though the one guard member did a good job despite having his hat stolen twice by the wind). Street lights, road signs, hard hats, police uniforms, something, anything to add to the visual design would really help. Toe lift will need to be improved, and their legs need to be straighter to help make their marching look more uniform. I saw a bunch of form tears and spacing issues, so the students will need to keep better track of where they are in relation to the rest of the group. I really enjoyed watching the field commander work; he definitely stole the show. I loved his beginning salute, and I really appreciated his energy throughout the performance. At one point, he turned around and encouraged the band to get involved by clapping to the music. I think that, with some work on marching and musical fundamentals, this band could easily add 10 points or more to their score in the span of one week. I hope they can get that work done, and I wish them luck with the rest of their season in Indiana's festival class.
Henry County - "Joy!"
This show seems to be at almost the same point as of Saturday as it was at Bourbon County on September 7th. It's decent overall, and there are some bright spots, but those bright spots are sprinkled throughout a sea of murk. The band itself frustrates me, because I can see that there is some talent in this group of kids: they are pretty sizable for a AA band, they have good sound production, their drill is improving, and they perform some tasks like blending and personal responsibility for marching rather well. At the same time, though, there are timing issues, incomplete phrases, a couple of missed notes... It almost sounds like they just don't have enough time to practice their music or something. They will need practice with their technique, both with their fingers and with their embouchure, and some reps with a wood block in order to get their music together. Subdivision is crucial, and I think working on that will help them more than any other single thing. Setting a listening focus for the beat, center snare or front ensemble or something, and sticking to that focus religiously will really go a long way here. Field coverage may also be causing a small amount of their timing issues, so learning to anticipate the beat a small bit when they are far from the front 50 will also help. I saw some slouched shoulders and bent legs, and they telegraphed some moves pretty badly, so shoring up their marching technique will also go a long way to making their visual performance look cleaner and more crisp. Visuals, like horns up / down or leans, will need to be more together. A couple of students almost seemed unsure of when they were supposed to be doing one thing or another. Their visual effect scores have been consistently low this season, so they could also use some additions to their visual design. I doubt anything major is possible at this point, but any kind of props or visuals that could be added to represent happiness would really help shore that up. This is a band that, in my opinion, has a lot of the tools to grow into a finals contender in the class at some point, if only they could get everyone on the same page and raise the bar with show design.
Silver Creek - "Songs in the Key of Life"
I really enjoyed this tribute to Stevie Wonder, one of my favorite (and maybe one of the most overlooked) popular artists. All of their musical selections were taken from the album after which their show is named, and were tastefully arranged for band. As with the two bands above, there is a dearth of visual design, which I think is this show's weakest point. Unfortunately, albums like this don't really provide a lot of obvious sources for visual design. I was thinking maybe give the guard girls sunglasses and make a piano prop or something; do a hold with a jam session in a "W" shape for "Wonder". As it is, their drill is okay, though unremarkable. It does not move as quickly as some shows, which caused some kids taking small steps to have a problem with getting to their next set too early or sticking out from the form. Since they have black pants and shoes, they really need to exaggerate the toe lift wherever possible. I really liked the funk guitar feature, but that kid needs to nail his part in order to reap the maximum music effect benefit from it. The rest of the band did an adequate job throughout, more together in finals than in prelims; a couple of small tempo tears popped up for a few seconds before being fixed. The big issue they had musically was air support. Competing in lower temperatures provides the added challenge of keeping your instruments warmed up, and without good air support, cold instruments will have more severe problems with intonation, tone quality, and attacks than instruments that are warmed up; that pretty much characterizes Silver Creek's musical issues on Saturday. Their music seemed a little flat and unenergetic, which took away from the performance. I think they could really help themselves with some exercises for expanding air capacity, using the diaphragm to push air out, and listening in. They're a decent band right now, but they could turn some heads if they fill out their sound. I wish them good luck competing in Mid-states.
Nelson County - "The Phoenix"
I'm going to be honest. After the director change late in summer vacation, I wasn't expecting much from this group. And yes, they will have some work to do going forward, but there were some bright spots that give me the belief that this band will be moving in the right direction going forward. The biggest positive I took from their performances was that their show design wasn't bad, and can be built upon. There were plenty of visuals incorporated into the show to signify the avian aspect of the phoenix, and the ballad was a great representation of its rebirth. Even the field commander's salute was true to form. The second thing that gives me hope for this program is that their selections were not simple; there were some pretty challenging passages in it, leading me to believe that they are trying to raise their bar musically. However, their performance level still needs a lot of work. The synthesizer is just too darned loud and drowns out the band too often. Thing is, I think the synthesizer is at the correct volume, and it's the band that needs to turn the volume knob clockwise. I thought their tone was anemic throughout, and they will need to fill out their sound in order to balance it with the sound of the synthesizer. There was a problem with entrances that was probably caused by a combination of lack of air support and the cold temperatures playing havoc on their brasses. Their technical passages were messy and will need work, but if they work on their air support, then I think their ability to push through those notes and get them out on time will also improve. The poor tuba sounded tired pretty much the entire show. Upper body posture was pretty messy, and bent legs exacerbated the issue. Their toe lift probably didn't look as good as it actually was because they were marching on grass, so some work on really exaggerating it would help their visual scores. I liked their visuals, and they were mostly together, but can be improved a little more. For having to replace their director so late in the game, I like the resilience of this group and I think they will be on the road to improvement in coming years.
North Oldham - "All In"
As with previous years from North Oldham, this show has started off pretty rough but with a lot of potential, and as the year has gone along, they start to clean it up and realize that potential. I don't think North Oldham has ever really peaked under Amanda Buchholz, even by the week of finals. Two things have changed over these last few years, however: their visual performances have improved by light years, and their starting point has gotten progressively further along than it was when Mrs. Buchholz was hired. This band continues to improve under her guidance, and soon enough, their musicianship could be good enough to contend for finals. I think their band is gradually growing, as well. On Saturday, their show was the cleanest I have seen it to date, though there is still a lot of work to be done. The percussion is by far the most improved section from the beginning of the season, because their parts have cleaned up from the mess they were starting off and have really begun to carry the flow of the show. The trumpet and trombone soloists are also much improved and are really helping the band's music effect, though the second trumpet soloist still needs more work getting all of the notes out correctly. There were one or two really challenging technical passages that are still pretty chaotic and will need more reps before they click into place. Their ballad is really starting to steal the show. Their blend is improving, but there are still voices sticking out, and it only really meshes together occasionally. Cold weather and having to do demanding drill moves while marching were probably the biggest causes for this, so they will just need to do a bunch of reps to get those sets smoothed out. Their drill still has its moments of chaos, too, but there is a lot more clean than messy now. Maintaining lines throughout sets was an issue, especially with straight lines and blocks. The visuals were great, and their posture was excellent. I thought they might be clean enough to beat Campbell County in visual performance, but the judges gave Campbell the nod by a slight margin. As with previous years, it's coming together as the season goes along. Will it peak at the right time this season? Will they finally get everything squeaky clean just in time for semifinals and finals? We'll see. This band has the potential to shake up class AAAA this season, though, and I see that statement holding true for the foreseeable future.
Campbell County - "Maori"
Musically, this show took a step forward from last week at Morehead. Visually, I think it took a step back. There was only one obvious addition, and that was the audio of rudimentary horns playing in the background during the preshow as the band wandered around the field in a primal stance. I like the visual effect that they have built into their show, but I think they leave a few points on the table with their drill and their guard. More symbols from the Maori culture would help keep the concept fresh in the mind of the viewer. Also, there are points in the show where only one section is playing, or there's little or no movement, or there just generally isn't enough going on to keep the flow even, which I think takes a little away from their music effect. The biggest problem they had last week was losing control of their tone on the attacks during their big hits; that issue was a lot smaller on Saturday, and they sounded much cleaner. There was still a bit of mud, especially in the woodwinds, but you could tell what was going on in the music. They're close to getting everything together. The drill, on the other hand, just didn't look as clean. The boxes were mostly pretty good, but a bunch of their curves were warped and had form tears (including a couple during holds where it was easy to spot them). Their rotations will need work, as well. Body angles were mostly good, but I saw a few marchers who weren't turned all the way toward the sideline. This show is getting there, but they have a good amount of work to do before they can maximize the point value from it. I was perplexed when I saw they were so close to Forest Park; I thought they would be at least 1-2 points further away in the high 70s.
Forest Park - "Aquatica"
This band reminds me of Murray in that their shows are always creative, innovative, and usually about things one would not think would translate well to a marching band show. One year, they did a golf show, and it worked! This one had plenty of visual portrayals of their concept, including sea shell backdrops, teal colored tridents on their uniforms, 3-pronged trident head attachments to the guard poles, and even two over-sized clam shell props, complete with pearls inside. Their music had two main sources, one of which I did not recognize. The other source was the score for the 1989 James Cameron film The Abyss, which featured an absolutely gorgeous finale piece. (On a side note, if you haven't seen that movie, I recommend you watch it at least once.) One of this band's strong points is a very talented brass section, which made the music from The Abyss every bit as beautiful as it sounded in the movie. Hearing their excellent finals performance of that piece was one of my favorite moments of the day on Saturday. The French horn soloists did a pretty good job in prelims, but really shone like stars in their finals run. Their blend was absolutely gorgeous. The other, more fast-paced piece had just a couple of muddy spots in it, but was mostly done very well. Their drill is probably where they left the most points on the table; it had ambitious velocity, and there were a couple of sets that just need more practice. They jazz run with really good technique. I think this show has a pretty complete package, and if they can clean up their forms between sets, then they have a great chance of being crowned champion in ISSMA's Class D for... what is it, Art, the third or fourth year in a row?
Jasper - "Celtic Dances"
Wow, this band has guts. They remind me somewhat of Madisonville-North Hopkins. Four Scottish Dances is a pretty challenging concert piece, and their book doesn't water it down much, if at all. Despite that fact, their musical performance was still at least as good as Bourbon County, who is known around this state for their musical ability. There are no props or backdrops and few visual draws in this show, which will probably hurt their effect scores, but I personally really appreciated the return of this show's focus to the music. The X and cross shapes were all very appropriate, though, as the cross refers to the flag of England and the X refers to the flag of Scotland. I believe they even formed the Union Jack once, which is the combination of the two patterns that is found on the flag of the United Kingdom. There was actually a pretty decent amount of body work to add visual interest to moments where there wasn't quite as much movement. The music itself was very clean, with just a couple of passages that weren't quite together. Attacks, releases, blend, style, phrasing... it was all there. Music performance was definitely their biggest strength, and music effect probably wasn't too far behind. The soprano saxophone soloist was superb, and I heard very few mistakes from any of her features. There was a small amount of phasing in the front ensemble once or twice, and they tended to get drowned out by the full sound of the winds. Some harder striking or maybe a microphone will be necessary to fix that. The battery was almost always buried somewhere in the back, and I think that field coverage may have caused some phasing, as well. A lot of fuss has been made over Jasper's visual performance, but in my opinion, their drill is a lot tougher than it looks, and they performed it well for just past the midpoint of the season. There is very little park and bark, and usually, the performers are doing something demanding in the drill (something that either moves fast or requires a high degree of accuracy) while performing their features. Their technique was very good, their intervals only ever had minor flaws, and their linear and curved forms had very few major errors. Their blocks were a weak point visually, with crooked lines and diagonals that will need more work to straighten out. All of their body work was well-coordinated. Overall, I thought they were the best band there on Saturday. Their music was fantastic, their drill was very good, and their effect was good enough. I had them as a narrow grand champion. Their show can be beaten by a band that performs just as cleanly and has more effect built in, as evidenced on Saturday, but that will be a tough task in ISSMA Class B. This band should finish top 2 or 3 overall in their class, and has a good chance of winning.
Bourbon county - "Our Wicked Ways"
This is definitely the best effect package I've seen in any show this season. There's always something going on, everything that happens has something to do with the show concept, and the voice-overs aren't that cheesy and help tie everything in together. There is some park-and-bark, but not as much as a lot of other finals contenders around the state. I'm not really thrilled with the stylized arrangement of In the Halls of the Mountain King (in my opinion, it's OVER-stylized), but I'm glad it's seeing some play time on the marching field nonetheless. Since I have seen this show 5 times, its novelty is beginning to wear off for me personally, but there are parts that I will always enjoy, like the trumpet solo of "I've Put a Spell On You". Their finals performance was probably their cleanest so far this season, so I was not surprised that they won. I still think that some of their voices go out of control during their hits, and that it takes away from their music performance and music effect scores. As far as accuracy toward the notes on the page, though, it was excellent. A couple of muddy moments, and that's about it. I still think the stage being in the middle of the field for the first half of the show kind of limits their options with drill, but that's a really minor detail that probably won't even count against them at all. Their circles are among the best circle forms I've seen a marching band perform in this state; ironically, it's the straight lines and block rotations they had trouble keeping straight on Saturday. Their intervals were mostly good, but spacing issues did pop up during sets. It still averaged out to a visual performance about on the same level as Jasper. I thought that Jasper's music would carry them slightly past Bourbon County, but I wasn't surprised when Bourbon County won, and I figured it would be pretty close either way. It was definitely Bourbon County's excellent visual design that propelled them over Jasper, whose show was much more plain. This show will be hard to beat in class AAA, because it's going to be next to impossible to have more effect built into a show, and the only other option is to have a cleaner performance, which is also very difficult.
South Oldham - "Ice"
Interesting show, reminds me of Corbin's 2012 show "Frostbite". The icy backdrops set a nice stage for soloists and were spread far enough out to allow the band to move. The icy blues in the uniform inserts and the field commander's outfit helped give the show a cold feel. The wind blowing sounds and the chimes set a nice wintry atmosphere for their selections from Swan Lake. The design was actually very good, but the performance level did not match it. Compared to how they sounded when they made it to finals in 2009 and 2010, this band sounds pretty anemic at the moment. They needed to have a lot more air support and projection than they used. I could barely hear solos even when half the band wasn't playing, their big hits didn't have as great of an impact, and they just sounded flat. I'm wondering if some of that may have been because of the energy drain that comes with hosting a competition. Regardless, they sounded tinny and unenergetic. The soloists need to project a lot more in order to get a good, clear tone all the way up to the press box, and the band needs to use those diaphragms to really push that air out during their impact moments. There were intonation issues, as well, but those were probably caused by the temperature. The percussion was a bright spot, though; there were moments when they weren't always on time, but for the most part, they stole the show. The drill had its share of issues, as well; their biggest enemy was curves. I saw plenty of form tears and interval issues with curved forms, and they had a tough time keeping the shapes intact during their sets. Their marching technique was mostly good, but there were a few issues with upper body posture, and I saw a couple of marchers bobbing up and down while marching because they had their legs bent a little too far. The visuals were pretty good, but will need some work on uniformity of angles and movement rates. Overall, their sound production is by far their biggest issue, and if they can fill out their sound (both with ensemble moments and with solos), then they will be in a much better position going into the last couple of weeks of the season. If they can make their drill squeaky clean, as well, then I can see them working their way into contending for finals in class AAAA. They have a lot of work to do before they even approach that point, though.
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