Finally! A week to be at home! No stress of being on time for a competition that's at least 45 minutes away; and certainly no stressing over forgotten flags or uniform pieces.
This is our week. We're on our home turf, where we're confident in our performance and most importantly, our wonderful fans! After all, It's Walkersville, and fan involvement is huge for us!
This is where we come from and where we get to be ourselves, but at the same time, impress everyone else.
As much of an advantage as it may seem to be home, it can also come as one of the most difficult competitions of the season. It's the time to show everyone what we're made of. It's not the same Walkersville fans who show up at other competitions and Friday night football games. It's our peers from school and other friends and family members who are there just for the Walkersville High School Marching Band!
People come to the competition hoping for us to win, and to be the very best. At home, we push ourselves to do our very best because we know that we have so many people counting on us! It's like our very own football game; without the football, of course. Battle of the Bands is our only "home game." It's pretty disappointing to lose on our own turf, so we will go out there for the best results!
This past weekend was definitely a busy one. We had the pleasure of being at the school at 6:30 a.m. to load up and hit the road for a parade that was about three hours away in Southern Garrett County.
Then we had to head back for our competition at North Hagerstown High School. We were thrilled with our outstanding performance and our scores for the week! We won second place with a score of 81.2! We received awards for best drum major, high auxiliary (color guard), best visuals and high percussion! Even though we didn't get first place, we were more than happy to finally break 80!
We are now ranked 10th place in the entire Tournament of Bands! The feeling of being so successful after a hardcore week of practice is indescribable. And, to top it off, our instructors couldn't give much negative feedback, simply because of how proud they were. It was our best week yet and we are proud to say that we are getting closer to the top each week!
As we get closer to that goal point, we must do everything possible to keep our drive of getting there. Practice efficiency has every little bit to do with keeping the strength to get there. We can't have a lazy week of practice and expect to win first place at Saturday's competition.
We have to give it our all and keep our eyes on the prize. Without the drive to succeed, there's really not much of a chance. Working together, we can win! We are only as strong as our weakest link. If we practice like a performance, then when we perform, it will feel like a practice.
This is the general lecture that comes from our section leaders and instructors anytime we even think about slacking. It really pays off to have a staff that makes us "pick up the slack." And they couldn't be more right when they say that we have so much potential that we need to put into gear! Once we do, it will be like a light switch. So, get it Walkersville! We can be the excellent band that I know we are!
This week is our chance! We are in it as an exhibition and there will be no announcing our scores on a loud speaker and no first, second or third place trophy for us.
This week, we get to be the ones presenting the trophies and awards to the other bands out there that are working just as hard as we are to get to the top! We get to look our competitors straight in the eye and say, "Congratulations!" But when we're out there, we must not forget that it is still time to be serious and to work hard.
We are still getting scored and the judges most likely have the idea of our show by now. We have to put forth every single improvement we're making in order to get credit for it. And, of course, we can't forget that we are representing the town of Walkersville. So let's remember who we are, and how great it felt to do such an amazing job last week!
We can do even better in the future! Chapter Championships is right around the corner, and then Atlantic Coast Championships! If we want to get there, we have to prove to each other, and most importantly to ourselves, that we can do this! I have faith in us, and so do a lot more people than we're even aware of! So please remember...we are the Walkersville High School Marching Lions!
Excellence, Pride, Commitment, WHS BAND!
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