Hanover Parade and End of Season Banquet

What a marvelous thing it is to get back together after some time off. As always, I was astounded by your ability bring back a high level of performance after not “doing the thing” for so long. It was a little warm today, and Hanover is a long march, but you did a great job and your hometown fans really appreciate you!

Thank you so much to all the Super Seniors who have given so much to our program. You will be sorely missed.

The Golden Dinkle for outstanding visual performance was presented to “Mr. Intensity”, Jayden Krause from the Drumline. He is “never not performing”. All season, he has been making his presence felt.

Finally, I need to congratulate our Bison Award Winners for the year.

Rookie of the Year: Bass Drummer Zach Frommelt

Most Improved: Mellophone player William Gustafson

First Off the Curb: Flutist Malaika Gallus

HERD Spirit Award: Trumpet player Elizabeth Thornton

Roseville 2023

It is with a feeling of deep satisfaction that I make this final parade post for the month of June. The season really ends in August. But, this was our last time together for awhile. I had the immense pleasure of watching you pass through judging right next to the General Effect Judge and got to experience what he experienced. Simply wonderful. You “hit the box” perfectly and thrilled the 1000’s of people gathered there. Here are some quotes from judges. 

• General Effect Judge Leon Sieve: “You just gave me Goosebumps”
• Music Judge Matt Ferry: “Wow-such musical complexity”
• Marching Judge John Green: “I love that no matter what you are asked to do, in terms of demand, we see the same level of professionalism from you.”

Against Minnesota’s strongest line-up of bands of the year you finished 4th with your highest rating in Marching where you placed 1st. (Might you be the finest marchers in MN?) By looking at parade results throughout the past three weeks, (MN Parade Bands) and how we compared in head to head competition, it appears that, overall, we are ranked perhaps 6th in MN this year. What an accomplishment! I am incredibly proud of you all. 

What you have accomplished this season…truly in just two weeks, is beyond description. Nobody but you and your parents knows that what they saw last night did not exist the morning of June 12. You learned and perfected this entire production in just 15 days. Unbelievable!

As for the Golden Dinkle Award for Outstanding Visual Performance, last night’s recipient has been “demanding” this recognition for a couple years. She has the most incredible posture I can remember in a HERD member. No matter what contortions we put the band through she maintains a machine-like level of precision and visual intensity, earning her the nickname, “The Terminator”. Congratulations to Clarinet Captain Jayde Hallman.

See you all in August!

Lake City 2023

Congratulations to everyone: Students, parents, staff…what an amazing team. You continue to do all the things necessary to get just a little better every time we go out. I am continually astounded by your willingness to work hard. Today you put up your highest score of the year, and I think it was well deserved. You were 2nd in Music, 1st in Marching, 3rd in General Effect, 2nd in Drumline and 3rd in Color Guard. This is a fantastic achievement. 

The winner of the Golden Dinkle for outstanding visual performance is Sophomore Evie Lubben from the Alto Sax Section. She is an absolute MACHINE and is truly special every time you look at her. Congratulations Evie. 

We have one more competitive parade. We will see you all at BHS tomorrow to prep for the Roseville Parade. This is probably the strongest lineup of bands in MN and we will see Waconia and the 728 Cadets for the first time this summer.

Here is a link to Minnesota Parade Bands for scores at Lake City and Alexandria.

Sauk Rapids Parade

Oh…My…Goodness! What a night! After the rain passed through the temperature dropped, but “The HERD” was hotter than ever. Every performance was simply amazing! Superior ratings in every Caption and our second highest score ever at the Sauk Rapids Parade (just behind last year). And, stepping off early in the line-up gave us a chance to watch so many other fine bands. What a tremendous activity we are in! I loved the way you celebrated the accomplishments of every group as they came through. You lived the creed that “The HERD” is not necessarily in competition with other bands; we are their fans. And, we use their achievements to drive ourselves to greatness.

Congratulations to the winner of the Golden Dinkle for outstanding visual performance: Lucas Lawrence from the Trombone Section. When he performs, he is the tallest dude on the street. Unbelievable!

Foley Parade 2023

What a fantastic couple days of growth. After doing most of our work indoors this week, the entire band moved the needle a long way in marching and visual execution. I am so pleased with the quality of your performances on Wednesday…definitely a step up from the Buffalo parade. 

Milaca had a truly Superior performance and took Grand Champion and we were in a tight cluster at the top of Class AA with 1st Place Winner Owatonna and Champlin Park in 2nd Place with just a half point separating the three of us. Overall, “The HERD” was 3rd in Music and General Effect and 4th in Marching.  Here is the MN Parade Bands site if you want to see the overall results and see what happened at other parades.

You’ve got a day off, then we will gather again for the Sauk Rapids Parade on Friday. Our focus for rehearsals that day will be to clean up some of our musical challenges. Intonation, rhythmic timing, and musical nuance are all going to be on the table. I would anticipate a lengthy joint rehearsal with the Winds and the Drumline. Sauk Rapids is often one of our most outstanding performances of the year and I am excited to see what you will do.

Winner of the Golden Dinkle for Outstanding Visual Performance went to Kylie Kelm of the Colorguard. She is always in “beast mode” as a performer. What a great example to us all. Keep up the good work Kylie.

Parent Preview Performance and Buffalo Days 2023

Six Days. That’s all it took to go from square one to a performance that thrilled thousands. It was an unforgettable experience watching the band put this program together. Friday and Saturday night saw the group put up 8 consecutive “runs” that got successively better. During the Buffalo Parade I repeatedly saw kids fixing errors in real time. I especially remember a moment when the Ballad was starting to pull apart, and Drum Major Mason Baloun changed his conducting style to emphatically show the front few ranks where he wanted the beat points to fall…and the band pulled it back together. High level problem solving…in public. Unbelievable. This is what makes “I’m a Band Kid” such a powerful statement on a resume. You guys are absolutely THE BEST!

Here is a link to a site called Minnesota Parade Bands. If you are interested, you can see what is going on at other parades, as well as the competitive results at ours. On Saturday, Milaca was the highest scoring band, with an 80.7. We were just a half point back and scored at or near the top of the pack in all categories. These are the highest scores ever earned at the Buffalo Days Parade. Pretty amazing; only 7 or 8 bands will score in the 80’s this summer (Superior Rating) and you are already there.

In truth, I think the scores for all six bands were a little high and we are likely to perform even better on Wednesday but score a little lower. We received terrific advice from the three judges and I will share some of their comments with you on Tuesday night. We know what we have to do to take it to the next level. Remember, “What was acceptable on Saturday will no longer be acceptable on Wednesday.”

The winner of “The Golden Dinkle Award” for outstanding visual performance on Friday was Super Senior Dillon Popken from the trombone section. On Saturday it was snare drummer Katherine Berg, also a Super Senior. Congratulations to both of them.

I will close by quoting our General Effect Judge, Rhonda Blaser: “What a strong performance…you should feel awesome”