LETTERS: CHS MARCHING TIGERS DESERVE MORE CREDIT

To the editor:

I read your Oct. 6 article regarding the Jackson Band Festival and have taken some time to cool off before corresponding with you. I would like to ask you and the Missourian staff one very simple question:

Are you, for any reason, hesitant to write the complimentary articles that are so clearly appropriate in supporting the Cape Girardeau School District for a job well done?

I attended the band festival and watched every band perform from beginning to end. I did not miss one song of one band. There was absolutely no question, should this have been a judged event, that the Central High School Marching Tigers were uniquely outstanding. Yet there was no mention of the quality of their performance.

Understand, I am not trying to criticize other bands. They are providing to the public what is expected or available at their schools. However, Central band directors Neil Casey, Mark Ellison and Billy Keys require a great deal more from the Marching Tigers. This band competes against the large schools in St. Louis regularly and does its share of winning. You will always be able to see the faces of each band member at each performance, because the music is required to be memorized. The performance includes intricate choreography which necessitates endless hours of rehearsal beginning in the heat of the first week of August. This band works as hard or harder than any athletic team. This band will be competing each weekend in judged competitions against the caliber of bands that only Central represents in Southeast Missouri. Come to the TWA Dome on Oct. 30 and personally observe the professionalism that places the Central Marching Tigers on a level to be admired throughout Southeast Missouri.

Playing in a marching band is hard work and doesn't get the recognition it deserves on a regular basis. But playing the Marching Tiger band is not only hard work, it's an honor bestowed on those who are able to persevere 14-hour days in the summer heat, display the mental toughness necessary to memorize music and choreographed routines, instill in themselves the discipline necessary to carry their bodies and instruments in the professional manner required for competition and the pure physical stamina required to be at school by 8 a.m. on Saturday, ride the buses two to four hours one way, rehearse and perform competitively and return home in the early morning hours of Sunday all the while remaining professional, because this is instilled by your directors. These are the standards set in Cape Girardeau. Take a day and follow the Marching Tigers and see the quality and professionalism displayed right here at home. Investigate the work ethic the band exudes while working a variety of fund raisers in order to pay their way to DisneyWorld this winter to perform with other bands of this caliber from across the nation. You will not see any other Southeast Missouri band there. But you will see the Marching Tigers displaying their usual professional dynamic performance abilities in front of those who know how to appreciate the quality, effort and showmanship of this band.

Please don't be afraid to report on something good in Cape Girardeau, especially when it involves teen-agers representing our community in such a professional, positive way. This sends a message that enhances the entire image of Cape Girardeau. You are missing a tremendous spirit being displayed in this community that could be an uplifting story for our newspaper. Come to 205 Caruthers St. and begin your adventure into the world of excellence, commitment and professionalism all being displayed by some of our finest young people and see for yourself if these things are true.

Thanks from a proud band parent, school board member and taxpayer in Cape Girardeau, not to mention a subscriber to the Missourian.

MARK CARVER, Vice President

Cape Girardeau Board of Education

Cape Girardeau