Tiger Band Blogs
Mood Ring
What Will I Do On Friday Night???
Sep 12th
It is week 3 of school and the stress is already setting in for everyone. I have a killer schedule this year, so finding time to do homework is difficult if i want to maintain my 6 1/2 hours of sleep a night. I’ve had 3 quizzes/tests this week… Hopefully we will be able to continue our rehearsals in a way that it seems like we never have anything else to do and that we get 12 hours a night. Wow, that would be amazing…
Anyways, as difficult as our classes may be, we are settling in to having school and band at the same time. And this week’s game is on Thursday! Our first away game! Woooo! This week couldn’t get any shorter. I wish we had 4 day weeks all the time 
What will I do on friday night? I asked myself the same question a year ago when the hurricane came and they rescheduled the football game to Thursday. It felt so unnatural to go home on a friday. I felt too normal. Something was off. I’m sure all of us are going to feel out of place when friday rolls around.
I’ll catch yall later! All of you that may be reading this should definitely be at the football game tomorrow!
I’m Maaaarching in the Rain
Sep 6th
Ooooohhh goodness! That was one strange game against Wimberly, especially from a band standpoint! I think it’s needless to say that even before the game, it was PORING! I personally became soaked from dancing in the rain! For a while, we had no real idea if or when we were going to march, and I know as a woodwind that only got her flute back from the shop a day before, I was concerned about our instruments. Thank goodness, the sun finally came through, and things began to look up… and then… halftime! Again, I’m getting this from only my personal standpoints, but that was the most incredible, infuriating, amazing moments ever!!! To clarify, we were sent on a mission NOT to fall apart as we did last week… Mission, not so accomplished… But on the bright side, it wasn’t as bad as last week! Improvement! But anyhow, I’m standing at a hold fuming and brewing over how we messed up once again… and then a single drop of rain alerted me of the FLOOD to come. We had an obligation to complete our show, even when the fans are running and screaming, trying to escape the impending tsunami. After about 2 seconds of complete fury of thinking of how my flute was getting destroyed as I’m holding it in the poring rain, a thought popped out of nowhere… “WHOA!!! I’m marching in the rain! No… I’m MAAAAARCHING in the rain! Just marching in the rain! What a wonderful feeling…” So with the “Singing in the Rain” soundtrack on an endless loop in my head, we finished our soggy show, and spent the rest of the game going through endless rolls of paper towels drying off instruments and keys.
Dragging Along
Sep 4th
Yes, it’s the only the second week of school, yes , I’m only a freshman, and no, I’m NOT sleep deprived…. but REALLY?!?! I’m not honestly sure what it was about Tuesday, but ohh…. it was not pretty!!! I was my normal (well… as normal as I can be anyway!) self for hour-and-a-half marching practice, up to 6th perios in our 7-period day. Then… <shudder> GEOMETRY!!! <bum bum buuuuuummmmm!> It’s that I don’t like the teacher (really, no offense Coach Jenkins!!!) 
but really, it’s the LAST period of the day, my least favorite subject, AND I’m one out of only two freshman… yes, not fun. Anyhow, that paled to mere insignificance to the fact that I became one of the undead during 7th period. I was so tired, that when I was questioned as to what “11″ was in Spanish, I answered “Well… um… idontknowimtootiredtocaresoletmesleepokbye.” I slept for at least half my geometry class and almost the whole 45 minute bus ride to my house… and from there, sleeping only long enough to shovel food into my mouth and drag myself back to the couch. And yes, since then, I have become one of the living, but apparantly, this is just AVERAGE compared to other horror stories of band sleep deprivation.
So How’s Band Going for You?
Aug 30th
My most frequently asked question. Actually, I take that back, my second most frequently asked question, second only to “Michelle, what time is it?”
The first week of school is always interesting. Band rehearsals get cut down from 3 hours to 1 hour and 20 minutes in the morning, and this year, we’re staying inside during first period instead of going back outside and marching in the heat. That way, we can have a designated amount of time each day to work on music. Plus it gives us girls about 30 extra minutes to change. How can you not love that? Last week we cleaned the opener and the ballad (which, I’m proud to say, we have completely learned) for the first football game on Friday! We are now getting ready to start learning the closer, which I think already has 18 sets of drill.
Speaking of our very first football game… let me tell you how that went last Friday. We get ready to go on the field for the half-time performance and after a little confusion we manage to get to the opening set. Megan starts us off and we’re doing great until we get to chart 12. That’s when I (and I’m sure most of the band) realized that the left side of the band was going at one tempo and the right side was… well, not with the left side. Fortunately we managed to pull it together in the next couple of sets and finish marching the show, but I have to say, it was not one of our best performances. The good thing is that that was our first football game and we still have an entire season to fix the problem spots in the show. Hopefully, with some hard work, everything will start to improve
So I was reading Allie’s post before me and I thought it would be appropriate to introduce my flutes as well. My marching flute is Beth (get it? Mick and Beth… any Moonlight fans?) and my concert flute is named Coraline (pronounced Coralene, also from Moonlight). Allie and I also have names for our cars and phones and iPods and just about anything else that you can stick a name to, but I won’t get into that.
Hope everyone’s doing well and I’ll see you guys later!
Yay For Band
Aug 18th
Hmm… This is my first post in year 2009. Intense. I have sort of been a delinquent and kept procrastinating on blogging. But I am here now! For all of you who may not know me, I’m Allie Koenig. I am a junior (wow, that sounds old) and I play the flute. Oh, and I’m one the the flute section leaders. My marching flute is named Mick St. John and my concert flute is named Josef Kostan. In case I say those names later on, you will know what I am referring to Okay, Allie background information is done, so lets move on to exciting story of the day.
I’m excited Michelle hasn’t said anything about our dance at band camp, so I’ll fill yall in on that fun event! Band camp was a week ago, but this is worth mentioning. The last night at band camp we were allowed to stay out a little later to socialize our parents and when they left, just all of the band kids. I was hanging out with my flutes and Lizzie taught us all a cheerleader dance that they use for several songs. Let’s see… There was Lizzie, Michelle, Erin, Sarah, Alyssa, and me all trying to learn this dance. We thought it would be a great idea to perform it for Emily Hill (a flute player as well as a cheerleader) and for the band at our last morning rehearsal. We ended up practicing the routine the whole entire night. Even Michelle and I, who were roommates, practiced in our room before we went to bed to get it perfect. Morning comes too early and it is finally our last day eating Schreiner food. Thank goodness. After the run during morning rehearsal we all lined up in a pyramid form and performed our dance for the band. It was awesome. I think it was my favorite part of band camp. For a bunch of flute players, it was pretty darn good. I’m sure everyone else found it entertaining to watch us do a cheerleader dance. It is exactly what everyone needed to get pumped up for our last rehearsal. Or they just needed a good laugh after sleeping for 5 hours
Well, not too much went down the week after band camp. We got to set 32 (or is it 35 or 36?) which is the beginning of the ballad. That was pretty intense. Everyone is working hard and hopefully we will be able to maintain that mindset when all the craziness of school starts happening. I’m a little worried myself… my classes are pretty hard core this year. I’m super pumped for the season ahead of us though. I’m ready to start performing already! Enough of these silly rehearsals, lets go to a contest or football game! I have a feeling this year will be pretty sweet
I’m going to have to figure out how to turn all of this text purple before the year is over… Now that would be cool.
The S Word
Aug 18th
No parents, I’m not introducting your child to vulgarity, I’m talking about… Ugh, I can hardly bear to say it… SCHOOL! Though I don’t think many of us are ready for that dragging, endless, listless 7 hours a day (I’m mostly kidding for any of my soon-to-be-teachers!), but the only possible thing that could ever convince me to drag my weary body through that school door is… the B word! BAND! Honestly though, the highlight of my week is thinking about our first football game!!! Not only am I a football fanatic, but I’m waiting on pins and needles for our first opportunity to march in front of a crowd! As a freshman, these past few weeks have been so fun!!! Though I could have been basking on the beach, lounging on the lake, or relaxing on the river, I would have rather busted my butt at band camp any day of the week! Except maybe Sundays… Anyhow and anyway, the B word is the only reason I’m willing to go to the S word and go through the H word… the hallways I mean!
DIY- How To Find A Band Nerd
Aug 16th
As the incredibly obvious title shows, it’s not really hard to spot a band nerd in a crowd… (and yes, we carry that name with pride!!! ) We’re a pretty easy species to locate on a highschool safari, but if you need any help spotting the wild creatures, here’s some helpfl tips from one of them!
1. The tan lines… Check the feet, eyes, shoulders and thighs. If there’s a sock tan, sunglass tan, farmers/ tanktop tan, and short-shorts tan, guess what! YOU FOUND A BANDIE!!! Those long hours in the relentless Texas sun does us some good!
2. By the end of the season, you’ll see that trying to get a band nerd to step off on their right foot is like asking them to stick their foot in their ear… It never works!
3. As much as we hate to admit it now, even THIS freshman can tell that most bandies don’t ever JUST walk… they march! SQUEEZE SWING STEP! TOES UP! HEELS DOWN! SHOULDERS STRAIGHT! CHIN UP!
4. Morning person or not, we get used to the crazy, indesent hours of practice! Band nerds get over that zombie stage of the morning duldroms and learn to deal with it!
5. Students, if you see that students come back from over the summer with one of the symptoms, you’ve caught a glimpse of a band nerd; the loudest, most hyper person you know somehow got louder… The shy kid slouched in the corner can suddenly run longer and harder than you with breath to spare… If you find someone dozing off in class and you suddenly yell “BAND TEN HUT”,even in their sleep they’ll yell“HEY!” at the top of their lungs..
6. Parents, lets say you come home to see your child in a brace, a sling, a cast and about 20 band-aids. You just happen to mention that marching practice is in 15 minutes… If your child is mysteriously healed just for that 3 hours, you not only have a bandie, you have a bandaholic!
To some people, we’re the outcasts, the nerds, the geeks, or the people that have nothing better to do with their spare time (Hahahahahaha! What spare time?!) But to the ones that are closest to us, we’re the commited, hardworking, talented kids that just happen to mention in every other sentence that “It’s just a BAND THING!”
Band Camp, Sleep, and a Four-Hour Morning Rehearsal
Aug 13th
Yes! I’m finally in my account! I attempted six or seven times (each with a different password) to login before I realized that I had my username wrong. Go figure.
Anyway, we just got back from band camp last week, and after a whole entire weekend of sleep, we were back outside marching on the parking lot this morning at 7:00 am! Talk about a quick turnaround! Band camp was abnormally hot this year and our rehearsals were extended by thirty minutes. In all, I think we spent eight hours a day rehearsing. It sounds like a lot (and it was), but the week flew by way faster than I expected. We got a lot accomplished, including 12 sets of drill marching and playing! I don’t remember ever getting that far at band camp during the years I have been in high school, so that was really impressive. And the best part is, the sets stuck with most of us during our weekend of sleep! When we came back this morning we were able to run the chunk a couple of times and move on to learn more drill! Speaking of which, during our four hour rehearsal this morning we put on five more sets of drill, which brings us to a grand total of 17 sets! That’s more than half of the opener already on the field!
We have two more weeks of rehearsals before school starts, so hopefully we’ll be able to get the opener and the ballad on the field by then!
Band Camp!!
Aug 13th
Band camp is over, my time is no longer property of the band, and I’m doing what just about everyone in the band is probably doing- absolutely nothing. Just a few hours ago, we got back from Schreiner, spilling out of the buses, hot, tired, and ready to sleep. This last week has been very, very trying, with temperatures above and beyond even Texan expectations, less than six hours of sleep a night, and constant mental and physical exercise. And yet, as these things seem to go, all that just made the experience … better? I can say with confidence that the band is better than last year, and the freshman class is better than last year’s (that’s coming from a sophomore… heh), and the concentration is better, ans the music is better, and the drill learning is faster, and… I could go on. In short, This season looks to be absolutely amazing.
Judging by the attitude at practice this morning, the trumpets at least share that sentiment. We were all a little crazy and ecstatic during this last practice, influenced by the sleep-deprived, band-drunk seniors, but the delirium was particularly boisterous coming from the trumpet section- I could hardly hear my section leader’s instructions. Now, the trick will be to keep the crazed enthusiasm up come Monday, when we will have woken up in our own beds, and not at 2:30am and 5:30am, and not to the sounds of seniors sharing the joy of their sleepless night. Oh, if only the season were made up of band camp Friday mornings… Zzz.. Oh, right- we’d all be *yawn* asleep… the entire season… sounds nice right about now…
Mmmm… July ’09
Aug 13th
More than anything before it, more than our last home game vs. Hendrickson, more than the week of the LT game, more even than Centennial, tonight was an end. Never again, until July next year, will we shiver or sweat in the freezing wind or under the sweltering sun. We won’t hear the cadence, metal shop, negatives, Crazy Train, Oho de la Tigre (I’m not in Spanish, so if something’s spelled wrong, which it probably is…). Most of all, we will never march beside those who lead us through the year, taught us, and made the band what it was. Next year’s band will still be the Tiger band, but it will be a different band with this year’s seniors missing.
Only so much can be said about the end– the absolute, unconditional end– of marching season without sinking into outright depression, but I will say this: I can imagine no better experience than marching with this band and these people. The last three and a bit months have been indescribably amazing for me, and next marching season seems an unendurable amount of time away. I have to thank the directors for the season, the challenging show, the innumerable things they’ve done for the band. And thank you to the entire Tiger Band, for … I don’t know… existing. And now for sleep. a whole eight months of it. Wake me up in July.