Burton Marching Band - How'd they do in competitions this fall?

**RaiderWahoo0105** · October 18th, 2007, 09:22 AM

Anyone know?

**raider75** · October 18th, 2007, 09:26 AM

Burton's band came in 3rd at both Lonesome Pine Festival in Wise and the McChesney in Big Stone Gap. They looked great when they performed. It is just hard to beat the bigger bands. However, they were the 3rd largest band. Not a bad feat for the smallest school in LPD. Bud Stewart is the band and the kids love him. He is probably one of the hardest working people in the school system.

**RaiderWahoo0105** · October 18th, 2007, 09:32 AM

That's really great to hear. Is it still Richlands, Graham, and Lee High that bring the bigger bands?

**beamer_ball** · October 18th, 2007, 10:56 AM

I always thought Burton had a good sized band and wasn't very much smaller the highest band so it didn't really make much of difference. Have they fallen off in numbers recently?

**imported_elp6n** · October 18th, 2007, 10:59 AM

They're a smidge smaller than they had been a couple of years ago, but they still have good numbers. They don't seem to vary in numbers a great deal.

**kath200** · October 18th, 2007, 06:35 PM

Burton has a wonderful band. Can't say much for some of the Burton parents. One Burton parent brought a radio to the Lonesome Pine festival and listened to the UT game. Normally would not be a problem, but he didn't use headphones. That's right. He played the radio loud. Only turned it down or off just before each band started to play. He didn't care that grandmothers and parents sitting near him were trying to videotape performances. They wanted to capture the announcer reading the airgrams and commenting on the songs and the children who were doing solos. What they got on tape was the UT game and a lot of static.

He, of course, turned the radio off well before Burton's band took the field. I doubt he or those near him even realize he was being rude. That's the sad part of the whole thing. Don't get me started on his cell phone use during the performances.

The folks around him, also from Norton, were loud and rude the whole time....except when Burton performed.

Same group sat behind me at the McChesney festival. He didn't have his radio this time, but I noticed most people leaving the stands to find other seats just to get away from them.

Norton has a great band. However, some of the parents should learn to be considerate of others and behave themselves. Thankfully, most parents at Norton don't act this way.

**namaste1** · October 19th, 2007, 10:10 AM

I went thru the same situation with Abingdon and Lee High parents at the BSG festival. I heard conversations about fashion, tv shows, cell phone usage, the advantages of home schooling. The list was endless until their bands performed. I dont find this a particular Norton band parent problem. It seems it all came down to where you were unlucky enough to get a seat.

Let me say much like football games, the players (both band and sports) have no control over their fans. For the record both Abingdon and Lee High have outstanding bands.

It might be logical to simply ask these people to stop talking so loud or to please stop playing the radio. All they can say is no and all you can do is embarrass them by pointing out the error of their ways.

**kath200** · October 19th, 2007, 10:54 AM

I not only asked him to shut the radio off, I took a photograph of him. Didn't matter. I live in Norton and have followed the band program for years. A certain group of Burton parents have displayed a lack of manners for many years. I try to avoid the orange shirts at all costs, but to no avail. The Abingdon parents I had sitting below me were well behaved and they whispered comments to themselves about the rude behavior of the orange crowd. There seems to be a lack of respect for others from Norton. My spouse, a native of Norton and a Burton graduate, summed it up. "They are country folk who think they are city folk."

Not all of them act that way, but enough do and folks from other communities have noticed.

**namaste1** · October 19th, 2007, 11:14 AM

This might be something of interest to bring up at a band boosters meeting. I saw the person with the radio at the Wise festival. What was his response when asked to turn off the radio and you took his pic? I guess you got lucky with the people you sat near. One other question does your spouse consider him/her self country folk or city folk?

**buck73** · October 19th, 2007, 11:25 AM

Maybe you should have looked for a different seat. You said he turned it down before each performance was to start. There's plenty of talking going on in between the performances....I'm sure you spoke a word or two also. I see no problem as long as he didn't have it turned up during the performances (which you said he didn't). You come to a band festival to enjoy the bands and socialize....not sit and not say a word like you're at an opera.
I was there and I thought the Burton parents were fine (I'm not even from Norton).....I thought each school had well behaved parents.