“…to excel and inspire”

The mission of the Colony High School Band Program is to make a positive difference in the lives of the band members by providing musical and visual experiences and performances, and to assist them in achieving their potential as they develop confidence, cooperation, leadership, responsibility, and high standards of excellence and character.

By teaching our students to EXCEL, they will be able to INSPIRE

The goals of the Colony High School Band Program:

• Each member will strive for high standards of excellence.

• Each member will develop a sense of responsibility for attendance, preparation and each other.

• Each member will expand his/her awareness in rehearsal and performance to enhance the overall individual and ensemble quality.

• Each member will develop self-discipline in and out of rehearsals.

• Each member will develop confidence in themselves, and the ability to inspire those around them

BE YOUR BEST

Be Your Best is a goal that everyone can achieve. This is not the same as "Be THE Best which is something that few can achieve. It is all that is expected of you, but it is expected all of the time - every minute, every practice, every day and every performance. Further, it is expected that you will Be Your Best outside of organized band activities, as well as in rehearsals and performances.

You can measure your success and do not have to wait until someone else, like the director, senior or band judge tells you.

You Know!

Show Respect

Respect yourself. Respect others. Respect the band facilities, traditions, equipment, and uniforms. Respect the program and all it represents, including the school and community.

Be Prepared

Band members are responsible for doing their best, working on their individual skills and practicing. All equipment must be brought to rehearsals as requested.

Be on Time

Students should arrive at the building 15 minutes before the rehearsal is scheduled to begin in order to be ready to start on time. If you count on someone else to get a ride to practice, tell him or her the time you have to be there, not the time rehearsal begins. With this concept, you will be prepared physically and mentally to begin the rehearsal and not flying in at the last minute or worse–late. You also will have a cushion of safety if there is extra traffic or you are running a couple of minutes behind.

Although there are pros and cons to competing, we feel the positive values far outweigh the negatives. We choose to compete in marching band because we feel it is the best motivator for you to excel as individuals and as a group. Our band's motto is "Be Your Best." We strive to achieve this every day and not just in show performances. However, we all tend to prepare better when we know there is a performance approaching, and a competition focuses this even more than a football halftime show or other performance. It is the same with academics—we all tend to study and learn more if there is a test than no test.

I think there is competitiveness in human nature that can be either good or bad. When friends get together and shoot baskets, it is not long before they are playing a game. When people go bowling or play a card game, they soon start keeping score because that is part of “playing the game.” Band competitions should be treated as a game with no more or less emphasis put on it. When used as an enjoyable activity and means to achieving other goals, it can be very rewarding.

We treat competitions as a test or exam and use the score as a measurement of our success and improvement from show to show. Of course, there are always variations in scoring since it is a human activity. We will tell you if we think the score was accurate or perhaps too high or low for the particular point in the season. Just like in school, our goal is to achieve 100 points. In band there is no perfect score, but our approach is to strive for excellence and perfection. If your goals are to be just pretty good, it is too easily achieved. Since scores start low and improve as the season progresses, we use the score as a benchmark compared to previous contests or seasons. We set goals such as “we hope to break a score of 80” by a certain time in the season. If we reach that score, and we think it is accurate, we have achieved a goal or plateau for the week.

When we rehearse, perform and compete, we only have control of ourselves—how well we practice, how well the show works and is written and how close we come to achieving our potential. We do not have any control over what other bands show up at the contest and how well they are achieving their goals. Other than doing our best, we have no control over how the judges evaluate us. Our desire is to compete in great stadiums and where great bands are competing whenever possible. We want you to be challenged in rehearsing and want you to see the great bands of our activity.

We try to define the terms winning and losing in other than placement terms but in life skills terms. We have all seen first place groups that acted like losers and last place groups that were really winners in their behavior and attitude. We expect you to react the same regardless of what place the band receives—congratulate others and be humble if complimented. Human nature being what it is, we all prefer to place higher rather than lower and that is okay. The marching band competition scene should be viewed as part of the educational process of our band program. It opens up many opportunities for learning that cannot be duplicated elsewhere.