I'm not much on the band stuff....BUT....

[Lance 228]

this is bad ass.

 

[Ryan4VT 4,557]

You want bands?? Here ya go. All of these Banda are High School bands.

 

Tarpon Springs- 2010 4th place show

This show should have won...all about the paranormal. This show takes you on a ride.

 

Kennesaw Mountain- 2006

I was in Indy for this one. Got to march it the next year (we bought it off them). Great show about growing up.

 

Kennesaw Mountain- 2004

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntSeHnYWj9M&feature=youtube_gdata_player

We bought this show my Fr year. My favorite show I've ever seen.

 

Kennesaw Mountain- 2002

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpmpQdLBqH8&feature=youtube_gdata_player

BigDs favorite show of all time.

 

Avon- 2004

This show is about football, oddly enough. Good little show.

[Deleted Account 5,203]

You want bands?? Here ya go. All of these Banda are High School bands.

 

Tarpon Springs- 2010 4th place show

This show should have won...all about the paranormal. This show takes you on a ride.

 

Kennesaw Mountain- 2006

I was in Indy for this one. Got to march it the next year (we bought it off them). Great show about growing up.

 

Kennesaw Mountain- 2004

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntSeHnYWj9M&feature=youtube_gdata_player

We bought this show my Fr year. My favorite show I've ever seen.

 

Kennesaw Mountain- 2002

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpmpQdLBqH8&feature=youtube_gdata_player

BigDs favorite show of all time.

 

Avon- 2004

This show is about football, oddly enough. Good little show.

 

Even I knew about Kennesaw Mountain. :)

 

I wish UVA's band would post more on YouTube. For the obvious reasons.

[Lance 228]

You want bands?? Here ya go. All of these Banda are High School bands.

 

Tarpon Springs- 2010 4th place show

This show should have won...all about the paranormal. This show takes you on a ride.

 

Kennesaw Mountain- 2006

I was in Indy for this one. Got to march it the next year (we bought it off them). Great show about growing up.

 

Kennesaw Mountain- 2004

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntSeHnYWj9M&feature=youtube_gdata_player

We bought this show my Fr year. My favorite show I've ever seen.

 

Kennesaw Mountain- 2002

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpmpQdLBqH8&feature=youtube_gdata_player

BigDs favorite show of all time.

 

Avon- 2004

This show is about football, oddly enough. Good little show.

 

 

 

i just said i'm not much on the band stuff....lol.

 

I just like the submarine thing the WVU band did..that was pretty cool.

[BigBlueAlum 12]

Kennesaw Mountain- 2002

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpmpQdLBqH8&feature=youtube_gdata_player

BigDs favorite show of all time.

 

I'm going to have to agree with BigD here. In fact, I liked Richlands' performance of this show even better the Kennesaw's.

 

And speaking of marching bands, this video has been all over the net this past week. Some of you may enjoy it:

 

Edited October 13, 2011 by BigBlueAlum

[GMan 3,569]

And speaking of marching bands, this video has been all over the net this past week. Some of you may enjoy it:

 

 

They did a pretty good job...for white people...

 

This is how its supposed to be done...

 

[Ryan4VT 4,557]

I'm going to have to agree with BigD here. In fact, I liked Richlands' performance of this show even better the Kennesaw's.

 

And speaking of marching bands, this video has been all over the net this past week. Some of you may enjoy it:

 

 

I worked the Blue waterfall the year RHS did it. My 8th grade year.

[Lance 228]

They did a pretty good job...for white people...

 

This is how its supposed to be done...

 

 

white people just don't understand the up beat....lol.

[Ryan4VT 4,557]

white people just don't understand the up beat....lol.

 

Some of us do. Lol.

[Deleted Account 5,203]

I'm going to have to agree with BigD here. In fact, I liked Richlands' performance of this show even better the Kennesaw's.

 

And speaking of marching bands, this video has been all over the net this past week. Some of you may enjoy it:

 

 

Honestly, Richlands does a better job musically, but Richlands couldn't touch this level of marching precision on its best day ever.

 

Richlands was on a different level from any other high school band I'd ever heard that year. I was simply blown away: in 2003 Richlands could've been THE best high school marching band in the state of Virginia. High school bands aren't supposed to sound like that...

[Ryan4VT 4,557]

Honestly, Richlands does a better job musically, but Richlands couldn't touch this level of marching precision on its best day ever.

 

Richlands was on a different level from any other high school band I'd ever heard that year. I was simply blown away: in 2003 Richlands could've been THE best high school marching band in the state of Virginia. High school bands aren't supposed to sound like that...

 

It was a special year. And so was 2004. Those shows were amazing.

 

I just ordered my Semi-Finals and Finals tickets for the BoA Grand Nationals in Indy in November!! Needless to say, I'm super pumped. Band geek heaven. Hahaha.

[Deleted Account 5,203]

It was a special year. And so was 2004. Those shows were amazing.

 

I just ordered my Semi-Finals and Finals tickets for the BoA Grand Nationals in Indy in November!! Needless to say, I'm super pumped. Band geek heaven. Hahaha.

 

I used to get pumped for BOA until I got into DCI. It's the closest thing we have to professional marching bands. Both, though, are iHdeed band geek Geaven.

[Ryan4VT 4,557]

I used to get pumped for BOA until I got into DCI. It's the closest thing we have to professional marching bands. Both, though, are iHdeed band geek Geaven.

 

I would love to see a DCI show. But I always find out about hte one in Salem like, the day before and never get to go. One of my good friends marched in The Cadets the year they set the world record for highest score with the Dreamsapes: Four Parts and A Door show.

[BigBlueAlum 12]

Honestly, Richlands does a better job musically, but Richlands couldn't touch this level of marching precision on its best day ever.

 

I was going to add something like this to my post, but I figured no one would care. lol When I said I enjoyed Richlands' performance more than Kennesaw's I was talking about the music and over all general effect (especially the ending).

 

Our marching was always our weakest link, but still better than most bands we competed against, IMO.

[Deleted Account 5,203]

I would love to see a DCI show. But I always find out about hte one in Salem like, the day before and never get to go. One of my good friends marched in The Cadets the year they set the world record for highest score with the Dreamsapes: Four Parts and A Door show.

 

We had a few from UVA march in different corps. We sent most of our DCI alums to The Cavaliers, which seems fitting in retrospect. Sent a couple to the Blue Knights and sent one to The Crossmen. It did cause a stir, though, when The Cadets set the world record.

 

One of the blessings of being here in PA is that the DCI Eastern Classic is in Allentown, which is just a 2 hour drive up I-81 and I-80. HUGE event...

 

I was going to add something like this to my post, but I figured no one would care. lol When I said I enjoyed Richlands' performance more than Kennesaw's I was talking about the music and over all general effect (especially the ending).

 

Our marching was always our weakest link, but still better than most bands we competed against, IMO.

 

The royal blue pants with black shoes combination was a stroke of genius. It covers up phasing so well, so even when you did make mistakes, it wasn't nearly as perceptible. At Graham, of course, we had white pants and white shoes, which is pretty much just waving a giant "LOOK AT OUR PHASING" sign to the judges. We took much pride in the marching aspect of our performances at Graham, and it was an area that we could beat Richlands as often as you guys beat us. Music, though, yeah...

[Ryan4VT 4,557]

We had a few from UVA march in different corps. We sent most of our DCI alums to The Cavaliers, which seems fitting in retrospect. Sent a couple to the Blue Knights and sent one to The Crossmen. It did cause a stir, though, when The Cadets set the world record.

 

One of the blessings of being here in PA is that the DCI Eastern Classic is in Allentown, which is just a 2 hour drive up I-81 and I-80. HUGE event...

 

 

 

The royal blue pants with black shoes combination was a stroke of genius. It covers up phasing so well, so even when you did make mistakes, it wasn't nearly as perceptible. At Graham, of course, we had white pants and white shoes, which is pretty much just waving a giant "LOOK AT OUR PHASING" sign to the judges. We took much pride in the marching aspect of our performances at Graham, and it was an area that we could beat Richlands as often as you guys beat us. Music, though, yeah...

 

 

The guy that was in The Cadets went to Tech. He was one of the 3 first trumpets that year. Had another friend march in the Carolina Crown. He was a tuba.

 

Yeah, you guys were always just a bit better at marching, and we were a bit better at music. And our GE was always pretty even. Made for some fun years of band comps, IMO.

[Deleted Account 5,203]

The guy that was in The Cadets went to Tech. He was one of the 3 first trumpets that year. Had another friend march in the Carolina Crown. He was a tuba.

 

Yeah, you guys were always just a bit better at marching, and we were a bit better at music. And our GE was always pretty even. Made for some fun years of band comps, IMO.[/QUOTe]

 

I had some good All-District battles with Richlands tuba players. Lost my sophomore year, but did manage to get the better of your guys my junior and senior years. All-District was fun times, and I wish that the VHSL would sponsor this rather than the VBODA so that there could be a state champion, much like forensics, for example.

 

Of course you think it was fun...you always won. ;). Being 5 years older than you, I don't think we overlapped. My heyday was '99-'02. Our strongest band and your weakest band in that period was 2001, and we still couldn't beat you. That was the year we did RiverDance and you all did Civil War. Of course, we all know what happened in September of that year. As far as marching bands go, that might be the biggest stroke of dumb "luck" I've ever seen in my life. There was no way on this planet you all were losing in October 2001 doing a patriotic show...

 

Of course, Graham's most talented band was in 2002, but that band self-destructed for reasons that had little, if anything, to do with musicianship...

[Ryan4VT 4,557]

I had some good All-District battles with Richlands tuba players. Lost my sophomore year, but did manage to get the better of your guys my junior and senior years. All-District was fun times, and I wish that the VHSL would sponsor this rather than the VBODA so that there could be a state champion, much like forensics, for example.

 

Of course you think it was fun...you always won. ;). Being 5 years older than you, I don't think we overlapped. My heyday was '99-'02. Our strongest band and your weakest band in that period was 2001, and we still couldn't beat you. That was the year we did RiverDance and you all did Civil War. Of course, we all know what happened in September of that year. As far as marching bands go, that might be the biggest stroke of dumb "luck" I've ever seen in my life. There was no way on this planet you all were losing in October 2001 doing a patriotic show...

 

Of course, Graham's most talented band was in 2002, but that band self-destructed for reasons that had little, if anything, to do with musicianship...

 

 

The Civil War show was a good one, and dumb luck is the best way to put it, lmao. But I enjoyed the rivalry we shared. Made both band do so much more than should have ever been tried. I know the rivalry fueld us, and I can assume it fueled Graham as well.

[Deleted Account 5,203]

The Civil War show was a good one, and dumb luck is the best way to put it, lmao. But I enjoyed the rivalry we shared. Made both band do so much more than should have ever been tried. I know the rivalry fueld us, and I can assume it fueled Graham as well.

 

It fueled us at Graham, but we didn't harness it well. Instead of channeling the desire into working hard for our practices and performances, we let it burn us up. It gave us a "Napoleonic Complex", something one of our leaders said at the time that burned me up but was 100% true in retrospect. It wasn't enough to be good for the sake of the honor in being good. We had to be better than Richlands, and that's not the appropriate way to look at it.

 

As an outsider, during my junior year, I started to see why Richlands's band was as good as it was. It's not that you practiced harder, but you practiced infinitely smarter than we did. I have great respect for Brown, and believe that he doesn't get enough credit for maintaining what Jones did before him, but there often seemed to be communication breakdowns between the goals of Brown and the goals of the leadership staff. This came to a head in 2002, and I've referenced that in a previous post.

 

One thing I'd always admired about Swartz was how cerebral he was about the Richlands band. Everything that he did had a purpose and worked toward the larger goal. The help that he brought back to instruct you guys was top-notch. Even securing UVA-Wise as your camp site was A+ work, as there are tactical advantages to doing it there.

 

Plus, he once loaned me the tuba that I'd win district with in December 2002, as our concert horns were either out of commission or in severe disrepair. Lent a horn to a rival musician, even when he had a tuba player that same year who was a threat to win district. Straight-up class, and it always stuck with me.

[BigBlueAlum 12]

The royal blue pants with black shoes combination was a stroke of genius. It covers up phasing so well, so even when you did make mistakes, it wasn't nearly as perceptible. At Graham, of course, we had white pants and white shoes, which is pretty much just waving a giant "LOOK AT OUR PHASING" sign to the judges. We took much pride in the marching aspect of our performances at Graham, and it was an area that we could beat Richlands as often as you guys beat us. Music, though, yeah...

 

We always marched with white shoes prior to 2003, so our mistakes were always much more noticeable as well. I never understood why we didn't go with black shoes, since they would go well with the dark blue pants and cover up small mistakes. I think they switched to black sometime after I graduated in '03.

[BigBlueAlum 12]

I had some good All-District battles with Richlands tuba players. Lost my sophomore year, but did manage to get the better of your guys my junior and senior years. All-District was fun times, and I wish that the VHSL would sponsor this rather than the VBODA so that there could be a state champion, much like forensics, for example.

 

Of course you think it was fun...you always won. ;). Being 5 years older than you, I don't think we overlapped. My heyday was '99-'02. Our strongest band and your weakest band in that period was 2001, and we still couldn't beat you. That was the year we did RiverDance and you all did Civil War. Of course, we all know what happened in September of that year. As far as marching bands go, that might be the biggest stroke of dumb "luck" I've ever seen in my life. There was no way on this planet you all were losing in October 2001 doing a patriotic show...

 

Of course, Graham's most talented band was in 2002, but that band self-destructed for reasons that had little, if anything, to do with musicianship...

 

We both graduated in 2003, so out years overlapped exactly.

 

I know what you are saying about our 2001 show. It certainly wasn't my favorites show coming out of band camp, but there were several bone chilling shows that season. Many where you could look into the stands and see people weeping. That show had a powerful ending with taps and the Star Spangled Banner piece along with the three giant red, white, and blue stars.

 

One thing I always envied about Graham was your all's sound. You always played with a nice, loud, full sound. Something, that we never seemed to do as well.

[BigBlueAlum 12]

It fueled us at Graham, but we didn't harness it well. Instead of channeling the desire into working hard for our practices and performances, we let it burn us up. It gave us a "Napoleonic Complex", something one of our leaders said at the time that burned me up but was 100% true in retrospect. It wasn't enough to be good for the sake of the honor in being good. We had to be better than Richlands, and that's not the appropriate way to look at it.

 

As an outsider, during my junior year, I started to see why Richlands's band was as good as it was. It's not that you practiced harder, but you practiced infinitely smarter than we did. I have great respect for Brown, and believe that he doesn't get enough credit for maintaining what Jones did before him, but there often seemed to be communication breakdowns between the goals of Brown and the goals of the leadership staff. This came to a head in 2002, and I've referenced that in a previous post.

 

One thing I'd always admired about Swartz was how cerebral he was about the Richlands band. Everything that he did had a purpose and worked toward the larger goal. The help that he brought back to instruct you guys was top-notch. Even securing UVA-Wise as your camp site was A+ work, as there are tactical advantages to doing it there.

 

Plus, he once loaned me the tuba that I'd win district with in December 2002, as our concert horns were either out of commission or in severe disrepair. Lent a horn to a rival musician, even when he had a tuba player that same year who was a threat to win district. Straight-up class, and it always stuck with me.

 

0ur high school years made for some great rivalries. Even though we always seemed to have the upper hand, I'm not going to lie and say we weren't also concerned about beating you guys. It was definitely talked about a lot at our practices.

 

There are a lot of things that people can say about Danny Swartz, but to me he was a hell of a band director and a nice guy. Its a shame that he will probably never be able to put those talents to use again. He was, without and doubt, the reason that RHS had such a successful band for all those years.

[Ryan4VT 4,557]

We always marched with white shoes prior to 2003, so our mistakes were always much more noticeable as well. I never understood why we didn't go with black shoes, since they would go well with the dark blue pants and cover up small mistakes. I think they switched to black sometime after I graduated in '03.

 

My freshman year, 2004-2005, we marched white shoes. I hated it. Too many easily noticable phasing problems. We switched to black shoes in the fall of 2005, my Soph year. One of the smartest moves that went pretty much unnoticed in the general eye.

[Ryan4VT 4,557]

There are a lot of things that people can say about Danny Swartz, but to me he was a hell of a band director and a nice guy. Its a shame that he will probably never be able to put those talents to use again. He was, without and doubt, the reason that RHS had such a successful band for all those years.

 

As evidenced with our current on field band......When Danny L. Swartz Jr. left, so did our band, unfortunatly.

[vthokies4life 10]

Oh band. Those were some good days. I was alongside Observer at Graham for two of his four years beginning with the RiverDance show he referenced. The most complete show I was in was Pirates of the Caribbean my senior year (2004). That year we brought in Jim French from Tazewell and he tightened up our musicianship. Combine that with Brown's ability to keep the marching pristine, and you had a successful show.

 

Also that year was the only year we "beat" Richlands. At the State competition in Pulaski we were awarded a Superior while Richlands scored Excellent. That's the closest I ever came to getting the W over a Swartz-led band. We ended up finishing that year as a Virginia State Honors Band, something that had never been done before and hasn't been done since (if I'm not mistaken). So that was a special year for us.