Wednesday
July 16, 2008

Dr. Teweleit is trying to help me with pictures as he goes around campus. These are from yesterday, but I assume you won't mind. This is a rehearsal in N-1010, so I assume that this is the high school concert band.



This is prior to the trip to T*E*X*A*S.





Some friends.





This is down in the canyon, which is about 12 east of town. It's pretty flat then, all of a sudden, there's a huge canyon. It's really pretty. Anyway, they've built an outdoor amphitheater and let the canyon wall be the backdrop. It has remarkably good acoustics, and it's a very popular summer show that people from very long distances come to see.









Here are some 9 am pictures. I'll try to get around to the different hours so that you parents will be able to see your child is still here at band camp, even though they won't call home to tell you so. We're having a very good camp. The campers are great and are focused on becoming better players. We also have enough social activities that they can make new friends. This is the high school white band trombone class.



The 9 o'clock hour is staggered so that we don't have everyone moving to their next class at the same time and crashing into one another. While the trombones are already in class, the bassoons are getting out their instruments, ready to begin. These are high school concert band bassoons.



High school symphonic euphoniums. There are four of them. Do you see the fourth one?



There he is!



Junior high school honor band clarinets.



High school white band horns.



High school concert band bassoons.



Junior high school honor band flutes.



High school white band trombones. We use a lot of rooms in the building we share with art, theatre, and dance. This is one of the art rooms. It's not set up acoustically, but it's a nice space to rehearse, and we thank ATD for allowing us to use their room.



High school white band euphoniums and tubas.



Buzzing.





Next door are the junior high school honor band saxophones.



High school symphonic band tubas.



Junior high school honor band bass clarinets. Usually we have three-four in the smallest instrumental classes, but their was only one junior high school bass clarinet this year, so the lucky stiff gets to have a private lesson every day. Mr. King is his teacher.



Here are the high school white band trumpets.





It's 3 o'clock. I do attendance, so I was busy preparing roll sheets for the next meeting. We take attendance five times a day to make sure that we know where everyone is. The students think they have freedom, but we've got a close eye on them.

This is the 3 o'clock required assembly. This is the junior high school assembly. Groups will perform for them, there will be competitions between bands for points, and there'll be important announcements.



Today they were playing the life-saver-on-a-toothpick-and-pass-the-life-saver-to-another-person game.





The audience has a lot of fun cheering for the students chosen to represent their band. At 7 o'clock, the campers went to a masterclass run by the faculty who play/teach their instrument. Here's Mr. Lemon and his horn ensemble he's taking to Denver next week.



All the clarinetists (junior high school and high school) were in the Branding Iron Theatre (BIT).





There teachers performed for them. Mr. Storey was the MC, and they had some question and answer time in between pieces. Believe me when I tell you that there is a lot of experience on that stage!



The tubas and euphoniums combined for their masterclass.



The bassoons were watching a short documentary on the Fox bassoon company to see how the instruments are made. The bassoon faculty also performed for the campers.



The flutists were setting up for a quiz game where a person could earn Jolly Ranchers. (I'd like to play for a Jolly Rancher, but I had to move on to collect my attendance sheets.)



All the percussionist were squeezed (squozen ?) into the percussion ensemble room, which is a fairly nice-sized room except during band camp.



Mr. Rath had the students close there eyes and listen for a "characteristic timpani sound." Playing drums is more than just hitting things. There's some science to it. Anyway, I enjoyed his demonstration.



When I arrived, Dr. Takacs was answering questions from the audience about trumpets.



About 9 o'clock I went over to the Virgil Henson Activities Center. There are raquetball courts. I think it's about $.50 to rent a raquet.



Or you can play raquetball without a raquet.



There's a nice, open space for basketball, volleyball, etc. and there's a raised track for walkers and runners. There's also a weight room, but I think you have to be 18 to use it.



On the lower level, there's a bowling alley. It costs money, but it's reasonably priced.



There's bingo for the students who want to do that. Area merchants donate prizes. The students were trying to win a $10 gift certificate to Feldman's, which is a restaurant right across the street from WT. $10 would buy you some good eats.



These girls (at least one of them) begged to have their picture taken, so I did it.



Some of the campers brought their video games, so they hooked up to a big screen TV and thought they were at home!



These campers weren't bothering anyone, so I did.



That's a wrap. I think it's my curfew time.