I arrived at Cicely Tyson School
in East Orange about 4:00 PM on Friday, 9/24/10. The Band Parents
were just finishing serving the members of the Unified Marching
Band a delicious dinner the parents had cooked themselves earlier
in the day.
Upstairs, the new tag system is
about to get tested. We really have to do something about getting
tables or racks to hold the uniforms. I'm sure the floors are
clean, but there has to be a better way. In any case, the
uniforms and shoes are clearly labled and students should be able
to find their uniforms quickly once they walk down the hall.
Downstairs we can see the trumpet
section has gotten their uniforms and a new section has been sent
upstairs to get theirs. Meanwhile, assistant band
director/composer Darian
Bravo is teaching the band a new band
"holler" to use at the game.
5:45 PM. The Band lines up in the
parking lot and prepares to board the buses that will take them
to Livingston.
Drummer Harquan
Williams strikes a pose by the door of
the bus as the rest of the band members file by to locate their
seats. The group will travel in two buses, which, as we will see,
causes a last minute worry.
Bus Number 2 arrives in
Livingston at 6:30 PM, but where is Bus Number 1 which left
before them? No one knows, so there are some hurried phone calls
to try and locate them.
Eventually Bus Number 1 shows up
and there is a happy reunion as the East Orange Band becomes
United once again! And just in time. It is 6:50 PM and time to
start the opening show so the game can begin at 7:00 PM as
scheduled.
The opening show has to be cut a
little short as a result of the delay in starting, but you can
see and hear it for yourself in the video below.
During the first quarter of the football game,
student leaders of the Livingston Lancers Marching Band visited
the student leaders of our band and invited the band to cross
over and take their seats as the Lancers performed the half-time
show.
Meanwhile, the East Orange Unified Marching Band
got ready to perform some of their musical cheers to inspire the
Jaguars to play their best on the field below. The video below
shows some of what we heard, and also shows some of the fancy new
drum work we can expect to see and hear from our drumline this
year. The drum instructor for this game was Julius Sheppherd.
Thanks to the generosity of our hosts in
Livingston, the East Orange Band got to see the Marching Lancers
perform an excellent program during the half-time show while
sitting in their seats on the home team side. I saw videos being
made of their show and if they give us permission, we will link
to them from here so you can see what a great performance they
gave.
Some more scenes pulled from the video camera:
During half-time, the East Orange Unified Band
sits on the Home Team side as guests of the Lancers Marching
Band.
From this viewpoint, they were able to enjoy
the half-time show as seen from the front, such as this view of
the Lancers' acrobatic cheerleaders.
They also got a front view of the Marching
Lancers' band as seen from directly behind the student conductor
and the front row of roll-on instruments.
Final Score: East Orange
Campus High 20 - Livingston High School 14
