Day 74

Date: July 28, 2011

Time: 12:15am (CST)

Playing on iTunes: "California Gurls (Passion Pit Remix)" by Katy Perry

Location: Little Rock, AR

Recent Trip: 350 miles

Here we are at Little Rock Central High School! Does anyone know what happened here?? Well this morning I found out that this is the first school to have racial integration in the country. What an important place! This was a little event called the Little Rock Nine. I'm not a huge history guy, but if you don't know anything about it check it out. Now that we know that we're rehearsing at one of the most important historic sites in the country, we're ready to get up and get better.

After the day morning block, the pit had to roll down the middle of the street and over to the football field for percussion stadium after lunch. It was an interesting treck down to the field. That's usually my favorite thing about the day other than playing; that's trying to figure out which was Vanessa is going to take us down to the field, unless it's a direct path.

After lunch, Colin McNutt (percussion caption head) had the entire percussion section working on the percussion feature. We hadn't had any really good time with the battery and pit in a long while. This showed to be very useful in ensemble because our parts were a lot better and ready to be shown to the crowd. This section of the show is very important because it is just the percussion with no horns to accompany it so we have to make sure everything is perfect since it is a percussion solo.

Before ensemble, the front keyboard line had about an hour to kill, so J.J. had us go outside the stadium and work on some fast keyboard passages. It's essential that during those passages, we all play together or else it sounds horrible. We're at the point where if one person plays a wrong note, or is not playing together just by a little, it sounds horrible! So these little break down sessions are very good for our growth in that aspect.

Coming into this next show tonight is a little different than the night before...we're not underdogs. We're now on top, so we need to stay on top. Rehearsal went well today and we were shaping up to have a great run through tonight. And that's what we did. Rolled onto the field, introduced the angels and the demons, and took the field by storm while showing the crowd what we could do. Every performance keeps getting better and better. I felt absolutely amazing throughout the entire performance and especially afterwards. Personally this was a great achievement because last night's performance was not my best, but tonight's performance was my best. No greater feeling.

DCI Arkansas
1) The Cadets - 92.25
2) The Cavaliers - 91.90
3) Santa Clara Vanguard - 87.65
4) The Academy - 77.8

CPit Spotlight 2011

Here is a special member of the pit. His name is Tanner Jones and he is a former baritone player of the corps for the past three years. He came onto the pit mid season to help us out with the sound board throughout the season. With the complications of everything the techs need to do, they can just go to the top of the stadium during rehearsal and listen to what the pit sounds like and then communicate it down to Tanner instead of making multiple trips themselves to change the volume levels. It's also great because it's another set of hands that help us out setting up and breaking down from the field before and after performances. Tanner is a 19-year old music technology major at Texas A&M University-Commerce. He grew up in a musical household and started taking piano lessons as a child. But he's been playing euphonium since sixth grade. When asked what his greatest memory during his three years here at the Cadets was, he said: "The 2009 season was very special to me for multiple reasons. Alongside it being my first year in the corps, the Cadets were celebrating their 75th anniversary. Towards the back half of the season the corps played an indoor performance of the program for alumni in New Jersey. I have never felt so much energy in such a concentrated space. I was completely overwhelmed by the emotion that was being passed around the auditorium. After the performance we all got to set our horns down and go out into the crowd to sing the corps song. Holding hands with two alumnus that I had never met before I closed my eyes, and sang. That moment  marked the first moment I ever truly felt like a Cadet, and I soon realized how big of an impact this organization would have on my life." 

Thought of the Day: "Never let your memories be greater than your dreams."