Administration

[Who is Puffer Fish]

That's awesome!
My band isn't anywhere near that epic. And I don't know what BOA is...xD;

We went to Disney my freshman year and haven't had a trip since due to idiots and lack of interest. We're supposed to go to Atlanta over spring break but because we're in Snowmageddon at the moment there's no telling if that will even happen.
And I'm still mad that my concert band picked Atlanta over NEW ORLEANS just because the bus ride is longer. I just...don't understand their problem. stressed
---
The most epic thing we've done recently is get superior at State VBODA competition in marching band, and that means if we get a superior at concert band festival we get VIRGINIA HONOR BAND, which we haven't had since the year before I was here. Or something. Before my time, y'know. x:

EDIT: Speaking of Snowmageddon, it continues. I haven't had school since last Thursday and the next theoretical day of school will be this coming Monday, a week from now. Wtf.  

[Terra of the Lilies]

We went in on Friday for school, but we got out 3.5 hours early...each class was 35 minutes. xd I don't think we'll have school tomorrow, but anything can happen.

BOA= Bands of America! It's so much fun. :] It's my favorite circuit that we've competed in.

That's really stupid...bus rides are fun, but doing stuff in New Orleans would be so much cooler.

Our state competitions don't mean much for us...we're given places based on our size and if any other bands our size are there, so our last state competition we got first out of one. >_> Adjudication is our required festival thing for concert band, though. Last year we got a superior at state adjudication, I think? Either a 1 or a 2, but I know we got a superior for sight reading.

I had to shovel out of my house like crazy! My dad and I had to get snow off of our heat pump so it wouldn't die and explode, or something. xd

 

[Who is Puffer Fish]

BOA sounds fun!

And yeah it's stupid...so many kids in my band class are just interested in the music and not the community feel.
It's like 3/4s of them are like NO I DON'T WANT TO WASTE MY SPRING BREAK ON A STUPID TRIP, while the other 1/4 is like YEAHH NEW ORLEANS...EXCEPT NOT FFF.

I don't know how to describe it, it's just dumb imo. -_-

My band is usually a 3A or a 4A depending on the year and the competition, so there's usually at least two other bands in our division...the 08-09 season was just us against this one other band though, and now it's a running joke to yell whenever we see their trailer...they're not even in our division anymore, lol.

I had to shovel two driveways the other day, my neighbor's and mine. Sucked. And now another 10-15 inches with one semi-broken shovel, wtf is this.  

[Peutaiite]

I've been inactive for a while, but I'll try to post more frequently now.

New Orleans? That a cool place for a trip. My band's going to New York. It sounds cooler, but I'd rather go to New Orleans. There's going to be too many people in New York. Ahh well. A trips a trip. smile

I'm jealous of you guys. With all this talk about band competitions. I've never been in a band competition, crying The closest I've came to one is Festival, but that's not against anyone.

I hate shoveling driveways. That must've been torture! I hope it wasn't too bad with the broken shovel. sad
Some neighbors were going away for like 2 weeks and they were going to pay 80$ if I kept the driveway shoveled. It didn't snow at all in those two weeks. (Weird weather for Canada) So my parents didn't let me accept the money.  

[Terra of the Lilies]

Whoa! I completely forgot to reply. xd I've been engrossed in watching the Olympics...

New York City? My band went there the year before I was a freshman, it sounded really fun. There's a lot of fun stuff there, and I don't think it would be too crowded around this time of year? (Just NEVER go on black friday...don't do it. Baaad memories. D= )

Competitions are definitely a fun experience, but so is performing in general! :]

Ugh, that sucks. D= Well, at least you didn't have to shovel? xd We just shoveled a couple inches, it snowed a bit tonight. No school tomorrow, not sure about wednesday. The roads suck, and walking to school safely would be impossible for me.

 

[Peutaiite]

Yeah, me too.

Aww, sucks that you weren't a year older. Yeah it does sound fun, the trips not now, it's around spring time. Lol why not? Or should I be better off not knowing? razz

Yeah. The thing is, I love festival because I like performing before/after other bands and in front of adjudicators. It just adds excitement. smile

Well not really, 'cause I don't usually spend my money, so I guess I'd be better without having ot do the shoveling. Well that's lucky, except for the shoveling part. razz Wait... it only snowed a bit and you have a snow day? Hm. They're really extreme with snow days in Ottawa. They sometimes keep school on with like 4 or 5 feet of snow. (thats a bit of an exaggeration, though, lol)


On another note, my BD said that she could choose 3 people to automatically send to All Star Band, and she picked me! smile The other people she picked were grade 11 and 12, so I fell pretty happy right now. And the better thing is, we're going to be playing music leveled 400+ to possibly 600! I'm excited.  

[[Aelfwyn]]

My marching band is non-competitive so we never go to competitions. But my concert band goes to OMEA large group contest in class C. We can't go any higher because we don't have every part covered and evidentally they dock you for that. xp It's basically because we only have two horns for four parts. Even if I went back to horn we would still be one short.

I got a II on my class B solo at solo and ensemble. neutral I'm not too happy with it, but I guess I improved through out the practicing for it and that's all that matters. I'm surprised that our ensemble got a II because we only practiced all together twice. I got my music only two weeks before S&E because the great-section-leader failed to tell the ensemble that he wasn't planning on doing it until three weeks before. It was my first time leading anything in band since middle school and that part was fun. Except I missed the high note in it went we preformed. I came back in on the next note which I didn't always do when practicing.

My band's going to Disney in April during spring break. We only go to Disney once every four years and everyone's really excited. My room people are cool, but I'm not looking forward to a 24 hour bus ride. Maybe the drummers will play the whole time...I'll hurt them if they do...Seriously we had a four hour bus ride my freshman year and the drummers played the whole time. confused Not fun.

 

[Who is Puffer Fish]

My marching band is competitive and we compete in the 3A or 4A categories, depending on the festival and the year. That's about 95-100 ish people, and we seem to have leveled around there recently.

I've never done S&E here cause I never know when it is and it usually takes place at a time where I never get time to practice. -_-;

My band's going to Atlanta over spring break, because people thought the almost 24 hour bus ride to New Orleans would be ridiculous.
We WOULD be going back to Disney but parents were unwilling to pay to go back again.
I'd have preferred New Orleans but somehow the stuff my director has crammed into those five days has made it so I'm not upset anymore. Six Flags, the zoo, the aquarium, the Coca-Cola factory tour, and I think something else...but it's going to be AWESOME. I already know who I'm going with for the Six Flags portion 8D

And god I cannot imagine that, Elfy. I'm a percussionist myself and our drumline gets bored of playing after a while...instead they blast stupid music on their iPod speakers and the leader plays MarioKart with the rest of the gamer nerds. xD  

[Terra of the Lilies]

Your band is a little bigger than mine...I think we have around eighty people total during marching season. A lot of those are seniors, so we have no idea how big we'll be next year.

I might try out solo and ensemble nest year...not sure what I'd do, though.

Woah, do you guys not have to do anything music-related for your trips? We always need to do something to justify the days of school we miss. xd

Our drumline is always drumming on something. My friend just started drumline for indoor percussion, and he became just like all of them so quickly. xd

So, the musical my school is doing for the spring is The Wedding Singer! We just got the music today, it's so cool...even though I only play the pretty stuff.

 

[Who is Puffer Fish]

We do have to do something music related. We're going to a University in the state and having a band workshop there. Then the rest of the trip is like WOO NO BAND.
And we're going over spring break so we're not missing school this year. ):

My drumline is always drumming, just not on the bus. I even have non percussion friends who are always hitting things...one even hits me but that's not important here lol >>

We just had our musical last week: Grease.
It was actually impressive, the only flaw was the microphone crap-outs halfway through solos.
No idea what the next one is going to be though, and it's going to be next year I think...my school was like 'OH HEY LET'S REPLACE THE SPRING MUSICAL WITH THESE STUPID DRAMA COFFEE HOUSES THAT DON'T EVEN HAVE COFFEE OR FOOD AND NOBODY GOES TO THEM : D'
Useless.  

[T i f a]

When I was in high school, our band was 5A and competed in BOA competitions. I'm pretty sure they're going to drop to 3A or 4A because the town got a new high school a few years ago.  

[Who is Puffer Fish]

That's kind of sad, Tif. We're the newest school in my county, so I suppose I don't have much room for condolences.

In other news, our spring trip has been cancelled due to general apathy.
And my french horn friend and I are hopefully joining orchestra on viola for next year. We're planning on learning over the summer and taking lessons during the year so we can replace the single viola we have that's graduating. Plus we're just that awesome that we can pull it off. 8D /shameless plug
Provided my parents are as supportive as her dad is, lol. Right now my dad doesn't think I'll practice and we haven't mentioned it to my mom yet...  

[Terra of the Lilies]

We have a new school opening up for the next school year, which means we're losing a lot of our now-freshmen band members, along with incoming freshmen. Luckily the now sophomores and juniors can stay, though. It just pisses me off, because when they were first talking about it, the board of ed. said that the freshmen could apply to stay at their schools and stuff.

That sucks, I'm sorry. D= We've had a countdown for disney on our white board in the band room that started at 70 days, I think...and now we're down to twenty. I'm so excited! We had a meeting about it last wednesday, and it sounds like a lot of fun.

In other news, I'm sick! Yay. It's whatever's been going around here for awhile, plus me overexerting myself and not getting enough sleep. I started to feel bad thursday night, got a migraine in band on friday and had to stand outside for two hours to sell girl scout cookies ( xd ), was working at our annual guard/percussion show for nine hours (outside for about two- I was hosting for one of the percussion groups, then I got to run errands and stuff), and yesterday I had to go to some lunch thing for around two ours. I'm hoping I can get back to school tomorrow...or go in late, or something. I missed a bio test and pre cal quiz today, and tomorrow our marching band masterclasses start.

 

[T i f a]

@Puff: I don't consider it a big deal, but maybe because it doesn't affect me personally, and the school used to be in the smaller divisions anyway. I'm pretty sure they would dominate 3A easily, but I'm pretty sure 4A still has some of the really good bands.  

[Peutaiite]

Okay guys, I completely forgot about gaia because of school and such. But the next piece of information reminded me to post this:

You guys know that audition I was talking about over a month ago? Well I got my acceptance letter in the mail about an hour ago!!

I'm so excited!
There's one snag though:

My parents don't want to let me go. It IS really far away, but the bus stop is really close to my house, and my friend has offered to drive me to band practices.

I'm going to argue this to the death, guys. I've worked so hard to get in, and I'm not going to let them stop me from doing it.

Anyone have any suggestions on how to convince them??