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Band Festival Marches Into Town

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By LAURA FRAZIER, The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 22, 2007

LITHIA - The Wolfpack has worked for weeks to welcome hundreds of out-of-town guests ready to raid its territory today at Newsome High School.

Newsome's Wolfpack marching band will host bands from Riverview and six other high schools at a band festival and competition, the first of its kind held at the five-year-old school.

Bands will perform their halftime marching shows and compete for first-, second- and third-place trophies. They'll also have an opportunity to participate in clinics to fine-tune their routines. The festival is open to the public.

Newsome band director Greg Basham said the event is a preliminary qualifier for state semifinal competitions this fall.

Judges will evaluate bands on the marching routines they perform and perfect all season during the halftimes of their school's football games.

Newsome's troupe, in its fifth season, has 147 members. The Wolfpack's show for the 2007-08 school year, 'Nutcracker for a New Millennium,' was inspired by Tchaikovsky's ballet 'The Nutcracker.'

'The idea is to explore what the music might sound like if Tchaikovsky were alive today,' Basham said. 'We put some of his melodies in a Latin jazz style, which was not even around when he was alive.'

Competitions are more than an opportunity to win trophies, Basham said. His students work hard throughout the year to perfect their show. It's good for them, he said, to see their peers putting forth similar efforts.

Parents also praise the positive effects band competitions can have on their children.

Sharon Pinson's two sons learned leadership and organization skills in band, she said.

'They have to put in hours and hours after school and on weekends,' she said. 'It's like the military. You're out there standing at attention, learning all these things that you just don't get if you're sitting home playing video games.'

IF YOU GO

WHAT: Newsome High School Marching Band Festival

WHO: Competitors are Newsome, Riverview, Jacksonville, Wesley Chapel, Chiefland and Lake Wales high schools.

WHERE: On the football field at Newsome High, 16550 FishHawk Blvd., Lithia.

WHEN: 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. today .

ADMISSION: $7, free parking

INFO: Call (813) 740-4600

Reporter Laura Frazier can be reached at (813) 657-4523 or lfrazier@tampatrib.com.

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