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”