Hear My Thoughts In Every Note
Friday, September 2, 2011 at 12:00AM Previously on Bucyrus, Ohio, Totally Has it Goin' On:
- The days are long, the rental room ain't unpacked, and the air mattress hates me.
- Marching Fundamentals of Doom continue for Band candidates
- Sometimes, when I video Drum Major performances, I like to make bold artistic statements by not including the actual Drum Major in the frame.
When this all began, so much snow piled in the parking lots surrounding Ohio Stadium that entire rows were blocked from use, and no matter how many layers of fleece and determination I placed between my skin and the elements, I was left trembling.
These days, watching the pre-tryout drilling and first rehearsals of the 2011 Ohio State University Marching Band, I've turned to baseball caps and stratums of sunblock. And yet I remain unprotected in a great many ways. The changes are manifest in my face, on my upper arms and on slices of my legs where the August sun cuts across the metal bleachers. My eyes, too, are streaked with red.
The day I met the Drum Major, Jason Stuckert, he wore a heavy letter jacket and stretched his legs out beneath the table of a campus bar. Now, baton on the field at his feet, he leans briefly forward at the waist, bent by the midwestern humidity and lack of sleep. And then he dumps water over his head and readjusts the whistle which has slung from the front of his neck around to his back in the process of executing drill after drill, toss after toss-- and the baton is back in his hand, where it belongs, and he is off again at a run.
I write it all down now, every single thing, in little notebooks or the backs of receipts or in the margins of sheet music someone's tossed aside; there is terror in losing any second of this, for what I see is so jammed with exhaustion and strain my usual mental padlocks are fully shattered by the time warmups are finished. I have sat on the edge of a field containing 225 people in full brass, march, and percussion blast, immobilized beneath profound loneliness and endless sweeps of homesickness for I have no idea where.
And then later the same day I watched a single drummer blast through a difficult passage, get it exactly right, then tap both sticks lightly against the rim in celebration, bouncing on his toes, exulting in this enormous victory of controlled and measured noise. And I hear these notes ricochet across the rehearsal room, glancing off the music stands and the instrument cases and the enormous Script Ohio mural behind him and, yeah, me and the smears of my sunblock... and I have found accompaniment.
Today's Tasting Room Musical Note is sponsored by appreciating every mix tape your friends make:
Reader Comments (23)
...I have known and loved this band for years and years.
I had no idea it was like this for them.
This is incredible.
endless sweeps of homesickness for I have no idea where
Oh... I bet I do.
Pictures and video Pictures and video Pictures and video Pictures and video Pictures and video Pictures and video
Pictures and video!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh, and:
Pictures and video.
... and I have found accompaniment.
I see what you diiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiid theeeeeeeeeeeerrrrrreee.....
Your are at your absolute amazing best when describing this "man up front." It's gonna be one helluvaride.
Blonde Champagne: Come for the posts about OSUMB, stay for the painstaking discussion of sunblock.
"Wait, what was that noise?"
"Weird blonde writer who follows us around found accompaniment."
"Oh, OK."
endless sweeps of homesickness for I have no idea where
Oh... I bet I do.
(nodding)
Ohio State is receiving the full value on its money that Notre Dam threw away.
I predict, however, that this will not be an entirely pleasant day for Miss Belle, TBDBITL notwithstanding.
"And then he dumps water over his head and readjusts the whistle which has slung from the front of his neck around to his back in the process of executing drill after drill, toss after toss-- and the baton is back in his hand, where it belongs, and he is off again at a run."
Man's a baton mofo, and also an Ironman rock star. I'm pretty sure you can be both.
IT'S GAME DAY!!
Go forth and Be Awesome, Our Jason and Band! Stay cool 8)
What a long, strange, cooler and badassery-marked journey it's been
(sniffle)
Our Young One, all an Awesome Indestructible Man now and shit.
Onward, OSUMB Triumphant.
Great game Bucks! MB can't wait for the full report!
BREAKING NEWS ON BLONDE CHAMPAGNE
Pale blonde people sunburn easily!
Film at 11!
Heh:
http://tinyurl.com/3du7rcn
And God said, "Not only will you lose Mary Beth, I shall hurl big frickin' lighting bolts directly into your stadium on game day."
Looking forward to every single sousaphone swing, Miss Belle!
(throwing pebbles against the window of Mary Beth's room in Columbus)
Hey! You with the rack and the mad writing skeelz!
Make with the pronouncements of Drum Major awesomeness!
(throwing pebbles against the window of Mary Beth's room in Columbus)
(adds in empty beer cans)
WE DEMAND THAT YOU CONTINUE PROVIDING FREE MARCHING BAND CONTENT TO US UPON REQUEST!
"And God said, "Not only will you lose Mary Beth, I shall hurl big frickin' lighting bolts directly into your stadium on game day.""
I don't know, that shutdown might have been considered a divine act of mercy. That game was ugly.
Patience, people, word on the street and at That Other Site is that she's working up a liveblog post of the game.
WE DEMAND THAT YOU CONTINUE PROVIDING FREE MARCHING BAND CONTENT TO US UPON REQUEST!
(adds hotel keys into list of projectiles)
What, worth a shot.
Patience, people, word on the street and at That Other Site is that she's working up a liveblog post of the game.
plus if her FB profile is to be believed she is currently cooking dinner for whole bunch of trumpet players, lol
I am tired of refreshing! Come on now Tink!