A Band Camp Wrap Up

To all the staff, parents and students who made our 09 camp a huge success…. THANK YOU.

The fanfare and opener are both on the field, complete with visuals, horn lifts etc…. we can play through three of the four movements of the show before leaving camp and we have established an OUTSTANDING rehearsal etiquette and work ethic for this year.

Now the challenge will be to move forward with this same momentum throughout the year. I know you are capable, but “capable” doesn’t make things happen. It’s YOUR drive, YOUR energy, YOUR focus and YOUR determination that will make this whatever kind of year it will become. Looking forward to seeing what you do as we move forward.

We will see everyone on Thursday evening July 30th.

The Saturday rehearsal for August is set for August 15th. We hope to set the date for the September rehearsal later this week.

Enjoy your final days off and see you Thursday night.

AA

Skit Night

Like the Wednesday night Senior Party, Skit Night on Thursday is another band camp tradition.  Each section within the band does a skit of some sort and all Freshmen have to participate.  The chaperones also get into the act.  Staff gets a pass since they’ve had considerably less sleep/rest than anyone but they do have to judge, a daunting task in and of itself…

There are some folks in our organization with some very good imaginations even though the talent level may be somewhat questionable.  There were artists, rappers, jokesters, dancers, impersonations (we’re not sure yet of who), a slide show and even human limbo (I’m holding out for human pole vaulting myself) and all were quite well done.

Lets kick this off with some band lightbulb jokes, mostly written by Mrs. Beth Lyons then we’ll add some of visual presentations….

Q:  How many clarinets does it take to change a light bulb?

A:  Only one, but she has to dig through the box to find just the RIGHT one

G:  How many drum majors does it take to change a light bulb?

A:  I don’t know….nobody was watching them.

Q:  How many band directors does it take to change a light bulb?

A:  IN MY DAY WE MARCHED IN THE DARK!  Y’ALL ARE A BUNCH OF WHINERS!  GET A FLASHLIGHT AND GET BACK TO WORK!

Q:  How many pit members does it take to change a light bulb?

A:  None.  They are too busy celebrating the fact that it is now dark.

Q:  How many tubas does it take to change a light bulb?

A:  None.  Tubas aren’t afraid of the dark.

Q:  How many members of the battery does it take to change a light bulb?

A:  All of them but it will require two trips to Home Depot and a stop by Taco Bell.  (unfortunately they’re not back yet because they still haven’t gotten their food)

Q:  How many trombones does it take to change a light bulb?

A:  Light bulb?  What light bulb?  I didn’t do it!  It’s not my fault!

Q:  How many flutes does it take to change a light bulb?

A:  Three.  Two to squeal about the dark, and one to convince a tuba player to change it for her.

Q:  How many band booster board members does it take to change a light bulb?

A:  I don’t know, we’ll form a committee and get back to you on that…

Q:  How many color guard members does it take to change a light bulb?

A:  Four.  One to change the bulb, three to tell her she’s spinning it the wrong way.

Q:  How many trumpets does it take to change a light bulb?

A:  Five.  One to change the light bulb and four to do pushups every time he screws it up.

Q:  How many saxophone players does it take to change a light bulb?

A:  Four.  One to change the light bulb and three to debate the existential philosophy of darkness and light.

Q:  How many band leadership does it take to change a light bulb?

A:  Five.  One to change the light bulb, two to fill out paperwork in case there is an investigation, and two to inform Mr. Armstrong that the trombones broke another light bulb.

Q:  How many section leaders does it take to change a lightbulb?

A:  None, they’ll make the freshmen do it after they run laps.

Q:  How many seniors does it take to change a lightbulb?

A:  All of them. One to hold the light bulb, the rest to wait until the world revolves around them…

Q:  How many Armstrongs does it take to change a lightbulb?

A:  Why do you think they hired Chris, Matt and Brandon?

Q:  How many Fine Arts secretaries does it take to change a lightbulb?

A:  One. And Mrs Mac changed it 30 seconds before it blew out and before anyone was aware there was a problem.

Q:  How many mellophones does it take to change a lightbulb?

A:  We have mellophones?

Q:  How many band parents does it take to change a light bulb?

A:  Five.  One to change the bulb, four to organize fundraisers to replace all these burnt out bulbs.

Here’s a link to download the chaperone skit (slideshow).  Its a fairly large file – about 24 meg so it’ll take a few minutes to download..

http://www.mediafire.com/file/im2wenymjmm/Band Camp 2009 Skit.ppt

I’m still looking for photos from Skit Night – if you were there there and took photos, please copy them onto a memory card or flash drive and give them to Mr. D or Ashley Davenport at practice (be sure your name is on the card/drive or its in a bag with your name on it).

Now for some photos:

The Emcees…

Getting ready for the Guard Dance…

Lady Who??…

All Good Things Must Come To An End…..

Really?  Sure about that?  Yeah, band camp is over and everyone is home and getting some much needed rest.  But the end of band camp is simply the beginning of the rest of the year’s marching season and from the indications we saw at band camp, it might just shape up to be one heck of a season for the Marching Vikings.

Check back in over the next week or two for more band camp highlights and to see what the Marching Vikings are up to.  In the mean time I’ll close with a few group photos of our ‘cast of characters’.

SENIORS

JUNIORS

SOPHOMORES

FRESHMEN

STAFF

and last but not least…

CHAPERONS

What….no serious photo of the chaperons?  When have you ever known band camp chaperones to be serious?

OK, maybe just once…

All Work and No Play…..You’re Kidding, Right?

Band Camp ’09 is beginning to draw to a close and while the intensity and amount of effort being put into rehearsing hasn’t decreased, the amount of effort being put into having fun is steadily increasing, despite the fact that the kids, staff and chaperons are all pooped.

Traditionally Wednesday night is the Senior Party.  No, its not a party just for the Senior Class, nor is it just for the senior citizens on the staff (sorry Mr. A), its a party for all the kids planned by the Seniors.  The past few years the party has been a luau and this year’s class decided that the luau theme was getting a bit stale so this year the kids decided they wanted to have a Rave.  Its amazing how much fun can be had with a good sound system, some thumpin’ techno tunes, a couple of strobe lights, some food, drinks and glow-necklaces.  Not sure what to think of all that, take a look at the following pics to find out…

To see a video clip click on the link below…

http://s594.photobucket.com/albums/tt28/nghsband/?action=view&current=RaveVid1.flv

Coming soon….Senior Lunch with the Staff, Rookie Cookie, Senior/Staff Volleyball Classic and………Skit Night!

Over The Hump

The kids are pooped but we’re over the hump, past the half way point, rounding second base…the kids haven’t quite realized that yet…but, sometime tomorrow they’ll begin to realize that they only have a day to go…

I thought today we’d just post random photos of the kids, the chaperons and the staff just doing their thing this week with no particular theme or order…

Tuesday Trumpets Sectional

Art Harrison, one of our chaperons, sat in with the trumpets during their sectional rehearsal Tuesday afternoon and took this short video of a portion of their rehearsal.  Click on the link below to get a taste of what we’re going to hear during this year’s marching season…

http://s594.photobucket.com/albums/tt28/nghsband/?action=view&current=P7210088.flv

Canadian Swamp Water

Tuesday started off with a groan….partly from the rookies that just survived their first full day of rehearsals at band camp and partly from a few vets that still believe that getting in a good nights sleep is optional.  OK, the staff and chaperons may have groaned a little too…

Mr. Pierre is still working on his Canadian Swamp Water…the flavors have been varied and bold but the color just hasn’t been right yet, probably from a lack of grape Gatorade…anyone want to bring us a can?  Can’t find any in Rome!

The staff and kids continued rehearsing…

Morning Rehearsal

One thing that the chaperons learns at band camp is to take advantage of the slow moments during the day to catch a nap…

Or to take photos of the kids…

Afternoon Sectionals

Evening Rehearsal

And after all the rehearsals there’s still a little free time left to spend with friends…

Day 2 in the books

ANOTHER very productive day is done.  Marching and playing all but the last two pages of the fanfare and the opener and we’ll get those in the morning.   More music for percussion in the AM.  More drill for everyone in the AM.  Chaperones are having a blast, kids seem to be doing the same.  Staff is REALLY enjoying teaching these kids.  Makes our jobs easier and a lot of fun when they WANT to work hard and be good.

Looking forward to seeing everyone that’s coming up on Thursday.

AA

FANTASTIC FIRST FULL DAY !!

WOW !  The staff is THRILLED with the work ethic and maturity being displayed by these students.  We were able to get over half the opener on the field today, marching and playing.  We expect to be able to finish the opener drill tomorrow and hopefully be marching and playing the entire opener by Wednesday and working on adding the ballad drill later this week.

The weather has been unreal with the kids hardly breaking a sweat yet.  Hope you are all enjoying your “time off” from the teenager at your house.  Can’t wait for you to see the results of their hard work this week.

Gettin’ Down to Business

The kids made it through their first full day of camp today.  Everyone was up and moving early.  Fortunately the weather couldn’t have been much better – they didn’t even break a sweat until midway through the first rehearsal.  There were long, slow lines for meals but thats expected.  Free time was spent swimming, playing volleyball and bocce ball or just chillin’ out and hanging out with friends.  Some even kept practicing…a little extra effort to make sure they don’t lose ‘that tenth of a point’ in October.

Want to get a look at a typical day at band camp?  Just keep scrolling down…

Start the day off right – Exercise Block…

Time for Breakfast…

The chaperons set up the ‘tent city’ at the field for some shade during rehearsals.

Morning Rehearsal…

Lunch…

Sectionals…

Free Time…

Supper looked pretty much the same as breakfast and lunch – same long line.

After supper – Evening Rehearsal

Following the evening rehearsal a little more free time then time for bed…