#banddad

[mlhblog]

First Contest — Bandtober Begins

Bandtober officially kicked off today with our first contest of the season — the Don Hanna Memorial Marching Band Contest in Denton!

This was our first real test of loading and transporting all the props. Even though the stage parts were designed to disassemble for travel, the goal was to fit everything — stages, back props, sideline screens, and spear racks — into the 20-foot box trailer and one box truck without taking the stages apart. That would save us precious setup time once we arrived.

Loading went smoothly, and we had plenty of help on-site for unloading and assembling everything. The back props went together quickly, though our attempt to use duct tape to seal the coroplast seams didn’t hold up as well as we hoped. During prelims, two of the back props blew over — a reminder that wind is always the invisible competitor. For finals, we had the secondarys stay with their props to keep them steady, and that worked much better.

Overall, the day went really well. The first show always brings a bit of extra stress since it’s the first time running the full setup under real conditions — a five-minute setup window and a two-minute teardown window. We got everything on the field with more than a minute to spare and cleared it all in about 90 seconds.

A few tweaks to make before the next show, but I couldn’t be happier with how the props performed in their first real test. Seeing everything come together on the field made all those long shop nights worth it.

[mlhblog]

Homecoming Parade Fun

Not a props day, but still a band-filled day. Today was the Homecoming parade, and since Susie is the booster club president, we got to ride the golf cart in the parade.

The theme this year was “All Aboard,” so the band moms came up with a creative idea to decorate the golf cart like an airport luggage cart. They stacked suitcases on the back and even rigged one to trail behind us like it had fallen off—complete with the look of “losing your luggage.”

It was a fun change of pace from welding and painting, and great to see the band community come together for something lighthearted.

[mlhblog]

First Rehearsal with Full Props

Big night—our first full rehearsal with all the props on the field!

We ran the entire show with everything in place: the full stage with four drums and all the coroplast, six spear racks with 74 spears, eight sideline screens, and seven back props. And it all went smoothly. Nothing broke, no surprises, and no “oh crap” moments that required rethinking a design on the spot.

The only thing I forgot to bring were the bungee cords to help hold the spears on the racks as they’re moved on the sideline carts—but that’s an easy fix for next time.

We had a great group of volunteers, which made setup much easier. I only had to focus on attaching the drums to the stage while others handled assembling the back props. It was awesome to finally see everything working together on the field the way we envisioned it.

[mlhblog]

Home Stretch

Today’s focus was all about finishing the stage and drums. First up was wrapping the three remaining drums in vinyl. Once the vinyl was on, we added one-inch foam to the tops so the students can make full contact during the performance without making noise.

The final stage task was attaching the coroplast to the sides. Since the stage is still at the high school, the prop shop had to go on the road. That meant guessing what tools I’d need to bring along. (Foreshadowing: I didn’t bring everything, which means a few tasks will spill into Monday.)

Since we were headed to the school anyway, I didn’t want to haul the trailer back home, so I used the chance to build out a storage shelf inside it. The new shelf is 11 feet long and 23 inches wide, tied into the e-track. It provides plenty of space for all the coroplast panels, with room underneath for the media frame parts.

Then it was time to “skin” the stage. First step was attaching the coroplast by drilling holes for all the attachment points. Next, I cut the coroplast to make room for the drums to attach, and finally trimmed the top edge into a jagged design to match the tops of the back props. The side coroplast ended up being a few inches short, which meant I couldn’t use the rivet nuts I had placed at the ends of the stage. Of course, I didn’t bring the drill or rivet tools with me, so adding new rivet nuts will have to wait until rehearsal tomorrow.

Even with that small setback, I can say that at this point all fabrication is complete. From here we move into show mode and maintenance mode. A lot of lessons were learned along the way, and knowing what I know now, I would have done some things differently. But overall, I’m happy with how it all turned out.

Tomorrow will be the first time seeing all the props on the field together at rehearsal. Excited to finally see it all in action.

[mlhblog]

Long Saturday in the Props Shop (My Feet Hurt)

After starting the morning at an early cross country meet, it was straight into a full day of props work.

First task was hunting down more neon pink spray paint. Home Depot only had two cans yesterday, which wasn’t nearly enough to finish the spear tips. We managed to find three more cans at Walmart, which allowed us to complete painting the rest of the spear tips, plus all the extras we made in case of breakage. I have to say though, these spray cans were frustrating to use—the nozzles kept clogging. Maybe it’s just Rust-Oleum, or maybe it’s something about neon pink paint, but it was a pain.

Once that was out of the way, we worked on wrapping one of the stage drums in vinyl. While we were in the middle of that, FedEx Freight showed up with the missing coroplast pieces from our original order—the ones we drove all the way to Tulsa to pick up weeks ago. The delivery window was 9 to 4, so it was a relief to see them arrive early enough for us to use them in the afternoon.

By lunch we had one drum fully wrapped. After lunch, with a band dad and mom pitching in, the main focus was back props. First we assembled all seven media frames to make sure there weren’t any issues. Then we started hanging the coroplast panels—now with all the missing pieces in hand.

The original plan was to use bolts and wingnuts to attach the EMT frames to each piece of coroplast and remove them for transport. But during Tuesday’s rehearsal, attaching EMT that way took longer than I hoped. Last night I started brainstorming faster options, and this morning I tested out using pop rivets with fender washers instead of bolts. The rivets held great, and since they don’t stick out, they make stacking the coroplast much easier for transport. After a quick trip to Home Depot for more rivets and washers, we spent most of the afternoon drilling new 1/8-inch holes and riveting the EMT to the coroplast.

The first couple of panels went slow as we figured out the process, but with extra hands helping, we eventually found a good rhythm and completed 20 coroplast pieces. We didn’t quite finish all 21 though—because even though the missing coroplast arrived, one piece was still wrong. Instead of a proper 4x8, it looked like it had been scaled down. The whole image was there, but the panel was only 6.5 feet tall, so it won’t work with the others.

Even with that hiccup, it was an awesome day. All of the remaining back props are assembled and ready, the spear tips are finished, and one drum is wrapped. A long day in the shop, but a very productive one.

[mlhblog]

Friday Night Lights: Props Edition

Another night of knocking out a long list of random prop tasks as we push to get everything ready for the first contest in just a week.

Painted all of the EMT frames for the coroplast black

Painted 30+ spear tips neon pink (new request from the band director this week)

Repaired four spear tips that had broken since the spears were first finished and handed off to the band

Installed the final rivet nuts in the media frames that will secure the bottoms of the coroplast panels

Reattached the corner pieces to the top and bottom rails of the media frames

Tested every rivet nut to make sure none of them had bad threads or other issues

It was a bit of a grab-bag of tasks, but every one of them moves us closer to being contest-ready. One more step in the countdown.

[mlhblog]

Friday Night Lights (Thursday Edition)

No props work tonight—it was an away football game, so the focus shifted to the logistics of getting all the band equipment to and from the stadium. That meant getting to the high school early to load the box trucks, heading to the game to unload, pushing equipment onto the field for the halftime show, and then loading everything back in for the trip home.

There was a little bit of props mixed in, though. We gathered up all the spears to bring home since it’s been requested that the spear tips be painted neon pink instead of the current white. We also brought the small trailer home, since we’ll need the props inside it for this weekend’s work sessions.

Not a welding-and-grinding kind of night, but still part of the bigger picture of making sure the show comes together.

[mlhblog]

Wednesday Evening in the Props Workshop

Another productive evening in the countdown to finishing props by Sunday.

First up was resizing three of the media frames to match the other four. That meant welding in 10 extension pieces, drilling new pin holes in the extended ends, cleaning up all the welds with some grinding, and finally giving the new parts a coat of black paint.

After wrapping up the frame work, I shifted focus to cutting and sanding extra spear tips. We’ve already had a handful break, so it’s good to get ahead on spares.

I finished the night by attaching wheels to two of the wheel bars for the media frames. One more set of tasks checked off the list—slowly but surely getting closer to the finish line.