Game 1 - Sparkman vs. Cullman, Aug. 27, 2010

The Marching Senator Percussion Unit getting in some last minute practice time before marching into the football stadium at the first game of the season, Sparkman vs. Cullman. Even though Cullman pulled ahead and defeated Sparkman, the drumline and band shined bigtime! Great job ya'll! The percussion unit is under the direction of Mr. Jack Albert.

Game 1 - First Half-time Performance of the Fall, 2010 Season, Show: Urban Groove

The band presented a portion of their show, Urban Groove, at the first home game of the season.  The Battle Hymn Corral was performed in honor of the veterans in attendance while finishing the program out with Sparkman's Fight Song. Check out Derek and Zach (I think) at 2:20 flipping their drumstix. That looked pretty cool!

Sights from Sparkman vs. Cullman, 8/27/10

Armed Forces Night...4 paratroopers jumped from an airplane and landed pretty close to the 50 yard line, with the last one bringing in the game ball!

Warm up time:

Serious, serious faces!

New pit instructor...

Marching into the stadium.  Very impressive looking ya'll!

Drumline makes their way to the 50 yard sideline and continues the cadence while the band marches to their seating in the stadium

Tues., Aug. 25 Practice...Week of first performance

Aug. 25 Practice...3 days left till showtime!

Practice Makes Perfect...

Here is short video clip from the Tues, Aug. 24th practice. A few photos will follow later. The kids have work so hard...over and over and over but the result will be an awesome show! Looking forward to seeing "Urban Groove" Friday nite, Aug. 27 at the Sparkman High School football stadium!

Sometimes you have to put in some "extra time"

The bass line needed to add a practice session between mini percussion camp and band camp so they met in Mikayla's back yard for an afternoon session to work on some things. Corey, the bass drum tech, and Matt, the asst. drumline captain were also there to help out.

Sparkman High School Marching Band - End of Band Camp -2010

The Sparkman High School Band performing the opener, "Caravan"

from their show, "Urban Groove" at the end of 2 weeks of band camp.

Band Camp Performance for Parents

This was a long, hot band camp with temperatures on some days reaching the 3 digit mark and the heat index reaching 105. June and July, 2010, have gone on record as being two of the hottest months since weather-record keeping began 118 years ago!  Our kids could tell you that without knowing the records!

Although it was hard, hard work in almost unbearable weather, the unit did great.   At the end of the 2 week band camp, the SHS band performed the opener, "Caravan", along with a couple of other songs for the parents to enjoy before everyone was treated to a BBQ dinner by the Band Boosters. The opener has a heavy percussion presence and Sparkman's percussion sounded awesome!