Today was crazy. Not as crazy as some days, but still pretty crazy.
The big thing I did today was visit Roberts Weslyan and have a lesson with their clarinet instructor. She was amazing!! She really worked with me on my solo, gave me a ton of info about their music program, and invited me back to a Preview Day in November and an Honors Band Weekend in February. PLUS if you're accepted to the college, you're accepted to the music school; the audition is just a formality. SWEET!! It was a lot of fun meeting her, and she had a lot of great tips (just like all the other college profs....I'm starting to go into information overload!)
When I got home, I did some paperwork. A lot of paperwork. Well, organized the paperwork. Basically it was all my college info and whatnot. I've been e-mailing the colleges a lot, so it was time to get those all organized. And I got started on figuring out the college application process. Which was a terrible, scary idea. By the end, I was shaking. It was bad. So I had some dinner and then went to youth group.
Youth group was a lot of fun. I hadn't seen Lauren in a while (neither of us had been there for a while) so it was cool to see her again. Mrs. Stevens finally had her baby, so we got to hear all about that. He was almost 10 lbs! That's just nuts. Then we played some "baseball". I actually didn't strike out! I hit 4 times, and got 2 runs. One time when our team was completely beating the other team, Jeremy told me to hit it and walk to first: it was a guarenteed out so we'd be able to switch places (the other team didn't want the 5 run rule). Well, I hit it and walked, and didn't get out. It was amazing.
Tomorrow is supposed to be my big Extended Essay day. I've only got to type up my various Post-It notes (go ahead and laugh) so it shouldn't take too long. Friday I'm going to pick up my senior photos and have a lesson with the clarinet professor in Mansfield.
Countdowns:
First day of school: 6 days
My Birthday: 1 week
Crystal City Competition: 1 month, 1 week
Last Field Band Championship at the Dome: 1 day less than 2 months
All-State: 3 months plus 1 day
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Just Some Light Reading
Here's how today went:
-Clarinet Lesson
-Amazing Lunch/Dinner/Meal of the Day at an Italian Restaurant my teacher told me to go to
-Staples shopping
-Barnes and Noble shopping
-Cleaning
-Quick clarinet practice (as in, 7 min max)
-Nothing!
At Barnes and Noble I picked up some "light reading"-
What to Listen for in Music - Aaron Copland
Candide - Voltaire
Mr. Darcy's Daughters - Elizabeth Aston
NPR Guide to Building a Classical Music Library (or some title like that)
Demystifying: Biology (yeah, it won't be close to the IB level, but it should help me review the basic concepts I don't remember or probably never learned in the first place)
-Clarinet Lesson
-Amazing Lunch/Dinner/Meal of the Day at an Italian Restaurant my teacher told me to go to
-Staples shopping
-Barnes and Noble shopping
-Cleaning
-Quick clarinet practice (as in, 7 min max)
-Nothing!
At Barnes and Noble I picked up some "light reading"-
What to Listen for in Music - Aaron Copland
Candide - Voltaire
Mr. Darcy's Daughters - Elizabeth Aston
NPR Guide to Building a Classical Music Library (or some title like that)
Demystifying: Biology (yeah, it won't be close to the IB level, but it should help me review the basic concepts I don't remember or probably never learned in the first place)
Monday, August 27, 2007
Quick Note
I haven't actually done much in the way of being productive, so there's not much really to write about. Which is obviously why I'm writing this entry. : P
I have actually made it 1281 words into my Extended Essay. Yippie!! That's without having written the intro and conclusion paragraphs, and I still need to finish up the bulk of the essay. I've written all the background information. I'm going to either have 2 or 3 main sections and I'm almost finished with the first one. Yes, I know I've put it off to the last minute, but that's just how I tend to do things.
Tomorrow I've got my regular clarinet lesson and then on Wednesday I've got a lesson with the clarinet professor at Roberts Weslyan. And at my clarinet lesson tomorrow I think it's about time that I freak out about college auditions, since I have no clue what I'm going to be playing.
I've started working on college applications (something I should have been working on all summer), but I'm still way more concerned about auditions than the applications.
That's about all I've been up to. Hopefully I can finish up the extended essay by Thursday. That's my goal at least. We'll see what happens.
I have actually made it 1281 words into my Extended Essay. Yippie!! That's without having written the intro and conclusion paragraphs, and I still need to finish up the bulk of the essay. I've written all the background information. I'm going to either have 2 or 3 main sections and I'm almost finished with the first one. Yes, I know I've put it off to the last minute, but that's just how I tend to do things.
Tomorrow I've got my regular clarinet lesson and then on Wednesday I've got a lesson with the clarinet professor at Roberts Weslyan. And at my clarinet lesson tomorrow I think it's about time that I freak out about college auditions, since I have no clue what I'm going to be playing.
I've started working on college applications (something I should have been working on all summer), but I'm still way more concerned about auditions than the applications.
That's about all I've been up to. Hopefully I can finish up the extended essay by Thursday. That's my goal at least. We'll see what happens.
Sunday, August 26, 2007
End of Band Camp....End of Summer??
Well, Band Camp is over. Tuesday night we learned all the drill for Segment 5. it went really well. Wednesday night we reviewed 5, put music and drill together, and then did segments 4 and 5 together. Finally, on Thursday night we reviewed segment 1, which has always been our weakest segment. By the end of the evening we were able to run segments 1-2 and 4-5 without any major difficulties. That puts us in really good standing for our first competition, which is in less than 2 weeks. Kris and Benson were discussing how they might alter the show for the first competition. Kris was discussing standing in place while playing a sgement of music, or perhaps cutting a segment off. All the really matters is that we meet the minimum time requirement. I think it's 7 min, but I'm not sure. And we've got a grand total of 4 mornings to get all that figured out. Woohoo!!
In a related story...Tuesday night I found out about All-State!! I got into the Symphony Orchestra!!!! I am SO excited!! I just want the end of November to come right now!! (that's when All-State is). I won't even get my music until October! This is the part where I need to learn patience. I don't know all the vocalists who made it - all I know is that Eleanor got in and Peter was placed as an alternate.
Friday night I got an e-mail from Dr. Sanders at the Crane School of Music saying that he could meet me 4 o'clock on Saturday. So on Saturday, we made the 5 hour drive to have a lesson with him. He was incredible. He really helped change my thinking about articulation (one of the things I struggle with) and how I think about my practice sessions in general. It was really neat. Of course, the really long drive home wasn't exciting, and I fell asleep (Dr. Sanders had given me a CD he wanted me to listen to and call him, but my body told me it was more important to sleep).
This week I seriously need to sit down and work on my Extended Essay. I've got all the research and everything, it's just sitting down and typing it that I don't like. Plus it all sounds incredibly stupid when I'm writing it out.
And I also need to get filling out college applications. Ick.
And I've got Youth Orchestra auditions in 2 weeks. And there are 2 other clarinets auditioning, so now I actually have to do well.
I really don't want school to start. But here's my schedule anyways:
Homeroom/1 - Band
2- English HL2 Radford (new English teacher/IB coordinator)
3- Music HL2 (I'm not sure who's teaching the class, probably HC)
4- Bio SL1 Taylor (does anyone know who that is??)
5- AC Bio Lab, BD Gym
6- LUNCH
7- HOA HL2 Hurd
8- AC TOK2 Baker, BD Spanish SL2 Tunison
9- STUDYHALL
In a related story...Tuesday night I found out about All-State!! I got into the Symphony Orchestra!!!! I am SO excited!! I just want the end of November to come right now!! (that's when All-State is). I won't even get my music until October! This is the part where I need to learn patience. I don't know all the vocalists who made it - all I know is that Eleanor got in and Peter was placed as an alternate.
Friday night I got an e-mail from Dr. Sanders at the Crane School of Music saying that he could meet me 4 o'clock on Saturday. So on Saturday, we made the 5 hour drive to have a lesson with him. He was incredible. He really helped change my thinking about articulation (one of the things I struggle with) and how I think about my practice sessions in general. It was really neat. Of course, the really long drive home wasn't exciting, and I fell asleep (Dr. Sanders had given me a CD he wanted me to listen to and call him, but my body told me it was more important to sleep).
This week I seriously need to sit down and work on my Extended Essay. I've got all the research and everything, it's just sitting down and typing it that I don't like. Plus it all sounds incredibly stupid when I'm writing it out.
And I also need to get filling out college applications. Ick.
And I've got Youth Orchestra auditions in 2 weeks. And there are 2 other clarinets auditioning, so now I actually have to do well.
I really don't want school to start. But here's my schedule anyways:
Homeroom/1 - Band
2- English HL2 Radford (new English teacher/IB coordinator)
3- Music HL2 (I'm not sure who's teaching the class, probably HC)
4- Bio SL1 Taylor (does anyone know who that is??)
5- AC Bio Lab, BD Gym
6- LUNCH
7- HOA HL2 Hurd
8- AC TOK2 Baker, BD Spanish SL2 Tunison
9- STUDYHALL
Sunday, August 19, 2007
Band Camp: Two Week Review
Well, it's about time I write about Band Camp. Especially considering we've only got 3 rehearsals left (woohoo!!).
Band Camp was Band Camp. Some good, some bad, and of course, some ugly! Things started off really slowly. Most people came without having looked at the music over the summer and didn't have a clue how to play it. I can't really blame them. There are a ton of crazy rhythms and whatnot that needed to be explained. I have to admit it was a little depressing. Come on, senior year is supposed to be great, and no one could play the music! But that was only because I forgot the small fact that no one ever knows how to play their music on the first day of band camp. So it really wasn't that bad. The first few days I helped out the sax section during drill, which was fun, but then they were doing fine so I stuck to my podium. Tuesday night it rained, I managed to screw things up somehow (I can't recall what I did wrong, I just remember that I went up afterwards to apologize to Benson for whatever reason). Then there was that whole mess with Jaime, the brass instructor. Tim made of movie of it; check it out on YouTube. It basically sums up everything that happened. Except for the screaming parents, and the massive apology part. But that's the boring stuff. Anyways, everyone seemed to be learning the drill rather easily (considering it's all lines and diagonals). But when we tried to put music and drill together, everything just fell apart. And that happened more than once. We managed to make it through the first three segments by the end of the week, but they weren't good. We took Friday night off, only because Butler and Benson both couldn't make it. We just did the music for the ice cream social and the next two nights we learned segment four and re-learned segment 2 and most of segment 3. The Ice Cream Social performance sounded great! I think it helped that for once, everyone was close to each other and could hear all the different parts. And Seg. 1 went well, especially considering Tim had to sight read the alto sax solo.
I have to admit I was a little concerned about the start of the season. I know that we always manage to pull it together in the end, but it's still really hard to watch people struggling and unable to help them in anyway. That's the most frustrating part of being a drum major. I really want to help, but there's not much I can do. Then Thursday night happened. Oh My Goodness. Everyone worked so hard, it was astounding. I was completely amazed at the turn around. It looked great and sounded great! And no huge train wrecks!! It just goes to show that our band can do amazing things when they put their minds to it. There's still stuff that needs to be cleaned up, but we're on track to placing in the top 3 of SS3.
We've got 3 more nights in which to learn segment 5 (10 drill sets) and re-learn segment one. think we can do it. The section leaders have already had sectionals to work on the music, and I'm having one on Tuesday to work with the drum majors. Plus the color guard has been putting in a TON of extra hours. It's really neat to see how hard those girls are working this year. And it's great that they're not having huge conflicts like they used to.
**********
On Friday I went an visited James East, the clarinet instructor at Fredonia. He's a really nice guy. He helped fix my posture, air support, and hand position. It was really informative. He also told me I need to work on my embouchure.
Hopefully this week I'll hear about the All-State results.
And this week is the last week of band camp.
Band Camp was Band Camp. Some good, some bad, and of course, some ugly! Things started off really slowly. Most people came without having looked at the music over the summer and didn't have a clue how to play it. I can't really blame them. There are a ton of crazy rhythms and whatnot that needed to be explained. I have to admit it was a little depressing. Come on, senior year is supposed to be great, and no one could play the music! But that was only because I forgot the small fact that no one ever knows how to play their music on the first day of band camp. So it really wasn't that bad. The first few days I helped out the sax section during drill, which was fun, but then they were doing fine so I stuck to my podium. Tuesday night it rained, I managed to screw things up somehow (I can't recall what I did wrong, I just remember that I went up afterwards to apologize to Benson for whatever reason). Then there was that whole mess with Jaime, the brass instructor. Tim made of movie of it; check it out on YouTube. It basically sums up everything that happened. Except for the screaming parents, and the massive apology part. But that's the boring stuff. Anyways, everyone seemed to be learning the drill rather easily (considering it's all lines and diagonals). But when we tried to put music and drill together, everything just fell apart. And that happened more than once. We managed to make it through the first three segments by the end of the week, but they weren't good. We took Friday night off, only because Butler and Benson both couldn't make it. We just did the music for the ice cream social and the next two nights we learned segment four and re-learned segment 2 and most of segment 3. The Ice Cream Social performance sounded great! I think it helped that for once, everyone was close to each other and could hear all the different parts. And Seg. 1 went well, especially considering Tim had to sight read the alto sax solo.
I have to admit I was a little concerned about the start of the season. I know that we always manage to pull it together in the end, but it's still really hard to watch people struggling and unable to help them in anyway. That's the most frustrating part of being a drum major. I really want to help, but there's not much I can do. Then Thursday night happened. Oh My Goodness. Everyone worked so hard, it was astounding. I was completely amazed at the turn around. It looked great and sounded great! And no huge train wrecks!! It just goes to show that our band can do amazing things when they put their minds to it. There's still stuff that needs to be cleaned up, but we're on track to placing in the top 3 of SS3.
We've got 3 more nights in which to learn segment 5 (10 drill sets) and re-learn segment one. think we can do it. The section leaders have already had sectionals to work on the music, and I'm having one on Tuesday to work with the drum majors. Plus the color guard has been putting in a TON of extra hours. It's really neat to see how hard those girls are working this year. And it's great that they're not having huge conflicts like they used to.
**********
On Friday I went an visited James East, the clarinet instructor at Fredonia. He's a really nice guy. He helped fix my posture, air support, and hand position. It was really informative. He also told me I need to work on my embouchure.
Hopefully this week I'll hear about the All-State results.
And this week is the last week of band camp.
Oh yeah- I almost forgot. Someone filled the band office with balloons Thursday night!! We don't know who did it, so if you did it, please confess so we can thank you. Here are some photos:
Friday, August 3, 2007
Wow it rained!
Talk about rain! It not only rained it poured! And hailed! That's just crazy!
Obviously, you can see that I'm not intending to become a weather person in the near future.
Well, I haven't done much of note recently. I've got the final parade with Community Band tomorrow. And the movie "Becoming Jane" is coming out in select theatres, but not near here (that I know of). If you know where it's playing, let me know!!! Normally I don't watch chick flicks, but this is the exception to rule.
What I'm really writing this entry is this- BAND CAMP IS ON MONDAY!!!!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!! So if you haven't even looked at your music, maybe it's time. Just an idea. And I can't believe it's my senior year of band camp. Not that I'm going to miss standing outside in the sun doing nothing, but it's still something special. *sniff sniff*
But enough about that. YouTube is amazing. Why? Because you are able to view amazing videos of amazing bands.
The most amazing halftime show ever! It's the Ohio University Marching 110. They are amazing. I know love them.
Basketball Floor Show Same group. Same amazing-ness. You just have to sit through some alma mater or something. Then you go to amazing. Again.
So just go on YouTube and look up videos of the Ohio University Marching 110. And get all pumped up for Band Camp!
PS- The Empire Statesmen are rehearsing at the stadium this Sunday @ 1pm. Everyone should go - especially since you get to watch Kris getting yelled at for once!
Obviously, you can see that I'm not intending to become a weather person in the near future.
Well, I haven't done much of note recently. I've got the final parade with Community Band tomorrow. And the movie "Becoming Jane" is coming out in select theatres, but not near here (that I know of). If you know where it's playing, let me know!!! Normally I don't watch chick flicks, but this is the exception to rule.
What I'm really writing this entry is this- BAND CAMP IS ON MONDAY!!!!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!! So if you haven't even looked at your music, maybe it's time. Just an idea. And I can't believe it's my senior year of band camp. Not that I'm going to miss standing outside in the sun doing nothing, but it's still something special. *sniff sniff*
But enough about that. YouTube is amazing. Why? Because you are able to view amazing videos of amazing bands.
The most amazing halftime show ever! It's the Ohio University Marching 110. They are amazing. I know love them.
Basketball Floor Show Same group. Same amazing-ness. You just have to sit through some alma mater or something. Then you go to amazing. Again.
So just go on YouTube and look up videos of the Ohio University Marching 110. And get all pumped up for Band Camp!
PS- The Empire Statesmen are rehearsing at the stadium this Sunday @ 1pm. Everyone should go - especially since you get to watch Kris getting yelled at for once!
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
Untitled
Last Saturday I hung out with Jen. It was great. She came over and all we did was talk about random stuff and get each other updated on our lives. After that my mom and I went to see "Heart and Music" the musical revue that was put on at 171. It was AMAZING!!! Everyone did a fantastic job. The best part was that everyone looked like they had a lot of fun doing it. And I heard they made a lot of money for the charities, which is even better!
On Sunday I had mini church duty with the preschoolers. I call them ankle-biters. They are nuts. Seriously. I don't know how people who actually have preschoolers survive. The craft that the teacher did involved beads. Ankle-biters + beads = trouble. Thankfully I only have to help every 5th Sunday, so it's not that often. However, I'm pretty sure I'm never going to have kids so I never have to deal with them when they're preschoolers.
Monday I didn't do too much. It was nice.
Tuesday was lesson day.
Today I started contacting all the different colleges about having a lesson with their clarinet instructor. This way I wouldn't get stuck with a teacher I hated for 4 years. My current instructor hated both his undergrad and grad teacher. That's 6 years of torture. I also worked on my extended essay. I'm having a lot of problems figuring out the format that I'm writing it in. It drove me nuts. When Mom got home she took me to Hokey Pokeys for ice cream therapy. That always makes things better. : P After that I went to youth group. It was fun. I love the new look of our youth room. It's too bad I'm going to miss youth group for 3 weeks due to band camp. And Mr. Bennett (our youth leader) is going back to school (he and his wife are getting training to be missionaries), so we'll miss him (they left last year but were back for the summer).
This Saturday I've got the final parade with the community band. I really hope it doesn't get too hot. And I just checked weather.com and it's supposed to be in the upper 80s. Rats.
Monday is Band Camp! Last year! I'm half excited and half not. I would rather be sleeping in and doing nothing all day, but if I'm busy at band camp, I don't have to work on the stupid extended essay.
On Sunday I had mini church duty with the preschoolers. I call them ankle-biters. They are nuts. Seriously. I don't know how people who actually have preschoolers survive. The craft that the teacher did involved beads. Ankle-biters + beads = trouble. Thankfully I only have to help every 5th Sunday, so it's not that often. However, I'm pretty sure I'm never going to have kids so I never have to deal with them when they're preschoolers.
Monday I didn't do too much. It was nice.
Tuesday was lesson day.
Today I started contacting all the different colleges about having a lesson with their clarinet instructor. This way I wouldn't get stuck with a teacher I hated for 4 years. My current instructor hated both his undergrad and grad teacher. That's 6 years of torture. I also worked on my extended essay. I'm having a lot of problems figuring out the format that I'm writing it in. It drove me nuts. When Mom got home she took me to Hokey Pokeys for ice cream therapy. That always makes things better. : P After that I went to youth group. It was fun. I love the new look of our youth room. It's too bad I'm going to miss youth group for 3 weeks due to band camp. And Mr. Bennett (our youth leader) is going back to school (he and his wife are getting training to be missionaries), so we'll miss him (they left last year but were back for the summer).
This Saturday I've got the final parade with the community band. I really hope it doesn't get too hot. And I just checked weather.com and it's supposed to be in the upper 80s. Rats.
Monday is Band Camp! Last year! I'm half excited and half not. I would rather be sleeping in and doing nothing all day, but if I'm busy at band camp, I don't have to work on the stupid extended essay.
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