County Music Groups Get Boost From Wal-Mart

Bluffton's Wal-Mart store marked 10 years in the city with a Grand Re-opening Wednesday, and donated $7,000 to various community groups. Among those benefitting from the generous donations were Bluffton High Schools band and show choir programs, and the Norwell Band Boosters.

Pictured with Wal-Mart's Bluffton Store Manager Brian Barger are:

1: Bluffton Show Choir members (and one mom) Kyanne Bryant, Jenna Feeback, Suzanne Feeback, Carson Addington and Taylor White.

2: BHS Principal Steve Baker, Band Director Jim Bueter, and band members Shelby Sark and Katie Thompson.

3: Norwell Band Booster President Dan Easley and band members Adam Burniston and Kent Blazier.

Photos of the Norwell Marching Knights' Parents and Support Crew (Set #2)

More pictures thanks to Tomi Harrison.

Good luck to the Marching Knights for the big event Saturday afternoon!

Photos of the Norwell Marching Knights' Parents and Support Crew (Set #1)

They don't usually get a lot of attention, but just as valuable to the success experienced by the Marching Knights, are the parents and other members of the support crew who help set up the stage for the students to perform.

Thanks to Tomi Harrison, we have some "behind the scenes" moments from the Marching Knights' 2009 season.

Norwell Show Choirs Host Fall Preview - "Lion King and Friends"

It’s going to be a busy weekend for the Norwell music department.

Saturday will see the Marching Knights return to Lucas Oil Stadium for their 11th consecutive State Championships, while back home, the school’s three show choirs host their first big event of the year.

The Norwell High School and Middle School Choral Department will present their annual Fall Preview - “Lion King and Friends”, at the Norwell High School Auditorium on Friday evening and Sunday afternoon.

The Fall Preview will feature the Knight Moves (High School mixed show choir), Knight Stars (High School girls’ show choir), and the Middle School choirs.

Friday evening’s performance will commence at 7:30 p.m. while Sunday afternoon’s performance will start at 3:30 p.m.

Tickets will be sold at the door for $5 per person.

Photo's From Norwell's Semi-State Competition at Plainfield

Congratulations once again to the Marching Knights for making it all the way to State, and best of luck for Saturday.

Throughout the week, we'll also be posting some "behind the scenes" photos from Norwell's season. Keep checking back!

Many thanks once again to Tomi Harrison for providing the photos.

Norwell's Marching Knights Qualify For State; Bluffton's Season Finishes!

Don't have much info yet but it appears Norwell's Marching Knights have qualified for their 11 consecutive State Championship.

They will compete at Lucas Oil Field at 2:36 p.m. Saturday, after successfully negotiating their Class C Semi-State competition at Plainfield High School this past Saturday.

For Bluffton’s Bengal Brigade, the trip to Franklin for the Class D Semi-State competition wasn’t quite so productive. The Bengal Brigade put up a mighty showing, but were unable to seal their trip to the State finals.

So far I only have the one photo from Bluffton. Hopefully more will follow over the next day or two.

Semi-State Performance Times For Bluffton and Norwell

Norwell will march in the Class C competition at Plainfield High School at 3:10 p.m. on Saturday. The Marching Knights are aiming for their 11th consecutive state finals appearance.

Bluffton will march in the Class D competition at Franklin Community High School at 3:23 p.m on Saturday. The Bengal Brigade will be attempting to javascript:void(0)earn their second straight state finals appearance and their tenth overall.

The attached photos are from Norwell's practice at Knox, on their way to last Saturday's performance at Chesterton.

Thanks to Tomi Harrison once again for the photos.

Marching Knights and Bengal Brigade Reach Semi-State

Wells County's two marching bands both qualified for semi-state Saturday.

A last-minute venue change failed to break the stride of the Norwell Marching Knight’s as they qualified for next weekend’s Class C semi-state competition in Plainfield with another golden performance at Chesterton on Saturday. A mix of rain, snow and sleet made the scheduled field at Chesterton unusable, and competition was moved to the section of the school parking lot normally used for practice, with a one-hour delay in the start of the competition.

The weather held off just long enough for the competition to take place, before the rain once more came down in torrents, forcing the awards ceremony indoors to the cafeteria.

All 13 bands achieved a gold rating on the day, despite the difficulties. With only 10 bands able to proceed to semi-state however, the run of Knox, John Glenn and Northwood came to an end. Joining Norwell at Plainfield next weekend from the Chesterton regional competition are Angola, Concordia, Fairfield, Heritage, Leo, Monconaquah, Northwestern, Twin Lakes and Western.

In Class D, Bluffton’s Bengal Brigade also advanced. 11 bands from Bluffton’s Class D regional qualifier achieved gold rating, but again, only 10 could advance. Taylor was the band that missed out, while Bluffton were joined by Adams Central, Blue River Valley, East Side, Eastern (Greentown), Elwood, Lewis Cass, Morristown, Triton Central and Woodlan.

Thanks once again to Tomi Harrison for the above pictures from Norwell's big adventure!

Marching Knights New Web Site Streaming Live From Chesterton This Weekend

Norwell’s Marching Knights are going high tech, and they're not doing it by half measures!

Last month, the Marching Knights launched a new high-tech Web site, and amongst the bells and whistles attached is live streaming, allowing viewers to see the band as it performs.

“This puts the knights into the 21st century and the technology increases the visibility of the Norwell Marching Knights across the worldwide web.” enthused Webmaster and site administrator Riyaz Thawer, who is also a volunteer parent. “The Web site has had over 4,800 hits in its first week, and so far the site has generated over 10,000 hits.

“Schools from Argentina to Australia and Indian to Germany are following the Marching Knights on the web. In the United States, the Knights have a solid following with hits coming from Florida and New York to California and Washington State.”
The Web site features an interactive welcome to the site, “One-Click” e-mail process, a “refer a friend” page, greeting cards, testimonials, a guest book, SMS alert system to the entire band and a completely interactive e-commerce shopping experience.

The site, available at www.Norwellband.org also offers the ability to search for profiles and browsers can email from any page on the site.

“These features will allow visitors to the site to quickly and efficiently access all the information they seek to know about The Norwell Marching Knights.” continued Thawer.

The site also allows viewers to watch the marching Knights perform either via live streaming, or delayed video footage. Norwell will be performing at Chesterton Saturday at 1:23 p.m., and their performance will be shown live on the Web site.

“The website is the result of the band, the boosters and the parents coming together to build a site that is informative and visually appealing to visitors.” summarized Dan Easley, Norwell Band Booster President. “We’re excited to make use of the latest web technologies to communicate to our community and Marching Band enthusiasts.”

To add to the technology, people can now follow the Norwell Marching Knights on Twitter as well by going to www.twitter.com/norwellband.

The Marching Knights are taking some giant steps forward, off the field as well as on, as they continue their bid for eleven consecutive appearances at the State Championships.

Bluffton's Bengal Brigade Also Successful On Saturday

Competing in Class D at Homestead in the morning, Bluffton placed first and won (all) the caption awards for Best Music, Best Marching, Best Effect, Best Percussion and Best Auxiliary.

The Bengal Brigade then competed at Snider in the afternoon where they placed second and won the caption awards for Best Music and Best Drum Major. Woodlan took top place, taking the caption awards for Best Visual and Best Percussion. Eastern placed third, winning the caption award for Best General Effects. Adams Central placed fourth with Eastside fifth.

Marching Knights Triumphant at Plymouth

Norwell’s Marching Knights capped off another successful weekend with top honors in Class C at the Plymouth Invitational Saturday.

Norwell headed off the challenges of Northwood and Maconaquah to take first place in Class C. Twin Lakes, Northwestern, John Glenn and Knox rounded out the field.

Norwell also won the caption awards for Best Percussion, Best Music, Best Visual Effects and Best General Effects. Caption awards for Best Field Crew went to Northwood, Best Color Guard to Northwestern, and Best Drum Major to John Glenn.

This weekend sees the Marching Knights return to state qualifying competition, in pursuit of an 11th consecutive appearance at the state finals. They will be contesting the Class C Regional Championships in Chesterton, with a gold ranking required to enable them to proceed to the semi-state championships at Plainfield High School on Oct. 24.

Norwell is scheduled to compete at Chesterton at 1:23 p.m.

Bluffton will also be contesting Regional Championships this weekend, travelling to Lafayette Jefferson for the Class D competition. The Bengal Brigade is scheduled to perform at 11 a.m.

(Results from Bluffton's Saturday performances at Homestead and Snider hadn't yet been received at the time of posting. I will be away Monday but will post them Tuesday - assuming they arrive).

Norwell's Marching Knights at East of Chicago Pizza

A full house of supporters turned out for the Marching Knight's fundraising dinner at East of Chicago Pizza in Ossian Monday evening. Band and booster club members waited the tables throughout the evening.

The Marching Knights are aiming for their 11th consecutive appearance at the State Finals this year!

For full details of the Marching Knight's season, check out their new Web site at www.norwellband.com

Norwell's Marching Knights at Homestead (2 of 2)

The rain continues to fall as the Marching Knights battle on. Team leaders Mallory Elmore, Chelly Neuenschwander and Jennifer Harrison were only too happy to huddle together under a nice warm blanket after collecting the band's trophies.

Thanks once again to Tomi Harrison for the great photos from Homestead.

Norwell's Marching Knights at Homestead (1 of 2)

Norwell's Marching Knights perform as the rain falls at Homestead during the ISSMA District Championships Saturday afternoon.

Thanks to Tomi Harrison for these photos.

Bluffton's Bengal Brigade at Homestead

Bluffton's Bengal Brigade band leaders collect their trophies at the ISSMA District Championships at Homestead Saturday afternoon.

Thanks to Tomi Harrison of the Norwell Music Boosters for these photos.