High School Graduation

We graduated Immaculata High School today! 

Day 15 - Back in NJ

Went to school today. I took my English exam and my Theology exam this morning. They were both incredibly easy. I talked to my band directors at school for a while. They were excited to hear about my (so far) Crown experiences.

After that I went over Allie's house and we went to Walmart. I got a raincoat that actually fits and I also got one of those towel things that keeps you cool when you wet it.  It WILL come in handy in Arizona in two weeks.

Tonight I have to go to the Baccalaureate Mass for Graduation.

Food is yummy. I like food.

Day 14. Heading back for graduation

Today we finished all of our choreography. It's so much to remember. And it will need a LOT of cleaning. 

It's about 4 pm and I'm in the Crown van heading to Charlotte airport to fly back to New Jersey for graduation! 

Day 13

More Jim Moore body work. Ouch. But the show is amazing. Once again. Ouch. Dancing is really hard. Ouch. 

Here's a few common quotes from the day. 

"You want me to do what??" 

"How am I supposed to do that while playing?"

"How do I prevent gravity from hurting me while I do that?"

"I can't bend that way"

"My knees are bloody"

(Visual staff) "I don't care if you can't hold that hand stand. Just do it"

"Ouch"

"This is awesome"

We learned so much stuff today. Our brains are on overload. And my hands are numb from putting all of my weight on them. 

Cool storm in the distance at sunset. 

Day 12 schedule

They follow basketball here. I don't know any basketball anything. Haha oh well. I hope the Heat loses because then the staff will be mad and they will push us harder. 

Day 11

The staff is getting mad at us. We are getting mad at ourselves. Our rehearsal technique is not very good. People are talking to much in between reps and we are wasting time. It must be fixed ASAP. 

On another scary note. There are three vets on the side line as alternates. Two of them have been at crown for two years. The other is a dci champion and also a crown vet. The staff wants them on the field and they are going to find the bad kids that have contracts and kick them out. Two of those vets are trumpets. I know I'm one of the stronger rookies and other vets say I'm fine as long as I keep following directions and pushing my limits. That is what I'm doing. 

And by the way. The choreography is extremely hard and confusing. But it looks absolutely amazing. 

Day 11. Starting choreography

This is hard stuff. If you've seen last years crown show. Just imagine them trying to top all of last years dancing in this years pre show. We've got a lot to go. 

Day 11 schedule

Everyone has been talking about this day since the first day here. Apparently it's the most painful thing I will ever experience.  Jim Moore is a famous Tony award winning choreographer. He designed the dancing in Crowns show last year. Last night several of us went to Walmart and bought knee pads. Vets said that if we don't have knee pads, our knees will be bloody and bruised from rolling around on the gym floor all day. 

Walmart was lots of fun last night. In addition to getting knee pads, I got other things that were absolutely necessary for me to survive the summer. A giant bottle of Advil, a huge tube of Aloe Vera gel, a completely waterproof rain jacket, a Fannie pouch, and McDonald's. 

Dancing at the car

Day 10. Torture

The day isn't even over yet. It's dinner time. For all you kids back at immaculata that said. Oh Karl you're so lucky! You get to miss the Memorial Day parade!  You were floating on clouds. Keep reading. 

This morning. The visual block lasted 4 hours until noon. For the first hour and a half we had basics. It was so hard to stay focused and keep my eyes open. My body felt like it had lost the will to move. I just wanted to lay down. 

After basics, the visual staff decided that we should go set to set through every page of the show we know. By now it was 10:30 and 75 degrees out with a boiling sun and no wind. We spent two and a half hours going from set to set and then chunks of our so far 151 pages of drill. This was agonizing. The sun kept beating down and we kept getting yelled at. Everyone's lips are chapped and blistered. They just kept getting worse. 

Then it was over. Lunch was great. But it only lasted for a half hour. 

We set up the brass circle at 1. We knew it would be bad. But we didn't know it would be torturous. At this point it was 82+ degrees out. The sun was beating down, reflecting off our shiny silver horns into our eyes. Our lips were chapped. And we had to play. 

We warmed up for about 50 minutes. And then Matt Harloff told us to line up at the end zone of the field. This is when the beatings started. Beatings are long tiring reps of marching and playing full out that are supposed to make us stronger. 

For you little memorial parade day kids marching at 120. You were living the life. 

Matt said, "okay we are going to do the end chunk of the opener all the way down the field 4 times. Once forward, once backwards, once forwards slide, and once backwards slide." 

The tempo is 188. And it's double forte constant destroy your lips loud. Each rep lasted 100 yards. Then we had to sprint back to the other and and do the rep again. After that our legs felt like jello. 

After 4 reps of that. Matt said, "okay now do the same thing with the closer until I say stop." 

 4 more reps. 100 yards. Full volume. Tempo 180. 85 degrees outside. Already jello legs. 

After we did that and we all wanted to shoot him, he said, "okay now we are going to march at 227 like the trumpets do in the pre show. All the way down the field. And you have to play 16 count whole notes. Oh and make sure there's no feet in the sound! Take a full 8 to 5!"

It's rather inhuman to march at 227 beats per minute. But we are crown brass. We are the best. We did it. Forwards for 100 yards. And backwards for 100 yards. Playing. 

After that we went into sectionals. The trumpets, of course, worked on marching and playing the 227 bpm part in the opener. Our lips were dead after the trumpet sectional. 

I thought it was over when we packed up. But we just moved back to the field with the rest of the brass line and did more torture reps. Matt harloff demanded full volume. We were all shot. Every rep that we did again we couldn't meet Matt's expectations. And he just made us repeat it again and again. Our lips were blistering and bleeding. But he wanted full volume. So we delivered what we could. 

We got stronger today. 

Day 9 -how do you define awesome?

We can march and play 3/4 of our show. Our ballad is a special moment. It is the most beautiful thing I've ever heard. The production team has created a moment that will last in my heart forever. 

Kevin LeBoeuf marching and playing on the way to ensemble. 

Day 9 lunch time!

It's a mad rush to lunch!!

Day 9 schedule