mello_laurel

The kids tend to follow their instructors.

With the current finals week schedule, World Class finals can't start that much earlier, as Open Class finals started at 10 am, ended at about 2 (ish?), then the Marine D&BC rehearsed, the doors opened at 4:30, and the show started at about 5:30. I thought the retreat was atrocious. The lighting, fine, but the music coming from the speakers? Not ok. I thought that it was disrespectful and belittling to all of the work the kids put in this summer. Have someone march them on, PLEASE... open class champ? Marine D&BC (although I did love hanging out with someone with whom I marched, who is now there)? The drumline who came into finals with the highest score?? SOMEONE?

Yeah, I'm leaving Wednesday at midnight (after sleeping all afternoon after work) from MA for Indy. Hopefully, I'll be conscious enough to make some of Cit's rehearsal Thursday! Can't wait!!!

Citations 88.25 (thanks facebook!!), but that's all I've got. Wish I had gotten home earlier, so I could've sent out a shout out to Citations.... can't wait to meet them for "Glory Tour" Thursday afternoon

Ugh, I just want to be in Indy already!!! Can't I just not show up to work for my next six shifts???? (Leaving for Indiana Wednesday after work and driving 15ish hours!!!!)

Oh yeah, and 17. Racine Scouts 61.5

Missing: 7. 7th Regiment 72.5 11. Revolution 70.7 21. Blue Devils C 53.3

the weather is lovely for drum corps-ing here in the NE :)

Always glad to hear about a comeback!! Can't wait to see you kids out there!! :)

I wouldn't say it's a change from anything, as Spartans have never allowed current members to post on DCP. I wouldn't expect an outright answer from any member of Spartans, any "breaking news" from the corps directly would be through a secondary source.

I don't know if you could provide that satisfaction to yourself.

Oh how I love "My Spanish Heart," although like James and Eric, I'm quite biased also. I watched it today, and it was so freaking great. LOVE IT!

Congrats, Surf! It's amazing how much you have grown as an ensemble in the few short years I've been watching you since '04. Best of luck next season!

Oakmont-Overlook Marching Spartans Band 97-02 (2 yrs flute, 2 yrs mello--I had a crush on a boy in the section, 2 yrs drum major) UMass Lowell Marching Band 03-06 (mello) East Coast Jazz Drum and Bugle Corps 04-06 (mello) I first watched corps at my first band camp in '97 when we watched the PBS broadcast. I always wanted to march, but never did until some UML people dragged me to the ECJ Open House after my first year of band there, and I never regretted it for an instant. Corps has opened so many doors for me, from the confidence and work ethic I need to live in the "real world" to the information to teach three bands and an open-class corps. Corps taught me who I could be, but band is the catalyst that brought me to the activity, and I will never forget that.

Not really adding anything, but Dilboy Stadium (aka the Dust Bowl) is no longer the mega-piece-of-crap it was a couple of years ago, they've completely redone it. I used to drive by it on my way to rt 2 from Malden, and now it's gorgeous. I really almost swerved off the road, I was absolutely amazed.

Even if they were able to host Bingo once again, it would be highly unlikely that it would provide a significant amount of income, as since smoking was banned a couple of years ago, the revenue dropped immensely. As much as I would love love love to see my alma mater come back, I'm dubious about them hitting the road in 09 as it would take quite a while for them to make up the money they necessary to have any kind of touring schedule.

It was such a great season for open class as well as world class. Such heavy, intense competition throughout. I was talking to some Teal kids in the airport this morning, so glad we all had such a great time this season, can't wait til next year!!!

It is kind of a hike.

This is really sad news, but I truly hope that Fever can come back stronger and more organized. As someone who watched their drum corps fold the year after aging out, it really does leave a void where your corps home belongs, but keep faith! Groups have come back from this, just maintain your relationships with the members of your corps family while you're separated. :^) on another note... Michigan City really is a great venue, I really enjoyed it both times I was there for focus shows. The audience was great then, and I can only imagine that it will be even better for finals week!

The high school I attended/one of the ones where I teach doesn't have a rule against marching (a couple of kids have marched, I didn't start until after freshman year of college), but it comes with very specific guidelines. If you decide to march corps, you can't be named as a leader in the corps, as you will miss all of the pre-band camp summer rehearsals and the "rookie day" (kind of a general orientation to marching for the 7th graders). Also, you need to be back for the first day of camp, which is the day after finals. The director won't make an exception for drum corps, which kind of sucks, but at the same time, I understand where he's coming from--if he allows one kid to miss band camp, parents will not understand why their child is not held to the same standard when they are attending, say, a choral camp. Third, the student needs to understand the financial committment to both. The school district has a history of ridiculous financial instability. It's a small town, with a large elderly population, which is unable to cover the tax caused by a Prop 2 1/2 override, so student activities carry large fees. I think marching band is currently down to about $150-$200 (plus an additional $200 for band camp), but the last two years I marched, the fee was over $500/student. The student needs to speak to their parents about being able to afford drum corps (although all of the corps in this area are open class), marching band, and flying home from finals to make band camp. If the student understands these caveats and still wants to march, all the more power to them. It's a great band program, and has produced some great musicians and leaders. Currently, there are a couple of students planning to march the open class corps where I tech (there were a lot more at the first few rehearsals, but they realized the huge committment that it would be), and at least one marching at another area open-class corps. The director supports them, but expects them to put the high school program before corps, which is completely understandable (and expected in most corps). side note---I just want to clarify, regarding the post after me, I'm you probably were'nt referring to my post with #1, but that's not at all the case with this school. The fee pays for bussing and competition fees, general fees that need to be paid for the maintinence of uniforms and equipment...marching band is one of the lower fees for a "big program" at the school. When marching band was $538, football and hockey were well over $1,000 per student.

Wow, is anyone who keeps making these presumptions about marching band actually INVOLVED with any marching bands? I have been marching and teaching bands since 1997, and I have never been involved in a marching band that had "pom-pom girls" or baton twirlers. I have never been involved in a group that has placed any heavy interest in the athletic department of the school (in fact, my university doesn't HAVE a football team, so all we do is perform exhibitions at marching band shows and perform a few times at school functions and in the community). NOT all marching bands are BOA bands, nor are those exempt bands "Drumline" bands. A drum corps is a marching band. It may not be Marching Band, the way we have come to connotate it, as being "flashy" and "over the top," but regardless, it is a marching band. Definition: BAND: a group of persons, animals, or things; especially : a group of musicians organized for ensemble playing (do we want etymology too? I do love words, and their history: Middle French bande troop, from Old Occitan banda, of Germanic origin; akin to Gothic bandwo sign, standard) Definition: MARCH: (as an intransitive verb) 1: to move along steadily usually with a rhythmic stride and in step with others2 a: to move in a direct purposeful manner : proceed b: to make steady progress : advance <time marches on>3: to stand in orderly array suggestive of marching (etymology: Middle English, from Middle French marchier to trample, march, from Old French, to trample, probably of Germanic origin; akin to Old High German marcōn to mark) QED: Drum Corps is a marching band (we can call it "lower-case marching band," if you want. If we need to define it seperately from Marching Band, we'll do it that way. Just like God is different from god, so is Marching Band different from marching band). Definitions are from the Merriam-Webster Dictionary; I would have preferred to use the OED, but I don't have a subscription, and I'm not at school. Edit: I can't believe I'm arguing this. It's an absolutely moot point, as we all have our own definitions of the idea of "drum corps" and "marching band," so there is really no way to find an answer. I just felt like someone needed to represent the idea of marching band versus the connotated, loaded definition of the BOA band that we all seem to be using (except for people who see it as football band, I guess)...but now I'm really just rambling because it's 2 in the morning, so I'm out. Probably.

My suggestion would be to make it as objective as possible. What kind of paper is your teacher expecting you to write? Was the assignment to write a cause and effect paper based on aspects of your own life, or was it more general? Heartfelt writing is always very cathartic and easy, but many times for school, the teacher is more focused on your writing abilities and the structural aspects of the exercise. So, in my opinion, you should do your best not to make this into "this is what I do and this is why it's so great: !!!," and to try to make it more "this is the interpersonal and introspective changes that occur when someone is involved in this activity."

BD 97.2

the cadets are under cavies and phantom?!?!? what?!?!!

I've come to take what Tom Brace says with a grain of salt, but I currently have nothing better to do than argue... I don't know if I'd agree with the "1 in 4" whatever. You cannot implicate that number from that survey, as that says nothing about the number of people from D2/3 who actually go to the auditions for D1. Those two have nothing to do with one another. Your chance is increased greatly by marching 2/3, but not everyone decides to go audition for D1. In addition to the fact that the size of the two samples are completely different, therefore changing the percentage. I also don't think that it affects anyone marching that there is "no audience to attend," as the grand majority of the audience that is there is genuinely interested in seeing what you put on the field. Honestly, I would have much rather performed in front of that audience than one for a show where we were performing with D1, as half of the people in the stands there were not actually there to see what we put on the field, as at those shows you encounter significantly more attendees who are not real "drum corps fans," but rather people who are attending with their high school/to see their cousin who marches D1/etc. Whatever. I loved marching D2, and it never greatly bothered me that the audience wasn't huge, because the people who were there were entertained by what we were putting on the field. Anyway, that's my 2 cents, so I'm going to go back to my depression because I can't be in Pasadena this week :( (I have to take all of my time off for band camp this year, as both of the bands I teach have camp the same week...)