New Site!

Hey guys! Since the season is over, and there is absolutely nothing going on drumline-wise, this is my new blog site! Have fun!

http://badyetgoodideas.blogspot.com/

It's Over...

The season is finally over...I can't believe it!!! It was so much fun, and so freaking long...hahaha. I'm going to miss all the seniors...Landon, TJ, Bambi, Garrett, Janean, Jess, Ondy, Big D, Brad...and all the others who I forgot, or who won't be coming back next year :( but I loved getting to know them. I'm glad I had the time I did with them. They have been a big inspiration in my life. And with that, I now say - BRING IT ON, 2010!!!!!!!!

BURD!!!!!!

Something you must understand about SHS Marching Band is that we have an absolute fascination with birds. It's actually pretty interesting how it became that way. There's a senior named Brandon (trombone player) that we call Bambi. I don't really know why he gets called that...there's been a lot of stories that I've heard, so I really don't know. So he's Bambi. Then Chris (clarinet player) joined, and became really good friends with Bambi, so he is now Thumper. And THEN Ian (trombone player) also joined the marching band, became friends with Bambi and Thumper, and is now called Flower. So since Bambi's first word (in the movie) was "BURD!", we all freak out and yell "BURD!!!" when we see seagulls or blue jays or whatever bird we see. And so is one of the joys of marching band :)

Pride

“A soldier will fight long and hard for a bit of colored ribbon.”
-Napoleon Bonaparte

I read this, and then realized that the same goes for me. I rehearse on a field in the freezing cold at 6 in the morning; I drum until I'm sore; I don't get home until 6pm most days, and for what? To perform a show that lasts a grand total of 6 minutes. But you know, even though I'm glad that I'll be able to sleep in soon, that I'll finally have time to be home and do schoolwork, I'm going to miss every second of this season. Even the times when we failed. All the fights, all the losses...I couldn't wish for more. I'm so proud of how this season's gone. Each and every one of the freshmen and new band geeks have excelled so far, they should no longer be considered noobs. They are full-fledged high school marchers. And I am proud of them. I'm proud of the drumline for getting all our songs down, and proud of my basses for learning to play together. All in all, I'm proud of the Springville High School marching band, and over tour, I will march long and hard (the whole 6 minutes) during our show, just to get a plastic trophy.

The Quest of Epic Proportions...Across the Golden Gate Bridge!

(This sign was seriously on the Golden Gate Bridge!)

(Someone jumped...jk)

Last year during our band tour to San Francisco, California, we spent most of one of the mornings walking the Golden Gate Bridge. It was SO FREAKING LONG!!! A lot longer than it looks. The definite highlight of the whole walk were signs that were posted on the poles every ten yards or so. They said: THERE IS HOPE - MAKE THE CALL. We laughed at the way the said it. Under the sign there was a phone, but there weren't any numbers. Just one big button. How cool is that?!

The Loss of a Hero

Coming home from a victorious competition, four buses full of marching band students and instructors drove down a road in Idaho late at night. A teenage boy aboard the last bus glanced forward during a movie and saw the bus in front of his bounce to the side of the road and roll over. The students later found out that the bus driver of the crashed bus had blacked out, and once realized, the woodwinds instructor that was aboard the bus ran to the front, took the wheel in her hands, and tried to keep the bus in control. By that point it was too late, and the instructor was thrown when the bus's control was lost. She didn't make it through the accident.

This is the kind of thing we hear in stories, newscasts from other states, something we think will never happen to someone close to us. But this is the story of the American Fork Marching Band, coming home from a competition in Idaho. Their win on the field was followed by a loss on the road. Heather Christensen, their woodwinds instructor, their teacher, their friend, died a hero last night, saving her kids from an accident that could have ended out much worse.

"Whenever a great marching band takes the field, an unmistakable and unique energy runs through the stadium. This energy, as every band member knows, is the pure love and connection of family. No longer are these students individual players marching within a hundred yards of each other; they are one inseparable unit that the English language calls a band. This ragtag collection of flesh, blood, and metal suddenly is transformed into a single body that, like some breathing ocean, works in perfect unison and would do anything to protect any part of itself.

Heather proved that last night.

Stepping in and placing her family before herself, she bravely and willingly gave all to once again truly define what it means to be a member of the band; she acted above and beyond any individualized agenda to be the person that she knew she could be; and although the individual is gone, every time the AF Band takes the field, SHE WILL BE WITH THEM. Because of her, my friends live.

I step off for her."

(-Alton Wheelhouse)

She probably knew that if she left her seat to try and take control of the bus, she wouldn't make it. But she did it anyway, because her kids were on that bus. Her bond with those teenagers was so strong, so unbreakable, she gave her life for them. Because she loved them.

I never met Heather Christensen. I never heard of her until last night. But she will always be in my heart. She will always be my hero. And, as Alton Wheelhouse stated so well -

I step off for her.

United We Stand

Last Tuesday was the BYU Invitational Competition. It was a good competition. We were the first on the field out of everyone performing! We did sort of suck it up a bit...and we didn't place at all...but so far this has been my favorite competition. The weekend before the competition the AF woodwinds instructor, Heather Christensen, died saving her students in a bus crash. In honor of her and the AF marching band, every single person in the stadium wore red and black ribbons. When their band came out everyone stood up and cheered and clapped louder than for any other band, and most stayed standing throughout the performance. By the end of their show I was crying along with most likely almost everyone else in the stands AND in the AF band. It was a beautiful night, full of remembrance of a hero.