Dear Marching Lions Band Members and Families,

As a follow up to last week’s Band Camp announcement, I wanted to take a moment to share with you what our plans will be for the fall as of today (7/20/20).  Due to not being able to be together at this current time or over the past couple of months that we would normally be training for our fall season, the staff and I had to make the additional tough decision that the Marching Lions Band will not be a competitive unit this fall.

At the current time, Tournament of Bands has two different options for participating this coming fall.  One option would be in person performances at different locations, as we have always traveled to in the past.  The other would be a virtual performance that would be performed in our home stadium and then uploaded to a specific location and then reviewed by the judging panel with the staff in attendance virtually as well.  In both options, there will be no Classifications (Open or A Class), no Group Sizes (Groups 1-4), and no competitive scoring or placements (ex. …place with a score of…)  We would all be performing under the “Festival Rating” system that is very similar to what we have for our concert ensembles when we go to District Band Festival in the Spring.  This would allow each ensemble the opportunity to simply get feedback on their performance and what they can do to improve.  There will also be only two judges that would be evaluating the performances; Music and Visual.

After reviewing the details for both options, and considering many different challenges that we would have to work through and overcome for either option to be possible, the staff and I realized that there is one particular challenge that we would have to overcome.  The problem for us at this time is that we have not been able to get together for in person rehearsals as an ensemble and are not guaranteed that we will get to in the weeks ahead.  With the uncertainty of the coming weeks, and wanting to be fair to each of the show hosts, we felt it was important to make that decision now, so that we can share with each of them that we will not be attending their respective shows in the fall.

Now, with all of that being said, there are still plans to have some sort of season for the 2020-2021 Marching Lions Band if at all possible.  So, here are the three plans that we have in place at this time.  Of course, keep in mind this will all be contingent upon what the decision with returning to school will be and if/when extracurricular sports and activities will be able to start whole group practices and then have home events.

Plan #1 : If we are able to meet as an ensemble once school begins and we have enough time that we can not only work on the music but actually get to put a simple drill on the field, then we will have a short and simple show still based on the music that you have been working on independently.

Plan #2 : If we are able to meet as an ensemble once school begins, but will not have enough time together to be able to teach and learn even a simple field show drill, then we will just focus our time on the music together and plan to stand in concert formation and perform the music as the Color Guard presents their simple routine out front.  Think Homecoming pep rally style.

Plan #3 : This is the one that we hope will not end up being the case for us.  However, we realize at the same time that we have to be ready for this to be a reality too.  That is, if there are no extracurricular sports or activities this fall, then there will be no Marching Lions Band activities during the time that all of those other activities are suspended as well.

Please know, that the staff and I want to be together with you, doing the thing that we love and always look forward to each year.  But, just as the last several months has proven that 2020 is not a typical year, we have to realize that our typical plans can not be as they usually are as well.  First and foremost, the staff and I want you to remain safe and healthy and that way, together, we can help fight this and hopefully get ourselves back to what we are used to doing together sooner rather than later.

I hope that you and your family will continue to remain healthy and safe.  As I receive more information that will help us figure out what plan we are going to end up following, I will communicate that to you.