Saturday, August 30, 2008

Work Ehtic

While it seemed to me that the work ethic in my band had dwindled this year, I'm seeing a small resurgence.

Last Thursday night we faced a few difficulties. Scheduling between buildings in our district had not been communicated very well. The short version is the schools scheduled my rehearsal, show camp for youth, 4/5 parent orientation, and a volleybal scrimmage all at once. The band and choir rooms were being used for orientation so I taught the band a little bit about being flexible.

We moved to the gym because it looked rain, luckly is cleared off for rehearsal so out to our practice field we went. I will admitt, lately I have been a little disenchanted. The group has been lacking it's drive and some students seemed more interested in finding loop holes then being honest.

Then it all changed. For two glorious hours we sat drill and played our show. We collected quite an audience of parents and 5th graders as we encouaged each other to push harder.

At the end of the night we had caught up and I was feeling like we were becoming a machine. Students said their goodbyes in sweat soaked t-shirts that night, most of them feeling proud of what they accomplished.

I spoke for a half an hour or so with a 5th grade parent about participation in band. It was nice that he had witnessed the kind of group his son could be a part of in a few short years. I had a form with a nice note from him attached the next day. His son will be playing baritone.

As I went home that night I felt a sense of accomplishment. I was proud of the students. It was a welcome return to that feeling. All the people who deal with me agreed as well. I'm a lot more pleasant to be around when I'm loving what I'm doing. It's nice to be working hard and seeing results.

Monday, August 11, 2008

Band Camp is Complete

Yes, it's true band camp is over. It's a weird feeling and I'll always wonder if we got enough done or pushed too hard.

We had some ups and downs. It was nice that the weather held out most of the time. I think we only had one rain scare this year. It came during the morning of our preview performance and camp picnic. I had one parent tell me that it would clear off. I asked how she was so she sure. She simply replied "God loves marching band." I had to smile when was right!

Uniform fitting was exciting because we are in brand new Demoulin uniforms this year. The kids look sharp. I'm almost certain scores will go up because of the new look. However, the most important part is that I think the kids will be more comfortable with how they look. Pride is important to marching band. Wearing the new school colors should make the community proud too.

Marching Band Olympics are a new tradition that we started this year. It was a competition for a year's worth of bragging rights and a name plate on a trophy. The Drumline/Pit won this year, but it took a lot to be out the brass. The Colorguard/DMs weren't quite there and I'm pretty sure the woodwinds would have rather been practicing. However, the team building is very valuable. Not to mention if we don't have fun it's not worth it. Great performances, Left Obliques, and goofy games can all be worth it.

All and all I'm looking forward to an exciting season. It's kind of a rebuilding year because we lost some great seniors. I hope the kids make as many great memories as I will.

Friday, August 1, 2008

The Drill...

is finished! Now comes the fun of teaching it. Writing it is the hard part. I hope that I've taught everyone who to read the drill so we will be more efficient this year. I can't believe they hadn't used drill (dot) books before.

Well I'm within a few hours of the end of Drumline and colorguard camp. It's exciting to me that last year we didn't do this three day extra camp and it went over really well this year. I think our goal for the year be to be the cleanest band in IL. We're small, but we are dedicated. I guess for my second year I really couldn't ask for more.

One of my drum majors is a great photographer so I'll leave this post with some pictures of what went on this week.

Some of the colorguard working out their moves.

Anna and Denis working hard during their second day as members of the MT.


Quite possibly my favorite drumline picture ever. Our basses practicing exercises.

Robin(the DL section leader) showing that it's not all work!

Instructor, Daniel E. gettting down to fix stick heights and rebound for our snares.