We spent half an hour inside practicing pep band music. That part went relatively well. Relatively being a key word here. (Imagine 100 people with instruments in a room. Now imagine trying to get every single one of them to be quiet. YeeeaaahhhNO.) Then, we went outside, lined up, (WHY do freshmen see an order to fall back as a personal insult?) and marched againandagainandagain around the parking lot. At some point during this part it started raining. Hard. Once the rain saw that us and our instruments were thoroughly soaked, and its job was done, it stopped. We went out to the football stadium and practiced facing the bleachers and playing the songs we're going to play at the game on Friday. We were GOING to play Basket Case and Green Onions, and I was SO excited because we never play Green Onions!! And I love that song! But then people COMPLAINED because apparently I'm the only one who likes it and Bailey (one of our drum majors) was like, "Okay, we're playing Basket Case and Hey Baby!" And we play both those songs ALL the time... anyway, we played them, then practiced going into the stands, then going out of the stands and lining up again, and then facing the bleachers and playing two more songs.
Now, this whole time our drum majors were frustrated because people WOULDN'T. SHUT. UP. Really, they just needed to shut up. We were yelling at each other, and people kept yelling stuff out. It just made people more frustrated, which made the drum majors more frustrated, which made us more frustrated. You could feel the aura of frustration. When we were sitting in the bleachers at the end, Bailey and Collin (our drum majors) told us that freshmen could leave, but everyone else had to stay. And then they basically told us what a poor attitude we were having as a band, and what a horrible example we were setting for the freshmen. It was a talk we NEEDED. We actually ended up talking about a lot of stuff. Like how we should really give the new director a chance, because he's actually trying really hard to make us good. And how we shouldn't complain about EVERY. SINGLE. THING. he does differently, because he's actually keeping a good amount of stuff the same. And how we shouldn't complain when they tell us to do stuff, because... they need to be telling us to do stuff, that's their job. And how we shouldn't just expect ourselves to be better than we were last year just because it's a new year and a new band, but that it will actually take WORK. And we needed to hear ALL of that. It started out as kind of a lecture, but by the end we were all band buddies again, and agreeing on stuff. I'm so glad we had that talk, it reminded me how much I really care about band.
...But it also reminded me why I would make a crappy drum major. It would just take so much of something that I don't have... I want to say courage?... to stand up in front of a group of your peers, many of whom are more than a little ticked at you, and say, essentially, "Hey, you guys are being jackasses, get your act together." I just can't... put myself out there like that. Grrrr. :/
Second home game tonight, we won 30-something to 0. It was fun, but I'm exhausted. I can't wait to sleep in tomorrow!!
Hey hey! :D Thanks for stopping by my blog! I hope you come over and visit again. I will be following yours if that is cool with you. Also, how old are you if you don't mind my asking. And how did you come across my blog? Just wondering. :)
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