Marching Band

[NeCoHo]

I did it, I got through my first day of Marching Band practice. My feet hurt, my arms ache, my toes feel like they will fall off, so that's why I'm coming back today and tommorrow, and next Monday, ect. I am slowly turning into the band geek with the funny hat. It's fun but hard. Now, all I need to do is memorize the music and drill, and I'm be fine. Tougher then it looks (or sounds). This is what I looked like after practice::eek: I just thought I'd let all of you know, As I know Sam likes to compare me and my trumpet to lazy people.:D

[Emrysgirl]

Must have been painful. What instrument do you play? Is it heavy?

[Dewey]

Must have been painful. What instrument do you play? Is it heavy?
Hope its not a grand piano...carrying one of those in a marching band would be really hard!

[MITM18]

LOL right :D

[Garbage Kills Megan]

I hear you, J. I did marching band in High School. It gets easier.

[ultimatemalcolmfan]

i'm in marching band also. It's hard work but it pays off in the end

[Jimmy Junior]

I did it, I got through my first day of Marching Band practice. My feet hurt, my arms ache, my toes feel like they will fall off,
... But you did it! Nice one!

[NeCoHo]

Emrysgirl-
I play the trumpet, so it's not that bad.

It's more the repeating, we repeat everything 50,000 times. From marching backwards (which tears up the top of your foot after a while, to going from horn up to horn down position. Every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday from 10:30pm GMT to 1:30am GMT, or 6:30 to 9:30pm EST we practice. Even in rain, that will be fun...:D Least I'll know the school better then all the other freshmen.

Dewey-
That is why we have pit, it's where all the mallets and xylophones and heavy equipment go.:D

[Dewey]

See My Band: Here (http://www.absegamibandparents.com/)
.@J - i followed the link that you have in your signature. Which one is you? :)
I notice it is a huge band in terms of the number of musicians. Your band even has more members than the Polyphonic Spree. :)

[NeCoHo]

@J - i followed the link that you have in your signature. Which one is you? :)
I notice it is a huge band in terms of the number of musicians. Your band even has more members than the Polyphonic Spree. :)

I joined in this year, when I started High School at Absegami. That photo, if you look closly, is from 2004. Nov. 13, 2004, to be exact That was the day of the Atlantic Coast Championships (ACC, that will be a major thing I will be talking about a lot soon). The photo will be replaced when we once it is taken at the ACC this year. Two people haven't handed in their photo forms yet, so we can't post new pictures. I'll let you know when my photo is on the site UNtil then, enjoy those who have gone before me. :)

[yardgames]

In other words, J. isn't in that picture, but I've formed a picture of what he looks like in my mind's eye.

[Emrysgirl]

In other words, J. isn't in that picture, but I've formed a picture of what he looks like in my mind's eye. Well, were you right?
@J. I'm sure you've noticed, but you're in the background in pic 7 as well:). What's with the 3 girls that are dressed identically(pink tanktops & black shorts)?

[NeCoHo]

@J. I'm sure you've noticed, but you're in the background in pic 7 as well:). What's with the 3 girls that are dressed identically(pink tanktops & black shorts)?Yeah, but it's hard to see me. Just wait till you see me in uniform on the field. :)

[Dewey]

It may be just me, but i cannot get your new signature link to work. The one that says:
"Click to see pictures from Band Camp 2005!!! (finally)!!!"

[NeCoHo]

I can't so, I'll just re-word it so it makes sense. That website has a thing where the pages are all under the domain name.

Here is the picture: http://www.absegamibandparents.com/band0560.jpg

[samboo1]

I'm guessing thats you!! Lol! I can hardly see him!:D

[MalcolmReeseDewey]

Nice, i couldn't get a note out of a trumpet so you must be OK!!

[NeCoHo]

In Absegami, Being an ok Trumpet player is way not enough. For us, a bad day, is like being like the other bands we compete againist. We are held to a higher standard then everyone else, and an "Average Trumpet player" in my school is a really great player at another school. Which I am, average.

I learned something- Trumpet players are very egotistical. It's something I never relized untill I read it and I agree whole-heartly. We have a big ego, and aren't afraid to use it!

Here is the photo of me, the same one I've been talking about, if you don't want to go to the homepage of the linked site in my signature: Click Me! (http://www.absegamibandparents.com/band0560.jpg)

[NeCoHo]

Want to see me in uniform? Click Here (http://spaces.msn.com/members/jcotw/PersonalSpace.aspx?_c11_PhotoAlbum_spaHandler=TWlj cm9zb2Z0LlNwYWNlcy5XZWIuUGFydHMuUGhvdG9BbGJ1bS5FZG l0TW9kZUNvbnRyb2xsZXI%24&_c11_PhotoAlbum_albumid=cns!1pEQfNzP-wOPgghZ1fV57BWw!105&_c11_PhotoAlbum_spaReturnToFull=1&_c11_PhotoAlbum_spaProcess=1&_c=PhotoAlbum&_c02_owner=1) This was right after we got off our nice coach busses wih tvs, and comfortable seats, and a bathroom (not that anyone used it)... I like those busses... Anyways, we had our uniform on, and the plume (feathers) in our hat, we were preparing our honor braid (you can see it on the person to the left of me, because that is the hardest part, it's the yellow loops around our left arm. After that we warmed up and got into our parade block. There we were given water, and we entered the parade and we marched. Three miles. After the drunken firemen screaming at our drum major because his uniform eas black, with a gold sequin stripe (like ours but gold insted of yellow) and big white gloves) They thought he was Micheal Jackson and wanted to meet him. Some of them were "appealing" to the color guard, and were asking us if we wanted beer because we "looked thirsty." We were thirsty, but Band Parents came and gave us water bottles and spritses with squiters, (very annoying with glasses). They (the drunken firemen) would yell and say stuff like "We came here to see you play" and "You have those [darn] instruments, now play them." We would play our parade song, 'Land of Make Believe' and they would shut up and start clapping. Not everyone was drunk, only like 2 out of every 50 people were. In the end, we went down a side street, took off our hats, and went into our 'civies' (regular clothes) and went on the board walk for 2 hours!

[yardgames]

Actually, that Space doesn't exist. More likely, you haven't given access privileges to the general public.

[NeCoHo]

Sorry everyone, my bad, it's open now.

[NeCoHo]

Ok, here is my very large installment on my Marching Band's first competition:

We started the day at 9:00, in the morning. We got in our uniforms, and went to a bank 'comnmunity' day thing. 10 people showed up. We did some songs, and left. we spent more time prepareing for the show, then we did playing it. after that, we had lunch. A very funny lunch. John K.,(we have two matts, johns in our section) a trumpet, spills my coke twice, (An inside joke with the trumpets, I spilled coke once, and now, it gets spilled twice more) Our band director yells at John K., who tells him (our band director) Erick did it. It gets sorted out, and John K. gets the blame, as he should, and always does. We hang out in the commons area, break Erick's black razr cell phone, reassemble it, call a gas station in West Virginia, looking for "The Purple Cobra, he sold me some bad crack." And then we get into the busses for our trip to Triton Reginal High School in Runameede, NJ (like you really care about that :))

A relativly quiet bus trip later, and we are there, in full uniform, marching in rows of two from the bus to the bathrooms, raising our hats at every elevation change (a sign of respect tword the uniform/hat) And we pass another band while waiting to get outside, they don't look at us, they wern't worthy, no one looks at us unless they yell something bad like "Go to [heck]" or something of that nature at us. We are better, so they think bad mouthing us will make them feel better.

Last year, for instence, our show was called "The Empire" it had to do with the rise and fall of the roman empire (Listen to it here[short version]: The Rise and Fall of Rome (http://keypoulan.com/comp_riseandfall.html)) People would yell "The Empire will fall!" and "Sticks and stones build an empire, but fire brings it all down" They were, in essance, comparing us to the Roman Empire, and that, eventually it did fall, a very good comparison, but, it won't happen, we will never fall (I'm gloating, sorry)This year it's called "Frantic Tranquility" (if you heard the songs here: Mvts. 1, 3, and 4 only (http://keypoulan.com/comp_trep.html) you will agree)

Back on subject here: We got our instumenets, and headed out to a field wich wasn't in use to warm up. We stretch, and prepare best we can for the competition that the judges will always keep in their mind in the future. After doing our tradition of drinking pure lemon juice (for the spit) we get on the track and march, march, and after what seemed like an eturnity, we curved, spread out and Mr. Fanelli(our band director) about faced us and we did our field warm-up. We about faced and marched to our openig set......

The pit opened up 'bum bum bum... bum-bum bum bum... The drill was perfect, the crowd loosened up and the 'cool' beat got them into the song... until... BAM!!! The trumpets hit the impact, and everyone yells in surprise. We fade back ward and play the relaxing, 'cool' beat again. Then the runs came, the trumpets and pit did some really fast stuff, it took a while to memeroize it, but it was worth it. we fade back again and get to doing the tempo beat. It's a 5/4, 5/4, 5/4, 6/4 beat. Five beats per measure the first three times, and six the forth time, and it repeats as long as the show does. Basicly, the way it is is: long long short short(5/4) long long short short(5/4) long long short short(5/4) long long long long (6/4) Like saying "dumb dumb dut dut" three times and "dumb dumb dumb dumb" each time you say dumb, or dut, a foot touchs the ground. Then we pause, and start the next three songs. I linked to them earlier, and to make a long story short, IT WAS MAGIC. The sets were perfect, we hit all the notes, and when we marched off, the crowd went nuts. When the next band left, they didn't do anything, and it was the home band! Our band director was like a five year old, and the other band director's mouth's were open is amazement. The other bands were nothing compared to us.

When the scores came in for Group III bands (ours) we had 82, the next highest Group III had 76.167. Thats a bit more then 5 points, a lot when band competitions are won by tenths of points.

We were screaming our heads off, no one had a voice yesterday. :)

We came, we saw, we conquered. Long live the Roman... ahem, excuse me, the Absegami Band!!! :)

[yardgames]

Sorry, J, but I just don't care enough to read a post that long. :D

[packer-backer]

I did read it. Maybe once I learn more about music I'll understand it.

[NeCoHo]

Long story short: We beat the [doo-doo] out of the other bands.



And pictures from that competition are on the absegami band site (linked to my sig.)

[packer-backer]

For the last month and a hald Ive been taking private lessons. I also play the trumpet J. It's a little more confusing than I thought it would be.

[NeCoHo]

Three valves have more combos then you think. :) Then there's ameture, tounge arching, speed, double touging, triple tounging, keeping time, hitting the right pitch, hitting the right lenght of the notes, tone, being sharp or flat, the fingerings, I could go on for a while.

One thing you learn as a trumpet player: practice makes permenant. If you practice the wrong stuff, you won't play the right stuff when you have to. :)

Do you like it? After you get the C major scale down pact, it get easier, beginer music rarely goes higher then then a mid C, and rarely lower then a low C.

Let me guess what you have:

Bach Bb Student horn. (TR300? that's mine) PM me if you need tips or anything. OK?

[packer-backer]

Yeah I enjoy it alot. I think thats the kind of trumpet I ahve but it's at my school right now, so I can't go check. I will PM you if I need anything.
Oh, and hitting the right pitch was really hard for me to learn. I finally got that down though.

[NeCoHo]

Here are some really funny Band jokes, you don't even have to be in band to get them:

http://manzano.aps.edu/activities/band/Humor.shtml#flute

above the flute jokes are 409 reasons you know that you have been in band too long, below are some really funny jokes about instruments.

http://www.geocities.com/sax411/humor/dictionary.html

Now you know what I'm talking about with this dictionary.

http://www.rpi.edu/~kuurem/marchingband.html

20 more reasons defining if you've been in the band too long.

And I have already.

[NeCoHo]

Hey, there's been a press release from my band to our local newspaper:



Absegami High School Instrumental Music Dept.
Absegami Marching Braves
Absegami Concert Band
*****************
Galloway Township, NJ 08205-9554
609-***-****
Contact: Michael Fanelli, director








ABSEGAMI MARCHING BRAVES CONTINUE TO BRING HOME

FIRST PLACE AWARDS

On Sunday, Oct. 30, the Absegami Marching Braves Band traveled to Southern Regional High School in Manahawkin for their annual Tournament of Bands Competition.
Several area, North Jersey, and Pennsylvania high school marching bands competed for the top awards in their divisions. The Absegami Marching Braves, scoring a 92.25, once again brought home the First Place trophy for the Group III division. The Percussion Section brought home the High Percussion Award with a score of 19.0 out of a possible 20 points in their category.
On Wednesday evening, Nov. 2, the Marching Braves competed at the Middle Township stadium for the annual Middle Township High School Marching Band’s annual "Octoberfest" Tournament of Bands.
The Absegami Band brought home another first place trophy in the Group III division; this time, their overall score, a 93.45. The percussion section once again received the High Percussion Award scoring a 19.3 out of 20 points. The Guard received the High Auxiliary award, and even the Band Parents’ Associations’ Field Crew received a special first place award for their quick and efficient work with the Sideline Percussion. This Sunday, Nov. 6 the Braves will travel to the South Jersey Marching Band Championships in Williamstown. The following weekend the 94-member band heads to Lackawanna Stadium to compete in the Atlantic Coast Championships, Scranton, PA – Nov. 11 through 13.
For further information regarding any of the competitions listed in this article, contact Michael Fanelli, Absegami H.S. Band Director at 609-***-****;



As you can tell from my sig, we won the chapter championships in Williamstown NJ. And I am leaving Friday morning for Scranton, the Atlantic Coast Championships.


I'll re-open this thread, but only for a little while (a week) So I can post our scores, and hear commments from everyone here.

[Wildcat]

Congratulations J. and good luck in your competition this weekend!

I was in band in middle school, but sadly I dropped out in 8th grade. I played alto sax. I didn't want to take marching band because I was too lazy to go to practice every afternoon. :o You have a lot of dicipline to stick with it!

[NeCoHo]

not ready yet.-->[OK, I have my competition(as in my band doing their show with music/moves) on a dvd, and I'll send it to you through yousendit.com.

Just PM me with your e-mail, and you get to see this thing I've been talking about since July. You acuatly see me in the bottom left corner a couple times, and it's a pretty good video.]<--not ready yet, Sam is educating me.:) sorry.

And as for the championships (I'll make it short):

We came in fourth place, (losing to a band that dropped their drum on the field) and we were very [angry] at the results. Our scrore dropped from a 96.65 to a 94.9, and the show I have here is 20 times better then that one. But you can't have a NJ band win a PA competition. Politics. Our band director and staff are thinking about pulling out of the circut currently are in and going to a new one. The End. I hope that was a better summery then my previously long ones. :)

[Lucky Maroon]

We don't have band at our school. If we did, I would probably try it.

[yardgames]

What ever happened to J anyway?

[tjpeople]

I don't think he has been here since the relaunch or was he?

I don't think he gave a reason.

[yardgames]

He Hates Us!!!!

[NeCoHo]

I do not hate you. I just found myself misplaced... And I find it extremely ironic that you said that on my birthday...

As another note, last year, the 2006 Absegami Marching Braves placed number one out of the top 10 bands within the USSBA (http://www.yea.org/site/PageNavigator/USSBA07_Northeast) National Championships that took place at the US Naval Academy Football Stadium. This year, we swept the central jersey and state jersey championships, while coming in 3rd at Norther States, and 2nd at the 2nd Annual USSBA National Championships.

[tjpeople]

I think he was being ironic.

[yardgames]

Nope he hates us. Still. Even though hes back he still hates us.

[NeCoHo]

I hate hippies :/ Are you all reefer smoking hippies? I do not think so, as you all seem to be able to use teh intertubes correctly. :P

[yardgames]

Yeah J I can swim.