Honor Band 2012

Madison was selected to participate in the District Middle School Honor Band this year.  That was exciting for me because I think she's amazing and it's always nice when other people recognize how great our kids are.  For the first time ever, I have all the girls in school all day so I was able to tag along for two days as a chaperone.  Day one of the Honor Band experience was spent sitting in a high school gym while the band practiced and practiced the same songs all day.  The band consisted of 100 students from seven schools and while all the participants had practiced the music on their own, this was the first day playing together.  It was actually pretty cool to hear them play each piece all together for the first time (most of the songs were really rough) and then to hear them get better and better as the rehearsing continued throughout the day.  It was a long day for me, and I was just sitting and reading.  I can't even imagine how tired the musicians were after practicing from 9 to 5 with just a few short breaks.  That evening there was a concert and the band did really well.  I went to bed that night with the songs of the day in my head.  In fact, I still find myself with Honor Band music stuck on repeat in my brain.

Madison with Daivon, the other percussionist from her school

The next day we all got on a bus and drove to Spangdahlem, where we lived the first time we were over here in Germany from 2000 to 2003.  I was excited to see what had changed and what had remained the same.  It's always sort of bittersweet to go back somewhere you love so much.  It's great to see everything that reminds  me of the good time and friends we had there, but it's a little sad that things do change.  I spent the bus ride there and back being the unofficial translator between our bus driver and the band director.  As much as it stresses me out to speak German, it's good to be able to communicate at least a little bit when I there's a need like that.  The day at Spangdahlem was much easier.  One quick rehearsal in the morning, a lunch banquet, a concert, and then the drive back home.  I think the concert on day two was even better than the one the night before.

I tried to get video of some of the songs, but my camera is really just a camera and doesn't take very good videos. When I uploaded them to the computer the sound was fuzzy and terrible.  Luckily, Emily had her iPod with her at the concert on the first day and she took some videos.  They are a little shaky, but the sound is so much better than what I got from our camera.  

The first video is of the song Serengeti Dreams.  The conductor is talking for about the first minute if you want to skip that part.  Madison is playing the timpani in this song, which are big drums that make a nice big sound.  Her part was meant to sound like the big stomping feet of an elephant.

This song is Count Rockula and it definitely got stuck in my head!  It was Madison's favorite because "it's the easiest to play and it's fun."  In this song Madison played the Vibraslap, a latin percussion instrument that makes a fun vibrating sound.  Emily loved this song - especially the part where the clarinets stand up and make spooky noises.

The last number of the night was a salute to the Armed Forces.  Madison is playing the glockenspiel in this piece - it looks like a big metal xylophone to me.  You can hear her part in the beginning of the song (during the Marine Corps song) if you listen really closely.  There's a lot of clapping throughout the piece because the director asked the members of the different services to stand when their song was played.  

 I love that Madison enjoys music so much.  I have to admit that I was a little disappointed when she chose percussion over the other options in band, but it's been a really good fit for her.  Because Madison is like me, she likes things neat and orderly and likes counting things a little TOO much.  Things like steps when going up and down stairs or the number of chairs in each stack at church.  Playing percussion lets her count all day long!  She enjoys being able to play lots of different instruments.  Just the other day she came home excited because she's going to play the drum set in one of the pieces in the concert later this spring.