February Music Camp Review (MJ)

Saturday 16th February 2008

So the day begins with Tim picking me up after forgetting his sleeping bag and having to go back for it!!! On the way down Tim, Chris Jackson and myself had a good old sing song and mental rave to the classic sandstorm track! Man that was mental! So first things first everyone has arrived the annex and were just dumping our bedding and getting the gear unloaded to begin the first day of drumming. This year we have an all new warm-up book that we learnt during the winter season and during this morning's warm up everything started to click, There are some really sweet sounds coming out during warm ups but ill let you know more about them when you come and see us warming up before our first show :o) So warm up book done and already it's shaping up to be a really good day. The focus of today was to chunk through the opener and start cleaning and getting the dynamics clarified ready for ensemble with the brass line. This went really well with some great playing and some not so great but there was laughter all around and by this point im absolutely loving it.

So lunch comes and the rush to Morrison's for a rustler burger is on! In the end we ended up with 2 burgers and 3 chicken sandwiches get in with the rustler! Anyway back to drumming lunch finished and we worked on the 2nd half of the closer which went again really well and helped to clarify the dynamics etc within the piece. So we are now at the evening putting it all together with the brass line, we only worked on the first half of the opener tonight but went really well and was nice to hear how this all fitted with the brass line! Really enjoying this years show so far and cant wait to get it on the field.

So rehearsal done and it was on to Guitar Hero tournament which I didn't get involved in as they all play like Jimmy Hendrix! So off to bed in the freezing cold hall dreaming of bacon sandwiches.

Sunday 17th Feb 2008

So here we are at the last day of camp and we wake up to bacon sandwiches, cereals, fruit, & croissants couldn't ask for more! So we start today with the warm up book again and every time we play it just keeps getting better and better really like it! Everyone is in hi spirits and really up for today so should be a good one! After the warm up book we ran the opener a few times just to make sure that was still in everyone's heads and then we went on with learning part to the closer score that has been written! We broke off in to sections and started to learn it we then broke for lunch ready to put it all together as a line! Were back after lunch and putting the closer together this is going really well and man does this score rock! I couldn't stop smiling really enjoy this piece! The tenors are absolutely insane!!!!! Luckily we got to do more ensemble this afternoon with the brass line and put the closer and 2nd part of the opener together it culminated in a full run of the opener & ballad and a 45 second segment of the closer! This went really well but there is still loads of room for improvement and tweaks to be done here and there! So it's end of the weekend and to some it up WOW WOW WOW!!!! Love the music, Love the people, Love Band what more can I say!

Thanks to all that made this camp such a success behind the scenes you will always be loved!
Right over the next few weekend I will be with Vintage and so will the majority of the line so I shall speak to you all again soon when I return from the CGN Goes competition for our next rehearsal on the 9th of March.

Report by: M.J (Snare 2008)