Saturday was humid and rather nasty, until it rained and was then damp and less nasty. Regardless of the fact that weather was so utterly not on our side, we soldiered on, beginning to learn the music for Adelieland and Boogie Wonderland; as well as a curious and complicated manoeuvre involving a never-ending conga line and the fact that according to Lindsay, a square is a circle with flat sides... or a circle is a square with curves... or both...
Regardless, Saturday set the foundations for the awesomeness that was Sunday.
Although the weather was inauspicious to say the least (it rained continually with varying strength of downpour), meaning that we couldn't actually practice on the field, we started with a live performance on ABC radio (link to follow), followed by sectionals in which we memorised as much of the music as we could.
There was also a memorably complex and downright confusing drill session in which we used a scaled down version of the Spec stage to work out a wheely-spinny-swirly piece of drill for Boogie Wonderland. It must be said, however, that we mastered it in far less time than Lindsay had thought it would take.
After lunch there was trivia organised by the Social group, which much to everyone's surprise, drumline won.
Following the trivia we saw some footage of the UW (University of Washington) marching band at football games provided by Katrina, having amassed the footage whilst on exchange.
Then the choreography began. Adelieland, as it turned out, is going to be a dancing extravagnaza. The learning of the choreography went off more or less without snags, with the exception of when the trumpets had to make their way to the front of the block in the space of no time whatsoever, prompting several entertaining rehearsal runs involving the trumpets sprinting from the back of the block to the front, skidding to a halt in front of the trombones, only to be told that they were late and for the whole thing to start again.
I here pass on Lindsay's request for us to practice the 'forward, right, left, right, back, right, step, step' thingy in preparation for next month.
And as always (possibly moreso than ususal) practice and MEMORISE your music, because if you don't know it by the time Spec comes around, it's already too late. I Wish will be arriving in your mailboxes some time soon.
Until then, play loud and proud.
