Marching Band

[Xero]

Aug 1, 2008 10:51:53 GMT -5 Anthony G said:

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

Tubas? They'd still have their instruments. And they could just do some dance Josh and Justin can figure out. And is two measures really enough to take a saxophone or tuba off and put it on the ground and then pick it back up and put it on again? I doubt it's enough for tubas. So just keep tubas in harnesses and keep saxes strapped on and figure something out.

[Anthony G]

I guess. It's all up to Mote though. You should tell him your idea anyways though.

[Xero]

I think, if we can get enough people to agree with me (get a petition or something lol), I'll tell Mote, and if I can prove that people support the idea (that's why we need the petition), he might agree to do it.

Ideas:
Summer Nights - last note - two-count subdivided turn, low brass play last note, subdivided two-count horn tilt
Hand Jive - tuba solo - everyone spreads feet and leans back
Hand Jive - fall before hand jive - horn tilt then lower horns as note falls
Hand Jive - hand jive - tubas and saxes keep instruments on
I have a few other ideas for random dance stuff during the show (not swing dancing, but.... eh, I can't explain it). I have a dance idea for Greased Lightnin', a horns up idea for Greased Lightnin', dance for We Go Together.... I'm tired of calling them dances, but I don't know what else to call them.

[Xero]

Ok... on We Go Together, when we change keys, the cymbals crash every second and fourth beat. So my idea is that we lean forward very slightly every first and third beat and lean back on the second and fourth beats. I think We Go Together actually has the most choices for random visuals, the way I'm thinking of these visuals.

[Anthony G]

You should be a marching show writer.

I'll sign the list.

[Xero]

lol I can't write the drill. I just do the visuals.
What, are we actually doing to make a petition/list?

[Justice Bringer]

lol yesterday when josh and i leaned back and spread our feet i think that was cool

and he has like "but everyone else is marking time" i wanted to go "everyone else has rests too"

[Xero]

Yeah, I know, so did I. Why do we have to mark time there? It would be awesome to see everyone doing that... the only problem is that tubas are the only ones playing it, so it's kinda pointless for everyone else. But it would still look cool. You did it at the parent showcase too. If you did it there, you should do it the rest of the time too.

[Justice Bringer]

mote is just a noob, we have to get used to it

[Xero]

Well, we can make a list of visuals we want to do and then have people sign it to say they approve (a petition). Anthony already said he'll sign it. If we can get enough people to agree, he'll have no choice but to let us do it.

[Alexander]

i shall sign this petition as well.

[Xero]

Awesome... but are we actually going to do this? It just seems like we're taking it too far... maybe we should have the petition just in case Mote won't even consider the ideas, so we can show him that everyone likes the ideas. But we won't do anything with it if he agrees to have the visuals.

[Xero]

Conner finally agreed to have sectionals on Fridays. He didn't know it was just going to be breathing exercises and warm-ups. He thought it was an actual sectional. Anthony, are you still against it? If we do warm-downs, it really helps. When I play and get tired, I do a good warm-down for about 5-10 minutes, I can go for another half hour almost. And warm-downs get the blood flowing in your lips, so if you already have the blood there, it takes longer to get tired.

[Anthony G]

If it's just going to be breathing exercises and warm-ups I'm perfectly fine with that. I thought you said we would work on marching stuff also. As long as we don't do shot gun 20x in a row I'm good.

Aug 1, 2008 13:49:29 GMT -5 Xero said:

lol I can't write the drill. I just do the visuals.

that's what I meant

[Xero]

Marching stuff meaning actual marching basics. But that was before I found out Mr. Rice was going to be leading it, so we probably won't be doing any marching stuff. But he probably will make us do Shotgun a few times...

[Anthony G]

Shotgun kills my lips more than anything else.

[Anthony G]

Ok, I just got the email of the newsletter that worked. Have you talked to Katie about helping out with sectionals?

[Xero]

Well, she knows when we have sectionals, and she offered to help. And I asked her about it on Facebook, but she hasn't said anything yet.... I said changes might be made for lessons in the newsletter in case Katie can't do it... Katie, will you be able to come on Wednesdays?

[soktane]

Probably; it's a little early to tell, but I know I can at least make it this wednesday.

[Xero]

Well, just let me know as soon as possible.

[Xero]

I just found something out today. You know how we used to be able to replace gym with marching band, then they stopped doing that? They might have already been doing this, but ROTC can take the place of gym still. We use twice as much air, we run, we march (rolling our feet and walking on our toes, which is just as physically demanding as running, and we do push-ups and have to hold our instruments up for our entire show (except for those random rests we have). And marching band can't go in place of gym, but ROTC can???

[Anthony G]

Well ROTC has "PT" which is like working out every Friday or something. That's probably their excuse.

Marching Band is more physical, I agree.

[Xero]

The only reason they have people run in gym and ROTC is for aerobic (BREATHING) exercise......... WIND instruments.... Extra necessary foot control, which involves STRETCHING.... We need to talk to Mr. Dunnavant about that and use this excuse. I'm not sure, but, to me, it seems like Mr. Dunnavant supports band more than ROTC. So if we can come up with a good reason to count marching band for gym credit (this reason), then he might change it back.

[Anthony G]

Yeah, I think Mr. Dunnavant supports band more than ROTC also. But I don't think he is in charge of which activities can get credits for stuff and what not.

[Xero]

He needs to be. If it were up to him (if it's not already), I'm sure he'd make marching band worth gym credit.