Mello - Benji

*Screams like generic teenage girl when they see a cute puppy*

What an awesome podcast. Hot!

Long version- Last year was the first time I had ever heard of Drum Corps. The winter brass and percussion ensemble I was playing with had been putting thought into the possibility of a Summer, drum corps oriented tour for the past few years. I wanted to be part of something big, something new. I had kept hearing about the small group that had started the now huge winter program and I thought this might be cool, as I didn't have a clear idea of what Drum Corps was. It finally took off and with 31 members, and we were off on an 11 day tour. I was 14, just out of 8th grade and a less than spectacular horn player (We use Bb marching horns). I was extremely intimidated. There were 5 other freshmen in the group, only two of which I somewhat knew. I spent the majority of that first little while to myself, really quiet. Thanks to all the awesome people I played with, I opened up a lot on tour. Even more so since then. I’m much more sociable than I used to be. As for my playing, it was an amazing transformation. Probably one of the big contributors to my success there would have to be the other mello player. We only had a 2 person mello section and I think that has helped me a lot in the last year as well. The other mello player was a Blue Stars vet and I’m really grateful that she was there. I had to mature fairly quickly playing wise to try to keep up with her. I can't imagine what it would have been like without her. We played Malaguena and I remember that first performance, when we got to the mojo section and it seemed impossible to play. That was way too high! What was our arranger thinking!? I had it down two days later (haha…). The overall greatest moment of the tour was in Dubuque Iowa. It was our last DCI show and everything fell into place. We had just got the 16th licks before the swing section that morning and they were extremely clean for that show. We were sitting on the bus after the show and we would watch that part and in unison everyone would yell “AGAIN! AGAIN!“ I’m surprised we didn’t burn a hole in that tape after watching it so many times. Haha… The staff was amazing too. Our director has a way with words that is indescribable. He always pushes us and makes us want to work harder. The night before our free day he was disappointed in us as our attention was waning as it got closer to dinner. We received a talking to and pulled it together for an extremely productive, extended rehearsal. Hilarious, down to earth kind of guy. It wouldn’t be the same program without him. The other staff was great as well. I can’t say anything about our brass caption head other than he’s a riot and a great instructor to work under. It was such an incredible experience and I can’t wait to do it again this summer and probably the summer after that. We've applied for DCI and we find out this weekend. Short version- The people and the experiences you have. That's why.