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From Thursday evening to Sunday evening, I was on a drum corps bus trip from Minneapolis to Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. We took charter buses for the almost 24-hour trips there and back. Randy and I rode the “baby bus.” The “wine and cheese bus” (adults, light drinking) was full, so we had to

Photo: Patty McKenna (This pic is from our very first show.) I’ve been feeling in waaaaaaaaaaaaay over my head in color guard. Staffers will call out commands that I have no idea of the meaning of, like, “If it’s windy, spin outside the silk more.” Or something like that. Anyway,

Well, I survived my first two drum corps shows. After a disastrous run-through at practice, I said to staffer Heather, “I’m clearly not ready to do the opener.” That’s the opening number that includes the oar work above. “You need to,” she said. And that was that. So I did all

Quick update for anyone following my color guard adventures. Our first show is tonight. I will maybe (if I can get oar work figured out this afternoon) be doing everything but the closing piece.  I am terrified. That is all. If you’ve never seen drum corps, here’s a sample from Minnesota

In color guard, there are two conflicting techniques for how to know where you should be on the field at any given beat of music: March Your Dots — Know exactly what your position should be for every step–for instance, 3 steps outside the 45-yard line and 8 steps behind

I’ve gotten a few emails recently asking about my color guard progress, since I haven’t posted about it. (Here’s how my color guard adventure started out…) I haven’t posted because I have no time! This activity is more time-consuming than I ever planned, because I have to practice so much

This year, I’ve been really stretching out of my comfort zone in both my writing and in my free time. (Here’s how my color guard adventure started out…) Recently, I’ve taken a couple of hard knocks in both arenas. In writing, I’ve needed to branch out beyond my usual age

Last week was our first Minnesota Brass color guard practice since auditions. I got to video the new portion of the audition routine, and this week I’m trying to learn it before practice again. So off and on, I’ve been out in the backyard (which has alternated between too snowy, too swampy, and too

I got word on Friday–I made it! If you’ve been following my Minnesota Brass adventure, you know I had official auditions for the color guard 2–1/2 weeks ago. Thank you to all of you who have been encouraging me over the past few months as I’ve struggled with this new

Minnesota Brass auditions were Wednesday night. You know how on So You Think You Can Dance, there are always dancers that do really well with their routine they’ve been perfecting for ages? And then Nigel and Mia and Adam send them on to choreography to see how well they can pick