Marching Band

[Anthony G]

I think for the first few sectionals/lessons we should only work on marching band stuff. If they show they can make progress and make progress fast, then we'll pull out the other stuff. Just keep in mind how long it took them to get On Wisconsin to just a mediocre level.

[Xero]

Ugh... please don't remind me. I'm already stressed out enough because Josh wants to have Football Friday full brass sectionals an hour before call time, and Conner doesn't want to do it at all just because Josh is calling it and Josh "can't call full brass sectionals" because "he doesn't have that power." Conner doesn't have the power to call off full brass sectionals. He's Unit Captain, not Section Leader, and I think if Josh and I both say we should have it, then we should. (I say we have it half an hour early, instead of a full hour...... aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh....... I can't concentrate on this right now. I'm too busy trying to get Conner to agree with Josh to worry about how we work our sectionals. Whatever. Your way sounds good. Marching band stuff gets top priority (circle drill comes first so we can actually do it during Wednesday's full brass sectional.... wait... Conner's taking over sectionals! "He doesn't have that power!" Ha! I know how to make Conner agree with me and Josh! Or it could just ruin everything.... not like it's not already ruined.) Yeah, so marching stuff the first 5-7 weeks (you think that's long enough?) then we'll start actual trumpet skills training.

[Anthony G]

wtf we can do practice before games. Mote always got mad at us because he wants us to save our chos.

[Xero]

I'm not sure Mote knows about it. Mr. Rice knows though. Mr. Rice agrees that we should have Friday sectionals, but he just wants to do relaxed warm-ups for 10-20 minutes, and maybe a little warm-down to keep our chops working during the show. And he agrees with being there half an hour early (not a full hour). And Josh is now self-declared Brass Captain(!?) because he's "taking charge of full brass sectionals and getting the brass to be the best we can be."....... I hate this year. Nobody can agree with anyone, and we're way behind (we got ahead at camp, but we lost ground, and now we have Zach to work with). DISAAAAAAAAAAAAAASTEEEEEERRRRRRRRR!!!!!!! Ever heard junior year is the hardest year of our high school careers? It hasn't even started yet and it's already true.

[Anthony G]

Whatever, if Josh feels all "powerful" with his title, then so be it. But if he tries to give people laps or push ups then the real leaders are going to have to tell him he can't do that.

And Mr. Mote will find out. 1st of all, the band room is only going to be open if Mote is in there, meaning he'll hear us play. 2nd of all, warming down and "relaxed" warm-up isn't going to save our chops. We're still going to be using chops, and the more we play, the more our performance suffers. Unless we get this clear with Mote I'm not going to any for 2 reasons: For 1, my chops don't last that long. For 2, I like going home on Friday and take a nap before games, but that's just me ^_^

[Alexander]

Jul 31, 2008 20:53:43 GMT -5 Xero said:

And Josh is now self-declared Brass Captain(!?) because he's "taking charge of full brass sectionals and getting the brass to be the best we can be."

me and conner are going to talk to josh about that. yes he is a section leader and he controls the music aspect of the low brass, but he isn't going to be brass captain. if anything it's going to be either me, conner, or you michael. or even all three of us.

[Justice Bringer]

OMG if this crap between sections keeps going on and if josh pulls a caeser then im going to beat out josh become low brass section leader. then if need be beat out connor for brass captain (wouldnt really have to beat michael cause i dont think he would want it and i dont know if i could )

[Xero]

No offense, Rob, but Brass Captain is in charge of marching band and music, and I think Josh or I would be the best Brass Captains (and this isn't because I think I'm the best: I know there are people better than me). Josh would be a good Brass Captain if he would make sure all the section leaders were okay with what he's doing.... and if he didn't let the power go to his head. I think Conner's letting his power go to his head too. He doesn't want Josh having more power than him. And Conner wanted to be Brass Captain since his freshman year, so he doesn't want someone giving himself the power that he's been working for.
Josh also wanted to do breathing exercises on Fridays... Before we (Mr. Rice) knocked some sense, Josh wanted to do 15 minutes of breathing and 30 minutes of playing (warming up and running through the music).... yeah, right. So we shortened it to half an hour (5 minutes breathing, 5-10 minutes warming up, 5-10 minutes music, 5-10 minutes warming down... at least that's what I think we should do.)

[Xero]

lol I'm fine without being Brass Captain, but if someone tries to make himself/herself Brass Captain, I'll try to beat them out so they can't have the satisfaction of becoming Brass Captain and letting the power go to his/her head.

[Xero]

Fixed. Again.

The First Note
Staccato
Weekly Trumpet News Letter
Starting next Wednesday, August 6th, we will be having sectionals every Wednesday for 2:45 to 5pm. Sectionals are needed to help improve as a section and as individuals. Be in the band room as early as possible. The sooner we have everyone ready, the sooner we can get started, and the sooner we can finish.
We will start sectionals with fifteen minutes of basic marching. This will help retain and perfect basic skills needed in our shows.
This will be followed by a half hour of private lessons. Each veteran will take a rookie and go over music with them. These lessons will cover scales, rhythms and sight-reading, technique, and tone, as well as our show music and stands tunes. We may have Katie Bentley, a former marching band member, coming in to even out the number of veterans and rookies. Veteran-rookie pairs are as follows:
Michael Watanabe – Dryn DuBois
Katie Bentley – Marleigh King
Anthony Gonzalez – Jonathan Collins
Geoffery Peplau – Larry Woods
Victoria Campbell – Zach Munson
Zach Goodreau – Matt Ruggiero
Changes may be made if necessary.
All veterans need to have a copy of the Blue Devils warm-ups, 150, and TM (yes, we're doing a little bit of the books too). We won’t do very much with 150 and TM during marching season, but as marching season comes to a close, we will start looking at them some more to help with daily pass-offs. First trumpets don't have to, but it is highly recommended that you have a copy of the second trumpet part so you can practice it and help more easily. Veterans also need to have tuners (this would be a good idea for everyone). ALL trumpets MUST have a pencil. (Veterans know that anyone without a pencil in band class gets a detention. So make it a habit to have a pencil at all times.)
After lessons we will have a full hour together as a section. We’ll work on show tunes and stands tunes; group tuning; and, occasionally, circle drill (we’ll learn circle drill next Wednesday).
We’ll finish off sectionals with a full brass sectional. We’ll work together with the mellophones and low brass on balance and tuning to get that big wall of sound we heard at the DCI performance last Sunday. This will last for half an hour. Conner Blackwell, our Unit Captain, has asked me to have the trumpet section prepared to do circle drill at our first meeting, so that is our top priority next Wednesday.
Mr. Rice has also asked to have all of you at school half an hour before call time. We will take fifteen to twenty minutes to do a full brass warm up. Again, we will be working shortly on balance and tuning so we can have that great brass sound the Madison Scouts had (not necessarily loud, but, as Mr. Rice often says, “Big”).
Also, it would be a good idea to get into the habit of taking off any jewelry: earrings, watches, bracelets, necklaces, etc. before practice. We take these off before games because they reflect light and ruin the uniformity of the band. So if you start to do this at practices, it will become a habit and you won’t forget before a game.
Remember, to be early is to be on time, and to be on time is to be late. So be ready as early as possible and we may finish early. This year will be great if we all work hard.
See you all Monday!



Michael Watanabe
Trumpet Section Leader

[Xero]

And adding onto Eric's comment to Rob, Justin, for future reference, my name is spelled Michael (michAEl). But I get that a lot, and I don't go crazy about it like Conner.

[Xero]

Wait... I messed up on the newsletter again... It'll be fixed soon.

[Xero]

Okay, it's fixed. If anyone sees anything that needs to be changed, hurry and tell me, because I'm sending it out tomorrow as soon as I get up (probably around 11am-1pm).

[Justice Bringer]

Jul 31, 2008 21:38:44 GMT -5 Xero said:

And adding onto Eric's comment to Rob, Justin, for future reference, my name is spelled Michael (michAEl). But I get that a lot, and I don't go crazy about it like Conner.

thanks for pointing that out, i fixed it

and it was a typo and its hard to see those kind of things when you arnt looking for them

[Justice Bringer]

and i have been thinking about it and if josh gets out of hand i will beat him out and become low brass section leader and let MichAEL be brass captain i think he would be the best leader out off all of us, and he isnt likly to let the power go to his head

[Xero]

I probably won't do anything to make it look like the power's going to my head while I have the power, but if I lose that power to someone, that's when it really hits me. That's when the power goes to my head. So if I become Brass Captain (and I don't think Mote is going to start having Brass Captains again any time soon), hopefully I won't lose that position.

[Xero]

Aaaahhhh!!!! I was just looking at Born to Hand Jive.... Mote changed the music but he hasn't changed the sets yet. When we do the hand jive, we put our instruments down in 4 beats, hold 32, then hold 16 (while we take 8 beats to pick up our instruments). If we do that, we should play starting at measure 40 instead of 37. If they're going to change the music, they have to change the show too. And the marching part is the harder part to change... Gah! They have to change the music back (without the extra four measures of the drum break). It's not that hard with two beats to put our instruments down and four to pick them up. Saxes just tap their saxes for the part where we hit our legs, and tubas just do a random dance that Josh and Justin can agree on. The way Mote has us doing it, we just waste time... taking four beats to put our instruments down and eight to pick them up!! That's ridiculous!! We don't need that much time!

[Anthony G]

The newsletter looks good. The only thing I could find is that you said 1st trumpets need to have 2nd part for TM and 150. It's all 1 part, but that doesn't matter much.

About Brass Captain. It's pointless. If you can give me reasons besides having the title then I might agree with someone being it.

I don't think Mote wastes time with the Hand Jive hold. Some instruments like Saxes still have a hard time because they have neck straps.

[Xero]

Amazingly, I got up earlier than I thought I would, so I won't send out the newsletter yet. So if anyone sees any other changes, better hurry. I meant second part for the show music, but I guess it was just word placement. I'll fix that.

About the saxes on Hand Jive, I already said this, but why don't they just tap their saxes? It's not like they get in the way of anything except the first move of the hand jive. I just think it's pointless to add the extra measures. We look weird taking two measures (five seconds) to put out instruments down and pick them up. Just like with attention, horns up, horns down, etc. it needs to be snappy: two beats to put them down and four to pick them up.

[Anthony G]

"but why don't they just tap their saxes?"

what do you mean.

[Xero]

At the beginning of the hand jive (the actual hand jive, not the song), it goes slap slap, clap clap, shimmy, etc. For the slap part, tap the saxophone instead of your legs.

[Anthony G]

nah, that wouldn't make sense for the saxes to be the only ones with instruments.

[Alexander]

Jul 31, 2008 21:25:18 GMT -5 Xero said:

No offense, Rob, but Brass Captain is in charge of marching band and music, and I think Josh or I would be the best Brass Captains.

i could live with you being brass captain. josh on the other hand, i'm not too sure because he might turn into another marshal.

[Anthony G]

BRASS CAPTAIN = POINTLESS

seriously. give me reasons why we should have one. everyone is just power hungry.

[Alexander]

personally i could care less if there isn't going to be a brass captain. but if there has to be one i would rather it be michael because he's the most trust worthy in my opinion.