Winter Drumline Weekend Recap 3-5,3-6

The weekend was very productive for the entire WDL organization. We performed in two competitions, one at Forest Lake and the other at Elk River. It was nice to participate in these events, because both competitions were hosted by MBI alumni/current members. Tom Gallus, Craig Meyers, Joe Asleson, and Ariel Bock are instructing River Valley Percussion Theatre (Elk River Area), and Rebecca Compton-Allen and Nate Wright are instructing Forest Lake High School.

Friday March 5th –

We had rehearsal at Highland from 6PM - 10PM.

Our show is developing with every rehearsal we have. There are 6 sections to the production, all playing on the word “Focus”. From “Self Focus” to “Group Focus” to “Inner Focus” to “Un-Focus” to “Split Focus” and back to “Re-Focus”, our show takes the audience through a range of emotions. The staff has been doing a great job shaping the show.

This week’s focus (no pun intended) was to develop the section of “Un-Focus” and to get a couple new/veteran members into the show. Elliott De St.Croix and Cora Morris have stepped in to fill a couple recent vacancies. It’s great to have them back!

Craig Meyers stopped by to help us out for the evening. It was great to have his input, and the pit benefited from having the Matt/Craig combination once again. Thanks Craig for helping out!

The “Un-Focus” section started to read more unfocused, which was a good thing and Elliott and Cora did a great job jumping into the drill.

The whole group left that night a little soaked with information, but that’s to be expected this time of year. We were ready to get some sleep and push hard the next day.

Saturday March 6th –

Show(s) Day!!!!

We started the day with a rehearsal from 8-11 solidifying the enhancements made the night before and continued getting Elliott and Cora into the show.

Kevin Redmond met us with the trailer (Thanks for driving Kevin). We loaded and headed up to Forest Lake. Once arriving to Forest Lake, we had some prop maintenance that needed to be done. This group has done a great job facing adversities with a positive attitude. As a result, any challenges we face are always handle efficiently.

The warm-up area was acoustically less than ideal, but the group had a decent warm-up and was ready to perform for the first time of the day.

Due to the amount of changes just learned the night before, the performance was a little cautious. As a result, it read as a flat performance. We met as a group afterwards; nobody was disappointed. We all seemed very eager to pop the show at the next performance.

We loaded the trailer and took off to Elk River.

We arrived at Elk River early to watch some other groups perform. We jumped into uniform, sat as group, and cheered on our future membership. It was great to see the venue before we performed. I think it further fueled the energy for the upcoming performance.

Our warm-up was in a huge library about a mile and a half away from staging. Again the group did a great job facing adversity, pushed to the warm-up with energy and had a great warm-up.

The show was energetic! We reached the next level of performance. As a result, the crowd responded, and the whole vibe of the room was on fire. This very moment is one of the reasons we devote countless hours preparing and rehearsing.

We met as a group after the performance. All of us were very much pleased with the performance, and agreed: a new standard was set for our organization. We aren’t looking back.

Please come out to one or all of our next performances; you don’t want to miss seeing this special group perform. Our next performance is MPA Prelims at Blaine HS on March 20th. After that we have MPA State Finals at Rogers High School on March 27th. Of course, come support all of the MN Brass ensembles at the spring preview at Highland Park HS on Wednesday April 14th!

Thanks!