mello_laurel

I want my dvd so badly right now. NOW. I'm dying for some corpsness.

how did i forget about lawrence??? i live in lowell!!!!!!! it's like 10 minutes up 495.

These are the shows I'll probably go to... 6/23 Brockton 7/1 Rome, NY 7/3 Nashua or Bristol 7/4 Beverly 7/6 Lawrence (how did i forget?? it's right up the road) 7/14 New London Probably Nashua over Bristol, as the Div I corps from Bristol will be in Beverly (and it's way closer to home), and I love that show so I'll probably go. Not sure about Rome yet, though I do love the early day II/III followed by the evening div I. It's weird to be able to GO to shows to watch...and not have the Malden show to go to. I guess I really have to wait and see where all the ECJers are marching, so I can schedule them in... I have the feeling I'm going to be spending a lot of money on corps this summer.

congrats academy! wish i could go see you this summer, but i'm pretty sure i'll be trapped here on the east coast.

Um, I'm going to agree with everything that the other ECJ people said. This would have been completely unrealistic for the corps, we had enough trouble finding enough people to march last year with an $800ish tour fee. Financial issues are not based solely on this past year, but many other issues. And I'm sure if we had a budget set of $125, 000 something would have happened to the corps, and we would have ended up without any money at all. No quesion. The busses would explode, the equipment trailer would drive into a lake, something.

yeah, in my experience (just teching band, but I guess DC is the same), you get the tapes not long after the performance, so you can listen to them and go into critique prepared to rip the faces off the judges. You usually get the sheets during scores.

that plan seems pretty good to me... bar. yes. please. (i swear i won't let myself get into a situation similar to madison.) i also ate fish sticks yesterday. tony, when you come to visit in june, i had better see you.

my hs band director support(ed while i was in his program, and does while i'm teaching it) drum corps. he encourages any kid who wants to march to go out for any corps. i don't think he'd be too keen on them missing band camp, but that's usually the week after finals, so not a huge issue. he wouldn't allow any kid marching corps to be dm though, as that person would have to be at all of the summer rehearsals and couldn't do that if they were on tour. i graduated in '03... forgot to say that.

i really shouldn't be reading this in a public place, i'm getting all teary in the middle of a library. thank you ecj for making me who i am today, a significantly better person than i was when i first walked into the corps hall in '04. thanks to each and every person i marched with, thanks to each person who taught me how to march, play, and be able to carry myself like i do today, thanks to each person who gave me a ride to a rehearsal (and had crazy dance parties in the car with me), each person who made a vegetarian meal because they didn't want us to eat pb&j every day. i love each person who had anything to do with that corps, as a member, staff member, support staff member, or spectator. too many memories to list, i tried. hope you all find awesome places to march this summer, and make a million new friends! HURRY BACK ECJ.

from the hs i teach: "AHHH NICE IMPACT! GRAB-O! GRAB-O!!!" (during a visual thing) "ahhhh...(whispers) i like that!" dc "i see that the backfield conductor isn't with the dm, but no one seems to be watching, so i don't have a problem with this."

taking the semester off from school to try to make some money so i can go back in the spring. working between 20 & 30 hours/wk at blockbuster marching with the uml band (yes, even though i'm not in school right now) teaching at a high school 3 times a week (about 65-70ish members, i'm not quite sure how many. i'm stuck as a ww instructor, i used to play flute. it's pretty rough. i'm also on vis staff so that comforts me a bit. for some reason the flutes are always the biggest issue. it's awful) that's about it, i keep pretty busy.

I was there too!! That parade was so much fun, we were hopping through puddles, and having a lovely time... Although we soon came to the realization that the hijinx were probably a BAD idea (not that we wouldn't have gotten absolutely drenched from the rain), since later that evening we had a show up in Nashua, so we had to put our sopping-wet unis back on. Mmmm wet socks (it was the last day of our mini-tour). We had fun at Bristol this past summer, too. We'd stop to play, and do the opening of our show. The entire hornline would go face the audience, and the soloists would go INTO the crowd and play for them. It was WAY too much fun for a parade. Although, I'm pretty sure every corps after us hated us because we kept stopping...sorry 'bout that, guys.

Why should they have to move up? That doesn't even make sense. Not everyone strives to be Div I. There are plenty of corps and members who flourish in the lower divisions. Clearly, we should close everyone who can't afford (financially, time-wise, etc) out of the drum corps world. I marched three years in Div II, aged out in Div II, and I loved my drum corps experience.

I was attempting to say, evidently not very well, "when you're not paying attention to the tv"--id est, during the commercials, "why not work on buzzing?" I know that when I watch tv, I don't actually pay attention to the commercials, I use that as more of a time to chat with whomever. I didn't mean absent-mindedly buzz for no reason. Also, it's possible to sit with good posture when in your living room. I didn't mean to get all snippity. Sorry, I've been working a lot lately.

ok. thanks for clearning that up for me. your explanation was very helpful.

Cue Peter Pan music "I can fly I can fly...."

bobby what picture are you talking about? the llama? i'm so confused.

I really want to hear this. It sounds hilarious.

I see not all that much different, regardless of how much has changed on the surface. If you dig down to the meaty part of drum corps, it's still there. At the 2/3 level, there's still plenty of kids who come in not knowing how to play. I can only speak from the ECJ hornline perspective, but we always have members come in who are just picking up a horn for the first time. By the end of the season, usually, they have grown into quite respectable players. My corps experience was SO educational. I learned to be a leader, I honed my mello-skills (even though when I came in, I had already played mello 3 years, french horn 2, and other various brass instruments), I learned how to carry myself (I'm neither a twig nor graceful). With parts of the book we had, plenty of us had to learn it measure-by-measure. I'm not exactly a rhythmic genius. Lots of things are different from when you marched: the marching techniques, the instruments on the field vs. in the pit, the technology that has seeped its way into the corps world; but the spirit is still the same, at least from what I've seen: Kids with a desire to learn and become more than they thought they could be. Kids who want to work hard, who want to get their butts kicked (we all know we're a little masochistic). Kids who want to have a great time and forge friendships that will last a lifetime. Not everyone's a music major (myself included). Perhaps Div 1 has become too specialized to gain a wide audience and pool of prospective auditionees, but divs 2 & 3 still have great things to offer kids who are young and less trained, but also a home for people who feel comfortable and flourish in the small intimate group. Laurel East Coast Jazz mello line 04-06 horn captain 06 I feel like that was incredibly off topic. Sorry.

THAT IS AMAZING. I just burst out laughing, and my boyfriend gave me a look. He read it and didn't get it. I'm practically in tears. Thank you. My first year being '04, we did a few full retreats. As long as you kept it on the d/l you could kind of goof off and get goofy with the other corps around you.

I don't think Apocalypse was kidding. I don't think there's anything wrong with that. Don't use that as your practice time. Use it as a supplement, buzzing on a mouthpiece during commercial breaks isn't going to hurt you.

There are schools that do it and the number, I believe, is increasing (at least it was last time I checked). I highly doubt, though, that the number of schools will be large enough, at least in the near future, to have an impact on the drum corps world other than a few individuals (not that these people don't matter, but I don't think it's something that can't be dealt with on a case-by-case basis). edit: punctuation issue.

in 04, one of our guard instructors made us do aerobics in the gym because it was raining. i wanted to die. it was awful. another time we had another guard instructor teach the hornline some stretches to improve flexability. that didn't make me nearly as suicidal. in 05 we had an exmember who has some sort of degree in some physical doctor-ation or therapy come and teach us some new stretches. i think we used like 2 of them. BUT we learned how to safely "crack" someone's back (i don't think it was actually supposed to crack, just relieve muscle tension). it was pretty interesting and a nice change from the usual.

that's amazing. (not sarcasm. really.)

Fred Ford has been the assistant director for about 15 years, Tom's been with Malden drum corps since long before the birth of ECJ. Dating back to the 70s, he was involved with the Ambassadors, the Diplomats, the Guardsmen, the Royal Marquis and most recently the East Coast Jazz. Sorry I don't know more, I used http://www.thefog.com/dips/ (Malden Drum Corps Home Page) for info.