BHS Band Wins Big in Atlanta

Posted 2010-01-04 at http://www.dnronline.com/details.php?AID=43508&CHID=1
Reposted here with permission from the Daily News-Record

BHS Bowls Over Competition

Band Wows Them At Chick-fil-A Bowl

By Jeremy Hunt, Daily News-Record

BROADWAY- The other high school bands that played at the Chick-fil-A Bowl in Atlanta on New Year's Eve hadn't heard of Broadway when the musicians gathered for competitions and rehearsal early last week.

But all that had changed by Thursday.

The Broadway High School band - the smallest of the 16 bands that played at the game - walked away with six top honors out of seven possible categories, receiving four first places for their class and two grand champion trophies, meaning they were dubbed the best regardless of class.

"I never dreamed we would do as well as we did," said Ben Frenchak, the Gobblers' director of bands.

Fifty-two members of the Broadway ensemble joined 15 other bands from several states to compete and perform at the halftime show of the Chick-fil-A Bowl, which pitted Virginia Tech against the University ofTennessee. The Hokies won 37-14.

The festivities included a parade through Atlanta before the game, which the Gobblers also participated in.

"It's a big stage for them to perform on," Frenchak said.

Like the band director, Becky Harris, a sophomore trumpet player from Broadway, did not expect to receive such high marks from the judges.

"I was definitely surprised by some of the ratings and trophies we got," Harris said.

Many of the students said they got a thrill from proving they could hold their own - and then some - against larger bands, despite being the smallest one there.

"We slaughtered every other band there," said Micah Eckard, a junior percussionist from Singers Glen.

"Being the tiny band representing what no one's ever heard of was definitely a lot of fun," added Rachel Smith, a senior alto saxophonist from Broadway.

Heather Puffenbarger, a senior flute player who lives in Rockingham County, said playing in the Georgia Dome was "an awesome experience."

And, Puffenbarger said, building a good reputation over the course of the five-day trip was rewarding.

"We had to work for it," she said. "We had a feeling of accomplishment."

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Contact Jeremy Hunt at 574-6273 or jhunt@dnronline.com

Band

BHSBand

Wind Symphony warming up with stretches and breathing exercises

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Wind Symphony after a successful performance at Renaissance Concourse Hotel.

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Practicing happens anywhere and everywhere. Micah Eckard working on sticking.

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Perry Maddox, Lucas Driediger and Max Showalter solo with the Jazz Ensemble.

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Jazz Ensemble after a successful performance at the Renaissance Concourse Hotel.

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A trip to Underground Atlanta brought us lunch after the morning performances.

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After lunch we walked through Centenniel Park and visited the Coke museum where we…

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… tasted different coke products from around the world.

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The Georgia Dome!

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We then walked to the Georgia Dome and unloaded our bus for the field show competition. Here the chaperones are helping Mr. Frenchak put the instruments back together.

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Warm-ups in the parking lot.

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The members of the Pit preparing for our performance in the Georgia Dome.

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The band takes the field.

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Following the field show competition, the band ate dinner at the Spaghetti Factory and serenaded Mr. Frenchak with their own version of Happy Birthday. And no, it wasn’t his birthday.

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On Wednesday the band had a very long rehearsal to prep for the Chick-fil-A performances. Here we are headed to the Dome.

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There were approximately 950 people performing for the show.

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That was a lot of people to place.

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A quick pic in the Dome before heading to The Varsity for lunch.

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Wednesday evening was the Awards Banquet. It was here that we discovered we …

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... won a lot of trophies.

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The band and their hardware. We won 1^st place Concert band, 1^st place Jazz Band, 1^st place marching band in the field show and in the parade all in our category. We also won Grand Champion in the Jazz Ensemble and Wind Symphony.

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