How Do I Get Down?!

Drum Major Camp was a blast! I can't even describe how much I loved it! I have to thank the QHHS Band Boosters sooooo very much for paying for Mitch, Chelsea, and I to attend!

Our Drum Major Camp took place at UCLA from July 16-19. There were about 50-60 kids in our class and 5 Instructors. At first I was a little intimidated by the other Drum Majors (Some had been attending DM Camp for years!!) but by the end of the first day, I realized they were just like anyone else! I was thankful enough to room with Chelsea, so there was no need to immediately open myself up to someone I wasn't familiar with.

After check-in, we headed to unpack in our beautiful dorms located in Rieber Hall. After a mad dash down the long flights of stairs down to the stadium (And an almost potentially dangerous fall down the stairs) Chelsea and I had just made it in time for the orientation. From there it just got better. We started off with a Drilldown, and of course, I came no where near the finals. (The people who win have no honor! Hah, just kidding) The main culprit of failure during drilldowns was the need to change how we marked time and counted parade rest. Other than the drilldowns though, we got into our Unity/Baton Spinning/Conducting Groups.

The Unity groups were random selection, and ours turned out to be really awesome! Our group was called The Watermatos (Hybrid between Watermelons & Tomatoes) and the other three groups were Pomograpes, Lazacos, and Banangos. I got to know everyone in that group fairly well, and throughout the course of camp, we did many unity games/activities together.

As for the Spinning/Conducting class, I enrolled in Intermediate level for the both of them. Mitch joined me in the Spinning, but went advanced for Conducting. Chelsea did the exact opposite, and joined me in the Conducting, but went advanced for Spinning. I believe we all made good choices in that, and we all challenged ourselves to the point of sanity. From those classes I learned some really cool things. (Including in what my opinion is a really awesome Baton routine!) It wasn't easy though! Every meal break was spent practicing! The Baton really bruised up my arms/wrists, but it was all very worth it at the end.

Besides the classes, I also got quite a bit closer to Chelsea. We partied it up til midnite and then payed for it every morning at 5:30 AM. I can't complain though! Who doesn't love sneaking around past curfew just to buy some pretzels and M&M's from a vending machine?! We had fun, and Mitch was always there to keep us in-line. Hah

On the last night, the fabulous USA Drum Major Instructional Staff, Chris, Nadya, Steven, Todd, and Kathleen took us to a nice area in UCLA where they performed a Drum Major version of Harry Potter. The skit they performed was entitled, Marchy Potter. It was hilarious, and it was a good way to end the night. This a picture of staff from the brochure, and I decided to include it because the guy is Chris, one of the staff from our camp. He was probably my favorite. :)

This whole experience gave me so much. I am just so happy and thankful I got to be a part of it. It made me come out of my shell, and added a lot more to my spirit. In addition, I learned a lot about being a leader. All of the corny jokes, crazy routines, and strange chants/things we did really made it fun. I really hope that I have the honor to be able to attend again next summer!

If you wanna know more, and you aren't already bored with this whole entire post, i'll be happy to sit there and tell you how awesome this whole experience was.

Have a nice wednesday! I'll see everyone at the band rehearsal tomorrow! :]

♥Marcea

P.S. - On a side note--- If you ever attend UCLA, be very prepared for the copius amounts of stairs/inclines and declines! :D