Yesterday

RECENT LIFE CHANGING EVENT:

This winter I had the opportunity offered to me to audition for a professional Bugle and Drum Corp.- Blue Knights. They are located out of Denver, Colorado. To explain, a Bugle Corp is basically like a professional level marching band, only instead of having both brass, woodwind, guard, and percussion all in one, it is a selective category. This audition, for example, is only for brass and percussion. My instructor Paula Hyman brought me up to speed on techniques that I needed to master, and to clarify adjustments to be made to what I already was familiar with. She worked with me for around two months allowing me to go over my audition assignments with her and to ask any questions I had. I also got advice from world renown Michael Garasi and his wife Mrs. Garasi. Paula Hyman was contracted as a mellophone with The Cadets and was also their horn sergeant. In my freshman year I was in SRHS's marching band for the entire season and loved the structured, disciplined aspect of it. The first audition was in early December. It was a small camp with only around 20-30 kids and we practiced basics block (marching basics), breathing gym, stretching, and rehearsed the music. As we rehearsed people would be pulled out in small groups to go audition. I auditioned towards the end of the camp and had a good audition. They also said that my marching technique looked pretty good. Later in the week I got an email inviting me to the Colorado camp in Denver. At this camp that I attended there were closer to 200 other students auditioning and it was a three day program where we were located out of a high school's facilities. The camp was intense 15 hour days of exercising, drills, standing absolutely still at attention, and straining to play as powerfully as possible, while still maintain tone quality. During the breaks, I had an amazing time talking with all the other students there. Some of them had been doing different DCI groups for years and it was interesting to hear their stories and any advice they had for me as a beginner. Everyone acted as a team, there was a mutual respect and understanding among the entire group. Even though all competing for around only 20 spots (in the trumpet section at least), everyone was still really cordial and supportive of one another. The discipline too was incredible and the power of the brass section as a whole literally blew me away. The first night we arrived, during our rehearsal from 9 PM to 12, it was my first arc formation I had ever been in with a DCI group and the first chord progression study we ran through was incredible. An energy just seemed to surge through each person in the entire group and it could be felt intensifying throughout the rehearsals. At the end of the camp/audition I was sad to leave but I learned so much about not only trumpet and marching technique but also about respect, discipline, and what it really meant to be a part of a team.