My high school band entered yet another band review not too long ago, just last week to be exact.
I had to wake up a lot earlier than before. 4:00 AM. Can you believe that? I had an hour to get ready because I had to be at school by 5:10 AM. So I took my shower, ate no breakfast (lol) and dressed up in my wind ensemble attire. My mom drove me to school a little later after I was ready.

When I got to the stoplight before school, I saw nobody there. Well, it was dark, so I couldn't see. When I got to the sidewalk, I saw a few people. Not even half the band was there and it was 5:00 AM. Not even our band director was there. So I ended up just waiting there, almost fully awake, with my clarinet case in my hand. Boring.

I waited and waited, then finally our band director, along with more of the band members. We then walked towards the band room where we could have our meeting. We talked about stuff. Stuff I don't remember. Raymond, my friend from 7th grade who plays the flute, came up to me and said if he could sit next to me on the bus. Like the nice guy I am, I said sure. Why not, right? So in the darkness, we walked towards the bus where we set our ride to Pleasanton.

Food was being passed back and forth in the two rows of seats. I was in the back with Raymond, with him having the window seat. Muffins, bananas, string cheese, and more were being passed back. Blueberry muffins I saw, and I immediately took them. I was hungry and blueberry muffins are good.
The ride was... boring. I wanted to sleep more, but noooo. Our wind ensemble was the first to perform.

After an hour later, we arrived at Amador Valley High School where the band review was being held. We set up our instruments, warmed them up by blowing warm air into them because it was cold which was making our pitch flat (lower than regular pitch).

I got off the bus and waited until were were told to do something. I saw my friend, Siyou, a fellow member of the clarinet section, cold and shivering. I offered her my wind ensemble jacket, but she refused and said it was okay. I asked if she was sure, but she said she was fine. Right then, another fellow member of the clarinet section, Evelyn, came up and said I was a gentleman. Siyou agreed and also said I was a gentleman. Evelyn said I would find a good girlfriend, and I thought that was nice of her to say that. We walked into the practice room which was a small basketball court, well, it looked small to me. And yeah, we were flat, of course. It was really cold. Minutes later, after we warmed up and played our selected pieces which were:

Windsprints - Richard L. Saucedo
Amazing Grace - Frank Ticheli
Velocity - Richard Sheldon

Later, we walked to the performance area. Stage, I mean. The stage was... dry. No resonance. I wasn't nervous. I don't think I get nervous anymore when I play in concerts. I sat in my seat, well Siyou's seat because she was playing the piano part for Windsprints, and waited until our band conductor, Mr. Cato, was ready.

Windsprints was... it was an okay run. I wish my runs in the beginning and end were cleaner and clearer. I also wish I played my eighth notes longer so I could create resonance in such a dry stage.

Next was Amazing Grace. That was horrible. It went to fast, people were out of tune, including me. I don't want to talk about this one, lol. It was just so bad.

Velocity was pretty much our best piece because we've worked so much on this. It was also my favorite piece in the set. Velocity had a jazzy feeling, especially the low brass and low woodwind parts. I loved those. The runs were so fun, except that horrid one at measure 136. Bleh.
Overall, when we performed this, I think it was pretty good.

Now all that was left was marching band and drumline. We had a good 2 or 3 hours of break time. There was food and drinks set out for us. Sadly, that break was too quick and Cato wanted us to practice the march while he practiced with the drumline. Marching was marching. Oh, we had new berets. Those things itched my head and made my sweat a lot.

When it was our turn to march, we marched to the practice zone where we got inspected. We then played the march. It was okay. I just wish we hadn't rushed the end. Finally, when we got to the performance zone, we got introduced by the judge, or whoever was speaking in the booth. He kept calling us the "Munching Monarchs" when we were the "Marching Monarchs". I thought that was pretty funny.

We played the march, The Purple Carnival, by Harry L. Alford. I thought we did pretty well. I'm not going to go into too much detail since it's just marching and I absolutely hate marching.

Drumline was up next. I'm also not going to go much into this because I'm not in it and I don't think I want to lol. They performed "You're a Jerk" by New Boyz. Yeah, that song that everyone listens to. I thought it was a pretty cool song to turn into a drumline ensemble piece.

Stuff happened after that. And then we got on the bus to get back to school to put the equipment back into the band room. So yeah, that day was a pretty okay day.

Foothill Band Review results - Mt. Eden High School

Wind Ensemble - 1st Place
Drumline - 3rd Place

(I don't know if marching band got a prize, my e-mail didn't mention them. xP)