trumpetman1288

I don't disagree with the statements about the Cavies from this past year, it was more so about phantom... But everyone has their own favorites, right?

o_0 Are you serious? Phantom hasn't really had a "ridiculous" visual program until recent years, if you even want to call it that...and music...I'll just stay quiet on that one...

I did do both simultaneously at one point...both are physically and mentally demanding, but football is more physically demanding while marching is more mentally demanding. Even then, you can't really compare the difference. It'd be like comparing football to ballet as far the physical demand goes. Ballet (to be good at it) is probably as demanding as it gets, but football is a high contact sport with chronic hits... Needless to say, band and football are both extremely demanding, but comparing them isn't necessarily fair.

*great confusion* In 2004, the closer was Blue Cathedral, yes? There was one line from the end of that part taken and put into this year's show. Is that part not Blue Cathedral?

Not that part...the Blue Cathedral part before Lux Aurumque.

I liked that part too, but I feel it was just kind of randomly thrown in...it just didn't seem to go smoothly into the music, especially with what was being played before (Pan's Labyrinth if I remember correctly?).

Just giving a heads up...you MIGHT feel like crying after getting your braces off. Some people transition well after, but MANY do not fare so well immediately after getting their braces off. No matter how hard it is for you to play, just keep at it after getting your braces off and things will start coming back. As far as range goes...believe it or not, pedal tones work WONDERS. I'm talking about those notes that go below the G below the staff. From personal experience and what several directors have told me, pedal tones work...I don't know why, but they do. I will say that the hardest note for whatever reason is the F below the G (doing it first valve anyways...), but after that, its not too bad. Another hard note comes up once you get to pedal C (once again, correct fingering, which would be open in this case). How how does one play pedal tones? It's kind of hard to explain without a demonstration, so I'll do the best I can. As you go lower, you instinctively want to back your air off to get a looser vibration from your lips. DO NOT do that. Keep the air fast as you go lower. To get your pedals going, start at low G and play F# (fingered 123). Have a tuner handy...I cannot stress that enough. Once you have that, play F (instead of killing yourself over getting it fingered 1, just do it 123 w/ slide...it will save a lot of heartache). From there, play E (12) and continue down chromatically and be sure to check with a tuner that you are hitting the correct pitches. And whatever you do, keep that air moving. Other things to work include octave slurs and long tones. After you have gotten fairly comfortable with pedal tones and octave slurs you NEED to play high as well. As someone once said of playing high, "you can't expect a bodybuilder to become muscular without lifting weights, so why would you expect your range to get better without playing high?" Start somewhere in your comfort zone (a middle C would be good). From there, work up chromatically to where things start getting "high" for you (for lots of people, that is about a G). Once you get to the high note, hold it out until you run out of air, and whatever you do, DO NOT let that pitch fall or crack the note as your run out of air. Repeat until you become comfortable with that note, then move up a half step. Over time, you will notice improvement in your range if you really work at this. It really requires a lot of patience, but if you work at it, you won't sound horrible when you go higher (like A LOT of people do...). Something you MUST KEEP IN MIND about ANYTHING related to trumpet playing is that everything requires air. Without pedal tones, slurs, and long tones, your current range will probably be better if you push your air much more so than you are now. The stuff I mentioned above will help you to sound better while you work your range. Because...let's face it...playing high with a horrible sound is NOT cool. It's really more of a nuisance than anything. I have a modest range I would say (pedal F# to a really flat double G), but I don't care to play high if it sounds bad...I work on my range because...well...as a trumpet player, it's kind of in you to just want to. Well, hope all works out for you, and best of luck!

Want me to send you the song? I am not sure if I can send it through PM, but if not, how about email?

The joy this show gives me brings tears to my eyes...

Your woodwinds may never forgive your director... Just kidding...

High notes without warm up = bad idea It's like running sprints without stretching...sure you can do it, but why would you?

Can't confirm this because I am just flat out too lazy to look it up right now, but if I am not mistaking, El Paso is ALMOST the midpoint between LA and Houston...it's about 50 miles closer to Houston, or something like that... *end random geography fact of the day*

You had to see every show in finals to really understand why the placements came out as they did. Brazoswood was actually one of my favorite shows of the night (I was in Houston too and absolutely shocked about you all not making finals). I would agree with you all not breaking the top ten, but I must let you know....Marcus and Bell were really on a whole different level. Just to let you know first, I am a BIG TIME traditionalist when it comes to what marching band should entail...I don't like props, I don't like dancing, and I sure as heck do not like electronics on the field (except for solos). I think a competition should be won by playing and marching; however, Marcus and Bell deserved 1st and 2nd because they did play and march. I still believe Bowie deserved music at night, but Marcus was really on a whole different level on music difficulty and execution. Bell crawled around, yes, but they march very well and play very well. BOA contests, unfortunately for some, are based heavily on GE (20 music, 20 visual, 60 GE, the GE being broken down into categories as well). If Bell creeped you out, they did what they were trying to do. I know it's a horrid feeling not to do as well you would have liked, but this contest was not easy. I was kind of surprised at some placements as well, but I do agree with the top 7. The only thing I don't agree with are the actual scores, but eh....that's another discussion for another time. By the way, congrats to you all on a great show. You all REALLY worked to get where you got in SA. The drill especially came a long way.

Perhaps...I thought so because as well as they played, Marcus seemed to slump A SMINGE during finals for music. While playing at fffffff was definitely exciting to listen to, I feel Bowie really explored their dynamic spectrum to its fullest. While all this was done, the sound remained balanced, no matter the dynamic, which whether you admit it or not, is extremely impressive. I admire a band's ability to control sound at every dynamic more so than technical features (double tonguing, runs, etc.). I'm not trying to take anything away from Marcus's obviously mind-blowing performance, but based on what I heard, I truly believed Bowie would take music. *edit* Now that I think back a little, I think the softest Bowie played was maybe mf....I can't quite remember. Even then....from mf-ffffff control is great....

I really thought Bowie was going to take music in the finals.