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Update Archives (Jan. 22, 1998 - Dec. 31, 1998)

Please note that this is just an archive and many links may be unavailable.

Dec. 31 Updates

• The Bandlist is now ready.  The form is working and anyone who wishes to add themselves are free to do so.

Dec. 30 Updates

• It's so close to the New Year, and I hope you all had great Christmases.

• I wonder if any of you had clicked on the "SHS Bandlist" button recently.  All it did was open a Compose Mail box for many of you.  Not many of you had a clue what to do from there.  Now, when you click on it, it will bring up a list of all current and previous members of the Stratford Band.  Try it now.  I've just started making this list, so all additions and such has to be emailed to me, but only for now.  I'll soon be making a form where you can type in the info and hit send, to make things easier.

Dec. 21 Updates

The Sounds of Stratford is 1 Year Old

• It was exactly this day one year ago I finished the first (and only) page to the band site, complete with only the 1997 and 1995 shows.  There were no concert songs.  The red logo (not the 3D one) came a little bit later, and instead of a 3D logo, I had some weird blinking picture which had the title on it and in the background had the notation to Blues In The Night.  I went throught many logos before I came up with the 3D one.

• Here's the page were you can see all these early logos.

• Or how about seeing the old version of this site?

Dec. 19 Updates

• Take a look at the Christmas Concert performed at Stratford's Auditorium on Dec. 3.  There are no new pictures.

• There was a delay putting up the sounds these past days, other than the 5,000Kb I have to upload for them.  The reason was that I had trouble with Xoom's server, yet again.

• There is a new way to display the menu bar on the left; there are no visible changes, and if you aren't able to see the menu bar properly when you previously could, let me know.

Nov. 14 Updates

• Everything from state is now up.  This includes all of the show and about 20 pics.

Nov. 13 Updates

• Let's start off this concert season with a new color scheme, and a new song.  For those who don't know, the song is a jazz rendition of I'll Be Home For Christmas, part of one of our featured songs in concert band.

• The show performed at state will definitely be up very soon along with pictures.  Stay tuned as this site gets all that and adapts to the concert season.

Nov. 8 Updates

Stratford Places 9th at State; the Results are In

• www.bandlink.org has the prelim scores and the finals scores.  These stats are too big to fit onto this site, so I've taken some excerpts.  It's also nice to know that Lexington beat Irmo in the prelims, but Irmo won back in the finals.  Here now is a comparison between Sumter and us, which, by the way, had lost by 0.2 points, not 0.15 as mentioned earlier:

Nov. 7 Updates

Awww, 0.15 Points?!?

• Based on word of mouth, Sumter had won by .15 points and made it to the finals.  Our scores are not mentioned in the packet Mr. Haynes received, so make sure you tune in to this site and www.bandlink.org.   One more thing- I had also thought that if a band made a Superior rating, that would be an automatic entry into the finals.  Stratford did make a Superior rating, but it's obvious that the rules had been changed without our knowing.

• Anyway, the show will be up soon, including pics.  If you haven't already, you can view the pics from Barnwell, which will be removed when the show from state comes up.

Nov. 1 Updates

State Contest is this Saturday

• One week left, three more practices till State at Irmo.  It's that near.  So start getting your acts together, fix any music trouble, and get your heads focused, since you do not want to miss any horn flashes or step off early or anything like that.  Make these last few days count.  I'm sure a bunch of you will agree that we have a good shot at State this year.  The judges like Gershwin.  The audience like our show.  Both like the individual section features that pop in during the show.  Let's not let them down by the "millipede effect," not cutting off, not holding on, or whatever.  We have a show with great potential.

• The show performed at the Citadel on October 31 may or may not be put online, since State is this week..  Either way, the show from Barnwell will be deleted, along with the cadence.

• And thanks to www.bandlink.org, here's the schedule for State:

Oct. 17 Updates

• Pics from Barnwell are up.  Also, one special treat for you, and also a request from Dave- the cadence from Barnwell.

Oct. 13 Updates

• Results from Barnwell are here, thanks to www.bandlink.org:  I've also included how much away from Irmo we were.

Classification AAAA

• Also one more thing- who will be this site's 1000th visitor???  I'm very grateful for all you people coming in to check out how the band's doing, and to check out how we did in the past.

Oct. 12 Updates

• We have a new Midi song as the background now- La Fiesta.  This was the first song that Stratford played back in 1992 along with Malagueña and Spanish Dreams.

Oct. 11 Updates

Irmo Wins Barnwell,
By 4 Points

• Congratulations again, by just nearly winning the contest that many of us were anticipating.  Remember that this week we are going to have intense practice to help us catch up to that #1 spotlight.

• Tuesday we'll be working on marching, on Wednesday Mr. Bob Cotter is visiting to work on music, and most likely we'll work on the Homecoming game on Thursday (which is the game against Ft. Dorchester on Friday).

• The show from Barnwell is up.  The Georgetown show is probably never going to reach me, so don't count on it being up anytime soon.

Oct. 8 Updates

Onward to Barnwell

• The 27th Annual Music In Motion Contest at Barnwell is this Saturday.  Is history going to repeat itself?  Is it going to be better than Georgetown?  This site will stay tuned...

• About Georgetown-  the show nor the pics have come up due to a delay of a certain video tape delivery.  If Barnwell proves to be spectacular, I'll use the tape from there.  My apologies.

• More Georgetown stuff:  Thanks to www.bandlink.org, the results from last Saturday are here-

Oct. 3 Updates

Stratford Places First at Georgetown

• Go Band!  Even though we couldn't make 1st overall, I hope this 1st place victory has you all pshyched up for our next contest, at Barnwell.

• Along with us, Middleton won a Superior rating, placing second.   Beaufort takes third and Orangeburg-Wilkenson takes 4th.  Stratford received the Best Horn Line award and won it by about 18 points.  The Drum Line placed second by only 1 point.  Socastee brought home two awards, Stratford one (not including first place in the division), and Beaufort one.  Middleton placed best band overall in all divisions.

• Expect the whole show, all 3 scenes from the Georgetown contest, up soon.  Pictures will be up in about the same time the show comes up.  About downloading, the files are now in .ZIP form and need an unzipping program such as WinZip.  This does not apply to AOL members, since they already have a built-in unzipper within the AOL program.  I apologize for the extra steps to listen to the sounds, but Xoom, this site's host, does not allow downloading MP3's anymore for some reason.  This also means that there will no longer be any Stream features, and they will be removed.

• And now, just for your viewing pleasure, quotes from the band!
  Viva la work crew baby! SHS has supreme victory!- John Cote

• Everything you do is a portrait of yourself...autograph your work with excellence!!! Go Stratford!!!- EJ Corpuz, former band member

• Stratford Drumline reigns supreme no matter what!! Go Drumline!! Determination mixed with enthusiasm equals pride. - Will Green

Sep. 27 Updates

• Did you know that on the 26th of this month, that composer George Gershwin turned 100 years old?  (No, he's not alive, but his music inspires people today)  Check out MSNBC's coverage of a man who made so much influence since September 26, 1898.
  http://www.msnbc.com/news/196468.asp

Aug. 30 Updates

• Thanks Dave for the '92 names.  The 1992 Show is now up!

Aug. 23 Updates

• Nothing new this time, only that the Shows and Concerts pages have been reorganized, so that you don't have to see that red header bar all the time.

• I still need someone that has the names of the songs played in 1992's show.  Once I have the names, then I can bring up the show, since I have a recording.   Please contact me if you or someone you know has those names.

Aug. 17 Updates

• Isn't it about time that this page contained photographs?  In an August 12 Post and Courier insert, the sousaphone section is pictured during sectionals.  More pics should be added later and will get its own page.  Click here for the new Pics page.

Aug. 14 Updates

• A correction has been made to the SHS Bandlist email link.  Instead of "shsbandlist@aol.com" it should be "shsbandlst@aol.com."   (There is no "I" in the address.)  I'm very sorry for not detecting this and for the people who haven't been able to add themselves and/or friends to the bandlist, and to Dave, who maintains the bandlist, who is probably wondering why people suddenly aren't emailing him for several months.

• The 1994 show performed at Statesboro, Georgia is now up!

Aug. 10 Updates

• Hey everyone, just some of my thoughts:  It's neat to know how far a site can go in just over half a year.  There's over 600 visitors, a new layout, Java, a guestbook, and hey, we are just starting to get visitors from other parts of the country.  That's pretty cool.  Or in other way, that's the point in having a web page, right?  Hmmm...
• Anywho, the only new thing here is an addition to the An American In Paris exerpts in the Shows page.  That addition is not MP3, which all shows here are.   It's called a Midi, which its size is much smaller and will work on any computer.  For those of you that MP3 hasn't been working for you, this is your lucky break.  Once I have the show recorded (probably from our first football game, Aug. 28), I'll get rid of the excerpts and replace it with the show.
• Oh yes, there will be another addition coming up: the 1992 and 1994 shows supplied by April Oliver.  Thank you very much.  If you or someone you know has the names of the songs of these shows, get in touch with me.  I'd like these shows up as much as you do.  All I know is that Malagueña was played in the 1992 show, and I don't know yet if the 1994 show was the one in Georgia, where Stratford took all the awards, if I'm not mistaken.

July 20 Updates

• For those of you that cannot see the Java nav-bar, first check that you have enabled Java on your browser, and that the security isn't set so high that Java Applets will not run.  See the Help page for IE4 instructions to keep the security on high but still run Java Applets.  If all else fails, there are always text links at the bottom of each page.
• Also on the Help page, there is extended help for streaming problems.
• The Sounds of Stratford is now a member of the Marching Band Web Ring and Marching Bands on the Net!  Scroll to the bottom of the page.

July 17 Updates

• Mentioned in the guestbook area Mike said:  "You just better put a link to the nice little page about our Drumline!! =)"  Hey, if you ask very nicely, you just may get it.  Thanks to all of you for the feedback so far!

July 16 Updates

• Need to do some troubleshooting with some Winamp problems or with some with the site?  Look in the new Help section.
• Our show for this year is An American in Paris, based on an original motion picture which won 7 Academy Awards in 1951 and also came 2nd place to Singing in the Rain.  This site is now providing some exerpts from the original movie, from The Best of Gershwin, the Sunrisers Drum and Bugle Corps, and the Texas Saxophone Quartet.  Visit the Shows page for those exerpts.

July 14 Updates

• The Flute Choir and the Jazz Band is up, and with it includes yet another upgrade to the look of the band page, which, includes ever-popular Java applets, and a much more tidy (and fixed) navigational bar.  There's also a brand new guestbook.  You can send your comments on it, if email isn't your style.

June 27 Updates

• Finally, the Symphonic Band concert is here!  Use the navigation bar to your left and click "Concerts" or "Spring 1998."  Now, I am not going to make excuses to what took so long, so on with the new news.
• Here is something that I know you'd all would like: a new design for the band page.  How do you all like it?  I, myself, think is very spiffy!  All this was designed with the help of Microsoft FrontPage98.  Also a new feature on this page is the new background music.  It is Malagueña, a song Stratford played but is not featured on this site. 
• For the incoming freshmen and upper classmen who haven't been to this site before, remember to download Winamp or any MP3 player to listen to any of the music featured here, unless you already have a player to begin with.

May 10 Updates

• The Sounds of the Concert Band is now up. Next in line is the Symphonic Band, which by far plays the most lengthy and difficult pieces. The 1812 Overture alone takes 17 minutes, so expect the huge Symphonic Band suite soon.

May 6 Updates

• Ok, I know all of you are looking for the concert music from April 30. I do have them, but since that night's show was very long (nothing really wrong with that) I can tell you that the files that are being created take a bunch of space. Now recently Xoom brought up a nice deal of offering 11Mb of space instead of 5. I hope this increase will help in bringing up the songs.

Apr. 11 Updates

• How's everybody's break? I hope you all had a good one.
• Anyway, the people who make Winamp recently released version 1.9 which includes more file support and more streaming. And streaming is what I would like to put my attention to. "Streaming" is described as playing a file from the internet as it downloads to your computer. Pretty cool, huh? Does anyone here use RealPlayer or RealAudio? Those are two great examples of streaming audio and video. Now since Winamp has better streaming support I'm planning to make features on this page for them. Those of you who are interested in getting rid of virtually all download time and have Winamp, a 33.6Kbps connection, and Windows95 (Winamp never seems to make the 16bit version anymore) there is great news for you. All there is to do for your part is to click the icon under "Stream".
  
• Note that you may have to make some changes to file settings in case streaming doesn't work. If streaming doesn't work and brings up a line of an internet address, visit Winamp's homepage and click Documentation. Look under Client Configuration. For more help, email me.
  
• And remember, if changing these settings seem overwhelming to you, you don't have to do anything. You can just use the old fashion way of clicking the link under Download.

Mar. 31 Updates

• One mustn't forget that these shows have been compressed with MP3. To listen, an MP3 player is needed. So far, Winamp's been the best choice for any MP3 player, since it has a variety of features that enhances you hearing and seeing experience. Ok, what do you mean by seeing, Kevin?? Ok audience, I mean by Winamp's ability to change it's appearance without having the dull, old black and yellow default. The people at Winamp call this changing your Winamp's skin, and this pic is a neato example of that. Those who are interested in changing skin can look at a bunch of them at the Winamp Mangled page from www.Layer3.org.
• Also, to make this page much shorter, I've archived the updates into another page, if anyone wants to read them (Hehe, yea right!).

Mar. 26 Updates

• I've successfully entered this site under various search engines, such as AltaVista, Hotbot, Yahoo, Excite, Lycos, and Infoseek. Some of them would have to recognize this site as new from within a day to three weeks, but eventually anyone will be able to search for this site on popular search engines.

Mar. 11 Updates

• As the site reaches its 100th visitor, I'd like to know what impression you are getting from these sounds. I've been receiving a bunch of praises from a lot of you guys (thanks!) but I'd like a little more feedback. What do you guys think of the MP3 here? Is the quality good? Is it loud enough? Or is it just fine? This little survey is important because with the growing number of sounds, comes more demand that these files increase in quality, and to show off the band a little. Plus, soon to come to the collection is the '92 show from our very own David Brophy, who maintains the Stratford Bandlist. To take part in the survey, just email me your comments.

Mar. 6 Updates

• Thanks to Richie Evangelista and the Olivers, the 1995 show is up! Start downloading quickly!
  
• Also you can view the soloists in a song as you hover your cursor over the title of the song. And now you Netscapees hopefully can see the treble clef graphic in the center.
  
• Oh, and if anyone is having a very slow time downloading sounds, let me know. It could be a problem at Xoom, my web space provider. I have a backup provided by Richie if a lot of you guys are having problems.
  
• I've included a new little feature that is located under the red Sounds of Stratford title and the new 3D logo at the top of the page. If you click this bad boy, you'll zoom all the way down to the songs! This is great for those of you who never read my commentaries, and to quickly get to the files you want to hear.

Mar. 3 Updates

• Finally, a new show has come in! It is the marching band of 1993, performed at Orangeburg-Wilkenson. Scroll down and check it out!

Feb. 25 Updates

• Hehe, the new shows haven't come in yet, but we do have a really neat-looking 3D logo! I designed it from the current logo you see on newsletters, handbooks, etc. Also, whether you like it or not, there is now background music. Donated by Jamie Johnson, the featuring music for now is Georgia On My Mind on piano.
  
• And congratulations to the people who made Region and All-County. If anyone happens to come up with recordings of either band, give me a buzz. Any new kinds of songs would be appreciated.

Feb. 6 Updates

• Well, unfortunately the new shows haven't come up yet. They have been difficult to get to since all this week scales tests were being issued. The shows soon will be up, I assure you.
  
• In other news, visit Dave's Music/Audio Homepage and browse through the many band sites and links within our state. Also, if you have been a member of the Stratford Band and would like to join the mailing list, send Dave your name, email address, instrument, web page (if any), and the years you attended the band (i.e. 1996-00) to shsbandlist@juno.com.

Jan. 23 Updates

• Marty Duncan and I soon will be putting up shows from as far back as 1994, so expect them to be up within a week.

Jan. 22 Updates

• I have entered this site into a couple of web search engines: Yahoo! and Excite. This site should be included in Yahoo! soon, but may take Excite a couple of weeks.

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