Let the marching begin!!!

So I'm finished rocking out in Los Angels, through gallivanting around the bay area, done being puzzled by classical music in Oberlin, and am now back in Meadville for the remainder of the summer. What happens now? Marching band is what happens, of course. Yesterday marked the last day of the first week of band camp, a five hour a day marching extravaganza in which we aim to finish all of the drill for our show and learn the music along with it. This is often exciting, and never fails to be thoroughly tiring as well. This first week was a serious workout, but we are well on our way to finishing the first two songs and it is all looking good so far. Being the section leader of the drum section, I was especially concerned about how well the line was holding up with so many new people. I am happy to say that we are off to a good start. With much help from drumline guru Duane Banks, we have made it quite far in a week and will keep progressing all season. I am especially excited for next week because so many people have been gone this last week, and they will all hopefully be coming back for the end of band camp. There is no way that we'll pull everything together and make the show look great with nearly half our members missing on a daily basis. This is one problem that the MASH band still needs to overcome this year and in the future. One thing I know for sure is that the entire drumline will be present and ready for action next week, and I can wait to perfect our cadences and learn some sweet moves to put in the show. I know its gonna be big, loud, and rocking!

Rocking out at Musician's Institute

its late and I'm a bit tired from rocking out (or watching others rock out) all day, so i will try to make this quick, and please excuse any errors. There is no doubt that I've had a fantastic time at Musician's Institute this week. From the open jams to the guest artist concert, even the technique classes, it was all worthwhile. I basically want to run through a few cool things that have gone down here so that we don't get too far behind. Surprisingly, the first day of camp was the least hectic. The process of registering was a bit hectic, but when that was over we got to chillax and watch Dan "the man" Gilbert and a bunch of other MI teachers rock out in the concert hall. It was an excellent show and an appropriate way to start off the week. We transitioned smoothly to the first couple of classes and visited the registrar more than enough times in order to get schedules sorted out. The very next day I got to meet my band! I was a bit worried because all those changes may have put me in a band with people of unfortunate musical persuasion (bad taste. Metalheads.). Luckily, I ended making a connection with a couple of great characters, two friends from Barbados who were more into alternative rock and wanted to play something more on the complicated side. SCORE! We were joined by a seriously shredding Italian and slightly older dude from the LA area. When we began rehearsing Radiohead's Paranoid Android, the others seemed to immediately appreciate my style. This made me happy. The next few days got a bit more complicated. We began checking out the various seminars and jam sessions that were happening at the Institute. I was suddenly quite busy, ironically there was barely enough time left to find a practice room. At the end of the week, every group formed during the camp got a chance to perform in the professional grade concert hall. What excited me most about this was that (other than the fact that my group was killer) the advanced lighting and screens on both sides could make one feel like a true rockstar. I have a feeling that the crowd loved us as well. Can't wait to get the DVD of our performance to show the friends back home! Unfortunately, I must conclude this so that I may pack for my flight to Sacramento tomorrow, but email me or text me if you want to know any more of the rockin' details! PEACE.

Recording

Needless to say, all of my band mates and I had a great time recording demos for our original songs. Our first studio venture wasn't in a real studio, that would be far too expensive and un-smalltown-like. So instead we recorded in my basement, a far more suitable atmosphere. Our main goal was to make recordings of the four originals we know well before I left for Musician's Institute in LA. Since I am still here, it is evident that we succeeded. But I believe that the success was more than just finishing four songs in just over a week. In a way, we discovered a bit more about our musical styles individually, and as a group. Since recording, not unlike live performance, is a musical skill that can only be mastered by repetition, our next session will undoubtedly be better than our last. I am sure of this because when we next record, the drums and bass will go down first followed by guitars and vocals. Don't forget about the piano, brass, strings, and extra percussion that will be added to enhance the sound. Eventually there will be a good EP that we can sell at our shows, and I really want to pull out all the stops. Nobody really knows what is gonna go down though, we just hope for the best. In the meantime go to our band myspace and listen in to what we have done so far. Feedback is always appreciated, and thanks a lot for the support
!

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

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.

The quest to become the world's greatest Rock Band Band

As you might know (well, now you know) I have recently received the most amazing Christmas gifts ever in the form of the game Rock Band and the means to play it all day and all night (an Xbox 360). And since Rock Band is clearly one of the best multi player games of all time, there was absolutely no way that I was not gonna start a band or two. The first band I started was a 3-person band naturally called Band.One. This band consists of me on drums, and my sister and any of her little friends switching off on singing and guitar.

Band.One is currently sitting on 146 stars (for each song you play, you gain from 1-5 stars based on how well you do. these are added to your cumulative game score) and 186,400 fans. Not to shabby for a couple of n00bz.

The pop duo consisting of me and my sister, Twice az Nice, is currently edging out Band.One with 149 stars and a whopping 230,000 fans. Note that T.A.N. has also recently acquired a jet and is now on a world tour playing venues in places like Paris, Moscow, and Tokyo.

My other bands are slightly more obscure. Indie pop bands The Slayers (20 stars) and Shifting Balance (54 stars) have not amassed in one place all that many times But with or without a bass player, we proud owners of Rock Band know how to rock nonstop. Werd!