Cortez Band Goes to State

The drum line performing 007.

Nick looks serious as he beats his bass drum.

A big smile now that the competition is over.

This past Saturday, the Cortez Marching Band performed at the state competition in Maricopa. I drove down to watch Nick and take pictures of the competition. It was so much fun to see the members of the band in their moment of glory. They scored "Superior." I was very impressed with how good these small bands sounded and how well they performed. From the beginning of the school year, the band members have arrived at school at 6: 30 AM for their early morning practice every day but Wednesdays. On Mondays, they practiced from 6:30 - 9:00 PM and they had a couple of Saturday practices as well. One of the most fun events was their annual "sleep over" at the school. After a Friday night football game, the kids stayed on campus and practiced. They watched the movie "Drum line." They had food and ran around playing hide and seek over the whole campus. Nick had a blast. We picked him up the next morning around 9:30 AM and he slept for the next few hours when he got home, but he slept with a big smile on his face. The Cortez program was a medley of "007" theme songs. It was very well done. They even had Agent 007 roll out on to the field and do his "sneaking" and "nonchalant" moves during the final number. Now that the band competitions are over, Nick told me he wished that band would not end. He has enjoyed this experience more than he imagined possible. He is already looking forward to the next season and is hoping to move up to the snare drum. Guess what Nick wants for Christmas . . . right - a drum set.