The Week Before Marching Contest
(after C.C. Moore)
"Twas the week before contest and in the band hall,
The tension was building amongst one and all.
The soloist strived very hard to find ways,
To play in one breath that long difficult phase.
Each night the directors viewed video clips,
To spot every problem and find every slip.
The BPO met late one night to set up,
For the trip and the food and the drinks and the cups.
Band members met early by section each day,
And the Flags practiced late once the band went away.
At the practice that Monday, I could be on hand,
So I climbed up and watched them from high in the stands.
The sun was bright hot, not a breath stirred the leaves,
The air temperature topped nearly ninety degrees.
They did their routine and they did it once more,
Five clinicians watched like they were keeping score,
At the set where the brass make a shape like a dome,
Heaven help anyone whose horn didn't point home.
Then they did it again, polished it 'til it shone,
All the while using only their best "All-State tone".
Ten thousand details were reviewed there that day,
About how they should march, about how they should play.
They practiced an hour and then stopped to take,
A leisurely two minute long water break,
Then they did it in parts and then once again whole,
They did it with heart and an eye on their goal.
They headed home weary about at night fall,
I felt tired myself though I'd moved not at all.
But this was just Monday, they'd five days to go,
There's a lot of hard work in a marching band show.
