JimF-LowBari Posted June 20, 2006 Share Posted June 20, 2006 The Hanover, PA YMCA will be hosting the 2006 YMCA National Gymnastics Championships and Festival starting next week. Hanover is the first small town to host a national Gymnastics event but the opening ceremonies will be held at the (old) HersheyPark Arena Monday (6/26) afternoon. Part of the opening ceremonies will be music provided by Hanovers Musical Ambassadors the Hanover Lancers Alumni Drum and Bugle Corps. *** end of "offical" announcement **** Note #1: Tried to Google a link mentioning the corps performing but found nothing. *sigh* Note #2: Yeah, a Drum Corps at Hershey <withholding a LOT of smart remarks> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CozyChopsCom Posted June 20, 2006 Share Posted June 20, 2006 Note #2: Yeah, a Drum Corps at Hershey <withholding a LOT of smart remarks> w/Stp: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Ream Posted June 20, 2006 Share Posted June 20, 2006 check your contract closely Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimF-LowBari Posted June 20, 2006 Author Share Posted June 20, 2006 (edited) We have been invited by Hanover YMCA to play. <pause 2 seconds> They need to check their contract closely. Anyone have a set of bolt cutters so we can cut the chain to the Stadium gate and march out on the field? Ooops, I didn't say that out loud did I? ^0^ Should be an interesting experience as we will be standing in a line on the walkway in between the upper and lower mezzanines to play. And the DM will be standing below us in the seats. (We couldn't get him to hang by a wire from the lights :P ). Then of course there are the wonderful acoustics of the concrete box that is the old arena. All kidding aside this is a Monday afternoon gig. So a bunch of people are burning up a vacation day from work so the corps can perform. (I lucked out as I'm off every other Monday and this is an "off" day. ) Edited June 20, 2006 by JimF-xWSMBari Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimF-LowBari Posted June 29, 2006 Author Share Posted June 29, 2006 (edited) Disclaimer: No disrespect intended to Hanover or National YMCA groups. Following is a light hearted look at a different kind of gig. Different <hades>, this beat out playing for a lumber yard as the wierdest gig I even did. The gig was to play during the opening ceremonies of the National YMCA Gymnastics Championships. Think of a small size Olympic ceremony inside and you get the idea. Corps showed up an hour before we were due to play to work out any "logistics problems" which was a nice way to put it. Ceremonies were held in a AHL ice hockey arena built out of concrete in the mid 1930s. (Remember the words "indoors" and "built out of concrete".) There was no room for the corps on the floor of the arena as the space was taken up by 1400+ young people. Soooooo, where to put the corps? Answer was to put us on the walkway halfway up the seating area. Walkway is only a few feet wide so the entire corps (about 60 members) were spread out in a single line. IOW - one end of the horn line was 100-150 feet from the other end of the horn line, withj drums in the middle. Drum Major stood on the back of the speakers platform on the floor (waaay down there) so the whole corps could see him. (Got a nice shot of the back of his head on the evening news. :P ) That would be bad enough but add on the acoustics from Hades (remember "built out of concrete?). The floor is also all concrete and as the athletes came in their bodies helped to muffle the echo effect. You could actually hear the difference with people in the seats. Only way to play was ignore the echo hitting you about one beat late and watch the DM. Or if you had to listen, listen to the person next to you and hope they were right. :sshh: We played for 30 minutes while people started coming into the place (starting with the acoustics of a totally empty concrete box ). Then did the National Athem and played while the athletes came in (20+ minutes) followed by many speeches. Then played a couple numbers while the place emptied out. Worst part was the acoustics (duh) and heat/humidity in the place. Best part was we didn't have to play "YMCA" but they did put the Village Peoples version over the loudspeakers. Kids really got into it and some of the corps members did too. PS to Jeff and Cozy. Before the gig I took a bathroom break under the stands of the Stadium. The entrances to the field were gated off so that killed the temptation of playing a few notes there. But I was muttering "This one's for you HERCO" as I was.. ahem.. taking care of business. <**> Edited June 29, 2006 by JimF-xWSMBari Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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