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The Bakersfield Californian Thursday, November 18, 2010
Eye Street
Index Enchanted Forest/Festival of Trees . . . . . . . . . . .19 Lisa Lampanelli . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20 Chicago review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21 Arts Alive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22 Sundai Love . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23 The Lowdown with Matt Munoz . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24 Abate-A-Weed 45th anniversary . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26 Calendar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29-31
Editor Jennifer Self | Phone 395-7434 | e-mail jself@bakersfield.com
C’mon: Jump on the band wagon Students take the field in climactic end to competitive season
15th Annual Music in Motion band competition When: 9 a.m. Saturday Where: Centennial High School, 5601 Hageman Road Admission: $8; $6 seniors and students with ASB card; $5 children ages 5-12. Free for children 5 and under
BY MATT MUNOZ Bakotopia.com editor mmunoz@bakersfield.com
U
niforms buttoned, shoes tied and hats leveled, Bakersfield area bands will be putting their best feet forward at Saturday's 15th Annual Music in Motion band competition. Twenty-four high schools and four junior highs will be in attendance, in what will be a climactic end to a big 2010 local field competition season. The event is hosted by Centennial High School and will feature majestic sounds from some of Kern, Ventura, Santa Barbara, and Los Angeles counties’ best. Second-year Centennial band director Matthew Ouska is excited about hosting the competition once again. “Last year we did pretty well, and this year we're hoping for even better.” Ouska, who came to Centennial after graduating from the University of Illinois, was a member of the famed Marching Illini, assigned to the low brass section on euphonium, or baritone horn. Seeing his share of football fields over the years, he said the enormous help from parents makes all the difference when planning. “There's a lot of work involved with organizing such a large-scale event like this, but we have a lot of veteran parents with kids who've been in the program over the years. They all help a lot.” Senior McKenna Holmes, Centennial Marching Hawks color guard captain, described some of her team's contributions to making the event a success. “It's a lot of work organizing as a host, and we started at the beginning of October. My group is in charge of the color guard vendor booth. We sell cookies, balloons, flower clips, and we make it all ourselves. We normally start out with a list and fill it up as we go.” Color guard's role in the marching band experience is integral to the show's visual aspects. Whether in parades or in an elaborate field show, the flag-spinning dance routines add glitz and color to each musical number. Hoping to continue after graduation and travel with a national drum and bugle corps group, Holmes values the rewards
Performance times for local bands Junior High Rio Bravo Greeley Middle School, 10 a.m. Fruitvale Junior High, 10:10 a.m. Beardsley Junior High, 10:20 a.m. Standard Middle School, 10:30 a.m. Junior high awards, 10:50 a.m. HENRY A. BARRIOS / THE CALIFORNIAN
Host Centennial High will be among the 24 high schools and four junior highs at the 15th annual Music in Motion band competition on Saturday.
her experience she’s gotten as a member of a marching band. “You make a lot of friendships and bonds with people you might normally not have. We become like a family, and we support each other in things outside of color guard too.” Saturday's daylong competition is divided into five categories to create — quite literally — an even playing field for every school. With the exception of the junior high division and the host school, which performs only in exhibition, each will fall into one of the following groups: 1A, 1-50 musicians; 2A, 51-70; 3A, 71-90; 4A, 91-120; and 5A,120-150. Judges rate each band in the categories of music, auxiliary (color guard,) percussion, visual performance, and general effect. Keeping his band in step at all times with an unwavering focus is Centennial senior and percussion captain Matt Buccat. Leading the pit section of non-marching percussion, he's been busy tightening up the band's seven-minute presentation of selections from the Broadway classic “Fiddler on the Roof.” Praising his fellow bandmates for an outstanding performance at a West High School competition two weeks ago, he said this year's choice required a little
Centennial’s band performs before the start of a recent football game.
more work then usual. “The music for ‘Fiddler’ was a little bit more challenging than usual. It has different kinds of rhythm and sounds really good. It's a really fun event and everyone should come.” In the two years he's has been at Centennial, Ouska has been impressed with the quality of many local programs despite the rough economy. Heading into the weekend, he remains confident about
the future of events like Music in Motion. “I'm new to Bakersfield, but there are a lot of good programs and hard-working people keeping things up. Obviously money is tighter, and that's a challenge. The situation is different for each school, as far as growing or declining enrollment for each band. Everybody's doing their very best to support their students.”
High School Foothill High, 11:30 a.m. Robert F. Kennedy High, 12:15 p.m. Highland High, 1:30 p.m. Antelope Valley High, 2:30 p.m. Arvin High, 2:45 p.m. East Bakersfield High, 3 p.m. West High, 3:15 p.m. Bakersfield High: 3:30 p.m. Division 1A, 2A Awards: 4 p.m. North High, 4:45 p.m. South High, 5 p.m. Independence High, 5:15 p.m. Liberty High, 5:45 p.m. Daytime sweepstakes winner / exhibition performance: 6:15 p.m. Golden Valley High, 7:15 p.m. Frontier High, 8 p.m. Centennial High exhibition performance, 8:15 p.m. Division 3A, 4A, 5A Awards, 8:45 p.m.