It was great to see some of the parents at the end of rehearsals yesterday and today! Even if your kids act nonchalant when you're around, they secretly love to show off their skills for you. If you have a chance, please come watch the end of band camp rehearsals next week. At the end of the day, the entire band is usually down on the practice field running through what's been learned of the halftime show. This year's show is a fun mix of Earth, Wind, and Fire songs.
If you don't have a chance to visit, I'll try to post info. and photos to this blog periodically so you can get an idea of what we do in drumline.
Here's a brief synopsis of what we did this week:
Got the students oriented to their new instruments and each other and their illustrious new instructor.
Practiced "dotting"... a LOT! (If you don't know, ask your student.)
Learned to mark time and march.
Supported rhythm development with accompaniment of K.C. and Sunshine Band, Citizen Cope, and a couple of playground balls.
Discovered that flute players can be drummers too! Who knew?
Rehearsed warm-up exercises and cadences and performed them for the freshmen marching band orientation on Friday.
Missed Marissa - hope that appendix situation is all fixed!
Learned to ATTACK! together.
Found that the musical Darth Vader theme is every bit as evil as the villain himself. At least for the pit.
Stretched muscles and ligaments and discussed importance of breathing deeply.
Tested Emerson's newly healed collarbone by having him wear a 15 pound drum on his shoulders. It works!
Tested old shoulder and hamstring injuries by traipsing around with 20 pound drums. They work! All these kids are champs.
Burned up the high school track with newly tapped and "still developing" grooving and marching skills.
Found that Jonathan doesn't have EVERYTHING memorized yet, though he's scarily close...
Discovered that clarinetists can be drummers too! Who knew?
Ran and ran and lunged and ran...
Missed Tyler - What's China got that drum camp doesn't?!
Developed choral skills no one knew we had. "Back-a-choo-bah!"
Learned that Mikey's a literalist. Caught that groove yet, Mikey?
Discovered (I did at least) that "on 3" really means "on 4." Who knew?
Had a magnificent, superb, fantabulistic, terrific, glorious, peachy, dandy, sensational week!
Statistics:
5 - total bass drummers
4 - amazing freshmen in the bass drum line
1 - amazing sophomore in the bass drum line
1 - bass drum line of really young people that is doing things unheard of for kids so young
0 - seniors in the drumline
2 - songs in the halftime show for which students have at least part of their music.
1 - more song in the halftime show to write...for a grand total of 3.
8 at least - warm-up exercises and cadences learned and rehearsed (got 'em memorized yet?)
5231 - number of mentions of Corey's swift meeting with the ground during last year's band camp (when he locked his knees)
750 - approximate grand total of push-ups done this week.
5 - new heads on the tenor drums (yay!)
2 - awesome instructor assistants this week! Thanks Jordan and Zach!
1 - very friendly helpful drum major...Thanks Kevin!
0 - mean, unhelpful drum majors.
4 - spunky people in the pit
0 - pit members who've ever played percussion instruments before this year--they're doing fantastic!
2 - number of times illustrious instructor laughed until she cried. Always fun.
3 - new bass drums and vest carriers (yay!)
15 (at least!) allusions to the mythical Justin's powers of shredding bass drum heads with just a glance
0 - number of times someone threw up, fainted, or was injured at camp (yay!)
2 - minutes of silence with 10-12 teenagers present. Many more to come.
14 - hours of sleep experienced by the illustrious instructor since Sunday. yawn. Time for bed!
4 comments:
I really like the site Kari, its awesome. If you want a myspace or a facebook for the drumline, i can create it for you. This is great and i liked the how many times my incident last year was mentioned that was funny. Great site I like it.
Corey Brown
Yo, sis! Makes me want to go back to band camp. Sounds like those young drummers are shaping up great and enjoyed your illustrious instruction (who wouldn't?). Nice blog.
Alyssa
cool I like it we need a facebook very creative !!!!!!
nicky
Saweetness Mrs. Richmond. Drumline is tough but i doubt it can get any harder than yesturday. Creative Pictures. See you tomorrow
Branden Paris
Post a Comment