Day 2

Date: May 16, 2011

Time: 10:57pm

Playing on iTunes: Fredric Chopin’s “Scherzo #1 in B Minor”

Day two...some rain, but again was another success and getting me excited for the rest of spring training. Started off the day with PT (physical training) with the rest of the corps. The pit doesn’t usually do it everyday but it’s great when we do. We ran a mile and did some stretches and stuff, nothing too crazy. 

A hot air balloon...interesting.

Luckily today we were able to rehearse outside instead of in the crammed band room as on day 1. Although, since the high school we’re at (Richland High School; on the right) is still in session for a few more days, we are not able to rehearse in the band room during the week. So we are forced outside, and as of right now we’re not sure where we can go right now if it’s raining out...hopefully we figure that out soon. But for today, it was overcast and drizzling every now and then. We got some practice cover the pit with tarps and making sure nothing got soaked.

On and off through the day, we were covering and uncovering the pit since the weather could not decide whether it wanted to rain or not...but nonetheless we kept the pit from getting soaked. However, I did not find out until the end of the day that I was getting burnt from the sun...overcast confused me and still burnt me even though the sun was not out. Live and learn. 

Bri hiding from the rain

After the long day of pit rehearsal, we got together with the rest of the corps on the turf field for ensemble. This was a chance for the different sections to get together and play through the music together with the drum major conducting. We got through the percussion feature (“160 BPM” by Hans Zimmer) and the finale (“Angels Finale”). Let me tell you something...it was pretty incredible the sound that the wind players get; how loud and how clear they are able to play...puts shivers down my spine every time they play. When I’m able to play with them, there’s this rush of adrenaline that runs through my body that is indescribable and it’s something that I live for and will wake up looking forward to for the next 90 days.

After ensemble, we had to go to dinner real quick then head to a “Hop meeting”. The pit had to pack everything up and bring it to the band room so we had limited time to get from the band room, to eat dinner, to get to the meeting. So we ended up doing a “grab and go” for dinner. I ended up eating all my food before we got to the meeting, but whatever...the chicken breast with side of pasta salad and potatoes tasted AMAZING.

The Hop meeting was great...he updated us on the corps and the entire staff introduced themselves; man do we have an incredible staff this year...one kid just did an internship with the Tampa Bay Rays as a sports management major! I can tell you that George (director) has told us numerous times that the outlook and attitude of the corps this year is much better than any other corps he’s taught...unreal. Well I’m off to bed. Goodnight!

Quote of the day: “Always wake up with a good attitude, because you’re attitude dictates how you’re day (eventually you’re future) will be.”