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.

If it makes you feel any better, when I was told that I had a spot, I jumped off a bench, screamed, and hugged the techs until they couldn't breathe. Then walked away like nothing happened.

Yeah, it's a real song - "History Repeating" by the Propellerheads. It's on their Decksanddrumsandrockandroll CD, along with "Velvet Pants" (the Cadets '06 drum feature).

From the YEA site about the YEA! Fan Favorites - Cadets: 1983, 1987, 1993, 1997, 1998 & 2000 Crossmen: 1991, 1992, 1997, 2001, 2002 & 2003 No Crossmen '83, Kyle. Unless they came out with another one.

Even if you did have the option to go to grad school in the fall, I would have still voted to march. It seems like the older crowd are all about "moving on with your life", but in the long run, what's another year? My ageout summer (I actually moved into Spring Training 12 hours after graduation) was what helped me to figure out what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. I'm in my 2nd year of medical school, and I don't regret my decision to march instead of trying to get a real job. Good luck at Phantom! They have some great people out there!

I love showmanship in indoor. That said, I hate the cheesiness that can go with it, including "body dynamics". Stuff that they can do at home: If your show isn't original music, find the recordings from the original artist. Tell the kids to listen to them at least once a day and see if they can figure out what kind of vibe they're putting out. It starts with understanding the music's intent. It'd be completely unnatural to look happy during something aggressive and angry, ya know? Tell them to bob their head. To everything. Until it becomes a habit. Just that simple movement will make them look more into the music from the audience perspective. At practice: Every line has at least one kid who "gets it", in the showmanship department. Have them perform for the line so they can see that it's okay to look "stupid". And hey, if EVERYONE's doing it, then they can't collectively look stupid, right? The audience will notice the one who doesn't look like everyone else. Something that I always told my kids was that if you think that you're doing too much, you're probably doing just enough. I also challenge them to make me laugh or forget that I'm there to point out ticks during rehearsals because I just got so caught up in their performance quality. When they do, I tell them to do exactly what they just did every time (if not more), and they're typically consistent after that. Luckily for me, it was easy to learn because our indoor concept was an insane asylum. We just had to play everything with a nervous twitch and randomly scream at inappropriate times. Sure, we ended up being totally creepy when it came to showtime with everyone taking on a different disorder, but by just having a couple guidelines like that to start off with, it was easier for everyone to understand. If your show is something like that where you can go over the top, that would definitely help. Sorry that I'm so long-winded!

Bob Barker's coming out of the Door next year. He's retiring from the Price is Right so he can go on tour.

Pits can't do it these days because they don't want the marching members to trip over extension cords and speaker cables. :P

Not to sound all Big Brother-y - but in the pit, we hear everything. And we see everything. Like the girl in the 3rd row picking her nose during the ballad.

Well, Beddis got some of his boys back together. Frankie Chapple, Eric Kraft, Rudy Garcia, and Steve Ballard were all at Crossmen together in 02 and 03. And well, I may be biased, but they're all pretty awesome.

Random question - Did the new management team release any formal introductions of themselves or what their intentions are to the vets and the Alumni association? It just seems to me that extending an olive branch of sorts to the most affected parties would ease the transition and get more people on board. A little shady if they haven't...