Band Competition

Last Saturday was the district's marching band competition. If you have a picture in your head of what something like this entails, you're probably half right. Take a look.

First, all the bands filed into the public square, the audience perched anywhere we could to get a good view.

I was taking this picture to capture the tinsel-decorated drum, but then I captured the distraction of a fly!

Look at those costumes...

There were several girls (one per team, but not every team)
dressed in white dresses that reminded me of Easter

Each team had at least one flag as they lined up in front of the judges.

Why, yes, those are paper roses and hearts on the snares.

A for effort?

One of my local teachers with her daughter on her back. Weekends are often the only time teachers see their own children.

Before our marching band competed, our drum dancing team gave an additional performance.
 (I guess because we were the host school and it was a good chance for them to perform again.)

  

Enter the Jietou Central Elementary School marching band, sign and all.  I feel personally invested in the sign,
having provided the translation, and prevented this...

The first sign. Doesn't it look like it's named after someone called "Central E. Lementary"?

"Ready, set, go!"

Drum master in name, if not in reality.

In many cases the formations were more impressive than the playing, but our band sounded pretty good (and won first)!

The middle school performances were, or course,
of their own caliber.

Yes, those are regulation sky-blue converse...and special red ones!

The middle schoolers have trumpets!

Did you notice all the makeup?

This was my favorite sequence of them all...