Day 4

Date: May 19, 2011

Time: 1:04am

Playing on iTunes: “Separate Ways (Worlds Aparts)" by Journey

It's finally kicked in...I'm in it for the long haul. Today I realized that I'm here for the summer and I'm SO ready for it. In the morning we took a small chunk of music in Angels Finale and rehearsed it for 3 hours. Man I love all the repetitions. It really engrains the music into your head. After a certain amount of repetitions, you learn what everyone else in the pit is play as well as yourself which is a great awareness tool in a performance situation.

Today, we rehearsed in the performing arts center again and apparently the room we're practicing in is called "the black box" since it's all painted black and boxed in from the stage and the surrounding hallways. After rehearsing in there for a while we went outside for about 45 minutes until is started raining...again; now we move back inside. For the afternoon block, our biggest concern was being prepared for the ensemble rehearsal that night. The goal for that night ensemble rehearsal was to do the first minute of the show on the field while marching (granted the pit doesn't march but the goal was for the corps to march the first minute while playing).

Being in the ensemble rehearsal gives me this adrenaline rush that I cannot describe. The focus throughout the entire drum corps is just unreal. The choreography and what the drum corps does visually on the field for the first minute is pretty incredible. Whomever is able to come out to the show will not be disappointed. Unfortunately, the pit had to pack up early because it started to really rain and then right as we packed up the sky unloaded and we all got drenched. Luckily everything was covered properly and was put on the truck immediately.

Right now, I'm actually sitting on a floor with the pit (as you see right) trying to get people to vote for YEA! (Youth Education in the Arts) and the Cadets in the Chase Community Giving Campaign. The winner of this round wins $500,000 and our organization will give that money to high school band programs throughout the country to keep the music programs going since we all know (if you didn't know by now) that music is the first thing cut in the school districts. George Hopkins (director of the Cadets) gave the entire corps a "Facebook" block from midnight to 3am and his goal is for YEA! to get 1,500 votes by noon tomorrow...so far we're at 700+. So looks like we're doing pretty well...what organization do you know has their director give the members a "Facebook" block. Hahaha I think it's pretty awesome and it's showing that it is becoming a success so let's keep it going! If anyone reading this is on Facebook, click here and vote for YEA! That will help us out a lot and will be much appreciated. If you do not use Facebook, I apologize but you are not able to vote. Go YEA! 

Have a great night!

Quote of the day: "Some people dream of success while others wake up and work for it."