Tyrone Marching Band

[Speedo]

As President of the Tyrone Marching Band, I'd like to send out a congratulations to the band for, and inform the community of, our first place finish at the regional level at chapters!

The band took home the first place regional banner and trophy, along with high music, visual, and auxillary, with a score of 85.65.

Congratulations, band!

[My2Cents]

As President of the Tyrone Marching Band, I'd like to send out a congratulations to the band for, and inform the community of, our first place finish at the regional level at chapters!

The band took home the first place regional banner and trophy, along with high music, visual, and auxillary, with a score of 85.65.

Congratulations, band!

FANTASTIC !!! Congratulations to all involved !!! Tyrone, PA is VERY proud of you.
Thanks, we needed this !!! :bluebounce:

[Rick]

http://www.tyronepa.com/v3/?p=48928

[no-it-all]

That's great; good job! I have a question. It looks to be different than when I was in school. Why is there a regional and championship division? When did they start that?

[Speedo]

That's great; good job! I have a question. It looks to be different than when I was in school. Why is there a regional and championship division? When did they start that?

I'm assuming they just started it this year, unless I've been completely oblivious the past two years of my marching experience. Mr. Murphy has been putting it as a "new" addition, so I'm guessing this year.

Along with championship and regional, they added a festival group. The purpose is for different level bands, seeking different kinds of competition.

Championship is what all the alumni would know. You get judged on music, marching, all that good stuff. Most of the bands are well-experienced.

Regional is for what TOB states as "younger" bands, or bands wanting to be judged more on score, and less on looking for ACCs. In Regional, the season ends at chapters. Mr. Murphy stated it as something of the sort like... if the bands don't want to keep pushing the younger kids in the middle of November, this group is better? I'm not sure. Something like that. Regional is still scored on what alumni would know, though. Music, marching, auxillary, etc. I'm not an expert on TOB, but from what I've gathered they judge the same as championship, but probably a little more on basics, such as flanking, roll-step, yada yada yada.

Festival... I'm not quite sure how they do this. It seems to be "beginner" bands. I have no idea how scoring or judging takes part in this, but they don't receive a score. They receive one of three awards: bronze, silver, or gold. I think it's for bands to kind of "get a taste" of what competition is like, without the pressure of a thousand categories.

I think the three groups are a good idea. It gives new bands the opportunity of learning what competition is all about, without jumping into competition with bands such as, oh I don't know, St. Mary's who has set into a winning routine.

It's kind of disappointing that we had such a great season, but can't go on to ACCs because we are a regional group. I'm still very proud of what we accomplished. We've made a huge jump in the past year, and I can't see that jump falling next year. Mr. Murphy is a great great great band director. He's still new, and learning what works and what doesn't, but he's really taken a miserable band and put some life in us again.

As for what the band is doing next year... Mr. Murphy is going to talk to some band staff to decide if championship level would be more acceptable for us, or to remain in regional. In my opinion, if we have a season like this, championship would be a great challenge. Mr. Murphy is building us up year by year. He's doing such a great thing to the Tyrone band program, and I can't wait to see what he will have in ten years.

For anyone still living in Tyrone... I heard it used to be tradition to parade through town after a win with fire trucks... Did anyone notice the tradition brought alive on Saturday? We were escorted through town by 5 or so fire trucks, blaring their horns. It was cool.

If anyone is interested, the Tyrone band concert will be held on Thursday, November 20th at I THINK 7 p.m. The concert and jazz band will perform, along with the marching band at stand still.

Thanks for all your support!

[Speedo]

FANTASTIC !!! Congratulations to all involved !!! Tyrone, PA is VERY proud of you.
Thanks, we needed this !!! :bluebounce:

Thank you!

[My2Cents]

Yes !! To see and hear our High School Band marching down the street, with heads held high was certainly a reminder of shades of the past. Kinda' brought a tear to the eye. Keep it up folks..... there is a definite difference.... and one to be proud of !! :thumb:

[no-it-all]

Thanks for the great explanation. I have noticed a big difference in the band this year and you guys keep getting better!
I hope you do "shoot for the stars" so to speak, and get into the championship flight again. Anything you set your minds to is attainable. I'm sure you've heard the days of old stories of Tyrone mopping up at ACC regularly.....man I'm old, huh Banksy? He remembers those days too I'm sure. Anyway Congrats and keep it up.

[SoccerMom]

I was a member of the aforementioned St. Marys band back in the day, but I'm always impressed by the Tyrone band. They always look and sound great, what a dedicated group of kids! I've heard rumors that they are phasing out the majorettes, is this true? Just curious, I was a majorette, and when a new director took over our band, that's what happened to us. Anyway, congrats and good luck with the rest of your competitions!

[Speedo]

I was a member of the aforementioned St. Marys band back in the day, but I'm always impressed by the Tyrone band. They always look and sound great, what a dedicated group of kids! I've heard rumors that they are phasing out the majorettes, is this true? Just curious, I was a majorette, and when a new director took over our band, that's what happened to us. Anyway, congrats and good luck with the rest of your competitions!

By "phasing out"... what do you mean? Haha. I'm not exactly sure what you mean, but I didn't notice much difference, or I haven't heard anything different about the majorettes this year. Mr. Murphy usually takes care of the instrumentalists, and we have a guard and percussion instructor to give individual help in those areas. I know the guard instructor had the majorettes do some flag work this year, rather than all baton, but I haven't heard anything else.

Does this answer your question? If not, I'll try to explain better, haha.

And thank you! We aim to look and do our best.

[Speedo]

Thanks for the great explanation. I have noticed a big difference in the band this year and you guys keep getting better!
I hope you do "shoot for the stars" so to speak, and get into the championship flight again. Anything you set your minds to is attainable. I'm sure you've heard the days of old stories of Tyrone mopping up at ACC regularly.....man I'm old, huh Banksy? He remembers those days too I'm sure. Anyway Congrats and keep it up.

Thank you! But yeah, that is my hope, too. We just have to work on a positive, "we can do this" kind of attitude in the band. We've made great progress, but we're just at the beginning of the road. Even just to go to ACCs would be a real treat and accomplishment for the band. Ah, well. If it doesn't happen before I graduate, with Mr. Murphy around, it's not far off in the distance. Our staff is really taking us places this year. And feedback from former band members and the community is also a great push for the band. So yeah, thanks!

[SoccerMom]

I was a member of the aforementioned St. Marys band back in the day, but I'm always impressed by the Tyrone band. They always look and sound great, what a dedicated group of kids! I've heard rumors that they are phasing out the majorettes, is this true? Just curious, I was a majorette, and when a new director took over our band, that's what happened to us. Anyway, congrats and good luck with the rest of your competitions!

By "phasing out"... what do you mean? Haha. I'm not exactly sure what you mean, but I didn't notice much difference, or I haven't heard anything different about the majorettes this year. Mr. Murphy usually takes care of the instrumentalists, and we have a guard and percussion instructor to give individual help in those areas. I know the guard instructor had the majorettes do some flag work this year, rather than all baton, but I haven't heard anything else.

Does this answer your question? If not, I'll try to explain better, haha.

And thank you! We aim to look and do our best.

By phasing out, I mean not allowing new girls to tryout each year. As current members graduate, the squad becomes smaller and smaller, until eventually there aren't any left. Having a color guard unit of all "silks" seems to be a popular trend with high school bands. Hopefully the Tyrone band doesn't follow suit!

[Speedo]

By phasing out, I mean not allowing new girls to tryout each year. As current members graduate, the squad becomes smaller and smaller, until eventually there aren't any left. Having a color guard unit of all "silks" seems to be a popular trend with high school bands. Hopefully the Tyrone band doesn't follow suit!

As far as I know, there's just a lack of interest.

I'm not sure how indoor works, but I'm pretty sure that for the fall marching season, anyone interested can pretty much just sign up and step on the field.

At the beginning of the season, the director sent out E-mails to section leaders, asking us to recruit guard and majorettes, saying to make an impact we needed a few more girls.

So yeah, I think we just need to find a few more girls who are interested. Hopefully we find a few for next year!

[banksy]

What about some boy majorettes?

[zapatista]

If memory serves that topic was already addressed in an earlier thread titled
TAHS Band Program .

This one time, in band camp....

Banksy high stepped out onto the practice field wearing a black unitard and orange leg warmers.
His forehead glistened with sweat, a majorette's baton swung loosely between his fingers.

Someone pushed play on the boombox and Eye of the Tiger by Survivor thundered over the PA system.

What happened next was amazing.

Banksy proceeded to perform what turned out to be an absolutely stunning routine.

It started slowly with some basic eight finger rolls, built up speed with several quick toss turns
then as the excitement mounted, he did not one, not two, but three triple elbow rolls. What a finale!

As the song ended, the band members stared at each other in disbelief.

Then all of a sudden a roar erupted from the crowd as everyone stood at once and gave Banksy a well
deserved standing ovation.

What we witnessed that day was the birth of a truely spectacular twirling career.

Later that year, Banksy won the State Twirling championship and was runner up in Nationals.
The following year he dominated every competition he entered.
He held the National title for the next 5 years!

In the early 90's, he cofounded the United States Twirling Associaton to give back to the sport that had
given him so much.

That my friends, is the kind of talent that Tyrone's band program used to produce. Perhaps someday it will again.