Marching Storm Update
June 12-18
Summary of last week and looking ahead
Thank you to all parents who supported our schedule with providing rides, assisting with meals, and the wonderful volunteering that was donated to assist with our marching band trailer project. We didn't get everything completed that we wanted to do; however, the plan at this stage is to address the rusting on the frame after our marching season is over. (It should be noted that our school district did help us with a couple of the main concerns with the trailer and spots where support bracings had rusted through completely were removed and new pieces welded in place. This cost will not impact our budget because the district covered the maintenance expenses.) Improvements that were made are as follows:
- New floor on the door/ramp and 2/3 of the interior area
- Replaced all door seals
- Replaced and improved the interior lighting switch location
- Replaced the 7 pin power connection from the tow vehicle to the trailer
- Replaced the breakaway battery
- Replaced the brake breakaway cable
- Replaced interior corner sheet metal pieces
- Sanded and repainting of interior wheel well covers
- Welded 6 support pieces into the frame where rust had compromised the structure
- Replaced an exterior light fixture that was broken
Much of the materials were donated from an anonymous supporter of the Marching Storm. To those that contributed with other materials and needs, we truly say "thank you!"
Pictures went well at our new location. Our goal was to make the opportunity better for families with students in both high school and middle school bands. The weather was kind to us once again and we were able to complete the session without delay.
Performance Preview was a strong event as it has been for many years. We would like to thank everyone for planning ahead, purchasing the pizza meal, visiting and supporting our Spirit Wear tent and cheering on the performances of our high school and middle school bands! Your support is the foundation of our success. I do not have funding totals yet for our efforts, but that will be coming soon.
Sartell and Waite Park parades were both very successful! Even thought the heat and humidity was high, students performed very well. Our opening score at Sartell was a 74.1 (out of 100) which allowed us to earn 1st place in our class!! Waite Park was not a judged parade. We perform here for both the opportunity to complete "reps" of our show and because they support us very generously with a financial donation for our performance. Thank you to the many parents and supporters for being visible in your Storm Chaser shirts at both parades!
As we look ahead to this week, we are excited about the three parades scheduled. Our practices will be focused on attacking the observations from the judging team this past Saturday with strategies of improvement. Make sure you check back to the Smore "Marching Storm Update" issue that contains information about all of our parades. Information about this week's parades is now included.
Dining for dollars!
You can share the flyer with as many people as you wish. We invite you to rally together with us to bring in as many people as we can to raise funds! Share the flyer on your Facebook page, your twitter account and your Instagram feed. We will be making photo copies of the flyer for students to take and share with neighbors and you to share at work with co-workers. There are NO RESTRICTIONS to how many people we can invite. They simply need the flyer (or the image of the flyer on their smart phone) to get us the 50% donation!! What a great deal!
Thank you so much to the parent team for securing this fundraising event. Go Marching Storm!!
Paint war and Slippy Slide
Trumpets with their signature "T"
We all unite for fun!
Gavin gets a new hairdue
Alex Sevre armed and ready!
Sami and Emma have each others back!
Saxes levitating
Gavin hold on with great form!
Dueling sliders Ronny and Kaylin
Emma found her groove!
All smiles from Olivia and Lauren!
Guard girls holding on!
Brent slides like a seal!
DCI Minnesota Event
Sauk Rapids Parade Helpers needed
The Sauk Rapids Parade is in its 14th year! In order to have a successful parade - volunteers are needed! Here's how you can help:
Please offer to work at the concession stand at the football stadium. We need 12-15 parents/adults who will help supervise the area, pass out pizza to all of the band members and be a visible presence to the nearly 1000 band students that congregate at the football stadium.
This task allows Sauk Rapids-Rice parents the opportunity to watch our middle school and high school bands march (they are first in the parade). Then parents should make their way to the middle school concession stand and offer their help throughout the evening.
Please call or email Cathy Sauer to sign up: 320-248-1802, cmadsauer@gmail.com or talk to Joan Frerich at officejoan9@yahoo.com or Cindy McMillan at cindy.mcmillan@isd47.org.
Uniform detail
FYI-we handed out 4 pair of black socks to students this past Saturday. We keep extras on hand for emergencies; however, parents and students should NOT rely on our emergency inventory to address their personal responsibilities. These students came to the parade thinking that their socks would not show--they do! Our chaperones spotted them right away. Some were the ankle length sock (too short--they need to extend above the ankle), some were striped socks, etc. We take pride in how our students look and we appreciate your support in providing the items that they need.
The chaperones and staff try to teach life lessons as we go through our season. As parents, we encourage you to help them by asking them to make a list of the items they need for parades, working with them on learning how to do their own laundry, and make sure they have it laid out so last minute departures don't end up with missing items.
We also want to teach them personal responsibility. This includes care of their marching uniform. They need to make sure that the uniform is hung up properly and all pieces are managed (gauntlets, mirrors, hat, plume, bibbers and vest). There are correct and incorrect ways to hang your uniform. All students have been taught the correct way. Some students are especially quick and efficient with getting their uniform hung up and put away--others take an exceptionally long time to keep up with this process. Our chaperones are amazing. They work with the students to help teach them to complete their responsibilities and do so in a way that can help them in preparing for life. As tempting as it is to feel the need to step in and help them as parents, please step back and let them work through these tasks on their own so they can become efficient and be able to manage their uniform responsibilities.
Staying connected
Join our Facebook group. This is a great place to see bulk announcements, promotions of events and performances and more! The Facebook group is a closed group, so please submit a request to join. Our group is called "The Official Marching Storm Group". We welcome you into this community of Marching Storm supporters!
View our web page (www.marchingstorm.com). Here you will see when we have to cancel or change our schedule. The header at the top of the page shows a green highlighted message. If we need to alter our schedule due to weather, that message and the color of the highlight will change. Use this as a first point of reference if you are concerned that weather will impact our schedule.
In emergencies, please know that Mr. Campbell makes his cell phone number accessible to both students and parents. It is (320) 309-2558. Should you need to communicate, make sure you consider his personal life as well as his professional life with the interruption. The sequence of ways to communicate should be managed in the following manner:
- Stop by a practice and communicate in person (before or after is best);
- Call or text well in advance of any situation that may pose a need to communicate;
- Send a note with your student to practices or events;
- Send an email (scott.campbell@isd47.org) with details about what you need to communicate;
- Call or text in case of emergencies or situation that suddenly provides a need to communicate.
When communicating, please make sure you identify yourself and the marcher(s) that you are communicating about.
Storm Chaser Shirts and YOU
The BEST thing you can do is come to the parades, find the judging area (maps provided with outlines of where judging is in the Parade Information Newsletter) and congregate with other Storm Chaser's to be visible to your marcher(s). Judging will give you a certain performance. Some parents just go anywhere on the route and then express disappointment that we didn't perform where they were. You will always get a performance in the Judging area. It might take a little more effort on your part to navigate to the judging part of the parade route, but it makes a huge difference in the performance by our marchers!
Should you need a Storm Chaser shirt, please connect with our Spirit Wear coordinator, Diane Brand. I have listed all of our parent coordinators for you at the bottom of this newsletter. They are there to assist with any questions you may have.
Judging, Classes and Scores
The numbers that judges use are based on categories as simple as Music and Marching and as complex as Musical Repertoire Effectiveness, Musical Performance Effectiveness, Brass Execution, Woodwind Execution, Percussion Execution, Visual Effectiveness, Showmanship Effectiveness, Color Guard Effect, Marching Accuracy and Definition, and Marching Technique. For parades with only 2 judges (determined by the parade committee, not Tri-State) more categories are lumped together into one sheet for judges to evaluate. For parades with as many as 6 judges, evaluation sheets are more specific to one aspect of the performance with greater definition of details being evaluated. Scores are generally placed into "boxes" of Weak, Fair, Good, Excellent and Superior. The scale can float based on how that particular category weighs on the overall score of the performance.
Confusing? Right! So here is how we scored on Saturday at the Sartell parade as a point of reference.
Overall Score: 74.1 out of 100
Music score sheet: General Effect 14.9 out of 20 (box 4 or Excellent); Execution 22.3 out of 30 (box 4 or Excellent)
Visual/Marching score sheet: General Effect 22.2 out of 30 (box 4 or Excellent); Execution 14.7 out of 20 (box 4 or Excellent).
The range of scores on Saturday were as high as 77.2 and as low as 56.3 in the high school band divisions. Overall, our music score was 2nd among and our Marching score was 3rd among the 9 high school bands competing. Our overall score was 2nd highest between the 9 high school bands with the next lowest score being a 73.8 by Dassel-Cokato and the next highest score being 77.2 by Mankato 77 Lancers.
Each category has sub caption areas that we can see with more definition where we need to work. The great news for us is that across the scores, we were above center in every excellent box! This means that our show design and overall performance is very good in the eyes of the judges. Our goal this week will be to continue to improve the details of what we do!
Visit Minnesota Parade Bands at www.minnesotaparadebands.com for more information about scores and judging.
Processes and Proceedures
The Marching Storm community is one that is widely diverse. We have students that come from very strict families and those that come from families with few rules or boundaries for students. We have families with more than enough financial resources to provide for the needs and wants of the family and families that have to work very hard to provide just the bare financial essentials. We have families who will chauffeur others to and from practices or events and families who work during the times that we need students or can't provide transportation.
Above all, Mr. Campbell asks that every student and parent consider the perspective of what is said and how it impacts others. It takes hours for the Marching Storm to put together the product of performing on the street for parades. It only takes seconds to write or speak words that can tear apart our unity. Please consider options before pressing send or saying the words that could potentially be hurtful or damaging to others.
Mr. Campbell has led the Marching Storm for 26 years. He knows what we can make happen when we all work for the greater good of the students. He also knows that he can make mistakes, or in the process of making decisions for the good of the entire unit, have a negative impact on individuals. If this is something you are experiencing, please communicate directly with Mr. Campbell. It is his goal to make this experience positive for every student and every parent of every student.
We need photos and video!
Parent Coordinators for the Marching Storm
- Uniform Coordinators:
- Michelle Lage-mlage@charter.net
- Jennifer Julius-jbjulius@hotmail.com
- Chaperone Coordinators:
- Judy Hackett-shawnett@jetup.net
- Bonnie Florek-lilywhitedaisy@gmail.com
- Photography/Videography Coordinator:
- Performance Preview Coordinators:
- Bonnie Florek-lilywhitedaisy@gmail.com
- Jennifer Julius-jbjulius@hotmail.com
- Tracey MacDonald (in training)-tracey3@charter.net
- Rich MacDonald (in training)-ramacdonald@stcloudstate.edu
- Spiritwear Coordinator:
- Diane Brand-opiebrand@msn.com
- Fundraising Coordinators:
- Joan Frerich-officejoan9@yahoo.com
- Judy Hackett-shawnett@jetup.net
- Trailer Driver Coordinator:
- Diane Brand-opiebrand@msn.com
- Program Coordinator:
- Joan Frerich-officejoan9@yahoo.com