VVHSCR95 wrote:As a class of ’95 Valley View Grad, I had the opportunity to see live, (and via aggressive video watching) quite a few outstanding shows live. Without showing too much bias towards my own school, here’s a few that stick out:
Etiwanda ’92- The year they beat Clovis West and went to BoA Grand Nationals. This was Bernstein’s mass and the musical maturity was just ridiculous. The visuals started sloppy, but by the time RCCs Big Orange classic came around, it was tight. The fact that they won against a field that included them, Clovis West, Poway, Vista, and Mt. Carmel was just astounding.
Mater Dei ’93- Rocky Point Holiday as a closer?! Tight Drill design for a small band but still a great deal of sound. I remember them being very “in-tune”
Rancho Bernardo ’95- The planets. Not always the tightest band visually, but the brass sound of this band was ridiculous.
Mission Viejo ’94- The first “composed for the field” show I’d ever seen. I believe it was a Key Poulan composition, but I could be wrong. The drumline was sick, and the arrangements were interesting, plus the off-metered stuff ( I think they had a piece in 7/8) always made it seem super-challenging, given the difficulty of getting kids to stay in step to 4/4 time.
I’ll give a seconding for Beyer’s ’94 show. They had actually swooped in and won the ’93 BoA regionals as a relative unknown to SoCal bands and they arrived in ’94 with a ton of confidence. They ultimately lost to an Etiwanda show that was technically superior, but was super boring to watch.
Clovis West ’95- My first field experience as a college student was watching them perform an On the Waterfront show that was ahead of its’ time. If I’m not mistaken, this was the last year they had their esteemed director that found a new home in Union City.
Finally, I couldn’t finish this without a nod to my own alma-mater. I will tout Valley View’s 1993 show, Dvorak’s New World Symphony. I will admit that we peaked early that year, and by the time the SoCal championships arrived, we finished well below our potential. In the early going, we were blowing the doors off competitors. The highlight, as a performer, was a show in a show in Las Vegas, with Etiwanda as the only other viable competition. We finished second, but there were multiple spectators that thought we had the better show, just less reputation. I wish I had good opinions for other decades, but I’ve only been a once a year observer lately. And not always in California, either.
Absolutely great post, and yes (wholeheartedly).
Some extras:
Mission Viejo '94 was Jim Wunderlich's "Prelude and Allegro." All original music, indeed, which was quite rare for that time.
Beyer '94 was sloppy, but really, really exciting. Loved the drum feature, and the human voice synth choir that ended their show as the winds are draped with the checkered flag. (The guard was amazing, too, and for them this was the norm.)
Clovis West '96 was the last year Mr. Barrera was at CW. In '96, on an "off" Saturday, I made a special trip to a podunk field tournament in the San Diego area for a MBASC (loosely related to WSBMC) show just to see the world famous Clovis West band that I had only read about in World of Pageantry magazine (print edition). I bribed my dad to drive me to this show. We made it to the show just in time so I could see this band. My jaw was seriously dropped the whole way through. First flagrant use of electronics I have ever seen, and yet amazing technical performance. All the CW bands--particularly '93 and beyond--were ahead of their time.
Valley View '93 was a great band. My band (Fountain Valley, Class of '97) competed against you guys and used to consider you a "rival." But Valley View '93 was way, way better than us. I remember you guys took sweepstakes at Valencia, made finals at BOA as the first band to perform at some ungodly hour of the morning, and 2nd Place at the Star of Nevada Invitational (where Etiwanda took 1st). Awesome band. You guys were "first on" at a lot of shows, but cleaned up!
Great memories!