Cupertino Band Review? What is that? Where is it at? A band review is a competition concerning the band and colorguard. There they go up against other schools and compete in three categories; music, marching and showmanship; four if other judges are looking at the colorguard as auxiliary. Cupertino happens to be past Santa Clara and takes over two hours just to arrive at the destination.
Saturday morning on October 13th, the band and colorguard were to meet up in the band room at 5:30 in the morning. After taking note of who was there or not, Mr. Modesto dismissed the band into three different buses. Wind ensemble occupied the first bus, symphonic band occupied the second bus and concert band occupied the third bus. Senior colorguard members shared the first bus with wind ensemble and sadly the rest of the colorguard shared with the concert band. On the way there, everyone was tired and sleepy filling the bus with silence but after the full rise of the sun, many people were vibrant with energy.
Upon arriving in Cupertino, the buses took us over to the high school where we checked in and took our bathroom breaks. After all that was done, band and colorguard members donned their uniforms and finished any leftover preparations needed to be done. Then they took out their instruments and equipment and set into their formation to begin the warm-ups. Gradually the time for warm-ups was ending and the next thing you know the Marching Pride began lining up to march out. There the band came across the warm-up zone in which everyone practiced diligently and readied for the real show. At last they arrive at their destination and are greeted with cheers from the local community and judges; then they proceed to play and perform the routine “Army in the Nile”.
After the grueling session, they march off and come upon the percussion solo in which they performed outstandingly, and then the Pride continued onward to take a complete band picture. We all dressed out after the picture and happily accepted the Subway sandwiches awaiting us with cold drinks and dessert. Although our lunch break was short, they all attended the award’s ceremony in hopes of seeing the whole team receive a reward. Sadly, the Pride received one trophy for second place in marching for our division. Then after another head count, with some going home with relatives, the buses sped on home with some kids causing ruckuses and other in their own silent environment.
In the end, the Marching Pride arrived home early and after all the instruments and racks were taken out of the trailer, everyone went home. Overall the Pride was 3rd in music, 8th in showmanship and 9th in marching. Jose Real replies, “I loved my first band review, it was very entertaining and it was fun doing my performance while being watched.” Mr. Modesto on the other hand enjoyed the band doing well on their first review but states, “They were pretty good. I thought we performed like how we rehearsed.” It may have been enjoyable but many corrections were noted and more practice is going to be needed if the Pride were to place even higher than before.
