WCO Halftime Survey
- Published on Wednesday, 31 August 2011 23:17
- Written by Omar Taweel
In the September 1, 2011 edition of The Washington County Observer in the Under the Ladder column I published a list of halftime show themes the TMB has produced during my tenure as director. Click the link below and answer the survey questions. I'll share the results in a future column.
Reflections from Cabot
- Published on Monday, 11 October 2010 20:26
The TMB survived a long weekend as we spent 12 hours in a school bus traveling to some distant venues.
Our evening began on the road to Marshall for some football against the Marshall Bobcats. It's amazing how long it takes to travel 35 miles on a curvy two lane road and by contrast how quickly the same distance can be covered traveling on the interstate. We left West Fork before 4:00 p.m. and arrived in Marshall around 6:25. Following a too quick warm up we found us in the bleachers playing the fite song a lot. Halftime was good and set us up for Saturday's contest. The game was mercy ruled but the clock operator didn't seem to accept this fact and never let the clock roll and end the misery. This cost us 30 minutes on our return trip. Instead of arriving home at 1:00 a.m., it was more like 1:45.
It was an early rise; I got up at 6:30 and by 7:30 I was at the band room. We departed at 8:15 and by 8:45 we were on I40. The warmest temperatures since mid September would be waiting for us in Cabot. I loved it, I like it hot and humid - there's something about sweating through your shirt that makes you feel like you have accomplished something. Even with the heat, the TMB didn't flinch. As a matter of fact, we performed well enough to be awarded a 2nd Division Excellent Rating. We were proud to take home some hardware but we realized that 2nd Division isn't good enough for us and we are continuing to strive for a 1st division rating. Following our performance we were able to see a number of bands we normally don't get to see. We left Cabot at around 5:30 and had supper at CiCi's in Russellville. Tyler broke his old record by choking down 45 slices!
10:00 found us arriving in West Fork and we quickly unloaded and headed to our respective homes. Congratulations to the road warriors from TMB land, I am proud of you!
Contest Season
- Published on Monday, 04 October 2010 22:46
Marching season is one of my favorite times of the year. I truly enjoy coaching a high school band to perform well. This is the time of the year when the music and drill have been taught and our rehearsal focus changes to polishing our drill for our upcoming contest performances.
We will attend three marching contests this year: October 9th in Cabot, October 16th in Charleston, and October 19th in Springdale. The performance in Springdale is the 2010 ASBOA Region One Marching Assessment and a 1st Division rating for this performance is the first leg of an ASBOA Sweepstakes award.
It's always fun to watch the band when the drill and music look and sound like I always thought it would.
Rivalry Game Greenland vs. West Fork
- Published on Monday, 04 October 2010 22:42
Congratulations to the football tigers for beating our South Washington County rival, the Greenland Pirates. I had the honor of giving the pregame pep talk. Our team's goals were met - "defend our home turf".
It was a super night for high school football, not too cold, not too hot. The band played and marched well for its 5th performance of the season. We are seeing dramatic improvement each week and with contest season looming, this is a good thing.
P.S. Christi said it was time to start using my blog; she's bored with the three measly posts from the summer.
ABA 2010
- Published on Friday, 30 July 2010 11:13
Sitting here in another seminar… Learning how to use software I already know how to use.
