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Here's another sketching opportunity that came my way recently, I got to go into a studio to sketch band. A local band, including a couple of members I know. I realised that I've never actually been into a studio before. I could have spent hours, days, in there drawing all the equipment.
I have some larger drawings that I made in my Moleskine sketchbook, but these drawings I made in a cheap little pretend Moleskine that was about a quarter of the price. I'm not somebody who moans about the Moleskine sketchbooks being expensive. I actually don't think they are. Or, at least, for me it's well worth the price for the amount of time, effort and love I put into filling them. But, there is something to be said for these cheaper sketchbooks. You're less precious about them and about wasting the paper which gives you the freedom to make different kind of drawings. More sketchy.
Anyway, here are some sketchy sketches. And, here, if you are interested are the band, Sharma. If nothing else just check out this first track. I think they're good. Really good. You can watch them HERE.
0 Comments on can't talk now I'm sketching a band as of 1/1/1900
Over the next few weeks, Paul Gluck, co-author of Physics Project Lab, will be describing how to conduct various different Physics experiments. In his third post, Paul explains how to investigate and experiment with rubber bands…
Rubber bands are unusual objects, and behave in a manner which is counterintuitive. Their properties are reflected in characteristic mechanical, thermal and acoustic phenomena. Such behavior is sufficiently unusual to warrant quantitative investigation in an experimental project.
A well-known phenomenon is the following. When you stretch a rubber band suddenly and immediately touch your lips with it, it feels warm, the rubber band gives off heat.
Unlike usual objects, which expand when heated, a rubber band contracts when you heat it. To see this, suspend a rubber band vertically and attach a weight to it. Measure carefully its stretched length by a ruler placed along it. Now blow hot air on the rubber band from a hair dryer, thus heating it. Measure the new length and ascertain that the band contracted.
The behaviour is also strange when you try to see how the length of a rubber band depends on whether you load or unload it. To see this, suspend a rubber band, affix to its bottom a cup to hold weights, as shown.
Now increase the weights in the cup in measured equal increments, and for each weight measure the length, and the change in length from the unstretched state, of the rubber band by a meter stick laid along it.
Force versus length with hysteresis, image provided by Paul Gluck
For each weight, wait two minutes before the new length measurement Record your results. Now reverse the process: unload the weights one by one, and measure the resulting lengths.
For each amount of weight, will the rubber band have the same length when loading as when unloading? No, the behavior is much more subtle and is shown in the graph, in which one path results when loading, the other when unloading. This effect is known as hysteresis, and is related to energy losses in the band.
What happens to the sound of a plucked rubber band?
Try it: pluck a rubber band while gradually stretching it, thereby increasing the tension in it. In the process the plucking produces a pitch which is practically unchanged. But if you keep the length of a rubber band constant but increase the tension in it somehow, the pitch will change. You can keep the length constant, while changing the tension, as follows: fix one end of the rubber band or strip. Pass the free end over a little pulley, affix a cup to that end to hold weights, then putting increasing amounts of weight into the cup will increase the tension in the rubber band, while keeping its length constant.
Unless you have perfect pitch and can detect small differences in pitch, you may need more sensitive means to detect the variations. One way is to have a tiny microphone nearby that will pick up the sound produced when you pluck the band. This sound is then passed on to a software (on the Web search for ‘free acoustic spectrum analyzer’) which analyzes the sounds and tells what frequencies are present in the plucking sound.
Finally, how does a flat thin rubber strip transmit light? Take a very thin flat rubber strip and start stretching it. Now shine a strong spotlight close to one side of the strip and measure the intensity of the light which is transmitted on to its other side, while the strip is stretched. You would expect that as the strip is stretched it becomes thinner so more light should get through, right? Wrong: for some region of stretching the transmitted light intensity may actually decrease.
If you have access to a physics lab and modern sensors you can set up an apparatus which will allow to explore in depth the whole range of phenomena to greater accuracy.
Have you tried this experiment at home? Tell us how it went to get the chance to win a free copy of the Physics Project Lab book! We’ll pick our favourite descriptions on 9th January.
Book: Bats in the Band Author/Illustrator: Brian Lies
Pages: 32
Age Range: 4-8
Oh happy day! There is a new book in Brian Lies' Bats series, after Bats at the Library (review), Bats at the Beach, and Bats at the Ballgame (review). Lies' accomplished bats are back, and this time, they are making music with Bats in the Band. While the musical evening setting doesn't resonate quite as much for me as the earlier library or baseball game settings, it's still lovely to be immersing myself in Lies' detailed illustrations, and reading his rhyming but varied prose aloud. In this story, as night falls one evening, a number of bats experience a common yen to make music. They converge on a "summertime theater", deserted late at night, and engage in an impromptu series of musical acts.
Here are my two favorite snippets of text:
"Some bats have instruments perfect in size,
Others, without them, will just improvise.
Behind the stage curtain, they're getting in tune,
making up things out of straws, out of spoons.
and
"Then the shimmering vibrations
dwindle down and fade away--
and a silence fills our ears,
as loud as anything we played."
See what I mean? Each set of couplets rhymes, making Bats in the Band nice for read-aloud, but because the passages don't all have the same number of syllables, it doesn't feel sing-songy. I love how Lies uses strong vocabulary words, like "dwindle" and "shimmering".
And the bats! Set against mainly dark backdrops, the bats have finely textured fur, bright black eyes, and jaunty ears. Their instruments mostly look like real instruments. However, careful study of the illustrations reveals things like a bat guitarist sitting on a champagne cork, and scraps of straws and bottle-caps put into service as instruments.
Bats in the Band has a delightfully silly premise, brought to life with a joie de vivre that could awaken in any reader a fresh appreciation for music. Highly recommended, and a must-read for fans of the series.
Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers (@HMHBooks)
Publication Date: August 5, 2014
Source of Book: Review copy from the publisher
FTC Required Disclosure:
This site is an Amazon affiliate, and purchases made through Amazon links (including linked book covers) may result in my receiving a small commission (at no additional cost to you).
Congratulations to the Kickapoo Jazz Band on an outstanding performance at the Parkview Jazz Festival!! The group earned 1 ratings across the board & received numerous compliments from the judges!
So. I left work early Friday to attend Jazz’s Jazz festival at a local high school.
First of all, may I just say, I need to do that more often!! It felt WONDERFUL to leave work three hours early. I seriously need to do that more often – it does wonder for my morale.
Kevin met me at work and we drove over to the high school together. The whole performance only lasted about fifteen minutes, but we stayed to hear the judges critique the kids, which was interesting.
The judge hammered the group before Jazz’s group so we were pleasantly surprised when the judge that nearly embarrassed the last group merely clapped and said, “good job guys.” I don’t think the kids can truly appreciate how awesome that compliment was, especially since they didn’t see him with the kids before them.
The other two judges mostly picked on the drummer and the bass player – said they were too loud. And listening to the recordings, I can see why they thought that.
The videos below are actually in reverse order – the first one was played third, the second one second and the last one first. I put them in the order that I thought were the best – the last being the best, in my opinion.
I felt so sorry for their teacher, who you can see is VERY pregnant. In fact, I’m certain that’s why the kids aren’t traveling to their normal competitions this year because the teacher likely doesn’t want to be far from home when she has the baby.
Which, judging by these videos, should be any time! (Poor woman. In fact, after they performed, one of the judges tried to make her sit down. LOL).
You can’t hear the girl singing very well, but at first, I was like, “What the …??” but somehow, they made it work. Her voice really blends well with the song and I thought it was a neat touch.
I was a little annoyed that the teacher stood in front of Jazz as he played his solo, and the video really doesn’t do him justice as he played really well, but that’s okay – I’m just happy he has the confidence TO stand up and be the center of attention for a short time. That takes guts.
I’m not sure I’ll have very many more jazz band videos. Like I said, they really don’t have a lot planned this season. I think they’re planning on playing at our local Art Walk, so we might show up and take some pictures/videos that day.
I’m really disappointed considering this is Jazz’s favorite part of band – playing in the Jazz band. And since this is his senior year, I was really hoping for a fun, exciting season, but that’s life, I guess.
I’m just grateful for band as that has made his middle school / high school years fun and tolerable.
(And my apologizes over the video quality – I took it with my phone).
And while we’re in the Christmas music mode … here is more of Jazz’s Christmas, oops WINTER, *rolls eyes* concert.
I took these videos with my phone, so the quality is not that great, but the sound is decent and that’s all that matters. I focus on the right side of the group because Jazz is the saxophonist in the white shirt on the very end.
Also. I thought the Drumline’s portion of the concert was pretty cool – so I took a video of them, too.
IT’S CHRISTMAS EVE!! Time to frantically catch up on last minute things …
We went to our last Christmas parade last weekend … (well, it’s not the last, but the last one that Jazz will march in and they’re so hokey [no offense Springfield], that I highly doubt we go back to see another one just for the sake of seeing another one).
We dropped Jazz off in the parking lot and waited around for them to “step off.” We happened to be parked in the lane that they lined up in, so we got a pretty good view of them as they marched past.
The band director put the seniors on the outside, so Jazz walked right past us. He smiled as he saw us. And one of his friends, a few rows back, saw us too.
“Hey Jazz,” he yelled, ” I see your parents.”
We laughed.
After the kids took off on their route, we drove to the end of the route, parked and walked back to meet Kevin’s parents and sister.
It was cloudy and cold that day, but nothing like I’m-so-cold-my-fingers-are-going-fall-off miserable, so we managed.
We waited for about twenty minutes before the first cop car rolled around the corner.
And then members of the military.
And then a 4×4 truck followed by girl scouts.
Then a high school band.
And a rather pathetic-looking float.
Our parades are sort of hokey, if you want the truth.
Our kids were number 19 in the line up and they finally rounded the corner:
My heart soared. I don’t know these kids, but I’m proud of them.
We maneuvered it so that we would be on the side of the street that Jazz would be on and we weren’t disappointed, he walked right past us.
And a few rows back, his friend also saw us.
“Hey Jazz,” he called out, “I see your parents again.
We all laughed.
I’m so glad that we made an effort to be at his band functions over the years. He’ll remember us supporting him and though he occasionally acts like he doesn’t care if we show up, I know, by the smile he flashed us in the above picture, that he enjoys having us cheer him on.
For some reason, I totally blanked out and forgot that my phone has a video function and didn’t take any video of the kids. But the band played the song they played when they marched in the parade at the Christmas concert and that I DID record.
Have a great day! Only six days left until Christmas!
I pray every day. My prayers are pretty redundant – I pray for my family, for our jobs, for our safety, for our country (GO ROMNEY!) and I pray for the weather … especially when marching band season rolls around. I pray REALLY hard when it’s marching band season.
We’ve been lucky, so far. (Or not luck, but blessed – God is awesome). We’ve never had bad weather on band competition days. We’ve had overcast, cold days, but it’s never rained hard enough to cancel or postpone, the competition.
WebbStock was no exception. In fact, God not only answered my prayers that day, He surpassed them. The day was gorgeous. G.O.R.G.E.O.U.S.
I drove Jazz to school. He’s such a zombie when he gets back from competitions that I didn’t quite trust him to drive home at midnight. He didn’t seem to mind, in fact, I think he was a little relieved, actually. I dropped him off at the school at 9:00 – the band director wanted the kids to run through the program once or twice before they took off. They also planned on having Subway sandwiches so they wouldn’t have to worry about grabbing something to eat prior to competition.
I went home and finished getting ready. Kevin and I, after nearly four years of doing this, are finally getting smart about these trips. We packed a small cooler with water along with one Monster drink and one Starbucks Frappicino. We pack these caffeinated beverages because we spend precious time after competitions are over trying to locate some place to buy coffee for the long-dead-of-night trip home. I say “precious time” because we’re often trying to beat the kids back so Jazz doesn’t have to wait on us. Yes. He could drive home, but it has sort of become a tradition for us to drive him home and to talk about the highlights (or low lights) of the show.
We got on the road around 11ish. We arrived at the stadium around 12:30 and we settled in to watch the other bands perform before our kids went on around 3ish.
Our biggest competitors, Willard and Blue Springs, were really good. But we knew the band to beat would be Blue Springs. And they didn’t disappoint – their horn section was top notch and they won the best horn section, which I knew they would. We placed second in preliminaries and our drum majors as well as our solo flutist won best overall.
I thought the kids played really well during prelims – they SMOKED the music during finals. They sounded phenomenal – and it helps that I also really enjoy the type of music the band director has selected this year. I think it’s a smart combination of in-your-face sort of make-your-heart-beat music and a slower, beautiful combination following. The band director always picks beautiful music, but some years our music is too slow in too many places and often times, the audience loses track of whether our kids are even playing at all.
Not so this year. The third song is rather slow, but not so soft that you can’t hear what’s going on. I’m really pleased with the music selection this year. I do wish we had more movement though. The title of our show is “Out of the Box” and the color-guard girls push brightly colored presents around the field. Which is fine and makes the show colorful, but it’s a bit disappointing because you sort of expect something to pop out of the box at the end of the show and nothing happens. The kids also end the show with their backs to the audience.
???????
I’m not crazy about that part, either. It appears like they are preparing for another movement or song, so the audience is not sure whether the show is over or not.
We made finals and we ended up placing third. I sort of think we were robbed and deserved second, however, after comparing the scores, I can see why the second place team, Nixa, won over us. Their show was visually fun to watch. Though our music was better and way more complicated, their presentation really did blow us out of the water. We scored higher in music composition and execution, but our low score came from the visual side of the show and I can’t say I’m surprised – at all.
We arrived home around midnight and actually had to wait about 30 minutes for the kids to arrive. Kevin and I fell asleep in the car waiting for them.
Six school buses pulled into the lot at 12:30. If I hadn’t seen the kids at competition I would have been surprised. Actually, I was a little surprised anyway. The band usually takes the nice tour buses to competition but I guess the band director wanted to save some money on a competition that was only a little over an hour away – as opposed to the other competitions that are over three hours away.
Jazz hated it. He said the buses were uncomfortable and had little leg room, but he’s used to taking the big, nice buses and is spoiled.
The kids have been practicing hard these past few weeks. They didn’t have a competition last weekend, so the band director has taken this time pocket to fine-tune the show. Jazz said that he has added some movements to the last song and I hope it includes NOT ending the show with their backs to the audience. Our band director has his finger on what works musically, and he’s very talented when it comes to executing the musical part of the band, but he seems to have trouble with the visual part of the show. He doesn’t have the kids moving nearly as much as the other bands and I honestly think we would do better in finals if he would focus on that aspect a little more.
At any rate, we did well for our first competition – and especially well considering the kids had learned the show just four short weeks prior to the first competition.
We have another competition coming up this weekend at Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. This is a big one. The Oklahoma bands are FIERCE and very, very hard to compete against. They really raise the bar and I honestly think that’s one reason why our kids do so well … the band director is constantly challenging them to be better and better.
My predictions? Top five. Hopefully, top three. We’ll be competing against the 1st and 2nd place bands in WebbStock again, so it’ll be interesting to see how we score against them.
Though I want to blog, I need to blog, I simply don’t have the energy, or the time to blog much these days.
Especially now.
Especially now since we’re in THE LAST SEASON OF MARCHING BAND. This is it. The last year. I’m on a mission to enjoy every last exciting, exhilarating, entertaining moment. And if that means I have to put my blog on hold for a bit, so be it.
I’m working full time. Kevin and I went out of town last weekend and will be going out of town every weekend for the next month. It’s exhausting, but OMG, SO MUCH FUN.
Pictures. Stories. Thoughts. I have them … I just don’t have time to post them or write them down.
But I will.
And I hope you’ll stick around and experience all of this with me.
But not now. Now I must go to work and frantically try to get to a place where I’m semi caught up so I’m not leaving a bunch of unfinished business for the other girls to deal with while I’m gone.
Just know … I’m here and I’m living the hell out of life right now.
This is our youngest son, Jazz. He’s in uniform … sort of. Actually. His hat is the only part of his uniform; he’s dressed all in black (sort of) for black out night for band practice.
Once a year, the band director calls “black-out night” and the kids dress all in black and wear their hats to practice. The kids really enjoy it and it breaks the monotony.
Practice is going well, but Jazz is pretty sick of it already. Marching band season may be MY favorite season, but it’s not necessarily HIS favorite season. He actually enjoys Jazz band in the spring more, hence the reason I’ve dubbed him “Jazz” on my blog, but the Fall? Belongs to mama.
*snap*
The kids were supposed to play at the first football game a few weeks back, but it poured – and I mean POURED – rain and they didn’t have a chance to march.
They marched at last Friday’s football game and though Kevin and I went, we really didn’t see them very well. The school over planned too many events and the place was PACKED. We ended up finding a parking spot at the front of the school and when we walked around to the back and toward the football stadium, the line was backed up well into the parking lot.
We knew that if we made it in, there was no way we would find a place to sit and we really didn’t want to stand for two solid hours until half time, so we stayed in the car and listened to the radio until half time. We stood outside the gate to the stadium at half time and we peeked around various bodies and tried to listen to the show over the low roar of the crowd.
I’m glad we hadn’t paid to get in because it really was a damp mess. (It misted nearly all night so everyone was pretty soaked by half time). And we didn’t see, or hear, squat. The band director also let the kids leave after the half-time show, so it would have been a waste of money anyway.
Since we knew we were going to go to the game, we took one car. We waited around for Jazz to put his stuff in the band room and once he found us, the first thing he said was, “I’m so pissed.”
I just figured it was due to his performance. He’s so hard on himself when it comes to his playing.
“Did you hit a wrong note?” I asked.
“No. I didn’t know how to exit the field, we’ve only been shown how to do it once or twice, and we sort of scrambled at the end because no one really knew what they were doing. I just sort of yelled, ‘LEFT’ and thank God, people listened to me and we all turned left. It was disaster. And Mr. P. was really annoyed and yelled at me.”
Jazz has never liked getting yelled at. It really bothers him when people are upset with him. Which has been a really good thing for me and Kevin because it has never taken much to make Jazz obey us – even the threat of yelling at him has kept him in line. And he really admires Mr. P – A LOT. And it really upsets him when Mr. P is upset with him.
I didn’t really say much because he was upset and he really didn’t want to hear anything “helpful” from me, so I kept my mouth shut. But I used that experience as a “teaching” moment the next day and we talked about the importance of accepting responsibility for goof-ups and to ask questions if we aren’t sure of something. Especially when you’re in a leadership-type role (which he is this year – he’s leader of the saxophone section, which is 14 kids, thank you very much).
Anyway. The practice-slash-performance didn’t go well and I’m sure the kids have been paying for it the past few days and have been working hard to “correct” their mistakes ever since.
They’ll have practice tonight and a dress rehearsal practice Friday night. I plan on going to the Friday night practice. I’d like to take some pictures of the kids in their uniforms and since the stadium will be empty, except for the hard-core parents like me, I’m looking forward to actually hearing them play this time.
Their first competition is this coming Saturday in Webb City. I use the term “competition” loosely because it’s more of a learning clinic than a competition and the band director is really more interested in hearing the critique of their performance than in how well they perform, though it will be set up like the traditional performance competition with the top 12 bands going on to the finals.
Jazz is not looking forward to it. He doesn’t feel like they’re ready, but then again, he says that every year. I just hope the weather is nice because it’s rained the past two weekends.
Even though I’m going to miss these band competitions something fierce, there’s a small part of me that will be relieved. It’s STRESSFUL watching them and hoping they don’t screw up bad enough to not make finals.
I’m usually tense and on edge the whole time we’re at a competition.
I know kid, I feel the same way. (HA! That is a classic Jazz expression, let me tell ya).
This is it. The last year of band starts today. Jazz will have a full week of grueling band camp, then we’ll get to hear the music next Monday at an ice cream social, then we’ll go to a few football games to watch them at half-time, and then it will be a race to learn, and perfect, as much as possible before the first competition, which I believe is September 22nd this year.
(The band is participating in Webb City’s Webbstock – which is more of a critiquing sort of workshop than it is a full-blown competition, at least, according to the band director. I’m sort of looking forward to it, just to hear what the judges have to say on how we can improve our show).
I’ve been dreading Fall 2012 since Jazz began his musical “career” in sixth grade. I’ve enjoyed every single moment of his music years and I’m going to SORELY miss them.
BIG TIME.
I have no idea if he’ll go to college and if he’ll want to participate in college marching band, he volleys back and forth on that, all I know is, I’m going to milk this last year like never before. I’m taking a ton of pictures and I’m going to video tape quite a few performances (even though our band director really discourages that – but it’s my baby’s senior year! I have to have something to pull out years from now and cry over!)
Jazz is not too terribly excited about band camp. It’s hard work. He comes home sore and exhausted every night – and it only gets progressively worse as the week wears on. He actually took this summer off (he had to take summer classes the past two summers), so he’s done nothing but sit around and laugh at YouTube videos.
I’m being totally serious.
So the mere fact that he’ll be out of the house and walking around will be hard enough. Ha!
He’ll drive himself to camp. He’s also supposed to pick up his class schedule and pay for his parking permit on Wednesday, too. Jazz will have some pretty challenging classes this year – he’s been used to sort of coasting along so far, so he’s going to be pretty busy just keeping up with his classes in addition to trying to stay on top of his band obligations.
I’d like to apologize up front for the sheer number of band posts you’re about to endure. Since this is his last year, I’d really like to document every bittersweet moment. Poor you. Ha!
So we went to Jazz’s band banquet a few weeks back …
We didn’t really know what to expect, since Jazz has refused to go to previous band banquets. He actually didn’t want to go to this one, but I remember how much he regretted not going to last year’s, so I sort of forced him to go this year.
And I’m glad we did. It was actually pretty fun. The food was pretty mediocre, but we weren’t really there for the food anyway. It was lasagna, salad, breadsticks and some sort of Alfredo dish (with green noodles. I’m just going to pretend they MEANT to serve us green noodles).
There were three sheet cakes … two of them were pretty plain but I thought this one was pretty cool …
“Life’s Directions” was from the 2011/2012 marching band show.
The night wore on and a lot of kids got awards. Jazz actually won something: “The Most Improved Soloist” for jazz band. And I have to admit, I agree with this award. It’s like it suddenly clicked this year and his solos in jazz band have been more cohesive. Jazz was pleasantly surprised with the certificate and was all smiles when he went up to accept the award.
Next year’s banquet will be hard – since he’ll be a senior he’ll be honored and recognized and I know I’ll be fighting back tears.
In fact, I have a feeling this last year of band is going to be very emotional … for me, at least. I LOVE the band program and I’ve had SO MUCH FUN watching the kids, and the show, grow with every performance. I know Jazz has had a blast and it’s one of the biggest reasons why school has been tolerable for him.
We went to the 2012/2013 band parent meeting the other night and found out what contests the band will be participating in this year.
We’re going to something called Webb Stock this year on September 22nd. This will be a new contest for our band and it’ll be interesting to see where we fit in WHEN we make finals (I’m that optimistic). We’ll be competing with a lot of local bands and it’ll be early enough in the season that it’ll be interesting to see how they can make the show better so that by the time we perform at Bands of America in October, we’ll have a near-perfect show. Apparently, that’s the main reason our band director wants to participate in Webb Stock this year – because of the constructive criticism. It’s really more about growth than the prize.
And then, of course, we’re playing at the mother of all competitions, Bands of America in St. Louis.
I’m insanely excited for this year – one, because it’s Jazz’s last year to play with the band, and two, the show sounds like it’s going to be a lot like the “No Strings Attached” show the kids put on a few years back. It was my absolute favorite and they did very well with it. It’s going to be a fun, light-hearted show that (hopefully) allows every single band member to do something fun and unusual.
We’ll see what the ba
0 Comments on The Beginning of the End of Our Band Experiences as of 1/1/1900
The Jazz Band teacher openly admitted this was the most challenging jazz song she’s ever taught one of her classes and as you can hear, the kids picked up on it pretty quick.
We have some pretty talented young musicians in our area.
(And yes, Jazz has gotten bonked in the head a few times by the trombone player behind him. )
Jazz performed his Spring Concert in both Advanced Band and Jazz Band these past two weeks.
Here’s one of the songs from the Advanced Band concert:
And here’s a video of Jazz’s solo in the Jazz Band concert:
I’m actually trying to talk Kevin into uploading the last song the Jazz Band played – it was fast paced and quite good. The kids all played really well. Hopefully, I can post that one soon.
Jazz LOVES jazz band. (Hence the reason I call him Jazz on this blog. Ha!) I mean, he LIVES for the spring when he can play his favorite type of music.
What made this year’s jazz band concert cool was the fact that they had a professional jazz player accompany them. The gentleman’s name is Kim Park and he spent a lot of one-on-one time with the kids teaching them the tricks of solo playing.
After the concert, everyone had a chance to purchase Mr. Park’s CD, which we did, and have him autograph, which we did, and when we asked him to make it out to Jazz and told him Jazz was our son, he immediately brighten and complimented us on what a great player Jazz was. “He wasn’t afraid to play,” he said. In fact, Mr. Park liked Jazz so much, that he gave Jazz one of his business cards and encouraged him to contact him for lessons this summer.
(And no, he didn’t give one of his cards to every student).
Which we will likely do, actually. Jazz will not have a summer class this year (the first time in three years he won’t be taking a summer class), so these lessons will be something that Jazz can do to keep himself busy this summer since Kevin and I will be working and Dude will be taking a summer class and HOPEFULLY land a part-time job somewhere.
It really warms our hearts to see Jazz taking his playing so seriously.
This is the first year he has really acted pretty serious with his playing. In the picture above, you can see how he’s preparing for the upcoming song. He’s actually tapping his knee in rhythm and mentally preparing himself to play it.
I told Jazz, after the concert, that we are going to have some serious discussions this summer about applying for music scholarships/grants and to make a game plan for whatever college he chooses to attend. He wants to go to Mizzou (Columbia, Missouri), but I’m not sure if we can make that happen since he hasn’t taken all of the courses they require for admission. He may have to attend a few semesters at OTC first to earn his credits before transferring, but that’s just one of many things we’ll have to look at this summer.
There are big changes for both my boys on the horizon, I can see those changes, it’s just a matter of how long it’s going to take us to reach that horizon now.
We went to Jazz’s winter concert tonight – it was AWESOME. No really. The kids sounded phenomenal. Jazz is in advance band this year and it just warms my heart to see how much he’s grown both as a musician and as a person.
I taped their performance, but I have no idea when I’ll have the time to convert it and upload it – maybe by this weekend? I really enjoyed the concert. Not like last year when I felt like I was going to explode because my colon was blocked and I couldn’t pass, er, anything solid or in gas form.
*ahem*
Last year was not a good year for our family.
We went to Simply Yo afterwards. It’s a self-serve, low-fat, non-fat yogurt place. They were having a fundraiaser for the band, so of course, we went to try and help out. We would MUCH rather participate in something like this than say, having to pawn off catalog items that no one really wants. Heck, we’d rather give money, straight out, than have to go through the catalog nightmare.
Dude was really fun to be around. Usually, he’s so awkward and self-conscious that he’s rather difficult, but I can tell a HUGE difference in him since I’ve been working and he’s been hanging out with Kevin more. I think Kevin forcing him out into the public more is really paying off – he acts like he’s feeling more comfortable with himself and with other people. I also think it’s really been good for me not to be around to baby him. He’s been forced to make his own decisions and Kevin has given him a key to the office, so most days, Dude actually opens up the office while Kevin goes to visit with clients. He’s taking on more and more responsibility and it’s starting to make a difference, I think.
I just can’t tell you how much I’m going to miss these band outings. Me, Kevin and Jazz are talking about going to band functions even after he graduates, too. In fact, quite a few school graduates show up at events to offer moral support.
Which I think is just awesome and goes to show just how tight these band “geeks” really are.
If you’re a parent of a pre-teen or a teenager, I can’t stress ENOUGH how IMPORTANT it is to get your kids involved in a school activity. I really wish we had pushed Dude to become involved in SOMETHING in high school. I think his life might have been different right now if we had.
I’m trying to decide which pictures to buy of Jazz …
Jolesch.com takes pictures at the band competitions every year. And every year, I buy a few because HELLO! It’s my kid. I think they did a really good job capturing Jazz this season. Then again, Jazz was up front most of the time so he was pretty much in their face the whole show.
I’m leaning towards 1, 2, 5, 6, and 7.
I’d like to buy all five photos but wow, that could get expensive.
AND, I want to buy a group picture, too.
Extra curricular activities are hard on the pocketbook.
We took a wrong turn on our way up to Columbia (Mizzou, to be more exact) Saturday to watch Jazz’s last band competition for the 2011 season.
(And I KNOW you’re all sighing with relief – enough with the band updates, already!)
It was just me and Kevin. The day was sunny, but cold. I prepared Jazz for this trip by going through a checklist of everything on Jazz’s out-of-town-for-a-band-competition checklist:
Band uniform Band shoes Black socks (You’d be surprised how many kids forget the dark socks). Hat Gloves Band t-shirt (he wears this. He also wears gym shorts under his uniform because he doesn’t want to have to change clothes and show his underwear to his bandmates – which … understandable). Blanket (it gets cold on the bus – and by the way, the band director rents some of those nice tour buses for the kids – which AWESOME SAUCE! The kids love it and it’s SO much more comfortable than riding in school buses. Some schools opt to drag their gear around in fancy semi-trucks. We rent Penske trucks for our gear and spend the extra money on fancy buses for our kids). Travel pillow (because Jazz is worn out after these things and generally falls asleep on the way home). DS iPod Earbuds Phone Money Snacks Water bottles (he drinks a lot of water)
I go through all of this with Jazz.
Twice.
“Yes mom,” he snorts in exasperation. “I have everything. Sheesh.”
The kids were scheduled to leave the school at 10:00 a.m. We dropped Jazz off at the school at 9:10.
Guess who gets two text messages shortly before he leaves?
9:40 a.m. “I forgot my earbuds. Can you bring them to me?”
9:45 a.m. “Too late. We’re leaving.”
I guess the kid will start appreciating my checklists from now on, won’t he!
Kevin and I go to Starbucks and grab some Pumpkin Spice Lattes before we head out of town. (I’ll let that scrumptious goodness sink in a bit before I continue … )
.
.
.
We finally get on the road about 10:30. Even though we have a general idea how to get to Columbia, we don’t know exactly where we’re going so we rely on Kevin’s GPS program on his phone.
Which is a piece of CRAP, I’d just like to state for the record. Oh sure, it’s cool that it’s free and works MOST OF THE TIME, but when it doesn’t work? We end up on some curvy backroad in the middle of nowhere. Thank you very much.
Stupid me did not print out the directions. I looked them up, but I had no idea what roads had been listed so I’m pretty much useless. (As per usual). Our GPS was trying hard to get us to go a different direction, but we ignored it and went a route we KNEW would get us there … eventually.
For the record, because I’d like to document this for next year (IF the band goes back to Columbia next year – our band director likes to keep us on our toes):
How to get to Columbia Missouri, unless you’re like us and fight your GPS device tooth and nail.
Take 44 to Lebanon
Go through Lebanon, turn on 5.
Take 5 all the way to Camdenton.
DO NOT TURN YOUR HEAD TO LOOK AT THE CAMDENTON HIGH SCHOOL AND TALK ABOUT HOW IT’S SUCH A BIG SCHOOL FOR A SMALL TOWN OR YOU WILL MISS YOUR TURN OFF.
Then we heard the dreaded “Rerouting” on Kevin’s phone. We missed our turn?!? How did this happen?!?!
We ended up on the wrong side of Lake of the Ozarks and spent
0 Comments on Champion of Champions – Our Last Band Competition for 2011 as of 1/1/1900
I’ve driven down there and back, in the same day, TWICE now. Once last weekend and once yesterday. I should earn some kind of award for putting the most miles on my car in a month.
Why? You ask?
I’m glad you asked. (Because if you hadn’t asked, then we’d be sitting here now, avoiding each other’s eyes while enduring an awkward silence; and I KNOW you don’t want that to happen).
It’s marching band season! Where have you been?!?
(Before I forget – see those diamonds on the kids’ uniforms? They Velcro on so they can be removed whenever they [meaning the parents - not the kids] get them dry cleaned. Guess who has already lost one. Yep).
The name of our show this year is: “Life’s Directions” and in essence, it’s meant to make people think about where they’ve been, what they’re doing now and to decide carefully on their future.
The show is not as flashy as last year’s, but the music is better, in my opinion. It’s more recognizable and whenever they start to play (their first song is from “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory”), you can hear the audible gasp of affection from the audience.
My in-laws went with us both last weekend and this weekend. They are getting up there in age and it’s really not very safe for them to drive anywhere by themselves anymore. (Though they would vehemently deny that). They came over about 9:00, parked their car in our garage and away we went.
The drive down to Tulsa is actually pretty nice. It’s flat enough that I can put the car into cruise control and pretty much forget about driving.
Pretty much.
My in-laws brought crackers, cheese and even turkey to make sandwiches with (my FIL is a diabetic and has to restrict his diet), so we had plenty to eat on the trips. When we arrived in Tulsa last weekend and Broken Arrow this past weekend, we grabbed lunch before heading out to the stadiums.
If you’ve never experienced Oklahoma marching bands – it’s a world of its own. We are small potatoes compared to the shows the Oklahoma groups put on. In fact, we’re the only Springfield band to even attempt to compete with them. The competition is FIERCE and I’m being honest when I say, it’s quite an honor just to be in the finals with these same groups.
They’re THAT good.
I’m proud to say, we made finals both last week and this week.
Though our music is good and our kids do a good job performing it, I’m afraid our show is just not up
0 Comments on Our Renegade Review and Broken Arrow Invitational Experiences for 2011 as of 10/9/2011 8:54:00 PM
I hate to start this post out by being all melodramatic and depressing, but we ONLY have two more years of this, ya’ll!
Jazz is a Junior this year, which means we have this year and next year and that’s IT!
Unless he goes to college and signs up to be in the college band, which … could happen. (With momma’s help. *ahem*)
Every year, the band director hosts a parent preview. This preview marks the “official” start of the marching season.
The parent preview takes place the evening of the last day of band camp. This preview gives the parents a chance to see what they kids have been working on.
The weather was perfect – low 80′s and clouds moved off, which meant there was a nice, cool breeze. Everybody was advised to bring lawn chairs. We did not. We stood – for about an hour. We took lawn chairs last year, but hardly anyone else did and we ended up standing up anyway because we couldn’t see past everyone else who was standing.
But this year, we were in the minority, most everyone else brought chairs.
The kids play three songs – that’s the duration of the show. So, it goes pretty fast once they get started. They also serve ice cream, which people can buy for one dollar. The band director gives the kids a chance to eat ice cream before they perform. (None of us ate ice cream because we were planning on going to Andy’s after the performance – it’s a tradition we’ve started).
The show finally began. Jazz started out the show the very last person on the far left – by the end of the show, he’s the very last person on the far right. So, the boy is required to MOVE during the performances. In fact, he said that he has to move so far, but keep pace with the rest of the band, that he ends up taking really big steps to compensate.
There is a point, in the second song, that Jazz and three other saxophone players meet at the front of the field and have a solo quartet number. It’s fun and fast paced and the kids played really well together. Jazz had to try out for this part, so he really wanted it and I’m proud to say, he’s really good at it.
I believe the show is called “Life’s Directions” and it’s geared to evoke different emotions in audience me
0 Comments on And the 2011 Marching Season Officially Begins as of 1/1/1900
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Though I want to blog, I need to blog, I simply don’t have the energy, or the time to blog much these days. 
0 Comments on Appreciating Another Winter Concert as of 1/1/1900
