Our First Competition: Moorpark!
Last Saturday, the Oak Park Eagle Brigade (OPB) went to our first competition: The Moorpark Competition.
A Breakdown
After I arrived at the school roughly 3 minutes before call time (12:15), I checked in with uniform managers. I put on my bibber (lower half of a marching band uniform) and checked if I could perform the dance break of movement 4 in the bibber. I was able to, though we used the strap on the inside of the hat to keep the hats on for this show. I checked in with my section to see if they had everything and then used what remaining time I had to talk with my friends.
A little while later, Mr. Borquez (performing arts/band director) calls us to standing-by and we listen in. He double-checks with each section that they all have their instruments and equipment. The flutes are typically on top of it, so there was little concern coming from me. Plus, I already checked with them. He then dismisses the larger instruments to put their instruments in the compartment under the bus. I mingled with the flutes and clarinets before Mr. Borquez then dismissed us. I helped my friend carry his hat boxes to the bus and became the last senior to enter the bus. Fortunately, they still honored seniority, so it was fine.
I sat across and with my friends. On the bus ride there, Mr. Borquez had us run through the show in our heads. Once the timer was up, we went back to chatting.
Once we got on campus, pit unloaded their equipment. I spent more time with my friends before going and figuring out how I was to take my prop onto the field.
I have a half-moon (filled in on the right side), and I put it on the 30-yard line, on the home hash. It’s a very easy-to-spot dot. Mr. Borquez instructed us to not leave our props from then on. There are 12 props, and it was flutes, clarinets, and some of brass carrying them on. It would’ve been easier as a count to have the saxophones help, however, from a field standpoint, it is indeed better to have some members of brass assist. We then went to warm-ups. Mr. Borquez made an exception to the rule and had us leave the props with the rest of the equipment.
Warm-ups went fine, I was somewhat preoccupied. My friend from the yearbook was going to take performance pictures, which we need. The historians are either performing or not here to get those pictures. Additionally, we lack high-quality images, and the yearbook has fancy cameras. I sent him all the information, itinerary, map, and performance times. I’m not sure how helpful it was, but I should’ve done that earlier. Regardless, he did show up and get those pictures. Another yearbook member crashed the party, and regardless of whatever drama that was from or caused, I got the pictures I needed from them.
warm-up picture. I took this image.
Then, the prop people went with the pit, taking all our equipment around the school. It was a long walk, but I didn’t mind. It eased my nerves and gave me some time to think. Typically, I don’t like long spans of time with room for thought, but I suppose this one was fine. We took our places on the side of the field. Brandon and I lined our props up. It was all fine.
We had a moment of panic though. Typically, we go on the field, warm up at the center, and then go to our dots. With our props, what were we to do? Drop them off and run into arcs? Take them into warm-ups? We also never discussed how we were to go onto the field. Brandon assured to just “do whatever all the other prop people do.” Not a great plan, I told him. Though, better than nothing. The woodwind coach came over and said “I never did an on-field warm-up before any of my marching band performances at TOHS.” This is Oak Park, I can’t say I had any confidence he was correct. In my four years, we always did one. The battery coach stated we likely won’t do one, but that they’ll tell us if anything changes, so whatever.
It was finally time to take the field. I had my prop on all four wheels and started pushing my calves and walking backward. Titling it went faster, and I got the prop to its location. We were all called into an arc, and I think the director realized that we never talked about it. For a warm-up done on the fly, it went well. We all then went to our dots.
The Performance
At the start of movement one, I noticed the horn angle of one of my section members was lacking. I’ve noticed this tendency to relax the posture once the focus on the performance is drawn to a different detail. On stage, timeliness seems to be the focus. However, posture is definitely something to set straight.
The first visual was fine, but the second was a little janky. I think establishing the timing of the first count of the visual will allow a smoother transition between the move beforehand and the hold.
The set I’m referring to during movement one. Image taken by Antony Yang.
Movement 2 we either dragged or rushed, I can’t quite recall. I do recall feeling a lot of our sounds being relatively strong, though. There is one “follow the leader” move that everyone gets offstep at, so I think we can improve that move, and increase our score significantly.
Movement 3 was rough. We dragged a lot, and did what the OPB staff call “the pedestrian walk.” Essentially, at a slower tempo, marchers will walk like a pedestrians rather than march like a marcher. This gives a lazy, unclean look to the show. This movement I think is going to receive the most work over the span of this upcoming week.
Movement 4 was the Intergalactic Dance, and I think we looked pretty cool. Making the movements snappier will likely give a more confident feel to the dance, so outside of practice leadership should try to get sections to strengthen the counts each step of the dance occurs on.
Movement 5 was okay, I think for the newest movement it was going to come out a little janky regardless of any adjustments we could make. I believe the ending likely looked pretty cool, and the trumpets that push that upper octave on the last note KILLED it!
Here’s a picture of me during the performance.
The Rest of the Night
After the performance, I walked around with a friend of mine. I went to Mr. Borquez and asked him if we could surprise my good friend and the drum major, Navya Sreeraj, for her birthday. He agreed, and he said we will during the group picture. 6:20 rolls around, and everyone gets together for the group picture (See at bottom of blog post). Mr. Borquez says “hey everyone, it’s Navya’s birthday! Let’s sing her happy birthday,” (paraphrased). We sang and I passed her the cupcake I got for her. She seemed overjoyed. We got the group picture, and Carter’s mom had brought cookies for everyone for the occasion, so we all had a chocolate chip cookie.
After loading us all on the bus, the director stood up and debriefed our final score, and other information. He let us know the plans once we returned to the school, and then ended with:
“Don’t go crazy :)”
Now, I thought most of the fun party people graduated last year. However, the bus ride home brought out a lot of the party in all of us. The senior guys put on some popular songs, and all us older members and some younger members sang along. From Die with a Smile to Fly me to the Moon, we enjoyed so many different songs. I had such an amazing time. To quote a text I sent to my friend, “I love it here because of moments like these.”
Getting back to the school, we all put the uniforms away, and ran down to the field to help put away all the equipment. I carried up a cart with one of the low brass section leaders/my friend, Izadora, then a sousaphone. Going back down, a couple of friends joined us on the other cart to go to the band room. Izadora, Kai, Brandon, and I ran the cart up, and killed my calves in the process (worth it!). Then, I went home and CRASHED.
The Aftermath
We are part of the 2A Green division. The number is by size, and I’m not sure how the color sorting system works. We placed fourth in our division. However, among 17 schools in 2A overall, we still placed 4th. So, we overall did amazing, simply, our division were some of the strongest schools in the 2A division. Link to the SCSBOA website for reference.
Final Thoughts
I’m incredibly proud of our performance last Saturday, and I look forward to this week’s practices and performance. Like always, thank you for reading!
