The Tallwood High School Marching Lions got a Superior rating at Landstown High School for the VBODA State Marching Assessment on Saturday October 28th.

Our Tallwood Band Director, Mr. Timothy J. Rossettini, has worked here at Tallwood for eleven years now and has not failed to help Tallwood be a VBODA Virginia Honor band.

“The Goal is to always be a Virginia Honor Band, it’s what we work towards,” says Rossettini.

This year, the Marching Lions’ show was named Ex Machina. In Mr. Rossettini’s words, “Ex Machina was about uploading, or creating artificial intelligence, and we have the story line of building artificial intelligence throughout the show. Then we give it emotion, and the machine rejects the sequence given so there’s a system crash. We restart it, and it accepts the sequence. Then we turn on our lights and everyone says ‘Oh My God flashlights’ and they love the show.”

Rossettini says he’s “proud of the band and its accomplishments, and that rehearsals have been easy, we know how to rehearse, and that made it enjoyable and I’m humbled by the experiences that they gave me.” The Marching Lions did amazing this season and won first place in all but one competition, where they won second place.

No matter how many trophies the Marching Lions get, Mr. Rossettini always reminds his students that “It’s all about the process. It doesn’t matter whether we win or lose, as long as we grow as a band.”

Although the Marching Lions had an amazing season, there was one drawback. “We have exposure to weakness in lack of color guard members. I pushed the band to be one of if not the best band for what they offer,” says Rossettini. This year, the Marching Lions only had nine color guard members Compared to schools that have as many marchers as Tallwood does, or even less, our color guard is extremely small. Hopefully, many excited eighth graders will join next year to give us a larger color guard.

The Marching Lions have performed at football halftimes and at many competitions throughout the state. This show has only improved throughout the season and the Marching Lions have worked incredibly hard to come this far. It was a great season.

When asked about next season, Rossettini replied, “I’m not even thinking about next year. I’m focused on the concert season and making sure that Tallwood puts some of its best products out there to show our growth in music education.”

Below are the stories featured in Volume 3, Issue 3 of The Roaring Gazette.

Students will soon need fewer SOLs to graduate by Aniyah Lewis

2018 Leadership Workshop coming soon! by Cassidy O’Neal

Marching Lions receive a Superior rating by Sotiria Bessinas

The Great Tallwood Divide: Has the academy split Tallwood in two? by Noelani Stachurski

Meet a Lion: Mrs. Yuzhbabenko by Chris Purkiss

Lion Voices: What would you change about Tallwood? by Frances Summers

Teachers’ homework policies vary by Frances Summers

CIEE offers great travel opportunities for students by Bethany Hansel

Ms. Adams is here for all your school store needs by Ashley Archila-Ventura

The homework surplus by Finley Brakke

Virginia schools must aim to teach ALL students by Marissa Goodall

“Jigsaw” a disappointing entry in the “Saw” series by Ashley Malinson