Hawaiian... and other randomness

Hawaiian is really a language that confuses me. It has a lot of vowels. I vividly remember the day that I brought home the information about our band trip to Hawaii and I couldn't pronounce any of the place names! I especially had trouble with Waikiki; I kept trying to say it "wha-key-key," with evenly pronounced "ki" syllables, instead of the correct "why-key-KEY," which accentuates the last "ki" and takes into account the fact that there's an i in the syllable "wai". 

Me when I first tried to pronounce Waikiki

That night when I was explaining our sample itinerary to my parents, I am sure that my mom had to tell me 20+ times what the right way to say it was. Sometimes, when I get in a hurry to say Waikiki, she still has to tell me. 
However, all of this correction is good. It would really be a shame if I turned up in Honolulu next December after many hours of air travel and started saying, "Wha-key-key!" in the airport and on the beach and stuff where a bunch of islanders who know Hawaiian could hear me. So, fortunately, I have been saved from looking like a stupid tourist from the mainland. This is very good. Besides, I feel that it's my OWN responsibility to be respectful to the native islanders of Hawaii who STILL are Americans, and learning to say things the right way is important here. So, yeah. Pronunciation is good! I almost want to learn all of the Hawaiian language so that I can read signs and stuff in Hawaii and pronounce it right! 
But I digress. 

Oh, by the way, I have some very exciting (and unexpected) news! Today on the way to the high school for band, my clarinet-playing friend Danielle announced, much to my surprise, that she will be learning to play the trumpet (my soul instrument! [more on those later]) over our school's Thanksgiving break! I found this both exciting, satisfying, and odd, because Danielle has often said that... 

www.deviantart.com

This is never a phrase that I've liked, but it just goes to show that even the best of us must eat our words at times. It's all right. I'm looking forward to seeing how good of a brass player she'll be (probably a good one, as she's played both sax and clarinet before, despite the fact that both of those are woodwinds). I am sure it will work out wonderfully. 

Also by the way, I really hope that our school board doesn't renovate our high school like they're planning to. They want to move the football field AWAY from the high school. Like, 2 blocks away! Then we would all have to walk from the high school to the field (and past the elementary school), which causes problems. Especially at homecoming, this could never work. This year, we left pep band to get ready for our halftime field show at the beginning of 2nd quarter, and, even with the high school and the band room being only about 200 feet from the football field, we still only just had enough time to get into our uniforms, warm up, and hoof it back to the field for halftime. Now, if the football field was 2 blocks or so away from the band room... yuck. Bad things would happen. There would not be enough time to walk over there to the high school and back, so I REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY hope that the school board will slow down with their plan and listen to what the students and community wants. Otherwise they might all get fired off the board or something... but whatever they decide should work in the end.

Yeah. I guess this post was kind of random, but my week is full of both ups and downs. 
OH! By-the-way #3: Halloween is Saturday! Yay, even though I'm not too amazed with Halloween.

Ridiculous Costumes

Before I go on from here, I will warn you: I speak not in jest!

Whoops. Slipping back into Shakespeare mode. Sorry. I've been forced to read enough Shakespeare that when I have to say something forcefully I say it like Shakespeare would have done in his infamously stupid plays. (With all due respect to my English teachers past and present, I really dislike English classes and Shakespeare.)

Yes, you know that I do marching band. (If you don't know that, where have you been?) It is fun except for the small hitch called our uniforms. No, they aren't the bane of our existence, (I am actually quite proud to wear mine) but there do make us really hot and sweaty, and every time you take off your shako (marching hat- I hope that's how it's spelled), your previously-silky hair is matted and- quite literally- wet. This is due to the fact that the insides of the hats are made entirely of plastic and vinyl. To the average teenager watching a parade, these [uptown] band outfits look stupid (average person), cumbersome (smarter person), or just to much work to bother with (someone who thinks they're smart). I like them. But, I will say that the style is a bit outdated.

It's marching style. You wouldn't understand.

< Marching coat (shown with the left gauntlet, although in parades, of course, you wear both gauntlets). Not bad, except that the shoulders have about 2 inches of padding in them and the gauntlets add an extra layer of already-thick fabric. Plus, who wears gauntlets anymore?








Below is the shako (MY shako). Not a lot of high school bands use shakos, as it's supposedly a hat for higher-ranking military people or something. I guess that means... we're a high-ranking band? I'm not sure, although I know that our jazz program has been nationally recognized. Anyway, that's what's ridiculous about marching uniforms. Bulky, thick, and really cool but stuffy hats.

Yes, these are cool hats.

BUT... what about dance costumes??? I've never really told you guys much about dance, and that is due to the fact that next year I will be quitting dance to save money for the band trip! And, without all my dance practices and competitions, I will NEVER miss another band event! Unfortunately, I have to miss the very last Pep Band of this year so that I can go to a dance competition tomorrow. I am very sad to miss band but also a bit excited for the competition as I probably won't do another one for years. Anyway, it's unfortunate that I must miss band, but the year's not over yet, so I must persevere with dance for the moment (and to my band friends that are angry at me for having to miss Pep Band, I WOULD MUCH RATHER BE AT BAND THAN AT DANCE BUT I MUST GO TO THIS COMPETITION SO THERE). Moving on... my dance dress is almost as ridiculous as my band uniform, and, like my uniform, it's heavy and made of velvet and satin. That aside, though, (also like my uniform!) it looks nice on stage.

Not your typical dance costume...

Yes, it doesn't look the best in the drawing, but that's as good as I can do on the computer. It looks better in person, and the dots on the left sleeve and skirt are actually rhinestones, so they add sparkle and don't look like weird polka dots rather than... looking like weird polka dots. Yeah. In short, it's also cumbersome and I can't really draw it.

So, what has the most ridiculous costumes? Marching band... or dance? Reminder: I'm not joking!

(Pretty-good-but-not-great-digital artist: me)

The Printer Ruined My Music

Time for an impromptu blog post!!!
Sometime around last week or somewhere in there, I came home from school as usual. This means a lot of different things. Firstly, I spend too much time eating when I get home and not enough time doing homework or reading for AP Geography or working on math or studying for Biology! Also, the Hawaii trip has been distracting me from my schoolwork, so don't expect me to talk about it much for awhile after this post.
I also spend too much time writing. I do this at lunch at school, too, not to mention on the weekends and on long car rides. Right now I'm starting to draft ideas for NaNoWriMo; that is, National Novel Writing Month. It doesn't start until November 1st, but I already know that I'm going to write about band. How typical. Can you tell what my favorite class is?
Here's an excerpt:

At lunch that day, I told Sammy more about the band trip when she came in. I had just gotten to the part about the newly-added color guard when I realized something. 

“Sammy! I just thought of this just now… what if some of the cheerleaders go out for color guard??!!”

She and I stared at each other for a minute in shocked silence. 

“Well, they’d be annoying you guys out of your minds, I suppose.  And of course that would ruin most everything…”

“Nooooo,” I moaned. “I don’t want to have to drag cheerleaders all over the island of Oahu, especially on what’s SUPPOSED to be a band trip.” 

“Yeah, they’d probably all just be like, ‘Let’s go hang out with those hot surfers and ditch the band!’ and be just really stupid.” 

“Exactly.  And that bothers me even here at the home football games, let alone in airports, on long flights, and on the beach.” 

“Yup. Well, that’s kind of just how they are, man…” And Sammy embarked on a long, detailed rant about why cheerleaders could be worthless people if you didn’t know them well.

Yes, this was based upon an actual conversation that I had with a friend of mine on...Monday? I can't remember exactly as this- sickness- has caused me to forget many small things like when I had certain conversations and when assignments were due...
But anyway, I tend to waste a lot of time when I come home from school, and this causes problems. At the start of the school year in August, I was staying up until 8 or 9 p.m. on weekdays, and now I'm getting the delayed effects with this cold I caught. But now I have a better handle on things and am getting to bed at the more reasonable hour of 8 or 8:30 p.m.
BUT, now we must proceed to the incident that occurred last week when I got home as normal. I was eating my ever-long snack when my mom came up from our unfinished basement. This is where my dad has all of his electronics set up (his hobby is making short films and videos) and where we keep the printer. It's a nice printer, although it doesn't do color or photos or anything fancy like that. But when she comes up she hands me a piece of printer paper and says, "Look at that! The printer ruined the music!" And I realize that it's supposed to be music printed on staff lines, but either the computer or the printer messed something up; because the notes- the music notes!- turned out as BOXES! Little rectangular boxes! See???

Box-notes! Photo by me.

Obviously, if your music notes are boxes instead of ovals, you won't be able to tell what you're supposed to be playing! So now I know that I can't print music off of my home computer. I'll have to go buy sheet music. Oh well. It was worth a laugh, at least.

A Break from Band

Well, as it turns out, I am stuck in bed with a cold and sore throat, much like my friend Danielle was 2 weeks ago! Though the similarities between our sicknesses are uncanny, it's just my luck.
Today I'm going to take a break from talking about band. I don't feel like talking about it because every time I think about playing my trumpet, my throat starts to hurt more. So today I will talk about model horses instead, something that actually manages to occupy my time while I'm sick.
Yes, I collect model horses, most specifically Breyers, which have been around since 1950. My mom collected them as a kid in the 70's. Here are the most recent additions to my collection:

From left to right: Padré, OT Sara Moniet RSI, Sahara Desertwind++, and Trooper. (photo by me)

I usually get these larger horses for Christmas and my birthday. By "larger", I mean that they are part of Breyer's largest line, the Traditional series. These horses are scaled 1:9, which means if you scaled them up 9 times by a certain number, they'd be life-size.
I also collect horses from the much-smaller Stablemates line, which are scaled 1:32, so you would have to scale these up 32 times. Also, I apologize for the lack of names. Stablemates, unlike Traditionals, do not come with names. I haven't done this yet, but perhaps I will soon. Anyway, here the photo of them:

Stablemates (photo by me)

I appreciate that Breyer makes different sizes of these horses, because not everyone has space in their house for billions of different Traditional-size hunks of plastic. Also, the Stablemates are so much more affordable that I can go out to the toy store whenever I come across a bit of extra pocket money and buy one- or a few.
Most of the horses that my mom and I have gotten over the years are Traditionals, partly because they're more detailed and partly because that's mainly what's available.
Right now, though, other than saving up money for the Hawaii band trip, I'm making my Christmas gift list, which includes three items. Yes, only three. Well, four, if you count that I want a clip-on tuner for band, but that's unimportant. Actually, five because I also want money from relatives to put into my Hawaii fund! But the only three things that I want to unwrap on Christmas Day are.... Model horses! Specifically, the models of American Pharaoh, this year's Triple Crown Winner.

American Pharaoh
www.nytimes.com

Shortly after the Belmont Stakes in early June, Breyer announced that they would be making a model of this great horse. After all, the last horse to win the Triple Crown before Pharaoh was Affirmed way back in 1978! And, after California Chrome, Smarty Jones, Barbaro, and many other hopeful contenders lost one of the 3 Triple Crown races in the early 2000's, it was about time we saw another winner.
But, if you were reading carefully above, you would have seen that I said models. Plural. So...how many models of ONE HORSE is Breyer actually making?
THREE! Three different ones. The first and most important one, of course, is the Traditional size model, which comes with it's own custom stand and a gift box with pictures of Pharaoh on it. The second is a Stablemates model. And the third is a Christmas ornament, so that you can grace your Christmas tree with an equine champion. I'm mostly interested in the Traditional model and the ornament (because I like decorating for the holidays), but perhaps next year I'll buy the Stablemate, too.
Are you a fan of American Pharaoh's or a collector of model horses? See Breyer's models of American Pharaoh here.
You want to know more about American Pharaoh, you say? Search him up on YouTube. They have lots of videos of his Triple Crown races.
What's the Triple Crown? It's a series of three different races in three different states in just five weeks. Not many thoroughbred racehorses can win it, but select champions have, including: American Pharaoh (of course), Secretariat, Seattle Slew, Affirmed, Count Fleet, Citation, Omaha, Assault, Whirlaway, Gallant Fox, and Sir Barton. If I'm not mistaken, those are the only horses who have ever won the Triple Crown since 1919, when Sir Barton established himself as the first winner. More on this at Wikipedia, just search "triple crown".

The Bandwagon

You've (most likely) heard the phrase, "jump on the bandwagon" (or whatever it actually is; I happen to not remember exactly). But, in band, we give this a new meaning.

Now, in the summer, when us marching band kids are the only ones in the school district that happen to need buses, the school buses are the default transport for us. We ride them to parades. I'm not exactly sure when I realized that we could start calling these "bandwagons"; but if you think about it this is very logical! Buses can be classified as wagons. It's a stretch, but it works. And the bus-wagon-thingies are carrying...a band! So they're bandwagons! I told all of my friends this, but I'm not sure how they feel about it. I personally think it's pure brilliance. 

But the bandwagons have problems. Keep in mind that we must haul around our uniforms- quite cumbersome- and instruments whenever we go to parades and things, and these can get in the way. Plus, nearly all of us insist on having our phones and a pair of sunglasses on the bandwagon. So things get quite crowded. First off, we are unevenly distributed on our 2 school buses/wagons. The high woodwinds (flutes/clarinets) and drum line go on one bus, and the brass and saxophones go on the other. Since both the drum line and high woodwind sections are quite small, their bus isn't even full. And then the brass bus is close to full, although I usually manage to get a seat to myself. Also is the problem of storing and keeping track of everything- uniforms, instruments, and phones. Instruments are easy because we put them in the undercarriage compartments. Then the only hard part is finding where they've slid around to when you get to the parade. Uniforms and hats are harder. 

A semi-good solution to uniform storage on the bus. Drawn by me.

Right now, we roll down the bus windows and hang our uniform garment bags on that, then put our hat boxes either on the seats or on the floor, but this causes problems as to keeping track of your own uniform pieces. One of 2 things can happen and cause uniform mix-ups:

a. Your hat box slides all over the bus floor and ends up in the very back, or...

b. After you take your uniform out of the bag, you forget to zip it up, it falls on the floor, and you have to hunt for your hangars when you get back from the parade because they slid all over the bus.

These things are not fun. Also when you hang your garment bag from the window, it covers the whole thing so you can't see out. Especially on longer drives, this bothers me. 

There's hardly a problem with phones on the bus. I just hope that no one calls me while we're driving because my phone's ringer has only 2 volumes: loud and louder. Everyone would hear, and then ask about, my outdated flip phone. But that's not the main point. The main point is that our school buses are not quite up to par with the "requirements" (aka luxuries) of a bunch of teenagers obsessed with band. So last night, I designed... The Bandwagon!!! It's a private motor coach designed specifically for marching bands; and it has all the creature comforts a band could want/use! (I made a list over the summer.) I'd been wanting to do it all summer, but I ran out of time- I wonder why- and now I have it done! Yay. Here are my blueprints for it: (I apologize for the lack of readability, but you get the main idea.)

Pic and drawings by me.

As you can (hopefully) see, the front half is more for just-a-short-drive kinds of trips, and the back half is akin to a tour bus. And it has spots for uniforms, hat boxes and instruments so that nothing gets mixed up! Anyway, this is my exaggerated luxury marching band tour coach. I'm good with the school buses for now. And I'll still call them bandwagons. But someday I hope to see something like this. That may or may not actually happen. But I'm hopeful. 

The end. For today.  

THE BEST NEWS EVER (well, so far...)

I have waited a really long time to tell you about this tidbit of news (yes, it's a tidbit, though a large one) and I'm not sure why. I suppose that's just how it worked itself into my blogging schedule.
     Now, as I'm sure you all know, I recently finished my marching season with the homecoming halftime show. This year's marching season was fun, but I'm already looking forward to next season- and not just because I like marching band! I'm excited because...
WE'RE GOING TO HAWAII!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(Digital Artist: me)

I guess that's a few too many exclamation points, but this is exciting. And we aren't just going to Hawaii for a band vacation. We're going for the PEARL HARBOR MEMORIAL PARADE!!! We were selected to be the official ambassadors for our state, as our invitation letter said. Would you like me to read it to you? Actually, since you can't really read over the Internet, I'll just write it out.
Note for context: Mr. Taylor and Hughes are our band directors.

Dear Mr. Taylor, Mr. Hughes, and the Band: 
2016 will mark the 75th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, etc. etc. 
We want to take this opportunity to congratulate you and the band for being selected as the official ambassador from your state in the 75th Anniversary Pearl Harbor Memorial Parade. *Goes on about how the band was selected* As a high school band from your state, this takes on more significance. There were nine battleships moored in the harbor on December 7th, 1941; each of these will be represented by an outstanding high school band from the state that bears it's name. *YUS!* 
*thanks sponsors for their support* On behalf of the Pearl Harbor Parade Committee we congratulate you and look forward to having you be a part of the 75th Anniversary Pearl Harbor Memorial Parade. 
Mahalo and we look forward to working with you in 2016!
(signed by one of the parade committee members)

WE'RE AN OUTSTANDING BAND!!! YAY! YAY BAND!!!
I am proud of my band.

Us after finding out about the trip! (Pic by me.)
Note: We wear white gloves with our uniforms, that's why the hand is white.

By the way, I feel that our directors need some credit for this great honorable selection that we have garnered for them. So, many thanks to Mr. Taylor for catching all of the articulation mistakes in the horn line and Mr. Hughes for making sure the drum line stays on tempo. And overall, congrats to both of them for cultivating us into the OUTSTANDING high school band that we are! At the very last parade of the season, the thing that I will always remember is that Mr. Hughes called us in (meaning told us to gather around and listen) and said, "I have a letter to read to you guys, and I think now is a good time..." or something like that, and then he read it, and for some reason I totally forgot that Hawaii existed for a minute, 'cause when he said "Pearl Harbor," I thought that it was in Chicago or something. And, horrifyingly, my first thought was, "That's nice, but I probably won't go." I don't know what got into me. But then he said, and I quote, "So basically, the marching band's going to Honolulu."
We were SILENT, and it was around then that I finally processed the fact that Hawaii did actually exist. And then someone (it might have been me) started clapping and said, "YAY BAND!" And after that there was NO silence whatsoever. It was GREAT.

Hawaii! (Waikiki, that is.) We'll probably stay somewhere around here.
www.planetware.com

A week later, we had a relapse of all the excitement, because we found out that this trip is NOT just for the parade! We're staying in Waikiki Beach for a WEEK, and that WEEK includes but isn't limited to: a while (I haven't calculated how much time exactly) to spend on Waikiki Beach, a visit to the National Memorial Cemetery, a circle island tour where we'll se Diamond Head, Pali Lookout, Dole Plantation, North Shore Beaches, the Banzi Pipeline, Waimea Bay, and Sunset Beach; a visit to Pearl Harbor; time to explore the International Marketplace, another morning/afternoon on Waikiki Beach to snorkel, surf, or boogie board; then the parade, of course; a post-parade picnic (I like that!); a morning to hike Diamond Head Crater; a day or so at the Polynesian Cultural Center; and the day after that we go home (that schedule's not final, but I've got my fingers crossed that the travel agent can get us booked for all of it!). I've already made my packing list (I know, I'm obsessed with this trip) so that I won't have to worry about doing it next year, when things will be extra busy with Hawaii marching practices, practices for the homecoming field show, and probably several band meetings thrown in there.

Now the only hard part is fundraising. In the weeks that have passed since we found out about the trip, about 53 band students (including me!) have signed up for the trip. We have about 8 months for all of us to raise around 2 grand each just to pay travel expenses. Actually, I want to help my family raise three times that so that my parents can come as chaperones. They helped me get into the band, grow my musical talent, payed my band fees, and helped me with many other things that I'm thankful for; they even offered to pay for part of MY trip (I feel bad for my friends, whose parents refuse to pay for any part of their trips). So now I must organize fundraisers. And do homework so that I don't fail any classes.

Yay band. We're going to Hawaii!!!!!!!!!! :D
P.S. Want to know more about this parade? Go here: http://www.pearlharborparade.org

Yay band. This was the warm-up arc that morning. Thanks to my mom for taking this pic.