There really is just something fantastic about a marching band--a crisp day, the sun reflecting off of the freshly polished instruments, the sound of warm-ups being played, focused musicians, the colors and movements of the colorguard, the drum major's metronomic arms, and then the combination of sound you can feel and visual elements you can see--you just can't beat it.
This week at MENC we were fortunate to have the Coronado High School Marching Band from Henderson, Nevada, stop by MENC headquarters. Led by MENC teacher Danielle McCracken, the band was in town to play at the Cherry Blossom Festival. They gave the MENC a performance of Sheryl Crow's Soak Up the Sun and Zoot Suit Riot by the Cherry Poppin' Daddies. They also played their fight song. (You can always tell a good fight song when you hear it and somehow instinctively know the words and boy was it a good fight song.) They then got a tour of the building, had some cookies, and learned more about what it is that MENC does before heading off on their way. It was a real treat to have them visit!In case you can't tell, I'm a band person and in particular a marching band person. As someone who never "settled" on a particular instrument but tried a variety of them, I ended up in colorguard in high school. As a result, most of my friends were in band and I was practically an honorary member. I got to see first-hand the effect of music on students and noticed that the same people in band and orchestra were the same people in my honors classes. Having witnessed the effects of music education first-hand, I decided I wanted to use my government background to help promote music education. And that is how I landed here at MENC! So thank you to Miss Stockhouse, my high school band director, for her amazing work with students!
Around the Water Cooler: Well, she did it!! Fellow blogger RF WON my March Madness NCAA (free) pool!! It's the first time I've lost my own pool. After the Final Four, I sprang to the lead as the only one to correctly pick both of the final two teams. Sadly, I chose Ohio State to win and RF correctly chose Florida. So with a margin of only 30 points, she will be taking the trophy home!
In other news, I'm shocked that Gina went home on American Idol. Apparently all of her other fans are like me and didn't vote. What a shame. Like Blake, I feel Gina brought something a little different each week which made the show interesting. No shock that Shandi from Dancing With the Stars went home though. With the scores so close, it's down to popularity.
On a tangent, this is a fascinating article on Larry King in the NYT! And kudos to CBS’ “Face the Nation” host Bob Schieffer who intrinsically knows the power of music--"“If I knew what a band could do for your life, I would have taken guitar lessons a long time ago...The chicks love it!”
