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Bobcat marching band racks up superior ratings, opportunities
Battlefield band director Matt Brodt painstakingly thought about his words as he tried to sound anything but arrogant.
“This is the kind of question that puts me in an awkward position,” he said when asked about the expectations his marching band has when it makes appearances at competitions.
How many ways could he say they expect to win with sounding too brash?
“We don’t view competitions as competing. We look at the end result should be a good performance that the kids are happy with,” Brodt said. “If they’re personally happy with giving it their all and doing their best and the work ethic they put in the week before at practice … the trophies and the hardware are just natural outcomes.
“You’re putting a ranking system on an aesthetic value and it’s, in my mind, kind of arbitrary,” he added.
Facts are facts though: the Battlefield marching band has received a superior or equivalent rating at everything it has participated in during the 2008 fall semester. They won best-in-show four out of five times too.
Whether it is a non-competition event like the state festival held Oct. 25 or the Charlottesville Cavalcade contest where Battlefield swept up the competition, the Battlefield program has developed by leaps in bounds to become a force within the state in just five years.
Section leaders like the clarinets’ Meredith Goldberg and drummer heads Devon Shaw and Brandon Malley are responsible for molding the band into a tightly-knit unit that can span 40 or more yards on the football field during halftime shows.
Shaw, a senior, “actually conducts the show,” said Brodt. “He gets the kids in formation.”
The head drummer will take a full attendance count before each rehearsal while section leaders are responsible for making sure their entire group arrives on time and is always ready to go.
“We had alumni come by and they actually asked that they could speak with the band and they told the band how proud they were because they could see the amount of work that we being done,” said Brodt.
Battlefield incorporated fire-twirling into its act this year, and the level of difficulty in which the members move while the players memorize each song and step down to the note has been the stuff of national recognition.
They started the 2008 calendar year with an appearance at the New Orleans Allstate Sugar Bowl and are waiting final confirmation to perform at an upcoming large-scale event in New York City.
"I preach them pride, character and integrity. If they can take what we do in the marching band world and apply it to everyday life when they leave here, I’m happy,” said Brodt.
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