percussion: argh, that's no fun! ours alternates, like one year its at the
school, the next we're back home. hopefully next year we'll get to go away
again though.
Band Camp- Our First Morning
Thank god I didn't have an alarm clock, otherwise there would have been a smack down in my room. At 5:00 the next morning I was awoken by a beating on my draw. Shoving the still playing headphones off my head, I struggled out of my bed. Opening the door, I was greeted by the face of Mrs. Kennedy, one of the chaperones on my hall.
"I just wanted to make sure you were awake." She smiled at me, which only made me grumpy. I've never understood how people could smile at 5 in the morning, unless they were at a lock in or extremely high. There was also the fact that it was a Monday, and I have a strict no smiling on Monday rule. "We wanted to make sure you girls had time for a shower," she continued.
"Ok, thanks." I resisted the urge to slam the door as she walked back down the hall. Immediately I crawled right back in bed. Breakfast was at 7, and I, unlike many of the girls on my hall, didn't need two hours to get ready. I slept until 6:45 when I decided it was time to get dressed. Falling onto the floor, I rolled over to my bag. I gathered myself to my knees and grabbed a random shirt and pair of shorts from the bag.
Five minutes later, I emerged fully dressed and ready for the day. My hair was even brushed and in a neat ponytail. Since we had to be in block at 6:55, I decided it was time to round up my friends. They've never been known for their punctuality. Sure enough, when I walked down to Alex and Hannah's room, they were hectic. Hannah was looking for her shoes, and Alex was searching for something. Reminding them that they had to been downstairs in about three minutes, I left them to rally Brittany and Laura. They were much better. Laura still had wet hair, but she didn't intend on drying it, so we decided to make our way down. With a final shout down the hall to Hannah and Alex, we started down the stairs.
People were already lined up when we got downstairs, most though were sitting on the stone wall about 10 feet out from dorm. I sat down next to my friend from church, Shana, and struck up a conversation. Before we could even say hey though, we were called to line up. I hopped of the wall and walked down the steps to the hill. It took a while for the block to form because half the people were falling asleep where they stood. Eventually though, we got our bearings, and lined up. Once more the seniors were released first, and we freshmen realized this was how it would always be, and there was nothing we could do about it.
The line was slightly more organized this time around, but not by much. Sausage, eggs (the powdered kind), and biscuits were being served. Further down the line though was my savior, cereal. None of the good stuff, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, was left, but I still got some Smacks to eat. Even though it was breakfast, I still got my Mr. Pibb and ice cream. It wasn't exactly your traditional breakfast, but I was hungry. I knew marching would drain me, so I was planning to get the biggest sugar rush I could before then. I finished about half an hour early, so I made a quick jaunt back upstairs for my instrument. Other people were also done, and outside talking on the wall. I joined them. Little by little the minutes ticked by until it was time to line up. It was time for field rehearsal.
Same as yesterday, we lined up and marched to the football field. Also same as yesterday, we got into fundamental block. My arms felt like they were going to fall off and my legs were beginning to feel the burn. Right as I was about to fall over from exhaustion Chris, the senior who I had met at Hannah P's party, shouted "Can we have a drill down?"
Instantly words of agreement rang from the upperclassmen. I took a moment for Mr. Williams to call us back to attention, but when he did he agreed to let us have one. The freshmen were still totally clueless to what he was talking about. A drill down was a game that we played. It was basically Simon Says. Mr. Williams would give us a command, and we would have to follow it instantly. If we didn't, then we were out. The counselors for that week would help our Mr. Williams and Mr. Black to spot those who were off step or not doing what they were supposed to. Our ever faithful, Dr. Beat was set up one the Drum Major's stand, and thus it began.
I stayed in for a long time, especially for a freshmen. First the guard and majorettes were picked off by Mr. Black. It's his obsession to make sure neither ever wins a drill down. Flutes, who never seem to fail in being the worst marchers in our band, dropped like flies. Clarinets held up quite well. We might not be able to stay with each other, but we do what we're supposed to. I couldn't see what was going on behind me, but there seemed to be a whole lot of people on the sideline. Now the commands came faster, "Mark time march, forward march, backwards march, horn level two." The words flew at us just as fast as we could perform them. Finally, we were given at ease and a break while we made the block smaller. There were only 25 people left, and out of that two were freshmen, myself, and Deborah, the snare drum.
A few more people dropped before I was finally caught without my horn level to. Growling, I stomped off the field to the sidelines, to watch. Standing next to Brandon, a senior saxophone, and Charlie, we watched as the drill down went on. Soon only five people were left. Wally, senior and section leader of the drum line, Channing, my section leader and a junior, Lauren and Chris, both who were trumpets and seniors, and finally Deborah. Lauren dropped, then Wally, so it was only Channing, Chris, and Deborah. Chris slipped on the dewy grass, and was thrown out. He made sure to make a scene about it, too. Now it was Channing against Deborah. The commands now were truly dizzying. Not even two minutes later, Channing was caught off beat and Deborah crowned as the winner. The freshmen were overjoyed to have one of theirs win the first drill down of the year, while the upperclassmen were filled with shame. There were calls for a rematch, but that wouldn't happen again that day. Now it was time to get to work.
We were given a 15 minute water break in which everyone ran over to Hugo. Hugo has been helping the band for years, getting us water for breaks and loading our equipment and such. It's impossible not to love him. He was sitting on the bleachers handing out Gatorade to whoever came to him. Water sat already in cups on the other set of bleachers in case anyone wanted it. Most went for Gatorade. I got mine, then crawled up to a seat near Brittany and Camille, out sophomore friend. We talked and laughed until they called us back. We got in our sections, and took a seat on the field. Mr. Williams climbed onto the drum major stand with his microphone. During the break, the section leaders had been given a folder containing our coordinate sheets, poker chips(as we called them) that were used to mark our spots, and little golf pencils so we could write the drill on our music. Then our numbers were announced. Denise and I would complain that our numbers were wrong for the rest of the year.
While calling out the saxophone section's numbers 49 was announced as Denise, and I was 50. Mr. Williams continued on, but it wasn't with the clarinets. Now he was on the trombones. We were thoroughly confused, but didn't worry about it. After all the names had been announced, we got our supplies and were told to find our first set. That was utter chaos. More then one person found themselves on the same spot as another, only to be told they were on the other side of the field. We had been taught how to use the coordinate sheets at freshmen band camp, but that didn't stop us from having no idea what we were doing.
After a bit of hunting around and getting in line with everyone else, I found my spot. I was on the right 40, the last line, and 4 steps inside home hash. The people near me in this block and I would soon become good friends. Directly in front of me was Denise, then Clay. Behind we was Brad, and to my right was Elizabeth. Also near me was my friend Derek from church, Spenser from the other night, and the boy from the shaving cream war, whose name I had found out was Zach. Once everyone was set, Denise and I began to wonder why we were over hear. Our fellow clarinets were in the back of the block, some in the other some in the other square (as our form was two squares on opposite sides of the field). We memorized our position and moved on to the next.
Our square transformed into a diamond. All I had to do was stay in line with Denise and Clay as we moved into a diagonal. This wasn't as easy as it seemed. We marked this set and the previous on our music. We moved 16 counts to our 1st set, and held 16 for our second. A visual was to be given to us the next day to fill this hold. Our method of learning drill, although boring and repetitive, is very effective. From our first spot, we face our direction, marked our halfway point, and judged what side step we would need to get there, Then we marched it. Now it was time to march how we were supposed to. Some people had to backwards, but mine was a right slide. I didn't do to well with it. Brad behind me helped out though. He would always tell me to go faster or slow down, whichever I was doing wrong. Once we had marched, they checked our diamond. "Elise, you're out of form." Mr. Williams voice echoed through the morning. He then went off on other people, but I was still fumed over having my name called.
"Shit" I cursed under my breath. Moving where they told me to, I got in the form, and memorized my spot down to the last blade of grass. It wouldn't happen again. We got back to our 1st set and marched from one to two several times before the directors we satisfied and we moved on. The same routine followed for our 3rd set. It was back to a square, only this time it was more spread out. I had to backwards march 10 counts to this spot, and the only problem I was having was that I couldn't get back far enough. That was fixed easily enough though. Again and again we marched the set until we were sure we had it. This process repeated itself until we finished our 6th set. It was time to get ready for lunch. We sprinted back to our dorms to put up our instruments before running back down to get in block. The first morning was over.
Band Camp- Our First Morning
Thank god I didn't have an alarm clock, otherwise there would have been a smack down in my room. At 5:00 the next morning I was awoken by a beating on my draw. Shoving the still playing headphones off my head, I struggled out of my bed. Opening the door, I was greeted by the face of Mrs. Kennedy, one of the chaperones on my hall.
"I just wanted to make sure you were awake." She smiled at me, which only made me grumpy. I've never understood how people could smile at 5 in the morning, unless they were at a lock in or extremely high. There was also the fact that it was a Monday, and I have a strict no smiling on Monday rule. "We wanted to make sure you girls had time for a shower," she continued.
"Ok, thanks." I resisted the urge to slam the door as she walked back down the hall. Immediately I crawled right back in bed. Breakfast was at 7, and I, unlike many of the girls on my hall, didn't need two hours to get ready. I slept until 6:45 when I decided it was time to get dressed. Falling onto the floor, I rolled over to my bag. I gathered myself to my knees and grabbed a random shirt and pair of shorts from the bag.
Five minutes later, I emerged fully dressed and ready for the day. My hair was even brushed and in a neat ponytail. Since we had to be in block at 6:55, I decided it was time to round up my friends. They've never been known for their punctuality. Sure enough, when I walked down to Alex and Hannah's room, they were hectic. Hannah was looking for her shoes, and Alex was searching for something. Reminding them that they had to been downstairs in about three minutes, I left them to rally Brittany and Laura. They were much better. Laura still had wet hair, but she didn't intend on drying it, so we decided to make our way down. With a final shout down the hall to Hannah and Alex, we started down the stairs.
People were already lined up when we got downstairs, most though were sitting on the stone wall about 10 feet out from dorm. I sat down next to my friend from church, Shana, and struck up a conversation. Before we could even say hey though, we were called to line up. I hopped of the wall and walked down the steps to the hill. It took a while for the block to form because half the people were falling asleep where they stood. Eventually though, we got our bearings, and lined up. Once more the seniors were released first, and we freshmen realized this was how it would always be, and there was nothing we could do about it.
The line was slightly more organized this time around, but not by much. Sausage, eggs (the powdered kind), and biscuits were being served. Further down the line though was my savior, cereal. None of the good stuff, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, was left, but I still got some Smacks to eat. Even though it was breakfast, I still got my Mr. Pibb and ice cream. It wasn't exactly your traditional breakfast, but I was hungry. I knew marching would drain me, so I was planning to get the biggest sugar rush I could before then. I finished about half an hour early, so I made a quick jaunt back upstairs for my instrument. Other people were also done, and outside talking on the wall. I joined them. Little by little the minutes ticked by until it was time to line up. It was time for field rehearsal.
Same as yesterday, we lined up and marched to the football field. Also same as yesterday, we got into fundamental block. My arms felt like they were going to fall off and my legs were beginning to feel the burn. Right as I was about to fall over from exhaustion Chris, the senior who I had met at Hannah P's party, shouted "Can we have a drill down?"
Instantly words of agreement rang from the upperclassmen. I took a moment for Mr. Williams to call us back to attention, but when he did he agreed to let us have one. The freshmen were still totally clueless to what he was talking about. A drill down was a game that we played. It was basically Simon Says. Mr. Williams would give us a command, and we would have to follow it instantly. If we didn't, then we were out. The counselors for that week would help our Mr. Williams and Mr. Black to spot those who were off step or not doing what they were supposed to. Our ever faithful, Dr. Beat was set up one the Drum Major's stand, and thus it began.
I stayed in for a long time, especially for a freshmen. First the guard and majorettes were picked off by Mr. Black. It's his obsession to make sure neither ever wins a drill down. Flutes, who never seem to fail in being the worst marchers in our band, dropped like flies. Clarinets held up quite well. We might not be able to stay with each other, but we do what we're supposed to. I couldn't see what was going on behind me, but there seemed to be a whole lot of people on the sideline. Now the commands came faster, "Mark time march, forward march, backwards march, horn level two." The words flew at us just as fast as we could perform them. Finally, we were given at ease and a break while we made the block smaller. There were only 25 people left, and out of that two were freshmen, myself, and Deborah, the snare drum.
A few more people dropped before I was finally caught without my horn level to. Growling, I stomped off the field to the sidelines, to watch. Standing next to Brandon, a senior saxophone, and Charlie, we watched as the drill down went on. Soon only five people were left. Wally, senior and section leader of the drum line, Channing, my section leader and a junior, Lauren and Chris, both who were trumpets and seniors, and finally Deborah. Lauren dropped, then Wally, so it was only Channing, Chris, and Deborah. Chris slipped on the dewy grass, and was thrown out. He made sure to make a scene about it, too. Now it was Channing against Deborah. The commands now were truly dizzying. Not even two minutes later, Channing was caught off beat and Deborah crowned as the winner. The freshmen were overjoyed to have one of theirs win the first drill down of the year, while the upperclassmen were filled with shame. There were calls for a rematch, but that wouldn't happen again that day. Now it was time to get to work.
We were given a 15 minute water break in which everyone ran over to Hugo. Hugo has been helping the band for years, getting us water for breaks and loading our equipment and such. It's impossible not to love him. He was sitting on the bleachers handing out Gatorade to whoever came to him. Water sat already in cups on the other set of bleachers in case anyone wanted it. Most went for Gatorade. I got mine, then crawled up to a seat near Brittany and Camille, out sophomore friend. We talked and laughed until they called us back. We got in our sections, and took a seat on the field. Mr. Williams climbed onto the drum major stand with his microphone. During the break, the section leaders had been given a folder containing our coordinate sheets, poker chips(as we called them) that were used to mark our spots, and little golf pencils so we could write the drill on our music. Then our numbers were announced. Denise and I would complain that our numbers were wrong for the rest of the year.
While calling out the saxophone section's numbers 49 was announced as Denise, and I was 50. Mr. Williams continued on, but it wasn't with the clarinets. Now he was on the trombones. We were thoroughly confused, but didn't worry about it. After all the names had been announced, we got our supplies and were told to find our first set. That was utter chaos. More then one person found themselves on the same spot as another, only to be told they were on the other side of the field. We had been taught how to use the coordinate sheets at freshmen band camp, but that didn't stop us from having no idea what we were doing.
After a bit of hunting around and getting in line with everyone else, I found my spot. I was on the right 40, the last line, and 4 steps inside home hash. The people near me in this block and I would soon become good friends. Directly in front of me was Denise, then Clay. Behind we was Brad, and to my right was Elizabeth. Also near me was my friend Derek from church, Spenser from the other night, and the boy from the shaving cream war, whose name I had found out was Zach. Once everyone was set, Denise and I began to wonder why we were over hear. Our fellow clarinets were in the back of the block, some in the other some in the other square (as our form was two squares on opposite sides of the field). We memorized our position and moved on to the next.
Our square transformed into a diamond. All I had to do was stay in line with Denise and Clay as we moved into a diagonal. This wasn't as easy as it seemed. We marked this set and the previous on our music. We moved 16 counts to our 1st set, and held 16 for our second. A visual was to be given to us the next day to fill this hold. Our method of learning drill, although boring and repetitive, is very effective. From our first spot, we face our direction, marked our halfway point, and judged what side step we would need to get there, Then we marched it. Now it was time to march how we were supposed to. Some people had to backwards, but mine was a right slide. I didn't do to well with it. Brad behind me helped out though. He would always tell me to go faster or slow down, whichever I was doing wrong. Once we had marched, they checked our diamond. "Elise, you're out of form." Mr. Williams voice echoed through the morning. He then went off on other people, but I was still fumed over having my name called.
"Shit" I cursed under my breath. Moving where they told me to, I got in the form, and memorized my spot down to the last blade of grass. It wouldn't happen again. We got back to our 1st set and marched from one to two several times before the directors we satisfied and we moved on. The same routine followed for our 3rd set. It was back to a square, only this time it was more spread out. I had to backwards march 10 counts to this spot, and the only problem I was having was that I couldn't get back far enough. That was fixed easily enough though. Again and again we marched the set until we were sure we had it. This process repeated itself until we finished our 6th set. It was time to get ready for lunch. We sprinted back to our dorms to put up our instruments before running back down to get in block. The first morning was over.