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International "Be A Music Parent" Day
I'm writing this in between halves of a day-night doubleheader.
This morning, Tony and I got up at an hour that is unusually late for his normal weekday schedule, but is obscenely early for a Saturday... all for a good cause, as this is Tag Day (would that be Tagtag in Deutsch?), the biggest fund raiser of the year for the music department. Parents drive students all over the various neighborhoods that send kids to Chantilly H.S. The idea is for the students to knock on *every* *single* *door* of every neighborhood feeding the school, and beg for money (in exchange for 2 tix to one of the Fall Concerts). I guess since we only do it once a year, it's remarkably lucrative... twenty grand or so in a day. But consider: a sousaphone costs around $6,000 these days... a set of timpani is double that. Transportation to competitions is not cheap either. Is it any surprise that we spend so much time doing various fund raisers?
After breakfast at the school, we broke up into carfuls of pairs and spent 3 hours canvassing the area. After a break for lunch, we're back at it again for another 3 hours, though with different students and drivers. Most of our neighboring schools are doing the exact same thing today. Those of us who are marching or working crew tonight went out this morning so we could rest up a bit this afternoon, to get ready for the second half:
The Virginia Showcase of Bands hosted by Herndon High School. Chantilly's Mighty Marching Chargers are the defending champions from 2002; Hurricane Isabel caused the 2003 competition to be cancelled. Results of recent years at the Herndon competition
Weather conditions over the past few days will probably make this competition an "play in formation" thing. If they actually let 25-30 bands march on that saturated field, the last band (that's us) would likely lose the following to the resulting muck: a dozen shoes, a few flags, a trumpet or flute, and maybe an unsuspecting freshman. Oh well. Let's hope for better weather in 3 weeks (for the Bands of America Regional at Rutgers). Go Mighty Marching Chargers!
We'll get home midnightish after unloading the trucks. It will have been a VERY long day!
This morning, Tony and I got up at an hour that is unusually late for his normal weekday schedule, but is obscenely early for a Saturday... all for a good cause, as this is Tag Day (would that be Tagtag in Deutsch?), the biggest fund raiser of the year for the music department. Parents drive students all over the various neighborhoods that send kids to Chantilly H.S. The idea is for the students to knock on *every* *single* *door* of every neighborhood feeding the school, and beg for money (in exchange for 2 tix to one of the Fall Concerts). I guess since we only do it once a year, it's remarkably lucrative... twenty grand or so in a day. But consider: a sousaphone costs around $6,000 these days... a set of timpani is double that. Transportation to competitions is not cheap either. Is it any surprise that we spend so much time doing various fund raisers?
After breakfast at the school, we broke up into carfuls of pairs and spent 3 hours canvassing the area. After a break for lunch, we're back at it again for another 3 hours, though with different students and drivers. Most of our neighboring schools are doing the exact same thing today. Those of us who are marching or working crew tonight went out this morning so we could rest up a bit this afternoon, to get ready for the second half:
The Virginia Showcase of Bands hosted by Herndon High School. Chantilly's Mighty Marching Chargers are the defending champions from 2002; Hurricane Isabel caused the 2003 competition to be cancelled. Results of recent years at the Herndon competition
Weather conditions over the past few days will probably make this competition an "play in formation" thing. If they actually let 25-30 bands march on that saturated field, the last band (that's us) would likely lose the following to the resulting muck: a dozen shoes, a few flags, a trumpet or flute, and maybe an unsuspecting freshman. Oh well. Let's hope for better weather in 3 weeks (for the Bands of America Regional at Rutgers). Go Mighty Marching Chargers!
We'll get home midnightish after unloading the trucks. It will have been a VERY long day!
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