Since I’m starting this draft at 11:04 PM, I guess I can also consider it a ‘Night Walk’. đŸ˜‰
It is the night before tryouts/”Opening Day”. I spent Friday and Saturday scrambling to find or buy the items needed for rehearsals, explained in the Brass packet:
- I found my old binder and sheet protectors from my MBI days
- I found my black marching gloves but might have to buy white ones
- Pencils, breathing pipes, and notebook were purchased
- I bought a cooler tonight… but it wasn’t the one listed
- I finally found a mouthpiece but it wasn’t quite the one listed. I’m going to ask about it on Sunday; hopefully it works
- I got a new music stand and valve oil
- For the first time since 2nd or 3rd grade, I bought sweat pants lol. The good thing about buying an XL: they are now too big. Warm, however.
I had to wait ’til Friday and Saturday because my last paycheck was completely claimed by rent, phone/internet, and groceries – it did not make it out of that weekend; the check before that was used to recover from a 4-digit, out-of-pocket tuition payment (grrr!). I do know that I’m probably going to have to buy another water cooler, and possibly another mouthpiece, if I make the group.
The trip up was a lesson in patience. I got to the Greyhound Station around 2:40. My Greyhound was supposed to leave Louisville at 3:35; it left at 4:20. I ended up missing a Cincinnati Metro bus to my hotel by less than a minute; ended up using Uber. The Uber driver was pretty cool. His son is a Percussionist and we had a good chat about all things band.
Once at the hotel, things went much better. I got a Discussion Board post for my Telecommunications II class posted, read about 12 pages of my Database book (mostly on the bus), and even managed a dinner at Wendy’s (it’s been a minute since I’ve eaten fast food).
Sunday is a 9:00 – 5:00 day: part rehearsal, part tryout, part who-knows-what. The mouthpiece is honestly my biggest worry; I have it and a very old, smaller shank Baritone one with me (the other is a large shank Euphonium mouthpiece). The rest of it, I’ll do what I always do: give maximum effort, pay attention, correct mistakes as quickly as possible, and stay positive. Hopefully, my name will go onto the roster of the 2018-2019 Cincinnati Tradition Drum and Bugle Corps by the end of Sunday afternoon!
#2 should be up by Monday morning. Good night!
The Nexus 