Day 35

Date: June 18, 2011

Time: 11:01pm (CST)

Playing on iTunes: "Piano Concerto No. 2: Mov. 1" by Dmitri Shostakovich

Location: Rockwall, TX Day 2

FIRST SHOW DAY OF THE SEASON!! After a great night's sleep, we woke up to Ben Pouncey (drum major) announcing that it was the first show day! So exciting. It was going to be a short day because show days are meant to have 2 short blocks and a short ensemble to enable time to get to the show that usually starts around 8p. This kind of schedule is great practice for focusing yourself and keeping yourself motivated without getting distracted. There's so much moving (as far as the pit goes) and it is easy to get distracted in the moving process and it takes a lot to get back into the performance mind set. For the most part it seemed that everyone, including me, stayed motivated all day.

Today we got a new synth cart!! This was a great present for us because the 88-key, 70lb synthesizer we have did not have a cart to it so we'd always have to carry it to wherever we went. This is MUCH easier.

After the short day of rehearsal, we loaded up the truck, ate some dinner and left for Saginaw High School. The anticipation before the show was incredible. Just knowing what we were about to do got me so excited to perform. The entire bus ride I was preparing myself for one of the greatest nights of the summer.

Blue sky, black cloud...

With some weather that threatened us, we had to delay a fair amount which set back all of our times. Once leaving the bus we only had a certain amount of time to warm up and get ready to perform. It was a bit rushed, but we were able to do it. After we warmed up, we rolled over to the gate as one, in one line, at the same time; one Cadets pit, all together. Waiting to perform inside the stadium gave me the chills. As the pit stood together in a circle and prepared (mentally) for the show, I was thinking to myself "People came her to see us, people came here to see me. Let's me make this show the best one this person has ever seen." And that we did. The crowd was incredibly responsive to our performance. It was the best performance of our show we've ever done. So much passion and so much energy put forward. It was unbelievable for the crowd. The audience loved us and we loved them. After playing that last cymbal roll in the show, I could do nothing but smile. I had feelings of pure joy and raw energy. I played my heart out as well as everyone else in this corps and I felt it.

First drum corps show of my life...finished. And I'm very proud of each and everyone that I performed with tonight. Thank you everyone for making my night so special.

P.S. Nature in Texas is still the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. Check this out:

Thought of the Day: "Give all you had until you cannot give anymore."