I must be moved.” This quote (titled included) is by Niccolo Paganini, Italian violinlist and composer, born October 27, 1782. His words ring true to music, and any art–when the artist feels emotions, it is easier to portray emotions. This ties into the mystical general effect and is a perfect quote to consider heading into the last week of regular season competition.
Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls: It’s the last weekend of regular season competition. This Saturday will determine the 50 bands who advance to MCBA State Finals in Detroit (11/03). It is a little difficult to get excited, as 7 bands will be told to stay home. Is there no means to squeeze them in? It’s just another 1 hour and 45 minutes of competition in an otherwise already long day… but, I digress.
It’s worth noting that the current year flight breakdowns are based on the previous year’s MCBA State Fee payers.
We have three competitions this weekend. Due to adds/drops and flight rearrangements, there’s no real risk for Flight 1 bands – all 10 will advance to state. Scores for Flight 1 and all other flights this weekend will help determine CAS order, and thus, state Finals performance order. The other bands are all fighting to determine who will advance to State.
12 bands are at the Huron Valley Invitational this Saturday, representing all Flights. Competition in White Lake starts at 5:30PM and Awards are at 9:15. See the line-up here.
Michigan Marching will be attending West Shore (as it is the closest to where we live) — if you follow us, and will be at Huron Valley, please send us scores! We get many, many emails and messages asking for scores this weekend and we can normally not provide them fast enough due to our locational-based issues.
In Canton, Plymouth-Canton joins 16 other bands in competition, representing all but Flight 5. Wayne Memorial starts the event off in Open Class, MCBA’s non-competitive class. They will receive the same judging that all competing bands will receive, but will only get comments and ratings from the judges instead of a score. Their assessment will not be shared publicly.
Wayne Memorial’s performance is at 2:00PM. Awards for Flights 4 and 3 will be at 5:00PM. Awards for Flights 2 and 1 will be at 8:15PM. Here are the full details.
Michigan Marching will be attending West Shore (as it is the closest to where we live) — if you follow us, and will be at Great Lakes, please send us scores! We get many, many emails and messages asking for scores this weekend and we can normally not provide them fast enough due to our locational-based issues.
Reeths-Puffer hosts their annual competition at Rockford High School (due to turf rules) this Saturday. 29 bands will be performing at West Shore, which is more than half that will perform at State next week. Competition starts early, at 2:00PM with Flight 4, and then Flight 5 mini-state (all but one Flight 5 band will be here). Awards for 4 and 5 are at 6:30PM.
Flights 2, 1, and 3 follow, with their awards at 10:15PM. We sure don’t understand the reason for the scheduling here, but expect a busy, packed stadium and a congested parking lot. See the entire lineup.
We will have a laptop with us to tether to our phones, to update scores throughout the day as we get them. Please be patient with us this weekend, as everyone is eager and we do rely on user submissions to get information.
I want to wish every band the best of luck this weekend.
We went pretty into length about spectator etiquette last week, and in lieu of doing the same this week… Adults: Please behave. You may have to sit through a flight or flights of bands you’re not affiliated with. The kids on that field have worked just as hard as yours. Show them all the praise they deserve, because all 57 bands in MCBA are deserving of praise.
To those bands who are “on the bubble” and are in jeopardy of not qualifying for state, please know that we still appreciate all the hard work you’ve put into your competitive show this year.
Do not go into these competitions worried about if you’ll advance to State or not. Go into these competitions to play your show to the best of your abilities. You’ve accomplished miracles this season, and you are stars. I want every single one of you performing to leave it all on the field. Move us.
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