... Band geek. >.>

Your point? XD

That was more of a compliment than anything else. x3

Ah. gotcha. I take it your one too? XD

No, I could never get in the school band. I always wanted, though.
Therefore, I've always admired the people who were in the band.

Ah. I see.

It's people like you I admire in return. What do you believe you would have played had you made it into band?

Well, I always wanted to play that drum thing that you smack repeatedly, really fast, don't know what it's actually called... I like banging things! And it looked cool when people, like, twirled those stick thinguies. :O

The stick things are batons known as "maces." No one else in the world but drum majors and majorettes uses those. As for the drum thing you smack repeatedly, if you are thinking from a horizontal motion perspective when banging the drum, it's called a bass drum.

I have no idea what you're talking about, but I think this is what I mean: http://static1.lavozdelinterior.com.....redoblante.jpg

Looks fun to play! Always wanted one of those.

Okay, the pictures are of snare drums, but tinier ones.

Okay, then those are the ones I wanted to play. x3
What do you play?

I happen to play snare drum myself, but not like the ones in the picture; think of the typical college football halftime show today. That kind of snare drum.

That's awesome. :3

I also have a concert snare which I use for a few recordings in my gallery.

needs a beer and a can of skoal. Oh wait, thats my college at MSU

faved for school pride! *plays "Be True to your School" by the Beach Boys*

Thanks.^^ My dad worked hard on this.

It shows. especially in the placement of each item.

*nods* This is actually the second arrangement he did, and I think this one is better of the two.

*salutes fellow bandsman*

*salutes back* Thanks for the fave as well.

No problem! I really think they did a fantastic job here.

My dad worked hard to get the placement just right.

I'm sure he did. I would, too, if I were him.

If you've seen any of my fiction, you can probably tell that my passion for music has gone overboard, because I point there are eight times as many marching bands and/or ensembles in Wildcat City as there are, uh, whatever is the biggest number of channels on the expensive DIRECTV packages.

There's no problem in that. That reminds me, in my home town, I think more people supported the band than they did the football team.

Yes! Now that is how it is done!

And both of my parents were involved in our marching career. My dad drove one of the buses for the high school band, and my mom chaperoned. In college they went to all of the home games, and went to the two bowl games we qualified for.

I'm glad to hear that.

You don't happen to be a music major, do you? I wanted to, but felt it wasn't practical considering I live in Joplin, MO (and I did not get hit by that tornado that struck us May 22, 2011, so I'm alive and came out of it unscathed), so I chose mass communications, broadcasting (TV and radio).

No, I didn't. I majored in Poultry Science with a focus of Veterinarian Medicine. Music, though, has always been a part of my life.

Speaking of Tornadoes, my trailer, the one we live in for college, got hit by a tornado, the one that devastated the south back in November of 2010. Fortunately we weren't in the trailer and our home didn't get destroyed. It was picked up and put down five feet off its foundation. The only thing that broke was a picture frame.

That's good to hear; trailers aren't the best place to be when a tornado hits. How big was that, though? The one that hit Joplin was an EF5, very rare, and somehow only 166 people died, if I got the number correctly. Still, it's sad. Our progress in rebuilding is coming along quite nicely, but you can't drive through Joplin these days and not know it happened. It still brings a tear to this tiger's eye.

Several more tornados and storms have struck since then, and CNN and Fox News have been showing footage of it, as has the Weather Channel. I don't know if they still are.

In regards to music, it's been a part of all my life as well, as I played piano for about 13 years, but drums come easiest to me.

I'm not sure how big it was I think maybe EF2 or 3. What was even more awe inspiring is the fact that the power line at our trailer had a transformer on it, and it fell. The main gas line was right under it, and it had a leak. So thank goodness that the transformer hadn't sparked or I wouldn't be sitting in my trailer now typing this.

When I first wanted to play an instrument it was in the fifth grade because of the book "Trumpet of the Swan." But when I got in the band, I wanted to play Baritone because fewer people play it.

Well, at least it adds to the variety of the brass section. By coincidence, 5th grade was the year I had to read "Trumpet of the Swan," for some assignments here and there, and it remained as one of my favorites to read from that part of my life alongside "Charlotte's Web" and "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory."

Snare drum is my first instrument of choice (hence a few drum recordings you'll find in my gallery), but one day my band teacher noticed I played piano at the time, and since that day in concert band I was doing nothing but glockenspiel.

I don't think I've heard the name glockenspiel. What is it?

Glockenspiel is a fancy name for bells or orchestra bells. It's the same concept as a xlyophone but smaller. You read the music as you do for piano, as a C instrument (as opposed to the trumpet, which is a B-flat instrument).

Here's a picture:

http://homemadeinstrumentss.com/glo.....el-instrument/

Ah, yes. We had some in the pit here as well.

It used to be when played on the march known as bell lyra, but that doesn't happen anymore. Neither do we have marching timpani. Also, at first, I hated the idea of the pit because I felt it defeated the purpose of the marching band. Why be part of a marching band if you don't march? You know what I'm saying?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EaRJ-w60p_I

I had that memorized practically before the first home game.

I couldn't resist posting it here.

I did the same thing for , proud member of the Utah marching band. He plays saxophone.

Ah. hehe.

Hehe indeed.

Another question. Judging from your icon picture, am I correct to assume you are a guitar hero?

Yep.^^ though it has been awhile.

I never played it. I was too busy listening to Sousa.

I've played a few of his songs, and I remembered something hilarious happening during Stars and Stripes.

Hilarious to you, perhaps, but maybe not to me. What was it?

We had six guard members. three to hold a tube, and the other three would run with the streamer. Each streamer was a different color, red, white, and blue. Well during rehearsal one of the runners, who was right behind me, started running and once she got close to the end, she fell back like the dog in the Foghorn Leghorn cartoons.

Good thing that wasn't during the live show. Did everything go as it was supposed to during the show?

Yep.^^

Thank goodness!

yep!

What's your personal favorite Sousa march, if you have one? It's a tie for me in between "The Stars and Stripes Forever," "Saber and Spurs," and "The Liberty Bell." I like them all, though.

Stars and Stripes Forever.

Great. I hear the piccolo part's fun to play in that march.

Yeah, though I never actually heard it since we only had one in high school.

Oh, too bad.

Try this recording and perhaps the piccolo part will be clearer to you:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mRn9chmRAY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbxqjuwwETI

(Mizzou's fight song, where my loyalty goes)

Kinda catchy.^^ Well you know where my loyalty lies. Maroon and White forever.
Speaking of that, we've done a cartoon show, and a halloween show.
This was in the final season that I did. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqquiqfCE9o

Nice job! I watched parts of some others in the "suggestions" boxes and clearly my favorite is your show "Salute to America."

*nods* We always get a standing ovation at that show. I'm always proud to do that show.

I'm proud of you and the band for doing that show; I love America, our flag, our military, and that kind of music, and I hate the people that don't.

Thank you.

No problem! *salutes*

*Salutes back*

Accidentally unfaved it, so that was a re-fave.

Ah okay. I thought you had faced this once already. XD

I did, but that was 2 years ago.

I know. ^^

I have two flutes.

How long have you been playing?

Used to play in school, but not in a band. The good news however is that, I still have them with me to this day.

I still have my Baritone.^^

Great! Perhaps we can make music together.

I'm a little out of practice though.