Where Did November Go?

November has been filled with band stuff - tournaments, football games, practices, meetings - as well as work. The first week of the month was so stressful at work and I had to be at school four nights out of seven.

Our Tournament of Bands on November 7 was a huge success even if it rained the whole evening. We hosted 13 bands who performed for the 2,000 audience members. This is a major fundraiser for the band booster club. And our band did an outstanding job performing their field show "Rhapsody." Since most of the parents were working and didn't get to watch the band perform, our band performed just for us after the guests left. This was such a long day...got up early to prepare all the cashier banks and gather the supplies we would need. Dropped off Ryan early so he could polish his tuba, then the kids practiced from 12:30. The gates opened at 4:30 and the cleanup finished about midnight.

(Mahalo to Tony Jacang for two of the above pics!)

Next up on the following Tuesday was the University of Hawaii's Bandfest at Aloha Stadium. There are no prizes for this one, just critiques from the adjudication panel. The band did great again. It was so interesting that it rained the whole time before they came on the field and it poured the whole time afterwards, but was nice and clear when they were on! Lucky we had our ponchos because the rain really came down (not like at our TOB, where the rain was more like passing showers). We stayed relatively dry even though we sat in the orange section.

Then finally on Saturday November 14 was what the kids have been working towards all season, the Mililani High School Band Tournament. Last year, even though their "Africa" show was so terrific, they got disappointing scores all around. The kids as well as us parents were so upset because the judging seemed so biased, and there was talk of boycotting them the following year. And the field is always so muddy. Last year it rained for days before as well as the day of, so the field was just all mud. Here's a photo of the trophy table as well as the field. Some mud, but definitely not as bad as last year's huge puddles that the kids had to tramp through. It rained this week and Saturday morning too, but luckily it stayed clear all evening.

The kids did their best show yet, adding so many fun visuals/general effects. If there was a prize for tubas, we would have won! Usually the other bands' tubas don't move that much. But Ryan and the KS Band tubas move all over the field, and also move their instruments too. There is one part of "Bohemian Rhapsody" that I love where the tubas do a "suicide" move - they are all lined up and every other tuba swings to the side while the ones in between bend down. It's called "suicide" because if they don't move correctly they'll get hit by another tuba. They always did it perfectly.

Although their "arch rival" Moanalua HS Band won first place, it was by a tiny fraction of a point. And both bands received the festival rating of "Superior," which I believe is the highest (below that is "Excellent," "Good," and something equivalent to "Thanks for coming anyway.").

After the tournament was over, all the kids were on the field in high spirits. I worried that they (and especially Ryan) would be disppointed at not winning, but they were exuberant at their "Superior" rating. Just before they went to board the buses, they held hands in a circle around the directors, staff, seniors and their families, and sang the alma mater. Such a chicken skin moment. Our kids always do this, and it's such a great tradition. It shows their unity and gratitude for Princess Pauahi Bishop, who started this school for children of Hawaiian ancestry.

So proud of all of you!