A sneak preview of the features you'll get on tour
Hello, everybody! Welcome to Grace Notes, your inside perspective on Carolina Crown’s 2010 season. I'm Grace Welter, a second-year member in the pit (that's the "Grace" part), and I'll be writing about anything and everything related to drum corps life (that's the "Notes" part).
For my first entry, I want to share a little bit about my lifestyle in the off-season. I'm a full-time music education major at UMass-Amherst in western Massachusetts (NOT by Boston, which seems to be the first question everyone asks). The slushy, snowy weather and East Coast accents are a far cry from the warmth and charming speech patterns of Fort Mill, S.C., and beyond, but drum corps continues to influence my thinking in interesting ways.
Let me explain: Besides the tan lines that haunt me daily, I recently bought a large number of plain white t-shirts and ankle socks because they were on sale at Target. $9 for five t-shirts! $1.50 for three pairs of socks! Needless to say, I stocked up with last season’s spring training in mind (I spilled fruit punch on two of my shirts almost instantly last year). For current members, you may want to go check that out and get some sweet, cheap white t-shirts and socks. I'm sure they are going like hot cakes.
On another "note" (GET IT???), last weekend I spent five hours putting together a video for my lovely pit staff members since I missed the February camp. I think the purpose of the video is as much to prove that my arms aren't broken as it is to demonstrate my musical and technical proficiency. I hope my instructors appreciate each second of the seven minutes of scales at 80 beats per minute like a special little snowflake (just kidding, Steve and Ian: I know I'm not special or unique).
Anyway, there's a lot to look forward to this season for Crown and on Grace Notes. Keep your eyes and ears peeled for a few of these features:
- Phrase or word of the week. A few, um, vocalizations caught on last season. For example, "Get it!," "bwehhh" (that weird hornline thing? no idea...), "Four!", and of course the Carolina Cough. I’ll keep you on top of the buzz words this season. Pronunciation will be included, www.m-w.com style.
- A map showing where members are from.
- "Biggest loser" feature. I'm hoping to get a daily photographic timeline of the shape/tan/tanlines of a corps member's body.
- Regional recaps.
- Crown gourmet. I’ll gather recipes and lots of detail about food preparation from our volunteers.
- Tallies. Drum corps is a lot like Groundhog's Day: The same things seem to happen over and over again. A lot could be said for the sheer impact of a few everyday statistics. I'll do my best to make these scientifically valid.
- Crown playlist. What music are we listening to?
That's about it for now. I'm hoping to get a lot of feedback from anyone and everyone interested in what's going on with Crown throughout the season. I want to know what YOU want to read about! Email me at welter.grace@gmail.com with questions, comments and requests. I'm not limiting this blog to my personal narrative. Moms, dads, friends, significant others: If you know someone in the corps you want to hear more about, let me know. Photos, videos, quotes from staff, members, volunteers and maybe some educational graphs (such as pie charts, ha-ha) will also be a major part of this experience. Check in with Grace Notes again soon after the March camp |
