We began our week with learning more drill. It's for our second tune First
Horse Ride. It is a really hard song to memorize and there are a lot of
16th note runs in the music. Mr. Eick was determined all week to get it
down and we were learning it up to Thursday. We really didn't have it
great and he still wanted it to be put on the field for the football game
and competition. We had to revise our ballad and closer to fit the drill
that we added.
We all started to get really frustrated because the checks in the music are
really weird. It wasn't that hard to learn it but the checks were in
really weird places. I ended up doing fine most of the time. I knew what
I was doing. We pushed and pushed and pushed from Tuesday to Thursday. It
didn't help that a lot of the band members were sick and couldn't learn the
drill. We ended out the drill fairly well.
On Friday it was an away game. We practiced for an hour and Mr. Eick was
getting really upset because some people were moving during holds and the
music wasn't clicking. He threatened to water it down for the next day and
we were all miserable. Then we went in to eat and had a fast dinner. We
loaded up the buses and got in our seats. I sat with my crush for a while
but he started to lean on me and his girlfriend was quite upset so Sam, a
girl in my section, switched with my crush. Why they didn't sit together
in the first place is beyond me.
The game was freezing and we tried to make the best of it. We played pre-
game and it was very bad. After the performance we sat in the bleachers, I
hate the bleachers at East Stroudsburg North by the way. They are these
ity bity little bleacher and we take up two. We watched the game and
didn't play much. Everyone was still getting situated, some people had to
go to the bathroom. That took up a lot of time.
We watched the band during half time and then Avery, trombonist, and I went
to get out raincoats because it was mighty cold. We stood around the snack
thing for a while talking to band people and such and then we had to go
back to the itsy-bitsy bleachers. We had the ball most of the time so we
couldn't play anything. In the last two minutes we started playing. We
played a total of three songs and then we were done and the flutes (that
would be me and the others) finally got to dance. It was so much fun. We
ended up winning the game 21 to 7. YAY! 4 and 2. Go Cardinals!
On Saturday morning I was woken again to go to practice at 12. We got
there and worked in Sectionals for an hour and a half. Mr. Eick made a
negative comment to the woodwinds. The problem was really in the brass.
Some of our brass players are so lazy but you can hear them because some
play so loud. Woodwinds work ten times harder because they aren't as loud
and have to make themselves loud. We then all ensembled together with
Percussion, it didn't sound too bad.
After dealing with music issues we went outside and worked on the drill. It was freezing outside so we really didn't have to stand at attention. We made ourselves warm by jumping and such. The time really passed as it was so cold and we were having so much fun out in the cold. We went into eat, (more like ran) we got burger king and the band mommy in charge gave us crowns. We ate and then got our tour shirts. If you do not know what a tour shirt is then I better explain it to you. Our bands tradition is to get a shirt with name of our show that year hence the name tour shirt (just like a famous musical act). Ours are cool, they say Pocono Mountain East in the Left upper hand corner and have a red E in script right in the letters. On the back it has the name of our show up top: First Vision. The Music of Yoko Kanno and then it had her last name spelled out with acrostics. Our comp dates are in between.
Knowledge Attitude
Noteworthy
Nuance
Outstanding
We got everything ready and were on our way to the competition. I got to sit alone which was comfy. I loved the bus ride it was peaceful. When we got there we went straight to the bathrooms and then to work. We got into a box and started marching. We did easy stuff first, just to get used to the grass. Then we went into leons, I ended up tripping over our quints player, Lauren. It was all Marissa's fault though she was getting to close to the drums and Lauren fell having no time to get up and I fell right over her drums and got some nasty bruises. Nothing was broken except maybe my flute.
We started to our competition and then we went on the field. The field was horrible. It was so muddy I couldn't run onto the field at top speed. I had to be very careful. We ended up doing all right and I didn't fall at all but our shoes and pants were disgusting. We changed and then went back to the stadium for awards. We ended up taking 1st place again with a score of 80.20. We could've done a lot better. Next week is a new week though.
I've learned two things. Always bring a pillow and blankets and never forget your coat. I was so cold I couldn't believe it. I am leaving you with a link to the composer of the music we are playing. It's really cool music so make sure to check it out.
#6: The Second Advent
The songs listed after are the ones that are in our show. Listen to those:
#2: First Vision
#6: Horse Ride
#13: Take my hand
#23: Final Vision
#19: Black Escaflowne
#18: Dance of Curse II
After dealing with music issues we went outside and worked on the drill. It was freezing outside so we really didn't have to stand at attention. We made ourselves warm by jumping and such. The time really passed as it was so cold and we were having so much fun out in the cold. We went into eat, (more like ran) we got burger king and the band mommy in charge gave us crowns. We ate and then got our tour shirts. If you do not know what a tour shirt is then I better explain it to you. Our bands tradition is to get a shirt with name of our show that year hence the name tour shirt (just like a famous musical act). Ours are cool, they say Pocono Mountain East in the Left upper hand corner and have a red E in script right in the letters. On the back it has the name of our show up top: First Vision. The Music of Yoko Kanno and then it had her last name spelled out with acrostics. Our comp dates are in between.
Knowledge Attitude
Noteworthy
Nuance
Outstanding
We got everything ready and were on our way to the competition. I got to sit alone which was comfy. I loved the bus ride it was peaceful. When we got there we went straight to the bathrooms and then to work. We got into a box and started marching. We did easy stuff first, just to get used to the grass. Then we went into leons, I ended up tripping over our quints player, Lauren. It was all Marissa's fault though she was getting to close to the drums and Lauren fell having no time to get up and I fell right over her drums and got some nasty bruises. Nothing was broken except maybe my flute.
We started to our competition and then we went on the field. The field was horrible. It was so muddy I couldn't run onto the field at top speed. I had to be very careful. We ended up doing all right and I didn't fall at all but our shoes and pants were disgusting. We changed and then went back to the stadium for awards. We ended up taking 1st place again with a score of 80.20. We could've done a lot better. Next week is a new week though.
I've learned two things. Always bring a pillow and blankets and never forget your coat. I was so cold I couldn't believe it. I am leaving you with a link to the composer of the music we are playing. It's really cool music so make sure to check it out.
#6: The Second Advent
The songs listed after are the ones that are in our show. Listen to those:
#2: First Vision
#6: Horse Ride
#13: Take my hand
#23: Final Vision
#19: Black Escaflowne
#18: Dance of Curse II