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The One Where We Salute Our Band Directors
144 Plays1 year ago
This week we salute our band directors and we welcome new host Austin Hall. Our Guest host this week is the social media sensation Jacqueline aka ThatBandTeacherLady. All this, News, and more on this week’s episode of On A Water Break!
Guest Host:
Jacqueline Hairston - @that_bandteacher_lady
Meet our Hosts
Jackie Brown - @spintronixguard
Stephen McCarrick - @stephenmccarick
Cindy Barry - @leandermomma
Nicole Younger - @o2bnpjs & @thecookoutcg
Trevor Bailey - @t_pain151
Trish O’Shea - @trishdish1002
Beth Beccone - @bether7189
Chris Rutt - @wildhornbrass1
Cynthia Bernard - @cynthiabern
Ashlee Amos - @famousamossss_
Theo Harrison - @harrisontheo07
Stephanie Click - @stephanieclick
Whitney Stone - @dancerwhit
Justin Surface - @J_dex07
Ashley Tran - @itsashleytran
Jack Goudreau - @goudreau_
Bill Woodward - @remoking100
Emily Nee - @tch.makes.art
Ricardo Robinson-Shinall - @ricardorrobinson
Callie Quire - @cnquire
Austin Hall - @Austin_hall10
Music provided by leydamusic.com Follow him @josh.leyda
Avatars provided by @tch.makes.art
Featuring
Lexi Duda - Host for On A Water Break In Rhinestones - The Stories of the Twirlers @lexi_duda
Thank you also to @guardcloset
#marchingband #colorguard #dci #podcast #onawaterbreak #wgi #drumline
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction & Guest Host Introduction
00:00:01
Speaker
Hi, everyone, and we are back for another week of exciting rehearsals. This week, we are wrapping up Women's History Month with a great guest host, social media sensation, that band teacher lady, Jacqueline. We salute our band directors for music in our schools month, and we find out what made Woody say. He would sew his keys at me. Slinky, what are you doing? And Whit made Austin say,
00:00:27
Speaker
If you trust your technique program, you won't have to change half of your show midway through the season. All this and more. So get out there on the field and we'll see you back on the sidelines for this week's episode of On A Waterbreak. Eight off the Met and go.
Podcast Format & Changes
00:00:46
Speaker
Welcome to On A Waterbreak. The podcast where we talk everything marching arts.
00:00:55
Speaker
Everyone bring it in. It's time for a water break.
00:01:01
Speaker
Welcome to another episode of season two on a water break. The podcast where we talk about everything you and your friends are talking about at rehearsal on a water break. I am Nicole Younger. We're super excited to be here starting our new format this week, but on that in a second. So right now we just need to find out who was on the sidelines this week. So let's see. Oh my girl Trish. Hi everyone.
00:01:30
Speaker
Hi. How was the Bethlehem Regional? It was a blast. I mean, it was just a great weekend of Color Guard, which my kids would have had a little bit better run, but they just got a little stage fright, you know, big lights, big city.
00:01:47
Speaker
But we had a great time, they had a great time, so all good. I mean, we could talk later about who I thought were the standout performances, but all in all, a great weekend.
Special Guests & Anecdotes
00:01:58
Speaker
Good, good. And let's see, we have Austin, new wins person, who just did a recap. Hello, hello. Hey Austin. How are you guys? Good? Doing well, doing well. You know, we're just here good and gush. Always, always.
00:02:14
Speaker
And then we have Stephanie who was in Hawaii. And I have on my shirt that says Aloha. Aloha. Aloha. We just took an event trip to Hawaii. We had 112 kids and parents. It wasn't a mandatory trip, but we took them for five days to Honolulu, Waikiki. Wow. It was an amazing time. So I'm back to reality.
00:02:42
Speaker
I know. And we are all secretly wishing that we were you. 100. You're like, I'm sorry, I got lost. I accidentally slept through my alarm. They believe that. That's not me saying something that didn't happen. That's right.
00:03:01
Speaker
And then we have Woody. Did you hear anything about the recent episode involving the Crossman ladies? I tell you what, uh, the excitement through my email is going up pretty big. A lot of, uh, a lot of chatter. A lot of people enjoy the, uh, the conversation. And I tell you what, the girls are super psyched. They kept going for about two or three days afterwards. Man.
00:03:22
Speaker
That's incredible. We get a chance to talk about that a little bit more as the program goes on. Absolutely, absolutely.
Women's History Month Celebration
00:03:28
Speaker
OK, so we have an amazing guest host for this episode because it's Women's History Month and Music in Our Schools Month. So let's get the band teacher lady over here on the sidelines. Hello, Jacqueline. Hello.
00:03:44
Speaker
I remember the last time you were on and I was watching. I had to take a minute and look through your Instagram and everything. And I was just like, oh, she's funny. I can't believe she has time to do this. I don't either. I think it was great. And we're so happy to have you back.
00:04:02
Speaker
You have done our 32 count life story already. Yes. But how about you just give our listeners a quick 16 count catch up on what's been going on in your world? Well, I'm still a high school band director. We are now entering our winter season and we just came back from Disneyland and I have no idea how I'm awake right now. Did you literally like come back today? We came back on Monday and then we were thrown into rehearsals for a competition this Saturday for Winter Garden Drumline. Wow. Welcome back to everyone.
00:04:32
Speaker
literally get out there on the floor. Oh, wow. So you're known for many funny things on your social media, like I said, but one thing that remains consistent is your utter hatred for brass players.
00:04:48
Speaker
And maybe more specifically trumpets. Maybe just a little. So where does this deep-seated hate come from? Okay, so I guess to kind of clear the air, I don't really hate trumpet players. They're obnoxious, but I don't really hate them. I do.
00:05:05
Speaker
It's just something, I don't know, I think it's just, I've had years of being in front of, sorry, trumpet players and they're just so loud in my ear. The ensemble that I play in right now, I am right in front of the lead trumpet player and every time he goes, hi, my ear screams.
00:05:20
Speaker
Oh, you know what, though? I mean, yes, I would not want to be in front of a screamer trumpet player. However, that is one of my most favorite things to listen to. I love to hear screamer trumpet players on the field, not on the field. Yes. Yes, on the field.
00:05:38
Speaker
There's a distance on the field. Oh, jeez. Okay. All right. So we completely understand that. So we've been doing this podcast for over a year now.
Podcast Restructure & Updates
00:05:47
Speaker
And we have done everything like good marching arts organization and reshuffled our show. So we used to start with our gush and ghost.
00:05:56
Speaker
Okay, so we're moving on to an interview. And then finally, what are we doing? And then the news. Now, since our panel has grown and our podcast is taking off, we decided it's time to switch things up and we really move on, just move things around. So we have taken our main interviews and we have made them into videos.
00:06:19
Speaker
that will air on our YouTube channel. So go check that out. And we still are available on our podcast platform as just bonus episodes. So what does this mean for this episode? Well, this means today we're starting with the news.
Challenges & Community Support
00:06:48
Speaker
All right. Our first news is going to be from Woody. Oh, okay. Here we go. So unlike Stephanie, who took the awesome band trip, unfortunately we had a band trip this, this, this month that did not go quite the way we wanted it to go. A group from Michigan, West Michigan, they took a band trip to Disney world. We've all done that every four years.
00:07:12
Speaker
Carson City, they took a trip and they had an unfortunate accident. Yes, yes. They had a bus fire. Can you believe it? On this bus fire, they lost their instrumentation, uniforms, personal stuff, and yeah, I know.
00:07:29
Speaker
Sounds kind of sucky, right? But actually, the community came together for them. They got lots of donations. Shout out to the local music store there. They provided the band with instrumentation, Meyer Music. That was the name of the place that split my mind for one minute.
00:07:49
Speaker
Shout out to them. They provided the bandwidth equipment to work with and they were able to continue the trip with the exhibition and everything.
00:08:00
Speaker
And the bus company was able to support them a new bus. And actually the local community gave the kids blankets and pillows and stuff to make the ride back to Michigan. And in the end, it turned out pretty well. The band director, who was super happy for all the community reaching out to them, was very, very surprised how well the band handled that situation.
00:08:25
Speaker
And I guess to me, reading through the article and everything, I was like, I'm not surprised because usually we do very well when it comes to adversity like that. Definitely. Your thoughts? Yeah. I think that's great. I mean, it sucks everything. I mean, it's not just instruments and uniforms that belong to the school, but it's those band kids' personal things, too. Computers, phones. Oh, god, not the phone.
00:08:55
Speaker
We had something similar. As a parent, I cannot even imagine getting that phone call. No. This article just hearing you talk about it made me think, and my husband and I talk about this a lot during drum four season, as many miles as we have in our music community,
00:09:21
Speaker
that puts miles on the bus year-round. We are so lucky that we don't hear about this every single day. We are very fortunate with activity, yes.
00:09:31
Speaker
Very true, very true. Jacqueline, were you about to say? I was going to say, we had something similar happen last year when we went to our Palm Springs trip. We shared a bus, not shared a bus, we shared a trip with the old district. And as soon as the school bus from the other school got on the freeway, their hatch opened. And that was the night that the director didn't want to unload the instruments. And so about 15 band instruments just fell off on the freeway in the middle of Los Angeles. And thankfully, only I think a bass clarinet and a clarinet was destroyed, but everything else was salvageable.
00:10:00
Speaker
So,
Impact of Unionization on Marching Bands
00:10:01
Speaker
I used to be a horn line player. Like, I was a baritone player in high school. And I know how important, just because, you know, yes, instruments are a lot of money, but to a marching member, those, you know, instruments become like, okay, well, especially when you get a brand new one as a teenager. I mean, I named mine. If anybody, if a card, I know it was called Tinker Bell. All right. It was a Yamaha.
00:10:29
Speaker
And if a Color Guard member even got close to me, I would just put it down. I'm like, I'm sorry, you're just way too close. I don't want to dent. I know you're doing great. But I don't want to dent. Well, after reading the article, I just thought about all the teams that take trips down there. And it's so positive, like Stephanie said.
00:10:52
Speaker
It's such a positive thing that we don't hear these kind of accidents happen more often. I'm super excited that the community reached out and helped them because, you know, you look forward to these trips when you're taking that bad trip. And when something like that happens, you know.
00:11:11
Speaker
It's bad. It throws a monkey wrench on your whole trip. And I hate to put it this way, but I think people in the real world don't quite handle it as well as we do, you know, because we just tend to bond as people. The arts tend to bond a lot easier than just your regular.
00:11:31
Speaker
We're built different. We're built different. Yes, yes, yes, you know. And I was very happy to hear that still, you know, it's been so long since I've been in that position as a kid that that community still lives that way. Awesome. All right. Trish has a hot article from the New York Times. I do. And I grabbed this one right away, being a big sports fan. Those of you who know me well, I'm a huge, as big a color guard fan as I am, I'm a huge sports fan as well. So I grabbed this one right away.
00:12:01
Speaker
Obviously, this is a super hot topic. Those of you who follow college collegiate sports, this is a hot topic. The New York Times picked up on it. Apparently, they've talked to a basketball player, Dartmouth College. The Dartmouth College basketball team just voted to unionize. Now, those of you who know a background of what's going on in college sports right now,
00:12:22
Speaker
Um, these, you know, these athletes are really, you know, they've kind of fought the last few years for, you know, we're playing, we're sacrificing time that we could be moving on to professional sports to play for you. And you're making all the money, you know, the, you know, the.
00:12:40
Speaker
universities and everybody else are making all the money, the leagues are making all the money off of kind of their product, kind of what their performance. So there's a lot of teams, including this one, specifically called Dartmouth College, where the players are unionizing. Now, what does that have to do with, you know, the headline of the story, you know, how is marching band different?
00:12:59
Speaker
Well, if these guys, these players are on the field performing and now they want a piece of the pie, who's to say that the college marching band also performing, also bringing maybe not as many people in, but some people in to watch their products. Why don't they, how come they're not getting a piece of the pie now? And how come that now where does it stop? This is a whole can of worms. Like I said, I'm a huge sports fan. I follow sports. I know this sounds really geeky.
00:13:27
Speaker
But I listen to a ton of sports radio. Call me out. It's fine. It's fine. Not geeky at all, Trish. Not geeky. Okay, good. So, you know, now where's the line going to be drawn? You know, now, you know, even in the background, I have muted an NCAA basketball game.
00:13:45
Speaker
I know, I know. But, you know, where's that going to stop now? These kids are playing in, you know, you know, in the pep bands. Should they be getting a piece of the pie now? Are they working as hard? Or how about the people selling concessions? So this is a whole
00:14:00
Speaker
hot topic in collegiate sports right now. And, you know, they're really doing this because they want to keep the kids longer. They want to keep, they want to avoid, try to avoid the one and done situations where, you know, in the past where these really, really top athletes with this, you know, bright future and professional sports, you know, they're doing the one and done thing where they're playing. And now these teams will not reaping the benefits of, you know, they're having them for four years.
00:14:28
Speaker
So, you know, everybody kind of wants a piece of the pie now. So where does it stop? You know, so, you know, now we go back to the other debate of does the football team work as hard as the marching band? Well, you know, we all have our opinions on that, but now should they get a piece of the pie?
00:14:43
Speaker
So New York Times is a really good article on New York Times website if anybody wants to check it out. It's a hot topic right now and it's worth checking out. That's so true. I mean, we all look at different marching bands. I know that there's a bunch of college marching bands that people will talk about before they talk about their, you know, football team or anything like that. And a bunch of college athletes too, because, you know, it's like, oh, well, I'm going to watch
00:15:09
Speaker
you know, the women's final four or whatever because of they have that basketball player in Iowa. Exactly. She's incredible. Killing it. Dude, I am not a sports ball person. However, if someone's telling me that this person's breaking records and things like this, I want to see what they can do. You know, that'll make me watch. Exactly. You know what? Your problem is you don't listen to sports radio like me and Trish. That's right.
00:15:35
Speaker
That's right. I need to. I should probably start doing that. And I feel where that's coming in. But we also had like, was it Will Hanseltine who had the endorsement with Quick Trip, the local convenience store? Like there's things like that. So there's different places where, you know, these athletes are going to be endorsed. It's just like they've like, honestly, it's almost like they're becoming influencers. Yeah, right. Yeah. They are influencers. Absolutely. They are influencers.
00:16:01
Speaker
You know, like, you know, this guy can fly like Mike, you know, I'm doing air quotes. And, you know, so we might even see t-shirts. We might, sorry, not t-shirts, sneakers. You know, all kinds of different things. I think a lot of that is the problem that the college players can't benefit from the endorsements and things like that. And they're not getting paid. Which is why they leave and you almost really can't blame them.
00:16:28
Speaker
I mean, you can have this discussion all day long, you know. Should you stay in the four years and get your college degree, or should you grab that bag while you can? You know what I mean? It's a hot topic. I have to tell you, I'm torn because I'm like, well, you're going to school for free. I mean, you know, dry your eyes. That's who. Yeah. Yeah. But I do get what they're saying. You know, some of these programs, well, like this weekend, the money that's going to pass through the college network is incredible.
00:16:56
Speaker
And America is going to be glued to the seats for Kaitlyn Clark. You better get your horse ready on there, Nicole. And right now, the bands will see none of it. One thousand percent, which we can debate all day. I mean, we've had this debate, you know, in the past, you know, when they have those little side by side comparisons to how many teams, how many hours does the football team practice compared to how many hours does the marching band practice? You know, we, you know, that's why we get to go to Hawaii like Stephanie. Well, you know,
00:17:26
Speaker
That's true. That's true. All right, Austin, you got one for us, too. I
Partnership Announcements
00:17:31
Speaker
do. Speaking of shoe endorsement deals, kind of transitioning on the same note, Drum Corps International has reached a deal with the sock brand, Apollo, to become the official recommended sock of DCI. Ooh.
00:17:49
Speaker
kind of read in the article, Apollosox promotes what makes them different. They promote arch support, ankle stability, energy absorption, and graduated compression, which I mean, I marched around the core a lot. I did four years. By my fourth year, my feet hurt. I'm sure all of you could probably say the same. Yeah, absolutely.
00:18:16
Speaker
I mean, I always wore just like the regular Walmart sock brand, like the ones that you can get for like a pack of like 15 for like 10 bucks or whatever. And then I threw them away at the end of the season because I really hope that Apollo can come in and just like give some deals to active members and be like, hey, here's a discount code or hey, here's
00:18:39
Speaker
or hey, here's like one free pair for each marching member type deal. That would be that would be great, just so that every performer has the opportunity to get into something that will help help them stay in the activity for longer. Yeah, you know, I know a lot of people who had ankle injuries and other kind of foot injuries, turf toe, you name it. Yep.
00:19:03
Speaker
You know, I guess it's going to work because, you know, now that they have this new committee, this mass committee, the marching arts and health and safety committee thing, I think this is a step in a very positive direction with that. It may seem small, but you got to start somewhere, right? That's right. That's right. Exactly. Definitely. Nothing like take that blister. Right. Exactly.
00:19:26
Speaker
And I'm hoping with the new CEO turnover that he can actually, that the new board and the new administration within Drum Corps International can actually start turning over more sponsorship deals like this, which could actually help feel the longevity of DCI as a whole. And like what he said, we all have to start somewhere. If it starts with a, if it starts with a sock brand deal, it starts with a sock brand deal.
00:19:46
Speaker
Yeah, there you go. I have two things to say about that. The first is that I saw this headline earlier this week, and I did not click on it, because I thought the way I read the headline, and this is on me, but the way I read the headline was that they had DCI socks like in their merchandise store, like stamped with
00:20:06
Speaker
That's the way I was. That was my first reaction too. I was like, I will never wear those. I don't have to click on this. But then my second part is, you know, my kids are both marching very different sections, but I just need one discount code and I, and maybe even not. I mean, I haven't priced them.
00:20:24
Speaker
But I use that DCI recommended shoe list every single year because you have one kid that's in the front ensemble. He literally just stands. Right. And you think that that's an easy thing to do. But it is not the shin splints and the fallen arches and all of that with him. It's a real thing. And then my daughter's in the guard. So I mean, the same thing, but she has really high arches. And so she also has the fallen arches and I'm worried about the support on her feet. So they
00:20:54
Speaker
go through two sneakers. We do another pair. They do one at Move-Ins and then we get another pair kind of mid tour. But I've always used that recommended shoe list. And so they will each at least have one pair of socks this year from Apollo, but I would be willing to do more. The feet, it's a huge deal. You got those? You got one pair of feet or two feet, whatever.
00:21:18
Speaker
Even if they stink, right? Great to speak good. The knees will be okay. Usually. I feel like the way that things are going, because you have your dinkles. Everyone knows about those. Now you're going to have your Apollo's. We have the under armor, like the dry fit. So we'll have a whole, I guess you could say a recommended list of things that you should buy.
00:21:44
Speaker
head to toe at some point. So I like to look for band directors, because I don't know what to wear when I stand. My feet are just standing. Okay, everyone. So it's time to give the band director a moment to breathe and then we'll let them sit in the bleachers and watch some of this next ramp. And then we'll be right back to tell our stories about them.
00:22:15
Speaker
Hey, this is Christine Reem. And Chris Green.
00:22:18
Speaker
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00:22:48
Speaker
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00:23:29
Speaker
All right, so we have Whitney here who is late to rehearsal. Later rehearsal, that's some push-ups, isn't it? I'll do them later, I promise. It could have all been rectified with some Starbucks and then I heard you had pizza and we didn't have any. I did have pizza and then I threw it on my bed, so I don't have pizza. Okay, that's all right, Kirk. We are happy to have you here.
00:23:58
Speaker
So it is music in our schools month and today we're going to celebrate all of those amazing band directors out there. So we asked our host and our guest clinician to give us a great or a funny story about a band director in their life. So let me start with since you just got back from Hawaii and you're wearing aloha and she's kind of giving it to us but kind of not giving it to us like you were there. So we're going to start with Stephanie.
00:24:25
Speaker
All right. Aloha. Aloha. So my band director story is I grew up in a really small town in Kentucky, Beaver Dam, Kentucky. It is as small as you think that it is when you hear the name. And all of the band directors that came through our county were very revered
00:24:46
Speaker
a band was a huge thing in our county. There's not a lot to do, so the whole time that I was growing up in high school, we didn't have a soccer team when I was in high school. We didn't have a volleyball team, so really the cool thing to do was to be in the band. It was county-wide. One county high school
00:25:06
Speaker
in our whole district there. And so, you know, the band directors were a huge deal. But when I came into high school, I knew that I wanted to be in Color Guard, but I really loved playing my flute. And so to be in Color Guard in my high school, you had to be a musician. You had to play in concert. And looking back now, I can see how
00:25:29
Speaker
Our guard was really great, you know, especially being from such a small town. But I think it was because we understood all the musical concepts when we picked up a flag for the first time. We knew how to count. We understood pulse and tempo and rhythm and how to count a measure. And, you know, we knew all of that. But my band director was also a color guard person. Oh, wow.
00:25:54
Speaker
And so Keith Guyer choreographed our entire color guard, wrote the drill for our high school, like he did the whole thing. I love that. Yes. I mean, and now to me, that was just normal when I was growing up. I now understand what an anomaly that was. But with all of that to say that he just set a really great example of if you like something, if you're interested in it, learn how to do it.
00:26:24
Speaker
So if it's color guard, learn how to do it. If you want to learn to write drill, learn how to do it. You know, it just said that, you know, where just for me, you know, still being involved in the marching arts, you know, I wanted to know about percussion. I wanted to understand how to choreograph for them. So I just dove in and did it. And so.
00:26:43
Speaker
you know looking back on so many of the steps in my life it really did go back to my high school band director and the example that he set not only for me but for all of us um you know and we we all know and love our band directors but i i really do think that i had a special one you did you did
00:27:03
Speaker
I do feel like that speak volumes of you because I look at you as a do-it-all kind of person and you were taught by a do-it-all kind of person. I was, yes. Definitely set the example. Yeah, that's definitely it. Wow, okay. I love these stories. Jacqueline, hello. Hello. All right, don't tell a story about yourself, okay? I wish I could.
00:27:31
Speaker
So I don't really have a funny story just more of like a like I can't not mention this person in high school We went we had a high turnover for directors like my freshman year We had one director who just like left so come else came in my sophomore year someone else and then my junior year We had a director came in or come in and he I don't know what it was about him But he I was already toying with the idea of becoming a director in the first place and he was the person that Solidified that this is what I wanted to do with my life like he came in he was so cool He was like this fresh out of college 27 year old like teacher and like
00:28:01
Speaker
I don't know what it was, but we were all drawn to him. He's like this big jazz guy. He tried to do marching band for field show, and it was a hot mess, but we still loved him. But he was such a big impact on myself and my family. I remember my family kind of took him in a little bit sometimes, and whenever my dad would barbecue for the weekend, I brought him a plate one day, and every time after that one day, I brought it to him. He's like, did your dad barbecue this weekend? Can you bring me a plate? Every weekend, he was asking for barbecue.
00:28:26
Speaker
And so now he's he's technically one of my colleagues now he's in like two towns over and So mr. Modesto like you have no idea what you did for me. So he's still Mr. He's still yes, he's still mister I go to his competition he hosts a Fall marching competition and I can't call him by his first name So I will now Ruben Modesto, but I can't call him by his first name. It's just it's weird. I
00:28:49
Speaker
Right. No matter how old you get, you have to still call them Mr. Band director person, sir. Yeah. That's awesome. Aw. All right, Woody, I want to hear your band director story. Oh, you know, I have to tell you, Nicole, I don't want to make it sound like this is a testimonial moment in our show, but I got one, too.
00:29:13
Speaker
So when I was in high school, I'm from Philadelphia. And so it was more of an urban setting and everything. And the band director, it was an old German white guy, Crazy Larry. That's just what we call him, Crazy Larry. Crazy Larry.
00:29:30
Speaker
But I have to tell you, this man really gave a lot to us and, you know, he reached out and he did things for us that, you know, wasn't happening anyplace else but at band. And I think a lot of that rubbed off on me because I'm the same way with my students too.
00:29:47
Speaker
If he would see you walking home from school, he'd tell you, come on, jump in the back of the truck. In the summertime, he would have two or three pool parties for kids who were in the van at his house. Just lots of small things. Introducing us into different kinds of music that you never would have considered listening to had you not met this man.
00:30:10
Speaker
When we were talking about, when we looked at the script and said, hey, think of something on a band story, it immediately popped in my head. Larry Alter, the most awesome band director ever. And he never called me by my name. He called me Flinky. Aw. He would throw his keys at me. Flinky, what are you doing? He would use language. Jesus. Beep, beep. Christ. Flinky, get in line. Get in line.
00:30:42
Speaker
It's funny how things have changed because it's like, you know, uh, doing some of those things now, it's just like, Oh, you have to think, Oh, yeah. Yeah. You know, like, Oh, I want to throw a party for my kids because I know that, you know, maybe they can't do it themselves. Right. Or, you know, Oh, it's raining and this kid is walking home from school. Maybe I should give him a ride. Well, we got to think again about putting the car, you know, um,
00:31:05
Speaker
He was a great man, great, great leadership.
00:31:12
Speaker
I hate to say this, but even the throwing of keys, like I had a band director that did that too, but they'd only throw, they wouldn't throw them at you. They just throw them at your stand. It's just that it's a hundred keys.
00:31:30
Speaker
like the janitor's closet. I have a picture in my scrapbook. It's my junior year of high school. The county paper was running a thing on like band campus started. And there are two staff members that are holding a clipboard because you know, it's paper drill holding a clipboard and they both have cigarettes in their hands. It's unbelievable. One thing about that when I was in high school, it was like, not for me, but go ahead. Right, right.
00:31:56
Speaker
I'm going to learn my drill either way. Yeah, that's right. All right. Trish, what's your story? OK, so when we were posed this question, I was like, OK, I don't want to leave anybody out because I would just feel horrible. So I've worked with so many amazing band directors over my career. Teddy Sodoropoulos at Northern Highlands, Bob Vitti at Port Chester. First one to give me my start, long story. Oh, wait a minute. Turn it down.
00:32:25
Speaker
I did one year when I was super young, super did not know what I was doing. It didn't end up working out, but it was definitely a groundbreaking experience for me.
00:32:40
Speaker
Yeah, obviously, we've talked about her a lot and had her on the podcast, Heidi Sarmer, University of Delaware. The list goes on and on. The first band director that I worked with at Northern Valley, Kurt Ebersole, definitely groundbreaking, but the person I'm really going to shout out today is the current band director at Northern Valley, Ulta Pan, which is Amy Wilcox. When she took over the program,
00:33:05
Speaker
She told me, someday we're going to have a winter garden. And before that, the band was just a football game band, which allowed me opportunities to go to other schools and work with their competitive guards. But when she first took it over in 2013, she said to me,
00:33:24
Speaker
at the first meeting at our house. Someday we're going to have a Winter Guard. Someday we're going to have a championship band. Someday all these things are going to happen. So as the years went on, I ended up giving up all my other commitments and focusing on them. I was also working with Westville for it at the time. I gave all that up so that I could bring them to where they needed to be competitively because we had a band director that was going to make that happen. So in 2016, lo and behold, we started the Northern Valley Winter Guard.
00:33:52
Speaker
I mean, you know, eventually it all happens. You know, it's been an uphill climb and it's been a really successful program. So Amy Wilcox, you kept your word to me and you remind me of it every time. Thank you. The band is really successful now. You know, one of two state titles, a national title in the last couple of years. And she reminds me every time we win something and she hugs me, she goes, remember that first meeting? I told you this was all gonna happen.
00:34:20
Speaker
I told you this was gonna happen and she reminds me of that every single time. So Amy Wilcox girl. Thank you. Yes You're making me want to like meet these people I Love it. All right, Austin. What's your story? All right, so I actually have three people that I really want to shout out but I'm gonna focus I'm gonna focus really on one and
00:34:44
Speaker
Um, so my very first middle school director is the one I really want to focus on. It's a Jennifer Eisenhower. She was my very first middle school band director. She was the one who I had like grown up. I have no family who's involved in the, who's involved in marching arts and like my dad, super sports guy through through.
00:35:02
Speaker
And just my family is all sports. And so I don't think I'll ever forget she was probably the best recruiter I have ever seen to this day and middle schooler middle school band directors now.
00:35:18
Speaker
It's a lost art, in my opinion, because the gateway to a great high school program is an even better middle school program. 1000%. Absolutely. I will live and die by that day and night for as long as I'll live. And she was just the model of a great middle school director. She was really engaging with all of us and really just trying to make it fun and really make it accessible for everybody and just trying to get as many people in.
00:35:46
Speaker
And obviously when you're going into like the whole band recruitment thing and you pitch a Disney trip in eighth grade, how can you say no to that? That's what got me in but it's not necessarily what got me hooked. She got me hooked by just being a phenomenal teacher and caring about every single one of her students. And we're still friends on Facebook to this day. I'll chat with her every so often and just be like, oh hey how you doing?
00:36:11
Speaker
Another middle school band director, she ended up moving on like halfway through seventh grade. She had a kid, she ended up having a kid and then stepped away for a little while and I think moved down to Arkansas. Chris Hardesty was the guy who really instilled my love for drum corps. He's still an instructor at the Blue Stars to this day, if I'm not mistaken. He really, I'm a competitive person. He got me kind of hooked on the whole drum corps thing and he was the one who really made me want to be a visual instructor too.
00:36:39
Speaker
So that's what I do today. And then Keith James is my high school band director and I still work with him. I still work at my alma mater. I still write choreography for them. I also do some consultation for them even though I live in Florida.
00:36:55
Speaker
I'll go up to North Carolina and all those people have just had a lasting effect on my marching career and my teaching career as well. It's just been a blessing to have those people in my life and to still have those people in my life. Wow. That's very cool.
00:37:15
Speaker
Austin, you're from North Carolina. I'm from Virginia. Oh, yeah. Yeah. So I totally get that. Where in North Carolina were you? I'm from the Charlotte area. I went to a Marvin Ridge High School for the color for the color guard people who know. I was not a color guard person.
00:37:32
Speaker
So I was not, I wasn't that good, you know, but had a lot of great, had a lot of great colleagues and I've marched alongside of a lot of great people who were involved in that program. That's awesome. Wow. Oh my goodness. Whitney, girl, I haven't seen you in a minute. Hi. By the way. Hi. Hello. Who are you? Oh boy. Yes.
00:37:54
Speaker
I'm here. Do you have a band director story for us? I can't think of a specific story. I also had a lot of band directors. I also grew up in North Carolina, Austin. I grew up in Western North Carolina. I had a lot of band directors. When I was going through high school, I think we had a new band director every single year. Oh, God.
00:38:20
Speaker
one that sticks out to me. Her name is Amy Paolo. And I don't think she teaches band anymore. But she was just she was awesome. And I just remember her being really inspiring. And she she made a lot of us want to continue music and
00:38:38
Speaker
There was a point in time where I thought I was going to go to school for music and be a flautist. But then I started doing Color Guard and that kind of took over, but I played flute all the way through high school. And the college I went to,
00:38:55
Speaker
I went to Western Carolina and a lot of my band directors had gone to Western Carolina and it was right down the road. There was a group of us that went to Western because we wanted to be in the marching band there and many of us wanted to continue music. Even though we went through a lot of band directors in my seven years of band, we had a lot of really good ones.
00:39:21
Speaker
I don't know. I just, I can't think of anything like super specific though. Like I can't think of like a story, but I just, I had a lot of good band directors that kept us engaged and involved and I didn't go to a big high school. So we had to like, a lot of us had to, we had to do a lot of different things. Um, so there were a lot of us that were in band and did color guard and, you know, all the clubs and sports and stuff. So, um, I don't know. I just can't think of anything specific, but I had,
00:39:51
Speaker
I had good people around me. That's good. That's awesome. Back when you've got to be getting like, oh, you know, my kids are thinking about me this way. And you know that they have to be because they probably know about your social media. And they're like, oh, my band director is funny. And she has a social media channel. So I guess I've called on everybody except for myself.
00:40:17
Speaker
The way they think about this is I didn't have a lot of band directors going through high school and middle school. And the way that high school was set up for me is my middle school band director was also the assistant band director in my high school. So yeah, that's the way that they worked out. And it also worked out that they went to college together at UT. So my middle school band director, who is still a band director to this day at a different high school,
Personal Stories & Musical Influence
00:40:44
Speaker
Mr. Webb, Mr. David Webb,
00:40:46
Speaker
And he was the sole reason why I switched from clarinet to baritone. And then while I became so much better at baritone than I was on clarinet. And my high school band director was Mr. Cook. His name is Leif Cook, and he's actually the band director at Dobbins Bennett High School now. And he has been there for a couple of years. Yeah, he's been there for a couple of years now.
00:41:13
Speaker
And I just wanted to see him now, you know, as a band director, you know, old and gray because we got him when he was fresh out of college and they were all, you know, young and spry. But I can remember when we were, you know, having rehearsal and we were playing and we were just going, you know, doing reps of one song. And I always had the had a solo during it. And each time he would, you know,
00:41:42
Speaker
come back, say something to the whole band, and then say something to me. Those two gentlemen had a way of making you feel like a hundred bucks, or a million bucks, actually, during rehearsal. And then when you got into that whole setting of being in a performance setting, he made you feel like you were royalty.
00:42:09
Speaker
And it was huge, like royal blue was one of our colors. So, you know, he always talked about that. And, you know, when we'd walk into any place, he, you know, kind of she was just influenced by the you were influenced by the way that they were and how they were. And they would play for you. Mr. Cook is a is a woodwind player. He was a very good clarinet player.
00:42:30
Speaker
And he also was a bagpipe player, so he would always play as bagpipes for us. And Mr. Webb was a low brass player. So anytime there was anything that you needed as far as like, you know, playing wise and how to present yourself, they were very, very good about
00:42:50
Speaker
you know, just zeroing in on that and setting a really high president. I used to want to be a band director. And, you know, I just had experience, you know, when I was 16 and marching for a top five drum corps. And I decided, no, I don't want to do that anymore. But I still stayed in touch with them. I still they're both friends of mine on Facebook. So, Austin, when you said that, you know, you sometimes see them and talk to them, I was like, yeah, I kind of we all just kind of keep talking to each
00:43:20
Speaker
And, yeah, Declan, I can't... When you said you called him Mr... Yeah, I can't call... I can't call Mr. Webb David. It just feels weird. I can't call Mr. Cook Lafe. It just feels weird. So, yeah. I'm totally glad. Hey, Nicole. I started off as a clarinet player also, and my band director was a clarinet player. He played Phil Philadelphia Orchestra. I saw him listening to your story. I'm like, boy, no, we parallel here.
00:43:48
Speaker
We all come together. It's a circle of band life. See, your kids love you, Jacqueline. So, okay, our last sectional before the final run. Woodwinds are with Austin, and all the brass, you go with Jacqueline, and the trumpets, no mouthing off, okay? Jacqueline will tell us about it. We'll be right back. We'll be right back with the water we're doing, and our gushing goes.
00:44:31
Speaker
Hey everyone, it's Jeremy, and here are your announcements coming from the box. You wanna drink up on a water break lost in translation with Cynthia Bernard, uncover the glitz and glamour of twirlers with on a water break in rhinestones hosted by Lexi Duda, get the insider scoop from the stands with on a water break from the stands with Cindy Berry, aka Leander Mama, and join the band family in on a water break family style with Stephanie Klick, plus much, much more to come.
00:45:00
Speaker
Make sure to follow us on social media at onawaterbreak for all the latest updates and bonus content. Got something to share or a burning question? Email us at onawaterbreakpodcastatgmail.com. So don't be the person that doesn't tell their friends about a water break. Make sure everyone stays hydrated. Okay, field staff, take it away. Let's reset.
00:45:33
Speaker
Okay everyone, it's the time of the week where we go off against something that's been bugging us in the marching arts world and we're calling it what are we doing?
00:45:51
Speaker
What are we doing? All right, Trish. Okay. I hope I don't offend anybody here. I don't know if any of your shows are doing this. The lights. What are we doing with the lights that they need in these guard shows? So while it can be a very, I mean, I feel like there are so many people using lights now that it's just not as unique as it was. It's like,
00:46:15
Speaker
I mean, for example, at the Bethlehem Regional was like, here come more lights. And while people are using them differently, and I mean, I have Lancers in my show at the end that light up my tent. I get it, we're all doing it, but it just becomes a little anticlimactic for me anyway, when it's like, there's so many shows with lights and I'm also interested to see how that's all gonna play out in Dayton.
00:46:40
Speaker
with those bigger venues and is it gonna be as impactful in, you know, it's yet to be seen. We're seeing it in high school gyms now. But as anybody else had any thoughts on the lights and the use of lights in so many guard shows this year? As someone that's using lights. I am too, I am too.
00:47:04
Speaker
We're doing a rock concert, so we kind of need the lights. We just added more lights into the show this week. I like it, but I think it's got to be right, and I think it's got to be purposeful. Yeah, definitely.
00:47:23
Speaker
I think percussion has been using lights for quite some time now. Too long. Percussion. But what I have, I mean, just personal experience with that. You have to have a show that can stand on its own when your lights don't work.
00:47:41
Speaker
Always that is a real possibility. So if I can't will be totally lost about your show when your lights don't work, don't use the lights or do something else.
00:47:56
Speaker
in there. I haven't seen a lot of shows like that, but now I'm thinking, and I have seen them in the past. Have I seen them this season? No. Correct. Me saying me either. Especially, and I would feel bad when something glitches.
00:48:12
Speaker
You see the horror on the kids faces. It takes a while to learn a design like that. That doesn't work, doesn't matter. It takes a long time for people to learn a design. I mean, listen, my favorite action shot from Bethlehem of my kids was the one with the tent at the end lighting up.
00:48:32
Speaker
I get it. We're all doing it. And I'm even starting to rethink, is it starting to get anticlimactic after a while? You know what I mean? But we'll have to see how it plays out in Dayton and go from there. Right. I mean, people are going to want to push the envelope at some point because it's like, okay,
00:48:52
Speaker
What are we doing? Are we doing lights? Are we doing, say if we go a little further, are we doing fire? Can we? No, maybe. I don't know. So I get you, I get you. All right, Stephanie. What's been on my feed a lot this week is WGI-Con started their pre-registration this week. And it's in San Francisco this year, Labor Day weekend.
00:49:22
Speaker
And I attended last year when it was in, or two years ago I guess it was, when it was in New Orleans. I had never been before. WGI back in the day, I'm gonna date myself with how old I am. Used to do a convention almost every year. And it's actually where I met my husband. But I did go to WGI last time. And yeah, so be careful. If you go to WGI, act on it. Be very careful. Just act on it. Aloha. Aloha.
00:49:50
Speaker
But I will say, even as somebody who has taught for 30 plus years, I left there not only inspired, but it was really interesting to hear people just go to the sessions, do whatever. So if you have Labor Day weekend open and you can find yourself a cheap flight,
00:50:10
Speaker
I'm going to say you should go. I will go again. They're starting to put out this week who the speakers are. I'm really excited. It looks like a lot of new people and not a lot of repeat sessions, but also a lot of people that I don't know, which I think we can all learn from each other. So yours is kind of like, what are we doing by not going to WGICON? Right.
00:50:38
Speaker
I think everyone should go. I mean, honestly, if you never, and this gives you a reason to go out West. That's right. Like I've never been, I mean, well, I've never been to San Diego. Oh, I wish to be giant San Diego. Yes, ma'am. That's happened ever since, right?
Maintaining Performance Quality
00:50:59
Speaker
Yes. Love it. All right, Austin, what are we doing?
00:51:05
Speaker
Oh, I've been having a lot of conversations with a lot of different people about this topic. What are we doing not putting or getting rid of technique blocks three quarters of the way through our season? I've been hearing a lot of stories about that this past winter and fall season. It's crunch time. People want to fill their shows. People want to do all that stuff. But in the end, the best the best trained performers
00:51:34
Speaker
Are going to go get the results that they are going to go get the results that are most desired, right? Yeah, like you have to schedule that you have to schedule your technique time every single day like Like my group we're doing tech we are doing technique. We are doing basics on finals morning. It is going to happen. I
00:51:54
Speaker
Oh, absolutely. We have to. I don't understand people doing that. Like, oh, it's okay. We don't have to do technique block. And it's just like, I'm sorry. There's a foundation for everything. And that's your foundation. And I take it back to like ballet dancers, like professional ballet dancers. They're just like, okay, I'm going to do about an hour of technique. They go to the bar every single day.
00:52:19
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. That's right. Your band's gonna warm up every day. You just don't stop. Yeah, you just I mean, sure, warm ups, warm ups are warm ups. But like, people are just like, Oh, I'm just gonna do a quick five minute 10 minute warm up. And then all of a sudden, we're going to change half our show. And what are you gonna like, how are you going to give them the changes in your show, if you're not teaching them the skills and technique block?
00:52:41
Speaker
You know what I mean? That's a good thing. That's my biggest gripe of the week. Trust your technique, go with your technique program, because that's how you're going to get the results in your show. That's when people jump into, oh, it's crunch time. I've got to do this with my show. And it's just like, yeah, you do. But also, too, honestly, we all know this. Being in band, you start to really think about how you're prioritizing your time and really think about what you need to do in the rehearsal.
00:53:09
Speaker
Honestly, what do you do at the beginning of it? Like, when I was teaching, I always gave, I don't know, we always had a rundown of what was going on for the beginning of the rehearsal. And the kids knew it, and they come into rehearsal and they're like, okay, so first we stretch, or first we condition, then we stretch, and then we do our body warm up, and then we get in flag block, and then we bust out into this. Like, they already knew, you know? And then that way, when we get into rehearsal mode,
00:53:38
Speaker
They're already in the zone. So, yeah. Austin, good one. Here's my hot take, my last take on the subject. This is a really hot one, and I'm sorry if I offend anyone. If you trust your technique program, you won't have to change half of your show midway through the season. Dance. Dance. I love it. Okay. What are we doing? What are we doing?
00:54:07
Speaker
I have to tell you, I'm a little annoyed at directors that at the last minute decide to pull their group from a show. I was just, yeah, right, sad sound. I was scheduled to judge this weekend and there was about 10 groups that were gonna be there and then ended up being four. Like, why do you do that to the sponsor? You know, a lot of people have put time into,
00:54:36
Speaker
having a show and, you know, the younger instructors who do this, they don't realize, like, when you make that decision, I know, you're thinking about the competitive part of your program, but you didn't think about the further reach of how it affected the band programs who, you know, the band parents who had spent all this time, energy, and the money that was invested in it, and you just call and say, oh, we're not coming. There's no rule in place like you can't, like, in the main circuit,
00:55:05
Speaker
here in New Jersey.
00:55:08
Speaker
You can't, you, you can't penalize if you pull out of the show without 10 days notice. Uh, they should be, but then, you know, um, once that ripple effect starts, I guess then people just decide, I'm not coming. Wow. And that, that what you're saying, uh, Trish has always sort of kind of been even back in the day, you know, uh, with the tournament of bands of programs. That's where I first started. Well, that's what I was just going to bring up because
00:55:37
Speaker
My independent group is going to a TIA show Saturday in Barnigan, which is like an hour and a half from us. And it's my independent group. So we're all driving. The kids are driving. The younger students, the parents are driving. I'm not as worried about that, but we're supposed to get soaking flooding rain in New Jersey on Saturday. And I have kids driving. I have to drive my little car. And, you know, all day today I was thinking to myself,
00:56:06
Speaker
Man, I wish we could pull out of this show, but we can't because it's not within 10 days and we need to show for Wildwood. We need to do four shows. So we're trekking down there. I mean, it's supposed to be two to three inches of rain in New Jersey. And if it was the high school team and we were all on the bus together, I wouldn't be as worried, but we're all driving. And I'm a little bit, you know, I'm like, it's making me nervous. But we gotta go, we're going, we committed to it, we're going. But you know,
00:56:36
Speaker
It is giving me pause. Dang. So that doesn't mean it's sweet and bold. Yeah, I mean it's one thing, it's one thing if like there's a couple, like if like the flu is going around a circuit and something like that and like three quarters of the kids are like sick and obviously you don't want to show up with your kids coughing and headache and that's totally different but like pulling, you're pulling out because maybe you don't think you're ready or something like that or
00:57:03
Speaker
When are you ever going to be real? Let's be real here. Are you ever going to be ready? At this point in the season, you shouldn't be pulling out of a show. Exactly. Give your kids more performance opportunities, please. That's what they signed up for. They didn't sign up for more rehearsals. A lot of people don't think that way, sometimes. It's sort of like your technique thing you just said. They sacrificed the technique for the extra time to do reps. But like you said, had you focused in the beginning,
00:57:32
Speaker
you would need to focus so much in the back end. Say it. Prioritizing your time. There you go.
00:57:40
Speaker
Ugh, I feel, I hear, I am picking up what you're putting down, Woody. Picking it up. Uh, Whitney, what are we doing? Uh, I only have, uh, yeah, my dog's working on that. Um, I, I am still on this WGI regional, like, boycott. Like, I have never, and I'm probably gonna get canceled for this, but it's fine.
00:58:06
Speaker
I have never had such terrible experiences at WGI Regionals as we did this year. Like, horrible. They messed up our music. About 60% of our regional performances had zero issues with it in the circuit.
00:58:24
Speaker
Just like not great hosts. I mean, we had, you know, talked about it after the Austin regional lights going out during performances, them just being, they were just so rude at that, that host school. Stephanie was there. I just, I'm just so disappointed in the regional experience this year.
00:58:43
Speaker
like just top to bottom. I really wish we had not done any regionals this year and they won't be getting our money next year because it was just so crappy like the kids don't want to. I don't want to. It was it was just not a good experience and so they're not getting our money next year but
00:59:01
Speaker
I don't know. What are we doing about making the show host for regionals better prepared, better equipped, hiring people, actually hiring people instead of getting volunteers for the sound table and announcing? That was just such a crap show this weekend. Again, where they're hitting play early on people's shows. They played somebody else's music for my JV guard, played my Varsity show.
00:59:30
Speaker
by JV's music from my varsity. Wait, you did another regional and all this happened again? Yes, this past weekend we were at San Antonio and they messed up my JV's music and my varsity's music on Saturday and it was only correct on Sunday because I played it on my own on my phone. It was the only reason it was correct.
00:59:50
Speaker
so like it just and like the scores at the regional were like incredibly low like we dropped five points from saturday to sunday that should not be a thing ever was like one of our lowest scores in the season it it just like that they just didn't
01:00:06
Speaker
They didn't, it wasn't right. I don't know. I just was really disappointed with the regionals this year. To have it back to back like that too, that's stress. Before you even get there, there's stress in signing up for it. There's money, you know, that you have to worry about. So expensive.
01:00:21
Speaker
you know, you add to that, and then you get to the show site and you're having to worry about, well, not worry about, but that's gonna add on to the stress of the day, how people are treating you. Like, as you walk into the door, whoever is volunteering that day needs to be like, hey, how you doing? Making it as, like, making that interaction the easiest thing they do of the day. It should be. And then you have to go through, okay, you're playing the wrong music. Like, honestly, if you can check maybe more than four things off a list that somebody did wrong,
01:00:51
Speaker
Mmm, I don't like that for you. Wait, aren't they just aren't they just taking it all off cobs sweet? Like how is How are they missing out on that? Someone who's who's trained to do it and knows what they're doing and then a volunteer right? Yeah And it was so clear that they were volunteers when she was announcing on on Sunday for retreat and she could not pronounce Zildjian she couldn't even try it was like Zilda Jan I think is what she said and
01:01:20
Speaker
Oh, God. And then instead of Demolin, she said Demulin or something. It was like, you don't even know these sponsor names. Why are you doing this? You are not qualified for this. You can't pronounce any of these names that the rest of us know. Whitney, I have a question for you. Are you bitter?
01:01:38
Speaker
Very. Very. The bitterness is pouring out of every orifice of my body. I'm just, I'm over it. We have so much money. The regionals are so expensive and we had terrible experiences. Dude, the first, I mean, this is a small thing, but at the same time, you just think about a person.
01:01:59
Speaker
If you have a name that needs to be, somebody tell you how to say it, then you want to make sure you get that right. Like whenever I'm doing a tape and I'm like a school comes up that has a name that is very, like when I go to judge in Louisiana, there's a lot of like French names for schools. We'll always read over to the next judge and be like, how do you say this?
01:02:24
Speaker
because I'm not going to do my intro and butcher this at all.
Event Mishaps & Frustrations
01:02:28
Speaker
I don't know. That that grinds my gears for you, like my skin's crawling a little bit. Yeah, that's terrible. OK. All right, Jacqueline, you've heard the way that we do this now, so I'm going to ask you. Pick it up, Jacqueline. I got to pick my words wisely because I don't want to throw anybody under the bus.
01:02:51
Speaker
It's going to kind of be related to Whitney's in a way, like, you know, training, not having volunteers, or rather training your volunteers. So like, what are we doing when we have new systems that you don't train your judges on and you end up going three competitions with no tapes?
01:03:07
Speaker
Oh no. Yes. Well, I will tell you, no excuse for that, but this competition suite is, I don't know, I just feel like they need a better way, something a little bit more stable. I mean, I'm not saying go back to- It's not perfect. No, it's not. Yes, everything comes from competition suite. That doesn't mean it's not going to bug out or someone's files are going to get lost in space. It bugs out. It's not perfect. It bugs out. Nothing like taking a set tape.
01:03:38
Speaker
But I would hope while they're still figuring it out like they would like have a backup of some way like if you know it's it's glitchy of some form like double record it in some way so that way you can at least go back to the old way if it's not gonna work on competition suite because everything and honestly I think all of you know this too in every school the majority of schools
01:03:55
Speaker
It's really hard to get on their internet and you need the internet to get to competition suite. So first of all, nail that stuff down. Make sure we have like, we have routers everywhere so that that's not a problem. I just use my high spot. I don't need, I just bypass all that. I make a donation.
01:04:16
Speaker
Well, and that's good, too. But I think that the people that are running the program, like, running the show who are having competition suite, like, they need to make sure that that's something that is not going to be, you know, hit or miss in some places and stuff. I mean, and as a judge, yeah, because, like, I'll come in and we have our meeting and it's just like, oh, can you get on the on the Wi-Fi? And it's just like, well, can you tell us what the Wi-Fi is? And then after you get on, it's just like, hang on. It's not registering. Like, what do we do? What do we do?
01:04:46
Speaker
So Jacqueline, I couldn't completely get that. Great job, everyone. Set your equipment down. Go.
01:04:54
Speaker
I'll go first. I'm just going to say that I had a fantastic weekend last weekend. As we had that whole conversation about Band and Records, I have a program that they don't have a mark there, a prep band kind of thing. I took three kids to two drum shows this weekend, and they got to see the full spectrum from regional A to world-class drum line. They had never seen a competitive drum line show before.
01:05:22
Speaker
I felt real good about it because someone did that for me also. I love that.
01:05:31
Speaker
I had one gushing go, but when Austin was speaking about the technique block, triggered another one in my head. So at Northern Valley, we have this little club guard. And it's really open to middle school students, because we don't allow middle school students in the high school programs. So it's open to middle school students.
01:05:52
Speaker
or high school students that don't want to commit to the full winter guard season, or the high school students who are in the winter guard program that just want to come hang out with their friends. So it hasn't been working well as currently constituted recently.
01:06:09
Speaker
because we only have like two middle schoolers interested, one high school girl that can't do the winter guard because she's involved in musicals and stuff like that. So she just comes to the club guard for an hour on Fridays. So I keep saying to the kids, because we're so into the competitive season,
01:06:29
Speaker
that that hour before rehearsal, we could be spending on our show, as opposed to doing the club guard. So I'm kind of like, every week I'm kind of like, who's coming for club guard? Like, should we not do it this week? And turns out that this coming Friday, tomorrow night is the junior prom, and it's the middle school musical, so none of them are coming. So I was like, I don't know, what should we do, guys? Should we not have club guard? Should we just come in early, work on the high school guard? An extra hour, that would be great.
01:06:58
Speaker
And my freshman weapon boy comes over and says to me, Hey Trish, I have a really good idea. And he goes, I said, what's that? He goes, can we just do like weapon, like weapon clinic? Like, how do they phrase it? Weapon training or something like that for that hour. And I was like, middle school kids get trained on weapon check. High school kids do their test block before rehearsal.
01:07:21
Speaker
Check. The kids don't know how to school guard that are flags that want to do weapon. It would be do a club guard to learn weapon. Check. So I said, you know what? I said, that's a fantastic idea. So that's what we're going to do. Awesome. Yeah. Stephanie, what do you question about? Besides Hawaii, but you can actually know Hawaii. Hawaii is good. And I got to go last weekend to the Atlanta percussion regional.
01:07:49
Speaker
spectator very often, but I did. There are some really cool percussion shows this year. If you have not checked them out on Flow, or you're not going to Dayton, you're really missing out. There are some great, great groups.
01:08:05
Speaker
And Sunday, I'm taking that exact same flight back and I'm going to the Atlanta Guard Regional. So I'm really excited to see some groups that I don't normally see. So that is my gushing go. I'm just, I'm excited that I'm able to get out and see some things outside of Texas. That's awesome. And I just want to do a shout out to you. Congratulations to MC. Thank you.
01:08:31
Speaker
They won. Yeah, so I saw that and congratulations. I saw that on Josh's, Josh Nelson's Facebook. I went to high school with him. I don't know. We marched in marching band together. Yeah, I used to tower over him. If you can believe that too.
01:08:52
Speaker
I played bass drums in my wedding. We had the mystique bass drums, tuned bass drums played, here comes the bride down the aisle because that's only five pitches. And so I came down the aisle to that, but Josh was one of those bass drummers. Oh my goodness. I love that so much. Aloha. Aloha. Aloha. Love him. And I used to work with Don at Monarch, so you know I love everything he does.
01:09:20
Speaker
Irish. Let's see. Jacqueline, what do you have to go about? Um, you know, I'm not gonna get personal to say I have to go about the determination resiliency of just band students in the first place. Like I mentioned how we just came back from Disney and we're getting like right back into rehearsals and going into competitions and there have been zero complaints. So just the fact that these kids everywhere are amazing. Oh,
01:09:48
Speaker
We love our kids. We love our kids. Woody, what do you have to gush about? I have to gush about my new group that I work with. They, this is their first year coming out in door drum line. And, you know, anytime you try to start a new program, it never starts off the way. The people dreamed it was going to happen. Right on brand. They have seven kids. They broke a 70 this weekend. There you go. There you go. Seven kids. Yeah.
01:10:15
Speaker
Yeah. That's awesome. What's the name? Mission Independent. Mission Independent. From Pennsylvania. Washington, Pennsylvania. You know, the staff was worried, but I said, just do your thing. You're not judged on your size. And I constantly tell the kids, it's not size. It's quality. You know, we're always so hung up in size. And I know this goes back a long time ago, but after I saw
01:10:41
Speaker
the Erte production color guard thing. My life has changed. They had eight kids and they won WGI. Well, what is now world-class with eight kids when everyone was sporting 42, you know, 48 kids in the color guard. And it changed how I perceived the thing. So I'm like, just go with it. Quality, my size. Right on. Right, Austin. Horizon wins. That's the group that I work with. We're independent. We are a wins independent world.
01:11:10
Speaker
I'm the visual caption head there. We have our family and friend show at Braden River High School in the Bradenton area on Saturday, April 13th at 5pm. So if you are in the greater central West Florida, Tampa, Sarasota-ish area,
01:11:30
Speaker
Please, please, please come on down, completely free. We would love to have your support in everything. And we would love to just get as many people out to that gym as we possibly can before we go off to our circuit championships on Sunday the next day.
01:11:47
Speaker
Good luck with that. Good luck with that. I swear, like those shows when people are like, come and see our friends and family show, I'm like, this is like the best time to see a fully done show right before, because the kids are like, they're just feeling it.
Upcoming Events & Gratitude
01:12:02
Speaker
They're wanting to perform more before they get onto the big stage. So yeah, I love her for them. No competition pressure at those. Exactly.
01:12:11
Speaker
Speaking of no competition pressure shows, there is, so for the people who are going to be in Dayton for percussion weekend, there is a wins showcase happening at Miamisburg High School
01:12:27
Speaker
on the Thursday before, I'm trying, let's see, what would the date on that be? I think, if I'm not mistaken, it would be April 18th. That is at Miamisburg High School starting at, I wanna say 6 p.m., don't quote me on that, maybe five, maybe six, I don't, something like that. So there's gonna be eight groups just doing an exhibition performance in the Miamisburg High School gym, just having fun.
01:12:53
Speaker
and just performing performing for one another too so everyone's in the gym watching each other's shows so we can get a run in front of a really big crowd and we're not getting judged we're just going nuts for each other um i don't remember it's awesome last year was the first year that we did it
01:13:12
Speaker
It was fantastic. That was probably the most fun I had the entire weekend. Just to be honest, just watching everybody else's shows, no pressure. They're just going out there and having fun. And everyone's just going nuts for them. When I was marching, I would have loved to have done that. WGICards did used to do that. I don't know if they still do. I remember when I was marching that you could go like the World Guards at least.
01:13:33
Speaker
You had like 15 minutes, I guess you could say, inside of you, Deerena. Like, and it was just the World Guards and then some of them sat in, yeah, some of them sat in the, you know, in the stands and watched other World Guards go. It was like world-class practice. Wasn't it called world-class practice? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The drum lines did something similar too, but it got so out of hand that they had to shut it down.
01:13:57
Speaker
uh yeah oh yeah that's what i'm excited to hear the awesome thing that let you do that united you had to get an invitation first off and when united first when we first got our our first time hit with the big boys the kids were so amped it was such a fabulous time so i'm excited to hear that that's still going on that you agree
01:14:18
Speaker
All right, Whitney? I'm going to gush and go about what Jacqueline was talking about, just like how kids are resilient and you just come back from spring break and they're just ready to go. My kids specifically have been through a lot this year and they haven't given up. Yes, yes.
01:14:40
Speaker
Yeah, they're, they're awesome. And, um, and my, my cadet guard just got third place at championships on Saturday. So that was exciting. Um, and we've got area this weekend and it's, it's the push to the end. It's everybody like we're, it's quickly winding down. So everybody's just got a few more weeks left. And I bought my, my plane tickets to WGI today, even though I'm mad at them as an organization, I'm still going.
01:15:12
Speaker
Tell us how you really feel Whitney.
01:15:16
Speaker
OK, well, my gush and go, I guess my gush and go, I have to say, is I'm actually going to be judging my first championships. Yeah, I know. I'm I'm I'm super pumped about it. It's going to be it's the Nebraska circuit. So I started judging in the circuit last year.
01:15:40
Speaker
And so I would just do like maybe one to two shows. And it was actually at in the Nebraska circuit where I was on a full female panel for the very first time. Wow. Yeah. And it hasn't happened again yet. And so I was just like, you know, why is this such an anomaly? It shouldn't be, but I will tell you, it was a great, great thing. So I'll be doing that and I'll be super excited about it.
01:16:08
Speaker
Hey, it's called gush and go, not gush and stay. Let's go.
01:16:18
Speaker
All right, y'all, I just want to thank everyone for being here. Thanks for a great rehearsal this week. I want to say thank you to our host, Woody, Trish, Stephanie, Austin, Whitney, and thank you,
Social Media & Subscription Encouragement
01:16:33
Speaker
Jacqueline. Where can we find you on social media? You can find me on TikTok, That Vantage Your Lady, and Instagram under the same name, and technically YouTube, but nothing's there. Okay.
01:16:44
Speaker
We'll definitely check her out, y'all. She's funny, funny, funny. All right, so one more thing. Don't forget, we have our YouTube channel on now. So many of our interviews that are coming out, the full video editions will be on YouTube. So go and subscribe there and don't miss out on those. And before you close out of this podcast listening app, go subscribe, write us a review, share it with your friends. Follow us on social media at onawaterbreak.
01:17:14
Speaker
And we'll see you at the next rehearsal on A Water Break. Now go practice.
Credits & Acknowledgments
01:17:20
Speaker
The On A Water Break podcast was produced by Jeremy Williams and Christine Ream. The intro and outro music was produced by Josh Lyda. To learn more, visit LydaMusic.com. And until next time, thanks for tuning in.