Divalish16

The playing requirements are pretty similar across the board. However, be ready to go to your first camp and have your technique completely redefined. They will want to see how quickly you pick it up, apply the technique to your playing, and take all of the constructive criticism to heart. Also, some serious sight reading skills are especially helpful. But, probably the biggest thing is - get better between camps! I had the pleasure of being taught by some of Crown's current perc staff. One thing that they really look for is attitude and if you can "play" well with others. Hang out with the vets at meals. Volunteer to help unload the truck at the camps. Go back into the rehearsal room during breaks and after evening block and practice until lights out. Stay positive when your hands start bleeding. Keep in mind that the staff not only wants quality players, but people who they would want to work with for 12 hours/day for 3 months.

My brother took those videos. It truly was one of those, "hey, I just heard from the hornline that they're doing a mass brass outside while BD sets up for encore", and we basically tore out of the stadium to catch it. That would have been amazing on the tour video. I would love to see this happen again this year, especially with Aaron Goldberg in charge of the hornline. Other stuff that would be entertaining on a tour video - all of the "special" wakeups (we had a great one in 2003 where the snares wheeled their racks into the gym), all of the special things that the alumni would do for the corps at Allentown and at Finals, and the July 4th parades with drumline warmups that somehow included 5 corps by the end of the day.

Hmm...Crown did the encore in San Antonio, and they were last.

I love you, Crossmen. Saturday night misses you!

Dark horse!!

Finding the secret ice machine in the school. Having your mom come for a day to cook homemade Filipino food for the entire corps while giving the volunteers a day off. Playing kickball instead of having sectionals. Homemade sweet tea.

Yup. Graduated college on Sunday afternoon. Reported for Spring Training on Monday morning.

One of my techs from home brought me a new fluffy towel, some nice (negativity all edited out) internet reviews of our show, and $20. It was VERY appreciated. What NOT to give them? A friend of mine who had no idea what tour was like and only knew that we traveled around a lot gave me a huge bag of modeling clay, glitter pens, and coloring books to use on the bus. It all ended up in the trash at the first rest stop.

They were on their way to TIA Indoor Championships this weekend - it was their drumline and guard. Here's a link to the local news affiliates' story - http://kdka.com/topstories/local_story_123192522.html

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Keep an extra set of clothes, show stuff, and your toothbrush on the bus with you. Figure out a routine that works for you and stick with it - otherwise you'll go crazy or forget to do something. i.e. I was in the pit so before shows it was always load the truck in 20 minutes, eat in 10, pack and roll up the bag in 10, throw my bag out for the bus loaders, and shower/do the show hair in 20. Baby wipes = instant shower. Relating to overpacking - a few of us in my section would pool our resources so that not everyone had to carry the stuff around. Example - One person would buy a big thing of laundry detergent (that stayed on the bus) for everyone else to use. We did the same with First Aid stuff, lotion, Icy Hot, etc. As for the lack of sleep - there's only one thing to do. Learn how to sleep on a bus. Find a comfy seat partner of your liking. That's all I got for now...

Bones.

I'm with you guys. Watching Phantom's hornline for the past hour made me forget about my cold. Phantom's hornline = endorphins.

Technically, the pit listens back to the battery too. Anywho, back to the original topic. It's not completely crazy to put the pit on the back sideline. I know it's not the same, but people do it in indoor all the time with amps. We had it set up with monitors for us with the speakers and subs in the front. For time, the pit played to the battery's feet. It worked out okay. I don't know if you could apply the same thing to outdoor, but it might be more trouble than it's worth trying to get everything lined up.

They're not putting out a show this year due to membership issues. But, when their website was up, they did say that they're planning on coming back next year.