For those of you (and until yesterday I would have included myself on that list) who don't know what Drill Day means, well, the quick and easy translation is -- a lot of hard work!
Parents were invited at the end of Drill Day for a "Show and Tell." It was rather interesting to see what is involved in teaching a LARGE group of kids to march around on a football field and appear to actually know what they are doing!
Each band member has a set of round, plastic, colored disc's that they place on the ground at their feet. They move however many steps required to the next set and place another disc. The entire time they are saying, "dut, dut, dut, dut" in unison, before they begin to move, then they count their steps together, "one, two, three, four, five," etc, until they've gone the appropriate number of steps and stop.
It is a very unique system and vastly different from the one we used in 1982 when my band director screamed "ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR," etc, through a megaphone while standing on the top of his Chevy Van. We used to place bets on whether the ceiling of his van could withstand his bouncing for the entire marching season!
With that said, Randy doesn't have to march, per-se. He is in what is called, "The Pit." He plays the marimba, which is another way to say, fancy xylophone. It is HUGE. Two rows of "keys" like some organs have and on a stand with wheels.
He was blessed to receive a new marimba this year and is pretty excited about that. His instrument is wheeled to the sideline of the football field and that's where he stands to play his music. His skills have graduated up to two mallets in each hand now. And each hand is going in a different direction. Really kinda cool to watch and has definitely required a lot of practice.
The "Show and Tell" was fun to watch! The best part was getting a hug from Randy, who didn't know I was coming. In front of everyone, he ran to me and hugged me, telling me he missed me. Yeah....God is good. My heart needed that.
You see, from the time school starts (3rd week of July usually) and until football season is over, Randy becomes the nearly full-time property of the TM Band. Mr. Sanchez is very dedicated to the Band Program and expects his band students to be the same way. So, Randy's visits to our house are few and far between during these months. Early morning practices and late Friday night games, some of which are out of town, leaving not a lot of time for mom.
As a result, we sneak our visits in where we can. And if I only get 1 hour at the TM Band Parent Show and Tell, I take it and treasure it...
Until next time,
Pam
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