29th Music in Motion = a raging success

THE INTRO

They flocked to Cheshire High School last night in scores. Marching band fans, a lot comprising of friends and family strode through the gates at the CHS athletic complex. The event was the 29th annual Music in Motion competition ,sponsored by the Cheshire High School Band parent's Association. It also was the first ever M.I.M at the new artificial turf field.

THE PRELIMINARY

The weather , which can make or break crowd turnout , was as requested, clear skies with a bit of a chill later in the night. At around 2:30 , in full sun, there was a run through of Shipwrecked by the CHS band witnessed by the Dodd Middle School Marching Band. Afterward Dodd , under the able direction of Ms. Lynn Esposti, took the field along with the Ram Band for The National Anthem.

This was not just a gratuitous performance  for  Dodd parents or grandparents unable to make the 9PM Ram Band appearance but one watched under the keen eyes of Ram Band head honcho John Kuhner and visual captain head, Steven Lyons. After the anthem was played there were some positive suggestions on the musical and marching ends . The band(s) went on to play a few parts over and rehearse nuisances such as when instruments were raised and lowered in unison.

THE SELL

At 4 PM the event actually started with a smattering of fans trickling in for the early bands. The ticket booth was open, quality made programs hawked ,  the baked goods over-stacked ,donated and homemade.Later in the night ,hot chocolate was brewed and briskly sold .  Just a few steps away was a table selling raffle tickets where later in the evening a fan walked away with almost $700.

Next lay a booth where you could buy souvenirs or make a live tribute over the public address system. There were two food booths, fried dough and everything else. A few examples were barbecue chicken and rib eye steak sandwiches, clam chowder, chili and the ever popular taco in a bag (chili and cheese stirred into a fritos bag served with a spoon). Not to belabor the point the food setup was exemplary , the food quality and selection were good, the lines- thronglike at times- moved well and the prices wallet friendly. This was the result of great planning and many years of experience.

Now that you know that nobody starved or went home with a hole in their pocketbooks lets talk about the fanatics or fans...

THE FANS

Lots of school allegiance here with the school colors , school letter style jackets and hats , by parents and grandparents. Hundreds of cameras ranging from the cell phone type to  ones with lenses long enough to serve as mini-bazookas. This was a crowd full of experienced watchers, they brought their own chairs , blankets and stuff to nosh on. They knew when to clap , when not to move or talk or even when to be boisterous. There were hundreds if not thousands in attendance and as luck may have it sat behind two SuperFans from East Haven.

The ladies in question had the EHS labeled apparel, nylon padded seats (in Eastie blue), dressed like Eskimos, and the just -in- case blanket.  They wore blue gloves with yellow pom poms at the end of each finger, that may not have been practical or stylish but did not affect clapping. What distinguished one of these SuperFans were two smallish cowbells , one blue and, you guessed it,  one yellow. To her credit the bells were rattled , quite vigorously but thankfully sparingly at the right time and , surprisingly, not just for the Easties. Both gals paid close attention to all the performances .  While a lot of parents come and go based on their kids performance East Haven played at 4:45 Pm and when I left my seat at 9:30 they were still there !

THE BANDS

Such an event requires incredible logistics and none more importantly than the flow of bands on and off the field. It begins with time of arrival and ends with retreat (waiting for awards). In between is scheduled practice times silent and non-silent. It is a ritual akin to a walk through on Saturday by NFL teams.

The bands arrived some on standard yellow buses , others traveled in style. There were moving vans full of instruments, props and motorized carts.

Band uniforms ranged from garish to casual- one band wore jeans and flannel shirts? another had their color guard in public works type garb. One band even had colonial ,drum and fife, type uniforms. Even more bizarre but relative to the theme were ,from Southington, the pleather and gladiator-like uniforms wore by three Samurai (drum majors ). Creativity seems to vary from school to school.

Most schools uniforms were traditional with the sharp creases and the big festooned hats. For some inexplicable reason the uniforms of the Ram Band (Red , White and Black) were quite common. It's a toy soldier kind of look.

 The color guard , now that is a different story, the outfits range wildly from the marchers. It is a journey into the kaleidoscopic. Flags vary between artsie and single colored and are mxed within performance. Some schools emphasize dance, some twirling , flag waving and /or a combination of all. Middletown High even had a score of dynamic cheerleaders which created an enjoyable and remarkably cohesive three ring circus of sorts.

The pit is the group fronting the marchers and can include drums of all sizes and shapes, cymbals, keyboards, guitars and sound effect paraphernalia. They may not strut on the field by do a share of dancing , head bobbing and in general seem to be having a blast.

 SOME HIGHLIGHTS

DISCLAIMER: I did not take copious notes for each performance nor understand scoring criteria. The lineup of twenty bands, ten before and ten after intermission  was devised by divisions (size of band), for instance the largest group was II-A (smaller bands) which had six participants. The next largest was V-open (larger bands). Ram Band is III-A and as the host played as exhibition an ineligible for awards.

Performances ranged from the traditional halftime at a football game to avant garde. There were even a few that were head dizzying complex. Some had the drumline as back beat and others gave them a bigger role. A few bands featured solos- among the showstoppers were trumpet (Gilbert) , vocalist (Wethersfield) and violin (Bunnnell) and saxaphone (?).

All bands seemed energized , rehearsed and organized. The bigger bands obviously have a fuller sound. One band managed to take up the entire field ,end zone and all. My personal favorites included Middletown and Bunnell.

Middletown wraps power with whimsy , solid formations and recognizable popular music. Bunnell of Stratford production of Adventures In Oz was a potent mix of military precision and had a full one band one sound feel to it. They pushed the passion meter to the red line built around the non-traditional use of a solo violinist. The finale was epic with trumpeters, at least two of which were drum majors distinctly garbed in blinding white , blaring pointing towards the sky . Bravo.

The Ram Band sounded better than ever and even broke out the requisite Shipwrecked prop for the first time. Thankfully no marcher crashed into it! Joining in the exhibition was the University of New Haven marching band, 150 strong their sound could be heard for miles. To the unpracticed ear it least, the Chargers showed a "jump" from high school to the collegiate level.

THE JUDGES

The show was sponsored by US Bands and in doing so a platoon of judges from all over the United States critiqued and scored performances. All comments are on tape and delivered to schools immediately after performance. It appears that there is a division of responsibility with  numerous judges watching from above and on the field. Full scores available here.

SPECIAL THANKS

The moderator , Joe Aguilar (band parent associate) and radio personality from the River 105.9 was enjoyable. He persistently but not annoyingly let all spectators know of the "fine cuisine" available as well as announcing the individual bands leaders, theme and accomplishments. A wonderful and greatly appreciated job overall.

The parents group, led by Deborah Aguilar facilitated a top shelf, fun and family friendly event . It may have seemed seamless but required dozens of coordinators. They should be proud.

The photographer is Kevin Bartram. Not to hard to find , he was the guy that looked like he was on safari and had more cameras and gadgets on him than I could count. Blog photo credits go to him.

 CORRECTION

John Kuhner , band director, did not write Shipwrecked as mentioned in a previous post. The musical score belongs to John Meehan.