daily slice-of-life photo blog of a Gen-X dad
We went to the first marching band competition of the season this evening to watch Koa’s high school perform. It was awesome! All the bands were really great, with a ton of variety. It was so cool to see all the hard work pay off in amazing performances. Way to go everyone! (But especially my son, Koa 😄)
Today Koa’s drumline too part in the first competition of the season. It’s always held in Dripping Springs, which is in the Texas Hill Country and home to several nice breweries, so before his band played at 8pm, we stopped at Family Business Beer Company to eat pizza and try some beer.
It was a nice way to spend a Saturday. 😀 またね～
This morning Koa’s high school band had their annual fundraiser parade through the neighborhood. It’s always fun to watch them go past near our house, and the music is so loud and powerful. Incredible! (He’s the one with the green sunglasses)
During his freshman and sophomore years, he played marimba in the front ensemble. Of course you cannot march with those huge instruments, so during the parade he would just walk with the rest of the band. But this year he is playing snare drum so he was right in the middle of the action. It was really cool!
As a senior, this is his last time playing with this band so it’s pretty special. No one knows if school will eventually become fully virtual or not, but at least he’s already gotten in a few live performances.
It’s always amazing to see the marching band parent preview concert knowing that the students have only been practicing the new piece for a couple of weeks. And even more amazing is the fact that the freshman musicians have never marched before! I bet it was a real thrill to finally perform on the field in front of an audience. Way to go, kids!!
This evening we went to the neighborhood stadium to watch the high school band perform their upcoming show that they will be featuring next school year. It was a beautiful evening and so nice to be back outside doing something “normal”.
I’d say 80% of the audience was wearing masks, even though they band directors asked that everyone continue to mask up. 🙄 I’m not so worried since my family is vaccinated, but there’s still a chance that you could get sick so we had our masks on the whole time. The entire band wore masks (except when playing wind instruments) so it’s not such a big ask that the parents all mask up as well.
Anyway, it was a fun night and the band sounded great. I can’t wait to hear the music in a competition setting!
