Bands and Drum Majors!

Gosh finally after an hour of selecting which pic to upload and actually getting them uploaded here, I'm done with the pics. So now's its time for the details! Yesterday night, my friends and I attended the Secondary School Military Band Competition (State Finals) at the Indera Mulia Stadium. It started at about 8.45pm but we reached at about 8pm, and waited (standing) for nearly an hour before it finally started. We couldn't get a seat but instead we stood near the VIP grand stand which gave us a great front view of everything! It was tiring though, standing until 12midnight but it was worth it. Afterall it was my first time going to see a band competition. It was kinda like a last minute decision though...OK so here are the pics..not very clear though cause it was snapped using my phone =/

So here's how it looked like from the grand stand...as we can see there are a lot of supporters who filled up nearly half of the stadium. St. Michael's supporters were at the far end there...somewhere near the big screen...A lot of young couples were there that night, plentiful of guys come to fish for girls and the same goes for girls. LOL

See groups of ppl way at the opposite end? All those black spots over there? That's where the bands were suppose to gather and make their entrance. They march all the way to the front here and start doing their formation and stuff...


This is the SMJK (C) Nan Hwa Military Band. Each have a conductor and drum major. Their's was the first band to enter the field and they started with really cool formations and their marching was so uniform, especially when changing from one formation to another. That really set the benchmark for the other following bands. The drum major did a few throws and tosses with his baton and I couldn't remember if he'd miss any. Their colour flags were very nice and colourful, not too over the top like the St. Michaels (no offence). By the way, Nan Hwa won the best participation award and best colour flags award. They also got 3rd placing overall! Congrats to Nan Hwa! You guys deserved it!


This is another school from somewhere..I couldn't remember but theirs was just ordinary, nothing out of the box.


Another participating school which again I'm not sure from here...nothing much to say..it was just ok. I think this is the band where the drum major missed several important throws and completely lost confidence after that. Poor guy... >.< Tadang! SMJK (C) Sam Tet's Military Band. They were among the best that night! Drum major was terrific! He did sooo many throws with his baton and only missed once! He threw using several styles and it was amazing! This was the only band that I paid full attention to the drum major for the whole time and completely forgotten about the band (what they were doing). Sam Tet's drum major got the Best Drum Major Award and was also the overall champion! The band did just fine without colour flags and They will be representing out state in the Nationals. ^_^

Sam Tet's band doing the march past and giving their salute (btw, the conductor and drum major has got very cool salutes, lol) to the VIPs. That's the Drum Major in front, leading and following closely behind him was the conductor (so energetic while conducting!)

Sam Tet band making their exit...


But wait!! They're not done yet...they turned around and gave us a final salute! Woohoo! Go SamTet! Go Drum Major! haha~


This is another band from the Anglo Chinese School (ACS) Setiawan I think (not really sure though) This is the only band with a conductress! The rest are all guys. Haha my friends and I spent the whole time debating over whether the drum major was a girl or a guy, whether he or she has boobs or not =.=|| haha turns out the drum major was a GUY. LoL We were too busy debating on the issue that we missed the band's performance. In other words, we paid most attention the the girl/guy drum major! They did not get any awards though.


This is the St. Michael Institution's Military Band, who looked like Power Rangers! LoL They had the most outstanding uniform as most of the bands had white based uniform while their's was dark blue and green. Drum major and conductor were in white. They were really great too and I came here to support Sam Tet and SMI. The Michaelians wanted to beat Sam Tet so badly but in the end, they only managed to grab hold of 2nd place. I think the colour flags overdid it. There was too much of dramatic dance (eg. girl and guy dancing, holding each other, twising and turning until they fall to the ground ballerina style and some cheerleading stunt)


Here's the band doing some song and the colour flags were done dancing. LoL

This is the cheerleading stunt. I wonder if it's approriate for them to do so. I'm not sure. Here we have the band playing at the back and the colour flags were stealing all the attention in front by doing some cheerleading thing. It was a great effort and very creative of them, but it's a risk to take. You overdo it and the judges might not accept it. They couldn't even win best colour flag award...Nan Hwa was just ok, not too over the top and they got the award.

Here they're beginning to do their formation, and its really nice! Good job! Drum major here wasn't so much of a scene stealer, well not as much as the one from Sam Tet though!

Here we have a square and the colour flags were inside dancing something like the 80s kinda style. LOL

Here's another formation, circles I think, and once again we have the pair (in red) dancing there

The final formation and last song, before they exit the stadium. The conductor is going back to join his fellow drum major.

This is the SMJK (C) Ave Maria band performing. They did not enter the competition this time. It was a short performance in the mean time waiting for the results. They look like muskateers!

Hm, my phone battery ran out before I managed to capture a few last shots where all bands were gathered right in front of us, and when they announced the winners... >.< I'll update when I get the pics from my friends. Btw here's a book that I highly recommend. Its about bands and drum majors...really nice and interesting. This book stirred up my interests in drum majors! lol