One time at Band Camp...

Most of my friends are currently in various stages of summer band camp. The percussionists and color guard are at their super-focused camps without the regular band crazies to distract them. The regular band crazies are bracing themselves for their camp starting next week.

And this is the south, so everything is hot and humid- and it's worse because everyone is working on super hot asphalt. And it's not even nice and smooth hot asphalt, its old rocky, bumpy asphalt. (And for accident-prone people like me, this leads to tripping and stumbling, the likelihood of which is only increased by the aforementioned heat.)

So it occurs to me that I have 2 years worth of stories to share with you, my faithful readers. Hm. Now which one should I feature today? That's it! Dragonflies!

(This involves a section leader who will now be called SL for the sake of privacy.)
We had to learn lateral slides- which are painful and awkward until you get the hang of them. The idea is that your feet always face the direction you are moving in while your instrument (a.k.a. arms and face) is parallel to the sidelines at all times. See below. On the left of the field are normal, easier directions of travel. On the right is a lateral slide.Now, SL was trying to teach us how to do these while walking in a straight line, playing our flutes, and marching the prescribed distance. We only escaped when a crippled dragonfly became stuck to SL's shoe and hung on for a good 5 minutes while she danced around. But then she executed a kick worthy of an international soccer star and flung him onto somebody's windshield, where he promptly died.

But she didn't lose the dragonflies that easily. No, two weeks later at an after-school practice, SL had another one fly into her sports drink. The next week there was another dragonfly stuck to her shoe. At our first game, one flew into her hair. The list of encounters is endless.

I don't know if the curse has been broken, as she left for college. But it makes you wonder... Do dragonflies have some sort of psychic connection to each other? Is earth populated by Jedi dragonflies? And does anyone else know of other band camp curses?

And don't forget to see what I've got cooking at Teen-Seen today!

Why I march...

Or should I say marched? While I am moving to a new school (one without a marching band) I will never forget the times spent on the football field with over 100 of my peers. I marched in the Stratford Bands for 2 years and have learned so much in such a relatively short time.

Those 100+ peers I mentioned? Yeah, I knew all of their names and faces- and was able to match the right face to the right name for the most part. We were all odd, quirky, and downright crazy at times. Particularly on the bus or during a rainy-day indoor rehearsal. But the laughs weren't really the reason I continued to march with them for a second season.

No, it was about the family. The sense of community. We shed sweat, tears, and the occasional blood, together from July until December. From heated band camp to windy parades. When a band member was hurt, you helped. When a band member was struggling in class, you helped. When a band member needed help piling their hair into their hat, you took joy in knotting their hair into wacky pigtails and other twisted hairstyles. (Sorry boys, but dress code is dress code. No hair on the collars!)

My first season of marching ended with knee surgery after I stepped in a pot hole at our very last parade. My second season started with knee surgery. Because I couldn't march, they put me on the front line with the mallet percussion. Even though I had no CLUE what I was doing, they managed to fit me in and I didn't mess up too bad at competition. And I never once felt left out.

But that's the thing. An organization like band has so many different types of people. Injury-prone persons, tie-died hair persons, geeks, nerds, the works. And the only thing we all have in common is music. But its enough to start. And by the end of the season? We're family. That's why I marched.

Pictures:
top right: Show shirt from 08 season. We made State finals for the 1st time in 6 years!
middle left: Me marching at State my freshman year. The show was Musicology 101

Want to know what it's like to be part of the band? Read Just One of the Guys available on Kindle and other formats now!

Marching Orders...

No, it's not what you think. It's just that time of year again when my band directors are busy finalizing the music arrangements for our new marching show in the fall. This year has consisted of a battle between classical sixteenth-note craziness Henry V and amazingly cool theme songs in Video Game Suite. Hmm... not much of a choice says the high school students. There is a choice! shouts the band director. That much classical isn't very march-able says the second-tier band staff. Needless, to say, I'm very much in favor of the Video Game Suite.

You see, it isn't just Atari "beeps" and Pong "bloops". It's music. Good, solid music that is feasible for a marching field. (20 beat-long 16th and 32nd note runs are not!) First movement is the Halo Theme (from "Halo Suite") by Marty O'Donnell. Second movement is from Civilization IV: Coronation and Baba Yetu by Christopher Tin. And all of this is wrapped up by the epically awesome Kingdom Hearts by Yoko Shimanura. The whole she-bang is arranged by Ralph Ford. And it sends chills up and down my spine whenever I hear it. I just know this is the piece for my band. Problem is, the piece is almost 3 minutes too long for the limited time we have on the field.

So, today we were trying to figure out which measures (units of music) to cut from the music without comprimising the integrity of the arrangement itself. You can listen to a professional recording of the whole arrangement here. Tell me what you think. What you like, what you don't. It's pretty much a shoe-in for the show, but I'd like to know your opinion, since the whole point is to entertain the audience. (Please remember, we high-schoolers are far from being pros, will be marching on a field, and have only 7-7.5 minutes. So give a lil' grace.)

And tomorrow, don't forget to look out for Alan's Triple W interview!