Member’s Journal – March/April Drill Camp

This past weekend I had a much better camp than earlier in March. My carpool and I arrived in Jacksonville just after 11 at night because we couldn’t leave Tallahassee before 5:30. Apparently we missed a horn warm up that didn’t get past a certain articulation exercise because either the horn line wasn’t focused enough or people weren’t prepared. I think it was because of the former, judging from past camp Friday nights. Before lights out, I went over to a euphonium player’s apartment to review something for Sigma Alpha Iota (music fraternity for women that I’m pledging for this semester). I’m excited that I may get to be a fellow sister alongside some of the other horn line girls this summer. Aside from that, I bought a new pillow in between last camp and this one; falling asleep at night was no problem. I love that pillow…

This past weekend I had a much better camp than earlier in March. My carpool and I arrived in Jacksonville just after 11 at night because we couldn’t leave Tallahassee before 5:30. Apparently we missed a horn warm up that didn’t get past a certain articulation exercise because either the horn line wasn’t focused enough or people weren’t prepared. I think it was because of the former, judging from past camp Friday nights. Before lights out, I went over to a euphonium player’s apartment to review something for Sigma Alpha Iota (music fraternity for women that I’m pledging for this semester). I’m excited that I may get to be a fellow sister alongside some of the other horn line girls this summer. Aside from that, I bought a new pillow in between last camp and this one; falling asleep at night was no problem. I love that pillow…

On Saturday morning, I had a feeling we’d be running. The weather was substantially nicer than all previous camps. I made sure I used my inhaler before heading over to conditioning. We did a lot of “legs and abs” focused stretching and exercises. I still have a strong dislike for the plank because my shoes have no traction. I could barely stay up during it because my feet were sliding against the tile. I’m going to buy new shoes and break them in before move in. Next, the horn line and drum line had to go run. I don’t know how long we ran or how far we went. All I remember is that we stopped in the middle of a light jog to do push ups and leg lifts in the grass. Leg lifts were not so fun. We had to say thinks like, “Hello Sky. Thank you for being so blue. Hello ground, I’ll be there soon. Almost there. Almost there. I’ll still be there soon.” *legs collapse* My clean white shirt got grass stains all over it – not that I cared for the shirt too much in the first place. We ran back to Mason Hall for breakfast.

After breakfast, the high brass went to warm up while the low brass went to visual. I realized then that I was a complete idiot; we had been told to bring a BERP or else we wouldn’t be playing in the horn line at camp. I thought I left my BERP somewhere in my dorm room. I hadn’t even thought to bring it while I was packing up for camp on Friday afternoon. While doing buzzing, I was the only person on the mouthpiece instead of the BERP. Talk about shameful embarrassment. Warm up didn’t go so well because I didn’t feel like I was mentally “there.”

Onto visual, the high brass accomplished quite a bit. We reviewed sets of the opener and learned a few new ones. We were told we finished more sets than the low brass and that it was advised that we come back early from lunch to help the low brass catch up. Well, I’m a human being, and I like my free time to eat and relax in drum corps. I was not looking forward to getting back early. The high brass was let out later from visual than the low brass was from warm up. We had a half hour to drive, get food, eat it, and come back before walking over to the Coliseum to do drill again for the low brass. Anyways, the low brass caught up to the high brass. The staff came back from their lunch, and we continued to learn more sets of the opener. Almost everyone got sun burnt, including myself. You’d think I’d learn to bring sunscreen after three years of getting burnt at drill camps. Nope! I think we got to around page 45 or something before we left for music rehearsal.

In music rehearsal, we went to sub-sectionals inside out of the sun. The mellophone one went really well. We didn’t go very far in terms of the music, but what we did accomplish was defining some pedagogy in our playing. I liked having that educational aspect on top of the music cleaning. A mellophone player asked if I had any valve oil. While searching through my little bag of horn accessories, I found my BERP! I was very excited and amused that it had been in that bag the whole time. The horn line came together for a half hour before dinner to play through the second movement. I was informed that I’d play a part in the brass quintet in the beginning and end of the ballad for now. Nothing is set in stone, but it would be really cool to play that part in the summer. The other mellophone player that stands next to me in the arc is interested in playing the part too. I wouldn’t want to take that away from them because this is their last year marching. I still have three years in this activity to try for solos and small ensembles in shows. Continuing on, the second movement sounds sweet. I love the dissonance in the harmonies. The melody sails right on top. I can’t wait to put it on the field.

After dinner, the horn line worked on sound building before breaking off into sectionals again. The mellophones accomplished all the goals set by our tech. We ended up doing some math equations to figure out a meter issue. There is this part in “Hide and Seek” where the mellophones are essentially an echo of all the other brass voices. Our part is nearly impossible to play watching the head drum major for time. We determined that the dotted eighth note we’ll be marching to equals 152 beats per minute versus the 116 beats per minute (quarter note) the rest of the corps will be marching too. It’s very hard to put together in the ensemble setting when the only count off was the 116 bpm. We also got the new retreat tune. As you may already know, “Champion’s Fanfare” has been scratched. The only thing I’ll say about the new tune is that it doesn’t have Canada in it. The horn line came together for the rest of the night and player through the opener, second movement, retreat tune, and “Salvation is Created.” I went to bed feeling good about what we finished.

On Sunday morning, I knew the weather was supposed to be rainy and wet almost all day. I had a feeling we wouldn’t be running. We did some more of the same conditioning as Saturday. Instead of running, we jogged/ran in place. It sounds easy, but it’s not! We had to keep our knees up high at a fast pace. In between running in place, we did all these cardiovascular exercises that I’ve never done before. I was frustrated and winded by the end. I knew all that conditioning was necessary, but that doesn’t mean I’ll ever enjoy doing it. I say that in good spirits (no pun intended).

After breakfast, the horn line warmed up. For the rest of the morning, most of the last sets of the opener were put on the field. I think we stopped around page 58. There are 62 sets in the opener total. I still move a lot. I still have no idea what the forms look like. I still enjoy marching all of it!

At lunch, I had to leave early along with the other people I came up to camp with. The weather was supposed to get worse. Also, this is a very hectic time in the spring semester in terms of school work et al. Getting home two or three hours earlier helped a lot. Unfortunately, we ended up taking a longer way home because we missed a road sign in the pouring rain. We arrived in Tallahassee around 8 at night after the time change.

The next camp is the last one before move in. The winter season has seemed to go by faster than last year. However, I feel like we’re getting more done. The drill is a light year ahead, that’s for sure. Musically, things are shaping up very nicely. Who knows when the new King horns will finally come in? If we sound good to decent now, it’ll be that much better with a full line of matching brass instruments. It’s crazy that move in is coming up so soon.