Thinking ahead to Hempfield

Childrens,
It's come to my attention that a few of us think that we might "suck" or "lose" or "embarrass ourselves" this weekend at our first competition.... Well in my opinion nothing could be further from the case:

The very first thing that I'd like you to recall is that participating in band competitions is not about taking home the first place trophy. There are bands that we compete against (because they are of similar size in membership) that spend more time rehearsing, that play easier music, that march fewer drill sets, that have a dozen people on staff, that do not invite seventh and eighth graders to participate, that have historically been high scoring competitive marching bands, and bands that actually require auditions to participate.
The only thing that matters to me is the effort we put forth together in striving to achieve a mastery of the field show we have to the best of our ability. You will be judged and scored five times this fall and in my mind First Place is seeing an increased score with each performance, Period, and if Cavalcade of Bands doesn't award you a trophy for attaining that goal then I will.

The second thing I'd like you to consider is that I never intended to perform in this weekends competition with the entire show on the field; drill, work, visuals, or music! I told you that at band camp!! As an educator my primary function is to help this show develop and mature over the 14 week season from August to Championships. If we had been able to put the whole show on the field on August twenty-somethingth how BORING would rehearsal be every week with nothing new to learn? I think that the best way for us to get better is to have benchmarks to achieve along the way: This weekend I want to play and march Fanfare, Episode 1 & 2, and stand still to play Finale. At Reading I'd like to be able to play and march through the Hoe Down (consider yourself warned percussion). All this without even mentioning that in four years of working with Annville-Cleona (a program with similar numbers and twice the staff and rehearsal time) they NEVER once had their whole show on the field at Hempfield.

Finally I will say this: All that I ask is that every time you take the field in performance, be it at a football game or a competition, I expect you to give one hundred percent effort and strive to achieve to your highest capability as individuals, as sections, and as an ensemble. If the best you can do is play nothing but A# to the rhythm of your section's melody and always step off on your right foot least you fall over and trip the bari sax player.... that's enough for me, and if you're satisfied with knowing that you coudln't have done it any better, then I'll be proud of you. And if you can't be proud of yourself and yourselves, you need to take a look at what we're really trying to do here.

Shiny trophies don't make great bands, dedication and effort will make a great band. So at pre-game Friday and ALL DAY SATURDAY remember that every note counts and we'll come home with our heads up high, because scores aside, we're never losers.
Consider this your pep talk,
-that is all