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The One About First Times in Marching Band
145 Plays1 month ago
Join First time host Joey and first time Producer Alicia as they welcome Emily, Trish, and Austin along with first time guests Sara Shields & Johnn Guzman as they discuss first times in marching band. From first shows to first kisses plenty of fun first stories happened at marching band.
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
Austin Hall - @Austin_hall10
Jose Montes - @joeymontes57
Bobbey Biddle - @bobbeyboy107
Peyton Billhart - @peytonbrillhart
Music provided by leydamusic.com Follow him @josh.leyda
Avatars provided by @tch.makes.art
Keywords: Marching arts podcast, Marching band podcast, Color guard podcast, Percussion podcast, Marching arts education, Marching arts community, drum major, flourish, tatu
Thank you also to @guardcloset
#marchingband #colorguard #dci #podcast #onawaterbreak #wgi #drumline
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Contact Us:
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Keywords:
Drum Corps International, DCI, Marching Music, Marching Arts, Drum Corps, Marching Band, Marching Percussion, Marching Guard, Marching Arts Podcast, Drum Corps Podcast, Marching Music Podcast, Marching Arts Community, Drum Corps Community, Marching Band Community, colorguard, dci, WGI
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Transcript
Introduction and Podcast Setup
00:00:01
Speaker
Hey everyone, we are back for another week of exciting rehearsals. This week we are talking about our first time marching band experiences. We'll also find out what made Trish say, I mean that that parade must waken tons and tons of money and to be giving it back now, that's pretty cool.
00:00:20
Speaker
and why Johnny said. Pulling up and seeing all these other bands, getting to enjoy the coast, doing a parade that I'd never done before. I've only seen them on TV. All this and more. So get out on the field and we'll see you back on the sidelines for this week's episode of On a Water Break. Eight off the Met and go. Welcome to On a Water
00:00:54
Speaker
time for a water drain Welcome to another episode of season two of On A Water Break, the podcast where we talk about everything you and your friends are talking about about at rehearsal on a water break. I'm Joey and I am super excited to say that this is my first time hosting this evening.
00:01:12
Speaker
ah Yeah, ah i I'm going to mess it all up. It's going to be fine. And then I'll never do it again. you know So here we are. As marching band season a wraps up, we're taking a break and talking about our own experiences, particularly our firsts. So um as we talk about like as we talked about last time, the differences across the nation um of marching band, we also experienced different types of competition, but we all choose to continue in the activity. So something had to bring us back and maybe it was that first time of us experiencing marching band. This week we have a great group to talk about our first experience and other iconic firsts. But first, let's see who's all on the sidelines this week. Alicia, how's it going? It's the first time for you tonight too, yeah? Pulling double duty as a producer.
00:02:05
Speaker
Absolutely. And I'm going to mess something up and it's going to have to do with these sounds. I know it's coming. As I'm just typing to you right now. yeah ah You look for the applauseing applause the applause girl. club Give yourself some applause. Let's see.
00:02:22
Speaker
yeah ah
00:02:28
Speaker
Love it. Are you excited? I mean, oh, are you excited? Do you ever feel like you'd ever, oh, oh, more and more and more. That's a lot of applause. She lives for the applause. I have to remember to cut the applause. Applause, applause, applause. Awesome. Well, I'm really excited to to be having my first time on with you as their first time producer. So that's going to be exciting. Yeah. Austin. Howdy, howdy. How did that go?
00:02:55
Speaker
It was good. Yeah, we had a good time. um It was... It was a lot. like i'm i'm sure yourre have i'm i'm i I'm thinking about all the things that I did when we recorded a couple days ago, and um and I'm sure we're sharing a lot of the same feelings. I'm like, oh my god, I'm so nervous. ah um'm gonna I'm going to mess something up in the script. And it was a lot. And I was like, you know what? It ended up being OK. I listened to the episode. I was like, you know what? I think I did a pretty good job. So once once i once I finally got back and listened to it, I was like, oh, that wasn't so bad.
00:03:28
Speaker
but still hate hearing my voice. I don't think that will ever stop. Yeah, I always feel like, so like right now, I feel like my voice is like in this middle, like maybe tenor situation, but then I hear myself talk and I go, oh, I'm an alto. I see what's going on. um So i I get it. ah Trish, how's it going? I'm doing great. How are you? ah Well, I said I wasn't going to talk about baseball, but this is dutching news. so ash ten i i'm i'm ah I'm excited to be back on a podcast with you. Are you? right Trish, I'm glad you're here too, because I know you're an experienced producer. So definitely, you know, a yell at me or type in the chat. Emily,
00:04:17
Speaker
emily how's it going? Hello, good to be back on air again. I feel like that, you know when you fall asleep on the band bus and then you wake up and you're like, wait, what state are we in? Where is time? Why is time? That's how I feel right now. I was like, what is going on? Who are you people? Oh, I heard a rumor that you were working on artwork for next season, correct? Yeah. ah Jeremy reached out, was like, Emily, I'm like, what?
00:04:46
Speaker
Are you gonna do stuff? It's like, yeah, I'll do my best. I'm the artist for a lot of your little cartoons. And no, I have not forgotten about, I have not forgotten about the new host. Those are coming. You are being cartoonified. You are not escaping. BCW, I love mine. I do. I love it. Oh, good. I'm glad. I'm always like, No, no, no, no. one Well, real quick, I do need to say, Emily, as we talk about new artwork for season three, as we're wrapping up season two, and we have two episodes left where we're gonna do big recap episodes of all of season two with all of the main hosts. So make sure after this episode, you tune in the next couple of weeks for our last two episodes of season two. And then we'll hit you with season three and Emily's brand new artwork. Yes. Boy, you hyped it so up. You're hyping me up too much, y'all. No. You put this pressure on me.
00:05:42
Speaker
You good. you youre You are worthy. You are worthy.
First-time Marching Band Experiences
00:05:46
Speaker
Thank you. know This is going to be weird for me tonight, because not only is this my first time hosting, and like usually there's people on the other side of the screen, so I get to press mute and eat my snacks. But now I have somebody to my right, and I don't really know how to do that, because she's going to talk right now, and this would be my time to snack. So this is going to be interesting for me. Sarah, how's it going?
00:06:08
Speaker
I'm doing good, yeah. A little nervous, you know. I'm usually more of the behind the scenes kind of a person. Behind the scenes, behind the shadows. Sarah's very much like an admin, like, ah you know, i'll i'll I'll set the table, I'll set the things, but don't don't ask me to say grace kind of person. um So she's going to be nervous. she's She's pink right now. We did a lot of makeup, um but we're going to work on it. Johnny, how's it going?
00:06:34
Speaker
I'm alive. How are you? I'm nervous for sure. That's my go to answer ah because I think people say okay and good or they're doing well all the time. And I think people don't expect to say I'm alive.
00:06:52
Speaker
it's It's really interesting that you say that, because that is like my stock answer. People go, how's it going? I go, I'm breathing. I'm about as far as we've got today. And they go, oh, is everything OK at home? And I go, but I haven't seen my home. I don't know what home is. I'm just existing right now. So that's really, really cool. um And on our first times, we have some first time guests here, Sarah and Johnny. um Johnny, do you want to start off with your 32 count life story? Do you know how this works?
00:07:21
Speaker
We're going to give you eight counts for the Met and then you've got 32 counts to tell us everything from the day you were born to what you had for breakfast this morning. Are you ready? I'll do my best. All right, here we go. Alicia's going to click the right button. It's going to go beep, boop, beep, boop. We're going to point at you and you're going to go. Here we go. Johnny's 32 count life story. Five, six, ready?
00:07:46
Speaker
So I live on the West Coast. I've done bands since 2005. I marched to Blue Devils for four years. I'm a flight attendant now and I live in Nashville. I have two dogs and I want to dance again. I want to get back into doing this. So I'm right i'm excited to hear everybody's first and see what I could take away.
00:08:10
Speaker
Awesome! Woo! I should do a applause here. I'll hit the applause. I'll be the applause. That's really, really exciting. What what years did you march Blue Devils? 2010 to 2013.
00:08:27
Speaker
Oh my gosh. From mirrors to poles and everything in between. Those are good years. concert was such a good show. Oh my goodness. i So good. I love that. what You were in the color guard. Did you spin? Did you dance? Did you play horn? Yeah. so i We all did. We were all part of the prop crew. I did Color Guard when I was in Blue Devils, but it was different from marching band. So I played clarinet and percussion my freshman through junior year and then continued that in concert season. And then my senior year, I decided to pick up and try Color Guard because I've tried everything else. It's multi-disciplined. I love that. That's really cool.
00:09:14
Speaker
Jack of all trades, master of all of them, apparently. I was getting crazy, but I was getting pretty be confident. and Pretty good. World champion. No big deal. Yeah, really? Multiple time world champion. Sarah, I know you're in for a kickback. Are you ready? 32 counts. If you mess this up, I don't know how you're getting home. Are you ready? Recoveries on the sheets. We're covering these up. It is. 32 counts, and you're off.
00:09:44
Speaker
All right, well, my name is, oh. My name is Sarah. I am originally from Kansas. I did three years of high school guard and then did six years of independent in the A in the world stuff. I did two years at the Colts. And now I live in North Carolina with this guy. um We've been together for 10 years and I'm a puzzle connoisseur jigsaw puzzles. And then I have a four year old charcoal boxer pit bull dog. yeah
00:10:16
Speaker
We love Charlie I almost we almost brought chuckle on the podcast today because this hotel is pet friendly and then it didn't work out um um What did you uh, it's not like she's dead she's not but would be clear no no put on a dentist's fine ah What did you watch Colts 14 and 15. I knew that it was for the podcast. Years. Good years. I like that 14. The 14 was Dark Side of the Rainbow, right? It was with the Scarecrow. That was a good show. Yeah, that was a good show. I like that one. That was probably my favorite show.
00:10:53
Speaker
and It's fun, fun times. Yeah, but all of that's very exciting. We are going to dive into all things marching band, but first it's the season, it's the episode of first.
Events and Traditions in Marching Arts
00:11:04
Speaker
Let's get into something to get everybody all warmed up and it's the news.
00:11:22
Speaker
beautiful These sounds, awesome I do want to say, I continue to say that they're made custom for the podcast. I think they're so dope. The first news story that I'd like to cover today is ah that the marching artists for the 2024 PASIC convention were were announced. ah Those are happening this week, November 13th through the 16th, and it includes RCC and Scott Johnson. so If you're going to be in and ah the Indianapolis area for Grand Nats and you haven't signed up for PASIC yet, you can register at the door. Go watch some of these clinics and and check it out. um I mean, getting getting to hear from Scott Johnson is... I mean, when ah when are you going to get another chance to sit in the room with him? So that's pretty cool. Austin, do you got a new story for us? I do. It involves the New York City Marathon. um There is a high school outside or in Brooklyn, I should say, not outside of New York, very New York.
00:12:13
Speaker
Um, Brooklyn Bishop Laughlin Memorial High School, um, plays the, they're, they traditionally go out. They've been doing it for more than 40 years. They go out on the, on the course of the marathon and they play the Rocky theme song for three hours. No, it's good for them. Honestly, more. part that certainly that deserves a pause I know if it gives the runners like a boost, that's so cool you know,
00:12:39
Speaker
It's pretty cool. and it's just a bunch of hes And it's just a bunch of high school kids. And they it's just they just go out there and they play the Rocky Team song. david would this height that They've been doing it for a long time. It's around mile eight. um And one of the and of the kids was like, when the music hits, we're playing music nonstop for hours until we really can't do it anymore. And you know what? I'm like, yeah, that's valid.
00:13:03
Speaker
and yeah It's pretty cool. So I mean more power to those kids and it's kind of a unique experience that not a lot of not a lot of other high schools really get to do. So I think it's pretty cool. That is really cool. I don't run. No. But I would imagine that if I did, that that would inspire me.
00:13:20
Speaker
yeah such thing Right, I was gonna say I don't know how long the marathon is but I was like I could do the ny I can do this marathon if they're gonna play rocky for me But then you said mile eight and I was like there's more after eight I got bad news for you no It was like something about it. That's only a lot of about a yeah way through the marathon. now No, no 26.2 miles. So for those they me I'm a hundred pounds heavier than I was when I was marching ain't no way
00:13:51
Speaker
um mark I'm running for all that. That's crazy. We're going to move on. That made me upset. Trish, what you got? Okay. I have actually a really cool story of the Pasadena Tournament of Roses announced um November 8th. It's first ever band grant recipients awarding $27,600 to help high school musicians participate in the Rose Bowl parade.
00:14:19
Speaker
um The grant will support equipment preparation and travel expenses for five marching bands and three individual student musicians, addressing costs that can reach 5,000 per participant. Among the words recipients is the 605 All-Star Band.
00:14:35
Speaker
um Which is yeah, so cool Yeah combining eight high school bands representing seven southern california cities I just visited by side note. I just visited southern california this past summer. I'm in love Ready like ready to pack it all up and go we're not going to but I could very easily um but that's where the dodgers are from so never mind um The united states I was about to The others include Arkesia, Bellflower, Cerritos, Hawaiian Gardens, La Mirada, Lakewood, and Norwalk. The Los Angeles Unified School District, All District High School, Arnaband, representing 52 schools with 365 musicians. They also received funding. So, I mean, it just really makes sense. So you think it kind of is like, a what are we doing? Like, what took you so long? I mean, that that parade must rake in tons and tons of money. And to be giving it back now, that's pretty cool.
00:15:36
Speaker
i i I think so as well. I mean like I've not had a group do the the Tournament of Roses but I've had groups go do the the Thanksgiving parade there in New York and just how much it cost the hotels and the time and the ah the amount of volunteers that are around that like ah there's got to be some way to make it affordable for the regular marching band to go. um So that's pretty exciting. Good on them. Good job. Good job, Tournament of Roses.
00:16:04
Speaker
Not sponsored by them, but soon to be. I don't know if I'm know allowed to say that. this is but we're We're gonna get, this is all gonna get thrown away. um Since this episode is all about firsts, this is the first one we get canceled, ah we thought we would throw out a few firsts of the marching band world. And I'm gonna start with the with the first recorded marching band ever. The first known marching band dates back to the 1830s.
00:16:32
Speaker
I'll talk about that here in a second. In the United States, often associated with military units. i don't i won't wait people my My kids are like, oh, when were you born? And I go, I was born in 1993. And they go, oh, you were born in the 1900s. That's cool. And and so seeing 1800 was really tough for me to read because it's so close to 19. Anyway, Alicia, do you have another first?
00:16:56
Speaker
Yeah, the first college marching band, ah University of Michigan is actually credited with having the first college marching band, which we're back to the 1800s that ah started in 1896.
00:17:10
Speaker
I don't like those numbers. um Trish, you got something? Yes. The first high school marching band was mine. No, just kidding. Just kidding. but for i The first high school marching band is often attributed to the 1907 formation of the band at New Orleans, John McDonough High School. Who knew? I'm really excited that we're in the 1900s now. I was born in this. Right.
00:17:37
Speaker
ah
00:17:40
Speaker
We're going to talk about first here in a bit. I'm going to ask you where you went to high school and what that marching band looked like later, Trish. Sarah, are you ready for your first? I am. The first tournament of Roses Parade. The first Rose Parade took place in 1890, featuring several marching bands and showcasing the role of bands in parades.
00:18:05
Speaker
That's exciting. We're back to the 1800s. I'm not liking this. Emily, can you bring us back to the 1900s? I'm so so sorry, Emily, but it took us 130 years to start throwing some money at these groups to get them to the Rose Parade. What are we doing? At the Parade. Here we go. Emily, bring us back to the 1900s.
00:18:33
Speaker
Ah, yes. ah The first indoor marching band competition known as Winter Guard was held in the 1970s, allowing bands to showcase their skills in a controlled environment. Wait, who was born in the last century? have we Are we all born in the last century here? Yes, I think.
00:18:52
Speaker
yeah ah Oh, did I mess this up? No. Austin, you got one? Yes, I do. ah The first Drum Corps International Championship took place in 1972, marking a significant moment for competitive marching bands. It was not the first time Drum Corps had a championship. It was the first time DCI had a championship. and We had the VFW and the American Legion quite some time there. Absolutely. 50s, 60s. And then they were like, no. And we can accredit the a lot. like there's how many How many Drum Corps were
00:19:27
Speaker
in the founding like 12 or something? you know Something like that. Yeah. I have a joke, but I'm going to keep it for later. Johnny, you got one? I do. I'm actually really excited about this one. So the first all-female marching band, we're going a little bit back in the 1900s. It's 1938 that the first all-female marching band was formed at the University of Southern California. Maybe that's why you love it down there, Trish. like You feel the vibes happening. um and I think you're right. And it broke a gender barrier to the traditionally male-dominated field.
00:20:05
Speaker
You remember that there were there were those competitive drum corps, international all-female corps? We've got to bring that back. If the Cavaliers are going to stay all-male, we've got to do an all-female one. Oh, there were tons. There were tons, tons, tons, tons. Yeah.
00:20:19
Speaker
bring well Do you remember, so i ah one of them, i I feel like I remember being the Brigadettes or something like that. What are some other- The yep. I think the one that, I mean, there are there are so many. I mean, I could name a million off the top of my head, but that's a show for another day. um I think one of the most um revered ones and one of the ones that was most recognizable was Les Chatelaines from Quebec.
00:20:45
Speaker
And they used to come out and they used to come out, I don't know if the video's available anywhere, but they used to come out with chairs. They would like march out onto the field with these folding chairs and put them out. And it was like a whole big like moment, you know, like they would close them all together. And they had really, really, really cool uniforms. So if you ever get a chance to check that out, it was nice shut lanes.
00:21:09
Speaker
Interesting. Well, 09BD vibes. I see. I see how it goes. I still remember being in the stands and people watching the Blue Devils sit during the ballad hit and they were like, this is not drum corps. And if they could see what was happening today, I feel like they would lose their just absolute cool. That's really interesting. I'm going to hit us with one more and then we're going to move forward. We're going to stay in the 1900s. I plan this. First international marching band festival. The first world music contest held in the 1970s. I'm going to butcher this. Cour-Crad, Netherlands. Brought together marching bands from all around the globe for competition. That was 1970. That's pretty cool.
00:21:56
Speaker
I wonder why, why is john I feel like Drum Corps has taken that on, but there's gotta to be something like, the festival doesn't feel like it's like, like it's just, it does not have an ordinal, so maybe, I don't know, I feel like we could do something like that still and get, yeah like, I love watching Jubal from the UK come out and do, no, there were some Netherlands, that'd be cool to see stuff like that. Netherlands, yeah. um Yeah.
00:22:23
Speaker
Well, let's grab our last sips, get back out ah out there to rehearsal and rehearse part two. We'll be back on the next water break.
Guard Closet and Marching Band Memories
00:22:41
Speaker
Hey, this is Christine Rehm and Chris Green. Guard Closet was founded as a consignment business in 2000. Since then, it has grown to include Winter Guard, band, percussion, and other genres. We can help you with custom flag and costuming designs. Our consignment inventory has plenty of great looks for your color guard, drum line, and marching band. Pay it forward. When you purchase consignment, you help other programs. Last year we sold over 400 sets of consignments and returned over $125,000 in payments to our consigners for their skills. Additionally, Guard Closet offers custom and pre-designed costumes, flags, floors, and formal wear, full or partial showwriting, educational programming, and other services.
00:23:26
Speaker
Max out your rehearsal time and set up a microsite for easy student ordering for shoes, gloves, and other equipment. The Guard Closet team is here to help you get everything you want and need for your season. Check us out at guardcloset.com and follow us on social media.
00:23:54
Speaker
Maybe. Hold on, I lost my sound. Sorry. You're all good. I think this is right.
00:24:09
Speaker
Y'all, I don't know what's happening. I'm going to play that one more time. If you're clicking on to the flight, if you clicked on one and then you clicked on it again, it's overlapping. So just yeah hit it now.
00:24:32
Speaker
Sorry, I was dancing over here. ah First time's in marching band. I'm really excited to start talking about this. um Johnny, what do you remember about your first marching band competition? what What you got for us today?
00:24:44
Speaker
I'm gonna give a little context how I got into marching band. um So in fifth grade we had arts. California was very like try everything when we were in elementary school. um So I tried clarinet, that was the thing I could play. I tried everything else and it wasn't quite uh didn't know how to use those muscles. So Go on I didn't play it I lost my clarinet in fifth grade and I was too afraid to go tell the band teacher But it turns out it was in the the classroom the whole time and he just thought I didn't want to come anymore but we had to select a an elective for our freshman year and I had no idea what I wanted to do and I was like well I played clarinet for like two weeks. I think I can do it and So I put it on my schedule. I showed up when regular class started and apparently I was behind. I didn't know like amps existed. um I had not a single clue how to read music. I could barely remember like where a C was on the staff. and um But the thing was like I saw all these different people and people were nice and
00:25:59
Speaker
They looked like they were having fun, so I kind of just figured it out on the fly, which takes me to the 1st marching band competition was Pacific Grove, ah which is like Northern California um near the coast. And we took charter buses so.
00:26:16
Speaker
Our band was, if I remember correctly, 150 to 200 people. um We had a pretty massive band and it was just cool to experience like All these friends I had started making, we got to spend hours together on the bus like the night before we were going. We were all like shopping together at Walmart. I'm like, what candy can we get? What chips can we get? It was like the childhood dream I'd always had of going on like a road trip.
00:26:49
Speaker
And we were talking about like, what game are we gonna bring for our DS? And like, who's bringing what? And just all of these things that made it super cool. And like, how do we dress for there? And and and all of that. um So it was really the first time I kind of like got this sense of belonging. Like, I was more than...
00:27:15
Speaker
Just this really weird kid um that liked everything from like the Care Bears soundtrack on to metal and hip-hop and pop. um My dad was a DJ, so i got music has kind of always been in my life. That's that's also what kind of made me stick with this. um And as we were going, Phantom of the Opera was my freshman year show.
00:27:39
Speaker
um it was We had people on staff from Vanguard and Blue Devils, so it was just this really artistic-y approach um that I had no idea what the hell was going on, but you know I was having a great time. i was ah We had field judges and they had no idea I wasn't playing because I was definitely fingering my my butt off um because I didn't know what the actual notes were. So ah I was just doing my best and playing the part. But what was cool is pulling up and seeing all these other bands, getting to enjoy the coast, doing a parade that I'd never done before. I've only seen them on TV. um And then like having a break, getting food, getting ready for our field show, doing the field show. And just this crowd was so massive.
00:28:30
Speaker
um it was so addicting. like They just wanted to watch what they were doing. They were so interested in all of these kids like playing notes and hitting drums and twirling silks. After we took off our uniform, we got to hit the snack bar. I love food, so that was obviously my my love language when we worked on competitions. We sat in the stands and it was so cool to be
00:29:01
Speaker
A band that was admired by other people um so when we swept the competition it was just like this is why i do this um i like to be good at what i do and.
00:29:14
Speaker
just the camaraderie just made me so addicted to everything that marching band had to had to give. It's why like I love teaching middle school kids. It's why I love teaching high school groups um that maybe don't have a really great foundation or like just really have kind of did the thing because that was what they had to do um because I remember And during that time, like I was saying, I played clarinet and then throughout the years I tried other stuff and I actually ended up in Color Guard. um My senior year I just decided to try it and that kind of took me into my DCI career and then teaching. ah Yeah, so that's what I remember. What a feeling. And that's why I'm so addicted to supporting it today.
00:30:02
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I think it's i think it resounds, yeah I think that story resounds with pretty much everybody on this podcast and people that are going to listen to this podcast is um my experiences with with all of this and I'm sure all of ours is this sense of belonging. And so um we talk about that a lot with the groups that we teach is, you know, everything that's happening outside of the world is happening outside of the world. But like in in this 50 yards this year, 100 yards this way.
00:30:28
Speaker
We have control and, you know, this is our family and this is our place. So, um you know, it it is addictive. I've tried so many times to get away from the marching arts, but it it used to pull me back out. I owned an automotive repair garage. I was a lead salesperson for a major electronics company in the U.S. I wrote a Bible on how to sell to people. like I was really good at that. um and I was like, you know what? I want to put dots on a field and label children as numbers. and so um That's what I do now. you know and It just continues to pull me back and now we both do this full-time. like and and There's something about that camaraderie that just continues to pull us in. Thank you for sharing that. I appreciate that. ah Austin, I heard you had a story about your first marching band experience.
00:31:17
Speaker
Care to share? Yes. um So my my first, I want to tell a story or I kind of want to tell two stories. um One, I remember a lot more of the journey. One, I remember a lot more of the destination. So I will tell the story of the journey first. So I remember we I'm from North Carolina. We were going up to the um Kettering Fairmont Regional in Dayton, Ohio for BOA. Don't know why we chose to go there, but what we did. don ah i ah I don't know why. it It's just we wanted to see how we were faring against some Ohio groups, and like Centerville was there, and we're like, okay, and we're this tiny, like six, we're to this tiny, like 70, 80 person band.
00:32:07
Speaker
And so we're driving up, everything's fine, and we had this plan to stop in a little town outside of Charleston called Nitro West Virginia. And we stopped, we rehearsed there. it's very It was very kind of like drum corn away. We drive, we stop in Nitro West Virginia, and then we see rehearsing, and then we're kind of hanging out there a little longer than we had had anticipated. We later find out that one of the buses, their I think their brakes weren't cooling down or something of the or something of that sort.
00:32:36
Speaker
I'm not sure exactly what happened, but I'm like a freshman in high school, mind you. So I'm like four, I'm freshly 14. And so we're just kind of hanging out. We're like, all right, what's, what's going on? And then eventually it all kind of came to a head and we're, it, it's getting dark. It's like October, it's getting dark. It's like seven, eight o'clock at night and we have one bus. We need two buses.
00:33:00
Speaker
So what they decided to do was, is that we decided to send the girls, all the all the girls up to the hotel first so they could sleep. The closest bus that they could get us was like sat like six hours away. It was ridiculous. it was I don't know what happened. it was it i don't I have no idea.
00:33:21
Speaker
I'm just kind of feeding off the information of a couple other people. And next thing I know we're hanging out. And then all of a sudden we end up in some random dojo in Nitro, West Virginia, all the dudes. We end up in this one, like like literal karate, do yes, literal karate dojo. And we're and we're like kind of like getting some shut eye in there for a couple of hours.
00:33:50
Speaker
And I didn't realize if i totally't know right i feel that. I feel the same way. You got to click it again. Click it again. There we go. We got to just keep it going, yeah, at this point. Yeah, that's how I felt. That's really how I felt during all of this. And I'm like, because I had, little did I know I was going to do this again for the next four years of, or not for the next four years, but like a little bit down the line. I'd do this for four years of my life in Drum Corps.
00:34:18
Speaker
This is kind of my first taste of that. And so what i so we end up getting on a bus at like three o'clock in the morning, end up driving up and we get to the hotel at like, probably like seven, 30, eight o'clock in the morning. We have prelims at like noon that day. And the best part about this story is that somehow by the grace somehow by the grace of God or whatever is out there, we ended up making finals.
00:34:47
Speaker
I don't know how we did, but it was a fantastic, it was a fantastic show. We made finals. We're like, Oh my goodness. This is like the best. Like it was a whole, it was a whole thing. We're like, this is incredible. I'm loving this. And we ended up doing finals and and we didn't really care how we did in finals. We ended up getting 10th. That's when BOA was still 10th place or 10, 10 spots of finals. We ended up getting 10th. We're like, whatever we, we came what we accomplished to do. We did it. And then.
00:35:17
Speaker
A little bit later, a couple weeks, we went to Indianapolis with the exact same show. so We did two out-of-state trips that year for the super reason and not Grand Nationals because that was our test run for how we're going to go to Grand Nationals. and I remember just being a little baby freshman thinking, okay, and we show up to this big NFL stadium. We're like, oh my gosh.
00:35:40
Speaker
This place is huge. What's going on? And I just remember walking in the tunnel and just, I don't remember anything about the show. I have no idea what happened. I think I have one little action shot from the show and that's all I have to remember it by. I just remember the feeling of walking into Lucas oil and being like, whoa, this is like legit.
00:36:01
Speaker
they're always gonna be crazy stories and that is the first of many many many crazy stories that i have and i'm thankful to have those crazy stories otherwise my life would be boring. Yeah i just think it's so cool that at fourteen years old you got to be become a black belt in karate and then go to your first be away and that's.
00:36:21
Speaker
Pretty incredible. Right? Yeah. I mean, i i will I will tell you that Dojo was probably one of the most horrendous smells I've ever smelled in my life. not It was nothing but straight Dio. It was awful. we we have they put this They put the Genesis staff in a ah in like a Dojo, but it was like in a community center. So the match, I feel like, were used when they got them. And so like you see like you sit in the mat and it just goes,
00:36:50
Speaker
and this all the ghosts of all the white belts just like shoot up in the air. And it's like, yeah, we started blaming each other. um Yeah. Yeah, it never ends. Exactly what that's like.
00:37:05
Speaker
It's a lot of hurry up and wait, and a lot of terrible and great. And that's kind of the cool thing about marching band. That's cool. Thank you for sharing that. Alicia, what was your first marching band competition experience? And yeah, this is going to be juicy. I'm really excited. You kind of shared a little bit. I'm so excited for this party. I really am. I just wrote my own feelings.
00:37:30
Speaker
Because, Austin, you mentioned how long ago yours was, and I just realized mine was 20 years ago this fall that this happened, which is so painful. um But my very first marching band competition, it was also a similar experience, not that I went to Lucas Oil, but that I went to, um a it was on a college campus.
00:37:52
Speaker
I've never seen a stadium that big. um But I had just started dating um our drum major, the the band's drum major. It's always the drum major. but It's always the drum major or the center snare, I'm telling you. um ah I will i'll interject. I have a type, y'all. My ex-husband was a band director. My current partner is a band director.
00:38:16
Speaker
I'm guilty, but I did not marry the drum major for what it's worth. But I just started dating the drum major of our band and we went to that competition and I don't remember how we did. I don't remember anything about the performance. I remember that um I was so excited to hold his hand in the sand.
00:38:37
Speaker
which is so adorably embarrassing. But our band won the overall Grand Champion Award for that competition. And um afterwards, we were walking back to the bus together and ah Ryan was his name. Ryan kissed me and it was my very first kiss.
00:38:54
Speaker
And um shout out to Ryan. He might be listening. He's still in the band world and he and I are are still good friends to this day. But yeah, 20 years ago this past October, my very first kiss at my very first marching band competition. That is adorable.
00:39:12
Speaker
Usually you get flowers for a great like performance or a championship. You got got a whole smooch. we got We should start that. Yeah. Yeah. That's awesome. how long had you been i been I'm going to dive in now. How long have you all been dating? you know What were the future plans? you know What was the wedding going to look like? What did it all kind of look like? Listen, we had but we had been dating for six days.
00:39:41
Speaker
Oh my gosh, kissing within six days. I know, I'm a harlot. Especially in the South. Listen, but it's compared to what high school love looks like nowadays. um We retain. We dated for a few years. and and We both went and auditioned for Drum Corps for the first time together. And our first summer of Drum Corps, he was marching troopers and I was marching Southwind. This was the Southwind before the Southwind that exists now. um But and i like I said to this day, like he got involved in in music and he married a person that he ended up marching Colts with. So we're good friends now and you know still know each other.
00:40:35
Speaker
Well, that is so cool. We went from black belt to Bible belt in like one little sit here. That was, uh, so that what, what year were you, uh, when, when this all happened? Like, was this, this was your freshman year? Yeah, this was 2004. 2004. I'm not going to do the math. i gonna do that to ah fine That's really cool. but you Tell me you were a baby. ah no i Remember, I was born in the 1900s, so that's fair. No car no comment.
00:41:10
Speaker
but um yeah Oh my gosh. remember now We won't talk about that on that one. Trish, do you want to tell us about your first marching band competition or experience?
00:41:24
Speaker
So earlier you asked me, you were going to ask me like, what was my first high school marching band experience? I actually didn't march in my high school marching band. I know, I know, I know I was a horrible person. and I completely re regret it now, but there's a reason. I was already I'm doing drunk or. And i was marching what's now world class in winter guard back then was open class i was already marching independent like i was already in world guardsman like i was already had and i just.
00:42:03
Speaker
I just, I was kind of acting like, why would Mia Ham play for her high school soccer team? Like, and I regret it and it was in a good decision. and Now looking back, I totally regret it. But, um, you know, I was, I was marching independent. I was just doing, and I didn't come from my high school. I came from little Juma high school, New Jersey. I didn't come from a big life. Probably if I'd been in like,
00:42:26
Speaker
my school had been like a big competitive like be away program probably made a different spin on it for me but it just I just didn't do it and I was a stop and I guess I should have but whatever but my first high school teach marching band teaching experience was Portchester High School in Portchester, New York, just above New York City. um I was really super young. It was my first... i' done I've been teaching Winterguard since I aged out, but this was my first like marching band experience, which, as you know, is a totally different beast. you know When you're teaching drum corps or Winterguard, those are kids who sign up for it. Those are kids that want to be... you know They want to do something independent, you know so they're super in and super invested.
00:43:11
Speaker
um in high school aren't you man you get like kind of a mix so We had two girls, um the band director had said to me, and now, again, this is a long time ago, so the world is very different at this point, a little bit little yeah a little bit less tolerant, whatever. But there were two girls who just, um I believe it's so long ago, I believe now one of them would have probably been considered on the spectrum, but I'm not really sure, I don't wanna classify anybody. um But you know it was like, she wants to be a part of it, and there was another girl too, she wants to be a part of it, but she can't really,
00:43:45
Speaker
So I said, okay, there used to be a thing back in the day where like people would just, you were it was called the pick, and people would just like pick things up and move them around and whatever, so she could do that, right? Great. The director's super happy. She puts the uniform on. She just wants to be a part of it, whatever. Now, things probably would be a little bit different now. but This is down in that, you know, whatever. So, but the first competition in Connecticut, right, which is Westchester County, New York is just below the Connecticut border. So a lot of competition in Connecticut. So we're the first competition in Connecticut to get out on the field. We're all set. I'm super nervous, whatever, right?
00:44:25
Speaker
They come up to me in that they come off the field in them. um I'll never forget this They come off the fields in the middle of the performance and started asking me questions And I'm so like zoned in that I'm answering them. I'm like, yeah, so that goes over Wait a minute, get back out on the field, like it's a performance, like the judges are like, and I'm answering the questions, I'm like, yeah, you're you're right, that goes over there, that and I'm like, you just walked off the field in the middle of a show, a judge performance to ask me questions. I think get back out there.
00:45:04
Speaker
Did, did what I mean, like do you you get like do you get penalized? like What does that look like? No, no, we didn't. Not that I know of anyway, but I was like, and I'm talking to them. I'm like so locked in. I'm like, right, right, right. Yeah. Yeah. And I'm watching. I'm like, yeah, yeah. That goes over the, what are you doing? So that was not only my first marching band experience, but that is a huge what are we doing moment. I would pay such good money to see that happen.
00:45:34
Speaker
Never forget it. That would be so funny to watch. I would love to see that happen in real time. I think we all have stories of show day. I tell my kids there are no dumb questions, but sometimes there's things you maybe need to think about before asking somebody. We were going to warm up, and I was like, I got to grab your stuff for warm up. And they're like, am I going to need my uniform?
00:46:03
Speaker
i go What is in uniform by two mean, my guy? Like, do I need my mouthpiece? Like, what? and Yeah, you need your mouthpiece. You know, um there was like there was a kid there was like, this past ah this past year, we we had this we use the private Cincinnati anti gravity prop from a couple years ago, and one of my marching band shows. And one of them was like, hey, I literally said, I know we're heading to the field to perform. Do we need the harness? And I was like,
00:46:32
Speaker
Do we need the harness for the show that we're about to do when the buses are 20 minutes away? We're i mean in the middle of that and we're going to, yes, you need the harness. And he was like, I was really hoping you weren't going to say that. It's definitely on the bus. And I was like.
00:46:50
Speaker
And you chose right now after one, like we had 30, 45 minutes in warm up. You didn't want to tell me then. Um, and so I, a hundred percent, like I just, I, I don't, I don't under, I, I don't know if I was like that when I was again, maybe I was, I definitely was the asking questions type.
00:47:07
Speaker
And I would just ask questions to make, like, just to piss my band directors off. I'd be like, uh, I know we practiced all this stuff this week, but I kind of want to play saxophone today. And they'd be like, just, Joey, just shut up. You know, like, I would do it as a joke. These kids are like, do I need my flags for today? I'm like, do you want to practice today? Are you a part of the team today? I don't know. Oh, man. Some kids just never change. Joey, I genuinely believe that kids these days. That's all I can say. Kids these days. but We could do a whole episode on how much it has changed. I can. I totally can. Right now, the common sense is is ah lost or the critical thinking process. Yeah. oh I'm a little worried. I'm really excited for like a decade from now when people- Don't worry. They'll become my clients and I'll- Emily, fix them now. Let's go.
00:48:06
Speaker
um I'm really excited for like a decade from now. when they you me Uh, like of, of all the things that we lost through COVID, uh, and there's like incredibly intricate social dynamics that we're, that we've missed and, you know, developmental things in terms of the social, the critical thinking, the, I mean, what we feel like is common sense is not common sense. And it's only common sense because it's passed down. We miss, you know, some groups miss two, three years of this. And so it's almost Excuse like we have me. to
00:48:38
Speaker
everything. um And so yeah, I agree. Kids are crazy this year. Kids are crazy these days. And, um you know, the the i i dove I've been doing these presentations lately about teaching this generation. And it it's very much like a, you kind of have to tell them everything. um and In a world where they have all the answers right here,
00:49:00
Speaker
the the I think the process of like, how would I, you know you can't Google where my dot is, you can with UDP, not sponsored, but you know um you know there there are ways to get the answer, but like the the critical thing, and I think that's what it is, is like find where to get the answer is is hard for them these days, and so telling them where those resources are kind of is really important for us, and we we write these you know elaborate handbooks um for them to be like, oh, do you want to see where the ad is of the the the drop spin? Go look at the manual, you know, like, and give them those resources. But that's just a lot. That's a lot of work that I don't remember having to do when I was younger, or even like my first year is teaching. um That's, that's a funny first talk. Yeah, that's crazy. But, but they all will probably have very chaotic first marching band show stories in a few years. So
00:49:57
Speaker
We're going to bring this episode back. We'll be like, let's let's recap this. Let's see. Maybe we all bring a student on. With the Gen Alpha, Gen Z kids. So life I forgot my entire, oh, that's what it was. I had a kid forget his entire tenor drum. So he's like, I brought the harness. I just thought that somebody would pack the trums. And I was like, what about pack your drums? did you Anyway, ah Sarah, do you have any fond memories of of your first marching band experience? See, I wouldn't say the word fond. I would say traumatic. i I wish I had an instructor like you guys when I was in high school.
00:50:35
Speaker
ah So I, you know, I went to high school in Wichita, Kansas and you know, it's kind of a smaller community, smaller town and stuff like that. And we went to our first marching band competition. They did not teach us how to get onto the field or set our equipment or anything like that. And so I was a colored kid and I had my like whole handful of like six flags to set or something crazy like that. And so we went and we were setting up the show.
00:51:04
Speaker
You know, and halfway through set up, you know, the announcement comes on as like, drum majors, is your band ready? ah we And we were not ready. And so we're like, trying to hurry up and set our equipment and the drum majors did what you know, what they were practiced, they did their salute. And then I got set up and they started the show. look You know, five, six, seven, eight. no no Like half of the color grid section was still setting equipment. I remember that show. We all started off in like in a circle in the middle of the field. Like it was very, you know, like definable shape and like a whole section of the the circle was not there. Yeah. And so we're like running and like as 15, 16 year olds, like
00:51:52
Speaker
don't know what to do like in that situation your first year of guard so you know we grab our equipment and we like run out and I guess skip the first couple sets and hop in you know whenever you got there but it was yeah not a fun experience for the very first show you know you have all those jitters and everything and on top of that like having the show start without you is like things that people have nightmares about so Not a great experience. So what was the after that? You remember the conversation that happened after that?
00:52:26
Speaker
He blocked out a lot of it. um I just remember like people like tears coming off the field and like just like a whole bunch of hubba. And you know people pointing fingers and like you know drum majors saying, well, you know the band director said to go. And yeah band directors say, no, I yeah i told the drum majors to not can go. And you know i I think everybody was nervous for their first show and just You know, just wanted to do it. Jumped it on a little bit. And I bet it never happened again.
00:53:03
Speaker
Oh, yeah. Sure. ah You know, so um I'm gonna be real honest with that everybody. I knew and we needed to bring somebody on and I was like, I don't know how to talk to people about their first time marching band. So I straight up told Sarah she was doing the podcast, not a public speaker. We covered this already. um That kind of explains a little bit about like your i I feel like it's OCD and I thought it was just you being you know a stickler for things, but Sarah does entire rehearsals where she just sets the field and then picks up the field and go.
00:53:41
Speaker
Each kid knows exactly where they're setting their equipment. If we're having people set different, you know, their friends equipment, like they know where it's being set, you know, sometimes if we have props, like I'll like right on the back of the prop, like this should have four of the first movement flags, you know, well list out and that kind of stuff. And they know what equipment they're taking off the field. So it's not like a chaotic like rata to we reps running around the field, you know, picking up stuff.
00:54:12
Speaker
That's crazy. you but ah Your ah story gave me anxiety because ah at BD, we also rehearsed getting on and off the field very meticulously. um But why it gives me so much anxiety is because there's so many times that a mirror was in the wrong place and that had certain equipment on it, or part of the house was like broken. and we didn't know what to do so we like couldn't move it properly and it's just like all of that anxiety of like oh my god what do i do this is the first time i've ever experienced this i know i'm supposed to be like a marching band color guard professional in this moment but i have no idea what the hell to do so i know how to look pretty and we're gonna make it happen like that that's that's where it came from when you said that
00:55:06
Speaker
Do you guys have the nightmares now? I have nightmares where I like set my stuff wrong or can't find my flag or someone took my flag or whatever. Yeah. 110%. I have the dreams where you learn the choreography five minutes before you head out and you're having to kind of like match what everybody's doing and kind of fake it.
00:55:31
Speaker
See, I'm notorious for putting in choreography in the last warmup of the season. I'd be like, hey, do you guys know at the very end, just one more thing. What if we just went on a plié on the superior piano, and then you stand up to second position standing during the crescendo. Let's just practice it a couple times. And my kids are like, we'd rather not. And they go, just try it one time. Yeah, it's my bad. Sorry, I'm your worst nightmare.
00:55:56
Speaker
i have I have nightmares about ah like missing deadlines, which I do all the time, and i like missing ah like missing a meeting. um like I was afraid that I was going to miss this, and so we actually tried to log on 30 minutes before just to make sure that it was going to work. like that Those are the nightmares I have now, more of like doing like make sure I'm doing a good job. I'm a terrible communicator. I'm working on it.
00:56:21
Speaker
um We're going to move on. Well, we're glad you made it. Yeah. We're moving on, Sarah. Such adult nightmares. Yeah. Yeah. I don't want to talk about my nightmares anymore. Emily, fix me. What you got?
00:56:33
Speaker
Oh, man. So first thing, so once upon a time in a high school long time ago, I literally went to a no name high school, you've probably never heard of it in your life. But um there was something that the middle school did. Oh, fine. I went to Green Valley High School in Las Vegas. I would be surprised if any of you knew what that was. I saw that. Anyway, the point was, is that huh?
00:56:57
Speaker
I said, it sounds like a high school, but it could be, you know. I mean, it's in the name. But anyway, I was in middle school and one of the fun things we did ah is that we would go on a field trip to the high school for homecoming, I think. And um I got to wear this really dumb green and blue like band jacket thing. And it's like, wait, what do you mean bands march? How does that even work?
00:57:21
Speaker
So and also the best part of that is that my friend and I were hanging out and my friend tried to jump scare me, but she accidentally opened the door in my foot. So I had to do the parade with my foot stubbed because I was being a dumb middle school kid. And then I finally watched the high school show and I was just like, nobody told me bands can move, but why is it cool? And why do I want to join it? That's awesome. So you you saw it for your first time in middle school or what you were in eighth grade, seventh grade, eighth grade. Yeah.
00:57:51
Speaker
eight grade So you had had one more year before you can jump in? or do in In Nevada, did they do the eighth graders march with you? Was that an option for you? No, we just went on a field, just like, this is something you could do. I'm like, OK, OK, cool. I had no idea musicians could do do that. And then it gets even better. This is going to sound like like voodoo witchy woo hoo magic. I was at ah Disneyland World, Disney World one day. You know that Epcot light show, Reflections of Earth?
00:58:20
Speaker
yeah So it's called that show and I thought the soundtrack was really cool. And I was just like, hey, you know, I wonder if this would translate well to a marching band show. Guess what? When my freshman year of high school show was Reflections of Earth, that actuallyly quiet sounds why does this sound awesome? Familiar. And then it was like, that weird things like, wait, was I meant to do this? And then, you know, the rest is history. I didn't end up being staff for anything.
00:58:42
Speaker
but you know jeremy's probably over shared so much about me at this point but i did a lot of band art i started doing uniform stuff yeah that's exciting it was meant to be yeah clearly It really feels like, like ah um'm i'm I'm doing a show about the red string theory, you know like the the were all kind of like you're connected to your you know your your person and like you're supposed to meet or whatever. And like more and more, like again, like I tried to push away, but every time like it just pulled me back and ah somebody would be like, hey, I'm thinking about doing a show about this. and i'd be like I'm actually like really passionate about
00:59:19
Speaker
You know, the cool I love ah choreography with umbrellas, very niche market. um If you need choreography with umbrellas, I got you. I practice all the time in my living room, breaking stuff. I hit my dog. If anyone needs uniforms. Mary Poppins got nothing on Joey.
00:59:42
Speaker
maybe probably not not not me I do with it. you know i i So you know that was the thing that brought me back was this person was talking about like, oh, I'm doing a show about rain. And I want to do an umbrella feature with a saber. And I was like, I haven't done marching band in two years. 100%, let's do it. And then 13 years later, I'm doing this 30 bands in the fall and 15 in the winter. like I just feel like there's something something connects connects and keeps pulling us back in. um i'm like It's such a, there's just so much that you can do. But did you write the saber choreo too? I did, yeah. So I didn't know how to spin saber. But I was like, oh, you just kind of flip it. And I was like, oh, you can like roll it over the hand. And now, you know, then you can throw the umbrella up. And what do you call these things? And they're like, that's a toss. And I go, yeah, just toss it. And then you just grab the umbrella with the other hand. And they're like, that's
01:00:34
Speaker
And they were like, that's what you would call a world-class skill set. And I was like, what are we in there? We are regional A. And I go, OK, so don't throw the saber. And they're like, no, that's the whole point. And I was like, OK, my bad. Oh, my gosh. I'm silly. I'm a goof. So did you do all four years of marching band? Or like, I guess here's my question. I had this question. I'm ready to give it. And you go, three, two, one. Here's the question. What did you play?
01:01:05
Speaker
Emily. Wait, who are you talking to? Oh, so I originally played flute, but then like in the past few years I came out as low brass. Anyway, interesting. I'd be ready for a dumb joke. Yes, I am. So I can do flute and I can also do low brass. So I'm bisexual. Love it.
01:01:32
Speaker
That's goofy. I'm not giving you applause for that one. Oh, man. I thought it was funny. um I don't know what it is. A lot of band directors, and maybe we'll do ah we'll do a podcast about why that switches a lot. but like So I have an independent group, and we've got a couple of flutes, and we're like, oh, we could just move them to tuba.
01:01:52
Speaker
and i go Bloop! Bloop! Bloop! Bloop! Bloop! Bloop! Bloop! Bloop! Bloop! Bloop! Bloop! Bloop! Bloop! Bloop! Bloop! Bloop! Bloop! Bloop! Bloop! Bloop! Bloop! Bloop! Bloop! Bloop! Bloop! Bloop! Bloop! Bloop! Bloop! Bloop! Bloop! Bloop! Bloop! Bloop! Bloop! Bloop! Bloop! Bloop! Bloop! Bloop! Bloop! Bloop! Bloop! Bloop! Bloop! Bloop! Bloop! Bloop! Bloop! Bloop! Bloop! Bloop! Bloop! Bloop! Bloop! Bloop! Bloop! Bloop! Bloop! Bloop! Bloop! Bloop! Bloop! Bloop! Bloop! Bloop! Bloop! Bloop! Bloop! Bloop! Bloop! Bloop! Bloop! Bloop!
01:02:09
Speaker
for some reason instinctively knew what to do and i was handed the instrument um just like okay no Well, it's cool. There's something about the the air support that translates from flute to tuba really well. my My partner, he's a band director, and he switches kids from flute to tuba pretty frequently, actually. use aphon right behind me yeah yeah i understand it it's and It's a similar thing. I don't know much about it. I'm just a visual guy.
01:02:39
Speaker
yeah i tell kids like their feet and similar air Interesting. Well, um i'll i'll ah oh I'll finish up with mine and then we'll we'll well we'll keep pushing forward. Thank you guys for sharing um your first, my first. So when I marched marching band in high school, I was an absolute goof. I was a goof and I mean, obviously I'm goofy.
01:03:03
Speaker
I was a goof in high school I really don't remember very much about the experience other than we we did this like ceremony where we put red Gatorade in this plastic gauntlet and we would call it the the blood cup and so the melophones would drink ah this they like we have those it was like a weird ritual it you know something about like c colts and stuff yeah whatever um so like I remember that about high school yeah you can You can keep looking at me like that. It's it's honestly, I feel the same way. um So I don't really have any stories about my high school marching band career. I will say, the one thing that I love to share is my first time ah writing drill for a BOA regional finalist. um I had been i'd been writing drill for about eight years.
01:03:46
Speaker
and um You know, there there's this ah there's this Facebook page that has all of the um all the groups that make finals around the place, and everybody prepares and leads people. Yeah, I mean, good good but for them. That was actually a total accident.
01:04:04
Speaker
No, I mean, it was it it takes a lot of hard work and everything's going to work right. So good on them, it was well placed. So as soon as I got into that group, I was in that group for eight years and watched people share, you know, oh so you know Mitch Rogers, Wes Pendergrass, Stephen Olia, Leon May, you know ah Michael Gaines, all these names started to pop up. And I was like, I want, you know, that is something that I know i I've made it once I get my name up there.
01:04:33
Speaker
and so it was o maybe 2018-2019 and I've been working really hard to try and and get on those lists and you know what I what I found afterward is that it's more than just the drill writer it is the drill writer The the the ranger the teachers the students the props the parents like there's so much that goes into you being Put in that level that you know, it was kind of unfair for me to put that kind of pressure on myself I now just write drill and try to do a good job and that's kind of how you do well um I know that now but it was
01:05:06
Speaker
2018 2019 and the weeks going in before that was well placed. I love that um The the weeks going before it like it was it was boom. Boom. Boom. Michael Gaines was on there a bunch I remember Leon May I remember seeing Stephen Olia And I was like, Oh my gosh, like, you know, my groups are doing what, like this group is doing really well. We're scoring in the eighties, you know, we're pushing in. It's the second week of October and but the group makes the regional final. And I go, yes, I got it. My name's going to get on it. And for some reason, whoever makes that list.
01:05:39
Speaker
didn't post the finalist for that for that regional. And so I'm sitting there all day being like, they're going to do it. I'm going to get to finally be like, here we go. I'm going to make it happen. And um I was so excited. and you know we We share a glass of champagne. Anytime we our groups do a first whatever or a great whatever. And so like I had the champagne ready. And I was like, it's not real until it's on this page. And it was it turned to midnight. And I was like,
01:06:04
Speaker
Maybe it was it was a long day. We cleaned glasses, took our sip, went to bed, whatever. Wake up on Sunday. I'm like, all right, here it goes. Didn't happen. ah They just didn't post that regional. And I realized that um the person that was doing this had like a team of three people, and they would just post what regionals they were at. And that's how quickly that's how it would come out very quickly, that list of groups. And so nobody was at that specific regional and on the East Coast. So my name didn't get put up there or anything. And I was like devastated.
01:06:32
Speaker
I was absolutely just young and dumb and devastated that my like I couldn't share the success. And this was still part in the but part of Facebook where people didn't want to share their successes. people like you know There was this this weird stigma of like, oh, you don't talk about your group doing well. You don't blah, blah, blah. But us as private contractors and freelance, whatever, that's kind of how you get business. You kind of have to share the successes. I'm working to find out where that you know middle ground is you know still today. but I felt so...
01:07:04
Speaker
Robbed of ah I did this job. I did this thing um that I got I oh became pretty sour for the rest of the season and um you know Sarah's like you're kind of being a bum like you're kind of being a goose about all of this like you did a good job and She was the one that was just like you realize that to be to do this It wasn't just you writing the drill. It was all these people and you know centers kind of in my rock and all of this so um From then on you know, I think it was 2018 because we did a The group did well again and then 2020 happened and you know I really got to reset how I think about marching band. But yeah, my first time getting a BOA regional finalist, the list didn't get shown up. I was devastated because I was young and clownish, um but now I don't care. I just kind of write drill um that's going to you know be representative of how how I've learned to design and um I'm much happier for it. um Yeah.
01:08:01
Speaker
Go team. um can i Can I ask the just ah just a broad question to the group? um While we're talking about our first, does anybody have ah anything that surprised them at their first show or ah maybe another experience from their first time shows or anything about first with the marching arts that you guys would be willing to share before we move on to a commercial break? one Going going twice. That's OK. We did talk a lot about our first. it It's truly OK.
01:08:32
Speaker
I think well you know having Johnny on here and be everybody talking about their first, like the the i this idea of ah camaraderie keeps coming along and working together. and um you know um There's a lot of lessons that come from that first run and that's usually what I tell my marching bands is like, hey, I know you're freaking out and there's nothing I can tell you right now that's going to make it better other than you know reps make you more comfortable we probably should have done more reps if you're feeling this anxious so let's just take a breath you're gonna go through it it's a roller coaster you know so it's gonna go up it's gonna go down it's gonna go all around and then you're gonna come to you know you're gonna come back to to reality at the end of it when you're marching off and then we'll talk about next week how to make this better um I you know I I'm
01:09:17
Speaker
i love I love the first show because that's the first time for people to react and I love. So the first show and the last show, I'll always sit on the end zone and watch the crowd react. And that's how I kind of discern like pacing things and you know seeing like what's working, what's not working. And so that first shows really get like our first chance to see is all this stuff we've been planning for nine months actually working. um And so I love i love first shows.
01:09:46
Speaker
That's great advice too. I think sorry yeah since i think it was Rick Suble that first shared that with me. At the first show or one of the first shows, you have to watch the audience and see what the audience is watching. and Is the audience reacting to those planned effects the way you want them to? and If not, you got to make changes. and I think that really changed how I design.
01:10:10
Speaker
Yeah, no, it mean it is so cool to sit like on that end zone and watch their heads go And follow a ripple you go the ripple work. They watch that toss, you know, and they go like go yeah You know like just seeing that reaction a is just validating that things are working But be when they don't do what you want them to do you're like, okay I'll go like it's it's like a football coach do some video review and figure out how to how to make what you want to happen happen. um So if there's any listeners out here that that they're looking for what to do to continue on um designing ah past the first show because that's the other thing too is I have a lot of band directors that put the entire move the show on before their first show and don't change a thing for the rest of the season and it's like this is a living breathing organism like
01:10:58
Speaker
You gotta, A, you gotta find a way to keep the audience engaged, but B, you gotta find a way to keep your students engaged. And the easiest thing for me is to always have them learning up until the last day. There's always something that could be clean, something that could be adjusted, and there's always something that could be better. And I think that's a but you know that's a great ah lesson of life is like you can be happy with where you're at, but also continuing to push forward um with improving things. Yeah. We are...
01:11:25
Speaker
When I go to commercial, when we come back, we're gonna do some what are we doings?
01:11:53
Speaker
Hey everyone, it's Jeremy, your producer from On A Water Break, and here are your announcements coming from the box. While you're enjoying this amazing episode, don't forget our other episodes, including the one about Peggy Twiggs, the one where we go behind the scenes of the Olympics and the marching arts.
01:12:09
Speaker
We check out the first female drummers from Crossman. We also have amazing special features, including at Step Off with Jack Goudreau, Lost in Translation with Cynthia Bernard, and Behind the Lens with Chris Marr and Russell Tanakaya. Don't forget our other bonus feature, On a Water Break With, where we explore individuals or small groups. We talk to people like Eric Carr, Forte Athletics, and comedian Tony Deo.
01:12:35
Speaker
If you know of a story or you know of someone that would make a great story, email us at onawaterbreakpodcastatgmail.com. Okay, field staff, take it away.
Challenges and Ethical Issues in Marching Arts
01:12:52
Speaker
All right, we are back and it's time for What Are We Doing? Alicia, got what are we doing for us this year this week?
01:13:03
Speaker
I think I actually have a what are we doing sound to play. What are we doing?
01:13:18
Speaker
What are we doing? Sure. um Yes, I have one. I'm inspired by a post I saw in a Facebook group today. What are we doing? Asking people to work for free.
01:13:32
Speaker
oh If you cannot afford to pay a designer, you should not be hiring a designer. If you cannot afford a choreographer, you're not hiring a choreographer.
01:13:46
Speaker
like ah yeah just asking people to work for free or come and or spend their time or or whatever. um And then giving the excuse that like, oh, it's great for experience or you're young is just such a disservice. And to anybody listening, don't do it because every program can find at least a little bit to pay you.
01:14:08
Speaker
Yeah, x yeah, I you know, this is this is this is something that kind of happens not only in like the scholastic space but the independent space as well. I will say that ever we don't pay our staff members we pay our designers. and And what we what we do instead we you know i will you know i'll pay for gas i'll pay for you here's a big staff meal that we'll have correct you know our budgets in the independent space are so small it's yeah hard i get this hard but i do i do know other groups to go yeah no this is for experience like we are a blank group we are a top tier dah dah dah and it's it's like that's kind of gross to me because it's
01:14:49
Speaker
they don't ever do a good job of like sending your name out past the season being done. you know If it's about experience and exposure, none of that really comes to fruition. At EVA, we do and we really try to do a good job of you know like if we have a young staff member guiding them through some first-year problems and situations and, you know oh, if you want to be a designer, this is what the design team decided. But like if you're not willing to do all any of that and just get the free work, like ah this This may not be the place for you. It shouldn't cost anybody money to do this.
01:15:25
Speaker
I think that's the point that Joey's trying to make, and he's making it like perfectly. It shouldn't, well, I mean, because like Joey was just saying, in addition to being the director of my high school program, I also have a very small, very low key, independent winner. It's very low key. It's very, it's almost kind of like a rec guard. It was started as an alumni, alumnus program of my high school team, but It's kind of not really that anymore, but it's called Envy Winterguard and you could look us up. We're part of the dream performing arts organization. You have any kids who want to send my way in North Jersey, shameless plug, but it's the same thing. I am working on a very, very, very limited budget and I have a couple of staff and I don't take anything.
01:16:12
Speaker
because of the fact that the budget is so low. But again, I give, ever I make sure everybody gets a little bit of gas money or whatever, because it shouldn't decide this one kid that's coming in to write for us. And he's like, well, this doesn't cost me anything to come. I'll come. So I make sure it gets a little bit of gas money or whatever. But I think what you're saying is super important. Even if nobody should do this for free, I get that. But even if you don't have the budget for it, nobody should be paying. Nobody should, this shouldn't cost anybody to do anything either.
01:16:41
Speaker
Yeah, there's there's got to be some kind of takeaway too, right? Like, right, you can't just and give and not get anything back. but That's just not it's it. It spells that there are bigger problems when you expect that. And and so yeah, Alicia, that's fantastic. What are we doing? and Trish, you have some some thoughts on this. Do you have a what are we doing today? I do. I do.
01:17:04
Speaker
What are we doing? And I did a, what are we doing from net life stadium last week at U S bands nationals about this? What are we doing with the spaghetti shows? this this this and This band was rolling out at MetLife Stadium in five open nationals. And my kids started screaming, oh my God, it's the TikTok show. It's the TikTok show. What are you talking about? And it wasn't the, I don't think it was the TikTok spaghetti show. I think there are more than one spaghetti shows this fall.
01:17:43
Speaker
But the one I saw, and I'm not, I'm not shading you, Musselman High School from West Virginia, you had those kids on their feet. And if your goal was to go out there and entertain people, you job well done. You did it. You got it. And my kids loved it. And I'm not throwing shade, but I mean,
01:18:00
Speaker
cool I mean, if you all good ah good on you, if you could go out there with tomato swing flags, garlic bread swing flags, and pool yellow pool noodles as pasta. um I mean, it's all good, but apparently the one we saw is not the only spaghetti show this year. So what are we doing? We're going to try a meatball. Yeah. Yes. Straight up Indiana Jones style.
01:18:24
Speaker
I might get, like, flamed for this, but you guys know in the movie, Bring It On, how the choreographer gave all the cheerleading groups the exact same music and choreography. Like, someone has done this to these groups this year because I know of five different groups doing this show, and it looks very similar, and it's the same music and the same title. So who did this is my question. Right.
01:18:53
Speaker
Yeah. yeah wow um always nur If you search them on TikTok, you will find them. and And they're not all in the same part of the country, which is fine. like I know you can buy marching band shows and and they'll see like you know where you can pick where you're going and because they don't want that to happen. But I think with this show, it it bit kind of backfired and in a way that's not positive.
01:19:18
Speaker
you know, especially for those kids that see like, oh, someone else is doing the exact same show. Exactly. But like I said, my kids were eating it up. But I mean, it was, it was, it was different. It was different. But I love, I love the design. I love how cheesy it is. I'm all about it. I just, we have a lot of punts here. I said eating it up. You said cheesy. The spaghetti shows are,
01:19:48
Speaker
i toss some Oodles and noodles of fun. Sure. This is what I charge. Oh, cute. Isn't that silly? Oh my goodness. I be loving. I've really enjoyed watching the spaghetti show. the The rolling over thing, the meatball thing has been hilarious. Sarah.
01:20:14
Speaker
have what are we doing? I do and this one is kind of inspired by we went to the conference today and I got to talk with several um band directors you know asking for color guard choreography you know because they have you know their You know, the cheer coach or they have, you know, the assistant band director, they have, you know, somebody that doesn't know how to do color guard, teaching the color guard and they're looking for choreographers. However, what are we doing hiring choreographers before we're hiring somebody that can actually teach the kids fundamentals? Yeah. Max.
01:20:54
Speaker
yeah um I mean like it happened a couple of times today. They were like, oh, we you know, we have this really great choreographer from California. We have this great guy from Wisconsin, Texas. They work with so-and-so, they work with so-and-so. I was like, that's awesome. Do they share like a, like a basics program so you can get working right now before you get like show me? They're like, oh no, they just sent choreography. And I go, so so how do the kids learn the choreography? Oh, they just sent a video. It's like, okay.
01:21:20
Speaker
Yeah, no training, no nothing. Just, yeah. Yeah. And so like without, without those fundamentals, like the choreo will never be clean. The choreo, you know, the kids might end up hurting themselves so they don't understand how to do, you know, like just think about like learning how to throw a 45, like how many times we've bumped ourselves in the head doing that. Like we're just not, we're just not doing that. You know, so that's, that's, that's, that was pretty interesting to kind of walk into today. Yeah. Yeah. That's a good one.
01:21:49
Speaker
Yeah. Johnny? Johnny's in the black right now. Oh! Yes, I totally have one. And maybe it's the snobby designer I became when I did it back when WGI i had their judging academy that you could go through. What are we doing having props and the band and all of this like shiny stuff? And then the color guard is in a is in like black plants, a blacktop, and practice silks.
01:22:20
Speaker
And it's supposed to be the end of the season, and like this is supposed to be a full, amazing package, but what about the storytellers? like where like How are we really spending our money? And that I think it kind of goes like there yeah and goes into the the choreographer thing, too. like How are we really thinking about this design as a holistic program? And where's the foundation? It just looks like we picked a show we really, really liked. We just slapped some stuff out there and we're hoping you like don't see all the cracks in the foundation. Yeah, that part.
01:23:00
Speaker
Yeah, no, I and so like I got the judge for six weekends this year and every single time there was something like that like only that they got this really cool Rotating prop or they got these really cool flyover and we all know the flyover is gonna cost like $2,000 which is crazy for fabric but go off, you know make your money um if they like You know you do all that and then the big the band can't play their instruments, they can't stand in a right form, the color guard doesn't have matching flags, you know, it's like, so we spent $4,000 on all the US that, but you couldn't pay, you can give that money to somebody that maybe has some experience in training the students, you didn't, you didn't spend that time, you know, that money, putting the students first. And so when we talk about like, the student experience, it's
01:23:50
Speaker
It's not the things that they're standing on. It's the people they're standing with and the growth that they feel like they're going to remember like bank kept sucking and them not being able to point their foot and then doing all the choreography, you know, in note, like the first week of November, last week of October, whenever the ah season ends for people. I know in California, it's like, you guys know another month. ah yes Sorry about you. You know, but like,
01:24:15
Speaker
Man, it it it really, I get i get pretty passionate, underused or passionate, it's actually angry. I get pretty angry when I'm judging and I watch like this misappropriation of funds and it's like, and you're the ones that are, they go to conference, you're the ones that are the most vocal on Facebook about, well, i we can't compete with Avon and we can't compete with so-and-so, they have all the money. It's like, well Avon pays for the things that they need to pay. Not that I'm not on Avon staff or anything, but I know that that staff sets the student experience up first and educates first, knowing that excellence is the greatest effect. And then they go on to the other things. I just feel like so much they're like, you know oh, GE is such a misunderstood thing. and we have We just have to have all this money and props. And it's like, no, you just have to have excellence in your students. And then you can kind of move on from there.
01:25:05
Speaker
Yeah, that one that one really grinds my gears. what is ah but I think I remember when I was teaching that kids remember the shows that we didn't spend the most money on that we literally were like,
01:25:20
Speaker
I don't have a budget like, okay, I'm going to have to take a pay cut, but we're going to put on like, we're going to make them feel good. And they're going to have great choreography and look the same. They talk about those. They talked about those shows for years. And people joined the program because of those shows instead of like, oh, you had a whole mechanical dragon on the field. Like what wait what year was that? Absolutely. Alicia, what were we you going to say?
01:25:47
Speaker
I was just going to say, it makes me think of something my my country grandmother would say, but you know it's it's lipstick on a pig. yeah it It doesn't matter how much money you spend or what your props look like or how shiny the uniforms are, if you have bad intonation and your feet aren't on the beat. Exactly. I'll give myself applause for that one. That was a great way of doing Johnny. Yeah, absolutely.
01:26:13
Speaker
Well, we we maybe need to put that as as a podcast like topic as well as how to use this money wisely. And I think there's just misunderstandings or you know old ways of maybe thinking. or I don't know really what it is. I'd love to get some band directors on that aren't of the marching band space and and and nerd like hear their perspective because there's got to be some kind of disconnect. And like marrying these two worlds, I think, would be so cool to see. Yeah. Austin, you got to you gotta what are we doing?
01:26:44
Speaker
I do. I'm pretty sure this has been said on here before, but I'm going to reiterate it. I haven't said this, but I'm going to say it now. but What are we doing not paying on time when we have expectations for deadlines from designers? Yeah.
01:27:07
Speaker
I'm not speaking experience. I'm not. I have not been. There's only been one time where I have not been paid flat out and I got ghosted happens. It's part of the activity. Yeah. every is Everybody. It's unfortunate.
01:27:23
Speaker
I, the owner of our our drill writer this year, and bless her heart, she's amazing and we went to get her checked. She's just been patient with us because this is happening with one of my programs right now where the school cut a check to an old address they had on file for her and she had moved and it's been lost in the mail and then the school policy is they can't write a new one until the other one's been lost for thirty days and it's just drug on and on and on and hopefully. her Check when out today her brand new one but it's oh it's broken my heart all season i've been like i'm so sorry i swear and she's been so gracious and so cool about it yeah it's right that's a different scenario that's like that's a word. yeah
01:28:09
Speaker
It's another it's another part when it's just like, oh, here's the drill. Here you go. Or here's the choreography or here's the music or whatever. And it's just like, hey, where's my money? And then they just don't reply. Yeah, that's that's a whole other thing. And I'm just like, and then eventually they reply, Oh, I actually have the money now. Oh, and you're like why did you hire me if and you agreed to a contract if you didn't have it to begin with?
01:28:38
Speaker
Yeah. That's my whole thing. Yes. Yeah. Yes. i a We are artists. I have the ensemble to small claims court because, I mean, if it's like $1,000, if it's $1,500, it's like the act of getting that, trying to get that in a small claims court, it's going to cost but about the same to the time it takes. But I was owed five or six thousand dollars from this this ensemble and they were trying to hire me back to work in the winter and i was like we still haven't even done the down payment for the fall so i'm not going to do that and then you your name gets blasted as somebody that only cares about the money and all that stuff so it's like there's like a you know you got to pick your battles sometimes but at the end of the day you know this is my livelihood i kind of knew that money and theres there's been band directors they've been upset about
01:29:29
Speaker
You know, like, oh, well, this isn't the show we really thought we were going to get, you know, we really wanted this. Oh, no, no, no, no, no. no no i like Bro, you we had you had what you had four movements to tell me that this isn't what you wanted. You can't tell me after you've gone to state that you didn't like it. And now you don't want to pay for half of it. Like, that's $3,000, buddy. Like, something's got to happen here. It's it's tough. And I mean,
01:29:53
Speaker
The other part of it is like working with financials of the band director you're not really trained how to do that you kind of get thrown into that admin work as well and so you're working with people that aren't in the budget meetings honestly like band or just go to these bambooster meetings.
01:30:09
Speaker
sometimes I feel like good ones pay attention but the ones that are going to have these kinds of conversations with you are diddling on an op-ed, hanging out in the back and just there to to to do the thing. it's It's tough. It's tough and I've i've lost out on thousands and thousands of dollars because you really have to pick your battles because your name is everything and you can't Unfortunately, you can't be this person that's, well, that that guy is all about the money. So if you want somebody that, you know, costs a lot of money and is going to fight you for it, go ahead and hire him. And you know, it's really easy for a band director to say that. So it's tough. It's sad. I mean, right now I'm out probably like $11,000 still waiting for the fall. And I haven't written drill for three weeks. So, you know, it's, wow it's interesting, you know, and i'm I'm fully confident that I'll get all that 11,000 at some point.
01:31:01
Speaker
But it's the waiting game it's the band directors have so many other things that they're focusing on the marching band seasons past for them that's old news that's like i gotta see on time you know i'm beginning of my career oh my god i suck i would send things like a week late i would not get people things at all like.
01:31:17
Speaker
I was terrible. I will admit that. But, you know, post COVID, I'm on time. I deliver a great product. I feel like I should be compensated for that. It just doesn't happen sometimes. And that's but something everyone can see Yeah, yeah, this the the freelance game is hard. And you you do have to pick your battle. So if you're new to this, like, be ready to to lose out on some money. It happens. It sucks. But having a having a plan and not not counting on those things arriving on time and having a plan for that.
01:31:46
Speaker
is pretty important you ready for some gushing goes that was tough that was cool that was a crazy intense conversation i appreciate y'all let's find it up with maybe some gushing goes great job everyone set your equipment down gushing go
01:32:05
Speaker
That one's short and sweet. My Gush and Go, super excited. I'm gonna change the vibes here. Super excited about this week. I'm gonna go to Indianapolis. I drive up on Wednesday, stay in an Airbnb, come hang out, come vibe out if you're around the space.
Future Plans and Community Involvement
01:32:18
Speaker
I know this comes out on Friday. So Friday night, Saturday night, when your group gets preliminary or you go on whatever happens, let's go get super hyped about what you did this season. That's crazy, I said that.
01:32:31
Speaker
Let's get super hyped about all the great things that you've done this season and talk about next season and talk about what you're doing in the fall. I'll be an indie. I'm doing Pacific. I'm doing Grand Nats. I am going to the art museum. I'm taking a nap. Come hang out, come nap, come do the things. I'm excited about this. It's finally done. Martin Dan's done. Winter's already started. That sucks. Sarah?
01:32:53
Speaker
You got a gushing go. I do, yeah. So, like you said, winter is upon us, so winter guard auditions are just around the corner, so I'm actually lucky enough to work with five winter guards this winter, and so it's going to be a good old time, yeah. Yeah, we're super hyped. Sarah's in year three of doing this full time, and it's it's going that's going well. We're proud to say that. Alicia, you got a gushing go?
01:33:24
Speaker
Yeah, so you guys know um by the time this episode comes out it will be passed but today is actually Veterans Day and ah my gush is the awesome performances I saw in our local Veterans Day parade today. A lot of ah color guards and bands that sounded great and looked great and and showed out. it's a It was a huge parade for our community and I was really excited to see some really awesome stuff happening.
01:33:49
Speaker
Heck yeah. Love it. Love me some Veterans Day. It's the day we celebrate our Veterans. Trish, you got you got something to go go about? Yeah. So you know piggyback on all for you guys, marching band is over. And it was some season up for and in Northern Valley. we being in four open was a little bit of a a struggle, but we finished 13th out of 14, which was, I mean, okay. We were three had open champions, state champions last year. So being in that bigger class, one of the smallest fans in the bigger class, but the color guard was six. So I was really super happy about that and winner.
01:34:26
Speaker
Winter is starting in Northern Valley already. We've already had rehearsals for the Northern Valley by high school team, the Northern Valley combined schools Winter Guard and Envy Winter Guard, which I practiced yesterday. So things are happening up in Northern Valley in New not Jersey.
01:34:43
Speaker
Heck yeah, the wheel just keeps turning. We don't get a break. That's awesome. Emily, you got a gush and go for us? I do. Yay. Speaky time. ah So my recent gush and go is that, ah how do I phrase this? So in Seattle, there's a very popular museum called the Mopop. So basically think all of your nerdy things that you really like. And they recently did like a ah collaboration with my university's marching band. And I think it's really fun when the communities and the marching bands do stuff together because they get free advertising, essentially. And then marching band gets free airtime. And people was like, whoa, two cool things at once. So yes, more community involvement from marching bands. Heck, yeah, I love that. Let's go. What what what university is that? I'm from University of Washington. Like Washington State. Oh, Huskies.
01:35:33
Speaker
Yes. Thank you. They're, uh, the football team is, uh, they're, they're fine. fine and when it We're better last year. Compare it to a national championship run. Everything looks bad by comparison. Okay. That's true. Dogs. Um, yeah no boy Huskies, not dogs.
01:35:55
Speaker
I mean, they are the different dogs of Georgia. It's it's a whole thing. Joey, i we'll talk after this. We'll talk after this, Joey. Austin, give me a gush and go and and then quit embarrassing me. No, I will never do that. I enjoy it. But so my gush and go, I, yeah, when I got a text, like right before he started recording this segment, but one of my kind of like student proteges, like when I like my or like one of my favorite students that I kind of had throughout high school, I just found out he made Blue Devils. Yeah.
01:36:33
Speaker
mers out awesome for him on one instrument or I'm not going to dox him, so I'm not going to say the instrument, but he has brass. He has high brass. I will say that much. A brass player in the color bars? That's crazy. That's crazy, right? Yeah, he's awesome. He's awesome. He's aging out this summer, and I could not I'm be more happy for him. He's probably one of my favorite people that I've ever taught, and I'm just happy very excited. I'm that he got his contract. very proud of him.
01:37:03
Speaker
You know, a lot of your students did ask me if you had favorites, and I told them you would never. So this is this is interesting. Yeah, yeah, ah you know, you know, see, I started he was one of my first like Florida students and I and I got the drum core. And he kind of drum core and it was great. And so now he's here. And yeah, that it's really cool. I mean, like, we talked about Sarah and I were talking about like, we do this thing where we write down great things that happen every year on these strips of paper and then sell them in this glass jar.
01:37:35
Speaker
And at the end of every season, we pull them out and read them together and be like, wow, we did a lot of cool things. It's super it' super full right now. Not gloating, just talking. But one of the things that we pulled out last winter going into the summer was one of our students going off and doing BD, you know but funny enough. And ah we talked about like why we do this, like why we keep doing marching band. And it's you know it's fitting that this is a first time podcast, you know talking about our first times and what keeps bringing us back.
01:38:03
Speaker
We've found that like we had those instructors and those those directors that that really made our experience so positive and warm that we just wanted to create opportunities like that for other students and and then set in experiences like that.
01:38:18
Speaker
and scott you know I have my own little story about BD 2014 and how that didn't end up working out, unfortunately. And so anytime I get a kid to go and do BD or any of those top six cores that I just didn't to make the time to make happen, I get really, really excited. I tell all my students, I'm like, my goal is that you surpass me, like immediately, like better designer, better instructor, better person, you know, better pizza, like a Papa John's thing, you know?
01:38:48
Speaker
oh just it's it's just It's a great feeling, so congratulations. like It's such a warm, like woo-hoo, you get to live vicariously through them. That's awesome. I'm going to sneak in one more real quick. quick Go ahead, yeah, absolutely. Actually, On a Water Rig from Costa Rica to Electric Boogaloo is a go, so just a heads up on that one. Yay. I love a good sequel. I'm excited. Johnny, you got you got a gush and go for us?
01:39:17
Speaker
ah My first thing is to say Blue Smoke. Awesome for your student. Love that. I love another member being added to the Blue Devil family. Yeah, mine's a little bit of a self plug, because I stopped teaching in 2021 to take on this new career of being a flight attendant. And so I want to get back into it in the Nashville area. So if anybody's listening and wants a West Coast approach on things, yeah, hit me up. i'm super even Even during this conversation, I'm more inspired, of course. That's good.
01:39:53
Speaker
spin at home by myself and I dance in my kitchen and I like perform this whole thing. Yeah, I lift up my dogs and she's my partner and or he's my partner. You know, I have my ah I have my moments. I don't think it can ever leave any of us, but but doesnt yeah, really want to get back into it. fly Yeah, o say that again. You fly for I fly for Delta.
01:40:19
Speaker
Very nice. Ooh, one of my friends just got there. She's loving it so far. I'm all about it. It's incredible. ah There's dog dance stuff. I just want to put that out there. well I'll find it. Dance. I used to be able to, ah when Charcoal was two months old, we were able to dance with her. Now that she's a, or what, a a hundred pound? A hundred pound. A hundred pound pit bull. In a no way, I'm lifting that thing up.
01:40:42
Speaker
and and she wiggles and so superhe like super jealous. We're thinking about getting a small dog just for like dress while it's small, and then when it gets big, we'll do what we need to do with it. No, Joey. Johnny's dogs are not small. They are not. they Their nickname is Team Chunk. I love them so much.
01:41:03
Speaker
strong Yeah, they they have their own personalities and backstories like my my girl dog's favorite song to dance to with me is WAP. She just wins. Exactly. Yes. Yes. Right. Right. Exactly. So I'll find I'll find the videos somewhere. I love it. That's awesome. Yeah, I know. Anybody's in the Nashville area or the surrounding place hit up Johnny. You'll get you that West Coast stuff in the in the Appalachians.
01:41:33
Speaker
did Yeah. Or Apple Lashes. I say it wrong every time. It's called Gush and Go, not Gush and Stay. Let's go. I always feel like that, that that sound is really rude, but we're going to keep going. Thanks for a great rehearsal of this week. Thanks to our hosts. Pause.
01:41:52
Speaker
I'm so sorry. First time I did mean to ask this at the beginning, is the host? Is that Alicia, Austin, Trish, and Emily? Is that right? Yeah. Did I get it wrong? Okay. Rewind. We can leave this and it's fine. I'm a goof. I did the same exact thing.
01:42:08
Speaker
Yeah, ah thanks to thanks for a great weekend. I just said that. Thanks to our host, Alicia, Austin, Emily, and Trish. I really appreciate y'all being on here for my first my first hosting gig. We are excited about new things planned that when we launch season three, um which will be happening soon, so check into that. Thank you to our guest coincidence, Johnny. is there a where can Where can people find you? Where can people hit you out for some choreo?
01:42:36
Speaker
Uh, they can find me on Facebook. Johnny Guzman is my last name. And then on Instagram, it's Johnny, but it's J H N N Y G O nine. G O nine. Awesome. Sarah, where can the people find you? Uh, I'm also on Facebook under Sarah Shields or, uh, on the marching by Montez website.
01:42:58
Speaker
Woo, that's my last name. One more thing, don't forget we have our YouTube channel now where you can see our lovely faces and our reactions to all the things we talk about. Go and subscribe so you don't miss out on the visuals that are ah not to be missed.
01:43:13
Speaker
I'm beautiful. I work on it every day. Come watch the podcast. So before you close out on your podcast listening app, um'm a I'm a looker, not a talker. Go subscribe, write us a review, and share this with a friend. Follow us on social media on a water break, and we'll see you at the next rehearsal on a water break.
01:43:41
Speaker
intro and outro music was produced by Josh Lida. To learn more, visit lidamusic.com. And until next time, thanks for tuning in.