PASIC! Part One...

From State Marching Band Contest to PASIC, it's been a busy and very involved week. Of course, SMC was in San Antonio, so on Wednesday (the following day) Mr. Kennell dropped me off in Austin and I spent the day regrouping for PASIC. I got registered at PASIC and did some laundry as well as getting some writing done for school.

Thursday is when things really start. Now, I'm not at PASIC to take pictures, so there aren't many to narrate about, but trust me, there's been LOTS going on!






This is Todd Sucherman. I didn't know who he was from his name, but I definitely have heard his playing. He's played with Spinal Tap, Styx, Eric Marienthal, Peter Cetara, R Kelly, Billy Ocean, David Hasselhoff (!), Tommy Shaw and Jim Brickman as well as many others.

He did some playing and talking and even though he was an AMAZING player, he seemed like an even nicer and down to earth guy. What did I learn from his clinic? That I'm not a very good drum set player...


So, I'm a big dork. Not exactly headline news, but definitely the truth. And while I don't need YOU to remind me of that, things like taking a picture of your sweet hotel room and putting them on your blog do that more than adequately.

Anyhow, did I mention how sweet this room is?


















































Yep, big dork. Just a big dork with a nice hotel room...














I stayed away from the Marching Contest today so I could see some other concerts and spend time in the exhibit hall, but toward the end, I thought I should at least see what was going on. When I got there, they were in the College Standstill competition and the UNT Bass Drum Ensemble was performing. The pictures aren't great.




A blurry, but lighter shot of them playing on a cymbal rack.














Now, this is interesting. There was an attempt to break the Guiness Book of World Records record for largest drum roll. To beat the previous record of 1400+, there would need to be around 1500 drummers. Well, unfortunately there were only about 200 present, so we could not have a fighting chance of breaking the record. But the coordinator had thought of that, so he came up with a contingency plan to break (or set, I'm not sure) the record for longest mass-drumming. So, the group of us played a roll for six minutes and three seconds.


While we didn't break the record we set out to, it was still fun. It was fun to see all of the ages of people it drew in. Also, it was interesting to see all of the different drums people brought.

Here's my plain-jane drum.









And here's a custom-made, carbon-steel shell, rope-tension drum. The guy who had it, said that the top head was calfskin, the bottom goat and that the drum was made in Switzerland.



Now, who's the big dork???



(Man, I know that's mean... but I just couldn't resist.)

5A State Marching Band Contest!

Yesterday was 3A Contest, so that can mean only one thing: it was the 5A's turn!

Getting to make this trip with both a first year teacher and a person new to the state has been a lot of fun. Certainly, there are FAR more qualified people to show him "the ropes," but he isn't from around here. Therefore, I have the monopoly of being pretty much the only person he knows...

Anyhow, all of that to say this: We were discussing how many of the 3A bands played very well and marched at a very high rate of skill. But for the ones that played and marched well, there would be another that just didn't do either one particularly well. That would not be the case with the 5A's. We didn't see a poor performance all day. Now, granted, that doesn't mean that you couldn't discern between which ones were better than others, but it must be similar to judging at the Olympics. With everyone performing so well, the difference between places is minute.

I could get easily carried away with lengthy commentary on my opinion of the state of marching band, but I won't. Instead, let's just see the pictures I took today that DID turn out!

Disclaimer (again): I think I finally found a camera setting that worked well with marching band, but there are still some rough photos. I also didn't have strong enough batteries to operate my camera for the early portion of the contest. Eventually, Wurtz came up and had some kickin' duracells. Noticable photographic ommissions? Hebron, Cedar Park, Haltom, The Woodlands, Langham Creek, LD Bell, Richland, Klein, Spring. Not all because of camera problems -- some because I simply forgot that I had a camera with me.


Here's Bowie. They made finals and had a very interesting show called "A Little Night Music." We stood behind some Bowie band parents waiting to get in for Finals and they were some very nice, down to earth folks. You might think that down to earth pretty well describes all band parents, but the parents from another band who were standing next to us, were pretty obnoxious and came off arrogant. I hope that was just those parents and is in no way indicative of all parents from that particular school.



Brazoswood. "Out of the Blue." Yes, there were many blue colors integrated into the show, but these mats in green, pink and yellow (introduced at the end of the show), were very effective against what had been a mostly blue and green backdrop.







Churchill. Great guard. The show came off like a really excellent winterguard show with band in the way, but that's only from a design perspective. The band played really well and, of course, marched well.










Churchill again.














Coppell. Finalist. Good band.












I believe this is Duncanville. The best thing about Duncanville? Incredible sound and there wasn't a single microphone, amp, synth or sound system present. They did it all the orinigal way.











The next four are from Marcus - State Champions! What a super-cool show that was executed SO well. It was an underwater theme. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves (mostly).









Clams (and not the band kind... trumpets...). Reef.

Each little formation of students is actually a fish. Not the best vantage point, but hopefully you can make out the left, underside fin.









Crabs! Or are they lobsters? Anyhow, very clever and way-entertaining!














And the seahorses who were part of a horserace using the music from William Tell.














Regan HS. Finalist.












And here's the first picture of the blog one more time: Austin HS. My favorite drumline of the day! Too band they didn't make finals, I DEFINITELY would have liked to have seen that drumline again!




Well. I'm very tired -- it's been a really eventful couple of days.

3A State Marching Contest (Prelims & Finals)

Okay, I feel pretty dorky for doing this -- namely because my blog readership is like five people, and the occasional person who will accidentally land on it -- but I feel like I am doing a VERY small service to the "community" by posting some pictures and musings from The 3A State Marching Band Contest.

Disclaimer: There were many good bands that I didn't get pictures of and probably will not mention in this post, but this is not meant as an exhaustive survey of the contest. I'm just sitting in a cheap hotel room in San Antonio with my laptop. I'm also considerably distracted by Monday Night Football...

This is Robinson above and to the left.




This is a band that I enjoyed quite a bit today, but they did not place well enough to make it into finals, Princeton. Their program was original music inspired by Greek Gods (?). I use the question mark, because I didn't learn anything about mythology in school. I'm not blaming that on my teachers, I'm blaming that on me. I wasn't interested, so why should I pay attention? Oh yeah, because one day you'll see a marching show based on mythology...

Anyhow, the drum major had a wicked cool afro (which I really was hoping to see again in Finals), and narrated at the beginning of the show. He had a great speaking voice and was appropriately dramatic.



Here's another pic of Princteon.














Here's Pleasant Grove who did make finals, although they would not have been in my top seven. But hey, that's why I sat in General Admission today and not behind a tape recorder and critique sheets.

I really dug the large 'x' they used on the field. They took some vinyl material and spread different colors over the 'x' so it wasn't just a static prop. Some really cool ideas in their show.




Here's a picture of it right as they brought it onto the field. You can see how the mat is painted in white and charcoal. Later they would add yellow stripes and pink stripes to change things up a bit.











Here's the crowd's favorite band of the day: Pittsburgh. It is one of few military bands left in the state. (Before, you try to correct me and say that there are many military bands left in Texas and I don't know what I'm talking about, let me just counter that with this: Thinking per capita, the amount of bands doing corps style marching over military leans heavily in favor of corps style. So, while you might be able to name me quite a few military bands, I bet I can name you at least 50 corps styles bands for each one.

Here is the end of their show (pics are in reverse order).



Here they are in transition.















Here's a form that they suddenly stopped in and held silently for a moment. It was a very effective idea and it definitely drew the audience in deeper to what they were doing.










And here is State Champion, Canton. This is actually their third championship in a row. Congratulations, Canton!

Some notable exclusions from my picture-taking were Wills Point (my pick for tops), Canyon (home-town favorite and ahem... drum book -- you know who you are that actually thought that was funny), Rio Hondo, Crystal City and Argyle.

Tomorrow I'll have highlights from the 5A contest. That's gonna be a long day! But I love it or I wouldn't be here!

Church Camp and the story of the "Barq's Incident"

Kayla took all the good pictures from our trip to Church Camp and I think she put them on the Rath family blog (link to the right), so you can go there and read about our trip.

But the three she left me were of what will now be infamously referred to as the "Barq's incident."

After dinner, we all decided to have ice cream and I though it might be fun to get a root beer out of the vending machine and have an old fashioned float. (It wouldn't have been old fashioned. Yes, I know this.)

What you see next is the Barq's that I bought. Next you'll see a clear liquid coming out of the can.

To those of you who have never had a Root Beer before, it's not supposed to be clear. And no, what you are seeing is not some sort of visual illusion or trick -- this all ACTUALLY happened.

If you have ever gone to dispense a dark-colored soda from a fountain and it came out clear, you've learned that that is just carbonated water because the canister of syrup (that mixes with the carbonated water, in case you were foggy on how all of that works...) was empty. Then if you were dumb enough to drink it (yes, I have been), you found out that it tastes terrible! Unless you are one of those folks that likes drinking all the weird waters that sparkle and bubble and are next the normal waters at the grocery store. There is a special club for people like you and I'm not sure, but I think you might have voted for Ralph Nader (just going on a hunch here).

Anyhow, much to my relief, it was not carbonated water it was -- everybody together: "Sprite!" That's correct! After some serious sniffing before drinking, I concluded that there was, in fact, the presence of something sweet. That's all fine and good - because I can tolerate Sprite - but that didn't help my "float" situation. Thankfully, my good friend and dutiful police officer of the city of Amarillo, Randy, came to my aid with a Mug root beer that he had packed for just such an emergency.

Of course, some people near the "incident" found this to be an amazing occurrence, but most did not. And in true "Eric Rath fashion," I found this whole thing to be a lot more significant than it really was.

Enjoy the spectacle:

Starting to look a little like Fall...

So first... Is the season's name, Fall, supposed to be capitalized? Maybe someone can help me out with that.

It hit me the other day that the days are getting shorter. I mean, noticeably so. I realize, yes, they have been getting shorter since June, but now I can really tell. Maybe, because at the end of Monday night rehearsals, I'm having to take my sunglasses off to see the band... I don't know.

So, my lovely and beautiful wife (and loving mother of our child, Regan), disregarded the fact that it is becoming fall by asking me to cook hamburgers for dinner last week. This is yet another reason that I love her: it's cold outside, thus perfect weather for grilling. (Of course, if you ask me, all weather is perfect weather for grilling.)

While outside waiting for said burgers to cook, the sunset caught my eye and I decided to take a few pictures. Here now, are some of those pictures from the scenic overlook I like to call "my backyard."




























The older I get, the less and less I think leaves are cool.




I tried to get artsy by lying on the ground to take this picture. "Look! Grass!"

I'm also pretty sure that no famous and reputable photographer uses the "date-stamp feature" on his camera.







And here are the hamburgers that got this whole thing started. That's not blood, it's Head Country Barbeque Sauce.


And yes, they were delicious.

Busy day at the park.

So, I think I've alluded to the fact that we live across the street from a park - Paramount Park to be exact. It's very much like stepping out into a Norman Rockwell painting on a daily basis. People jog and walk there. They teach their kids how to ride bikes there. Lots of dogs are present. And of course, the public mother of all jungle gyms. Whats more is that it is a popular spot for several youth groups to hang out and there seems to always be some really cool inflatable jumping thing that gets rented for rich kids' birthday parties. (I'm guessing the level of 'rich' is somewhere between the ability to rent an inflatable jumping thing and the wealth required to have a backyard big enough to actually put it in. )

Anyhow, I digress. This past Thursday, I came home after staying at the school late to oversee the delivery of our latest Coca-Cola fundraiser - literally thousands of ounces of soda were delivered (and, there I digress again). I was surprised when I drove up to see nearly every conceivable activity in session at the park and nearly every conceivable acre of the park in use. So, what did I do? I took pictures of it for the two people who actually read this blog...

Here's the most comprehensive list (of what I can remember) of everything going on and that particular snapshot of the day: people walking/running with or without dogs or strollers and babies, tennis, soccer practice, football practice, cheerleading practice, jungle gym activity, picnics, cookouts, a football game, a soccer game and few folks sitting in their cars talking on the phone or eating their dinner.

By they way, I took the pictures from left to right and (more or less) standing in the same place while doing some serious trunk twists.

Rain!

That's right. Pretty much anytime it rains around here, a new and separate blog entry is warranted.














Q. Why did I take pictures of the rain?

A. Because you forget what it looks like when you live in West Texas.







Whoever made up that song, "Rain, Rain, Go Away," obviously did not live in a semi-arrid climate...

New music!

My brother knows what to get me for my birthday and for Christmas: gift cards! Yes, he thinks that they are really impersonal (and I guess that they are to a degree), but when I get a gift card it's as if the person is saying to me, "I know that you'll pick something out that you really want, and I probably wouldn't get you exactly what you were hoping for."

What's impersonal about that? So, you didn't get me a shirt that I'd probably just take back anyways? How many CD's have been given to me in very well-meaning attitude to collect dust on my shelf after one listen through? To be honest, my family doesn't blow it when they give me CD's -- probably because they have good musical taste and because I like a wide variety of things.

So, my brother Bill got me a gift card to Best Buy and that can only mean one thing: to try to catch up on all of the CD's I should own but never budget money towards. Here's what I got and what I think of them (like you really care...):

Coldplay "X&Y": This is a CD that's been out for a while but I've had a *ahem* special copy of it that I've been listening to. Why should I go on for paragraphs about how incredible this album is? It's Coldplay and I haven't heard a Coldplay song that I haven't liked yet! I do appreciate that each of their three studio albums are unique and different, but have common threads. I'd have to say that I still favor "A Rush of Blood to the Head" to "X&Y" but that doesn't mean that I haven't been playing "X&Y" constantly. It's brilliant, but in a way that "Rush" wasn't.

By the way, I can't find my copy of their first album, "Parachutes." It's a really good disc and if you've seemed to borrow it or can remember who I lent it to, would you please bring it back to me? Thanks!

The other CD I picked up was Trey Anastasio's solo album "Shine." All things being equal, I wish I had bought something else. First let me discuss why I'm wrong to say that: Trey is an accomplished guitarist and songwriter and that definitely is present on "Shine." But, it starts to feel like these were the ideas that might not have worked with his previous band, Phish. There are probably two or three songs that I could listen to over and over, but they are unfortunately scattered throughout the disc and I get an awful guily feeling when I skip songs on a CD.

It some ways the album is charming in that it is simplistic and the arrangements aren't very thick. But, I think this may be why I've already tired of it: there's nothing new to capture my interest on repeat listens. "X&Y?" Yes! This thing has been out a year (at least) and I'm still hearing new things in it! Sufjan Stevens is notoriously thickly orchestrated, but not to a point of distraction (not to me anyhow) and I can listen to his stuff for months on end (and have done so!).

"Shine" has some glimpses of Phish in it -- afterall, Trey was the tour de force of the group -- but when he might have been able to create some nice moments, he resorts to weird progressions and sounds and non-sensical lyrics that are really off-putting. Those sorts of directions would have worked better with Phish because the strength of the band was the individual musicianship. Each member could take an idea and expand on it within their personality creating a possibly endless set of options, while "Shine" is Trey's baby and the studio band doesn't get in the way or try to take over. That's right. It's a solo album -- they did the right thing. But, maybe some of the musical ideas don't flourish in this setting...

Does Trey have massive guitar chops? Heck yes. Are they demonstrated here? Absolutely. Is that worth a listen? Definitely. A purchase? you decide.

Instead of buying "Shine" maybe I should have gone ahead replaced my copy of "Parachutes..."


Note: this post was written while listening to "X&Y." It's not gotten old yet. And I have a feeling that it won't.

Summer Band Starts...

Well, we've been hitting it pretty hard over the course of the last two weeks. First, we had a weekend of student leadership, then a day of freshmen, and then the whole crew. I have to say that I'm very encouraged by how things are progressing!

The staff was discussing the other day that we cannot think of a single student that we get cross-ways with. It just seems like any of the students who might have potentially been problems have either graduated or simply "moved-on."

This leads me to a belief that is once again proven by the above: "music is for everyone, but band is not." I'd like to see more students interested in band and joining early on and staying through graduation, but a lot of students lack the discipline it takes to function in the band.

What sort of discipline does it take? Well, I don't think it's all that bad. You're not in the army when you join band and we certainly don't dictate to you what your hairstyle will be. We require you to be on time, to prioritize that time and to have a good attitude. We expect that you'll work hard and be personally responsible for your actions.

Sadly, this is beyond the scope of a lot of students. Whether it is the upbringing they go through (be it home, church, school, community...) or the simple self-centeredness we all inherently have, some students cannot commit to these principles. I think that's a terrible thing too, because as near as I can tell -- from history and from my own personal experience -- this is how the world functions. Sure you can be self-centered all you want, but if you can't be on time or if you have a lackluster work ethic you probably won't be able to hold down a job.

Along with self-centeredness is a sour attitude toward submission. Let's face it: all of us are simultaneously in a place of submission and in a place of leadership. When I teach the drumline, those students are in submission to me to run rehearsal and to guide them. But I am also very much in submission to my superiors. Now, if I wasn't able to cope with my dual-role as leader and follower, I'd make for an ineffective leader and a miserable subordinate. Neither sound very appealing, and again, appear to not work very either.

So, why have things been going well in summer band? Because most of our students (with a few occasional exceptions that we can chalk up to "having a bad day," -- still inexcusable in my book) are compliant and are willing to work. And 8:20 a.m. comes early for students who have been sleeping past noon all summer, but we haven't had any terrible tardiness issues.

It's going to be a good year. I'm already physically very tired, but my spirit is willing. I'm optimistic for the future. And since the future is in all of our hands, I know that I will be doing everything in my power and ability to make this year the best one we've had.

Band Camp BBQ!

Since Band Camp is two weeks long, there is a little bit of a lag between the weeks over the weekend. Sure, there are concerts all day on Saturday, and a rehearsal on Sunday, but otherwise there's a void of social activities. Never fear, the Rath's are to the rescue!

We invited some of our closest friends -- and especially the ones we only see when they are in town for Band Camp -- and hosted a dinner of hamburgers, hot dogs, hash brown caserole, chips, cookies and ice cream cake (and "family friendly swill").

Here's a picture of (from L to R) Kelly Montgomery, her son, Jack, Baby Regan and John Carroll.


Brandon Haynes and Tamarie Sayger discuss the finer point of elementary general music counting systems. Yes, we did talk about band stuff. But, hey, that's what we all know and do and that's how all of us know each other, so it seems fitting... Well, Kelly and Kayla talked about motherhood. So, one token non-band conversation.



Jack looks intently while his picture is taken.

While cooking a hot dog for Jack, I managed to knock one off of the grill itself and onto the (less clean) grill lid. So, being that that one was runined, I tossed it into the alley for a stray dog to enjoy later. About ten minutes later, I loaded up a plate with five more and picked it up in an imbalanced way dumping that load. All five went straight to the alley. Fortunately, we had back-ups! But later, when Jack dropped his chip on the ground, having witnessed my earlier hot dog cooking abilities, he decided to throw his chip into the alley also!


L to R: Greg and Kelly Montgomery, Brandon Haynes










L to R: John Carroll, Tamarie and BJ Sayger.







We had a great time and are considering making this an annual get-together!