     
Mt. Carmel Tournament of Bands
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Last Updated: November 1, 2006 On Saturday, October 28, Mt. Carmel held their 30th annual Tounament of Bands! It is one of the few tournaments that consists of both parade and field show judging, which meant that the bands had to be well rounded in both categories to do well. Parade bands performed around noon while the field shows continued throughout the evening. There was one awards ceremony around 2 PM for the small divisions, but the Sweepstakes were announced at the second awards ceremony for the large divisions at 8:15 PM.
So now you're wondering, how does Poway fit into all of this? Well, I'll tell you. The Poway students left at around 10 AM arriving at Mt. Carmel at 11 AM. Anyway, we all had a great time that day (except for those who didn't :). We ate on the Mt. Carmel campus where there were concessions being sold. Around 12:30, the paraders left to get Poway's competition underway.
Ah, parade band! The art of marching down the street in straight lines and playing brilliant and exiting marches with just the right balence between warm and bright tones. After going through our usual warm-up routines, Poway's parade steped off at precisely 2:05 PM. I felt pretty good about the performance...(more info on parade to be added later)
The toughest part of the day was our rehearsal on Mt. Carmel's grass which had been turned into a temporary practice area. Being spoiled with our own astroturf field for so long, it was hard to march because the ground was rough and the yard lines were hard to see. Plus, the directors asked us to set up in parts of the show that we usually do not rehearse individually. Not to mention alergy problems caused by the grass. It was a pretty long and tiring rehearsal which I do not feel like writing about. So there.
And finally, the heart of the artichoke, the lead in the pencil, the candy inside the pinata, our field show! Poway's field performance was at 7:15 PM, a little earlier in the evening than usual for us! I personally could feel the exitement. Poway has not won the Mt. Carmel Tournament for over 10 years so it would be a really big achievement to take the Sweepstakes. After I heard the annoucer tell Poway to "take the field," I can only remember how long that walk seemed. Having entered from the right, the left block of woodwinds basically had to march around the entire field before the performance.
More importantly however, our show blew away the crowd. I could hear the immensity of the applause even from the Left 20 yard line, 10 steps from the back side line! (Just a little band humor;) Afterward, everyone that I talked to though that they had had a terrific performance. I think everyone was very confident as we hurried to get to the stadium for the final awards ceremony. On a side note, we "de-formed" right after our performance where the parent boosters were waiting with bag fulls of candy for everyone! Thanks boosters!
And finally, the awards! Please note, Mt. Carmel performed in "exhibition" and their scores did not affect the awards whatsoever. Here were the results:
Hi-light text to reveal! But there were two Sweepstakes categories that were unannouced and were given no trophies! Specifically the two categories below. I honestly have no idea why Mt. Carmel chose not to annouce these important areas... *coug* rigged *cough*
Visual Sweepstakes: Poway, Go to Page 2
©Copyright 2006 macgyversfriend: You may save some pictures if you like but please do not steal any of my work and claim it as your own. Thanks!
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