and the bands played on...

Went to a marching band competition in Bluffton Indiana yesterday evening.  After a rainy day the skies had cleared and it was a beautiful night to watch high school marching bands compete. Of course I was cheering for my grandson's band from Carroll High School.. They looked really good as they took the field, 190 strong.  Their music was wonderful, their marching and flag work seemed spot on to me but I didn't care too much for their visual props.  It's amazing the things bands come up with these days.  My son-in-law explained to me that since this was only the first competition of the season the props of all the bands would evolve.  Sadly, the only larger band, Homestead (230+ members) took first place while we took second. Still it was a wonderful show. I couldn't help remembering how it all began.  My children were in the Carroll band in the late 80's, early 90's when they first started competing in shows like this. I'm not sure how many were in the band then, 50 maybe?. My husband and I were "pit parents," part of the crew who hustled all of the props, non-moving instruments, etc. on to the field and then off again after their performance.  I do remember that there were strict guidelines about how fast we had to get stuff on and off. They seemed to have relaxed the speed requirement these days but I'm certainly glad we didn't have to deal with all the equipment they (all of the bands) use to put on their shows these days. We hauled all of the necessary equipment in a smallish boxy trailer pulled by a pickup. Now it's all contained in a huge semi. Sweet memories but this is one of those cases where the 'now' is bigger and better than the 'used to be'.