Hey guys! This is my first post for the summer, sorry for the delay. I don't have pictures to share at the moment, but I can't hold off on sharing the story any longer. (Post may be lengthy, sorry not sorry) This definitely counts as Make a new friend. If you count conducting in mixed meter as an instrument, you could say I Learned a new instrument as well.
As many of you probably know, I have the privilege to serve the Cypress Bay Sound of Thunder band as a drum major this coming year (no I do not play the drums; here's what Wikipedia says about drum majors if you don't know: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drum_major) . In order to be prepared for the job ahead of me, I attended the George N. Parks Drum Major Academy at UCF this past weekend.
I didn't know anyone there; on Thursday night I sat in a room with 81 strangers. Monday afternoon I said goodbye to 81 family members.
The days were long, and breaks were short (more like nonexistent). Activities ran nonstop; we moved fluidly from breakfast, to outdoor basics block, lunch, conducting class, more basics block, leadership seminar, dinner, and a final lecture in the evening (a 7:30 am day - about 11:30pm). We learned an incredible amount of information for four days.
The best part, I think, was the fact that the staff was so willing to share their personal stories. The main message given to us was that our job as leaders is to inspire the people around us, and we were given the most outstanding examples of that message- most of the stories had us in tears.
What impacted me the most? Hard to say, but there was this one moment. Justin, the head staff member, told us to close our eyes. He asked us to envision past leaders that inspired us to reach the position we had achieved; to see the faces of all the upperclassmen who had pushed us and advised us to this point. I very clearly saw my pool of faces.
"Now open your eyes. All those people- they're gone now. They've graduated, and moved on. Now you have to take their place. You have to do all they did for you, but for someone else."
I have a lot to live up to, and tons of work to do before I would consider myself prepared for this season. However, DMA gave me the skills I needed to begin this journey. Yes; they taught us how to call commands properly, and gave us conducting tips, and showed us new marching techniques. But the most important thing the DMA staff gave us was an understanding of what we need to do and whom we need to become in order to bring success to our bands. And when things get tough, we now have the ability to turn to other drum majors outside of our respective schools for support and advice. Drum major academy was one of the best experiences of my life, and I certainly hope to go back as a veteran member
WITH PRIDE!!!!!!!!
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