Our first performance was the first weekend in October at halftime of a
football game. We had rehearsal in the baseball stadium in the morning and
just worked on some chunks. We weren't going to perform our whole
show—just the opener and the ballad.
Before our final two runthroughs of rehearsal, Mr. Gunter called me and Leah over. "You guys will be wearing body mics for the singing," he told us, and sent us to Mr. Satterstrom, the sound guy, to get hooked up.
Well, all I can say is those body mics were almost more trouble than they were worth—and this was after only one time wearing them. Mr. Satterstrom clipped the mic to my T-shirt, which was fine, and then stuck the control box and the power pack in the pocket of my jeans, which wasn't so fine. They wouldn't stay in. I got through our first runthrough all right, but two sets into the second runthrough the box and the pack fell out of my pocket. I stopped playing, grabbed them, and managed to get them back in during a halt, but then as soon as I stepped off they fell out again. I couldn't get them back in, so I wrapped the cord around my hand and just kept going with the box and the pack swinging with every step and hitting the side of my baritone. "This is not working," I said to myself.
For the actual performance it was better. Instead of being in my pocket, the box and pack were clipped to a belt loop on the back of my jeans. The problem there was that the weight pulled down the back of my jeans, but I couldn't pull my T-shirt down because the bottom of it was tucked up under my back brace. And then I had all this extra cord hanging down, so we managed to stuff that between my back and my brace. It felt really weird, but it worked. Our performance itself went well for our first one. We only did the first two movements, so it didn't seem complete, but the crowd liked it. In fact, it was the first time I'd heard a football crowd cheer for the band's halftime show. That was exciting.
A week later was our first competition, in Modesto. I was really pumped for it. I remembered my first competition as a freshman, when I had been totally nervous. But two years later I was an upperclassman, and I felt like we were actually ready.
We had practice on Saturday morning, but not for very long because we had a three-hour bus ride to Modesto. At the end of our short rehearsal, Mr. Gunter and Mr. Wilson called us up to the bleachers and let us sit in the shade while they talked a little bit about what to expect at our first competition. It was all review until Mr. Gunter said, "And we know this is going to be very unpopular with some of you, but no cheering in the stands. That means that when they announce, 'And the sweepstakes go to Valley Christian!' we're just going to clap politely." Some people protested, but Mr. Wilson picked up. "We have a great program here, but we don't want to rub it in other people's faces. We want to be tasteful." After a couple more announcements, we loaded the trailer and climbed onto the buses. Our performance time was scheduled for around 4:00, so we arrived at 2 and had just enough time to get everything done.
During our warm-ups, I looked around at some of the freshmen. They looked nervous, some more than others. I reassured a couple of them that once we got going, it was just routine. Your body just knows what to do.
We marched over to the band entrance, got in our opening formation, and marched on as the announcer said, "Now entering the field, from San Jose, California, the Valley Christian Marching Band and Color Guard!" He went on to name off all our visual and music staff and the name and repertoire of our show.
Once we were set and Caitlyn was on the podium, she called us to dress center. My arms were just beginning to get tired when I heard the announcer: "Are the judges ready?" And then seconds later: "Drum major Caitlyn Christie, is your band ready?"
"Ready, front!" Horns were down. Caitlyn turned around and saluted, the crowd cheered, and the announcer said, "Valley Christian, you may take the field in competition."
I watched Caitlyn's hands as they set the tempo, and listened back as Drew hit six beats in time on the snare. Then my horn was up, I was stepping off, I was playing my first impactful note. The intensity was strong, now if only we could keep it through the rest of the show.
The opener came off pretty well, but I got tired a little after the woodwind feature, during a mini-fugue section. I kept having to take notes out to breathe. But we made it through without any major errors or tears, which was a big step.
The ballad was equally strong. The singing sounded okay to me, and I hoped everyone else could hear it. The brass quintet was good, and the horn entrance actually happened. At the very end of the ballad the entire horn line suddenly cut off after a big impact, and the only sound heard on the field was Caitlyn's voice. She had come down off the podium during the impact and was now standing at the tip of our cross set with her arms raised, singing a solo. It was beautiful.
As soon as she cut off, lowered her arms, and the crowd started cheering again, she turned to us. I watched as her hands beat two measures of four, the cue for the drum break and then the closer. In the last four counts my horn came up to my mouth and I was playing. Seconds later Caitlyn was back on the podium and I was back in the security of her tempo.
We marched and played along, dressing and covering carefully. By the last backstride set I was out of breath and ready to stop. We halted and our horns came down with Caitlyn's hands. We'd done all we were doing for the week. My chest rose and fell heavily as Caitlyn turned and saluted. Then she called, "Mark time hut!" and led us off the field.
"Bring it in!" Mr. Gunter called as soon as we were out of hearing range of the stadium. This was also a cue for us to take off hats and wipe our sweat-soaked foreheads and hair. We crowded around our instructors to hear what they had to say.
"All right," Mr. Gunter began. "I have some good news and bad news. The good news is that that was a very solid run for our second one. The bad news is that they couldn't hear it." We all looked around at each other, confused, until he elaborated. "The sound system didn't come on, so we had no mics. But don't let that frustrate you," he said quickly. "You guys had no control over that. I'm not going to worry about it. If it happens again, I'm going to worry about it. So good job, get some dinner, and we'll go back to the stadium together."
We got out of uniform, the Boosters fed us dinner, and we got into double file and marched back to the stadium. We filed in to an empty section of backfield bleachers, where all the bands sit after they perform. We sat through the big bands and occasionally got up to make trips to the snack shack and the bathroom. I made a face at Ryan the freshman trombone when he was coming back from getting food, and he held up a handful of candy and announced to me, "Everything was half off, so I got twice as much!"
Then it was time for awards. It was always so frustrating to have to listen to all the single-A awards and be in anticipation of our own division. "And now the awards for class two-A!" Finally. "In sixth place, with a score of 60.66, six-zero-point-six-six... Los Altos!... In fifth place... In fourth place... In third place... In second place... Hoover!"
I glanced at Laura and anyone else sitting around me with my eyes wide. It was between us and Bullard, a big rival. "Remember, no cheering," Ben called to us. Jeez.
"And now for the caption awards." We received captions for visual and general effect. Bullard got music and auxiliary, and Los Banos, who had placed fourth, won percussion. "So now we have a chance," I said to no one in particular. "I bet it'll be us in first and Bullard with sweeps. Although we got GE, so we have a good chance..."
My voice trailed off as I heard, "And in first place, with a score of 67.42, six-seven-point-four-two... Bullard!"
As one, our entire band gasped. A couple people squealed. Ben tried to quiet us down, but then we heard, "And the sweepstakes award for class A/AA goes to, with a score of 69.25, six-nine-point-two-five... Valley Christian!"
Well, forget Mr. Gunter's rule about no cheering. We didn't go crazy like some bands do, but we did cheer briefly and a couple people jumped up before they remembered the rule. We watched proudly as Caitlyn, Jenny, and Krysta accepted our trophies.
After the big band awards, we double-filed back to the trailer. Mr. Gunter called us in again, and with the trophies in hand, he said, "Okay, now you can cheer." And we all went crazy. He covered some logistics, like checking out if you were leaving with your parents, and then we got back on the buses and headed home, everyone with a smile on his or her face.
As someone who'd been around the program for a couple years, I knew what was going to happen. All the other AA bands would be shooting to beat us now. That meant we had to work even harder. I just hoped everyone else saw it the same way.
Before our final two runthroughs of rehearsal, Mr. Gunter called me and Leah over. "You guys will be wearing body mics for the singing," he told us, and sent us to Mr. Satterstrom, the sound guy, to get hooked up.
Well, all I can say is those body mics were almost more trouble than they were worth—and this was after only one time wearing them. Mr. Satterstrom clipped the mic to my T-shirt, which was fine, and then stuck the control box and the power pack in the pocket of my jeans, which wasn't so fine. They wouldn't stay in. I got through our first runthrough all right, but two sets into the second runthrough the box and the pack fell out of my pocket. I stopped playing, grabbed them, and managed to get them back in during a halt, but then as soon as I stepped off they fell out again. I couldn't get them back in, so I wrapped the cord around my hand and just kept going with the box and the pack swinging with every step and hitting the side of my baritone. "This is not working," I said to myself.
For the actual performance it was better. Instead of being in my pocket, the box and pack were clipped to a belt loop on the back of my jeans. The problem there was that the weight pulled down the back of my jeans, but I couldn't pull my T-shirt down because the bottom of it was tucked up under my back brace. And then I had all this extra cord hanging down, so we managed to stuff that between my back and my brace. It felt really weird, but it worked. Our performance itself went well for our first one. We only did the first two movements, so it didn't seem complete, but the crowd liked it. In fact, it was the first time I'd heard a football crowd cheer for the band's halftime show. That was exciting.
A week later was our first competition, in Modesto. I was really pumped for it. I remembered my first competition as a freshman, when I had been totally nervous. But two years later I was an upperclassman, and I felt like we were actually ready.
We had practice on Saturday morning, but not for very long because we had a three-hour bus ride to Modesto. At the end of our short rehearsal, Mr. Gunter and Mr. Wilson called us up to the bleachers and let us sit in the shade while they talked a little bit about what to expect at our first competition. It was all review until Mr. Gunter said, "And we know this is going to be very unpopular with some of you, but no cheering in the stands. That means that when they announce, 'And the sweepstakes go to Valley Christian!' we're just going to clap politely." Some people protested, but Mr. Wilson picked up. "We have a great program here, but we don't want to rub it in other people's faces. We want to be tasteful." After a couple more announcements, we loaded the trailer and climbed onto the buses. Our performance time was scheduled for around 4:00, so we arrived at 2 and had just enough time to get everything done.
During our warm-ups, I looked around at some of the freshmen. They looked nervous, some more than others. I reassured a couple of them that once we got going, it was just routine. Your body just knows what to do.
We marched over to the band entrance, got in our opening formation, and marched on as the announcer said, "Now entering the field, from San Jose, California, the Valley Christian Marching Band and Color Guard!" He went on to name off all our visual and music staff and the name and repertoire of our show.
Once we were set and Caitlyn was on the podium, she called us to dress center. My arms were just beginning to get tired when I heard the announcer: "Are the judges ready?" And then seconds later: "Drum major Caitlyn Christie, is your band ready?"
"Ready, front!" Horns were down. Caitlyn turned around and saluted, the crowd cheered, and the announcer said, "Valley Christian, you may take the field in competition."
I watched Caitlyn's hands as they set the tempo, and listened back as Drew hit six beats in time on the snare. Then my horn was up, I was stepping off, I was playing my first impactful note. The intensity was strong, now if only we could keep it through the rest of the show.
The opener came off pretty well, but I got tired a little after the woodwind feature, during a mini-fugue section. I kept having to take notes out to breathe. But we made it through without any major errors or tears, which was a big step.
The ballad was equally strong. The singing sounded okay to me, and I hoped everyone else could hear it. The brass quintet was good, and the horn entrance actually happened. At the very end of the ballad the entire horn line suddenly cut off after a big impact, and the only sound heard on the field was Caitlyn's voice. She had come down off the podium during the impact and was now standing at the tip of our cross set with her arms raised, singing a solo. It was beautiful.
As soon as she cut off, lowered her arms, and the crowd started cheering again, she turned to us. I watched as her hands beat two measures of four, the cue for the drum break and then the closer. In the last four counts my horn came up to my mouth and I was playing. Seconds later Caitlyn was back on the podium and I was back in the security of her tempo.
We marched and played along, dressing and covering carefully. By the last backstride set I was out of breath and ready to stop. We halted and our horns came down with Caitlyn's hands. We'd done all we were doing for the week. My chest rose and fell heavily as Caitlyn turned and saluted. Then she called, "Mark time hut!" and led us off the field.
"Bring it in!" Mr. Gunter called as soon as we were out of hearing range of the stadium. This was also a cue for us to take off hats and wipe our sweat-soaked foreheads and hair. We crowded around our instructors to hear what they had to say.
"All right," Mr. Gunter began. "I have some good news and bad news. The good news is that that was a very solid run for our second one. The bad news is that they couldn't hear it." We all looked around at each other, confused, until he elaborated. "The sound system didn't come on, so we had no mics. But don't let that frustrate you," he said quickly. "You guys had no control over that. I'm not going to worry about it. If it happens again, I'm going to worry about it. So good job, get some dinner, and we'll go back to the stadium together."
We got out of uniform, the Boosters fed us dinner, and we got into double file and marched back to the stadium. We filed in to an empty section of backfield bleachers, where all the bands sit after they perform. We sat through the big bands and occasionally got up to make trips to the snack shack and the bathroom. I made a face at Ryan the freshman trombone when he was coming back from getting food, and he held up a handful of candy and announced to me, "Everything was half off, so I got twice as much!"
Then it was time for awards. It was always so frustrating to have to listen to all the single-A awards and be in anticipation of our own division. "And now the awards for class two-A!" Finally. "In sixth place, with a score of 60.66, six-zero-point-six-six... Los Altos!... In fifth place... In fourth place... In third place... In second place... Hoover!"
I glanced at Laura and anyone else sitting around me with my eyes wide. It was between us and Bullard, a big rival. "Remember, no cheering," Ben called to us. Jeez.
"And now for the caption awards." We received captions for visual and general effect. Bullard got music and auxiliary, and Los Banos, who had placed fourth, won percussion. "So now we have a chance," I said to no one in particular. "I bet it'll be us in first and Bullard with sweeps. Although we got GE, so we have a good chance..."
My voice trailed off as I heard, "And in first place, with a score of 67.42, six-seven-point-four-two... Bullard!"
As one, our entire band gasped. A couple people squealed. Ben tried to quiet us down, but then we heard, "And the sweepstakes award for class A/AA goes to, with a score of 69.25, six-nine-point-two-five... Valley Christian!"
Well, forget Mr. Gunter's rule about no cheering. We didn't go crazy like some bands do, but we did cheer briefly and a couple people jumped up before they remembered the rule. We watched proudly as Caitlyn, Jenny, and Krysta accepted our trophies.
After the big band awards, we double-filed back to the trailer. Mr. Gunter called us in again, and with the trophies in hand, he said, "Okay, now you can cheer." And we all went crazy. He covered some logistics, like checking out if you were leaving with your parents, and then we got back on the buses and headed home, everyone with a smile on his or her face.
As someone who'd been around the program for a couple years, I knew what was going to happen. All the other AA bands would be shooting to beat us now. That meant we had to work even harder. I just hoped everyone else saw it the same way.
