Marching Festival Information:

Try to arrive early enough to see as many other bands as possible. The bands going early need an audience just as much as the bands that perform later. The concession stand will be open, so please support the whatever band is doing the concessions by encouraging your students to take advantage of the concessions.

Have your busses park on the West side of the parking lot or the grass.

Warming Up:

Please note which warm-up area you are in (A or B). The warm-up areas will be in the North-west and South-west corners of the parking lot. Please limit all playing to those areas, and aim your brass and bass drum heads away from the stadium to avoid disturbing the band that is performing. If you need for your drum line to go away from your winds, please make sure they go somewhere that they will not be heard from the stadium and make sure the bass drum heads are not facing the stadium. You have 25 minutes to warm up—please leave the warm-up area 5 minutes before your performance to give you enough time to march into the stadium, and to not cut into the warm-up time of the next band. You are responsible for leaving the warm-up area on time to be ready to perform on time. If you cause us to run late, your rating will be lowered.

Announcer Script:

Please fill out the attached script for the announcer and bring it with you.

Chaperone/Staff Passes:

You will get passes for your chaperones when you check in upon arrival at the stadium. Remember that you have one chaperone pass for every 10 members, plus a director, spouse, and children of director. Don’t forget to give them to your chaperons-they won’t get in without them, even if they are coming in with the band. If you need to request more passes for your staff or chaperones, please let me know. Please remember that these passes are only for chaperones that are helping you the day of the festival, and not for all of your band parents. Nobody will be allowed into the stadium unless they have one of these passes or unless they have on their uniform.

Rules:

The rules regarding Marching Festival are on page 16 of the FBA Handbook. Please read them carefully. If you have not received your copy of the handbook in the mail from the Executive Office, it is also on the website www.flmusiced.org/fba and click “Handbook”

Some rules you need to be especially careful about:

All playing must be confined to the warm-up area, with the exception of the actual performance.
Show must be between 5 and 10 minutes—you must be on and off the field in under 14 minutes—that includes getting on the field, getting off the field, and your on-field warm-up.
- Once you enter the stadium, you must be in the opening set ready to perform within 2 minutes
- At the conclusion of your show, you have 2 minutes to get everyone completely off of the field and all drum taps/cadences must stop after that 2 minutes, or as soon as the last person is off of the field.
- Please time this during your rehearsals this week to avoid causing a delay in the festival and causing your band to receive a penalty.
You have one minute for warm-up once you march on to the field. It is optional. If you do want to take the one minute for warm-up, only your drum major or another student can conduct it, not a director.
- Also note that if doing a warm-up makes your total time in the stadium exceed 14 minutes, you will need to adjust how you get on or get off the field so that you don’t take more than 14 minutes total time from the time you start entering the stadium to the time your last member leaves the stadium.
No fire: fireworks, pyrotechnics, fire batons, explosives, etc. are not allowed
When the announcer says “Drum majors, is your band ready?” that’s when they do their salute
Wait for the announcer to say “You may begin your show” before you begin.
When your show is over, you have 2 minutes to get off the field to a drum tap or cadence. After 2 minutes, or when your entire band is off the field, that’s when the drums must stop so that the oncoming band is not distracted.

Bands are scheduled at 15 minute, so the 2 minutes to enter and 2 minutes to exit is NOT flexible. Please be sure to time your show and make sure it fits.

Awards Retreat

Your drum majors and officers will line up on the front hash in the order of performance to receive the awards. When your school is called, they should come to attention or do a salute or something.

The officers will line up outside the south west gate to the field during the last band’s performance. When the last band concludes, the officers will then walk in a line to the hash.

Middle School Directors

We need your help. Please remember that the gate receipts help lower everyone’s assessment, so please be there at 3:00pm to help us out. We need middle school directors to help in the following areas:

Announcing
Guarding the band entry Gate and checking for chaperon passes
Selling tickets and taking tickets at the gate
Letting the band directors know when it’s time to leave warm-up and go to the gate.

It will also be a great show for your students to attend, so please encourage your parents and students to be there to watch as well.