By Joe Smith
Last weekend was our second camp of the year and was something I was looking forward to very much. Many people were back again because they received recall status, and others were at camp for the first time. A lot got done during the approximately 17 hours of rehearsal over the course of the weekend.
One of the unfortunate things we had this last weekend in Iowa was freezing rain. This situation made traveling for many members, family and staff very difficult. My friend Adam Nelson, his sister and a friend, Greg "Dos" Asplund, had the unlucky fortunate of going into a ditch twice before deciding to pull off the road and stay in a hotel for the night.
Other than the several mishaps several people had driving, the weekend was amazing. I was very happy when the weekend rolled around because I knew it would bring the first full ensemble and even more time learning and cleaning the marching technique with our visual caption head, Craig Armstrong.
Full ensemble is one amazing part of the weekend for me. It's a chance for the horn line to get together with the battery and front ensemble to play. I believe it's a truly amazing feeling to be able to play the music with the other sections because it gives us an experience that we can all share together instead of only being to share the musical experience with only your section.
On Saturday night we got together with everyone except the color guard to full ensemble the opener "American Overture for Band," by Jenkins. I know that I personally enjoy this piece because it is very much a mellophone feature with the way Jenkins wrote it. The gym was small and very hot because of all the bodies that were in close proximity of each other. The small gym made full ensemble extremely loud and for the rest of the night my ears were ringing and I had a headache, but the experience was very well worth the consequences.
The other thing during this last camp that amazed me was the amount of people that are extremely dedicated and want to be with the Colts this season. I was shown this Sunday before and after our performance when I saw several prospective members crying. That truly amazed me and made me excited to be with these people this season.
I thoroughly enjoyed my weekend once again with the Colts, even though I have been very sore the last two days. I'm very excited for the next camp, which will happen Feb. 12-14 in Dubuque. So if you are still looking for a corps or want to come check out a camp, it is still not too late.
As Beth Wilson said on Sunday morning during calisthenics, "Are you a pig or a chicken?!" Also, just so everyone knows, vacuuming makes me Furioso!
One of the unfortunate things we had this last weekend in Iowa was freezing rain. This situation made traveling for many members, family and staff very difficult. My friend Adam Nelson, his sister and a friend, Greg "Dos" Asplund, had the unlucky fortunate of going into a ditch twice before deciding to pull off the road and stay in a hotel for the night.
Other than the several mishaps several people had driving, the weekend was amazing. I was very happy when the weekend rolled around because I knew it would bring the first full ensemble and even more time learning and cleaning the marching technique with our visual caption head, Craig Armstrong.
Full ensemble is one amazing part of the weekend for me. It's a chance for the horn line to get together with the battery and front ensemble to play. I believe it's a truly amazing feeling to be able to play the music with the other sections because it gives us an experience that we can all share together instead of only being to share the musical experience with only your section.
On Saturday night we got together with everyone except the color guard to full ensemble the opener "American Overture for Band," by Jenkins. I know that I personally enjoy this piece because it is very much a mellophone feature with the way Jenkins wrote it. The gym was small and very hot because of all the bodies that were in close proximity of each other. The small gym made full ensemble extremely loud and for the rest of the night my ears were ringing and I had a headache, but the experience was very well worth the consequences.
The other thing during this last camp that amazed me was the amount of people that are extremely dedicated and want to be with the Colts this season. I was shown this Sunday before and after our performance when I saw several prospective members crying. That truly amazed me and made me excited to be with these people this season.
I thoroughly enjoyed my weekend once again with the Colts, even though I have been very sore the last two days. I'm very excited for the next camp, which will happen Feb. 12-14 in Dubuque. So if you are still looking for a corps or want to come check out a camp, it is still not too late.
As Beth Wilson said on Sunday morning during calisthenics, "Are you a pig or a chicken?!" Also, just so everyone knows, vacuuming makes me Furioso!