Of Light Wind and Freezing Rain Ch. 2
Battery POV
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[A/N]: Well I wrote about the pit's POV, and I thought I'd turn it around and write about state from the POV of the battery on the field...
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The band was standing in a long 350-member line, entering Baylor's grass stadium. The sky was a misty grey, and it was colder than any day they had experienced all year. It was lightly raining, so everyone band member kept his or her plume underneath their band jacket to keep it from becoming too damaged before their outdoor performance. The drummer on bass drum two was shivering like no other, wishing the show would be over and they could get back on the nice, warm charter buses, with a hot pack in her hands, watching BOA on the screens above...
Nina snapped back to reality when she realized her shoelace was untied. She wouldn't have worried about it, but because there was going to be so much mud on the field, she was afraid she'd lose it and be marching in socks. She didn't have time to reach down and tie it, and the band members around her were now putting their black plumes in their shakos, meaning that they were just about to go on. She asked a bari sax to tie it for her...and moments later they marched quickly into the stadium.
The field. It looked like a warzone. There was more mud than grass, and there were plume feathers all over the place, as if band members had been slaughtered and the feathers were all that remaining. There were long streaks in the mud where the marchers had fallen and slid, and judging by the looks of it, slid into each other. Footprints were everywhere: The heels of previous bands' shoes had gone almost three or four inches into the ground on every step. The stands were nearly empty, and they were all collected towards the centre, everyone holding umbrellas. 'What miserable conditions...' Nina thought. 'I guess we're supposed to just...get out there and try not to fall.'
The band stood in their opening set. The first 48 counts were silent, starting with one girl's rifle toss. Large, black props moved aside to reveal more rifle girls, and by the first fanfare, the guard, props, and band lined up in an enormous upside-down "V" shape. Mud was already coating the bassline's shoes almost completely over the toe because of the 16 counts of crab-stepping. Every time anyone took a step, they could feel the ground go 'squish, squish, squish' in tempo with the music. A smile crept onto Nina's face, and that of the whole drumline. While the woodwinds were having a hard time with their cold fingers, and the brass with their cold instruments, the drumline's hands felt just fine: their sticks were wooden, of course, or wrapped in white stick tape. At the first trombone gliss, one of the bass drummers dropped their "chikky stick" (used to make a loud "chik" sound on the rim). A clarinet nearly tripped over it, and laughter could be heard from all corners of the field.
As the music transitioned into the ballad, the drumline and some of the guard hid behind the giant moving props, a silver sheet now covering the black one from the opener. The top two bass drummers looked at each other and immediately had to cover their mouths to keep from laughing.
"The field is so GROSS!" Kasi exclaimed, a huge grin on her face, pointing to the mud that had collected on her shoes. Her pants were high enough off the ground so the mud didn't touch them, but the once reflective black shoes were now completely brown, and scattered with dying grass.
Nina's shoes looked the same, and the poor guard girls were ready to throw away their shoes. The second bass drummer laughed again at the stupidness of it all. "I've never had this much fun in my whole life!"
The battery had forgotten about the cold weather, and had completely given up hope of marching a clean show (no pun intended). As the drum solo began, they listened for the pit, and counted to their step-off. A new sheet of red, yellow, and blue geometrical shapes fell over the props' silver lining from the ballad. It was almost to the marimba solo that began this transition piece, entitled Piano Concerto. The first trill was played, B flat, A, B flat, A, B flat, A, B natural...wait...where was the rest?! The other five marimba players came in, and though they were all trying as hard as they could, the Concerto sounded like they had learned it yesterday.
'I bet we sound horrible too,' Nina thought. She shrugged the thought away, however, as the drumline re-entered the show, leaving the props behind her. The drumline made a line (or maybe it was freeform at this point) and Nina saw the audience. They all had umbrellas! 'What pansies!' Nina thought, as she glanced over to the pit to see the vibraphones. Right in front of the first vibraphone, Nathan, a rifle girl flipped backwards, and then another, and then another, just like a domino effect. Suddenly, she heard someone crack up laughing backfield, but didn't have time to look.
The closer! Finally!
The music was so uplifting right from the first note, that the battery had almost forgotten about the horrible field conditions, the disgusting weather, the hideous sky, the numerous stick drops, the many colour guard members falling...and they just marched the show. Nina ignored how her shoes sunk into the ground with every step, and concentrated on dressing to those around her and getting every note right. The prop crew dropped a final sheet, a spectrum of colour from one prop to the next, and the band formed insane antpiles and pinwheels. The last note was blared loude than it ever had been before, and the bass drum visual, lifting their mallets above their head and slashing them back down to stand by, was more vigorous than Nina or any of the other bass drums had ever remembered it. Their faces were covered with tears from laughing so hard by the time they left the field, and that's when they saw it...
...one tuba, in the centre of them all, was crushed to the shape of a taco, its owner grinning like he had just won the lottery.
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[A/N]: GAWD STATE WAS AWESOME!!! Third chapter will be about our placement, and the placement of our rivals...and four people trying really hard to share one umbrella ^^;
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Battery POV
========================
[A/N]: Well I wrote about the pit's POV, and I thought I'd turn it around and write about state from the POV of the battery on the field...
========================
The band was standing in a long 350-member line, entering Baylor's grass stadium. The sky was a misty grey, and it was colder than any day they had experienced all year. It was lightly raining, so everyone band member kept his or her plume underneath their band jacket to keep it from becoming too damaged before their outdoor performance. The drummer on bass drum two was shivering like no other, wishing the show would be over and they could get back on the nice, warm charter buses, with a hot pack in her hands, watching BOA on the screens above...
Nina snapped back to reality when she realized her shoelace was untied. She wouldn't have worried about it, but because there was going to be so much mud on the field, she was afraid she'd lose it and be marching in socks. She didn't have time to reach down and tie it, and the band members around her were now putting their black plumes in their shakos, meaning that they were just about to go on. She asked a bari sax to tie it for her...and moments later they marched quickly into the stadium.
The field. It looked like a warzone. There was more mud than grass, and there were plume feathers all over the place, as if band members had been slaughtered and the feathers were all that remaining. There were long streaks in the mud where the marchers had fallen and slid, and judging by the looks of it, slid into each other. Footprints were everywhere: The heels of previous bands' shoes had gone almost three or four inches into the ground on every step. The stands were nearly empty, and they were all collected towards the centre, everyone holding umbrellas. 'What miserable conditions...' Nina thought. 'I guess we're supposed to just...get out there and try not to fall.'
The band stood in their opening set. The first 48 counts were silent, starting with one girl's rifle toss. Large, black props moved aside to reveal more rifle girls, and by the first fanfare, the guard, props, and band lined up in an enormous upside-down "V" shape. Mud was already coating the bassline's shoes almost completely over the toe because of the 16 counts of crab-stepping. Every time anyone took a step, they could feel the ground go 'squish, squish, squish' in tempo with the music. A smile crept onto Nina's face, and that of the whole drumline. While the woodwinds were having a hard time with their cold fingers, and the brass with their cold instruments, the drumline's hands felt just fine: their sticks were wooden, of course, or wrapped in white stick tape. At the first trombone gliss, one of the bass drummers dropped their "chikky stick" (used to make a loud "chik" sound on the rim). A clarinet nearly tripped over it, and laughter could be heard from all corners of the field.
As the music transitioned into the ballad, the drumline and some of the guard hid behind the giant moving props, a silver sheet now covering the black one from the opener. The top two bass drummers looked at each other and immediately had to cover their mouths to keep from laughing.
"The field is so GROSS!" Kasi exclaimed, a huge grin on her face, pointing to the mud that had collected on her shoes. Her pants were high enough off the ground so the mud didn't touch them, but the once reflective black shoes were now completely brown, and scattered with dying grass.
Nina's shoes looked the same, and the poor guard girls were ready to throw away their shoes. The second bass drummer laughed again at the stupidness of it all. "I've never had this much fun in my whole life!"
The battery had forgotten about the cold weather, and had completely given up hope of marching a clean show (no pun intended). As the drum solo began, they listened for the pit, and counted to their step-off. A new sheet of red, yellow, and blue geometrical shapes fell over the props' silver lining from the ballad. It was almost to the marimba solo that began this transition piece, entitled Piano Concerto. The first trill was played, B flat, A, B flat, A, B flat, A, B natural...wait...where was the rest?! The other five marimba players came in, and though they were all trying as hard as they could, the Concerto sounded like they had learned it yesterday.
'I bet we sound horrible too,' Nina thought. She shrugged the thought away, however, as the drumline re-entered the show, leaving the props behind her. The drumline made a line (or maybe it was freeform at this point) and Nina saw the audience. They all had umbrellas! 'What pansies!' Nina thought, as she glanced over to the pit to see the vibraphones. Right in front of the first vibraphone, Nathan, a rifle girl flipped backwards, and then another, and then another, just like a domino effect. Suddenly, she heard someone crack up laughing backfield, but didn't have time to look.
The closer! Finally!
The music was so uplifting right from the first note, that the battery had almost forgotten about the horrible field conditions, the disgusting weather, the hideous sky, the numerous stick drops, the many colour guard members falling...and they just marched the show. Nina ignored how her shoes sunk into the ground with every step, and concentrated on dressing to those around her and getting every note right. The prop crew dropped a final sheet, a spectrum of colour from one prop to the next, and the band formed insane antpiles and pinwheels. The last note was blared loude than it ever had been before, and the bass drum visual, lifting their mallets above their head and slashing them back down to stand by, was more vigorous than Nina or any of the other bass drums had ever remembered it. Their faces were covered with tears from laughing so hard by the time they left the field, and that's when they saw it...
...one tuba, in the centre of them all, was crushed to the shape of a taco, its owner grinning like he had just won the lottery.
========================
[A/N]: GAWD STATE WAS AWESOME!!! Third chapter will be about our placement, and the placement of our rivals...and four people trying really hard to share one umbrella ^^;
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