Blog Post #2: One Band, One Sound!

            Teaching all of the many aspects of a high school marching band is both physically and mentally demanding, but the rewards are worth it.  After spending a hot, august morning on the asphalt learning how to march, the Boonville marching band got to eat lunch. After their hour long break, the music rehearsals started.

When I first started to warm up the ensemble, I was quite shocked because most high school groups after a lunch break are unfocused and quite talkative. The ensemble proved me wrong by responding positively with the instructions I was giving them.  After the full ensemble warm up, outside we went to work on coordinating music and drill, but the temperature quickly rose to a level where we could not work outside any longer. After the band got inside, we broke into sectionals, where I got to work with just the low brass at first. Later the entire brass line came in to work with me. The first thing we tackled as a full brass section was tuning. More specifically, the brass tends to force too much with their air, especially towards the ends of phrases, causing them to play sharp. We did a lot of tuning exercises, which mostly centered on listening down to the tubas' intonation for a fundamental pitch. Balance was the next big item on the checklist. We played a 16 bar chord progression, which entails root position, and first and second position chords so that every member of the ensemble could have a different listening environment. Doing this ensured that the tubas were not always playing the root of the chord and the mellophones were not always playing the fifth, etc. Just by working on the blend, balance, and intonation of the brass line, the overall core sound of the ensemble was more “dark” and resonant. These students are working very hard and they still have some ground to cover in their musicality. To prove that these students are working hard on their musical performance, the Band of Gold also got the best music award, along with best visual, and a shiny 1^st place trophy for their class. These dedicated students never cease to amaze me.

             To the members of the Boonville High School Band of Gold, just know the sky is the limit. Go for it!

Blog Post #1: Why do we have to do fundamentals again?

                 

           On the morning of Saturday, August 20, the Boonville high school marching band set out on a mission that was both obtainable and would prove to be very difficult.  From this day, the band only had three weeks to get there show locked down for their first competition. Knowing this, the band, as well as the band director, were under a lot of pressure and had to really turn up the focus to achieve this goal. One of Boonville’s weaker areas in their marching band performance was the visual aspect. After a nice long stretch, the band worked on their fundamental marching techniques with me. The fundamental marching techniques taught to a high school band are essential in the way they will project their sound on the field. From the beginning of band camp at Boonville to this Saturday camp, the students had already made an improvement in their marching technique.  After attempting the first exercise, which they already knew how to do prior to this camp, I had to have a serious talk with them. In my opinion, the band, for whatever reason, lacked the focus and drive they had when I last saw them. I gave them a talk about striving for excellence; to stop at nothing to be the best.  After this talk about getting motivated, we set out to finish our fundamental exercises and from that point on they turned up the heat and were very focused. A “light bulb” when off in my head after seeing them make a 120% improvement in all of their marching techniques. I learned that people sometimes just need the proper motivation to get them going. This especially means that students need to be motivated in a positive manner when they are trying to overcome the hot weather and the mental breakdowns that come with fundamental marching.  

                I am very proud of Boonville Band of Gold for working so hard on their marching technique during this camp and during the camp right before the competition. It really paid off for them, because at their most recent competition this past Saturday (September 17) they got the award for best visual. Congratulations Band of Gold, you deserve it!

Social Media Post

As a person growing up in a generation where technology is the way of life, I must take extra precautions when it comes to posting things online. As a responsible user of multimedia content, I believe that there is an obvious limit with what should get put online from my personal life. With what the public sees through my personal web pages and other media on the internet, they can interpret the kind of person I am without ever even meeting me.

There is a lot different ways people can research others via the web, but among these many different websites, the most prominent are facebook.com, youtube.com, and even google.com. Facebook, a popular, fast growing social media website has become one of the largest sources to hook up with friends online. Facebook has many features which include chatting, creating groups, and starting events in designated areas. Obviously this media can be very helpful, but can hurt a person’s reputation if used incorrectly. I must be very careful when posting things on Facebook, including pictures, videos, status updates and groups, just to name a few. Aside from posting my own pictures, I must also be very watchful of what others may post on Facebook. I always have very tight security on my multimedia websites so that this can be prevented, so that when I am being observed by professionals, I should not have to sweat about what may be on my website. Also I must be very mindful that at any point in time, a person I’m trying to get a job from can Google my name. I must make sure constantly that nothing inappropriate is put up, and even do my own Google searches to double check this.

The more that technology advances and the more people “buy in” to these multimedia websites, the more employers are utilizing the multimedia to help ensure they are hiring a trustworthy employee. They are looking through all of your social archives for anything that could be flagged as inappropriate, such as pictures, videos, etc. Extreme caution does not even sum up the action one must take in implementing themselves through social media. Every person who decides to use the social media mentioned and even those not mentioned for recreation must realize above all else, that it only takes one bad piece of media being spotted  to be left in the unemployment line.

Update

I already went to an 8 hour camp, so look forward to seeing my first blog post about my observations coming soon! Boonville's first competition is September 10, 2011. I can't wait to see their progress.