A ‘Borg and Baritone #26: The Final Week

The regular season is over. We (Cincinnati Tradition) had our final rehearsal at Great American Equipment Company, this past Saturday and Sunday.

On Saturday, we worked mainly on music. The Morning Block was split into Sub-sectionals, where the Baritones and Euphoniums got to directly work with Andrew, the Brass Caption Head. It went really well! We had an extended, ‘back to basics’ warm up, then spend the last hour or so on different chunks of show music, mainly the 2nd piece and the closer. The Afternoon Block was more music work. This time, it was a lot of Full Brass work, again hitting a few trouble spots. These “trouble spots” were more ‘weak’ areas, opposed to ‘bad’ areas. We cleaned up quite a bit of them. The Evening Block was Full Ensemble with Nick (Show Coordinator), Andrew, and various Techs and returning Teachers/Techs. Nick kept the pace fast: run a set, do it 1-3 more times, add a set or 2, run that chunk, then repeat. My feet held out until about the last 20 minutes of the block. I ended up sitting out the ballad, during the Full Run, but did most everything else. I still am fighting with my horn height (it’s too low) and elbows (they bunch up, the further along I go), which doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. I have to mentally dig even deeper for next week.

Sunday was the ‘marching’ day of the weekend. The Morning Block was divided into a few parts: we started in Full Brass (with warm ups led by Andrew and staff), went to Sub-sectionals for about an hour, then went to Brass On The Move (BOTM) for about an hour and a half. BOTM is where we work on music and marching but (usually) don’t have any of the other sections with us; it’s just Andrew, Kendra (Visual Caption Head), Jordan (Drum Major), and Brass Techs. We learned a couple of new visual sequences for the ballad, which will fill in a few musical ‘dead spots’. We also cleaned up many spots in the 2nd piece and the closer. The Afternoon Block was a 3+ hour Master Class of Marching with Nick and Andrew. I could not afford to sit out that block, and I wasn’t allowed to sit out the final Full Run, so I gritted my teeth and beared (bared?) the Block. It was a good Block, overall. The Corps was working their butts off! I made a few mental mistakes near the end, and sat out for about 5 minutes, but I otherwise made it through a Full Run for the first time since the Sunday after Columbus (7/21).

The Staff seemed pleased with how we ended the weekend! We have some rehearsals in Williamsport but those will likely be focused on polishing the finished product.

I didn’t take many pictures of the final weekend – I’ll just have to make up for it on Prelims and Finals Night. 😉

It has been a wonderful experience, these past 9 months with the Cincinnati Tradition Drum & Bugle Corps. All of the hard work, the thousand of bus miles that I’ve traveled to and from the Cincinnati area, all of blood (yes, there was blood shed), sweat (yes, there were gallons and gallons of sweat), and tears (there weren’t many but a few were there), they were for this upcoming weekend. We (CT) have a chance to make history and do some special things on the field, and I have to be ready to help with that! I will see you all after Labor Day, for the final post (or 2) of the 2019 season of “A ‘Borg and a Baritone”!