Band Camp 2008 is Complete

Band camp is over. It has been a great one but it was time for it to end. Friday morning everybody was a bit wore out. I think everybody lost a little bit of weight and we certainly are in better shape than when we started. It is a great start to what promises to be a great season but there are few things that must happen for us to achieve our goals. They are as follows:

Here is what the students need to do:

1. Every student must be able to play the entire show by memory and rhythmically accurately with a metronome. There can be no compromise on this.

2. Every student must be devoted to the "Brady" way of breathing. The brass has made great strides this week but it isn't where needs to be yet. Our sound must continue to develop and become more refined but this won't just happen without consistent work.

3. Every student must get organized to be able to balance their school work with their band work.

4. Every student must be committed to practicing and perfecting their marching technique.

Here are some things the staff (my responsibilities) need to do:

1. Find a couple of students willing to fill the holes we have. We didn't lose very many at all but somethings are unavoidable.

2. Rewrite a few places in the music that have bad voicings and a few percussion parts that don't really fit with the drill.

3. Find a way to get every student marching with correct basic technique.

Here is what the parents need to do:

Keep encouraging and supportting! That is the most important thing anybody can do.

I hope everybody has enjoyed band camp. It is certainly the thing that high school memories are made of. We have only begun our journey. Let's all do what we need to make it the best one ever.