Recognition night was last night. It was just a fun time to laugh, eat, and have pictures taken.
This season has been pretty good. The show wasn't as good as last year. Also, our guard was more skilled. Besides that, I think I enjoyed marching band more this season. I knew more what was going on. I didn't have nearly the amount of upperclassman on my tail to fix things. I was actually one of the people that, when the directors would name a spot such as "E," I could tell people where that was. I just needed my music.
I really want to band my senior year. Seniors get all of the special treatment. If I want to do it senior year, I might as well do it next year. Marching band is a passion, other activities are past times.
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Monday, November 14, 2011
“Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened.”
The opening quote was said by Dr. Seuss. So appropriate for the end of the season.
It's championships! Yay! Last run through
So many people have attempted to make it special. People have brought in treats, written notes, etc... We're going through a spirit line.
Rehearsal was short, but hopefully effective. Maybe my band director and drum majors weren't paying attention, but they didn't make us re bring up our horns. I hope that was because it was decent. My high school marching career is pretty much halfway over.
Okay, so here's my lowdown on the run through. I'm a perfectionist in marching band with myself. I always focus on what I did wrong. I don't remember what mistakes I made last year. Those don't matter. Anyway, my biggest fault was not being in the final arc. It felt like an eternity. It wasn't an emotional show for me. Mechanically, it was decent, but it didn't invoke any emotions within me.
We got sixth place, and our score went down from the home show. That was a real disappointment. Everyone felt low scored. That run was better than the home show. Our almost two year undefeated guard was beaten. One of them said that they got second.
The band that got first had a 97. That's practically unheard of. They got all of the special awards, too. Apparently, they are a big school with a lot of money. They can pay directors instead of taking volunteers,
In the next few years, I'll miss certain people more than others. I'll miss my marching band mentor, the hilarious trumpet player, and the flute that I was next to for half the show. My marching band mentor has done so much for me. She's tuned me a million times, fixed my piccolo, answered my questions, taught me to march better, and she was even my second grade reading buddy. The flute that was next to me for half the show is super nice. She patiently answers my questions, and she always asks me what time it is. She always either cares about my random babbling or at least pretends to.
I think for me, marching band is more of a passion, and other activities are a past time. After awards, we cheered and played the fight song on kazoos one of our drum majors gave us. That was great. When we went to get pictures taken, our band director was giving us a post-performance, post awards pep-talk. The marching band is truly a family.
It's championships! Yay! Last run through
So many people have attempted to make it special. People have brought in treats, written notes, etc... We're going through a spirit line.
Rehearsal was short, but hopefully effective. Maybe my band director and drum majors weren't paying attention, but they didn't make us re bring up our horns. I hope that was because it was decent. My high school marching career is pretty much halfway over.
Okay, so here's my lowdown on the run through. I'm a perfectionist in marching band with myself. I always focus on what I did wrong. I don't remember what mistakes I made last year. Those don't matter. Anyway, my biggest fault was not being in the final arc. It felt like an eternity. It wasn't an emotional show for me. Mechanically, it was decent, but it didn't invoke any emotions within me.
We got sixth place, and our score went down from the home show. That was a real disappointment. Everyone felt low scored. That run was better than the home show. Our almost two year undefeated guard was beaten. One of them said that they got second.
The band that got first had a 97. That's practically unheard of. They got all of the special awards, too. Apparently, they are a big school with a lot of money. They can pay directors instead of taking volunteers,
In the next few years, I'll miss certain people more than others. I'll miss my marching band mentor, the hilarious trumpet player, and the flute that I was next to for half the show. My marching band mentor has done so much for me. She's tuned me a million times, fixed my piccolo, answered my questions, taught me to march better, and she was even my second grade reading buddy. The flute that was next to me for half the show is super nice. She patiently answers my questions, and she always asks me what time it is. She always either cares about my random babbling or at least pretends to.
I think for me, marching band is more of a passion, and other activities are a past time. After awards, we cheered and played the fight song on kazoos one of our drum majors gave us. That was great. When we went to get pictures taken, our band director was giving us a post-performance, post awards pep-talk. The marching band is truly a family.
Saturday, November 12, 2011
We have three more run troughs until the show's put to bed. My band director's slogan is to leave nothing on the field, meaning to work hard. One upperclassman guard member mentioned this, and she also talked about how she didn't always work the hardest. That's so true for me. I know most of my music, just not the last half of the tag. I wish I knew it. Oh well.
Last year was my year to learn to march. I know how to march this year, but I'm inconsistent. I'll have a great run through one time, and the next will be really bad. Also, I will either undershoot or hit a set perfectly. I feel bad for all of the people around me when they need to dress to me. If I do band again next year, that's one thing I want to improve.
I want to do band next year. I need to figure out what I'm doing with my life too. Being a marching band section leader would look REALLY good on an NHS app, which would look good on a college app. Marching band would too. I have kind of intense classes right now. Nothing like last year. Last year, I pretty much had fluff classes. A couple of days ago, I stayed up until 10:30 or so Papier-mâching and painting a project, which of course was a band night. Many of my friends are in band, too. Of course, there are some people who get on my nerves, but that's life.
One of my regrets from last year is not staying for awards for a competition. It was the second competition of the double competition day. The excitement of the band when we knew we got first would have been priceless. That was in one girl's senior speech, and she mentioned how we apparently didn't do too well in that circuit the year before. Also, I didn't get to hear senior speeches from last year.
Championships.
That word marks finality to the season. The very last time we'll every march that show with this band. Next year, the members will be different. People will drop out, seniors will graduate, and freshman will hopefully join.
Our biggest local rival and our rival from last year will probablly beat us. I'm thinking a fourth or fifth place finish. We'll see.:)
Last year was my year to learn to march. I know how to march this year, but I'm inconsistent. I'll have a great run through one time, and the next will be really bad. Also, I will either undershoot or hit a set perfectly. I feel bad for all of the people around me when they need to dress to me. If I do band again next year, that's one thing I want to improve.
I want to do band next year. I need to figure out what I'm doing with my life too. Being a marching band section leader would look REALLY good on an NHS app, which would look good on a college app. Marching band would too. I have kind of intense classes right now. Nothing like last year. Last year, I pretty much had fluff classes. A couple of days ago, I stayed up until 10:30 or so Papier-mâching and painting a project, which of course was a band night. Many of my friends are in band, too. Of course, there are some people who get on my nerves, but that's life.
One of my regrets from last year is not staying for awards for a competition. It was the second competition of the double competition day. The excitement of the band when we knew we got first would have been priceless. That was in one girl's senior speech, and she mentioned how we apparently didn't do too well in that circuit the year before. Also, I didn't get to hear senior speeches from last year.
Championships.
That word marks finality to the season. The very last time we'll every march that show with this band. Next year, the members will be different. People will drop out, seniors will graduate, and freshman will hopefully join.
Our biggest local rival and our rival from last year will probablly beat us. I'm thinking a fourth or fifth place finish. We'll see.:)
Senior Speeches 2011
Holy cow. The end of the season't just come so fast. It doesn't feel like the end of the season. I haven't been feeling well this whole week, so I missed the play off game yesterday. We won, so we'll have at least one more game. I think we're supposed to go pretty far. Senior speeches were this morning. They were mainly about the marching band being like a family and how fast it really does go. Too true. My marching band career is about half way over. Didn't it just start? Other points commonly mentioned were about how their parents made them join marching band and how they loved it, and how they've made so many friends. After the speeches, the band and guard formed a prayer circle, and everyone who wanted to prayed. It was amazing.
One memorable speech made by a hilarious marching band senior was accompanied by a "diagram" of the band family. It was him,"married" to another upperclassman senior trumpet girl, and they had their trumpet children. His "siblings" were the other upperclassman section leaders. And in turn, they each had their section children. His "parents," my "grandparents" were the drum majors, my marching band mentor was the "father," and the other drum major was the mother, since she's more nurturing. My "great grand parents" were my directors. The director's siblings were the other guard instructors, a combination of their names, and they had their guard children. He called my band director old. Everyone was cracking up.
One memorable speech made by a hilarious marching band senior was accompanied by a "diagram" of the band family. It was him,"married" to another upperclassman senior trumpet girl, and they had their trumpet children. His "siblings" were the other upperclassman section leaders. And in turn, they each had their section children. His "parents," my "grandparents" were the drum majors, my marching band mentor was the "father," and the other drum major was the mother, since she's more nurturing. My "great grand parents" were my directors. The director's siblings were the other guard instructors, a combination of their names, and they had their guard children. He called my band director old. Everyone was cracking up.
Monday, November 7, 2011
"Make Everyone Else Look Unexperienced"
Okay, so I'm a couple days behind on my blogging. I wrote this on Friday.
I'm not going to have time to blog tomorrow. It's our first ever home show, so there won't be any bus ride. In my mind, it's almost not like a competition because we'll be exhibition. My band director said that this is a really important score because it's out last score before championships. We'll be classified by ability for championships. Our score right now is pretty low, not because of our merit, but because our last competition was a low scoring show.
It's the last game of the regular season. We've lost once, but apparently, that game was in the preseason. That means play off games. I have mixed feelings. I like having school pride when we win. I don't really want to go. I'm going to be busy on Fridays until 5 or so, so i'll have to run home, eat, shower, dry my hair, and go to the game. My director said the play off games are required.
Post Competition:
That run was my best show: ever. I tried to exaggerate my dynamics, and my style was pretty good. I made one error. I thought we were one set ahead of where we were at that point. The general feeling from the band was that it was an awesome show. Guard, not so much. We got about an 89. Our biggest local competition got a 92.4.
It was phenomenal to hear the roar of the crowds as we marched on. They were more attentive since we were the home band. They clapped like crazy at our moments. It was great. I hope we do a home show again next year. We ran between the stands and the school many times.
The directors were pushing us hard. Even in our warm up time, they made us rehearse. There weren't any other competing bands, so we had the parking lot to ourselves. They pushed us hard all day.
On the ride home, my mom said something along the lines of how she thinks I'll do band next year. That's ironic, since she said last year that she didn't think I'd do it this year. My dad doesn't want me to join, but he's not going to prohibit me either.
P.S. The quote was something said by a tough guard instructor to the guard that stuck with me.
I'm not going to have time to blog tomorrow. It's our first ever home show, so there won't be any bus ride. In my mind, it's almost not like a competition because we'll be exhibition. My band director said that this is a really important score because it's out last score before championships. We'll be classified by ability for championships. Our score right now is pretty low, not because of our merit, but because our last competition was a low scoring show.
It's the last game of the regular season. We've lost once, but apparently, that game was in the preseason. That means play off games. I have mixed feelings. I like having school pride when we win. I don't really want to go. I'm going to be busy on Fridays until 5 or so, so i'll have to run home, eat, shower, dry my hair, and go to the game. My director said the play off games are required.
Post Competition:
That run was my best show: ever. I tried to exaggerate my dynamics, and my style was pretty good. I made one error. I thought we were one set ahead of where we were at that point. The general feeling from the band was that it was an awesome show. Guard, not so much. We got about an 89. Our biggest local competition got a 92.4.
It was phenomenal to hear the roar of the crowds as we marched on. They were more attentive since we were the home band. They clapped like crazy at our moments. It was great. I hope we do a home show again next year. We ran between the stands and the school many times.
The directors were pushing us hard. Even in our warm up time, they made us rehearse. There weren't any other competing bands, so we had the parking lot to ourselves. They pushed us hard all day.
On the ride home, my mom said something along the lines of how she thinks I'll do band next year. That's ironic, since she said last year that she didn't think I'd do it this year. My dad doesn't want me to join, but he's not going to prohibit me either.
P.S. The quote was something said by a tough guard instructor to the guard that stuck with me.
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