2011 Cascades December Camp Report

The kick-off of the 2011 Cascades began December 17th as veterans, new members and staff convened in Yakima, Washington for the first camp of the season. New this season is free transportation to the camps and the excitement was contagious as the busses and vans arrived from all regions of the northwest. Over 100 students arrived from Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Utah and Colorado, dragging their gear across the chilly 26 degree West Valley Jr High campus and unloading it into the gym.

Many of our veterans and new members are current students at northwest universities and it was obvious the membership is older and stronger than our start to the previous season. With a plethora of percussionist invited for call backs, they worked through their technique book refining their style and building their visual repertoire. As the weekend progressed some difficult decisions were made and individuals started auditioning for other sections within the corps. The brass section had a great turnout with a large quantity of mellophone, euphonium and tuba call backs. Music and visual technique took up a huge amount of their time, but, of course they worked on plenty of show music and even had a couple of dance classes. The Colorguard had the largest return rate percentage of all sections and almost all new members were also of college-age. As the corps progresses into the new year, recruitment will still be a high priority as we meet our 2011 membership goals. The corps will be holding late auditions at the January Camp for trumpets, baritones, colorguard and possibly 2 more tubas.

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