First Competition!

Marching Band Blog 9-22

I'm writing in third person today.

It was a hot day for the middle, almost end of September day where Alexis lived.  It felt like another day of band camp and not a competition rehearsal.

Unlike the rest of the season, the upperclassmen were more intense.  They actually tried to correct and help the freshman.

Alexis felt like the band was going down hill in dedication, sense of community, and intensity, so this rehearsal was a nice change.

Now, switching to first person...

My part of the show was really good.  Our first set where the band first comes in, I noticed the volume of the winds.  We pretty much all stayed together, and we all remembered the visuals.  Everyone felt good about our performance.  Our length may not be long enough.

We tied for second place.  It was amazing.  Ironically, the directors would say to us, "...in seventh place (my school)...". to try to motivate us to rehearse better.

On the walk back to the buses, some of my fellow band members joked about things our directors would say that we should have done to get first.

"...If you guys would drink the rain water instead of getting a gush..."
"If band camp would be twelve hours a day instead of nine..."
"If you guys would have marked time during warmups/done step outs."

Lessons I've Learned in Marching Band

So, we had a football game yesterday, as usual.  I don't think I've posted since the end of band camp.  I though of an interesting topic for my senior speech,"Lessons I've Learned in Marching Band."  I'd have some funnier ones along with some more sentimental ones.

1) I've learned how to follow the bare basics of football.  If anything unusual happens, I don't know what's going on.

2) How to fix my piccolo.

3) How to put others before myself.  The pit always needs help transporting around instruments because the instruments are so big, so I've helped them this season.

Okay, so the freshman this year seem to be doing decently.  They seem to know what's going on.  During the run on Thursday night, we had a nearly perfect final line.  Of course, no line is truly perfect, but it was great.  I think that the freshman need more help with general marching technique than the show.  I sometimes see poor shoulders or backwards marching.

The student section of the other team was obnoxious yesterday.  During our half time performance, they blew stupid plastic instruments.  Our band director said that he was happier with that performance than championships of his best show.  We really listens to each other.

One thing drilled in our head this year is to look to the press box as we perform.  I find that I naturally look kind of at the ground.  I kept reminding myself to look up.