10/27/2021
Please take a look at a new page we just created for sharing musical performances, both past and present, as well as Alumni fundraising events and activities. All with the hope of sharing a little of our past, and present, which will hopefully help grow Indiana music programs!!
***Please Read***
Welcome to the Indiana Marching and Music Past and Present page. My hope is to invite as many people as possible across the state, and start an archive of sorts of musical performances from the past and present. The idea for this came from videos we posted on our own page of the New Castle Chrysler High School Trojan Marching Band Four State Finals performances from 1993 through 1996. We had recently recorded the old VHS copies onto our phones, so that we could share these old performances with our friends via YouTube/Facebook. The response and gratitude was overwhelming!!!! Many people never had the opportunity to purchase the tapes, and most had not seen these in over 20 years. The conversation continued after that. From great marching bands that no longer exist like Anderson Highland, to powerhouse bands like Greenwood, Avon, Carmel and Northview, wouldn’t it be great if we could begin to share/archive not only older performances, but also more recent as well, for everyone to enjoy. We don’t want to stop there, Pep Band, orchestras, concert band, wind ensembles, jazz bands, etc…..exceptional, or less than exception performances 😂, could all be shared here for us former band kids to enjoy, and for us to share/torture our kids with!!!! Again…both past and present. I have several videos from ISSMA’s Mark Middleton’s Big Band Bash performances (That guy could sing), to All City Band Festivals. Got a cool DCI show recorded….share it. Want to invite folks out to a show….post it. Have an Anderson Highland show from the past recorded….get it on YouTube and post that puppy. Need to highlight sponsorship nights, or alumni fundraising events/organizations….post it!!! Show your kids your old videos if someone posts it on here. Maybe spark their interest in Marching Band, or simply playing an instrument. We know our kids thought our old videos were great when they were little, and all three joined Marching as soon as they could….two of them early as 8th graders.
Again, the goal is to share our history, as well as our present, and proliferate it throughout the State. To make connections again, that may have been long forgotten like we saw in the TMB post last week. Perhaps there are better formats for doing this than Facebook, so maybe someone who receives an invite, or even you the reader, could suggest something to help us out with that, to eventually grow, because these performances should never be forgotten, and more importantly, if these videos, or posts, can help grow these programs in the state, and keep them strong for years to come, then we can accomplish a goal of ours, which is to GIVE BACK. Marching band, and band in general, gave my wife and I so much. From experiences we still talk about to this day, to leadership skills and the grit to push through even the toughest challenges. It’s now giving our kids those same experiences and lessons, and we couldn’t be more grateful.
Finally……folks, the numbers are down this year. Covid hit Indiana music programs hard. Many kids who have switched to home school, are now missing out (even though there are options to include them), and even more have just given up on extra curricular activities. Almost a year of either strict at home learning, or even hybrid learning, knocked the wind out of a lot of kids sails. I’m by no means complaining about the measures took to keep us all safe during the pandemic, and I WILL NOT tolerate any political discussions here, but I will say regardless, it was extremely hard on our kids. We can do our part here to help build those programs back up by creating a unified and consolidated community to simply share. Share your videos. Share your fundraisers and opportunities to serve. Share all of it with your family and friends. Share, watch and TALK. Reminisce with passion!!!! Watch old rivals from posted videos and “hate” them all over again for winning State Finals (Hayden Kirkpatrick from Greenwood you know what I’m talking about 😂). Please tag and invite as many people as you can to this page…..and let’s all see where this goes!!!
Frank and Jennifer Mecklenburg
