Since July 12 the summer has quickly been flying by. That night the Buffalo show turned into a standstill because of the amount of water in Zunn Tire Park . I’d like to say we won that show, because we received a crazy standing ovation after playing Georgia. The next day we had rehearsal in […]
It has been somewhat difficult to find time to write in the past two weeks. Beginning on June 19th, we have been constantly rehearsing to improve our show. It began with a rained-out show day in Sevierville, TN. We had to rehearse inside all day because it was pouring outside. We ended up doing a […]
Circular Breathing Welcome back to the “Land of All Things Brass.” With summer underway I’ve gotten many different requests for information on brass technique but the most requested topic strangely enough has been circular breathing. Information on circular breathing is hard to find and if you’ve ever looked you’ve noticed that it’s rarely covered in […]
It’s finally the end of move in! Tonight at 8 pm we leave JSU bound for Middleofnowhere, Alabama. Last Monday was a nice change in conditioning. An instructor staying for only one week ran it. We were allowed to take our shoes off on the astroturf and stretched more than ran. When it began to […]
Embouchure, Mouthpiece Placement, and Range Development Welcome back to the land of “All Things Brass.” Over the past few months I’ve been receiving e-mails from many of you containing questions concerning embouchure development, breathing, tonguing and a host of other brass related topics. I’ve decided to share three of those e-mails with everyone with the […]
Another week of move in has come to a close. By now everything is fairly routine, and it’s a matter of pushing to the very end to survive the Alabama heat. Monday began with a difficult breathing block around the stadium field. We ran a mile with sprinting a good chuck of it. I had […]
It has been a little over a week since I moved-in with Spirit. This morning is a much needed break after a lot of rehearsal time out in the sun. Last Friday I flew into Atlanta with difficulty because the airline bag checkers didn’t seem to understand why I had so many bags. It was […]
Camp this weekend caused some rude awakenings for me, but at least the airline didn’t lose my baggage! The week heading into camp was quite stressful. I’ve been taking all of my IB and AP exams, and they don’t end until May 19th. I took my IB Environmental Systems test in the morning and headed […]
Selecting The Mouthpiece That’s Best For You!!! Selecting a mouthpiece can be as mind-boggling as choosing a horn. The choices are endless and at times a bit confusing for a beginner as well as a professional. You’ll find mouthpieces made from all sorts of materials in all types of shapes, sizes, colors, cup styles, throat […]
This past weekend (March 31-April 2) Spirit had our second drill camp. It was my craziest drum corps camp yet. I flew out of Florida in the afternoon on Friday and arrived in Atlanta for a connecting flight to Birmingham. When I arrived in Birmingham around 5 pm I patiently stood next to the baggage […]
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