actually, the Berio Sequenza or Merle Noir by Messeian might be even better

Hehehe... I guess I shouldn't complain that much about my school's practice schedule, I only left with a blister on the back of my foot. Our first show was supposed to be today but, hurricanes are one of the few things we'll cancel for (and our school's athletic directors are really picky about being on the field when its wet). So, my first show is on Friday next week.

Here's a video of what my school's band did last year.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFIw9H7o__U

our first show was last nite at our first football game. it was pretty good, better than i expected, but the freshmen just kinda suck. hate to say it...but its true...our director taped it, and the color guard captain barfed at the end of the show. i felt bad for her. she took one for the team though.
our next show is next friday, on my freakin birthday.

Sounds like a good birthday to me!

well if we do good then it will be. lol. now if it was an actual competition, then i would be a lot more excited. my friends and i get crazy at competitions...the bus rides are the best. does anybody here know about the Arcadia competition thing? well its the biggest competition of the season, near the end of marching season...and we take special buses up there...its a 3-4 hour ride from where im at, but is the best...but yeah...im lookin forward to this season

Yup...My old high school used to compete there. I'm not sure if they do anymore or not.

oh ok. yeah its a huge event. arcadia high has a huge band!!! its crazy

Yeah, they're usually around 450 in the group, though they rarely march them all.

yeah its hard to march such a large group. the formations would mostly be blocks and stuff like that. they probly hafta try out to get into marching, like we have to try out for parade season.

They generally put about 250 on the street, and sometimes the full 450 (for the rose parade, and other big events), but for field they usually cut it to about 200 or 225. Much more than that, and there just isn't room to move.

Oi, I know what you mean about freshmen sucking. I'm section leader of the flutes this year and the freshman aren't getting any better, even after 3 sectionals. I just want to beat my head against a wall!

Anyway...

O_o I couldn't imagine trying to deal with 450 people in a band. That's just too many.

Our theme this year is Charlie and the Chocolate Factory it's cool but the newbieas are seriously behind. This year I am the only piccolo and its awesome! Any ideas on how to help the rookies memorize their music?

Our theme this year is Charlie and the Chocolate Factory it's cool but the newbies are seriously behind. This year I am the only piccolo and its awesome! Any ideas on how to help the rookies memorize their music?

Pure repetition is the way I memorize my music. I take a recording and play along for as many times as it takes for me to be able to play the music correctly without having to even glance at my music.

It also helps if you tell them they will have a playing test next week on the music from memory. Worked for me freshman year.

Our theme this year is Charlie and the Chocolate Factory it's cool but the newbieas are seriously behind. This year I am the only piccolo and its awesome! Any ideas on how to help the rookies memorize their music?

what we usually do, is play, well depending on the length of each movement, a quarter or so of the song 2 times reading it, and then turn our stands around and play each piece by memory. it works