Band Camp Blog: Monday, 08/21/06

Monday and Tuesday are usually the two hardest days of band camp but not because of their length. Despite being the two shortest days of the week, Monday stayed true to form by being extremely hot AGAIN. But let's not get ahead of ourselves here. Monday began with a full section music sectional in Harding at 9 AM. We went over stands tunes for the first part of rehearsal while the marching section leaders modeled the horn flashes. Once Kim begged me to show off my rear, well, how could I say no? The horn flash rehearsals in general have been much easier to get through than before which makes me wonder how in the world this week could get any better.

After the horn flashes, we read through two of Kyle's arranged features. The themes from "Family Guy" and "Superman" really are starting to come together and should be on the radio at some point this season. Kyle did a tremendous job writing for five parts and deserves a HUGE amount of credit. Keep looking through them, guys, because they are always getting better each time you play through them.

Practice then shifted outside to our brand spanking new practice field on the South Quad. Any returning member can probably tell you the lack of mud on this field is yet another thing that has been a nice surprise this week. Pete reviewed some fundamentals and taught the run-on step. Everybody is learning the revised step this year, and most have already said how much easier it will be once they practice it a few times. Pete's made so many changes since he took over, but they all have a reason and are being received extremely well by the MI. We've never looked and sounded this good since I've been here.

Once practice ended, we took a break, formed the parade block, and then marched over to Memorial Stadium for Illinois Sights and Sounds Day (formerly Illini First Nite). A lot of the things from music rehearsal carried over into the performance, so major ups to all of you for that. Keep up the phenomenal work on your playing. Lunch was served at the stadium which then led into a much deserved and needed three hour break. Music rehearsal lasted for an hour and a half to finish up the day.

Tomorrow is Quad Day and is the final day of Band Camp 2006. Given past history, I'd expect it to be hotter than a fire created by a match and Kyle's "tell me that's not epic" farts. I'll be posting a recap with my thoughts on the whole week later on.