Band Camp, Day 4: Part 1 - 2

Practice started off unenthusiastically on the fourth day of band camp - overcast skies and the threat of rain definitely put a dampen on the band. However, we quickly shaped up and made the morning our best practice yet, polishing the opener and putting music to all of it. And, with only about half an hour to go, we got through every set of the ballad as well (only 10 sets).

Unfortunately, the practice of these 10 sets was rushed, and the beginning of the evening practice definitely displayed that. A lot of mistakes were made, and it seemed like we wouldn't be able to turn around - but after a quick pep talk, we did just that, and managed to put music to all of the sets in the ballad, as well as shaping up all the sets.

The ballad drill is quite interesting - the band forms into two adjacent circles and spins around, resembling gears. Although it took awhile to get right, it looked amazing, and will continue to look amazing as we practice it more and more.

At the end of our evening practice, we ran the opener and the ballad - two of the three pieces of the entire show. And while we have a lot of work to do with both, it's comforting to know that we have both of the pieces memorized - music and drill.

Band Camp, Day 2: Part 2 - Day 3: Part 2

On the evening practice of the second day at Band Camp, we could not meet our goal of completing the opener due to a large storm approaching just after basics - we were forced inside, where we did make a great deal of progress practicing the opener. Fortunately, we made up a lot of lost progress the next morning.

We practiced a lot of the opener drill, reaching all the way to the end (Set 29) as well as setting our music all the way to set 18. It was certainly an intense morning, and we were incredibly productive, and the evening practice was just as good.

There was a heavy focus on basics during the evening practice, despite an impending storm. However, we still got a lot of drill done, practicing nearly to the end before we were interrupted by rain, thunder, and lightning. Inside, the focus was on music again - however, we did practice putting our sets to our music to make it easier when we go back on the field.

Band Camp, Day 2: Part 1

Tired from the first day, I was once again dreading Band Camp - but that quickly changed once we dived into practice. Instead of the usual basics, which utilizes the band's block formation, we combined basics with the drill - which involved practicing drill with a focus on out posture and marching technique instead of having the focus on reaching our spots.

After this different version of basics, we continued extensively practiced the 14 sets that we had learned yesterday, before quickly learning the rest of the opener, all the way up to Set 29. We definitely have more work to do on these sets, but I am very excited about adding music to this tonight.

Also today, we were given the option of arriving an hour early for the evening practice in order to have a sectional where we can practice any music or sets that we are having trouble with - I will certainly be taking advantage of this, because we have multiple turn-arounds in the opener that the whole band will need to practice.