I<3thebox

Fox News ... lol

HAH! We do pilates (I didnt know anybody else did - that makes me feel better) ... I don't think I'd ever felt like my "core" was on FIRE before... basically they're all excersizes (sp?) that deal with your "core" which is like abs and bellow the bellybutton, and you sides and lower back they help with upper body support and keeping you smooth on the march so you can play your horn well. We also run everyday during summer band in the morning - yesterday we did 10 minutes straight

lol - someone posted our school's line earlier but now we have 7 cymbals - 3 freshman and none were bad enough to be cut so kept them all. We kinda have an unspoken rule in our band - all cymbals must be attractive double reed girls a couple of years ago there was a clarinet girl who got on, but she went back to clarinet the next year lol in fact we used to order special cymbal uniforms that were like half guard/half band uni's - they were spandex but looked like our (band) uni's mainly because our cymbal line does a lot of visuals and they're hard to do in band uniforms b/c they really restrict upper body movement... anywho so now weire 4 tenors, 5 basses, 6 snares, 7 cymbals and... (I believe) 4 marimbas, 4 vibes, 1 timpanist, 2 synth players (but they're like real instruments - celesta, harp, organ, string bass etc) and probably 5-10 auxillery percs... so that makes...? between 16 and 21 in the pit whats with the schools marching no tenors? thats wack lol although I do remember a school that marched TIMBALES once... or something like that we were all like what they heck are those!?

Oh TRU DAT! Actually in an UUBER perfect world the BOA DVDs would be a reasonably priced, be shipped in a timely manner, come in both camera formats, AND the band would be able to submit a camera script - telling the camera operators what parts of the band to focus on during what parts of the show... but alas this is not a perfect world. To note, I think Ronald Reagan has some secret contract with the BOA DVD makers - b/c their shows ALWAYS look cool during all 8 minutes on the video - in reality I think Reagan just must have the world's most showiest shows, so that no matter where you look at any moment something WICKED cool is going on... cept maybe that one time in 2003 during that sound system catastrophe that sounded like a whale lol...

uhhh personally I like multi cam angle better, because it gives you a more immersive view of the band - there are a lot of cool things that you'll miss with just a stationary cam up in the rafters. In a perfect world they'd include BOTH formats in ALL DVDs... for a reasonable price - but then the DVD's would ship 'sometime in the next decade'

Thanks Xenon for the info - yeah idk about that State judging I was kinda taken aback by the comment - oh well here's to more consistency for 06! yay and that is weird that they'd use out of state judges - especially considering (and since this is TXBands... I can say this) Band is just BETTER in Texas lol - do you know like how they pick judges? Like the qualifications and such? And what makes UIL so different from other circuits? I hope Spring goes to some BOA regionals too!

I wouldn't know, I'm a HOTT HOTT drummer Sorry I just read your profile and saw you did Music of Karl Jenkins... LUCKY! How was that I LOVE his music (as much as I can not actually owning anything by him, but I've replayed the 30 second iTunes and Amazon clips like 100 times - and I've heard his commercials for Zales and Delta... ) If my alarm is set for 6:20AM tomorrow morning... why am I still up? and better yet- why, if I go to bed right now, will this be the earliest I've been to bed all week?

I've made a couple movies with my cousins... I'd guess I'd say movie making is an unfullfilled hobby of mine- like I'd love to do it more but I dont have a lot of time / people I know (who live nearby) who'd want to. I've always used software called ULEAD which I think works pretty well - I think it came free with the comp or the camera or something. For camera I use Sony... forgot what model Question - does anyone know if video cameras have like pixel resolutions? Like digital still cameras you can get up to like 8 Megapixels for a couple hundred bucks and they're real nice - but it seems to me like regular vid cams have a far worse resolution, so just wondering how to get a camera that would take like TV quality video... errr almost that good lol

ummm b/c a band without us HOTT HOTT Drumline STUD MUFFINS the band would have the collective sex appeal of Petri-dish ba dum chssssss lol sorry that was lame if a tree falls in a forest, and it kills a bunny does the bunny make a noise?

mispelled lol

your mom...???!!!

uhhhhhhh The Number Purple??? I don't watch either of those and I havent even heard of Colbert Report... lol Wow Im lame If a butterfly flaps its wings in the Sahara, will there be a hurricane in Alaska?

Ok, so after much wringing of hands on my part - I have confirmed (through our online calendar) that our band will NOT be attending either the Houston OR Arlington BOA regionals which I believe makes a first in ... at least 4 years (which I believe is when we began doing BOA) so heres the deal - (I'm not sure if this post will come out coherent enough to make sense, but here goes) 1. The reason we are NOT going to EITHER BOA Regiona is b/c a) We will be attending a local competion during one weekend (Westlake HS for anyone who knows about it) We will be HOSTING our very first very own marching invitational (apparently to make some money First off the flaws I see in these 2 decisions - 1. While we will be saving (I presume) a LOT of money on bus fees and gas and all that hoopla (exorbitant enty fees and whatnot) While I do not mean to "diss" any bands going to the Westlake invitational - there is a reason that certain bands go to Westlake and certain others go to (for instance) The Arlington BOA regional - while there may be some fine bands at Westlake (and there are... a couple) it is NO comparison to folks like Reagan, Westfield, LD Bell, Woodlands, Churchill, etc etc etc who WILL be at Arlington and Houston. 2. This being said a little "behind the scenes logic" from our Band - first off we operate in a "state year" "non state year" mode meaning every other year our show is tailored a little differently - for instance my Freshman year we did a VERY... "showy" show (if not a well executed) with original works by a like TV show writer, and a (depending on your opiniong) kooky / creepy theme - in short something we would NEVER try during a state year. my sophomore year we played arguably THE most recognizable piece of orchestral music ever written (and in my opinion one of the best). So this year we're back to sate style - crazy woodwind technique and not a lot of "fluff". Ok so here's where my confusion comes in - last year we had a (in my opinion) fairly lite comptetion schedule we did Houston, Westlake and BOA SA-SR and one of our directors told us the day before we went to that we had a likely chance for the first time in like 4 years of not making finals at a competion - mainly because we had only been to Houston, and no other BOA stuff and we didnt really have an idea as to how our show was fairing with judges and we hadnt been getting outside critiques. Well come Super Regionals, low and behold (arguably due to entirely different reason - but still nonetheless) we did not make finals, which (and this may sound haughty but isnt meant to be, we learned a lot from that experience... i hope) was like a big SLAP in the face. ok so I think I'm almost done - where I'm going with this is here - 1. This season we're basically not going to EVER see our competition (except for maybe 2-4 bands at Area and Westlake) until Super Regionals (when it will be far too late to nake any drastic changes) 2. Maybe its just me, but I don't get pumped up about relatively minor competitions - we do well at Westlake b/c we're one of maybe 4 bands that attend that have ever made it to state finals, and we're only going to exhibition at our own competition, and as of the last time I checked there were less than 10 (TEN!!!) bands signed up for the comp. [so heres a shoutout to all ye central texas bands - go to our invitation, which I techincally cant name cuz it would give away what school I'm from, which you probably already figured out anyways so... yeah] The deal is I get MAJORLY psyched to go up against those "powerhouse bands" that always make finals, One of my favorite marching band memories, maybe even more than State Finals 04 [i know... blasphemy!] was the Super Regional the saturday before where we played against some TOP NOTCH bands (obviously not trying to say that UIL State is not also TOP NOTCH), some bands I would never have DREAMED of beating and we came out ahead - a BOA placement I hadn't even conceived for our band. I remember standing at set (for that HORROR that is retreat lol - I swear I've almost passed out from the anticipation and lack of blood circulation combined) and as each name is called, and our band wasn't it - and then they started calling out like BIG name bands our the drumline and I are just like WHAT?! you mean we beat them? and we seriously could not control our excitement - it was just an extremely proud moment for us as a band. So in conclusion - I think what I'm trying to say is 1. I am bummed that my Senior year will not include any BOA regionals 2. Conversely I am STILL SUPER PSYCHED for UIL STATE! 3. I just don't see our director's logic in bypassing our main competitors for State, and BOA in general for far lest competitive competitions (haha theres an oxy-moron) 4. Also bummed that I won't really get to see many cool/good/great bands LIVE like we sometimes get to when we go to BOA regionals and... if ever there was a convuluted and confusing post... the above is IT lol sorry I think it just helped to write it all down (even if it makes no sense) so if you understood what I said and want to commment on it... please do, otherwise... lol good luck PS In hindsight I think some of my comments might appear conceited or arrogant which is NOT what I meant at all... hopefully you all understand I am just trying to be frank about how while there are no "bad" and "good" bands, there are certainly ones you consider in your field of competition, and other who are below or above your "field" and I believe you become the best band you can be by giving it your all at a competition where most everyone there is more talented or perecieved as more talented than you are and.... Im done. finally

Holy OHNO! I didn't realize they did Area realignments too???!!! Our Region got split which is kinda a big deal for percussion auditions for Region Band... but AREA!!! oh my... Are Westfield and Spring competing in a UIL this year? and what about SFA what Area are they in? Are they also still planning on the 5 from each Area thing? Whats with UIL Region being on a Saturday? Our region used to have UIL on like a Tuesday afternoon (which was kinda lame, and not lame for different reasons) are other Regions also moving to Saturday competitions? Any word on fixing some of the State judging? I remember last time there was some WACK scorings that people fussed about - particularly SFA had like a 27, 21, 4, for music or something - and Winston Churchill dropped from 1st to 4th during Finals - I don remember our director telling us he had spoken to some of the judges or officials or something (sorry it was 2 years ago) and they said that their instructions were (obviously paraphrasing) "just get the top 10 bands into finals don't worry too much about placements and stuff" which I can kinda understand judging 50 bands or whatever its hard to get a band in the placement it actually deserves... but hey just saying throw the top ten bands together and forget about the rest... thats kinda messed up b/c then you could have some kids pulling into finals in 10th place which would obviously lower morale when really they deserved 5th or something. Or in Churchill's instance thinking they were in 1st (and maybe they were truly in 1st ... idk) and they dropping to 4th - hopefully dumb stuff wont happen like that this year...

Ok, so I was checking out my Finale files on my desktop, which I don't usually use to write music (or havent in a while - I use the laptop now) anywho and I found some finished movements from this Symphony I started writing (which is probably 80% done, and is the first "real" piece I wrote... I think) anywho, got to listening and I was like Hey! I remember this! I actually really like it now lol I remember the reason I stopped like a year ago, even though I was almost done was because my Finale wasn't really going anywhere and I didnt know what to do with it -so I kinda gave up. Anywho... right now I only have an MP3 of the "2nd movemnt" technically there will be 4 movements - I, an interlude, then II (the ballad kinda thing) and III, the finale (yay!) so... anywho I know this is out of order but here is the "2nd movement" to my first Symphony entitled "Aeuboreale" Aeuboreale Symphony Mvmt II hopefully that link works... oh and the piece is very uh... whats the word... eh I forgot - theres a story that goes with the music, which I will explain as soon as I find all the movements

Hey, thanks for the comments I read it in depth earlier but didnt have time to comment, and only have a minute now. Whats a portamento? lol "chill track" my theory teacher actually told me Im "almost minamalist" which at first I kinda freaked out, but idk my styles have changed a little bit. I kinda rediscovered this Symphony that I'm 80% done with (I think it stands at around 30 minutes right now) and I had forgotten how cool it sounded, I'll probably post one of the movements tonight... but if you listen to it, it has a LOT more ostinato kinda stuff, a lot more "minamalist" if you will anywho thanks again and btw I think your SOAC is pretty TRIPPIN lol

lol. You don't even want to know about me and Star Wars... JK.

Tichelli is cool and all, but I think theres no contest. Eric Whitacre's music is just so much more... alive? Its like the difference between... a postcard (aha no pun intended ) of the Great Wall of China, and actually hiking it (from experience I will tell you there's a HUGE difference)

holy hottness you kids are cool! A string theory discussion on a band website... lol I have the Elegant Universe book but I havent read it yet - blargh. I kinda understand it at a very basic level.. but thats about it. Actually for a while I wanted to major in Astrophysics, but then I realized the career options are ZERO unless you want to be a Professor for the rest of your life doing research, which is cool, but not somethign I want to do to earn money... so yeah. I was going to suggest some websites b/c I did a presentation on "Tesseracts" for my AP Phys class... but someone has already done so. snap.

haha. wow... C'est moi le ne tout pas parle Francais, ici? That is SUPPOSED to say "Am I the only one who speaks French, here? It PROBABLY says: It is me the not everyone speak French, here? Haha I got a 1 on my Ap French Exam... good times. and I'm friggin 1/4 Belgian! And if anyone wants to give me poop about speaking French - for the record, France is a NINNY country, and Belgium would TOTALLY PWN them with their waffles, chocolate, and EU headquarters HUZZAH!

Gulp. (as in to "finish" a drink - the first thing you do is gulp it down lol...lame I know - but hey I've seen like 3 uses of start already) am I the only one who sees a slight problem here - everyone is doomed to get stuck in a rut b/c there are only so many antenyms, and you can only get so far away from the original word... sorry i'm rambling - whats new?

It depends. Good question though. My personal opinion is that it depends what the band is aiming for. Reagan HS for instance is (IMO) a superbe executor of what I call a "Show show" an actual marching SHOW. Other bands (for instance... Duncanville) typically do a Marching... "concert" for lack of a better word - lets make that Thematic Concert. A synthesizer can be used in any setting as long as it serves a purpose. If Duncanville just randomly added a Synthesizer solo of ... Bolero (sorry random lol) in the middle of their show *ahem* Thematic Marching Concert ... then No. Or if Reagan were to use the Synthesizer throughout the ENTIRE SHOW or make it an extremely integral part (turning a Show into a Synth Concerto - thus detracting from people playing on the field) then also No. but other than that I think its cool as long as people arent stupid about it, or use it as a crutch (for instance to add bass b/c a band has 6 tubas and really needs 12) sorry long answer lol. Ok and I thought about the "Paradox" for a bit. You could say that B and C are BOTH false and be logically justified. If B is wrong, then either 3, 2, or No statements are false, meaning that C is wrong b/c we know (within reason) that A is right. And C says 2 statements are true, which we no know is false - A is true and B and C are false Why am I so lame as to spend my time writing paragraphs about trivial stuff?

Angeline Jolie (oh wait does it have to be just one word? SNAP) how about DVD

Blargh - too soon. August 15th? Actually we usually start on a Tuesday but I've seen 2 calendars with a Wednesday start so... Idk. Heres a good one: A. The sun is a star B. The one of these statements is false C. 2 of these statements are true. Which one is a false statement? PS I dont know if this has a real answer. There is a format of 3 statements that ends in a stalemate I forgot what its called oh yeah some Greek guy's "Paradox" anywho... if anyone can figure it out - props to them

To mock silly teen girls and their mis-guided obsession with their weight. Why do my posts make me look like a sexist? lol