Pre-band camp, I was
nervous to wake up and get ready at 8am, and so nervous to get my trombone and
pack my lunch. It was like I had broken both of my legs and was crawling out
the door. We met up in the auditorium in the high school, which made me all the
more scared because in a couple of weeks I was going to be in school there. We
were assigned band buddies who were seniors. Tully, is the drum major for our
marching band and he was my band buddy, so it was an honor to have someone like
that for my band buddy. When we walked down to the lacrosse field to practice
the first day, we learned how to a take our first marching steps. At the time
it seemed both complicated and confusing for those who were freshmen. Over the next
two weeks we gained some much skill, but there was still a lot to learn still
ahead.
Band camp arrived, and we left the
school and headed down the road and stopped for lunch. Sam and I went inside of
the Walmart that was located where we stopped. We were getting some snack items
for the trip and for camp itself. One of us had the crazy idea to get Red Bull
or some kind of energy drink so we could last. Everyone told us we were crazy
and some who thought otherwise, thought it was a good idea. We bought two packs
and we split the price, got some gum. Sam said “This is still not enough Red
Bull to satisfy us for all of band camp”. And then we are on the road to Sweetbriar
Collage. When we arrived there was SOOO much luggage, pull the arms off for the
people who helped unloaded. We went to get our dorms keys and it already felt
like if I was in college. Our personal dorm keys that my friend Nathan already
locked himself out of our shared dorm. It was always smart to make sure you had
contact with the person you roomed with at all times.
When we to the longest time ever getting down to the field we
got into our “blocks”. And then this guy named Paton Shelton was the meanest
trumpet player you’ll will ever meet. The first thing that came out of the dude’s
mouth was “THIS LINE LOOKS LIKE POOPIE!!!” He would always yell, whether or not
it was a normal conversation.
During
band camp Sam and I did ended up going through our Red Bull, we had enough for
one a day. And it was too much for me. In the morning after waking up and
eating we walked down to field and we did our morning exercises, which included
but not limited to arms circles with the song “I love arm circles, arm circles
I adore, please please, please can we do a little more”. Someone thought it was
a smart idea to do Zumba, thus the 2014 band dance was born. We started with
our first song, and we did about 10 sets a day.
After we were done with all of our all
3 practices it was between 8:30am – 9:00pm. We would walk back to the campus,
our feet were blistered. No matter if you had clean and new socks every
practice, your feet were going to get demolished. We had till 11:15pm to get to
our dorm building or we couldn’t get in at all. But even before that, we had
the time to do whatever we wanted. If you are like me you didn’t want your feet
to even touch the ground. So most of the time me and my friends stayed in the
dorm playing games.
When band camp was coming to an end, we were
already worn out. Mr. Galyen was trying to rush us to focus, and said to us
“You can’t bake a good cake with a bad egg”. At the last practice, were doing
the band camp performance. The last song was not ready to play for the other school,
so we didn’t play it. The show was pretty good. Even to this day it was a lot
better than other performances. The low brass section was so loud, it was
perfect. We were like ice put on a hibachi grill. When we were done, we had to
pack up, get rid of all our trash, and turn in our key. Turning in my key was
probably one of the most emotional thing ever, because it meant that band camp
was over. But then, band was just really starting.
It was fun.Good story!
ReplyDelete- Hannah Tyler