Tuesday, August 09, 2005

Performance in the Stretch Run...

We had another very solid weekend despite some challenges. The weekend started off with a lot of holes out there. A lot more then usual at least. We already had some blank spots and those are going to be filled once DCI is over. This weekend we were missing a bunch of people due to circumstance out of their control. I felt a little down at the start of practice with all of the people missing. Fortunately the corps rebounded quickly and made something out of the day.

Sectional rehearsal was very good this weekend despite being down 2 members in the line. We made some pretty large strides and you can easily tell that we all have command over the majority of the show. There are minor blips and bumps here and there, but not for lack of knowing the parts. This section simply gets it this year. Last weeks judge made completely the wrong call and had the worst comments of any judge we have had all year. For example every other judge has really liked our style, our interpretation and our sound quality all year long. This guy last week basically said that we sound awful, don’t play together, and have no idea what the jazz idiom is. This weeks judges said the opposite. In fact the first comments on the tape were, “perfect style, perfect articulation, great interpretation, etc.” You get the idea. The field brass judge hung on us for almost the entire show and had lots of positive comments to say about us for the entire show.

For those that don’t know or don’t believe it, this is the hardest contra book I have ever played. We are playing more notes then anyone and have more responsibility with regards to tempo and interpretation of the overall program then we have ever had. It seems the more you challenge this group the stronger our performance becomes. the group is coming together in the performance department. This week’s performance was once again solid. There are things that need to be looked at and fixed, but the overall changes would be minor in nature. I feel that we can handle the program in it’s entirety and really give one hell of a performance come finals.

The overall performance at least of the horn line was solid also. We felt as a group that we performed much better in practice and the run through then we did in the show. Many people watching the show, with the exception of the staff, had the complete opposite feeling. They said we were on fire out there. We did have the crowd eating out of our hands by the end of the show, which is always a plus. This corps performs with much more emotion then in past years. It can get a little over the top at times, and we lose the proficiency that we have in practice. It is understandable. Much of the newer and younger membership has never performed with a group of this quality and caliber before. Once they learn and understand how to harness the energy properly we will be on our way to another very successful season.

I think we will really pull it together in the next couple of weeks. We have our home show coming up and we tend to really pull one out for that. The following week is another huge week, and I feel this corps will put it all together for the first time heading into Corning. Personally I don’t expect to win either of those shows though. The Bucs are very far ahead in the game right now. If we can close the gap in those shows to within a point then we have a very good chance of coming in to Finals with a tremendous amount of momentum. The point right now is not to look at who is behind us, but to look ahead to the corps in front of us. Right now it is Empire and Bucs. We are right in the same ballpark with Empire. I feel that we can be the stronger performers once we all learn to harness the energy that we feel in performance properly. This is what the Brigs are known for…strong performances. We are in the final stretch of the season, and we have a great deal of positive momentum on our side. It’s time to get down to business!

1 comment:

Christine Hingray said...

Yeah... That judge freaked me out.... he was always around us, or at least in my sight!