An article I wrote for the industry newsletter that my company distributes was featured in this month's edition.
NEWSLETTER ARTICLE!
Check it out.
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
End of June
Well, another weekend in the books. We didn't have a show this weekend, so the whole corps was at our rehearsal facility in Rockaway, NJ for the entire weekend. We got a lot of work done, have about 2.5 minutes more show in and looking/sounding good, and we're in good shape going into Manassas, VA this weekend.
It really was a great weekend. Saturday's rehearsal was the best of the year so far. We had visual in the morning where we learned all but 2 sets of the end of the show. Next was sectionals where the drum line worked on the feature in "Ride" and the horn line spent a long time working on technique before getting into the show. The guard spent the whole day making drill changes to "Gift" and putting in work. We'll have them in for that song in VA, which will do wonders for our GE Vis and Ensemble Vis scores.
Our ensemble rehearsal went very well. The corps did their best job of the year at putting music to drill for the first time together. I was quite proud of their effort and their progress. We definitely got points...POINTS better on Saturday.
Sunday we began the day in sectionals so that the brass and percussion could learn the "tag" ending to the show. We're not quite ready to put out the entire closer, so we have a nice ending to put on the show for now. The mellophones were happy because they get a nice "open and one" 16th note lick at the end. They sound phenomenal with the new mouthpieces, and they're placed perfectly in the set where we're going to end, so I thought I'd exploit their awesome-ness for a while.
Sunday afternoon we went into a blended visual/ensemble block. It rained pretty good for about the first 45 minutes, but we stayed out there and blocked through the ballad in the rain. I came close once to calling it off and telling them to go to the parking garage where we rehearse when it rains, but I'm glad that I didn't. It eventually stopped and turned sunny and warm. By the end of rehearsal you would barely have known that it ever rained at all.
The rain did take its toll on the patience of the corps, however. It was definitely a more tense rehearsal than the night before, and everyone was tired from a long weekend. The corps pushed through 100%, but you could sense that they were frustrated with their heavy feet, with their fading chops, and with the weather. Regardless, we got done what we needed to do, did a full run through of the show that we'll be doing in Manassas and likely in Clifton, and finished the day. I was really pleased with their progress and work. I think we're going to be pretty damn good in VA if the corps retains the work we did and practices this week.
I have to make some musical changes to the opener. I'm not getting the kind of tension/release that was intended...probably because I was trying to be clever instead of writing what functionally needed to happen. Oh well...now I know. Don't try to be clever. If you're clever, it'll come out in the music.
Beginning this weekend we have a show every weekend in July up through the first weekend in August. We do have one weekend off in August that we'll just practice and refine the show. At that point, the show won't even resemble what we worked on this weekend. If the corps keeps working as they're working now, the show will be clean and good by that point. I'm excited to see where this journey takes us.
It's been bumpy, but it's worth it. This weekend we'll take another step.
It really was a great weekend. Saturday's rehearsal was the best of the year so far. We had visual in the morning where we learned all but 2 sets of the end of the show. Next was sectionals where the drum line worked on the feature in "Ride" and the horn line spent a long time working on technique before getting into the show. The guard spent the whole day making drill changes to "Gift" and putting in work. We'll have them in for that song in VA, which will do wonders for our GE Vis and Ensemble Vis scores.
Our ensemble rehearsal went very well. The corps did their best job of the year at putting music to drill for the first time together. I was quite proud of their effort and their progress. We definitely got points...POINTS better on Saturday.
Sunday we began the day in sectionals so that the brass and percussion could learn the "tag" ending to the show. We're not quite ready to put out the entire closer, so we have a nice ending to put on the show for now. The mellophones were happy because they get a nice "open and one" 16th note lick at the end. They sound phenomenal with the new mouthpieces, and they're placed perfectly in the set where we're going to end, so I thought I'd exploit their awesome-ness for a while.
Sunday afternoon we went into a blended visual/ensemble block. It rained pretty good for about the first 45 minutes, but we stayed out there and blocked through the ballad in the rain. I came close once to calling it off and telling them to go to the parking garage where we rehearse when it rains, but I'm glad that I didn't. It eventually stopped and turned sunny and warm. By the end of rehearsal you would barely have known that it ever rained at all.
The rain did take its toll on the patience of the corps, however. It was definitely a more tense rehearsal than the night before, and everyone was tired from a long weekend. The corps pushed through 100%, but you could sense that they were frustrated with their heavy feet, with their fading chops, and with the weather. Regardless, we got done what we needed to do, did a full run through of the show that we'll be doing in Manassas and likely in Clifton, and finished the day. I was really pleased with their progress and work. I think we're going to be pretty damn good in VA if the corps retains the work we did and practices this week.
I have to make some musical changes to the opener. I'm not getting the kind of tension/release that was intended...probably because I was trying to be clever instead of writing what functionally needed to happen. Oh well...now I know. Don't try to be clever. If you're clever, it'll come out in the music.
Beginning this weekend we have a show every weekend in July up through the first weekend in August. We do have one weekend off in August that we'll just practice and refine the show. At that point, the show won't even resemble what we worked on this weekend. If the corps keeps working as they're working now, the show will be clean and good by that point. I'm excited to see where this journey takes us.
It's been bumpy, but it's worth it. This weekend we'll take another step.
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