Ours is typically about 100.

Big bands tend to do really well at competitions. It's rather frustrating when you can't make those huge 200+ numbers but you still are big enough to be in the top division.

I prefer few good musicians over many mediocre players.
There really isn't a need for 200+ players if they all have the same parts.

There is, though. It allows more complicated formations and it also gives a bigger sound.

So that cymbal player everyone thought quit? He didn't. He showed up and is actually playing and marching.

He actually told me to chill out until he got back in the swing of things on the cymbals. And that I was being too hard on the cymbal players or something like that.
Now I know I take band pretty seriously, but I don't think I'm that hard on the other two cymbal players. (We had a new person show up today. That makes a total of 4 cymbal players including me) I mean, to get everyone to do the stuff that I posted earlier

I would have to be fairly tough, right?

What would you all say I should do? The other two cymbal players don't seem to have any problem with me. I'm not like a drill sergeant or anything, I smile and have fun and stuff. I'm at my wits end with this guy, he doesn't respect my position as the senior cymbal player (Or even just a senior in general) and there isn't much I can do about it.

Our drumline is falling apart. Our one section leader does an alright job half of the time, but he can't keep his act together most of the time. And we have one smart-**** snare who's always making comments about other sections, playing when he shouldn't be, and always sticking his nose in places that it shouldn't be. (He's also the band director's stepson. Go figure.)

And not to mention that the cymbal line won't listen to me when I tell them to just TRY something...

Now I'm willing to have some give and take. If I receive a majority decision that they don't like the move (Hopefully after we try it), I will normally give and try something else. But that's the give, and I do insist on doing some moves and just can't get them to.

We need the discipline that we don't have, we need people who will listen to their seniors, and we need someone to tell that smart-**** snare to shut the **** up (And I did today. Just without the ****.) I'm not sure if I'm going to miss this or not when I graduate. I feel like I could quit right now and would feel no remorse, no desire to go back. And I hate feeling like this.

Mod Edit: Use of that word as profanity is not permitted.

Sounds like that snare player thinks he's hot poop. He needs to be made to do some laps.

Yea, I messed up big today.

We had a pep really for the first home game of the year, and the drumline did a performance. I totally started a stepping and twirling move when we weren't doing anything close to that. I was in the front and couldn't see the other cymbals behind me, but one of them called out my name and it was at that point I realized I had started the move something like 16 beats early. Woops.
Although when I talked to one of my friends after the fact, he said that it looked like it was supposed to be there when I did it. Despite the fact I started, the rest of the cymbal line kind of followed me because they knew I couldn't see them, then I stopped, then started again when it was the right time to do it.

But the rest of the day and night went fine, except for the fact I was out of step for the last 16 steps in the field show. And that our football team lost.

At least it was only 16!

And the trick to performance is to always look like you're doing the right thing, even if you're wrong. A lot of the time the audience won't pick up on mistakes if you don't broadcast them.

I know that, and if I was alone, that wouldn't have been a problem. But seeing the confusion on the other 4 cymbal players would probably give it away. Or at least look bad. (But I did come right in nice and strong. That's probably why my friends didn't notice. I still feel bad about it.)

Exactly~

Hey Jeff, are you still having problems with that snare player and the drumline?

And as promised, gentlemen (and the seldom ladies), I present, a zombie uniform!

First: That picture is awesome Beagle.

Second: We still are. A lot of the drumline doesn't see it, and he has gotten better in some respects, but still acts like he has equal authority to our two section leaders sometimes. (I don't think I've told you all yet, but we finally had our other section leader announced) Someone finally told him at the end of our football game Friday to stop calling out cadences with the section leaders. (And someone that he has to listen to. Thank God) As it is, we're getting better, but I'm still having major problems with that one cymbal player I was complaining about.

Well thank ya. :3

Question, but are these cats rookies? Our band is dealing with a lot of rookies this year, and I've noticed that they have a mental complex of thinking they're hot poop over seniors with experience. I'm a rookie myself, but there's a different level of maturity between a freshman and a senior.

Mess gets serious once the first band competition comes. They normally need to fall on their face once to realize that they need to get it together. Also, it never hurts to directly state the problem and put them in their rookie place. Just make sure you do it respectfully.

Na, neither of them are rookies. It is what it is. I think I have a plan to at least put the cymbal player in his place.

Actually, our freshmen have always been pretty good as far as not having that mental complex. A lot have a "I don't care" type attitude, but they usually leave after the year is over.

Alright, the last time I did this, I didn't get much of a response. So I'm asking you all, give me your feedback on this so I can make it better.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnnDM7_2ReM&feature=g-upl
Once again, this is a link to me doing some cymbal tricks. I would like some feedback on what you all think. Does it look good, bad, somewhere in between? I really need some feedback outside of the usual people that I ask. We have (finally) started our second drum show, and this is the one that these moves will be put in.

(And yes, my face is kind of shown in this. Oh well.)

looks cool.
and moving on from your face... looks cool.

I think what Brent is trying to say is that your face looks cool.

he is correct

All three of my kids are in band. My two oldest are in the high school marching band. My youngest is in 6th grade band. I was in band from 6th through 12th grade, playing the baritone. I also was in the drum & bugle corp band flight in USAF basic training. I've played in an alumni concert band off & on over the years. I've been in choirs, done trios and barbershop, too. I also play with rubber bands. Does that count?

Depends, do you march while making pitched sounds with the rubber bands?

I need to suggest that to my band director. The look on his face would be priceless.


Although I am bummed in a band related manor. The past two years our game that we play our cross town rivals has been
1st: Rained out
2ed: Rained on to the point the other band left at halftime

They are our rivals in everything, but the band rivalry is a big one. And we were all set up to have a "5th quarter" battle of the bands after the football game last week too. We would have won hands down, but it never happened because they didn't have the proper protection for their drums and uniforms from the rain.

Although we still have our rivals from about an hour north of us. Our schools aren't really rivals, but whenever the football teams play each other, more than 3/4 of the people show up just to watch the bands go at it. This rivalry is the biggest one in the state. (Well, it has to be close to it anyway) This is because we are pretty much the only schools that high-step when we march and actually put on an entertaining halftime show. Well, that and the fact out two band directors came from the same collage. I'm not kidding when I say they are the only band out of all of out football games that can actually match us song for song.

What?! The other band left because there was rain? Pffft. Pansies.

Anyway, around where I live, there really isn't any rivalry between the bands of different schools. We always meet up third quarter, talk, and inevitably someone starts a massive group hug. Seriously. It's like we're a big, weird band geek family. xD

Anyway anyway! Last Saturday, our band took to the road for about an hour to participate in a marching band festival. It was at, oddly enough, the same place went to for competition last year (and failed utterly, but meh). The first band that performed had a Phantom of the Opera show, another played a few Guitar Hero songs (Paint it Black and Through the Fire and Flames, to name two). So much win. To top it all off, a man who happened to be one of our judges at competition last year came over after our band performed to tell us just how much better we sounded this year.

Cool. It sounds like you did better than last year, what place did you finish?

That rival band I was talking about in my earlier post held a band festival last year. There were only three bands who ended up showing up. Us, them, and another band that isn't that good. While out rival won most of the awards (Best marching, best music, color guard, and one more I think. They got all except one of them), we actually won the overall competition. I don't get it, but it doesn't matter. We showed them up at their own competition and that was fun.

They couldn't hold it this year because enough bands didn't sign up. That makes me sad.

We had all kinds of rivalries. I can't exactly remember too many of them, though.

Whoop whoop! We brought home first place trophies in color guard, percussion, and drum major last Saturday! We haven't been doing so hot in music, though.

That's pretty cool!

Extra indoor practices for you all! *cracks whip*

*yips*
Hey, I'm a zombie, not a tuba player!

I've never been a part of a band outright, But I have been a guest singer on quite a few local bands, and also sung some lyrics for a few electronic bands both local and online.

I have tried to start a band before, but no one is ever committed to it, so I'm always left out in the cold. I recently got myself a soundcloud account though, and I'll be continuing to do guest stuff and maybe a few of my own songs. Also, my brother and I have started a personal project (not calling it a band yet) called Nostalgia Rocket Parade, and we are planning on releasing a few songs in an online EP sometime next year.
Thats as far as I've ever gotten. XD

I need more musical friends. I hope I meet some folks who can play with me in medical school.

I hope to start producing some electronic music next year, so be on the lookout for that!

So, there was a Drumline battle on Friday night between us and our major band rivals. I think we did pretty good, even if we make a few mistakes. Of course, this happened after the game, during which the bands battled.

The fourth quarter was crazy with us going back and forth. Sad to say, there were also two injuries in our band. I know one was ankle related and another knee related. Both required a trip to the hospital for further treatment. In my 4 years of high school marching band, I haven't seen a single injury. Then there just happened to be two on Friday.

A few band projects I thought I would announce:

#1: "Nostalgia Rocket Parade", me and my brother's pet project is going to be releasing its first single this december, hopefully before Christmas.
The song is going to be Christmas themed and is coming along quite well. Wish us luck to finish it in time!

#2: I am currently collaborating with "7GreeNs" (A very talented electro artist) on a new song. The music is pretty much finished, and I am currently working on writing and singing the lyrics. Here is a link to the preview: http://soundcloud.com/7greensproduction/preview-need-vocals Let us know what you all think!

I'm also working on one or two other projects, but nothing worth mentioning yet.
Thats all folks, anyone else been making music recently?

So we had a drum battle last night with one of our rivals, and it was just...
Battle isn't the right word.

Massacre is a better description. All the other drumline did was dance around like a bunch of idiots. Their snares (All three of them...) had a section where they all had a solo, and so they buzz rolled. With randomly added accents that weren't even in time with the bases. And they had a part where they shouted some stuff that a high school drumline shouldn't say. (I would try to tell you what they said, but I asked Diss and he said I couldn't.)

I could have played anything that their snare players did, and I have never seriously picked up a pair of sticks and learned how to play marching snare. They were just that poor.

Accents in a buzz roll? That had to have been disgustingly messy and awful.

It was. I would try to find a video of it on YouTube, but two problems.
1. Would give away my location to pretty much what county I live in.
2. That thing the other drumline said probably means I can't post it anyway.

That awkward moment when the season is over, so you randomly wander around, not knowing what to do with yourself. I might actually bite the bullet and take a fast food job now (to get fired after three weeks, yeah!) if it meant killing some time. XD

I have one more game, a few local parades, and then my band is going to be in one of the major Thanksgiving Day parades this year. After that, probably a few Christmas parades, but marching band will be pretty much over for me. My last year. It makes me rather sad.

It's amazing how two marching bands can have totally different seasons.

Also, if it's only going to be for three weeks, I wouldn't recommend getting a fast food job. That just seems like a waste to me.

Oh yeah, we have a few parades, but I'm still only an actor, after all.

At this point, I don't care. I can't stand all this free time. My Type A personality is twitching.