I love marching

[bedlamsbard]

Heh. Yeah, I've been...out of it for the past couple days, because marching band started day before yesterday and it runs from six to nine (PST). Since, my usual internet time is four to seven, it's been severely curtailed and rescheduled. Plus, I had a doctor's appointment yesterday, so I only had time to post Omerta 23 before leaving. The good news is I'm healthy. *grin*



*stretches* I'm sore from marching, but I love it so much I don't even mind. It's rookie marching, I don't have to be there but I just - like I said, I love it. Plain and simple. We're still in the parking lot, still working on the commands - today we're doing corners - without instruments, but it's awesome. It's amazing to go out there and not think, just obey (except of course when the band director and the drum major try to screw with our minds and call out commands when we're at dress right or parade rest). It's simple. It's not easy - you have to be on it, period - but it's simple. Black and white. Don't think, just be. You get into the zone, where your feet roll perfectly and you're in time and your hands are up and you snap like that when the command is given. It's the most amazing feeling in the world. Band geek zen.

It's not the music. We haven't taken our instruments outside yet, haven't started marching with them, but it's - it's the ritual of the thing, you know? As someone who usually plays by the rules, it's the knowing. It's the acting and reacting. It's the competition. It's just - I can't explain it. I just love it, so much.

I wish we did field shows, so we could do this even after school starts. Although I'm going to hurt even more when we start marching with instruments, because bari+marching=pain. I marched flute the last two years.

Funny bits: "I've waited four years to get up here and yell at people." PB, a saxophonist who just graduated and for some reason decided to show up and yell "GUIDE RIGHT!" and "COVER DOWN!"

I won my first drilldown yesterday (you obey orders until you screw up, and the last one standing wins), and when we started our final one I had four or five people standing around me staring into my face everyway I turned. "Don't laugh. Don't smile. Don't giggle. Don't even breathe." You know how ANNOYING that is? I was still one of the final two, though. *grin* Then I did a right face instead of a left face, and Josh the percussionist won.

From said percussionist: "Sir, permission to kick the drum major, SIR."



The picture my icon is from. This is from 2003, the first year I marched. I was in eighth grade, and I'm not in that picture.

Comments

[weisy.livejournal.com]

Ok. So. I've been kind of lurking and never really commenting (which isn't such a good thing) but I'm in the Marching Band as well and I'm very obsessed so I decided what the hell and just post. lmao.

So yeah. ;D

[bedlamsbard.livejournal.com]

Heh. Nothing wrong with obsession. Or band.

Bandies unite! You're...what, a French horn, is that right?

[weisy.livejournal.com]

Band Geek since 5th Grade all the way to College.

Yup. French Horn is correct. Used to be Clarinet but dropped that.

[bedlamsbard.livejournal.com]

Band geek since fourth grade to - I'm a sophomore in high school now. Hopefully onward to college, too. :D

Bari sax here - flute first, but I switched last year. Still flute for orchestra, though. I was going to switch to French horn, but bari was cheaper since the school had one and didn't have a French horn.

[weisy.livejournal.com]

My school didn't start band until 5th. Started Orchestra in 4th but not band. And College Band is totally worth it. ;D

The only reason why I switched to French Horn is because I was so sick and tired of the clarinet and how I got no regonition what so ever so when my instructor said that they needed more French Horns I immediately signed up. It is still hard because of the different mouthpieces but I'm getting better.

[mentalhygiene.livejournal.com]

I'm starting to think I'm some kind of flypaper for female musicians.

Not that this is a bad thing, mind you.

It's just that it seems to be instruments that they could very easily kill me with.

[bedlamsbard.livejournal.com]

Well, I don't know, it would probably be easier to kill someone with a flute than a bari sax. Because it's easier to swing a flute than a bari, you know. On the other hand, you could fit a body in a bari case without too much chopping up, while you can barely fit a flute into a flute case.

[mentalhygiene.livejournal.com]

Let's see: You play a bodybag bari sax and a billy club flute. Deb plays a cello, and I'm sure she could hide a body in that case.

[bedlamsbard.livejournal.com]

And you could probably stab someone with a bow, or at least strangle them with the horsehair.

You know, now I want to write a story where Our Heroes investigate just such a mystery. I have so many problems.

[mentalhygiene.livejournal.com]

She's actually threatened me with the-- the-- uh. The pokey bit that comes out of the bottom of the cello and stands it precariously on the floor. It comes out.

I wonder how long it would take the brilliant geeksquad to figure out what the murder weapon was even after they found it.

[bedlamsbard.livejournal.com]

She's actually threatened me with the-- the-- uh. The pokey bit that comes out of the bottom of the cello and stands it precariously on the floor. It comes out.

Oh! I know what you're talking about. Unfortunately I don't remember what they're called, not being a strings player or a bass clarinetist.

I wonder how long it would take the brilliant geeksquad to figure out what the murder weapon was even after they found it.

*snork* I wonder if they have any ex-band geeks among them. *considers* Maybe Aiden. She'd probably be a - hmmm. My first reaction is oboe just based on her name, but doing it personality wise is harder. Definitely not trumpet, 'bone, flute, or clarinet. Maybe tuba, possibly percussion, probably not alto or tenor sax, but - maybe bari sax. Or bassoon. Have I forgotten anything? Well, she's definitely not a piccolo player.

...I have issues. (When I came up with my originals for my band geek story, I chose their instruments based off their names. I put a lot of thought into some of them, and then you get people like Dustin Silk who you look at and just go, "you're so an alto.")

See, and then with musicians you have sound proof practice rooms. (soundproof my ass; you can still hear the clarinets next door and the flutes in the main room) But no one would hear screaming, or see anything, since there are usually blinds you can pull.

It's possible I've thought about this too much.

[mentalhygiene.livejournal.com]

Oh! I know what you're talking about. Unfortunately I don't remember what they're called, not being a strings player or a bass clarinetist.
If she was online, I'd ask her. Alas, she is not. Also, her latest weapon of choice is hardened pitas. ;-)

My first reaction is oboe just based on her name, but doing it personality wise is harder. Definitely not trumpet, 'bone, flute, or clarinet. Maybe tuba, possibly percussion, probably not alto or tenor sax, but - maybe bari sax. Or bassoon. Have I forgotten anything? Well, she's definitely not a piccolo player.
As someone who failed in the land of musical instruments, I have to say that... it depends probably a lot on what was cheap to rent (or whether a relative had one: here, kid). Maybe a violin, that seems to be a common "keep the brat out of trouble" instrument. (can't imagine *why*, exactly.)

...I have issues.
I like your issues.

See, and then with musicians you have sound proof practice rooms. (soundproof my ass; you can still hear the clarinets next door and the flutes in the main room) But no one would hear screaming, or see anything, since there are usually blinds you can pull.
Oh! Dude. We had one of those for chorus. Well, sort of. The back wall was soundproofed. The rooms were at the back of the auditorium, essentially, and reached by going through that, or via a long hallway. So they were far enough away (and had auditorium-as-buffer) from all the other people that you couldn't hear much anyway.

And the chorus and the band didn't practice at the same time *thank god*. Probably would've been more drama than you could shake a stack of sheet music at.