Letter from Band Camp…
Hi everybody, the Prez here. I wanted to share some of my thoughts on our recently completed Band Camp and some really cool news concerning the program. As some of you know, I assume the role of Band Camp Chair to help out the Director. That means I’m there all week and get a really good idea of how the Band is looking for the upcoming year. Let me say they are looking pretty good!
The 2011 version of Band Camp started off pretty well. The incoming students sure seemed like they were picking up the concepts quickly. Each day they added another piece of the overall show until they had it down pat. A huge compliment to Mr. Ehli for his tireless work in making numerous changes to the show. It was a purchased piece and had to be adapted to our Band. But he teamed up with Mr. Iwanaga, Ms. Dwyer-Bailie, and Mr. McLain to make this version of Quidam our own. Way to go!
I noticed that the general feeling around the campus was “fun”. Very relaxed but things were still getting done. Madison and Sam set this tone by being themselves and you could tell they were extremely comfortable in their roles as Drum Major and Assistant DM. The section leaders seemed to earn the respect of their fellow musicians as the week progressed. Lots of good leadership on the field this year!
As the week went on and we started in on our loooong days, the kids just took it in stride and kept on going. You could tell they were tired on Thursday morning after getting out a little after 9:00pm the previous night. But they got through the day and gained momentum over the next few days. On Thursday evening they had a whirlwind run-through of the entire show. I got tired just watching them from the press box! But it paid off when they came back on Friday and began the fine tuning stages. Hopefully you were all able to attend the parent show to see the results. Over the next few weeks of rehearsals, they will make it even better. I am looking forward to home football games and competitions this year.
This year we had some swag to hand out to the students. For those of you who attended the mandatory meeting on August 8th, you got the dog tags a little early. We handed out the rest to the students as the week progressed. Each section got their colored bandanas. The colors were those chosen by the Band Council over the summer when t-shirt designs were being discussed. (Note: please do not wear bandanas at school as there is a strict “no gang wear” policy and they may be construed as such.) On the last night we handed out the show t-shirt. The design was done by Valerie Hollister and I personally really like them not being black this year.
If you want to see what your kids were doing on those 13 hour days, go check out patch.com and watch the video they took. You can read all about Mr. Ehli and his plans for the program in the Gig Harbor Life weekly that comes out this Friday. Or you can see our long-time friend Hugh Macmillan’s article coming out very soon in the Gateway. It was a veritable media circus at Band Camp this year!
And finally, for those of you still looking for opportunities to raise funds for the Band, we are always looking for volunteers for CenturyLink Field. See Wendy or Tina B. You can also do all your back to school shopping by using the Amazon.com link on our very own www.peninsulaband.com site. A percentage goes directly to the Band.
Se you all at Fishbowl!
Ian
