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Weather at contest question

Posted by FW24 on 10/16/2024, 3:26 pm

We may have storms at our contest. Would you recommend ponchos, or march as is and get the instruments and uniforms out of the weather as fast as possible?

Re: Weather at contest question

Posted by Me on 10/16/2024, 6:00 pm, in reply to "Weather at contest question"

If it's thunderstorming, you aren't marching. Follow UIL rules.

If it's just raining, is UIL going to pay to repair your woodwinds when they get ruined? Answer: No. So make a choice.

Re: Weather at contest question

Posted by Hsdb on 10/21/2024, 11:51 am, in reply to "Re: Weather at contest question"

We marched in a pretty heavy rain storm once—weather came up fast. Once off the field we got into a dry place and had the kids and band parents dry everything off completely—we used plumes and the boosters had some hand hair dryers and they say and dried each plume carefully. One director sat with the brasses and percussion and made sure they wiped down their equipment throughly. Another sat with woodwinds and did the same, plus drying pads. We did not lose one instrument. Think about it, when playing, every wind instrument is subject to moisture. If they are not dried after each rehearsal. You will have damage

Re: Weather at contest question

Posted by me on 10/25/2024, 8:39 am, in reply to "Re: Weather at contest question"

Once had a situation where a head director made the decision to march the school R13s in pouring weather at a BOA contest. Three of those clarinets had major cracks in them by the end of that night even with drying. The worse part was that the assistant packed some much cheaper clarinets to be prepared for the situation. The head still wanted the nice clarinets on the field. I think it depends on the equipment you're using and the amount of rain as well as the atmospheric pressure. Also, many times parents will fix things for us that we have no idea they did. I'd say that if your students can make great sounds in the brass and the show still works without woodwinds, don't march woodwinds in the rain please.

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