Cheering Leads to Awesome

When asked how they did after the Snider competition, the band promptly replied…Good.

Mr. Slattery replied with a nod. “Not your best, but not your worst. There was a weird vibe in the air here.” He continued to express how, with not a lot of trying, they do good, but if they focus they can be great. The trick is to get to great and with a bit of focus rise to awesome.

Because the Spirit of Woodlan has awesome woven into their very bones.

So…how do they get there?

Practice will help. Of course.

The most important part of this journey is to keep caring, hold onto the passion. Not an easy thing to do, considering they have been playing the same music and walking the same steps for months. Practice can force the notes and drill into their heads, hands, and feet, but it can also slowly nibble away their joy of playing, of performing.

Hopefully with each other, their sections, their friends, their musical family, they can cage that magical fire of performing and continue to work their way to awesome.

However, that’s difficult. We all know it. Eventually, you get tired.

So every competition week new locker decorations appear, and more banners and tiny cranes are added to the band room in an attempt to keep the show alive. To keep smiles on faces. To let these musicians and dancers know that we care, that we believe in them.

On competition days, lunch is served with words of encouragement and grins of pride. To keep the band moving, to keep them focused.

Props are pulled and carried onto and off the field. To help the show be its visual best. To show we are willing to do physical activity (risking injury by getting run over by a cart) to help our band.

But maybe the most important, and possibly overlooked, is the cheering section…the group of family and friends that fill the bleachers. If you haven’t heard, the band plays better when they can hear you. It fuels them.

So…we have a cheer as the Spirit takes the field. To let them know we see them. We’re excited. We’re proud!

Friends and family…gather together in the stands! The soloist? CHEER FOR HIM! The big hit at the beginning? CHEER! Any part that sends goosebumps along your arms? CHEER! For your vibrant woohooing can start an avalanche of applause.

Judges can be influenced by a big crowd reaction. Let’s show the judges that the Spirit of Woodlan deserves attention…and all the points.

Doing the same thing over and over for months can drag you down. So let’s be there for the marching band, sending out waves of positive energy for them to absorb, to use, so they can reach awesomeness.

See you in the stands at Homestead on Saturday, October 5th! A group of Woodlan supporters sit on the 50 yard line! GO FIND THEM. AND CHEER!

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