Marching Band Senior Year RETURN + happy ending || Update
5/23, 5/16, 5/9 (mondays, this week, last week, and last last week).
Those were the workshops I went to for Marching Band. The season runs from August to November, but there are spring workshops to prepare for the next season and make placements. Next year's Marching Band show will be The Crown. We're getting a new set of uniforms next season (it happens once every like 20 years?) along with a budget of 1 million dollars(idk if thats cap or not but thats what the band director said, it could just be in a super big context of not just marching band but also for a new york concert band trip in the spring next year). Marching band practices are now four times a week, and we have biweekly summer practices added on too. I'm getting the impression that next year's marching band season is a season that theyre gonna SWEAT on, in terms of ranking and stuff.
Towards the end of this post back in february, I expressed my uncertainty of what section to join. What happened since that, is that I realized that trumpets is prob a toxic section, mellos has SO MANY SENIORS(8 seniors not including me. For reference, theres usually like 3-4 mellos per grade level). I know that doesn't really matter but I just don't wanna be stuck with so many seniors, I like being in a section with lots of ppl that I don't know inside of school. Anyway, I started getting super interested in pit. Although you have to prob spend more time before and after competitions to load and unload the truck, I have lots of friends in the section, I loved my time in winter percussion(where I played the same instruments as pit), and most of the time we are practicing indoors, which is a HUGE PLUS, since band camp is literally in August, primetime heat. Pit is just the best section to join for me.
So those workshops I went to were for pit. They were percussion workshops. They had colorguard workshops and brass/woodwind workshops on different days. As a non-concert-percussionist, I knew my chances of making it were slim. I wasgoing to practice for it, but I had serious back problems before that and I just couldn't.
The first workshop I went to, Tiffany(the pit teacher and coach) wasn't there, so one of the seniors led it. It wasn't really a serious or meaningful workshop really. During that time my back hurt a sh*t ton. I remember I couldn't handle standing in front of that board for so long. I never talked about my back problems on this blog but it basically started from that time I went to the gym. For a solid week after that my back was just so bothersome, in so many indescribable ways. I finally put an end to it with ben-gay ultra. Never expected it to work. I didn't even need to go to the doctor. Thank you bengay!
The second workshop, we went down the line for an excerise called 7/8 and then afterwards we each played dirt on the xylophone on a tempo we choose. I did fairly well. C major dirt is seriously the hardest dirt because it's all white keys, so my tempo wasn't crazy or anything, but I did feel like I was better than most of the freshman and tentgh graders.
The third workshop, we did C/F 7/8 down the line, and then a lateral exercise with 4 mallets down the line. That lateral exercise was totally out of the blue, and a lot of freshmen just gave up when they played it. It was mad stressful leading up to me, but good thing I was fundamentally good at laterals and picked up the exercise well. I messed up once towards the end but I was happy with how it went. After that and some other stuff, she called us in one by one to tell us what we got. I wasn't as nervous as I thought I would be because most ppl were saying that I would get a spot. Anyway, she called me in and basically she said "how do u think u did on audition" and i was like "im happy with how i did" and then she was like "you did really good, for being two years off you were very consistent" and stuff like that. Then she said "im gonna give you a vibe spot. As an upperclassmen, Im going to rely on you to be the one that plays when were doing demos for vibes or something and to be a leader." or something like that. So yea, I got vibe, which is the second best instrument in pit(first best are woods). That's what I was aiming for, and I got it. I was super happy when I walked out of that room bruh. I didn't practice/prepare for the workshops at all, I just relied on my grinding from freshmen year to carry me, and apparently that was all I needed. Before this, I was seriously considering what my Plan B would be for when I don't make pit. I was pretty fixed on trumpet, but extremely open to other ideas. It was almost like picking my poison. I felt that I wouldn't enjoy any section in marching band besides pit.
For many, making vibe can be disappointing as that means they're cut from wood. For me, it jsut feels so surreal. Ever since winter percussion in freshmen year I've always wanted to join pit. Seriously. There's just not much else to say. I'm going to be in the percussion section next Fall, not mello as I used to. I can't wait for senior year. I'll be able to drive to school which truly opens up a whole new world for me. I just know it will hit different when I drive to school and marching band practice myself.
lm*o
maybe what she said to me wasnt bullsht then
hopefully im vibe 2
that would be so cool
dude
i woudl dead*ss never cehck the perc discord
and when rathul kept asking me to join the remind
i said no
insisting that i woudl get cut
because i thought
that i woudl get cut
and leaving the remind
woudl be h*lla sad
thats how much making vibe meant to me lol
man
i wanted to join pit after 9th grade h*lla
i know this isnt a big success in ur eyes cuz its vibe but like LETSGO
I carry it on
While I wait for something new
I’ve been longing for a belief in
Something that gives me the courage
To see through
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