The latest

Well, it seems that there are people out there actually reading this blog! I skipped a week, and I had quite a few people asking what happened! I apologize for the missing week, but it was necessary.

I've been looking for a new job for quite some time. I enjoy where I work and I like what I do...but I make crap money doing it, and have since I started. A few weeks back I got a call from a technical staffing agency seeing if I wanted to interview for a position as a business analyst with a healthcare company. I'd basically be doing the same thing I'm doing now, but for about 10K a year more money. Um...OK! So, I interviewed last week and got the job!!! I submitted my letter of resignation immediately, and I spent the rest of the week transitioning my duties and accounts that I work on...SO, I was really busy and unable to get a few moments to jot down my thoughts on last weekend.

I start the new job on July 5th. I'm looking forward to the new challenge, and the increase in salary. Now, maybe my fiancé' and I can start saving money and go on a nice honeymoon.

So, a lot has happened in the last two weeks in drum corps. We finished the show last weekend, which is great for us. We've gone out with the entire production completed for the first competition maybe once in the time that I've been there. On top of that, the guard has work for the entire show. Some of it is changing, but every count of the show is currently covered with work. That's amazing. This past Sunday we did our run-through in uniform tops and hats, and it was messy, but readable...for the most part. I think some people freaked out when they couldn't recognize the people around them. That usually happens. I wish some of my fellow members dealt with adversity a little better, but there really isn't anything I can do about that.

...and that's been the theme of my season so far. It's like the prayer: "Lord, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things that I can, and the wisdom to know the difference."

There are plenty of things that I have the ability to change and have an effect on with this drum corps, but there are even more aspects of the corps that are completely out of my control. I cannot force someone to show up to rehearsal. I cannot make someone care. I cannot learn someone's music for them or make them learn it.

I can inspire them (or try to); I can try to keep hot, intense rehearsals positive and productive. I can be prepared. Etc, etc.

This is kind of a new perspective on things for me, and it's something that I've been doing a lot of personal work on for some time. I swear that I have ulcers from this drum corps...I'm so passionate about it and I care about it and the members in it so much, that I have had a tendency to get a little "worked up" on occasion. :) I guess if caring too much is a fault, I'm guilty as charged and should be hauled away.

So, if it seems as though I'm not as emotional as I've been, it's not because I care less. I'm just trying to focus my energies in the areas that I am able to help, instead of worrying about all of the things I can't change.

Back to the drum corps...we found ourselves another drum major, which is a huge relief. Emily Fleck marched 3 years with the Crossmen, one of which as their ADM...so she has experience, albeit junior corps experience, which is most definitely different than DCA experience. She "gets it", though, and that's REALLY hard to find. Being a drum major is not an easy, nor is it an incredibly exciting job 90% of the time. You spend a lot of time standing around searching for ways to help, things to do, etc. You spend a lot of time "running the bok" (another name for the famous "Dr. Beat" and "Long Ranger" combo), and generally staying in the background. This is especially true if you're not the head DM. It's even MORE especially true if you're a rookie who is not the head DM! I know...that was me in 1996 as a 19 year old rookie ADM for Laurie Nielsen-Hall. You feel like an outsider. You feel like you're not really contributing sometimes. You feel lonely and a little nervous to screw something up. She gets all that, and knows the game...and knows how to enjoy being a drum major. That's important, and as I said...really hard to find. She'll have no problems getting in there and getting her hands dirty with the corps, and I'm really, really glad to have someone I can trust on the backfield and side field podiums. She's not someone I'm going to have to baby-sit or worry about or build from the ground up, like some other drum majors I've worked with. I'm glad she's here, and I'm looking forward to a summer of being badass drum corps rock stars, which...if you've seen Bush DM's before...is how we roll.

So, with Emily in the mix, a lot of ensemble issues with the drill are beginning to clear up. It's important to have her on side A for parts 3 and 4 of the show, because the tubas are blind on their left side, and a lot of the drill for the last half of the show has them on that side of the field...virtually unable to see me. Part 4 is especially rough, because there is no battery percussion contribution for the first minute or so...and the tubas carry a lot of the burden of maintaining the tempo, due to the fact that they are the only consistent downbeat. So, being able to see a conductor there is paramount, and we now have that.

The weekend was pretty good in most respects. We picked up a few new horn players from NYC, which is nice. They all play well, which is also nice, and they all seem like polite, respectful young men who just want to play. Rides are becoming an issue for our large NYC contingent, but hopefully the drum corps is able to deal with that and make it easier for them to get where they need to go. It's part of the responsibility of recruiting from a city like NY where many people just don't bother with cars. This falls on the list of things I can't control, so I'm not worried about it. With a larger horn line, a nearly full drum line (1 tenor spot open that will be filled this coming weekend), a huge guard with one opening, and a pit that is getting better every weekend...it was an impressive looking drum corps for most of the weekend.

The dress run-through was better than any chunk of show we ran during ensemble rehearsals all weekend. It was better than the standstill musical run through we did on Saturday night as well. It wasn't as loud or as clean, due to the fact that the corps received a pretty sound beating all weekend and was dead tired...but they held onto the tempos really well...and the show held together without any major hiccups. The communication between me and the battery improves every weekend, and we still have a way to go. The show is mind melting, as I've stated in early posts for reasons I've expanded on in other posts...but the corps is growing more and more confident with every rep. I'm excited to hit the field and start performing this in front of people...see how it flies.

It's difficult to retain perspective from one season to the next. For instance, I have no real idea how good or bad we were at the first show of last season...or the season before that...or before that. I don't know where we stand up against first show Bushwacker corps of the past, because I only really remember finals...where we ended up. Intellectually, I know that there were parts of the show last year that were a bag of crap at the first few shows...ditto with 2005 and every year before that. I know, intellectually, that our shows are always sloppy at the beginning of the season because of the level of difficulty that we program into our shows vs. that of our competitors. But I don't remember it. I can't hear or see it in my head...I can only tell myself these things. The thing with being a part of a DCA corps, and a talented one, is that we've all been there before (in one way or another), and most of us really understand the differences between dirty, readable, and clean...and we KNOW we're not clean! We WANT to be clean NOW, though...and that's just not going to happen this early in the season. This show is no walk in the park visually or musically...and the two put together...forget about it!

You have to keep things in perspective, though. We vets have to keep telling ourselves, each other, and our newer members that this is how it goes in Bushwacker-land, for many reasons:

1. We start out sloppy, but energetic...and energy and performance go a LONG way.
2. Two or three shows into the year, our scores jumps 5-8 points every weekend for a couple weeks.
3. We plateau for a week before August, as the last minute changes and bells and whistles are added to the show.
4. We surge in August and start knocking off corps one by one.

Every single year, like it or not, this is how it goes. Why? Many reasons. Our shows are flat out harder than nearly (if not all) of our competitors...but of course they'll tell you otherwise. :) ...and that's fine. Our shows are designed to peak at the end, not at the first show. It could also be for many other reasons...maybe we're not the most efficient rehearsing corps in the world. Maybe we learn slower, but retain better than some other corps. Maybe it's because we rarely ever go out early with a full drum corps. It's a lot of reasons and none of them bad. None of them I can control, so I do what I can to help get the corps to where it needs to be for show #1 and just take it one show at a time. We're only going to be as good as we're going to be, and ultimately that's up to every single member and staff member to decide individually....because we all have a hand in it.

This coming weekend in Bridgeport, we're going to go out there and there will be people who don't know much drill at all, probably standing at parade rest on the sideline for most of the show. That's fine, because they're going to get in there and they're going to help us succeed. There will be people out there marching who are not completely confident in their drill, work, music, etc. In fact, I will venture to guess that every member on the field will have at least one moment of doubt during the course of the show. I will tell you, with absolute certainty, that every single member, including myself, will be tired as hell by the end of Part 3.

That is the moment where we will find out who the 2007 Bushwackers are...for better or worse. After Part 3 I will turn around to the audience and bow (because you WILL be clapping, because Part 3 is amazing!). In the span of those few seconds between songs, every member (including yours truly) is going to make a decision in their mind, whether they know it or not. The choices are simple:

Choice 1: I am exhausted, so I'm going to play it safe and the end of the show will be flat.

Choice 2: I am exhausted, but I am going to go balls to the wall for the next 3 minutes and give it everything I have and more.

So far, this drum corps has leaned more towards Choice 2 when faced with it. That was the case in the run through on Sunday evening. Last year's corps would have opted for Choice 1 more often than not...at least early on. This corps seems to be learning how to fight, even though I'm not sure they realized that they're fighting.

You learn a lot about yourself in drum corps. One of the most telling moments...a "look in the mirror" moment is when you've been beaten all day in rehearsal, you're hot, you're tired, you're in uniform in front of a stadium full of people, and you're 3 minutes from the end of an 11 minute show.

In that moment on Saturday, the real 2007 Bushwackers will reveal themselves....and if it's dirty as hell, but the corps goes for it...I'll take whatever placement we get, because it will tell me that down the road, this drum corps will not be denied...because we will out work you, out perform you, and we will fight for every point.

This weekend isn't Bush vs. Cabs and whoever else might be there. This is about Bush vs. Bush, and learning about who we really are as a drum corps. I'm very much looking forward to that moment. If you're in the crowd on Saturday night, you'll know exactly what is going through my head...and at the end of the show, you should be able to see it on my face what kind of an answer I got from the corps.

Go Bush.