Even though we fight and don't always get along, I will always think of my marching family as my band family. They are like the siblings I never had. It breaks my heart that at the end of the year I will have to say good bye to another set of seniors. But I will always have the memories. You wouldn't think that we would get along so well, but even though we all have VERY DIFFERENT (and I mean very different) personalities, we are all still a band family. It is crazy the bonds that you make when you are just eating lunch at band camp or laughing at that thing someone did the bus to a competition but they make unbreakable bonds. Yes we are weird and yes we are crazy, but we are weird and crazy together. Some people think it is crazy that we enjoy marching around on a field but it is the thing I love. I love the feeling of finishing a great show, knowing you did well, covered in sweat and you can't help but smile even wider as you start marching of the field. It is amazing the rush you get from performing the show you and your band spent hours upon hours trying to perfect. I can't help but love the rush I get when the music starts and we are doing a another run of the show. It is crazy how this seven to ten minute show can make you laugh or cry or smile or so many other emotions that I can't even begin to describe. I love everyone in my band and will never forget, no matter how small, or large their impact on my life.
OK, so this blog post will be about color guard things that annoy me to NO END!
So number 1, facial expression! OK so we are color guard. We are supposed to be pretty. When you are performing you shouldn't look like you are being murdered (unless you are as a part of your show). Nor should you look like this is the worst thing you have ever been apart of and just want to die! You are apart of color guard! You are supposed to REPRESENT the music! If you are there and you are all upset or bored and the music is very happy, then you are not doing your job correctly! Number 2, Watching upperclassmen! So, this is your show too right? You want to win too correct? OK, then LEARN YOUR SHOW and DON'T WATCH THE UPPERCLASSMEN! We realize that you are new and that you don't completely understand everything. But if you are completely lost then tell somebody. Because if you don't your bring your WHOLE guard down with you. Number 3, Not counting. I would understand if you were all by yourself without a drum major, met, or music. But when you have all three of those things and you are still not counting, there in no excuse. You have three things you can either watch or listen too to keep you in time. There is no reason that you should be off beat if you have all three. Number 4, Excuses. OK, I understand if you have to go to the bathroom once during sectionals. But if you say that you will refuse to practice if I don't let you go? How is that fair? Tell me! Tell me how that is a good excuse to use? Or if you guard member hinds from you BEFORE A FOOTBALL GAME and you need to WARM UP!? How is it funny? Oh, and don't ever get in that mood where you act like your upset because I singled you out. Yes, sometimes I do, because I want you to get better!? I don't do it to make myself fell better. I want you to honestly get better. But when you hid from me and act like it is funny and then I get yelled at because I can't find you, it is NOT funny. Number 5, Not knowing your work after THREE WEEKS! So, when I teach you the work on Friday, I expect you to at least go through the work in your head during the weekend. And then a week later DON'T SAY that "We haven't had much time to go over it." TO THE BAND DIRECTOR'S FACE! I know that is a lie and don't ever say that!?!? Number 6, Asking if we need a our drill sheet. So, at my school we have laminated sheet that tells us where each set is located. OK, so if we haven't finished learning drill and we are still not perfect (which is IMPOSSIBLE!) then, yes you do need you drill sheet. The rest of the band needs it, and we are a part of the band so is there an excuse? NO! So this might sound like I am really mad. I'm not, it is just that if you do or ask these things you are not pushing yourself to do your best. I just want you to do your best and be the best team we can be. I am not mad, I am trying to push you! Color guard works just as hard as other sports, so it really hurts when people hate on color guard. Not only people who aren't in band hate on us but also people in the marching band hate on us. It seems like they think we don't work as hard or care enough. They seem to think that we purposely try to pull down the band score. Well, we don't. We try just as hard as the band, sometimes more than the band. It is hard for us. You can usually only start in guard when you get to high school. Most schools start offering band in middle school and sometimes even before. So, we have to stat from the very beginning and learn everything in the same time as you. You would think that after all this work we would be thought of of just the the band. Well, sometimes guards do but sometimes we don't and it hurts when we don't. I am not saying that the guard deserves extra money or extra recognition but it would be nice if our own band thought of us as equals instead of kind of equals. I would just like to be though of just as good as someone in the band, not less. I might seem like I don't care or I let my section do whatever but I am trying as hard as I can to be a good leader and if you don't think that is good enough then you are not worth my time. All I am saying is treat the guard just like you would treat the band members.
Piece of drama 1: Well, you see we have a drum major who is graduating this year. So next year we will need a new drum major. Well, there a lot of possible replacements but there are a few people that are saying that one person would be better at doing it and should be drum major next year. Well, there few people heard that and they got really mad because they want to be a drum major. (* Just so you people who don't understand band nerd vocabulary, a drum major is the person who conducts the band. Conducting is hand movements that keep in the band in time. In marching band the drum major is usually a selected student that is selected because of their leadership skills and music knowledge.) Piece of Drama 2: Although bands seem really close and that everyone one is friends with everybody, most of the time that is not true (though I wish it was). In my band I know a lot of people who don't like this person, and that person doesn't like this person and they don't like these two people.... Well this can go on and on. Although we try to push those down most of the time and even though I might not like you, you are still in my band family and I will try to put up with you. Anyway, all bands will be very different and will have different things, both good and bad. But it is the way we push past these problems that how good of a band you are. When you are in band, you learn very quickly about being late. As my band director say, "Early is on time, on time is late, and late is DEAD!" If anyone is late it means PAIN and PUNISHMENT. My school's pain and punishment includes push ups, planks, or standing at attention for minutes at a time (which means feet together, stomach in, chest out, shoulders up back down, chin up, and eyes WITH PRIDE. All of this and no moving makes up attention). We take being late as a very big deal. We need to review or learn certain things in a certain amount of time and in a certain amount of days. My school is a small school but our band is well known and considered a very good band. The only way we can keep that up is if we stay on track, work hard, and practice. We have to push to always practice like we perform. That is why we need to be at practice early, so we can be ready to start when the clock hits meeting time. When you are in band you learn to come early to things. Although most people don't stress over being a minute late, that is one superpower that all band directors can somehow get kids to do. Marching band can teaching you many things. How to be a family, how to work as a team, trust, and many other things. But one of the most important one is take the responsibility of managing you time.
Q: Who can join color guard?
A: ANYONE! Although some schools have auditions to join, my school just wants people who will work and will have a positive attitude (and NO sass). Q: What is pre-band camp? A: Some schools have these but others don't. My school does do this but it is not for everyone. Our pre-band camp is just for our pit and drum line and guard. Q: What is the point of color guard? A: The point to color guard is to show the emotion of the music and show the music in a visual form. Q: What is the practice schedule? A: Well, different schools do it different ways, but at my school we have practices Tuesdays thru Fridays from 3:30 to 6:00 after the first couple weeks of school (the first couple weeks we have school we have practice Monday thru Friday). If you are interested in joining color guard and want to know the schedule ask the band director or color guard captain of your school (if you know who it is). Q: How long is the marching season? A: The season is usually just August thru November but it really just depends on what competitions you go to. Most school's bands march in parades as well. For my school it is just 2 Christmas/holiday parades and a homecoming parade. The Christmas parades are usually later in the season but we usually consider the season over with when you finish your last competition. Q:What is a typical competition day like? A: Well our competitions are on Saturdays and they usually last all day. You usually preform, change, watch other bands, and then they have awards. If you have ever seen the movie 'American Pie' you know that for marching band we go to a thing called BAND CAMP! But not most experiences that are told and often thought of are, not true. My school school does band camp different from a lot of other schools. Three weeks before school starts we have our all day band camp (8am - 6pm). We have this for two weeks. In this two weeks we learn how to march, how to hold attention, how to spin our flags (guard only), and lots of other things. Then we start learning our drill. Drill is the spot you march to make a form or shape. First you will learn how to march from set one to two. Then two to three, then one to three and so on. Most drill about 40 to 50 sets (and sometimes longer, though that is usually only lager or more experienced bands). Then after this camp we have a one week camp where the practices are from 3pm to 6pm. This happens the week before school starts. We continue to learn the drill and the music (or work, for the guard). After school starts we practice after school from 3:15 to 6:00. On Friday nights, Football game nights, we stay and practice until about 5:00 then we hang out of do mini section times (times where it is just certain parts of the band practicing together; flutes, clarinets, saxophones, trumpets, low brass, drum line, and pit).Then we have a small band dinner, provided by parents. Most bands do it a little different but we are all the same, marching band loving kids who just want to show off their passion.
Although you might think college marching bands were the only thing left after high school, that is is not true. Most college marching bands are not the same as high school marching bands. In lots of college marching bands, they don't really march a show, they are just there to pump you up at football games. Lucky there is another option if you are obsessed with marching band. DCI is the acronym for Drum Corps International. Drum Corps are for marchers (and color guarders) who still want to march (or guard) after high school. Drum Corps International was first formed in 1972. DCI headquarters is in Indianapolis, Indiana. There are over forty drum corps in North America, representing over twenty states and a few Canadian provinces. Drum Corps are composed of marchers that are 21 years of age and younger. Drum Corps are audition only, this means that you record yourself and then you send them a tape of you playing or come and perform for them live. When thinking about if you want to join DCI, you need to think about how much passion it will take to reach your goal. DCI bands are usually very large but also very good. They only take the best. Carolina Crown, by far one of my favorite DCI bands, is extremely hard to get into. It requires a lot of work and willingness to push yourself. I think of Carolina Crown as one of the best DCI groups in the world. When they perform, there is just so much passion you just can't stop watching. One of my goals is to make a drum corp after I graduate high school. I want to make Carolina Crown. I will have to push myself a lot to even be considered, but I know I have one thing I will need, passion.
So, at competitions there will usually be different judges that judge you on just about EVERYTHING! They judge you from as soon as they can see you until they no longer can. Until you are out of sight, they can change their score, rating, ANYTHING!
Don't get me wrong, I love judges and respect them, but when a small guard (depending on the size of the band) does everything in time, together, everything we are supposed to do and a large guard (depending on the size of the band) are never together, not smiling, not doing everything that we're supposed to do and they say that the large guard wins, that makes no sense. I understand that bigger guards have bigger effects, but I don't understand if the work and the quality (NOT quantity) is better, why the smaller guard can't win. It is really unfair and not OK for this judging to continue. For example, my band goes to POC, a big marching band competition (like the biggest on the East coast) and my I quote one of my friend's comment about POC, "The scariest acronym I have ever seen." Anyway, last year when we went to POC they had caption awards (refer back to blog posts about competitions) and when we left there were no score sheets (sheets that say what you scored and what you can do better). So basically they picked the biggest guard and gave the award to them. It was very upsetting. Basically having a small guard STINKS!?!?!?! Color guard members are usually very devoted to what we do. We usually are very dedicated and sometimes to the extremes (like me!). Here is a list of a lot of stuff we do:
-You always talk about color guard (and annoys your non-band/guard friends to no end) -You know the saying "One more time" is meaningless -You can smile (genuinely) on demand -Every song you hear can become an amazing flag/rifle/sabre routine -When you march/jazz run in the halls to get to class on time -You know how to change into full uniform on a school bus -The band/guard room is you second home -June 14th is your favorite day of the year!!! (look it up in a calender if you don't understand) -When you don't have a life outside of color guard -What know what to do when someone starts screaming "LEFT, LEFT, LEFT, LEFT" -You love electrical tape -When being five minutes late means death (or death crunches). -Where you own two pairs of gloves (practice & performance) -When you and you band come up with inside jokes so bad that the phrase, "What happens at band camp/on the band bus, stays at band camp/on the band bus" is deathly true -You know even when finish learning your show, it is never, TRULY finished -Water breaks are rare and wonderful -You comment on others bands/guards that you watch -You are always early, to EVERYTHING! All in all you might think that color guard people are weird and aren't important but we put a lot into our sport and care about very heavily. Think about that the next time you say color guard or marching band people aren't devoted. |
Saying of the Day
Day 1: #2sassy4U
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