Pandemic Updates and News

Parents and students,

We are entering the final months of the 19-20 school year and that means that it is time to start the 2020-2021 Spirit of ’76 Marching season! The staff have been working since January to gather information from the students and put together a fun, entertaining, as well as quality competitive marching program for next year. Our goals are for the students to have fun when rehearsing and performing, to feel accomplishment and pride at the finished product; to give the home football crowd something they can relate to; and to produce the show with the quality it takes to get recognition for the students’ work at competitions.

For those who don’t know, we work to put together a precision performance that includes marching, choreography, performing music, color guard, flags, rifles (fake, they don’t shoot) and sabers (dulled blades, can’t cut). On Saturdays in the fall, we travel to local and non-local high schools to perform this show for a group of experienced judges who comment on the precision of the group, then give it a qualitative number. The performance with the highest total number at the end of the day wins! This gives us a day of complete entertainment when not performing and an incredible feeling of pride and accomplishment when we get our turn.

I hope you are considering joining our Spirit of ‘76 family. We are trying some new stuff and I’m just completely excited to get going and I don’t want anyone to miss out on the fun we’re going to have. And this isn’t just for the students! Parents are invited to join us as we put together the logistics of the show. Come to our booster meetings and see what all you can do to help your students have fun and succeed in this new and exhilarating adventure!

We have a working schedule that is posted on our website: https://www.spirit76.net/. As the summer progresses and details become more firm, our website will be a fount of information for all things Marching Band, but for now you can see what we’ve done in the past

Please fill this out the intent form for the Spirit of ’76 Marching Band Google Form as soon as possible. We need to get an accurate count of students to our creative staff. As with any organization, there are some requirements for participation. Please give it a read and return the form by May 1, 2020. I hope to hear from you soon!. If you’re thinking, “Hey wait! I’m not in band, I took orchestra or choir!” This next message is for you. We want to open up to you the opportunity to become part of this unique group. The face of competitive marching band is changing and we are looking for musicians to become a part of or color guard and percussion sections that have the following skills: can count to the beat, can dance (or learn to dance), perform on a non-traditional marching instrument (strings? voice?), play guitar, electric bass and piano. Everything else we can teach—trust me, band kids haven’t been in marching band either! Lisa M. Kinworthy Director of Bands Parkway South High School 801 Hanna Road Manchester MO, 63021 Email: lkinworthy@parkwayschools.net