TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Battle of the bands

Staff photo by JASON BEHNKEN

The Armwood High School trombone section warms up at the 2007 District VII Florida Bandmasters Association Marching Performance Assessment at Bloomingdale High School.

ADVERTISEMENT

By MICHELE SAGER

msager@tampatrib.com

Published: November 11, 2009

CARROLLWOOD - Students will hit the football field Saturday for a head-to-head competition to determine the best team. But it won't be athletes battling against each other on the gridiron.

Gaither High will host the Florida Bandmasters Association District VII March Music Performance Assessment Festival. High school bands from across the area will perform in step to determine their performance rankings.

"It's a chance for the bands to be critiqued on their performances and get feedback on the shows," said Pat Bourdeau, a member of the Gaither High Band Boosters Club.

And these days, band performances entail more than a collection of instruments and some waving flags.

"These are entire productions," Bourdeau said. "It's just as much about the visual components as the musical ones."

Bourdeau said the shows are entertaining for all ages and not just the high school crowd.

"We've had people from surrounding neighborhoods come to the high school games just because they heard the band music," she said. "People come and they stay all day because they love it."

Tickets are $8 for adults and $5 for 17 and younger. Children 4 and younger will be admitted for free.

Judges will score the bands on various aspects of their performance. They are given one of five ratings: superior, excellent, good, fair and poor and correlate with the letter grading scale.

Strawberry Crest High will kick off the festival at 1 p.m. and Gaither High will close the event with its show at 9:15 p.m. Judges will give awards at 4:30 and 9:30 p.m.

Gaither is counting on the home field advantage to give the band an edge.

"We hope to pack those stands because it's going to be a fabulous show," Bourdeau said.

Reporter Michele Sager can be reached at (727) 451-2344.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT