Having a sister is tough, having 24 of them is a nightmare

If you spend too much time with anybody they are going to get on your nerves. If you spend every day with them for a week straight doing physical labor all day they are going to get pretty annoying pretty fast. We try to keep everyone on the guard neutral year 'round because it just makes the entire operation run smoother. When people argue it complicates everything because you try to separate them as much as possible but you have to move forward. The more difficult things before the more people look to complain about things and push the blame onto other people. Some people will lose friendships over the fact that Suzie in the back row can't catch her double. I would be lying if I said by the end of the season that everyone loved each other, I would definitely be lying if I said that everyone was friends. It's the show that matters the most though.

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A "How To" on Tosses

 

Begin with the flag in a right slam (silk to your right side, pole angled). Tosses can be thrown with either hand but the majority of people learn right tosses before left tosses so we will begin there. Keep your right hand on the tab (or tape) where your silk ends and the pole begins. Tosses are mastered by the way you turn your wrist and the power that comes from it. Jumping does not help to get the pole any higher. Your hand will turn 180 degrees during the motion I am now going to explain. Begin bringing your arm up so that it will end straight up and down with your hand in the air. As you do this start turning your wrist in. Once your hand is at eye level, flick your wrist and release. Your arm will end straight and your hand should be open, almost as if you are doing the "I have a question" motion. Singles are caught straight up and down, but in the beginning as long as you catch it, you're doing great. The more you practice the more you will get the hang of it.

Injuries and equipment go hand in hand, literally.

Imagine that you are standing in the center of the parking lot, tossing something about a foot taller than you and weighs five pounds into the air. You toss and catch then repeat. Eventually the wind begin to pick up and it becomes harder to control your tosses until suddenly, wack, your weapon comes slamming down onto your face. It hurts a lot and the natural reaction is to cry because it slammed perfectly across your nose and eyes but you push through the pain and maybe ice your face.

Injuries are a very regular occurrence during marching band season. I honestly would be surprised if we made it through a practice without someone hurting themselves. Wind is a guard member's worst enemy. At one rehearsal a girl on the rifle line was practicing her triples. Rifles range anywhere between two and four pounds. The way that tosses are named is by how many full revolutions it does in the air, that means that in order to toss a triple you have to toss it high enough with enough power that it does three full revolutions in the air before coming back down. We had a girl go to the wrong spot during rehearsal and she decided to back up at the wrong time (it doesn't help that her tosses were also not under control yet) and therefore caused the second girl to lose her focus and miss her catch. The rifle came slamming down onto her face and nearly broke her nose. Luckily she only had a nose bleed after the impact, the other girl however....well, she is much better, now.

You can pick your friends, you just can't hit their drums

There is another section in the band that has become family to us and that section is the drumline. Both of our sections share a pretty hectic schedule and therefore we see each other a lot more than some people like to admit (you know thirteen hour weeks or so). As a whole the drumline is a group of very eccentric, patient, caring, goofballs that go above the bar to perfect everything they put on (and off) the field. They of course also work to uphold the macho "badass" façade that comes with the title. However as individuals I have come to learn that some of them are no more terrifying than a teddy-bear. The drumline will take you in and guide you throughout your freshman year, making sure that you don't get lost on the way to class, or are ever without a bed because your horrible roommate locked you out once again since her boyfriend is staying the weekend, again.  They start off as your friends, then they are your best friends, and finally they become your siblings.

2013 Seniors



 

Where we started from and where we ended up.

At the start of the summer each section leader gets a list of people interested in joining their section of the band. That list is usually between seven or eight people but rarely will everyone show up. At the end of our last season we said goodbye to only one senior, leaving us with a color guard of fourteen. During my summer I received a list that said fifteen girls were interested in joining our color guard. Much to my surprise on the first day our color guard grew from fourteen to twenty-six. We lost two of our veterans to school work but gained all fifteen bright and shinning freshman eager to begin their college band careers. To say that I wasn't terrified would be lying. How was I going to be able to keep the largest section in the band under control, moving together as one, all within five days. Needless to say we got through it, but the road wasn't easy. The transformation I have watched these girls go through is astounding.

 

They have learned to control their tosses and to march in (almost) a straight line. You cannot pick out who has never done it before, and who has been spinning since they were fourteen. Rachel (the one in the back row with the red lips) has come the farthest. She spent half of the season incapacitated from illness and she still caught on. She learned three routines in a week, marched two different shows, and was able to participate in our annual concert. Did I mention she has never touched a flag? Then there are people like Katelyn (second row from the bottom, fourth in from the left) and Jess (third row, last one on the right) who are sophomores but stepped up their teaching styles so that the new girls would have more veterans to follow. I am so proud of each and every one of them because we are leaps and bounds farther than we were three months ago. It is a brand new guard.

Practice on and off the Fields

Currently at URI our marching band practices in the commuter/faculty parking lot located at the top of campus, behind the Fine Arts Center (FAC for short). One of the biggest misnomers I have ever heard on campus is that we practice there by choice. This could not be farthest from the truth. At this university marching band is a class. We are required to attend every football game and practice, we also get graded at the end of the semester. We practice on this parking lot field because University does not want us on the football field except for during the games. We would be more then glad to open up that section of the lot during the day and close it off from four to six, but then we run the risk of cars being left in the middle of our "classroom". Ironically enough our practice field in the parking lot is not even done correctly. Once you get to the right end of the field where the ten and fifteen are...the lines become crooked. They don't even become a little crooked, they literally become diagonal. Our Ten yard line is also blacked out with tar, and then redone in a different position. This becomes insanely frustrating when learning drill. Believe me, we wish we were down on the field. So next time you curse us in your head for stealing your parking spaces to have class, please try and be a little more understanding since we literally have no control.