Off The Field With The Blue Knights 7/26/14 Powder Springs, Georgia Onward Due to the amount of floor time the corps was given, we had one rehearsal block today. Later that day, we would go on to perform at the Georgia Dome. One block, one show: every rep counts. Needless to say, the corps was running their best game today and rehearsing like it were the block before a regional. However, since we’ve been in “the South,” there’s a culture here that respects tradition and somehow, in drum corps speak, that translates into “wear your shirt all the time.” Now, if you’re out walking on the street, that command seems like common sense, just wear a shirt. In drum corps, though, when you’re running around on a field carrying a 3-35 lb. instrument for 4 hours straight, keeping a shirt on in the heat gets rather taxing. But then, halfway through our block, Bo (the band director at the school and one of our brass techs) told us that it was okay to take our shirts off during the block. This may not sound like much, but to a drum corps, it was almost like Christmas in July again. Those little things become a huge deal when combating the heat against corps morale. After the block, we were on our way to the ever-wonderful Georgia Dome where all 22 world class drum corps were to compete head to head in our third regional. The dome itself has an interesting quality that some other domes don’t: it eats up sound before it gets to the podiums. It is characteristic for sound to bounce around and reverb like crazy in domes, but this particular venue simply collapses the sound back in on itself making my personal job harder than normal. My evaluation of the show came form asking others how their individual show went. All in all, it was a great score for a great show. I’m incredibly proud to be a part of this organization and the direction it is heading. What the best part is is that, for the rookies this year, this is the BK standard and they know nothing about what it feels like to be in 10th. It certainly takes a lot of more effort to motivate someone who knows that they are in a 10th place corps and that they’ll be there whereas the motivation to get better comes naturally from a corps who is climbing the ladder and showing no sign of slowing down. This corps is bound to do great things so long as we continue to push. For those of you who do not know, the past 6 or 8 years, the Blue Knights have been hanging around 10th place regardless of show design. So after tonight, I received a bunch of texts and messages from alumni saying how proud and happy they are to see Blue Knights doing something great this year and actually pushing to make ourselves the best possible version we can be. In gaining the ground we have been, that mentality is crucial and even though it’s not happening, we have to avoid the feeling of content and being complacent with what we have done, because it’s all about getting better. Plus, this show has a rather universal concept to it, I feel, and the world has got to see what we are capable of communicating. And I’m happy I get to stand on that podium and watch it all happen. I go on…
Posted on: Sun, 27 Jul 2014 10:37:41 +0000
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