SCSBOA 6A

[pike988]

Just glanced at the 6a grid and all I can say is WOW .

[dudewheresmycar]

Probably the most competitive field to date. Nice to see the Poway schools back.

CLASS SCHOOL
6A Arcadia HS
6A Chino HS
6A Cypress HS
6A El Dorado HS
6A Etiwanda HS
6A John F. Kennedy HS - La Palma
6A Los Osos HS
6A Mt. Carmel HS
6A Poway HS
6A Rancho Bernardo HS
6A Rancho Buena Vista HS
6A Rowland HS
6A Savanna HS
6A South HS - Torrance
6A Troy HS
6A Vista Murrieta HS
6A West HS - Torrance

[Hostrauser]

Hooray for years when there are four November Saturdays prior to Thanksgiving!

[perc2100]

Hooray for years when there are four November Saturdays prior to Thanksgiving!

YES!!!

(also hoping this gluttony of 6A groups participating in SCSBOA Championships shows them there IS interest in Championships before Thanksgiving break, and years with only three Saturdays prior to Thanksgiving should still have Champs the Sat. before Thanksgiving)

[Chris Case]

Agreed!!!

[Hostrauser]

...years with only three Saturdays prior to Thanksgiving should still have Champs the Sat. before Thanksgiving)

And conflict with the Arcadia, Centennial (Bakersfield), Moorpark, Ramona (Riverside), and Savanna competitions? I don't see that happening.

The SCSBOA calendar is so full that Champs is kind of left out in the cold most years. They'd have to move a LOT of events to have Champs that weekend.

[dudewheresmycar]

Guess we'll just have to look forward to the next year there will be four Saturdays in November before Thanksgiving :/

[SuperAction80]

Guess we'll just have to look forward to the next year there will be four Saturdays in November before Thanksgiving :/

That will be in 2014 and it wont happen again until 2019...So two years in a row of early championships I assume.

[Albert760]

Why not schedule Championships after the Thanksgiving break?

[Jim Bunselmeier]

Remember the 80s? The Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend was the All Western parade and the California Band Championship Field show. I remember doing both and driving down from northern CA.

[SuperAction80]

Remember the 80s? The Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend was the All Western parade and the California Band Championship Field show. I remember doing both and driving down from northern CA.

I remember the California Band Review was that Saturday after Thanksgiving too. Spend Thanksgiving with family and have practice the Friday before the review...of course the band review that Saturday.

My HS never marched in All Western or the California Band Championships so I have no memories of those.

Sounds like it was a busy Saturday back in the day.

[Jim Bunselmeier]

Thinking again maybe the All Western was on Friday...
The decades cloud the memory.

[Chaporch]

All Western was on Saturday and the California Band Review was on Friday. CBR added a field show after a few years. When All Western ended CBR moved to Saturday. Plus, the Hollywood Christmas Parade was on Sunday.

I worked MANY CBRs over the years plus marched it 4 times.

[dr]

I remember it being a full 4-day weekend-

Thursday (Thanksgiving) - Radio commercial-free re-broadcast of the West Arcadia Band Review that was held the preceding Saturday with Larry Sherman announcing - "Under the Directorship of XXX XXX."

Friday - Bands 1) rehearsing feverishly for the preparation of the Long Beach All-Western Band Review or 2) competing in the California Band Review, hosted by the Santa Ana Winds, in preparation of the Long Beach All-Western Band Review. (And then there were the two years when the Pacific States Band Review was held in direct competition with the All-Western, but that's a story best left for "The Book.")

Saturday - Bands and Drum Majors (only) competing in the Long Beach All-Western Band Review starting at 12:00 Noon until 5:00 PM, 7:00 PM State Twirling Championships featuring amazing baton twirling tricks, elbow rolls, and sometimes tosses that reached the ceiling of the Arena, accompanied by the Long Beach Municipal Band playing (very well and VERY fast) an astonishing mix of marches in rapid succession without repeating a march and with not even a 30 second break in between marches on the floor of the Long Beach Arena, located right on the beach with an audience of 72 high school bands, about 14,000 high school kids, filling the multi-floor Arena in preparation for the Band Review Awards at 8:00 PM, a good five hours after the last band exited the competition area. If you were REALLY lucky you were treated to a sensational indoor field show performance by the gigantic Long Beach State University Big Brown Music Machine under the direction of Larry Curtis and playing incredible arrangements of music written by Marvin Marker, featuring a sound we don't hear any more on the field - WOODWINDS!

The Awards Ceremony, besides being naturally exciting because of the status of winning and the unique opportunity to have competed against bands from the other end of the state (SoCal vs. NorCal), but back then we allowed drum majors to draw the spotlight with the breathtaking spinning speed of the military drum majors and the awesome 40+ foot tosses and blind catches of the mace drum majors. Another feature that we don't see much today - not every band went home with an award. Six classes of 10-12 bands competing for one overall Sweepstakes and one overall Music Award and 1st-5th place in each class. 60-72 drum majors competing for 1st-5th place Mace Drum Major, 1st-5th place Military Drum Major - announced by name and school, not just by school. 72 Bands and 72 Drum Majors competing for 32 Band awards and 15 Drum Major awards. No drill teams were allowed and no awards for the ID units and stiffly held upright tall flags that actually <gasp> portrayed the school mascots and themes. Now we are treated to different colored, yet generic, regimes, regiments, brigades, corps, legions, units, prides, marching bands, or simply bands.

Another element of Band Reviews in general up until sometime in the 1990s - excited and enthusiastic spectators reacting to the bands' performances in the competition area. And though John Philip Sousa marches were popular, they were far outnumbered by music from other great march composers. Purple Carnival and The Stars and Stripes Forever were the marches the best bands played.

Those were the days. Now bands put on a "safe" concert-style march performance to a mostly silent audience, afraid to make any noise in case it negatively affects their own band's score or tees off fans of competitors who believe the audience reaction will affect THEIR band's score. After all, it is difficult to hear those subtle concert musical nuances if the crowd is too loud. Enthusiastic applause and cheers is much less damaging to the sound of a marching band than the sound of audience members shushing in a quiet crowd.

Sunday Night - The Hollywood Santa Claus Lane Parade on national television.

My wish - that audiences would once again feel free to react in a positive and even loud way, through applause, even yelping and whooping when they hear a parade band performance that is exciting and maybe even a little bit risky. Band Reviews used to be just as exciting then as Field Tournaments are now and there is no reason it has to be any other way.

Stepping down now...

[Bandmaster]

Uh... Dennis, wrong Marvin! Marvin Marker never wrote band arrangements, although he was an assistant director of the Long Beach State band in the early 1960's. Marvin Marker was one of the Executive Directors of the All-Western Band Review, the right hand man to Don Gill. You must mean Marvin Branson, who wrote many fabulous arrangements for the CSULB Big Brown Music Machine during the 1970's.

And don't forget the anticipation to see which Drum Major would have the guts to kiss Miss Welcome to Long Beach while accepting his trophy. Some would kiss her hand and then there was the bold Mace Drum Major that grabbed her, bent her over, and kissed her on the lips!

I got to perform an exhibition at the All-Western with Long Beach State's BBMM in 1977. Playing to over 10,000 screaming high school band kids was quite an experience!

Theme from Star Wars - our Finale to the 1977 exhibition