Last 9th Grade Concert

Last night was one of those poignant moments. It was the last band concert of the year. But it was also the last band concert for the 9th graders AND for the 8th graders. This is the last year that 9th grade will be at the Junior High’s. Next year, the 9th grade will be at the High Schools, and Junior High will only have 7th and 8th grade.

At the Concert & at the Awards assembly on Tuesday, it was especially poignant to me and Hubby. We have seen so much growth during the last 3 years. The teachers have commented on it, too.

The last 2 Band Concerts have been really fun. Mr. Murphy had them doing some “regular” pieces, but he also had them do some jazz pieces, and they did them well! In the March concert, My Murphy played his Sousaphone (made in the 1930’s) and they really rocked!

Last night, the last piece the band played was Santana’s “Evil Ways” and you should have seen Hubby (a drummer) smile & rock to it! It was so toe-tappin’ that you had to smile and join in. Espeacially at the drum riff at the end of the piece!!!  The piece rated a standing ovation, too.

We came home and had to listen to "Evil Ways" on the internet again.  It just made the band sound better because of how great they nailed it!

Of course, we got our usual ice cream from MacDonalds on the way home. It's become a tradition now and I think we have to continue it. One chocolate shake, one strawberry shake, one vanilla shake. 

Today as Dear Daughter & I were talking about how the cat likes Dad the best, I said "You & me are second fiddles." Dear daughter said "I'm second flute!"

I started laughing and we had to explain what the joke was.

Award

About 2-3 weeks ago, we got a letter informing us that Dear Daughter was going to be getting an award at school and when the awards were going to be given out. They did not tell us what the award was for.

We chose not to tell her that she was going to get one until we were there last night. Looking back, it may have been a good idea to tell her and have her change out of the clothes she had worn to school, but hindsight. . .

She got the award for Outstanding 8th Grade Band Student.

Receiving her award.

With the 8th Grade Orchestra & Choir winners.

Posing for the “Kodak Moment”.

Last 8th Grade Concert

"Dad's taking my picture. Dont' smile."

Mr Murphy and the band after they finished.

The Bobcat Fiddler's are great! Lot's of audience participation.

Dear Daughter with Mr Murphy. He has been a great band director.

Our First Parade

Monday, January 21st, was Martin Luther King Civil Rights Day. We had a parade downtown. Normally I don’t go to parades anymore. But this was different; my youngest daughter was in it. Her Jr. High band found out on Jan 12 that they were going to be marching.

The kids had not done any kind of marching practice so I was a little concerned about how they would handle staying together; not to mention playing while they “marched”. There were about 6 or 7 Jr. High bands in the parade. The first one was in the same situation ours was. They were in a tight group and didn’t even try to march, just tried to stay together. One band in the middle of the parade had uniforms and showed signs of having done a lot of marching practice – they were the best, but they had practiced, too.

Our kids were the last band and I have to commend their band director! Those kids lined up and did pretty well at keeping the lines straight. The band director was also the tuba player and he didn’t have any other adults helping him with the band.

For most of the parade, I walked with them and did the “parent thing” with my camera. Overall, I was really proud of all of them. They gave it a really great effort! I think we are going to love being band parents! TK has been talking about starting a band parents/band boosters group to help the band director.

The saddest part was when I asked how many had parents/family coming; only about five kids said they had someone coming.

Oh, that's a tongue in the tuba horn.

TK was really excited about this picture. He loved that the Honor Guard was in step with each other enough that it almost looks like one set of legs!