Perfect Timing

We are back at Hot Springs, where our daughter lives and home base for us. We arrived at Lake Catherine State Park on Monday. It’s been clear and cold. This is mist from the cold air at dawn touching the water of the lake.

I plan our trips months in advance. As I was making reservations last spring I hoped that we could spend the month in Newfoundland that we wanted and still get back in time to see our grandson, Adler, march in the band. He couldn’t travel with us this past summer because he’s a Freshman in high school and in the band. They practice all summer long, four or five days a week, about 8 hours a day. When school starts they go in early for an hour’s practice every morning and then practice again for about three hours after school three days a week. Despite all the work I knew he was loving it. We were anxious to see the band perform.

On Monday, as we were traveling in, Jamie sent part of the program for the state marching band finals on Wednesday, November first. They were to be held at the War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock, about an hour and a half away. Happily, Lake Hamilton, Adler’s school, was performing last, so even though Bud and I both had dental appointments in the morning we should be done in time to ride with Jamie.

There were 13 schools competing in Class 6A. We got there in time to see the last six, listed here.

I’d never been to a marching band competition, it was quite a spectacle. They are very strict about the timing. Each band brings their own equipment and props. They line up in the end zone and along the sidelines at that end of the field while the band before them is performing. A timer on the field makes sure the preceding band has all their stuff off the field within their allotted time. He counts down the last 5 seconds for the waiting band, then they all run out with their props, amplifiers, microphones, stands for the drum majors (students who conduct the band) and of course, their instruments.

And they do have a lot of stuff! Lake Hamilton travels with a semi and three commercial buses. There are 10 band directors and 157 performers. I’m not sure if the 157 includes the three drum majors or not.

They had a huge array of props, this is part of the parent, student crew that worked on props. Jamie is peeking out near the left side. She thought working on props would be one or two evenings for three weeks during the summer, but it turned into many, many hours.

As the bands came out and performed I was very impressed with the quality of the music and the performances. By the time Lake Hamilton came on I was very nervous. I wanted them to do well! I decided not to even try for pictures, it’s too hard to capture and I just wanted to enjoy the experience.

From the first note I knew they would do well. They had so much sound and movement and everything was spot on.

Then came the awards. First place visuals – Lake Hamilton.

First place sound – Lake Hamilton.

First place overall – Lake Hamilton!

Neither the band, nor we, could have timed it any better, though they worked a lot harder to achieve their timing!