So it's the end of the semester. A lot of things are winding down and coming to a close. People are getting ready to sell back their textbooks. They're packing up their things. They're getting ready to go back home for a nice long 3-week break.
I, like most students, can't wait for the end of the semester and eagerly anticipate the moment I can leave here, exam- and worry-free, for a wonderful winter break.
There was one thing I returned, however, that left me feeling abandoned and actually kind of sad.
And that was my marching band uniform.
Now, I really hope marching band counts as a cultural event because let's face it, football games are cultural events, and what do you always find at halftime? The band. This organization has been 95% of my life for the past semester, and I just wanted to take a little while and not only describe everything we do, but to really reflect on it and evaluate what we've done and how much I've changed because of this wonderful ensemble.
It all starts with band camp, where we practice for literally 10 hours a day in extreme heat, humidity, drama and frustration. We commit 8 hours to each other every week once school starts. When a football game starts at 1, we're at the stadium at 9:30 in the morning. When it starts at 7, we're there at 4:30. Rain or shine, 32 degrees or 72 degrees, snow, sleet, hail, wind, we march (and probably have marched) through it all.
Now add the pressure of memorizing every single piece of music we play on the field, memorizing drill, most times working on two different halftime shows at once, extra stuff that we do like parades and managing your time outside of band and you've got one heck of an experience. Not to toot our own horn (no pun intended), but, as our director Dr. Vondran kindly calculated for us, we have spent over 200 hours this semester working on performances that normally last only 8-10 minutes.
That's incredible, at least in my mind.
My favorite show by far that we've done this year was our first show of the season, our Metallica show. It was actually the anniversary (I don't remember which number) of Metallica's Black Album this year, so we decided to do a show dedicated to the band and the album. The music was absolutely amazing--you would think a marching band could never sound like a heavy metal band, but we certainly came close. We definitely pushed the bounds of marching band music with this show, and it was an incredible experience. This was also the show we worked on during band camp, so personally this show holds a lot of memories for me, as it does for a lot of people.
Besides the Metallica show, we've also done a Girl Power show, which was Pink, Lady Gaga and Madonna music. This music was pretty cut-and-dry trumpet melody marching music, but the special thing about this show was that we learned the drill and memorized all of the music in three days. Three. Days. For a normal college band, that would be unthinkable, but we did it.
Another show we did was called the Americana show, which was dedicated to veterans and the sacrifices they have made for our country. This was definitely the most difficult show music-wise that we performed; there is a reason why patriotic songs are so revered in our culture, and that's because they're not only beautiful but very difficult, especially for woodwind players (like me). This performance was special not so much because of the music, but because of the responses that we got from a lot of veterans in the audience relayed to Dr. Vondran. He told us stories about how veterans had come up to him with tears in their eyes telling him how much they had appreciated our performance. When playing patriotic pieces like this I really didn't think about the impact we might be having on people (I was too busy trying to remember notes) but this show was special because it helped me remember that, even though our shows don't matter to a lot of people, they do to some. And that small group of people is really important.
Our last show was a Stevie Wonder show. Dr. Vondran definitely challenged us with this last performance, as most of the music was very jazzy and swing-style music, which is very difficult to play in a normal concert setting let alone on a football field. Overall though, it was a really impressive performance, and looking back I really appreciate how Dr. V has always challenged us. If we played average marching music, we would be an average band. But we've always played music that was above-the-bar, and we have definitely become an over-the-bar band.
Now that I've ranted about how awesome and amazing marching band is, I admit there are a few fundamental problems I think we have with reaching our audience. For one thing, most people leave to go do other things during halftime; a marching band performance becomes second priority. Even for pregame, half of the audience hasn't even arrived yet. I think another problem we have is that people just don't care, especially with the not-as-popular music that we play. We managed to get a lot more people to stay in the stands with the Girl Power show, but for the other shows people cleared right out like they always do.
However, one of the most amazing things I've discovered this year is that no one in band cares. No one cares if everyone leaves during our performance. Do you know why? The best way I can think to put it is how Dr. V put it at the end of band camp:
"We don't march for them. We march for the people marching next to us."
And he's exactly right. Do we think marching in 80-degree weather is fun? No. Do we think marching forever around Muncie for the Homecoming Parade is fun? Definitely not. We're here for the people. There's no other reason. (Well, except to fill a requirement for some music majors, but that's not what I'm talking about here.)
When it comes down to it, I really can't even describe how incredible of an experience it has been. The best and most amazing friends I have made here are my band friends. Being in band isn't just taking a class; it's escaping to a place where everyone loves and accepts you just because you're there. When I get homesick, rehearsal is one of the few places I feel at home.
Now, as I reflect on the past couple of months and stare at my strangely emptier closet, the beginnings of tears form in my eyes.
Not tears of sadness--tears of joy.
I've had such a special opportunity to devote so much of my life to an incredible group of people. I've been so incredibly lucky to be able to sit down and make amazing music with the best friends I could ever ask for. And as I sit here typing this a song from our Metallica show comes on my iPod.
I smile.
Cultural Event Report Number One
So, a couple weeks ago I went and saw the musical Circus in Winter, put on by the Department of Theater and Dance and the Center for Creative Inquiry. They emphasized the fact that it was an immersive learning project and had spent months upon months creating it.
This fact was pretty obvious. From the second I looked at the fancy colorful program the I was impressed. The sets were absolutely amazing, and the lighting and tech effects were awesome. I was heavily involved in theater in high school, and I did EVERYTHING backstage. It was so cool to see such a professional-looking set and tech crew and to see them pull off something really amazing. It may be kind of geeky, but the first thing I noticed onstage were not the actors--it was the set design. And it was so cool. They made a six-foot tall elephant out of fabric. Out of fabric! That's crazy. But it looked so awesome. When it first came on stage I was like gaping in amazement, and my roommate who was sitting next to me was like "Are you okay?" Haha. I guess that's what I get for being a nerd.
Anyway, besides the awesome sets and lighting, I was really impressed with the costumes. Dixianna's costume (the gypsy-looking one) was absolutely gorgeous. The rest of the costumes looked really legitimate and accurate to the time period the musical was set in, which I also thought was really cool.
That brings me to another point. Everything in this show was really accurate historically, which they obviously put a lot of time and effort into. It was obvious they tried really hard to make it as accurate as possible, and I give them props for that.
The music, of course, was awesome. It was a very different style than I was used to for music that's...normally in a musical, but I think they pulled it off fairly well. It was very folksy/bluesy, and I really enjoyed listening to how they incorporated it into the rest of the musical. The song "Deal 'Em Out" was definitely my favorite, mostly because it was a little jazzier and they did some really cool vocal improvisation. The song also actually progressed the plot (which is weird for musicals) and I thought was a very enlightening description of the characters.
For those of you who didn't see it, Circus in Winter is basically about this farmer guy named Porter, who lives in a small town: Peru, Indiana. He and his (cousin? brother?) Emory take a trip to New York, just for kicks and giggles. Porter falls in love with this girl named Irene. They get married, and she moves back to Peru with him. Eventually she gets sick and dies. Porter is left with an empty house and a broken heart.
...This is only the first ten minutes.
All of a sudden Porter is buying a circus from this crazy old guy (oh, did I mention Irene and Porter met at the circus?) and all of these characters are being thrown in your face. Dixianna, the acrobat from Louisiana, Jack, her boyfriend, and Pearly, this one-eyed girl from the Bayou who I thought was a boy for the longest time.
After Irene dies the play becomes this tangled mess of Porter running the circus, drama between Dixianna and her abusive boyfriend Jack, Pearly's teenage angst and how the elephant is being abused by Jack. Don't forget Porter's still emotionally recovering from Irene's death and stressing out about how to manage the circus. Irene still appears at random times throughout the show. (I think she was supposed to symbolize a sort of ghost...?)
And then Porter and Dixianna have an affair. And then there's a flood. And after that I just got really confused.
I really admired the performers, set designers and the musicians in this show, but the plot was so confusing and muddled that it was difficult for me to enjoy anything else. I understand that it was a musical, but there was almost too much music and not enough dialogue. There wasn't enough conversation for me to grasp everything that was going on. (Or maybe I'm just slow...who knows.)
The way they timed everything out was also odd. The period in the beginning where Porter and Irene meet is obviously a very important part of the story, but it takes such a short amount of time that we hardly even get to know Irene before she dies. The small amount of time each character gets to really tell their story and express themselves made it hard to relate to the characters and sympathize with them. Personally, I like to be able to sympathize/empathize with characters, whether it be in a book or a play, and it annoyed me that I couldn't understand them enough.
What I also found interesting is the fact that Circus in Winter is only based off of the first three chapters of Cathy Day's book. Interesting, huh?
Anyway, I really enjoyed the artistic elements of the musical, like the sets, costumes, and music. But overall the plot was very discombobulated and muddled, and made it hard to understand.
It was really cool to be able to watch a show from the audience, though. For the past four years of my life I've always been behind the curtain.
So it's the end of the semester. A lot of things are winding down and coming to a close. People are getting ready to sell back their textbooks. They're packing up their things. They're getting ready to go back home for a nice long 3-week break.
I, like most students, can't wait for the end of the semester and eagerly anticipate the moment I can leave here, exam- and worry-free, for a wonderful winter break.
There was one thing I returned, however, that left me feeling abandoned and actually kind of sad.
And that was my marching band uniform.
Now, I really hope marching band counts as a cultural event because let's face it, football games are cultural events, and what do you always find at halftime? The band. This organization has been 95% of my life for the past semester, and I just wanted to take a little while and not only describe everything we do, but to really reflect on it and evaluate what we've done and how much I've changed because of this wonderful ensemble.
It all starts with band camp, where we practice for literally 10 hours a day in extreme heat, humidity, drama and frustration. We commit 8 hours to each other every week once school starts. When a football game starts at 1, we're at the stadium at 9:30 in the morning. When it starts at 7, we're there at 4:30. Rain or shine, 32 degrees or 72 degrees, snow, sleet, hail, wind, we march (and probably have marched) through it all.
Now add the pressure of memorizing every single piece of music we play on the field, memorizing drill, most times working on two different halftime shows at once, extra stuff that we do like parades and managing your time outside of band and you've got one heck of an experience. Not to toot our own horn (no pun intended), but, as our director Dr. Vondran kindly calculated for us, we have spent over 200 hours this semester working on performances that normally last only 8-10 minutes.
That's incredible, at least in my mind.
My favorite show by far that we've done this year was our first show of the season, our Metallica show. It was actually the anniversary (I don't remember which number) of Metallica's Black Album this year, so we decided to do a show dedicated to the band and the album. The music was absolutely amazing--you would think a marching band could never sound like a heavy metal band, but we certainly came close. We definitely pushed the bounds of marching band music with this show, and it was an incredible experience. This was also the show we worked on during band camp, so personally this show holds a lot of memories for me, as it does for a lot of people.
Besides the Metallica show, we've also done a Girl Power show, which was Pink, Lady Gaga and Madonna music. This music was pretty cut-and-dry trumpet melody marching music, but the special thing about this show was that we learned the drill and memorized all of the music in three days. Three. Days. For a normal college band, that would be unthinkable, but we did it.
Another show we did was called the Americana show, which was dedicated to veterans and the sacrifices they have made for our country. This was definitely the most difficult show music-wise that we performed; there is a reason why patriotic songs are so revered in our culture, and that's because they're not only beautiful but very difficult, especially for woodwind players (like me). This performance was special not so much because of the music, but because of the responses that we got from a lot of veterans in the audience relayed to Dr. Vondran. He told us stories about how veterans had come up to him with tears in their eyes telling him how much they had appreciated our performance. When playing patriotic pieces like this I really didn't think about the impact we might be having on people (I was too busy trying to remember notes) but this show was special because it helped me remember that, even though our shows don't matter to a lot of people, they do to some. And that small group of people is really important.
Our last show was a Stevie Wonder show. Dr. Vondran definitely challenged us with this last performance, as most of the music was very jazzy and swing-style music, which is very difficult to play in a normal concert setting let alone on a football field. Overall though, it was a really impressive performance, and looking back I really appreciate how Dr. V has always challenged us. If we played average marching music, we would be an average band. But we've always played music that was above-the-bar, and we have definitely become an over-the-bar band.
Now that I've ranted about how awesome and amazing marching band is, I admit there are a few fundamental problems I think we have with reaching our audience. For one thing, most people leave to go do other things during halftime; a marching band performance becomes second priority. Even for pregame, half of the audience hasn't even arrived yet. I think another problem we have is that people just don't care, especially with the not-as-popular music that we play. We managed to get a lot more people to stay in the stands with the Girl Power show, but for the other shows people cleared right out like they always do.
However, one of the most amazing things I've discovered this year is that no one in band cares. No one cares if everyone leaves during our performance. Do you know why? The best way I can think to put it is how Dr. V put it at the end of band camp:
"We don't march for them. We march for the people marching next to us."
And he's exactly right. Do we think marching in 80-degree weather is fun? No. Do we think marching forever around Muncie for the Homecoming Parade is fun? Definitely not. We're here for the people. There's no other reason. (Well, except to fill a requirement for some music majors, but that's not what I'm talking about here.)
When it comes down to it, I really can't even describe how incredible of an experience it has been. The best and most amazing friends I have made here are my band friends. Being in band isn't just taking a class; it's escaping to a place where everyone loves and accepts you just because you're there. When I get homesick, rehearsal is one of the few places I feel at home.
Now, as I reflect on the past couple of months and stare at my strangely emptier closet, the beginnings of tears form in my eyes.
Not tears of sadness--tears of joy.
I've had such a special opportunity to devote so much of my life to an incredible group of people. I've been so incredibly lucky to be able to sit down and make amazing music with the best friends I could ever ask for. And as I sit here typing this a song from our Metallica show comes on my iPod.
I smile.
Cultural Event Report Number One
So, a couple weeks ago I went and saw the musical Circus in Winter, put on by the Department of Theater and Dance and the Center for Creative Inquiry. They emphasized the fact that it was an immersive learning project and had spent months upon months creating it.
This fact was pretty obvious. From the second I looked at the fancy colorful program the I was impressed. The sets were absolutely amazing, and the lighting and tech effects were awesome. I was heavily involved in theater in high school, and I did EVERYTHING backstage. It was so cool to see such a professional-looking set and tech crew and to see them pull off something really amazing. It may be kind of geeky, but the first thing I noticed onstage were not the actors--it was the set design. And it was so cool. They made a six-foot tall elephant out of fabric. Out of fabric! That's crazy. But it looked so awesome. When it first came on stage I was like gaping in amazement, and my roommate who was sitting next to me was like "Are you okay?" Haha. I guess that's what I get for being a nerd.
Anyway, besides the awesome sets and lighting, I was really impressed with the costumes. Dixianna's costume (the gypsy-looking one) was absolutely gorgeous. The rest of the costumes looked really legitimate and accurate to the time period the musical was set in, which I also thought was really cool.
That brings me to another point. Everything in this show was really accurate historically, which they obviously put a lot of time and effort into. It was obvious they tried really hard to make it as accurate as possible, and I give them props for that.
The music, of course, was awesome. It was a very different style than I was used to for music that's...normally in a musical, but I think they pulled it off fairly well. It was very folksy/bluesy, and I really enjoyed listening to how they incorporated it into the rest of the musical. The song "Deal 'Em Out" was definitely my favorite, mostly because it was a little jazzier and they did some really cool vocal improvisation. The song also actually progressed the plot (which is weird for musicals) and I thought was a very enlightening description of the characters.
For those of you who didn't see it, Circus in Winter is basically about this farmer guy named Porter, who lives in a small town: Peru, Indiana. He and his (cousin? brother?) Emory take a trip to New York, just for kicks and giggles. Porter falls in love with this girl named Irene. They get married, and she moves back to Peru with him. Eventually she gets sick and dies. Porter is left with an empty house and a broken heart.
...This is only the first ten minutes.
All of a sudden Porter is buying a circus from this crazy old guy (oh, did I mention Irene and Porter met at the circus?) and all of these characters are being thrown in your face. Dixianna, the acrobat from Louisiana, Jack, her boyfriend, and Pearly, this one-eyed girl from the Bayou who I thought was a boy for the longest time.
After Irene dies the play becomes this tangled mess of Porter running the circus, drama between Dixianna and her abusive boyfriend Jack, Pearly's teenage angst and how the elephant is being abused by Jack. Don't forget Porter's still emotionally recovering from Irene's death and stressing out about how to manage the circus. Irene still appears at random times throughout the show. (I think she was supposed to symbolize a sort of ghost...?)
And then Porter and Dixianna have an affair. And then there's a flood. And after that I just got really confused.
I really admired the performers, set designers and the musicians in this show, but the plot was so confusing and muddled that it was difficult for me to enjoy anything else. I understand that it was a musical, but there was almost too much music and not enough dialogue. There wasn't enough conversation for me to grasp everything that was going on. (Or maybe I'm just slow...who knows.)
The way they timed everything out was also odd. The period in the beginning where Porter and Irene meet is obviously a very important part of the story, but it takes such a short amount of time that we hardly even get to know Irene before she dies. The small amount of time each character gets to really tell their story and express themselves made it hard to relate to the characters and sympathize with them. Personally, I like to be able to sympathize/empathize with characters, whether it be in a book or a play, and it annoyed me that I couldn't understand them enough.
What I also found interesting is the fact that Circus in Winter is only based off of the first three chapters of Cathy Day's book. Interesting, huh?
Anyway, I really enjoyed the artistic elements of the musical, like the sets, costumes, and music. But overall the plot was very discombobulated and muddled, and made it hard to understand.
It was really cool to be able to watch a show from the audience, though. For the past four years of my life I've always been behind the curtain.
It was really awesome to sit in front of it.