The October Rehearsal

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.

The Olympics 10th Anniversary

Three words: That. Was. Awesome.

Great work.

Although our rehearsal (or musical walkthrough as it turned otu to be) resulted in questionable levels of success, we performed fantastically. The crowd loved us. As did the news cameras.

And now, we are free until the October rehearsal, at which point we'll be getting mad keen for spec.

Until the next...

The September Rehearsal

THis post is dedicated to the memory of Shane's pants. They served him well and went out in a blaze of glory.

At the beginning of saturday's rehearsal, Lindsay unveiled the plaque the band won for our overwhelming awesomeness at the Lions Convention parade. This was closely followed by Lindsay commenting on the aesthetucs of Liam's knee following its surgery. Liam described it as 'tasty' much to the mild horror of his listeners.

Flip folders were distributed, shrunken music was also distributed and then torn into small enough pieces to insert in the flip folders. It was then off to sectionals followed by a rehearsal with the whole band.

It was then onto the field where the parents had marked out the walkway, ramp and stage we would be using on wednesday. At which point we practiced walking up the ramp safely and at the correct speed. For a very long time.

It was beginning to get a bit monotonous when Lindsay decided that at the end of Ode To Joy, the colourguard should throw their flags over the ramp to the colourguard members on the other side - an awesome piece of choreography when excuted right.

As colourguard practiced, the drumline decided to see if they could better them using their sticks. They couldn't, dropping them. This all went rather unoticed by the people at the front of the band until Shane's pants, as he was dropping to one knee to retrieve his stick, went in the blaze of glory described above.

Mild hilarity ensued.

The rest of the rehearsal then continued as it had been going before, as we got better and better at not falling off the imaginary ramp into the imaginary crowd.

In preparation for wednesday, remember to iron your cape, get your school release form signed by your principal, your permission note signed by your parents, and most importantly, GET KEEN!!!

This is going to be legend....

...dary. So play loud and proud on wednesday.

Leadup to the Septembember Rehearsal

Floating the nether-regions of the aether known as your inbox is an email directing you to the band website so that you can download the permission forms for this saturday's rehearsal adn then return them before the due date of thursday.

So go forth, and return your forms.

Get keen, kids.

And don't forget to practice your music with much vigour... dare I say it: loudly and with pride.

Until saturday...

The August Rehearsal

Election day brought the band (and numerous people of voting age) to Cumberland High School. The former for an intense day of sightreading and other fun stuff, the latter in order to vote.

After starting the day with a less than subtle hint as to who Lindsay voted for (if you can't guess, he likes rangas), we were handed our music packs and we jumped right into it, with much success.

The first run-through went so well that we were judged competent enough to be trusted to go off to sectionals for an hour to become even more competent. Following that, we were ushered into a drama room where we were told the story of the band's formation, and the hardships it's founding members had to endure. We also heard the story of how Dane hug-attacked Tina Arena.

Following lunch, there was another rehearsal all together, during which some of the pieces were recorded to use as rehearsal aids. Links to them will be up as soon as they come to hand.

Before the next rehearsal, remember to practice hard, memorise as much as you can and GET A LYRE. Otherwise Lindsay will be unimpressed.

The next rehearsal will be September 11. Until then, play loud and proud.

News and Information

Currently floating around your inbox is an important email which contains a lot of information about the band’s future activities.

Please note that this weekend's rehearsal is ONLY on Saturday.

Remember to bring donations to the band's cake stall, along with lists of ingredients.

More information regarding the Olympics anniversary will be posted as it comes to hand.

The Motown Show

Dane has been searching the wonderful world of the internet for recordings of the songs we need to play for the Motown show, and he has found files for you to download and listen to.

I Want You Back, Respect, and Aint No Mountain can be accessed by clicking the hyperlinks. There isn't as yet a file for Papa Was A Rolling Stone available.

Practice hard.