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.