MASH Marching Band brings the heat..... And Meadville drumline supplies the spice.

You may know that I've asked my band director if I could write the drum feature for next year's show as my senior project. She graciously accepted the offer. As of now I have a good section of it done and revised, even played it for the drum section. But of course I must endeavor a bit further than that. Following the regular corps-style section of drumming, there will be a break into an entirely different funky Latin section. Or shall we say, Spicy (the theme for next year is "Hot"). The problem is that I'm a white guy living out in the country where there is a hoedown for every 10-gallon hat and a metal mosh for every pair of skinny jeans. But Latin? It's a dead language to everyone else, and here it might as well be a style of music that never even lived in the first place. A tad frustrating, but I am determined to watch videos on YouTube and practice what Salsas and Mambos I can on the drumset until something comes into my head that will get the Friday night football crowd onto its feet. 'Cause we're pretty sure the football team wont be doin' it..... OH SNAP!!

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!

Band Trip (sorry I'm so behind on this one)

If you haven't noticed, I have been doing a lot of pretty awesome stuff as of lately. In an effort to not get too far behind on blogging this awesomeness, I present to you The Story of the MASH Band's Trip to Virginia/DC, abridged.

Lets just say it was a really long bus ride. A fun bus ride, but still a long one. And the band bus is unlike any other buses that anybody rides on at any time, because the people on it are just that cool. I would say the most fun part is when we attempt to play card games between two rows of seats. Fast forward to our arrival at the parade that very same day. There was much rushing around to unload all manner of uniforms, hat boxes, and insturments from the lower compartments of the bus. After warming up we set out on the long journey to the beginning of the parade. On our way we saw a lot of other cool bands, some of which had way more stuff than we did, some sounded way better than we did, some just looked better than us. But not all of them. By the time we made it to the start we everyone was more than ready to get going. I was fairly impressed by our overall performance. We made straight lines, our turns looked good, and naturally we sounded quite good as well. Of course, the drumline was tight and precise the entire time. By the end everybody was significantly tired out, and we all celebrated by drinking cold water and changing out of our uniforms upon reaching the bus. Then we drove aimlessly around the Virginia countryside until we found the hotel.

BANDFEST.

Watching a show with a half dozen amazing marching bands is the kind of thing that might happen in the morning and leave you wondering what to do with the rest of your day. Every year Pasadena City College hosts a band show of all the marching bands that have had the honor of playing in the Rose Parade bestowed upon them by a guy with kind of a funny name. Over the break I went to one of these "Bandfest" shows to check out the scene. And what a scene it was. Not only did the bands have a significant audience, but I don't doubt that all of them deserved it. From Homewood Alabama to Pasadena City College and all sorts of places in between, and even the national honor band of top musicians from around the nation, we had entertainment all over the place. I noted some particularly unusual things as far as bands go that grabbed my interest. The band from Science Hill high school with their clarinet soloist in a Gershwin tribute, the Patriot band from Homewood with 3 drumsets in the the pit and a fantastic Rockettes esque dance line, and which band was the one that played California Dreamin'? Let us not forget the band of America and their Latin guitarist, garbage can percussionists (undoubtedly MASH drumline wanna-bees), string ensemble and dancing sousaphones. I suppose it was humbling to say the least. From a band point of view, our band is good and we have a lot of fun but couldn't possibly be playing at that level anytime soon. From a personal point of view, I don't think I've ever seen that many sousaphones in one place. Have I even seen more that one or two together? Our band barely even has any low brass! It was still an amazing show, and there is no doubt that I'm more inspired than ever to be the best musician possible. Enjoy the pictures!!

Naturally, 300 of the most talented high school musicians from around the country can be difficult to get into one shot. This is about half.



Just figured I'd put a picture of us in here to. 'Cuz we are still pretty awesome.

An experience in the band, a coelo usque ad centrum

Friday and Saturday were both very long band days. Although I was hot, tired, and sore by yesterday afternoon ( playing quints rarely makes me sore these days), these beautiful days of music-ness remind a person that they are alive like little else. There is no event quite like a Friday in the Fall, when the leaves start to turn orange and red, a cool breeze blows the subtle scent of pumpkin through the air, and marching band is on the mind. I would be the first to admit that I am not the only person who looks forward to Fridays. Though most simply want to sleep in, I am a person who doesn't hope for Friday because it is pizza day, or because the day after it is Saturday, or because the day after that is Sunday. No, Friday is my day because it is game day. Because it is my day to wear a red band shirt, put on that funny looking hat and white feather plume, to take the field cast in halogen light under the banner of Meadville. One thing I can appreciate about the band it something we have that nobody else has. We have the singular ability to bring down the house, no matter what the weather, who the opponent, or which side the coin may land on. Balls may be dropped, games are won and lost, but the Marching Band always controls the field. And nobody of any skill, no group of any size, no well-funded program or well-paid coaching staff can take that away from us. I hope our team goes to playoffs. Its not looking quite as good now as it did when we were 4-0, but it can certainly still happen. I am sure that it'll be worth the extra practices and slightly longer time commitment to show up at one or two extra games and rally our team, who will quite possibly be the underdogs. Not to mention, the massive scheduling conflicts that the postseason games would involve. So be sure to listen for the drums on Friday night, the eternal heartbeat of the dedicated band geeks who make it worth the 3 dollar entrance fee.

band show

Hooray for the marching band! We rocked the house last night like crazy shiz!! Although the rain forced us to play inside, everybody had gotten there hours early, so we made it work. The drumline was grooving and as loud as it could be in the gym, and there was not a soul in the place who didn't hear us coming. We did some "dirty deeds", and blew the audience away with our exellent musical skill. The drumline feauture "stinkin' garbage" was very successful, and I could not have had it any other way considering how much time we spent on it. Also, props to the trumpet players who ran up in to the audience with their mad solos on "dirty laundry". And there was a crazy fun after-party that could have gone on all night. Thank you to all that came, and long live the band!