"Okay Guys, Let's Get'em"

"Okay guys, don't cheer if they don't announce us."  That was what an experienced upperclassman said to us as the announcer was about to announce second place.  "And with a score of 84.75, eighty four point seven five, __________________.(My school name)  That was an improvement over our last score, 81.1.  We want crazy when we heard we got second.  The band that beat us beat us by about two points, and they got second at our last competition.

I predicted that we would have gotten second or third, and we got second.  I knew that the band that got first place was pretty good, and would probably beat us.  I was ecstatic when I found out that we got second, by a couple of points.  That run was one of the best, in my opinion.  You could feel the level of energy and concentration on the field.  I felt that on my part, I did well.  There are still some things, like playing and marching, and posture that I still need to work on.

After we had marched off the field and regrouped, the directors gave us their take.  They said that they could feel the energy, and it was a good run through.  We were told that something magical happened, that we all could say we tried out hardest.  Now we need to focus in on the details.  One of the color guard instructors who hasn't seen us perform in a while said that he could barely tell it was the same band.  The trick now is to get the competition feeling onto the field when we do a run through in rehearsal.  I say we should get all of the staff besides our main instructors to walk around the field the way judges do, and we should practice on grass.

Of course, we always have rehearsal before a competition.  You could tell it was competition day by the level of stress and the amount of verbal instructions going around.  I was getting a little frustrated.  I was exhausted from the football game the night before, and was feeling a little emotional.  So people always get on my case for flute angle, marching in time, and posture.  I need it, but sometimes I don't like the way they try to tell me.  One person came up to me and said,"Alexis, you need to tuck your butt under.  It's October."  I said that there's too many things to concentrate on.  She said,"Well, everyone has things they all need to focus on."  Because I was exhausted and a little emotional, I was ready to cry.  I was just thinking about marching in time, and not my posture.  My brain prioritizes things, and picks to do one thing at a time.  In the show, I really tried to focus on my posture.  When we do a run through, I always think in my brain,"What have people told me for this part of the show?"  I can literally hear that girl in my head when we get to certain parts if the show.

The bus ride up was long.  It takes about an hour an a half to get from my school to the school performed at.  This is one part I don't like about marching band; the crazy schedule.  We performed at 7:15, awards were at 9:20, and we got home at 11:15.  My little brothers woke me up at 9:10 this morning.

Well, I guess I just have to see how the rest of the season goes before I choose whether or not to do marching band again.  Sometimes, it seems like I see the marching band more than my family.  Some of the members can grate on my nerves sometimes, so they're like my unrelated family.