It's about the history of the Pledge of Allegiance. Already it is six pages, and I haven't double-spaced it yet, and I am only up to the 1960s. I've been writing it all day and I am not feeling very motivated to write much more. Plus, I only have to get through three days this week, and then,
SUMMER!!!!!
So this is my last big stay-up-till-the-wee-hours-of-the-morning-and-get-an-essay-done-that-you-procrastinated night of the school year! Pretty exciting.
What was that last post about, you ask? (Because I know hundreds of people are reading this and asking that.)
Well, I really don't feel like talking about it right now. :/ Tomorrow I will know much more. I will leave it at for now, and maybe post tomorrow.
I guess I should go write a little more. :(
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Well, I'm glad that I'm OK enough to tell when I'm not OK.
In other words, I'm glad I decided not to publish what I wrote last night.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Ummm...
I don't really have much to write a post about right now... but I'm bored. I've made some progress on the piece that I'm composing for the band, but this computer (the one with the actual good version of finale, not the free trial version) just got installed and my dad forgot to install the speakers, and I don't know where they are or how to hook them up, so I can't put anything on Finale yet.
Oh wait, he just got home.
Well, I might as well post this anyway.
Oh wait, he just got home.
Well, I might as well post this anyway.
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
I should REALLY be doing my chemistry review.
..But I'll do it tomorrow in class. I'll sit by Charlie, because he doesn't distract me and he's really good at chemistry. My final is on Friday, ughhhh.
I am trying out for drum major on Friday! Today after school, I got together with two of my friends who are also trying out, and we went to Natalie's house and worked for a solid two hours. There's this list of commands that we have to give... some of them are commands like "left hace!" and some of them are whistle commands. We have to give the commands to the band... and we also have to conduct one of the pep songs. We worked on other stuff, too, that wasn't even on the list, so we'll be super-prepared.
Up until this year, I didn't even want to be drum major. I liked playing my sax at games and parades. I still do, but this year I feel like.. okay, this sounds dumb, but I feel like I HAVE to be drum major, or at least try out. I feel like there was never really a choice. Probably because this year, I have become much more of a leader. A month or so ago I led a whole hour and a half clarinet sectional all by myself, and I don't even play clarinet! Not that it would have made it that much easier if I did, but I had a completely different part from all of them, and I was able to look at and listen to the three clarinet parts, and figure out how they fit together, and help everyone with them. It was this tricky part that only the clarinets (and maybe the flutes, I can't remember) had, with these super-fast triplets. But I'm not proud of myself as much because I was able to understand how the parts fit together and figure out the rhythms. It was more because I was deciding what parts we would practice, and deciding what tempo would be best for everyone, and they were looking to ME to make these decisions. It's not so much the musical aspect, but it's what the music had enabled me to do.
Like something that happened on the band trip. We were staying in a nice hotel (it was 21 stories.. two working elevators... 60 0r 70 band kids... you could either wait 5-10 minutes for an elevator or run up and down 19 flights of stairs. Anyway..) with a grand piano in the lobby. Half an hour before we had to be on the bus to go to the amusement park, I went down to the lobby with Bailey and Kevin because I wanted to play the grand piano. I started playing, and after a while I noticed that these two guys from another band were talking to Bailey and Kevin. (I think Collin also showed up...) When I finished my song more people had showed up, and people started clapping. They asked me to play something else, so I did, and when I finished one of the people from the other band was like, "You are amazing," and asked me if I had made all that up. (It was my solo from jazz band... it's just Bb blues, so I played the solo and then just kinda improvised for a few more minutes.) And I said I had, and this girl was like, "Didn't you see her yesterday?" I was confused for a minute, but then I realized they were talking about the jazz band performance the day before. I got up from the piano.. and Kevin and one of the guys I didn't know were sitting talking to each other on opposite ends of this couch. There was a little space in the middle, and I just plopped by butt down between them on the couch and started chatting away with them. Now, you have to understand that this is NOT something I would normally do. I don't even know Kevin that well, and I'm usually shy around people I don't know. That other guy wasn't too bad looking either. :P But after like a minute, Bailey made me get up and play again and then we had to leave. Now, I'm NOT trying to brag about my piano playing abilities. My point is that because I'm confident playing in front of people, I was more confident talking to them too.
I love how music is influencing my life :)
I wish I could write more, but I'm still sick and I don't want to be exhausted tomorrow.
So... goodnight :)
I am trying out for drum major on Friday! Today after school, I got together with two of my friends who are also trying out, and we went to Natalie's house and worked for a solid two hours. There's this list of commands that we have to give... some of them are commands like "left hace!" and some of them are whistle commands. We have to give the commands to the band... and we also have to conduct one of the pep songs. We worked on other stuff, too, that wasn't even on the list, so we'll be super-prepared.
Up until this year, I didn't even want to be drum major. I liked playing my sax at games and parades. I still do, but this year I feel like.. okay, this sounds dumb, but I feel like I HAVE to be drum major, or at least try out. I feel like there was never really a choice. Probably because this year, I have become much more of a leader. A month or so ago I led a whole hour and a half clarinet sectional all by myself, and I don't even play clarinet! Not that it would have made it that much easier if I did, but I had a completely different part from all of them, and I was able to look at and listen to the three clarinet parts, and figure out how they fit together, and help everyone with them. It was this tricky part that only the clarinets (and maybe the flutes, I can't remember) had, with these super-fast triplets. But I'm not proud of myself as much because I was able to understand how the parts fit together and figure out the rhythms. It was more because I was deciding what parts we would practice, and deciding what tempo would be best for everyone, and they were looking to ME to make these decisions. It's not so much the musical aspect, but it's what the music had enabled me to do.
Like something that happened on the band trip. We were staying in a nice hotel (it was 21 stories.. two working elevators... 60 0r 70 band kids... you could either wait 5-10 minutes for an elevator or run up and down 19 flights of stairs. Anyway..) with a grand piano in the lobby. Half an hour before we had to be on the bus to go to the amusement park, I went down to the lobby with Bailey and Kevin because I wanted to play the grand piano. I started playing, and after a while I noticed that these two guys from another band were talking to Bailey and Kevin. (I think Collin also showed up...) When I finished my song more people had showed up, and people started clapping. They asked me to play something else, so I did, and when I finished one of the people from the other band was like, "You are amazing," and asked me if I had made all that up. (It was my solo from jazz band... it's just Bb blues, so I played the solo and then just kinda improvised for a few more minutes.) And I said I had, and this girl was like, "Didn't you see her yesterday?" I was confused for a minute, but then I realized they were talking about the jazz band performance the day before. I got up from the piano.. and Kevin and one of the guys I didn't know were sitting talking to each other on opposite ends of this couch. There was a little space in the middle, and I just plopped by butt down between them on the couch and started chatting away with them. Now, you have to understand that this is NOT something I would normally do. I don't even know Kevin that well, and I'm usually shy around people I don't know. That other guy wasn't too bad looking either. :P But after like a minute, Bailey made me get up and play again and then we had to leave. Now, I'm NOT trying to brag about my piano playing abilities. My point is that because I'm confident playing in front of people, I was more confident talking to them too.
I love how music is influencing my life :)
I wish I could write more, but I'm still sick and I don't want to be exhausted tomorrow.
So... goodnight :)
Saturday, June 5, 2010
Hey, Look, A Blog Post!
Took the SAT today. I feel like I did pretty well, but I probably just jinxed it. It was LONG, and near the end of the test I was really starting to space out. It was the most ridiculous thing... you had to copy this statement that was basically like, "I certify that I am the person whose name appears on this test" only it was the LONGEST possible way of saying that, and we had to copy the whole thing in CURSIVE! Which I haven't used since third grade... apparently no one else had either, because it took pretty much everyone in the room like five minutes to copy the statement down. I hate pointless things like that... a signed statement is a signed statement, whether it's written in cursive or not! Besides, where do you draw the line... ? Suppose someone's cursive was just really bad, and it looked a lot like regular writing... are you going to punish them just for having crappy cursive handwriting?
My stomach hurts... probably because I ate a cupcake and a brownie and a huge cup of chili at Relay for Life, but it also might have to do with the fact that I'm sick. I'm sick because of the band trip... (OH MY GOSH, the band trip! I'll talk about that in more detail in a minute.) someone was sick when we left, and now probably literally like half the band is infected.
But it was SOOO worth it. We went to Vancouver and both bands and both jazz bands played in a heritage festival, and the next day we marched in a parade. It was raining... like the whole time. But we're BAND KIDS, and rain cannot stop band kids from having fun! The second night we went to an amusement park, which they shut down for all the bands (and orchestras and choirs) at the festival. They had an awards ceremony there, where they announced the results of our performances the day before, which had been adjudicated. I wasn't expecting us to win much, if anything at all... there were these Seattle schools that kept winning everything. There were different divisions, depending on how big your school is, and it was divided up, obviously, into band, orchestra, and choir. So there were lots of categories of awards. When they got to concert bands... WIND ENSEMBLE GOT SECOND PLACE! And then they got to jazz bands... and WE GOT FIRST PLACE!! And later on, jazz band got some kind of adjudicators' award for .... I'm pretty sure it was for scoring the highest out of ANY instrumental group there! Anddd, we got this OTHER award that had to do with our combined scores for all our groups.
And THEN. I thought they were pretty much finished with the awards, but then the announcer said that they had another award, and it was for individual students who they thought did particularly well in the performances. He was like, "if your name is called, please make your way to the front of the stage." He announced like four or five people. And then, "From [OUR SCHOOL] Jazz I, Clare [MY LAST NAME]"!!!!!!!!!! And THEN, "From [OUR SCHOOL AGAIN] Wind Ensemble, [Bailey______] and [Collin ______] (our drum majors!) " !!!!! I was standing with some of my friends, and I was like, shocked! So I went up there and stood on the stage, and they handed me this trophy, maybe like a foot tall, that has a wooden platform thing with a gold star. It's called a Maestro Award. :) There were eight or so of us altogether that got one, out of a whole bunch of bands and orchestras and choirs. :) I'm not trying to brag, but I've never won an award for something like that before!!
After the ceremony, my director came up and congratulated me, and he told me that the judges were really impressed with my piano solo at the beginning of one of the jazz band songs. They had told him this like five minutes before the ceremony, and had told him that Bailey and Collin and I were going to get awards. Bailey's and Collin's were for drum majoring in the parade, and I'm pretty sure Collin's was also for his trombone solo, in one of the tunes that was a trombone feature. We were all SO HAPPY :) I worked SO HARD on that solo.
:) Well, I better go to bed. I have lots of homework tomorrow.. ugh. I can't believe school is out in a week and a half!!
My stomach hurts... probably because I ate a cupcake and a brownie and a huge cup of chili at Relay for Life, but it also might have to do with the fact that I'm sick. I'm sick because of the band trip... (OH MY GOSH, the band trip! I'll talk about that in more detail in a minute.) someone was sick when we left, and now probably literally like half the band is infected.
But it was SOOO worth it. We went to Vancouver and both bands and both jazz bands played in a heritage festival, and the next day we marched in a parade. It was raining... like the whole time. But we're BAND KIDS, and rain cannot stop band kids from having fun! The second night we went to an amusement park, which they shut down for all the bands (and orchestras and choirs) at the festival. They had an awards ceremony there, where they announced the results of our performances the day before, which had been adjudicated. I wasn't expecting us to win much, if anything at all... there were these Seattle schools that kept winning everything. There were different divisions, depending on how big your school is, and it was divided up, obviously, into band, orchestra, and choir. So there were lots of categories of awards. When they got to concert bands... WIND ENSEMBLE GOT SECOND PLACE! And then they got to jazz bands... and WE GOT FIRST PLACE!! And later on, jazz band got some kind of adjudicators' award for .... I'm pretty sure it was for scoring the highest out of ANY instrumental group there! Anddd, we got this OTHER award that had to do with our combined scores for all our groups.
And THEN. I thought they were pretty much finished with the awards, but then the announcer said that they had another award, and it was for individual students who they thought did particularly well in the performances. He was like, "if your name is called, please make your way to the front of the stage." He announced like four or five people. And then, "From [OUR SCHOOL] Jazz I, Clare [MY LAST NAME]"!!!!!!!!!! And THEN, "From [OUR SCHOOL AGAIN] Wind Ensemble, [Bailey______] and [Collin ______] (our drum majors!) " !!!!! I was standing with some of my friends, and I was like, shocked! So I went up there and stood on the stage, and they handed me this trophy, maybe like a foot tall, that has a wooden platform thing with a gold star. It's called a Maestro Award. :) There were eight or so of us altogether that got one, out of a whole bunch of bands and orchestras and choirs. :) I'm not trying to brag, but I've never won an award for something like that before!!
After the ceremony, my director came up and congratulated me, and he told me that the judges were really impressed with my piano solo at the beginning of one of the jazz band songs. They had told him this like five minutes before the ceremony, and had told him that Bailey and Collin and I were going to get awards. Bailey's and Collin's were for drum majoring in the parade, and I'm pretty sure Collin's was also for his trombone solo, in one of the tunes that was a trombone feature. We were all SO HAPPY :) I worked SO HARD on that solo.
:) Well, I better go to bed. I have lots of homework tomorrow.. ugh. I can't believe school is out in a week and a half!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)