Nearly Time

Why, look at that- we're nearly on tour! Woo! It's 2 1 day until we leave. Or technically, 1 day and some only 20 hours. But anyway. I'm crossing stuff out because I initially started writing this last night, but once last night was over that took us to the less-than-1-day mark. So.
Thursday night was the tour premier in the form of our send-off concert, and now we're free to pack and cram in homework so that it doesn't have to come with us.
But most of us are excited because we don't have to do a week of school! And we're going leaving the cold and wet for the warm/hot!
...and also wet. My hair's going to really poof up in the 100% humidity.
My room is in an interesting state:

Suitcase, bags, trumpet cases on the floor, clothes on the chair, etc etc.
Only 36 LESS THAN 24 hours.
YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!

2 Weeks/Sickness/Blogging Hawaii/Packing Angst

Remember these?

Well, we recently passed the two-week mark (that was Sunday 11/20), and the one-week mark is approaching with extreme expedience. It's a busy week ahead. 
Thanksgiving dinner was great, and thankfully I was feeling well enough to enjoy it. I unfortunately picked up a rather virulent cold from my dad on Monday and have been in bed sleeping ever since (why I didn't post the 2-week mark earlier).
I promise you all that I will try my hardest to live-blog Hawaii, but I will tell you honestly that I don't think I'll have time to do anything more than take snapshots from my phone and then post them all when I get back. Whenever it happens, you'll get the whole story eventually. 
And also I find it amusing that I'm as packed as anyone can be at this point. All I have left is my uniform, which I can't pack until next Friday because we have a performance Thursday night. 
But yea. That's what's going on at the moment.

Why I *Can't* Wait To Do Drum Corps

First reason is made up of two words:
True dedication. It's more than just a high school band: if you don't show up, are late too much, or just aren't up to par, you will be cut and your tour tuition will have been wasted.
Then: you get to do crazy-fun things like jump off ramps or run up and down halfpipes.

And then: choreography. That makes the show interesting and fun for both performers and audience.

ddd000fff.blogspot.com

And also: you meet people who love band just as much as you do (otherwise why would you be paying money to be in a corps?)
Also things like this, that are just wonderfully wacky but fun anyway.

www.pinterest.com

I just realized all my examples are from the Bluecoats. Excuse me while I go join them.

... in a few years.

Weird Things We Do at the Holidays

I was considering the fact that Christmas is drawing close yesterday, and thought how much I was looking forward to it, and suddenly realized that the traditions we have are quite random. We all like hearing about each other's wacky traditions, yes? Well, here are ours:

> Christmas music from the Boston Pops, Canadian Brass, Count Basie Orchestra, and other jazzy sources.

> Christmas breakfast at 6:00 a.m. sharp (my dad doesn't like this)

> Me getting up at midnight and sleeping on the sofa for the rest of the night, then waking everybody up at 6 for said breakfast.

> The randomness tree. This is a thing I do. It's a three-foot tree themed with whatever my current obsession might be. Guess what this year's theme will be:

Yep. DCI corps.

> The contents of the above-mentioned breakfast. Most years it's made up entirely of cookies, fruitcake, and smoothies. Although, one year my mom made me eat broccoli too; but that was because I was sick.

> In addition to Christmas music, we listen to Coldplay's A Head Full of Dreams all through December. This started last year when it came out and since then it's sort of become our soundtrack of winter.

> Watching The Lego Movie. We do it every year. Not sure why... we just do.

> Setting up the Christmas tree over Thanksgiving break. To those of you out there who get your trees on Christmas Eve... who are you and what do you think you are doing. 
Anyway. Yep.

The Journey...

...that is finding and buying a new trumpet. This was Wednesday.
3:09 p.m. 
I finish the day's homework while my mom teaches a violin lesson after school.

3:59 p.m.
Starting out.

4:16 p.m.
We actually get to the sale; Kyle, the other trumpet from our school, gets there at the same time.
Henceforth:
I take no pictures for a long time because I'm busy trying 7 or 8 different trumpets.

~5:30 p.m.
2nd round of trying stuff out. We've gone from 7 to 3. Now to determine the best one.
~5:50 p.m.
We've narrowed it down to the Yamaha Bergeron silver.
6:03 p.m.
We FaceTime my dad, who's in Las Vegas, and decide to buy the Bergeron silver, as well as my rental student trumpet so that I have a marching horn.
6:30 p.m.
We're walking out of the sale, having purchase the Bergeron silver, when our assistant band director walks around the corner. He sees my new trumpet and says congrats. 
6:35 p.m. 
Heading home.
7:40 p.m. 
Upon arriving home I do an 'uncasing'- that's like an unboxing- and send pics to my dad.

8:00 p.m. 
We eat a late dinner.
8:45 p.m. 
I start practicing, and would have played all night if my mom hadn't told me to stop and go to bed.

What We Did At School

What we did during JV jazz yesterday:

Yep, that's the one and only Wayne Bergeron, with the also one and only Varsity jazz band behind him.
Also only 18 days to Hawaii.

21 Days

Agh. Fast approaching are three things- a visit to our school from Wayne Bergeron (Monday), the local music dealer's private sale, at which I will get a new trumpet (Wednesday), and HAWAII, the event of the year, in 21 DAYZ. 
WOOOOOOW. 
Right now, I am doing this:

In preparation for this: 

And yes, that is my trumpet on a floor pouf:

We're all getting pumped for Hawaii. Not long at all now. 

Less Than A Month

WE ARE 23 DAYS OUT FROM LEAVING FOR HAWAII ON DECEMBER THE 4TH. Where the heck has the past year gone???
We have an early morning performance at one of the district elementary schools tomorrow (so early it's essentially zero hour, and I get to miss a math test), a send-off concert after that, and then we leave 4 DAYS AFTER THAT.
AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH...
!!!
Yay. :D
So my job right now is to study and keep my grades up so I don't fail everything during the week we're across the water on Oahu. 

That rug-looking thing is my beach towel, by the way. It came from Amazon on Monday and I love sitting on it. 
But yea. ONLY 3 WEEKS. O. M. G. WOW.
Happy. :)

Pinterest
The band when anybody says the word Hawaii

In other news, I might (probably will) get a new trumpet next week, but more on that later. Hawaii here we come!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (uh... overreact much?)

What DCI Geeks Do for Halloween

When Halloween rolls around, we can all change who we are for a day, and unfortunately one day only.. honestly I'm going to miss walking around school like this:

Mine.

Yep, I dressed up as someone from the Santa Clara Vanguard today. For those of you that know me, did you honestly expect anything less? For those of you that don't... get used to things like this.

I painted the shirt and made the plume and the star for the hat. It all cost less than $100.
It all made my band director very happy this morning. We were all just sitting there, discussing our last concert, with me casually under my hat, when Mr. Taylor looks around and says, "You are wearing a Santa Clara Vanguard costume. You have no idea how happy that makes me!" I collapsed into a fit of laughter because that was exactly how I imagined the morning going. At the end of class he took a picture to add to the Wonderfulness of Band archives. (Actually I made that up. It's just the band archive. But whatever.)
Thanks, Mom and Dad, for buying the materials; everyone else for noticing (words of Sam: "ten out of ten"); and mostly the Vanguard themselves for always being their awesome selves out there! #SCV @scvanguard 
Thank you all.

Don't you be smiling in uniform! Oh wait... never mind.

It was great. The best Halloween I've had. 

My Favorite Field Shows

Since it's homecoming halftime field show season, I thought it's about time we all had some inspiration to get us through the after school practices until next week. So here are my favorite field shows by DCI corps. (Videos released from the official DCI YouTube channel)
Santa Clara Vanguard 2014:

Bluecoats 2014: The very best of them all! And why I want the 2014 DCI World Finals DVD for Christmas.

Cascades 2016: This one hasn't actually been published, because the season's not over yet! But it's an excellent show called 'O' and if you went to a western region DCI competition over the summer you probably saw it. I'll put it up on this post at the end of the season.

Yep, with the big orange hoops.
ddd000fff.blogspot.com

Cascades 2015: From the Cascades official YouTube channel.

Yep. Be inspired. Good luck. May you always be in step. :)

Cool Things that the Vanguard Did

What I do on Sunday/Monday nights: look at DCI pictures.
Now, I went to a DCI competition in July and saw 5 world class corps and it changed my marching life.
I learned some things.
Namely that the great people in California that are called the Santa Clara Vanguard are amazing.
In fact the Vanguard is so obscenely awesome that they can do things like all of these that I found on the Interwebs today. Exhibit A:

www.youtube.com

They can randomly stand on stacks of Arabian-style floor cushions all across the field.
Exhibit B:

www.pinterest.com

Things like this. No explanation needed.
Exhibit C:

www.dci.org

The 'V' of cymbals. Or this view:

lordsworkr.deviantart.com

Exhibit D:

dci271.dci.org

Complex forms. Hard to march to, still way cool-looking once they get there.
Exhibit E:

www.santaclaraweekly.com

Cymbal moves.
Exhibit F:

dimasmonde.blogspot.com

Cymbal suicide. Ah, them crazy cymbals... (HA look who's talking...trumpet girl...)
Yep. More cool stuff from other corps coming later!

The Marching Band Master List

Since marching band is about to start, I thought we should get back to what this blog's supposed to be about- band! 
I almost like making lists. I'm good at it. I organize things quite a bit, and I clean things the minute they border on getting out of hand. 
So, of course, there has to be a marching band list. Here you go. 

Les Shakos
by ME!

~EVERYTHING YOU WILL NEED FOR MARCHING BAND EVER~

STUFF FOR PRACTICE

• That musical instrument thingy. If you forget it everyone will murder you and things won't end well. Plus you won't be able to play, so you'll just be standing there awkwardly while everyone else does lip slurs.
• Mouthpiece. Even if you have above-mentioned instrument, it's useless sans mouthpiece. Always remember this bit.
• SUNSCREEN!!! Oh my GOSH, SUNSCREEN! Especially in an arid mountain environment like where we are, this is SO IMPORTANT. Over the month of June last year- about 30 days total- I had a complete tan and proceeded to become both more tan and sunburnt over the rest of the summer, since I didn't put on enough sunscreen. YOU NEED SUNSCREEN. Even if there's a shared bottle you can usually get at, have your own on hand in case it goes missing, like ours did last summer. We had a nice big bottle the first day of practice; we all used it, but then it disappeared into an instrument locker, and vanished off the face of the earth. I never saw it again. Shame on you, Jack, for losing that so quickly- but whatever. Lesson learned.
• Also- attention, wind players! You need sunscreen lip balm! This prevents embouchure sunburn, which makes it extremely painful to play. And you wouldn't want that, because it would spoil marching band. Prevent it, and wear that lip sunscreen.
• Regular Lip Balm- you'll need this for before and after practice. I've used more lip balm- both regular and sunscreen- in the past year being a wind player than I have in the prior years of my life. It'll be better than having chapped lips when you're not playing your instrument.
• Valve oil and slide grease (Maintenance Materials)- for yourself, of course, but your section will appreciate it when you have some to spare.
• Hair Ties- For tying back long hair, of course, but also to lend, or to use as slide stoppers. That's a useful purpose too. Keep a few in your case, in your pockets, and on your wrist.
• Sporty Watch- digital or analog is fine, whichever you prefer. I have a diving watch that I use, so I can dump water on myself and it's fine. May I give you some advice, though? Don't wear it under your uniform, the gauntlets get in it's way.
• Sunglasses- you want to be able to see the drum major and such without getting the sun in your eyes.
• Marching Shoes- Let's face it. Most teenagers complain that their marching shoes are uncomfortable. But the heels are shaped in a curve for a reason- to help you with your glide step. Your marching just isn't going to be the same if you don't wear the marching shoes. Just wear the shoes- blisters aren't the end of your life. The only exception I make is for people whose shoes literally rub holes in their toes- Emily, for example. But no skipping the marching shoes just because they're inconvenient. They actually help you march.

STUFF FOR PARADE DAYS

• Uniform (including marching shoes) and instrument, of course- check before you leave your house that you have  all the parts of both your instrument and uniform. Also check when you're getting off the bus at the parade line-up area.
• Comfortable shoes for before and after- sometimes I'll wear street shoes to and from  our high school, then change into my marching shoes before I get on the bus. I just leave the street shoes at the school. Some good types include Birkenstocks, Converse, Vans, or boat shoes. A pair with memory foam soles are nice, particularly afterwards. And no, no one will mind if you wear sock and sandals. That's actually quite stylish, to be honest. Just wear shoes that are comfortable.
• Phone- this one's a no-brainer, especially on a long bus ride.
• Sunglasses- for the bus. Stylish aviators are a plus, if that's what you like.
• WATER WATER WATER WATER WATER WATER WATER WATER WATER SO MUCH WATER
• FOOD. NEED I SAY MORE? NO. ... FOOD.

STUFF FOR BAND CAMP

• Everything mentioned above for practice. 
• The comfortable shoes I told you to have on parade days.
• Your phone
• A lunch, even if you plan to go out to Subway or something
• Probably a hat, preferably in the school colors.
• Extra socks. Trust me on this one.
• A first aid kit with Bandaids at least for blisters, probably some Advil, and whatever else you might need.
• Marching shoes. You need to practice your glide step on the field turf. It's a different feel than what you're used to. 

More? I can't think of more right at the moment. Maybe later. But that's really all you need for marching band.

On Music, and Being a Musician

Being a musician can mean many things. It can take on a lot of forms. But the biggest part of being a musician that everyone who has ever tried playing instrument can relate to is the fact that it is hard.
It is just plain-out hard to be a musician.
This means that if you want to be good, you'll have to work hard- and consistently. If you want to surpass your peers you'll have to work even harder. There's a reason they say being a musician isn't easy: if you had a poster with the title, "Shortcuts to Becoming a Musician", it would be blank. There are no shortcuts. You have to work for it.
At our school, we know this. Mr. Taylor is an excellent director that knows how to work a band into shape. Our band room walls are decorated with state concert band plaques and jazz awards. Since we know we can be good, we have been good over the years. But there's always room to improve. This is an important part of being a musician: believing in yourself. If you have no self-confidence, you won't get very far. However, if you believe that you can go as far as you want with your music, you CAN. You'll get to wherever you want to be, guaranteed. You can even surpass people with natural talent. 
Second important point right there: consistent practice will always surpass talent that refuses to practice. Mr. Taylor has told band parents this many times, so you can be sure it's true. The Wind Ensemble and Varsity Jazz bands are excellent examples of kids who practiced and became really good musicians, who are sure to go on to greatness. Since they're so good, they make great peers for us in the lower bands; we take inspiration from them. We live and learn. I learned a lot from the Wind Ensemble trumpets last summer in marching band, seeing as I was a little fish in a big pond and hardly knew anything about anything concerned with band. See, you can learn from your peers that are more advanced than you, since they were in your place once. This helps you become a better musician, of course, and it shows that practice does indeed make you better.

The amazing Varsity trumpet line in February
From here

I didn't talk much about the Gala where that photo was taken in February, but there are more pics here. Now back to music.
Once you've decided, like me, that you want to get real good at what you play, then you will know that you'll have to work real hard the rest of your career. I practice every day that I can. Since I'm determined to get into Wind Ensemble and one of the jazz bands at least, I work to achieve. And this is the secret. YOU. HAVE. TO. WORK. And so I do work, every night for around half an hour, even on the days I have band at school. It's worked quite well over the past nearly-a-year; I've improved from being someone who doesn't hardly know any fingerings to a person who's pretty good when I practice the music enough. It's been proven. Now get to work.
Another hard part of being a musician is that once you get good enough to be the soloist, you have to maintain your balance. That is to say, you have to balance your style as a soloist and you still have to fit in with the rest of the band. You cannot be full of yourself or pretend to be of a higher rank than the rest of the band. When you're the soloist, you are not an entity in and of yourself. You're still a member of the band. That's the first hard part of being the soloist. Then you have to be confident. It takes a great amount of willpower to play confidently when there's no one else to cover up what you're playing. It takes more than you could really imagine until you do it, and then you're officially a soloist. Good for you. Now take a deep breath, practice that solo, and don't get nervous. Relax. If you manage to relax and play a solo, you'll be respected even more. More work, but it'll pay off and you can then be a good teacher for your peers. 
Now. Take a deep breath. Get your instrument. Focus, and go practice that music.
Good luck to you.
-- Emma, the well-practiced, tried-and-true band geek. 8)

Aftermath of a Band Trip

Yay music.

I just barely came out of it. The aftermath, that is. The band trip itself was last Wednesday. I was extremely grateful that it wasn't quarterfinals week. But you're probably wondering what this band trip was about? Well, that's real important, that part is. It was region concert band!!!
To translate, region concert band means all the high school bands in the region (there are boundaries, I'm not sure where ours fall) come to a single school and play 3 pieces of music for a panel of 3 judges. Scores rank from 1 to 5, with 1's being the best and 5's being... well, I don't want to talk (or think) about that. But to qualify for state concert band, which is over a weekend in May, you have to get at least two straight 1's and the rest 1 minuses (or more ones). We weren't sure what our competition would be like, but we prepared zealously in the weeks beforehand. We had a well-recieved prep concert the week before April break, so confidence levels were running high. To add to that, Mr. Taylor confided in us that he thought we had an actual chance at beating the Wind Ensemble. Amazing! So of course we all expected great things- from ourselves and each other. 
Wednesday wasn't a particularly important day at school itself, aside from normal classes. It was boringly cloudy with random sunbreaks. It was a red day, so that meant that we did have band class the day of the competition- er, festival. Whatever. So I went to French, Ceramics, Band, and Geography. French was very normally boring, Ceramics relaxing (I was working on the potter's wheel), Band high-intensity, and Geography mildly stressful (it's an AP class). All through the morning and afternoon, I had my mind on my first traveling band trip. Yes, this was my first time spending a significant amount of time on the infamous band bus *dun dun duuuuun*. I have nothing much to say about the bus ride except that it was quite fun; but what happens on the band bus really does stay on the band bus. Believe me, this is for good reason. If you knew what happened on there, you'd be inclined to think that we band geeks are even weirder than you do now. So I won't say a word about it here.
When we got to the school we were playing at, we had spent about an hour and a half on the band bus and had about 2 hours until we were supposed to go on stage. So we went in to the auditorium and sat and watched 2 bands, I think. They were good; I was surprised at how much their numbers varied by section from ours. I suppose it really varies by school/region/whatever. 
The odd thing about this trip is that there was a track meet at the same school at the same time, so people kept running in and out to make it to their events (and some of them ended up coming on stage in their track uniforms and running shoes...). I didn't envy them; it was raining and at one point became a thunderstorm.
After watching the other bands for about 45 minutes, Mr. Taylor, our director, came and got us and said it was time to go get warmed up. So off we went, leaving the Wind Ensemble to watch, we went to get our instruments and filed into the choir room, which was our warm-up spot. We tuned, went through little bits of our music, and kept our instruments warm. Our entire time in there was about half an hour. We went on stage at approximately 5:35, like we were scheduled to. Our overall performance was quite good, with some little times where we slipped out of tune for a second but recovered well. We played March Juno, Lest We Forget, and Into the Storm. I don't remember any of the composers, but they were all fun to play. I'm not honestly sure whether or not we all expected to get to state or not after we played. I think subconsciously we all realized that though it was very good, it may not have been quite enough. So we played our music and then came off stage and put our stuff away, then went back to the auditorium to watch the Wind Ensemble. They were good as always, and of course because of that, we expected them, if not both of us, to get to state. They played an excellent march entitled The Mad Major, something by the famous American composer Copeland, and some sort of "Divertimento" by some composer I don't remember, that was, as said by one of the judges, "a nice diversion from the rest of your band's music, and from the festival in general". I can't tell if it was a good or bad thing, but I enjoyed listening. While we were waiting for them to get set up, for some reason I had an intense straight-face contest with  Danielle and Whitney. I conquered them both. After the Wind Ensemble was done, we all packed up and high tailed it back to our buses, leaving the track and field people in the rain to run the rest of their races. It was still raining on and off, but it was a fairly warm rain so none of us band kids cared much.
After this, it was about 7:00, and we had a long drive ahead of us. Despite that, we had been promised a stop for food. What none of us had counted on was stopping at a gas station. But that's where we stopped and so everyone got out, ran in and swamped the gas station's little store-thingy, buying loads of junk food. It was something of a frenzy that I watched (I refused to buy anything and had brought my own dinner) as my band-mates tore around the little store in an adrenaline-fueled search for sugar. My friends grabbed handfuls of candy and crackers and ice cream and junk while I tagged along and complained about being dragged out of the bus. Eventually they checked out and Ceci picked up the burger she ordered. We ran back to the bus through the misty drizzle, got on, running past Mr. Taylor (who was looking like he had watched this happen many times before) and returning to our original seats. Once there, Emily and Ceci immediately started on their vast quantities of gas station food. I started on my dinner from home. Group by group, people got back on the bus with their food, and started eating. In the first few minutes of waiting to leave, we were all tired and just stuffing our faces with food. As we later learned, we were sitting there for about 15 minutes, just waiting, because some people hadn't followed directions and had crossed the street to McDonald's. So we waited and ate while Chris the tenor sax counted us a bunch of times to make sure we were all accounted for (*Walks past for the first time* "How many times you gonna count now, Chris?" *As he walks past for about the third time* "Wait...how many times have you done it?!" *As he walks by again* "OK, WE'RE ALL HERE, STOP COUNTING!!"). Eventually we left, and by that time the sugar had gone to our heads. Yes. We were all very hyper. It was extremely entertaining and fun. It made the whole bus ride feel like it was really short, and it was punctuated with light from a glowing rock that Ceci brought along. 
The next thing I knew we were pulling up to the our own dear high school, ready to go home and get a few hours of sleep before school the next day. We cleaned out the busses, grabbed all our stuff we had left in the dressing rooms, said goodnight, and high-tailed it out of there, now all sugar-crashed from all that junk food. 
And so ended the great adventure that was region concert band, and my first traveling band trip.
I only feel bad for my friend Elaine, who got up at 4:00 a.m. the next morning so she could sit and listen to the zero-hour Varsity jazz practice. 
We've all recovered now though, so it's all good. :)

Quotes to Laugh At

There's a lot of stupid stuff in the world, but thankfully there's a lot of funny things too. Here are some I got from the world around ME. 
As I hear more funny things I'll update this post.

Things I said:

"Well, you don't have to worship the trumpet, especially since you're woodwinds."

*Another trumpet says something weird and my friends hear it* 
"It's a trumpet thing, you wouldn't understand."

*The older trumpets are being obnoxious* 
"See, this is what happens when you bunch together a big group of brass players in one spot."

"I think my feet and marching shoes melted together this morning, and now that whole thing is melting into the astro turf..."

"BANANA PRINT VANS!!!" (Yeah, they exist!)

http://www.vans.com/shop/womens-shoes/bananas-sk8-hi-slim-ballerina-true-white

"Ok, you cannot pack a suitcase just by upending a dresser drawer into it!" (in response to a how-to-pack book)

"Merci pour le chocolate-- WHAT ARE THOSE!?!?!?" (as I see banana-chocolate chip muffins on the countertop)

"No- do not break logic. NOTHING MATTERS BUT MARCHING BAND!!!"

(Typing something and being pestered to type faster)
"I'm a-tryin'! Be patient! We trumpets can't do everything as fast as you!"

Things my parents said:

(Dad) "Those mutes are definitely toilet plungers."
(Me) "No, Dad, they aren't. They're mutes and they were made to be mutes."
(Dad) "Yeah, but they had to have at least been made in a toilet plunger factory."
(Me) "NO, they're made as mutes in a mute factory! Never were they a part of toilet plungers!"
(Dad) *laughs*
(Me) "Dad...kindly don't say that in front of any upperclassmen..."
(Dad) *keeps laughing*

"Will you wipe the dirt off your running shoes please?"

*I'm eating something with my fingers* 
"You won't want to be doing that when you go over to someone's house for dinner- especially if they're a hot brass player!"
*Facedesk* 

"How is it again that you got interested in trumpet? Where'd you get that idea?"
(To be honest I don't know)

"Look at this, I got an Apple watch!" 
(I didn't even have the remotest idea my dad was going to buy one, he just showed up with it one day)

Things teachers said:

"You should be on a yard line or on a yard line or on a yard line or ON A YARD LINE!"

(Me) "I'm getting to the point where it's like, 'More band, more band, more band...'"
(Mr. Hase) "More cowbell."
(Me) "Yep."

*stops the band* "Where're my 3rd trumpets?"
*Has 3rds play their note*
"That was cute. That note needs more. PLAY LOUDER."

*Talking about dating*
(Teacher) "Where would you go, Emma?"
(Me, totally caught unawares) "What? On a date? Uh... I don't know. Marching band?!"
*Everyone laughs*

*Friend is eating applesauce*
(Mr. Hase) "Is that...corn soup? Corn? What..."
"...No! Applesauce!"
"Oh... it just smells kind of like corn in this corner over here."
"Well, the spoon is made of corn..."
"...Oh. Ok."
*Friend and I share a look*

(Mr. Tanner, orchestra teacher) "How do you prevent your flute from being stolen?"
(Us) "BACH!" (Mr. Tanner jokes that the answer to everything is Bach)
"For once, no- you put it in a clarinet case!"

(Mr. Taylor walks onto director's podium and starts a great split F chord)
"Wow...not many people can just walk up and start a great chord! It's like you're my minions! Well...maybe not. Whatever."

Things my friends said:

"I know everything about the alignment of the stars and you're a Gemini by the way." 

"My jacket smells like the barn..."

"I literally forgot everything over the weekend, so I don't know how to do math now."

(About Romeo and Juliet) "The first time I saw this movie I thought it was fabulous..."
(Me) "HOW COULD YOU."

"Emma, do we have a math final on Friday?!?"

"Ok, am I the only person at this table that thought the prequels to Star Wars were amazing?"
(the other 3 of us) "YES YOU ARE."
(Me) "But it's ok, once you've seen Episode 6 all of that opinion will go away."

*In a text conversation in which we were discussing what we were going to do at each other's weddings, whenever those may be* 
"Yeah, we'll be marching up the aisle and we'll be the wedding escort and everything and we'll play the music and WAIT YOU'RE GOING TO MARRY SAM?!?!?!?!?"
(Me) "... I never said that. I just said I was going to marry another trumpet player, which IS NOT limited to our school!"

(Holding up a dollar to donate, talking to the person holding the donation jar) 
"Hey person! Come hereeeeeee!!!"

"I have a stalker boyfriend!!! Yet he doesn't know I exist."

"This pencil makes weird noises!" (Wha...?)

Things other people in band said:

*After having water bottles thrown at him on the band bus* 
"DO YOU WANT TO FEEL MY FULL WRATH?!?!" 
(answer: no, you don't, it was another trumpet!)

*At pep band* "These shorts aren't even dress code but I'm getting twenty dollars for wearing them anyway!" 
*He says it about 40 more times to everyone in the room before FINALLY talking about something else*

*In a tuning circle at marching band* 
(Section leader Sam) "You guys have really bad contagious tuning..."

*Sectional time*
"Ok, we'll start with--"
*Someone starts laughing subtly because above-speaking person's trumpet had leaky spit valves and leaked spit all over his jeans*
"What?" *Starts looking at himself in the Green Room mirror*
(all of us are laughing now)
*Finally realizes his pants are soaked with spit*
"...Oh. Now, I was saying, let's start with 'Space'..."
*Everyone returns to normal*


Things I overheard:

"We were thinking about stealing Donald Trump's hair and selling it..."

(A right-handed person) "Stuff I write with my left hand is actually better than stuff I write normally..."

"Shaggy turtle? Where?!"

Bandapalooza! (and some random photos of cars)

Last Thursday was the band program's biggest concert of the year: by the end, we had 266 wind players plus the percussionists; around 320 of us total. It was certainly fun and interesting, so I think I should tell you about it. 
Our call time was 4:30 after school, although the actual concert started at 6:30. This was due to the fact that we had to rehearse with every ensemble. This made for pretty much a mock concert. Though it was crowded and there was hardly any room on the stage, and I had to sit right next to the percussion's gong, and by the end of everything we were swamped by tiny little sixth graders, and the hallways were crammed full of cases, everything turned out well. 
We played Esprit de Corps with the Wind Ensemble, but before that they played the Imperial March from the original Star Wars movies (I liked that!). Then we played a bunch of easier stuff with the younger kids. It was fun to have such a large band, which is something you don't get every day.
Well, that whole fun fiasco was last Thursday. It was a white day, so we didn't have band at school that day. That made the next school day a red day, so there was band. 
And there were tryouts for Wind Ensemble. Live ones. During class.
I had only found out that they would be on Friday on that Wednesday. I hadn't really done any homework for the second half of the week because I spent nearly all the time I had at home practicing a few measures of Esprit de Corps to play at the audition on Friday. I even practiced after Bandapalooza on Thursday, which I believe might be part of the reason I am currently sick. More on that later, though.
I woke up on Friday in kind of a oh-yea-I-have-an-audition-today haze. It stuck with me right through the first half of the school day, until I left lunch early to walk to the high school for band. I was nervous and jumpy, as I've only been playing trumpet for about 10 months compared to 3+ years for all my other friends. I'm honestly not sure whether or not I expected to get in or not; while I'm very good for how long I've been playing (excuse me for bragging), I just don't really have all the skills I need. I know this because I spent my whole summer in a section full of real strong trumpets. I'll get there. But anyway, I auditioned despite my doubts. I played pretty well but the start was weak and I didn't articulate anything very well and- actually, I could go on about mistakes all day. But Mr. Taylor was impressed with where I was. That is a good thing. 
So next year I will not be taking Wind Ensemble, but instead playing first or second in Symphonic band rather than the 3rd part I play now. And there's a great new class called Jazz Techniques that's for everyone who's not in JV or Varsity Jazz. Mr. Taylor said that if I take to the style, he'd put me in JV Jazz by the end of next year. So... cool! 
All that ended last week. Over the weekend, I went to my private trumpet lesson, like I do every Saturday, and walked dogs for a local shelter (that's for a school project). 
On Monday, I woke up and felt sick. But I couldn't stay home, really, because after school there was a big placement test for Honors Chemistry next year. So I went to school and half-struggled through the day, then took the test. It actually surprised me that I understood it quite well. I also found it interesting and therefore am looking forward to taking it next year. 
After the test I promptly went home, announced that I had a cold, and flopped onto my bed. That's where I've been for the past 3 days. Now I'm back at school, which is convenient because the weekend starts tomorrow. Oh well. I’m still a bit sick anyway, so it’ll be good to have some more time at home. 

Now to the more important matters- summer!!! It’s only 3 months away plus we have a week-long break in there! That means marching band, some online sophomore classes, and, much to my chagrin, driver’s ed. I don’t really want to learn to drive- or, I do, but not already! Where has my childhood gone?!? The thing is I wouldn’t at all mind driving a Range Rover or Subaru BRZ, but neither of these are in my budget, nor are they very practical, so… no. Also, neither of these are super good in winter weather, which we have an abundance of. Besides, I probably won't drive myself to school until college- or maybe ever. My parents say cars are highly impractical to have in college. I don't understand this yet but I probably will eventually, so I'm good with it.

Dream car 1
http://www.subaru.com/vehicles/brz/index.html

Dream car 2
www.lexani.com

Cars are really- REALLY- unimportant now, though. I don't know why I'm even worrying about it right at the moment, as I have to first sign up for and then complete 2 sophomore credits during the summer, learn to drive, and handle marching band in there too.

I'll survive. The past week was fun, despite this sickness. But that's a small issue and it's ending. So. I'm good.

'Bye. :)

The Thing with Trumpets

swivelstone.deviantart.com

The thing that some people and not others (shame on them) do in school called 'band' can be taken in through many different points of view. To some it's an easy A on your report card. To others of us, it's a serious lifestyle. I fall into the category where it's a lifestyle.
This may sound odd, but if you think about it, there are always people who really love band. We practice more than most, attend nearly every band function there is, and listen every minute of band. And spend the summer doing marching band. Good stuff.
Over time, a lot of people have amassed hordes of band personality tests, memes, and that sort of stuff. It amuses me to read these. They can be horribly inaccurate or else disturbingly correct (for some individuals). My friends complain that trumpets are loud and obnoxious and never stop talking (very true of one certain guy who literally WILL NOT be quiet when we're not marching), and cause a loss of water breaks during field show practice.
Goodness. If I ever did any of that, do excuse me, friends.
The other thing that bothers my non-brass friends is spit valves. When I go to talk to them before band class, I'm careful not to empty those in the front of the room, where the woodwinds sit.
I think that all this loudness and such is indeed one iteration of a trumpet's personality, but also, trumpets nearly always play a key part of every piece in concert bands. Currently, in Esprit de Corps, we play a loud fanfare kind of thing at the start, which must stay on tempo and, of course, is what everyone hears. Listen for yourself:

It's excellent music, yes, for concert band. This particular video is from this channel and was actually conducted by the original conductor of the piece.
UPDATE: I HAVE A LIVE AUDITION FOR WIND ENSEMBLE IN LESS THAN 24 HOURS AND I HAVE TO PLAY PART OF ESPRIT DE CORPS AND BAND-A-PALOOZA IS TONIGHT. SOMEONE HELP ME. I NEED TO EXTEND THE NUMBER OF HOURS IN A DAY BY ABOUT A BILLION AND A HALF. THANK YOU. :) I'll be fine.
What was I saying? Oh yes, about trumpets. Although we can be loud and do a lot of showing off, we play the fanfares and melody, too. Yep.

bvso.org

I really have no idea was this post was for, but anyway. It's here now so... yea.

After the Break Time

Today is the last official day of February break, however, since it's Friday we're being led right into a weekend and so I have 2 more school-free days.
The break itself has been good. It went way too fast for me. Last Friday was the band fundraiser. The total number of $$$ we earned hasn't been released yet, but I'm sure it was a good amount. Unfortunately I was stupid enough to NOT sign up to be there the night of, so I looked through the photos my dad took the night after. I wish I had been there! It looked great. We had this thing called the "Giving Tree", which was actually a white Christmas tree with a marching hat on top. Guests would choose a paper tag off the tree and buy/donate whatever it said on the tag to and/or for the band. I didn't see it in person but it looked great. From now on, I think I will always have a white Christmas tree with a marching hat on top at Christmas time.

the "Giving Tree"
(as seen by me)

Saturday and Sunday were normal. Nothing much to say there. I don't find much value in that thing they call 'Valentine's Day' other than giving and eating chocolate and giving valentines to close family members. But that's just me.
My dad had Monday off from work, so we all went shopping together. We went to the mall but didn't buy anything except stuff from The Container Store for our kitchen. I tried on a bunch of clothes but I elected not to buy them. I did end up buying that quality book I mentioned in my previous post- and I also got a coloring book (the complex, detailed kind). These two things have kept me occupied for the past few days. Also that day we went to a shoe store and I decided that my next pair of shoes will be a pair of Vans high-tops, either in entirely white or black Hawaiian print. Or something like that.
Tuesday I stayed at home. I practiced trumpet and wished for more snow, as it was all melting.
Wednesday I had to go to the dentist. I helped my mom with grocery shopping and we went clothes shopping again- this time at a different mall, and I came home with several new outfits. This time, though, my dad was at work so I couldn't drag him off to the Vans store to look at their shoes. I want to get him a pair with hibiscus flowers on 'em. But he says that people won't take him seriously then. I don't understand that, but ok.
Thursday (yesterday) was another stay-at-home day, and it's good we did because we had kind of a mini-blizzard (not the Dairy Queen kind) thing most of the day. And the power was out. I couldn't cook anything for lunch because the stove wouldn't work, obviously. It came on just in time for us to cook dinner, though. 
Today my mom and I went over to my grandparent's house for lunch. My mom and grandma and I played a three-hour game of Earthopoly, a form of that old classic game Monopoly, and it couldn't really end since all the properties were evenly distributed between the three of us. Now I am home and my dad is editing the photos from the band fundraiser and my mom is playing her violin. Bedtime soon. Goodnight!