Tales From The Band Room

Band Camp Update: Part 2- Drill Week

First, a quick aside to my fellow Marching Indians: We survived, guys! Now I digress: we finally made it through, nobody died (surprisingly), and like 90% of us got our show shirts (which look awesome, by the way. Thanks, Jesse).

But, before we move on, let us reminisce about the previous week, shall we? Let's begin:

Would You Like Your Band Regular or Extra Crispy?

Extra crispy, please. Well, honestly, we didn't get a choice. 8 hours outside in the middle of July will make that happen to a person. Aloe and sunscreen kind of became band currency.

Rain, the Bane of all Marching Bands

On Wednesday, it rained. Hard. Whenever it rains during band practice, everyone dives to one of three areas: the tent we use for shade, the band trailer, or the pit instruments to cover them with a tarp. That is, unless, say, music decides to go flying across the football field, which is what it decided to do. Naturally. As soon as we saw it, about eight people go sprinting after about three pages of music. When we get back, Jonas had the cap unscrewed on his water bottle and was sticking his hand outside the tent. Like a normal band thing, this became a trend that caught on faster than planking. Meanwhile, Gannon was reminding us all to stay hydrated. Thanks, Gannon. We really needed that.

Creative Set Names

Learning all of your drill is really difficult, so instead of memorizing endless numbers and placement, we instead give our formations, or "sets", names. My personal favorite is "the Butt", but I am also a big fan of "the Eyebrow".

These aren't always so fun, though. Sometimes, there are heated arguments over what a certain set should be called. For example, Rhiannon insists that "the Comet" should be "the Fireball", and don't even get me started on the "Christmas Tree Gravy Boat/Teacup/Genie in a Bottle" set.

The Best Inadvertent Joke of Band Camp

*Jessica uses Grace's library book to kill a bug*

Grace: Mrs. Simmons is never going you let you check out a book again if she hears about this.

Jessica: Who's Mrs. Simmons?

Grace: Our school librarian!

Jessica: You can check out books from there?

*Note: Jessica later added "in the summer". I don't think anyone's that big of an idiot*

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And with that, I have shared ask the stories I have for now, but I have a little announcement. Tomorrow the band is going to DCI, a professorial marching band competition. I'll bring my tablet with me for all three-ish hours of bus ride. For the first time ever, I'll be writing Tales from the Band Room while around band kids! If I get enough material, I'll upload Tuesday with everything I found funny about three hours in a concentrated space of band kids. It shouldn't be hard. Until then, vote, comment, and share with all your band friends, and don't forget to follow me if you want more Tales from the Band Room!