3 days!!

AHHHH!!!!!!!!! I CAN'T TAKE THREE MORE DAYS OF SCHOOL BEFORE THANKSGIVING BREAK!!!!!!!!!

Okay, so here's a quick overview of what's been going on:

Band- We're all combined together under the direction of Bergstrom. It's been...um...interesting. It's really different for someone who has been in Wind Ensemble since their freshman year. Sleigh Ride is REALLY different, especially compared to freshman year (when we had Steve, Brian, Brice, Caylynn, etc etc etc).

English- I've survived Hamlet and we're into poetry. I'd take more Shakespeare over poetry, though I do like some of the Wordsworth. I just have trouble marking it up.

Music- Basically, I love this class. We're sort of doing an independent study of sorts. Marty and I both want to write our second composition in the the style of 20th centruy music, so that's what we're working on. We're doing twelve-tone first, which is what I'm writing. Marty still hasn't settled on his style, but it's probably going to be some sort of minimalist thing. I'm finding that I really love writing 20th century music because all you have to do is follow the rules and you don't have to come up with some creative melodic line. It really takes the pressure off.

Bio- Well, it's Bio. Lots of confusing labs and topic sections. I'm just not a science person. I'm doing okay in the class, so I must be understanding some of it (even if I don't feel like it).

Lunch - Well, Mr. Potter (our long-term sub) doesn't keep the bandroom open, so we have to find someplace else to eat. Last week Katie, Sarah F and I were selling tickets for Drama Club so we were in the cafeteria. I have no clue what we'll do this week.

HOA- We've been doing PROJECTS! Yes, I've decided that in Hurd's class we will always either be watching a video, doing a project or taking an essay-test.

TOK- We've been doing a PROJECT! It's a project based on learning from a play we read.

Spanish- I survived my first informal speaking on the problems of my senior year. I ended up with a 29/30 because I didn't use all the upscale grammar that we've learned. And we've learned a ton. Which is pretty much what we're working on right now.

Studyhall - I've been in the bandroom - DUH!

The first weekend of November I visited Houghton College. It was an awesome time! I'll write more later when I have more time.

This past weekend I went and saw the fall play "Rumors" I LOVED IT!!!! It was AWESOME!! Everyone in the cast did a great job and it was hilarious. I could not stop laughing at several points. At intermission I was talking with some of my friends and we couldn't figure out how it was going to get funnier, but it did. Congrats to the cast!!

This weekend in Area All-State and I get out of school after period 4, so I get to miss gym class! YES!!!!

All-State is in 16 days which is highly exciting.

The Jazz Band has become student run which is pretty interesting since I've been in charge of things. Yeah. It's been very interesting. I think we're going to sound good at the concert. I'm a little nervous because we only have 4 rehearsals left, and I have no clue what I'm doing when it comes to leading a jazz band : P Eleanor is going to come in and do vocals on one of the songs which should be cool.

Les Mis is being obsessed over by everyone in the school. Of course! Anyways, I found this really funny video of Neal Patrick Harris and Jason Segel singing "Confrontation".



Anyways, I can't wait until BREAK!!

Go Figure

Well, this is just a short update. We found out on Tuesday that Mr. Benson has taken another job at another school district. He's still living in the area (same house, etc). And of course, I would be going on a college visit on his last day. So today was my last day with him, and I stayed afterschool to talk to him, etc etc. And my parents came (of course) since it's their last time with him too.

Until the December concert, we're all going to be together as one big band. Which is going to be nuts. Especially for Sleigh Ride.

That's about all I feel like writing about now, but I figured I should post that update.

Competitions, Football Games, Wegmans and Life

Wow. Life has been busy! Which explains why I've been too busy to write. Not that anyone actually cares, but I felt like I should say it. Here's some large updates:

9/22 Competition

We placed 3rd (out of 4) with a score of 60.20. The fact that we beat someone is not the most important thing. Benson was overly disappointed that we were more excited that we beat someone than the fact we jumped 5 points in 2 weeks. I think he really needs to check his perspective.

Segment One was a smash hit. It went really well. Segment Two wasn't too bad. Still a little trouble with the halts. So that was business as usual. Segment Three. Oh man. I was completely ticked off at the band because of what happened in Seg 3. It was unbelievable. I know the band has great difficultly watching the drum majors. They always have trouble with that. Which means that we always have tempo issues in the 3rd segment because at close to the beginning they've got a halt and have to watch for a tempo. I know- standing still and watching for a new tempo is SO difficult. So usually we've got some phasing more about a set or so then it comes back together. This wasn't just phasing. It was band mitosis. I have no clue what happened. Everyone was taking a different tempo. Several of the band members doubted it was as bad as I said it was. Then they watched the video on Monday. And then they understood why I was so upset. Segment 4 is Jenna's segment. So I usually don't give a care what happens then because I can just blame it on Jenna. The trumpets initially didn't hold out their phrases long enough. But whatever. Then Seg 5 wasn't too bad. It was better than usual. Overall the whole show was an improvement, except for Seg 3.

After we performed, Walker hurt his nose. I'm sure you've heard all about that. They were playing Frisbee, Phil M accidentally hit Walker's nose. Talk about blood. It was all over the place. But he was laying there, making jokes and everything. Keaton's dad got a pic of it for the slide show at the end of the year. My mom actually got to play medic! They called an ambulance and everything, but the EMTs said there wasn't much they could do. He's doing fine. He didn't need surgery- by the time he went to the ER the next day, they said they couldn't do anything until after the nose healed. But that wasn't the best part. The best part was Guy questioning us on what happened (I was standing watching the whole process).

Guy "What happened"
People explain
Guy "So what does this teach you about Frisbee?"
Arkin or Sven "That it's a really fun game?"
Guy "You should NEVER do it at a band competition!"
Arkin "Guy- it could happen anywhere!"
Everyone else "IT'S JUST FRISBEE!"

9/28 Homecoming Game

I'll summarize - our football team was terrible the first half. We were even worse at pep tunes. We only did the first 2 segments, BUT WE NAILED THEM!!! I was so proud of the band. And the color guard! They were incredible - THEY DID THE SAME THING AT THE SAME TIME!!! Perhaps things are starting to look up. We've added a ton of visuals. We've got the band snapping their fingers during Peter's solo, and kneeling at the end of Seg 1. They're doing a new horns down at the end of 4. And they're doing this weird bending thing at the end of 5. Dorothy wants the drum majors to do it too, but it's impossible to do while conducting. So the DMs are revolting against Benson. We're not going to do it. And that's that.

Katie P was homecoming queen for class of '08 and Jen H was queen for '11.

9/30 Wegmans

And today I was 2 teachers at Wegmans. Which was just freaky. I saw Mr. Hurd (who asked if we enjoyed having a weekend off from band...I reminded him we had a football game the night before, and he said that didn't count) and Mrs. Taylor my Bio teacher. I got to see her baby, who is just soo cute!!


10/5 Football Game (vs Johnson City)


The first and only afternoon football game. The game was at 4:30, so we had to be there at 3:30. Which was crazy. I helped tutor a student 9th period. Sarah and I then went to pick up some garlic knots and pizza at Ricos. I drove and managed to parallel park on Market Street! We then brought the stuff back. Dave Hoffman was supposed to take a picture of the entire band, but Keaton's dad ended up doing it. Benson was starting to bite off people's heads because it was taking too long. Then as we were heading out to the field, we found out the Johnson City had brought their band. Oh goodness. I was visibly upset. We emphasized the fact that everyone needed to play amazingly well. The alma mater and stuff went well. I started becoming very impatient in regards to the pep tunes. Mainly because I was freaking out the entire time. We then had 3rd quarter off like we normally do. But then people weren't coming back. I had to go down to the concessions stand 3 times and some people still wouldn't come up. So I sent Benson. I was completely fed up with the band.

10/6 Crystal City Competition

AHHH!! It was my last one! I almost started to cry as we were marching on the field. The show was great. It was awesome. We placed 2 out of 3 with a score of 64.85- another 4 point (and some odd change as Benson would say) jump in the course of 2 weeks. Our added visuals are really helping. The drill was excellent- I was able to see lines! And there weren't huge tempo bumps. After I did the initial salute, Kayla screamed "YEAH KATIE" which was amazing. I can't really give specifics on the show because 1) it was a while ago and 2) I was really living in the moment (senior year and all). After our performance, Benson told us that it was the definition of the word "wow". It almost rained later during the comp and we had to delay it for 15 min because of lightning. But other than that it went well. Oh, we did have a ton of injuries. In other bands. No one at East played Frisbee, so we were safe this week. My mom was the medic and she had to run all over the place. SHE MISSED MY PERFORMANCE. I was very ticked about that. (Yes, I know I said everything was amazing, but it was an evening of juxtapositions). For senior awards, they gave us a glass mug that had our name and EHS Band 2007-2008 on it filled with candy, plus a copy of the program.

10/13 Victor Competition

Victor was the competition last year where they had to stop the show because we were late. Thankfully that didn't happen again. The bus ride wasn't too bad. We stopped at McDonald's (as usual). It was the coldest competition (or game for that matter) of the season. I think people just weren't mentally prepared for the colder temperature. We tried to get them to keep their horns/hands warm, but the drastic temperature change threw everyone off. It was a really bad grass field, but everyone seemed to manage okay. We beat CAST and we ended up getting 2nd to last place. I believe it was 4th. Our score was a 66.25 - about a 2 point increase. For once there were no huge issues for me to go crazy about. I could sense that it wasn't as good as it could have been, but I blame it all on the elements. And the fact our band wasn't ready for them. And technically that weekend, we beat two bands, since our score beat the score of a band at a different competition. Then on the bus ride back, we had to stop because there was a car accident that happened just a minute or so before we reached the intersection. The staff was driving in a van ahead of us and it happened almost right in front of them. They were able to go around, but the by the time the buses got there everything was stopped. When I announced to everyone on my bus the severity of the accident, not a single person complained about being back home late. They were so well behaved. We got back to the school rather late, but I'm starting to get used to that.

10/29 East-West Game

Tonight was the East West game. We lost 34-20. Yes, my senior year we lost. But I was more or less expecting it. The band did a fantastic job. West high cheered for us and told us great job. They even said they were amazed at how well we executed everything. I was stunned. I've never heard West be so nice to us before. It's crazy. And our show did go really well. I was really proud of them.

Tomorrow night is Bandtoberfest. Unfortunately, we don't even know when we're performing. We're assuming first, and then all the students will leave. Benson left it up to me to decide whether or not the DMs would stay for the retreat. We're going to stay, but change out of uniforms along with everyone else. We're going out there in our jeans and band jackets. It's going to be awesome!!

There's one more week left in my senior year of Field band season. There are a lot of things I'm going to miss, and there are a lot of things I won't miss.

Outside, of band, I haven't had a life. That's why it's taken me several weeks to write this entry (I write in chunks and then have to save and then end up adding on). English class is okay - we're working on Hamlet. Music class has been awesome. We've got one composition finished, which is great. Bio is just incredibly confusing. Lunch has been great. HOA we've been watching videos and doing what I call "passive learning". I'm not sure we've been doing anything in TOK. I keep missing it for various reasons. I really wish we had Spanish more than every other day since I feel so rushed to remember all the material. And studyhall has been the same all year.

Youth Orchestra is starting to drive me nuts, but that's more or less because I never have any free time on the weekends (between band and orchestra)

I FINALLY got my All-State music!! I'm on the 2nd Clarinet part in the Symphony Orchestra. We're playing Berlioz' Roman Carnival Overture and Hindemith's Symphonic Metamorphosis. Two very cool pieces.

I can't think of another thing to write!

9/8 Competition

Well, there really isn't much to say about our first competition. It can be summed up in one word: terrible. Utterly terrible. This is the East High Band at its worst. I take that back. I'm sure we could have done more things incorrectly, but that would be a strech. We ended up with a score of 55.35. The only other SS3 band that did Week 1 competition was Westmoreland (they were at the same place) and they got a 64.75. Some things went well. I think. The woodwinds came in on their echo part in Natural Woman, and people played the whole way through the show. That isn't saying that they played it well, but they did play. And one of the judges said that our ending triads (chords) were nicely in tune a couple of times. This is the first year I've listened to the judges tapes. We got slaughtered. We decided to perform the entire show, but we stood still for segment 3 (South rampart Street parade) and then did a scatter drill thing to get to Segment 4 (Closer Walk). When we got back to teh school and watched the tape, I mainly watched Benson's face. It was a mixture of shock, horror, confusion and disappointment. This week we've focused on re-learning the drill/music for Segment 3. And tomorrow/Friday we are going to just starting running the show. And this Friday we've got sectionals from 3-5 and Saturday from 1-3

Oh, I forgot to mention the fact the we got back to East around 11, unloaded the truck, watched the video and THEN had a section leader meeting with Benson. I didn't leave East until midnight. That was terrific.

School has been pretty crazy. I'd write more, but I'm not really in the mood. I just wanted to get a post up about the competition.

Fire Drill Friday

Gotta love fire drill Friday. Every single class gets shortened a little bit, and you get to walk out into the obscenely hot outdoors. Which are almost as bad as the classrooms. It was completely disgusting. I was soaked by the end of first period. So, the rest of the day I was : upset about band, hot, sweaty, smelly, and tired. Just like everyone else.

Yeah, band did not go well today. It was bad. In every aspect of the word. I don't know which was worse- not using Dr. Beat, or trying to use it. Either way, I got stuck trying to fix the band's mistakes every 5 seconds. And I don't like it when I have to stop conducting and then start again to keep the band together. That's just ridiculous. Plus, we've got our first competition tomorrow. So pretty much all the sectional leaders were upset after band. That's why we've got sectional scheduled from 12- 2 tomorrow (some are starting at 1). And for once, every single section is having a sectional. Except the drum majors. I'm running the clarinet sectional because Olivia needs to get some CAS hours done (I am so thankful I'm past that). And they will know their entrances in Natural Woman by the time I get through with them.

One class of note: In HOA, Hurd decided to give up on trying to teach us, so we watched some random video clips from last year (the videos from the 50s, Ike for President, They're taking taking the Hobbits....)

And in Spanish, Senora Tunison (who has had me for 2 years, this is the third) said that this was the most tired I've ever looked in her class before. Which was probably very true.

Afterschool Jenna hung out with me for a bit, then I helped my mom with some final uniform stuff. Always lots of fun in the uniform room. Especially when it reaks of smelly feet and body odor.

Then I took a quick shower, and went to my youth orchestra audition. I auditioned for Augusto and Dr. McBreardy, which somewhat suprising, since I though Scott Kelley was going to be there. The audition went well, and I'm in.

I then came home, ate some leftover stuffed shells from my birthday, finished watching West Side Story.

Now I'm just hanging out, enjoying the air conditioning. I'm going to watch the new episode of Pysch and completely dread the sectional and competition tomorrow.

End of Summer

Well, here it is. The night before the first day of my senior year. This summer felt so long, and yet so short. Here's my review of the summer:

I did write my Extended Essay, and it's not too terribly bad

I've gotten most of one of my compositions written

I've got some other random ideas for the second one and the third one I haven't even thought about yet

I did no work at all on my IB Music comparitive paper

I managed to visit 4/5 clarinet professors at the colleges I'm thinking about attending

I found out that I got into All-State

I've got some good clarinet music to work on for my college auditions

My clarinet teacher and I decided what solos we'd look at this year

I took a lot of time to relax and do nothing

I watched Disney movies, Psych season one, All three seasons of House, and on Friday nights watched the current episodes of Psych

I actually spent some time with friends outside of Band Camp

I went to Freshmen Intros and survived. And I learned the names of the freshmen

Band camp went prety well. It had it's ups and downs, as did I

And my drum majors didn't totally rebel against me when I was being a jerk for no reason (usually when I'm a jerk, there's a reason)

I read some books that I really wanted to read

I got my liscense

I was actually able to make it to Youth Group a couple of times

I re-discovered the fact that I have the most amazing family and friends in the world

I survived 2 major near mental/emotional breakdowns

That was my summer

Period

NYSFBC

Well, the NYSFBC has the schedule for this season up and running. Here's what we're going up against:

Week 1: 9/8 Westmoreland, placed 4th last year at the Dome, score of 77.15

Week 3: 9/22 Pioneer, 6th, 72.70
CSAT, Last, 64.30
Wellsville, 8th, 71.55
Dansville, 10th, 68.85

Week 5: 10/6 Wellsville, Bath

Week 6: 10/13 Westmoreland, CSAT, Pioneer

Week 8: 10/27 Johnson City. Yes folks, they followed us to SS3. Remember, they beat us at the Dome by .55 This can not and will not happen again!!!

To put it all into perspective, here are our scores from last year:

Week 1: 9/9 64.00

Week 3: 9/23 70.80

Week 4: 9/30 67.25

Week 6: 10/14 70.15

Dome: 76.85

If you're curious about past scores, etc visit www.nysfbc.org The show hosts post the scores each week after the competitions so you can keep track of all the standings