In the fall of 2009, my son Nathan joined the Minuteman Marching Band at UMass Amherst (playing trombone). Football's not my thing, but as a parent I went to go see a performance...and was blown away by what I witnessed. The Minuteman band, under the direction of George Parks, was not like any marching band I had ever seen. For one thing, there were 400 people on the field. They moved in elaborate choreography, forming patterns and dissolving into chaos; they danced, they performed theater, they sang a cappella. They played with delicate softness, and they played at volumes that would make any rock band give them an approving thumbs-up. Their 12-minute piece based on the Pirates of the Caribbean was the most mind-boggling, moving spectacle I had ever seen—it was like the eighth wonder of the world on a football field.
I went back to see the band perform every time there was a game in town. I recorded shows with my old Hi-8 video camera, but the results were disappointing. As the end of the season approached, I got into a blind panic that this incredible phenomenon was about to disappear forever. So I ordered an HD camcorder I could barely afford, had it shipped to me overnight, and used it to record the final performance of the season (which took place, in part, in pouring rain). I am so glad I did this! The result isn't as overwhelmingly awesome as being there in person, but it brings fading memories vividly back to life.
Click the picture above to watch the final performance of the Pirates show. All the songs from the 2009 lineup can be seen here: 2009 Playlist. And another performance, recorded with the old camcorder (but with decent sound), can be seen here: October 17 Pirates.
(By the way, I believe Nathan is the trombonist standing with his feet at the base of the 50-yard line "5" in the picture above.)
Tech notes: The HD video was recorded with a Canon Vixia HF200 camcorder. Sound was recorded simultaneously with an Edirol R-09HR recorder, using its built-in microphones, and pasted into the video in post-processing (using Cool Edit 2000 and Vegas Movie Studio Platinum). The tripod holding the camcorder was standing on the wooden press platform at the back of the stadium. Unfortunately, unbeknownst to me at the time, that platform vibrates slightly with loud sounds, so the picture goes a little blurry each time the drums get going. I eventually learned to set the tripod on the concrete stands instead, but the final 2009 show was my first time out with the new camcorder.
