Band Camp

8-19-09

Today was the second day of the Pride of the North band camp… only the second day and I’m already exhaused.  My shoulder muscles still haven’t adjusted from the weight of the sousaphone.  Every marching band season I got through the same thing.  Once the huge usual knot forms, all will be well again.  Hopefully that will happen sometime this week.  If not I’m not too sure how well I’ll handle it.

I’m really excited to be back.  I really feel like I fit in well with the band, and my section.  Last year they really made me feel apart of everything.  I wonder if the new freshmen will feel the same way I do.  I hope so.  The band has eight sousaphone players this year.  We get our own section instead of just being a part of the low brass.  So far this year, we’ve pretty much just treated it like one big low brass section rather than two separate sections… except we did do a sectional with just tubas… that’s probably how it will go.

What gets me is how little the number of female tuba players there are.  Out of all those new freshmen we got- going from four sousaphone players to eight- there is only one girl.  Me.  My friend Candyce was going to play, but she had some back problems so she’s playing the baritone instead.

The show’s pretty great too.  We’re playing "We’re an American Band," "I Don’t Care," and "The Pretender."  It was supposed to be one song called "Gansta Jazz," but it is really difficult and there’s not enough time before we go to Texas.  I think the plan is to work on that one after the trip though.

Anyway, I’m also excited for the Texas Tech game.  We’re taking a five day trip down to Texas for the Sioux’s first game of the season.  We’ll play in a sadium in front of 70,000 people… I’m nervous, but I’m sure I’ll forget about the audience come game time.  I always do.  Another good thing is that I’ll only miss two school days too.  I’m going to talk to my instructors right on the first day of school so that there’s no issues with that.

Man, I really miss playing the sousaphone.  I’m so glad marching band season is back again.