NLHS - Round Table

ROUNDTABLE TOURNAMENT AND FESTIVAL October 4, 2008

North Lincoln High School is a beautiful school only in its sixth year of operation in Lincolnton, NC. Conveniently located between Charlotte, Hickory and Gastonia, not far from I-77, I-85, I-40, and highway #321, North Lincoln (nicknamed "The Castle") provides a great location and perfectly designed facilities to host an event such as this. With much experience taken from years of hosting competition events, Neil Underwood (NLHS Director of Bands), and the NLHS Band Booster Association made the past four "Roundtable Tournaments" educational, enjoyable, and a great experience for band students, parents and staffs.

This year the "Roundtable Tournament" will be a prelim/finals event. In the early afternoon hours (times will depend on number of units registered, and on SAT conflicts) preliminary competition will be held awarding rating and ranking trophies in classifications separating bands by wind size. Classes will be determined after all bands have registered and bands can be divided into like-size classes. Awards will be numerous and will recognize top two placements per class in all caption areas (music, effect, marching, guard, percussion and drum major). Bands will be ranked overall in each class as well. There will be four classes in prelims and will be limited to the first 15 bands that register. There will be an awards ceremony immediately after prelims to present all class awards and announce the bands advancing to finals.

The top scoring band in each of the four classes will advance to the finals that evening, in addition to the next four highest scores regardless of class. Therefore the finals will consist of 8 total bands in competition. The finals competition will be open class with all bands competing equally. The bottom four scores from prelims will draw for the first four performance spots in finals, with the top four scoring bands drawing for the last four performance finalist slots. The North Lincoln Band of Knights will perform in exhibition after the last finalist band's performance.

The "Roundtable Tournament and Festival" proudly utilizes the North Carolina Bandmasters Association Marching Band sheets, regulations, and judging format. The NCBA judging systems is one of the best and most innovative approaches to judging high school bands in our country. You may view this information on the NCBA website at www.NCBandmasters.org. Six judges will be assigned to judge captions of Music Effect (2 judges), Music Performance Ensemble (1 judge), Music Performance Individual (1 judge on field), Visual Performance (1 judge), and Visual Effect (1 judge). Additionally, one judge for each caption of Visual Ensemble, Percussion and Drum Major will be utilized. These auxiliary captions will not apply to any overall scores or rankings.

The registration fee is $75.00. Many bands choose to travel to more than one event in the same day. Food stands will be open throughout the day, and between the prelims and finals competitions. You will find our facilities to be very conducive for this event, and our band parents and students welcoming and very accommodating.

Please send registration fee and attached registration form by September 26th. All other important information will be provided after registration is complete. For information as it becomes available and/or questions, you may visit the North Lincoln "Band of Knights" website at www.nlhsbandofknights.org, or call Neil Underwood at NLHS (704-736-1969) or cell phone (980-241-0691)

Thank you for your consideration, and we look forward to hosting your fine band at the fifth annual "Roundtable Tournament" on October 4, 2008! We promise to make every effort to make our event one that you will want to return to every year, and a memorable positive growth experience for your band program.