Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Band builds new routine for 2006 marching season

In addition to football players practicing up for the first home game on Sept. 1 against Jessieville, the Gurdon High School Band is working on a 2006 fall routine.

Bruce Burson, co-band director at GHS with Allen Wimberly, said Aug. 9, "We are getting the field ready with place markers so the learning will be easier.

"We have 22 out for the senior high school band this year."

According to Burson, the fall routine will include selections such as: "Run Through the Jungle," "Brick House," "Moon Dance," "Hotel California," "Right Place, Wrong Time," and "You Dropped a Bomb on Me."

Burson said there were 28 out for high school band in the fall of 2005. He said the numbers have dropped a little because of scheduling conflicts for those in second and third year band at the middle school.

"Everything in the way of extra curricular activities is first period," he said. "The schedule has helped us get more in the beginning band level this year, but now we have a hard time with the intermediate retention."

Burson said beginning band will not organize until after school starts so numbers for 2006 are not available.

As to the intermediate band, he said there are approximately 30 out this year.

"We may do our compromise retention effort again this year," Burson said. "Last year, we worked it out where football got some of our kids the first nine weeks, the band program got them the second and third, and the last nine weeks they were in track."

The band got started practicing for fall this past week. Burson said the high schoolers typically work on music inside from 10 until at least 10:30 and then hit the marching field for practice by 11 a.m.

In addition to preparing the marching markers, Burson noted the tall deer stand that had been moved down to the band field.

"It is bent because the backhoe moving it dropped the stand, but it still works. It gives our group a chance to see what the routine looks like from about half way up in the stadium stands," he said.

"Placing those markers for the kids is not fun, but it is necessary to get through with marching practice in a reasonable amount of time."