Actively on the March, Abby Takes Charge

by Dale Fisher

Note: Click the two thumbnail images to enlarge them and read their captions. Reclick to shrink them.

Abby and her flute stand in full dress
next to the Redlands High School bus,
following a Riverside, California parade. My daughter Abby remains very active with the Redlands East Valley High School Marching Band (REVMB). Currently in the middle of "band season," band members practice for about three hours, four days a week. They travel a lot and are quite busy marching in a parade and/or competing in a competition, most Saturdays.
Happily yet reliably, Abby takes the responsibility of being the band's head quartermaster, taking full charge of coordinating uniforms for the band's 125 members. Redlands High also has a color guard unit, however its members don't wear standard band uniforms shown in these photos. Prepared to start parading, the Redlands East Valley
High School Marching Band's flutists stand ready.
This is Abby's fourth and final year to actively participate in the marching band, play the flute, and undertake quartermaster responsibilities. She's been passionate about this extracurricular activity from the very beginning. She'll be sad when it draws to a close.
This week, REVMB is rated the fifth best marching band in the Southern California. It recently marched in the school's homecoming parade (highlighted below), as well as performed in local marching band competitions in Corona, Riverside, and Chino.
Interestingly, Cameroon double bells are held by the wrapped handle and pointed upward towards the sky in the shape of the letter "U". Each bell is a different size, producing two tones
when struck with a stick. The theme for this year's band show is Ancient Rituals, featuring music and large banners depicting the sun, water, earth, and fire. I'm happy to have loaned the band one of the twin-bell-type, percussion musical instruments that I brought home from Cameroon in August. Redlands Marching Band members play the African bell in all field show performances. Click the bell image to learn more about this musical instrument.
During the beginning of each marching band competition, Abby and her friend Veronica meet together on the field and pray for four minutes. They pray for personal strength and perseverance, and that the competitive show will glorify God.

Check out these action photos, especially the final photo.

Along with the Redlands East Valley High School Marching Band,
Abby participates in a parade or competition once or twice a week.
Here, the band's tallest flute player, Abby marches in a Riverside, California parade.

Abby warms up on the flute before her high school homecoming parade.

Simply stunning! The school banner and flag corps bearers
stand ready for the drum major's start of the parade.

An Enjoyable Homecoming Event to Remember

by Dale Fisher

Abby's high school senior class celebrated its big Homecoming event on October 17 and 18. There was a parade Friday, after school, which the band marched in, as well as a football game, and dance that everyone enjoyed on Saturday.

Abby and her date, Devin, joined forces with other high school friends and had a big pre-dance dinner at the home of a local family. Twenty high school seniors attended the dinner. They all had a great time.

The photo on the left presents those who shared a homecoming pre-dance dinner. On the right are Abby and her friend Devin on route to the homecoming dance.

Place your cursor over the above photo to see, close up,
the faces of all those who went dancing together.