This weekend at the Washington marching festival, the New Haven Marching Shamrocks proved that practice equals perfection! In a previous interview, Megan Shockley, Mackenzy Vedder, Josh Lindley, and Mrs. Koch all said that the same thing, “marching,” is what needed to be improved. This is exactly what happened at this past weekend’s competition!
The Shamrocks were supposed to start the parade at 9:15 a.m., but since other bands were not prepared, they stepped off at 9:05. Every year for this parade, all the Shamrock fans wait at the corner by Dairy Delight to watch the band march by. This year, they were taken by surprise--the Shamrocks were ahead of schedule. The band was supposed to be the last one to step off in their class, but ended up being one of the first. Maybe this helped with their scores since they were prepared.
After they passed dairy delight, they passed another judge to find themselves in the middle of the parade. Each time they got to the corner of a street, they did their famous Texas turn. Other bands have their own turn, but the Marching Shamrocks’ turn is unique. Each time they would walk past the judge, it was a quick change of posture and a horns up! The drums would start off, and the auxiliary performed their routine to the music. After the song ended, the band became uniform, but the drums were the only ones performing.
As the Shamrocks were finishing the parade, they marched up a hill leading to the buses to go home. On both sides of the streets were people from other schools cheering them on because not every school marches up that hill. “I love that other schools encourage us to continue on. They were cheering and saying ‘Go New Haven!’” said Hannah Kruse.
Instead of losing to Vienna, as was previously the case, the Shamrocks brought home two trophies to add to the four from Sullivan. They placed first in their class overall and first for marching in the whole competition. Vienna placed sixth in music; New Haven placed second. “The judges from Washington definitely thought the band was doing a lot better than Vienna when comparing the scores,” Mrs. Koch stated. During marching season, they have always been New Haven’s biggest rivals.
“You guys did great today, good job!” Mrs. Koch said. In the marching rank, they were placed first by 60 points! As a band, their rank was first by 6 points. The drumline still did very well, even though they got third place with a score of 114 points: first place drumline had 120 points. Finally, the auxiliary got second place in their class, losing to Osage County R-2 by 4 points.
Regardless of what the scores were, “I think we did pretty well,” Keven McDowell, the drum major, said.
Saturday, October 11th, the Shamrocks leave for their last competition of the season. During this last week of practice, they are determined to perfect their music and still hold the lines while marching. The band hopes to see another first place trophy, along with a first place in music and marching! -by Abby Perdue
The Shamrocks were supposed to start the parade at 9:15 a.m., but since other bands were not prepared, they stepped off at 9:05. Every year for this parade, all the Shamrock fans wait at the corner by Dairy Delight to watch the band march by. This year, they were taken by surprise--the Shamrocks were ahead of schedule. The band was supposed to be the last one to step off in their class, but ended up being one of the first. Maybe this helped with their scores since they were prepared.
After they passed dairy delight, they passed another judge to find themselves in the middle of the parade. Each time they got to the corner of a street, they did their famous Texas turn. Other bands have their own turn, but the Marching Shamrocks’ turn is unique. Each time they would walk past the judge, it was a quick change of posture and a horns up! The drums would start off, and the auxiliary performed their routine to the music. After the song ended, the band became uniform, but the drums were the only ones performing.
As the Shamrocks were finishing the parade, they marched up a hill leading to the buses to go home. On both sides of the streets were people from other schools cheering them on because not every school marches up that hill. “I love that other schools encourage us to continue on. They were cheering and saying ‘Go New Haven!’” said Hannah Kruse.
Instead of losing to Vienna, as was previously the case, the Shamrocks brought home two trophies to add to the four from Sullivan. They placed first in their class overall and first for marching in the whole competition. Vienna placed sixth in music; New Haven placed second. “The judges from Washington definitely thought the band was doing a lot better than Vienna when comparing the scores,” Mrs. Koch stated. During marching season, they have always been New Haven’s biggest rivals.
“You guys did great today, good job!” Mrs. Koch said. In the marching rank, they were placed first by 60 points! As a band, their rank was first by 6 points. The drumline still did very well, even though they got third place with a score of 114 points: first place drumline had 120 points. Finally, the auxiliary got second place in their class, losing to Osage County R-2 by 4 points.
Regardless of what the scores were, “I think we did pretty well,” Keven McDowell, the drum major, said.
Saturday, October 11th, the Shamrocks leave for their last competition of the season. During this last week of practice, they are determined to perfect their music and still hold the lines while marching. The band hopes to see another first place trophy, along with a first place in music and marching! -by Abby Perdue
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