Updates

OK, despite last night's post, I did not wake up hating myself in the morning (yay). I was really tired but otherwise got through the experience unscathed. I think I'll try to make r-ball a weekly thing again.

Went to marching contest tonight; hadn't been in a year or two. It's not so much that I was "getting in touch with my inner band geek" as it was just supporting my schools and seeing the big picture of what my students had been working on. While I would never actually like to work with marching band as an occupation (that actually was a big factor that pointed me away from band directing and into private/college instruction), I do appreciate the medium itself as a form of entertainment. I'm not always sure how much it accomplishes musically, but it sure is fun to watch, and it's way more meaningful to me if there are people on the field whom I've worked with and really care about.

Anyway, most of my bands got first divisions; I especially liked the Rowlett show. Lakeview got 2's--too harsh in my opinion, but at least I got to see Matt D. do the drum major thing, which totally ruled. I get really tired of seeing stiff, robotical conductors up there, and he was totally getting into it, which added so much to the energy of the show. Lakeview had the misfortune of going right after Allen, the biggest band in the state with over 500 members. I teach three of their saxophones at the store, which means that .0058939 of the band is from my studio (haha). They were really loud (duhh), and it was almost hard to catch a lot of the show because so much was going on at the same time. At any rate, not a bad way to spend an evening (I can say that from where I was in the stadium; those who were on the field may beg to differ), and the end of contest marks the beginning of "freedom" for the seniors out there.

Oh yeah, forgot to post this on Tuesday: I got to hear a little bit of the "first final mix" for the Jazz Camp faculty CD. They had Frank Mantooth come in to help with the mixing. What I heard sounded great; I had to remind myself, "oh yeah--I'm in this band!" I'll have updates here and on my website as to the progress of the CD's production and release.