Starr’s Mill

What a busy night!  Senior Night, 8th Grade Band Night and a football game thrown in for good measure.

Starr’s Mill came out strong early but our boys pretty much shut ’em down in the 2nd half and added a few points to the board as well.  We got beat but once again the Vikings didn’t quite until the last whistle blew.

We had a great crowd of 8th grade band students from the middle schools that feed into Northgate visiting with us to get a feel for what fall marching band is about.  The kids got to hang out with the high school kids and watch rehearsal before the game.  During the game they got to play stands tunes with the band and watch the half time performance from the sidelines.  Hopefully we’ll see most of these kids in Northgate band uniforms next fall.  check ’em out…

We also spent some time recognizing the seniors in the band.  As in past years the rising seniors will have some pretty big shoes to fill, yet there is no doubt in anyone’s minds that they will rise to the occasion…

Our seniors…

Chelsea Beadles

Tylar Boskey

Ashley Davenport

Iris Faulkner

Emily Gillespie

Courtney Grieb

Rena Gustafson

Jordan Huggins

Cheyenne Keyser

Chelsea Mezzatesta

Sarah Parson

Grant Pickett

Jon Ryden

Josh Stinnett

Darren Thorne

Jared Whigham

Alex Wood

Ronnie Wozniak

Being that it was Senior Night and I’m a senior dad, I decided to take a break from my usual routine as a chaperon to just watch the game as a dad.  At halftime I decided to take advantage of the opportunity to watch the halftime performance from the top of the stands instead of at field level.  Hey, there’s a really good view from up there!!  Who knew?!  Gotta say it’s a lot of fun to actually see the formations…but it sure felt strange not being down with the kids…

Sprayberry Performance

Want to see the kids’ performance this past weekend at Sprayberry?  Check it out here:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PRfVT9hygU

Once again y’all, give our kids the props they deserve…click on ‘Leave a Comment’ congratulate them!

Southern Invitational Music Festival

While I’m not an author by trade, writing is a large portion of my work and wording and nuances of words play a very important role.  Mr. A’s blog post from 10/10 included the following words:

“To watch as the kids rose to the occasion and earned their first Grand Championship this year and the first one in five years was truly inspiring.”

While I know that Mr. A’s  words were intended to refer to the first Grand Championship earned by this particular group of kids…one could also read it as the first Grand Championship ‘this year’ with a more prophetic tone.  Most of us at the contest at Sprayberry yesterday knew that that Northgate Marching Bands have only won a handful of grand championships in their 15 years of existence and have never one more than one in a single year…until yesterday…when that bit of unintended prophecy came true.  I can’t even begin to describe the emotions and elation as our kids were recognized as the Southern Invitational Music Festival Gold Division GRAND CHAMPIONS!!

I’d like to encourage our band family and friends to click on the comments button at the end of this post to congratulate these great kids and out staff for their accomplishment.

Now, how about a few photos from the day…

Ridin’…on da bus…

Waitin’…

Stretchin’…

Plumin’…

Drummin’…

Warmin’ up…

Performin’…

Reviewin’…

Anxiously waitin’…

Grinnin’!!!

If anyone wants to know how big those trophies really were…you’ll have to ask Mrs. Kelly G. (sorry…inside chaperon joke).

Harris County

Friday night proved to be a fine fall evening for high school football…

We heard predictions all week that the game against the Harris County Tigers was going to be close.  Little did we know we’d be in for the 4th or 5th heart-stopper game this year.  In the end the Vikings prevailed in a game that came down to the last few minutes and was very well played by both sides.

OK, enough about football and on to the highlights that you’re all looking at the bandblog for…the band!

Upson-Lee

How about a few photos from Homecoming night (Upson-Lee game)…Check ’em out…

A Great Time to be a Viking

What an amazing 2 weeks. First contest, Homecoming and the Valhalla Classic. To have witnessed the progress of the band over that time has been an amazing thing. Tuesday night before that first contest was a very distressed time for us all. To watch as the kids rose to the occasion and earned their first Grand Championship this year and the first one in five years was truly inspiring.

Establishing a few new traditions with the changes to Homecoming was a lot of fun and the kids as well as the rest of the Student Body seemed to enjoy it. i hope we are able to continue those ideas and improve on them in the future. Seeing tons of our FIRST N’gate Vikings at Homecoming was a lot of fun as well. Those are the folks who truly built our school and our band program from scratch and we all owe them a debt of gratitude for their hard work so many years ago.

Finally, watching as our parent’s and students demonstrate for thousands of other people just exactly what it means to be “Nothing Less Than The Best” reminded me how fortunate I am to be a part of this amazing family that now spans 15 years.

To each of you that give so much of yourself to make Northgate what it has become… My deepest thanks. You are amazing people and I’m so proud to be associated with you all. AA

Homecoming Parade/Pep Rally

Football season just wouldn’t be football season without Homecoming and a Homecoming Parade and Pep Rally just wouldn’t be complete without the marching band…check ’em out…

Armuchee Invitational

Can you say Grand Champions?  I knew you could…

Yesterday started out as a normal band contest day…a morning rehearsal then load up and head out…

This weekend’s event, the Armuchee Invitational at Armuchee High School in Rome, Georgia. We arrived a bit early so there was a little time to hang out and watch a band or two before heading back to the buses to get ready and warm up…

And then down to the business of the day…first, sectional meetings…

Then instruments and equipment get unloaded…

A bit of stretchin’ out and gettin’ loose…

Warmin’ up…

Then on to the field to perform…

After the performance, download with Mr. A then wait for contest results and awards…

And the results…Class Champions in Drum Majors, Color Guard and Overall Band and overall Grand Champions!

The celebration…

To the Victors, the spoils…