District Jazz heck yea!

Me and my friend Jake should be appointed to the official council of things that the band should get. On Thursday after school we left for Titusville to attend the PMEA district 2 jazz festival. The high school in hepatitusville (I didn't just say that)was surprisingly nice, and quite large, which I learned the hard way. Plus, the band director is a drummer, so they must be pretty good. Anyways, we went off to our respective bands and began rehearsing Thursday night. I was of course merely the auxiliary percussionist, so my parts were not to complicated, but getting it all together was one heck of a task!! First I moved the set of vibes that had wheels, which was fine until the motor nearly fell off. Then I grabbed the congas, which have the most outrageously broken stand so that it takes two people to carry the darn thing ten yards. Then I grabbed the only music stand available, which was clearly not meant to be used due to the fact that it was broken.
Thursday was a mere introduction for the jazz bands, Friday was a crazy day-long rehearsal extravaganza. This is when I learned firsthand how big the Titusville high school really is. I mean I was hauling equipment back and forth between the band room, auditorium, and board room, all of which were as far apart as physically possible while still being in the same state. If I haven't mentioned it yet, the auxiliary percussionists get the honor of being in two bands. So we practiced for thirteen hours straight and got real good for Saturday's show.
The best part was that I got to play a solo. An honest-to-god vibraphone solo!!! How do I do it?
The show on Saturday went quite well. Me and my congas don't always seem like the most exciting thing, but the vibes solo made it all worthwhile. Especially since it was on one of my favorite songs, by one of the greatest vibraphone players the world has ever known, Milt Jackson. And my friend Jake up in band 1 (yea, he is pretty good) was not only rocking the trumpet parts, but also the flugel horn. THE FULGEL HORN!! That was pretty freaking cool I would say. I'll get the recording soon, very excited to hear how it turned out.
So where was I? Something about the official council of things the band needs to get. Oh I remember now. Our band director is very good about getting things that she thinks the band needs, but sometimes it can be tricky trying to get her to think just the right thing. That is where me and Jake come in. We play something, and if its good, she most certainly should get it for the band!! Things recently added to the list....
1) Vibraphone
2) Flugel Horn

It's a Conspiracy....

MY FELLOW ROMANS!!! I've just been chillaxin' here and figured I'd check in with you before I get waaaaay to busy. So even though my digital recorder is sorta broken and I am having trouble convincing the band director to let my band practice in her room during school, all is not lost just yet. This week I'm going to the District 2 Jazz festival in......TITUSVILLE!!!!! (where?)
That's right, all the way out into the middle of nowhere is right where I will be headed come this Thursday to bust out my mad vibraphone, conga, and other incendiary auxiliary percussion skills for a couple days of jazzin' out! I will have to bring another set of clothes as well as a nice suit, practice with a bunch of people I don't know on insturments that I have never played before, and even stay at some other house....not entirely sure I can handle it, but I'll be gettin' back to you.
In other news, I am also in a rock band, and instead of getting together once year at some random school in the middle of nowhere (like Titusville), we get together in my basement every weekend. And we're pretty awesome. We even have our own clothing line (a sure sign of awesomeness). You should check it out RIGHT FREAKING NOW!!!!



Thats all. Actually I'm not quite done yet.
As you can imagine I do not always have good things to write about. I need I-deas. Got an good idea? Got a crappy idea? Send it to quow@windstream.net and I will dish out some wisdom on whatever randomness you can throw at me. Bring it on!!!!

Polar Bears and Tailwind: Shenanigans @ District Jazz '08

I got out of school before lunch yesterday and got in a van with the band director and a few other musicians to audition for District Jazz in Youngsville, PA. The ride there was not quite two hours long and involved a lunch stop in Edinboro where we met up with some students from other schools who were auditioning. After lunch we went our separate ways, even though we were really all headed to the same place. Driving there involved much hilarity, discussing random subjects and often making even more random statements that would lead any normal person to believe that we are completely crazy, which is partially true. When we finally got there (and by "there" I mean a school in the middle of nowhere), a fairly large line of people had formed to sign up, and the group of just four from our school looked small in comparison to some of the other schools' groups.

But we fared well. After hanging out in the auditorium while the last few people signed in, they announced which instruments would be auditioning in what room, and directed us to follow a specific person to that room. Me and eleven or twelve other percussionists stood in a classroom while one of the adults who was auditioning us explained what we were going to be asked to do, and described exactly how old and beat up the drumset they had was.

Then we all got sent outside and stood against the wall or sat on the ground waiting for our turn. I was close to the beginning, and the whole thing went very well, the audition piece sounded good to me and I thought I played some fairly convincing rock, swing, and latin beats.

Then there was some waiting to be done. Jake (trumpet player) and I circled the halls a couple times and met up with Demarius (Saxophone player) while everybody else finished. We got a change to meet up with Mrs. Manning (Director) again in order to acquire keys to the van. Once we had those, we could all play cards and eat food while the directors finished tabulating the scores.

The announcing part was the most stressful. They started with band 4, calling names by section. They announced saxes, trumpets, trombones, bass, guitar, drumset....not me. DAMN! Then, "Auxillary percussion, from Meadville...." That WAS me! YYEEAA! We were told earlier that the drummer placed fifth would be given auxillary percussion for all four bands, meaning that five drummers would be accepted in all. I remembered this when they called up my name again for band 3. By now I'm pretty pumped. I'll be getting plenty of music and be able to play with some really great musicians, even if I'm not on a set. Then they announced band 2. "Auxillary Percussion...." Some guy from McClane? WTF??? I was calling shenanigans on that one, for some reason they took another drummer.

It turned out that for some reason, they took six drummers, giving me two bands worth of congas and vibes, and putting me in sixth place. Not to bad, and I must have done something right for them to fit me in anywhere, when I wasn't supposed to get a part based on what was originally said. My trumpet playing friend grabs 3rd chair in band one, and it was an exciting day for all.