Politics, ugh.

Ignorance fills the minds of many,
Tainting their innocent thoughts.
Is it a ploy for another penny?
Does this fight need to be fought?
 
Our world is going to be ruined.
Can people not see that?
The physical, social, emotional End
Emerging from our stupid crap.
 
This cyclic system in which we live
Should not be ignored like this.
Looking at history through a sieve;
Ignorance should not be bliss.
 
Put yourself in their position.
Do you see the similarity?
True bliss is in recognition.
Revel in that clarity.

4/8/10

Well... I haven't posted in a while, have I? This week is spring break and it's pretty great so far. My after-school schedule has been completely booked with band stuff lately. Mondays I have clarinet/bassoon lessons at APSU, Thursdays are reserved for woodwind choir, and Fridays we have trash can ensemble (The best!!), not to mention rehearsal during school everyday. I'm really excited about our concerts coming up (KMEA is NEXT WEEK!!!), but it's leaving me in a bit of a mess in the other areas of my life. I'm just glad all my friends are in band, so they can understand :] Concert band is playing "Fanfare and Intermezzo", "They Led My Lord Away", and "Denbridge Way".
I'm playing C. Rose etude No. 10 for my clarinet lessons. (I'm not as fast as this guy yet :P )
Trash can ensemble is playing an original piece which is going to be AMAZING!! You need to come see us perform... more info on that later :] ... AMAZINGNESS PEOPLE!!

The Black Horse Troop March, John Philip Sousa

Ah, Sousa. You know his marches... One is Stars and Stripes Forever... All-District band is playing one of them: The Black Horse Troop March. *cough, cough* We'll just say that it made me dizzy to look at it. It's really not all that difficult, as I found out when I tried to play it, it just looks... scary and intimidating. But I have successfully mastered the first 7 1/2 lines of the music (of 9 total, but with lots of repeats), which makes me extremely happy and proud!! :DD

http://www.dws.org/sousa/mid/blacktrp.mid

(Click on post title for quick link)

There's a link to a midi file... Maybe it'll give you a better idea of what I'm talking about. I can play all the way to where the clarinets go all super high... Then it's... "if-y" for me. I don't know. Maybe we'll cut it, but I really like the tune and song. Whatever happens, I want to be prepared.

ALL-DISTRICT!!!! :DD

ALL-DISTRICT!!!! Ah! I made it! 5th chair this year. I was so excited!! Here's a few of our possible pieces:

Where Never Lark or Eagle Flew, James Curnow

	156 Army Band - Where Never Lark Or Eagle Flew .mp3
	Found at bee mp3 search engine

With Quiet Courage, Larry Daehn (My favorite so far, that I've listened to...)

With Quiet Courage - Mount Community Concert Band(Larry Daehn)

End of Season :(

Last weekend was our last show. We went to Louisville and had lots of fun as a big band family for the last time this year :( I miss the seniors. We placed 8th at State Semi-Finals. I DON'T WANT IT TO BE OVER!!! Next year is going to be great, though.

Mr. Warren and Mr. Carmichael are great. I love you guys!! Thanks for everything.

Thank you, Darrin, for all the marvelous pictures you take of your Rebels :)

ISOLATED, thanks again, Whopper and Bigmac, for a great show concept.

The Freshmen (/Sophomore for me) ;)

I love this pic!! I don't know why...

Aww, Emilia. I love you, gurl :)

Results

We did good! We got 2nd in our class of 3, behind Trigg by 2.6 points and ahead of Webster by about 17. Trigg won Reserve Grand Champion and Henderson, a 4 or 5 A band, won Grand Champion. Like I said, we were only 2.6 points behind Trigg and they were only like .5 points behind Henderson. So we were only like 3 points away from winning GRAND CHAMPION! If ours and Trigg's performing times had been switched (we had to play 1st, they played last), we probably would have won. It's okay, though, this Saturday we're going to cream Caldwell :)

Only 2 more weeks before REGIONALS!!! Get excited!

Football and marching band

Tomorrow night, we have another football game! Woo! No offense to the team, if anyone reading is a member, but they suck. We're expecting another huge loss. I, for one, am really not looking forward to marching and playing pep band music in the rain. My clarinet is crappy enough as it is, I don't need something else to go wrong, like getting the pads wet. Hopefully Saturday will be better. We're going to Hopkinsville! And we have a pretty good chance of winning our class! And possibly winning RESERVE CHAMPION! That would be exciting :) But, shhh!! It's a secret ;)

Braxton Patrick!

MY BROTHER'S HERE!! Braxton Patrick, born October 6th, 2009, at 12:45 PM. He's 8 lbs., 14 oz., and 20.5 in. long!! He is so beautiful!!!!!!! These are the cutest babies I have ever seen! I love you, Rose and Braxton!

I got to hold him today!! It was so exciting! He's so little but so big at the same time. Like, he's little because he's an amazingly cute little baby, but he's so BIG compared to Ja'Kavion! I'm so happy to have my babies here! We have two new little marchers for the band now! lol, maybe in a few years ;)

Ja'Kavion Davon Graham

The baby's here!!! Ja'Kavion Davon Graham!!!! I am so excited! I can't wait to finally see him in person! We're going to the hospital tomorrow hopefully. I think he's so handsome! lol, cute baby :) So I'm going to get to be an aunt and a big sister in the same week!! Rose's baby, Brax, should be coming in the next 6 days!! OMG!! I am SO excited! haha, sweet babies. I can't wait to go see Jada. I wonder how she's feeling now. I know it's been a long day for her. She's been at the hospital since midnight! and the baby just recently came! I hope she can get some rest tonight and tomorrow. She'll sure need it. Everybody pray for her, please! I love you Jada!

Murray! YAY!

wow... It's been awhile since I posted. Anyways, band stuff! Friday was our homecoming. The band peoples left before it all started (thank you!) at 5. We rode to Murray, KY, and had practice in the amazing college stadium from 7 to 11. It was great! The only part I don't like about that stadium is the echo and the "turf turds". Yeah, that's right. Turf turds. ha ha! The stadium is astroturf so when you march, you get those little black rubber pieces in your shoes, also known as turf turds ^^ Practice was great that night and we were all confident about the next day. We headed to the hotel (Baymont; they have no elevator) where we ordered pizza and our room stayed up until 1:20.

We got up around 7, ate at Ryan's about 8, and went to the stadium to stretch around 9:30ish. Our performance was amazing! Like, the best show of the season so far. We went to Ryan's again for lunch where we had a great time playing with gummy bears!!

Yeah, we're nerds. That's sets of drill. hahaha! It was so much fun, though.

Awards ceremony for prelims, we won FIRST PLACE IN AA CLASS!!! That was so exciting! We 10 pointed Trigg county!! We came in 7th overall, only 4 points behind Muhlenberg!

When our time for finals came up, we went to warm-ups, got all ready and went to the gate. The sky was dark in the distance and lightning was flashing every few minutes way off. We decided to go on anyways. We marched on typically, then ran to opening set to save time. The opener was suck-ish :( I was disappointed with myself for that. We got 1/2 way through the ballad, and got called off the field. I could just imagine sitting in the stands watching that. lol, nice, slow music, then suddenly everyone is running off the field! We got to sit in the Racer lounge while we waited to see if it would blow over. Unfortunately, they had to cancel, but we were still happy with our 1st place in prelims! We drove home, and I slept laid out over 1 1/2 seats ^^ I got home around 1. I'm tired :) hah!