I don't know if it's possible to express in words how much marching band means to me. My essay might explain some of how I feel about band.

Every Wedensday from 6-9 I spend my time with my favorite group of people.....band geeks!! I'm actually looking forward to band camp and having no time to think about anything besides band.

Westminster High School Owl Marching Band of previous years!

1998- The Art of War
This year our show is THE ART OF WAR, it's in 3 parts. The first movement is in your face, it's so cool, and the Trumpets are kickin' butt in it, right up front in the start (where Trumpets belong!). The 2nd movement very beautiful (well, it will be once the freshman learn to play it right). The 3rd movement is back in your face again...it's fast and frenzied (I love it!!!! Partialy because I have a little 2 measure solo). Oh, and I own the last 2 measures..it's some high A's and B flat's....which it seems no one else can hit at the end. The marching is really hard stuff too. It's got a whole bunch of cool concepts in it. I love the show so much this year!!

ACC's BABY!! Here I come!
Westminster will be performing last on Saturday night....right after Pocono Mt. It'll be a tough act to follow, but I'm sure up to the challenge. I'm so psyched. Be sure to cheer for us. I gotta go get some rest for saturday (seen as I'm typing this less then 24 hours away from our performance). Ok so wanna know how ACC's went?? Westminster came in second!! score of 96.3!!! yeah.....well, now it's time to prepare for concerts....be sure to come see the jazz band on December 3rd!!
NOVEMBER 7, 1998 CHAPTER XIII CHAMPIONSHIPS
It was a long day for all of us. After a 3 hour bus ride we arived at Allegany HS (thanks for the hospitality) to practice. After a decent rehearsal, we got a little pep speech and had a great run-through, which set the tone for the night. We put on our best show yet at Chapters and came in first place with a score of 96.4! Great concentration from everyone was the key to this show. (can we improve even more for ACC's??) Congrats to all the bands that competed....and good luck to those of you who will be going to ACC's.
OCTOBER 31, 1998 LEBANON COMPETITION
We came in 2nd with a score of 94.0 I think we did ok, the energy was there but we had some big timing problems, this week we can clean it all up and put in our new drill with the help of Jeff Gouch (our drill designer who's gonna come work with us). Congratulations to Pocono Mountain for putting on a great show and winning group IV at Lebanon.
OCTOBER 24, 1998 MARYLAND STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS!
We won with a 92.5 I thought the show was very energetic, but I don't think the marching was very precise...I'm not really sure, I'll tell you when i get to watch the video.
OCTOBER 17, 1998 Severna Park Show
We got a 92.2 at Severna Park we won best gaurd, percussion and drum major. The band sounded tired and we had some timing prolems, but it looks like those are mostly worked out now, and we got some new horn moves.....States is gonna be awesome!!
OCTOBER 3, 1998 Westminster Show
It was so great!! Perfect marching band weather, you know, cold and rainy (but not lightning or thunder). I love that weather because it helps me focus. I think that personally that was the best I've played at a competition. We were in exhibition since it was our home show, but we did get judged and recieved a score of 90.75!!
SEPTEMBER 26, 1998 FSK show and Redland Competition
It was ok.....the FSK show was far below what we could have done. My valve stuck during my solo! grrrr. Oh well, the FSK show was USSBA, and like I said my band competes in TOBWe got a 79 something, I think, don't quote me on it. We won the FSK show, even though the heat got to us (I hate afternoon competitions) That night we traveled up to PA for the Redland Competition...up in chapter VI territory. We did good that night and we got an 85.5 and won the show. Next week is our home show....so come out Saturday at 6 to WHS and see some great bands.
SECOND COMPETITION!!
Well, September 19, we went over to Liberty High School to compete. Saturday's practice had a very slow start, but after some wonderful motavational speeches (our instructors are great at that) the rehearsal improved, and it payed of that night. In my opinion we performed a billion times better then the previous week. I was very proud of myself for blasting out the high A's at the end of the show (I was tired, but that gave me a huge adrenaline rush)!! Anyways, we took 1st place and won the awards for best percussion, auxilary, and music. We had a score of 86.5!!!!!! That's sooooo cool, my freshman year, I don't think we ever got above an 85, not even at the end of the season.

FIRST COMPETITION!!!!
September 12, was our first competition: The Cavalier Classic, at South Carroll High School. We did rather well. We took the awards for best auxilary, best percussion, best visual, and best music. We came in first place im Group IV with a score of 82(point something, I was screaming when I heard 82). Oh, and we won overall, since we had the highest score out of all the bands competiting. We did pretty good for our first competition. The scary thing is, I think we could have done better, and I know next week we will do better.

1997- The Divine Comedy

Last year, 1997 my band's show was THE DIVINE COMEDY. That year our band changed so much from the previous years. I think the reason we got to be so much better was thanks to our new director, Mr. Lortz, and all the great instructors that he hired. THE DIVINE COMEDY was my sophmore year and my second year in marching band. Our show that year was better than anyone expected. At almost all the competitions we competed in we came in second place....to Liberty high school which is another Group 3 band from our county (except at dust bowl '97, the FSK competition, where we tied them). Then at Middleton we came in 1st and took all the special awards. That may sound bad but it was awesome....I mean we even came in 2nd in the state!!! November 8, 1997 is a day I will never forget, it was the day of ACC's (the Atlantic Coast Championships). Only the top 25 bands of each group (I, II, III, and IV) get to go. In '96 we came in 40 something place so we didn't even get to go to ACC's. But with the Divine Comedy we went into ACC's ranked 12th. I was so psyched. It was such a great experience that I wrote an essay about it for my English class. I still have pictures of ACC's running through my mind. When we got on the field I was so excited, and after our performance we all knew that that was the best we had ever done. Some members of the band were even crying. Then we all sat in the stands, and finally they started announcing scores. "In 25th place with a score of......., by the time they got to 12 and it wasn't us we were all jumping up and down. Then we learned that we were in the top ten. Still no Westminster by 6th place. We came in 5th!!!!!!!!! That is more than any of us expected. Maybe we can beat it this year....maybe we could become the first Maryland band to win ACC's.

1996- Pictures at an Exhibition and Firebird

Well, 1996 was my freshman year. It was fun...I was 3rd Trumpet and learning a whole lot about marching band. I had joined marching band only because I wanted some experiene because I want to be in the University of Michigan marching band. I had no clue how much fun it would be, or how much of my life it would consume. I basically thought of High School marching band as an investment in my future chances of being in the Michigan band, but now I realize how much more the experience of band has given me. I really looked up to the Trumpet section leaders and have wanted to be one ever since. I love band so much, more then I thought I would. The Trumpet section was of course the best, and I thought our band was pretty good, but I had a lot to learn about being good. We were ok, I mean sometimes we'd beat other schools. I'm sure we could have been a lot better though. We didn't have the rehearsal schedule to be great.