World of Pageantry

I have a friend who is a drum major at a nearby school and last year she fell off the podium backwards while conducting and got a concusion.

i remember uring a parade in chino i was doing a butterfly and i drooped my military and it bounced on the stopper and i caught uit back up and spun it into a salute ... he he great save

Self-taught DM

My first L pattern at Ayala HS (my first EVER) in Military Majors, I watched ppl that same day, made my routine on the spot, had a point taken off cuz I was late to inspection (I didn't know that they assigned times for those).

I finally got on the L, went through it, making things up as I went. Salute came up... back pass to left reverse roundhouse, THWACK! I caught my plume and slammed the visor on my nose. I did that salute blind, got 9/6.

Awards ceremony was coming up. I originally hitched a ride there with the color guard. I felt so bad after my performance that I didn't want to go to the ceremony and just watch from the side. Color guard director convinced me to get dressed and participate. 4th place... then I got announced.

Here's a few more...

In parades...
-At Chino and Arcadia, I hit my left leg as i did my back pass

In L-Pattern...
-I used the song "Tequila" with the words cut out. Ben Schroeder was NOT amused :-p
-Open Div. @ Montebello last semester, I did my left turn a few feet before the actual left turn. I followed the paint on the ground instead of the duct tape

haha, i do believe i remember both of those bryan. im not sure on the tequila one, but im pretty sure i was there.

heres my most embarassing moment. this may reveal who i am, but oh well. here it goes.

Arcadia HS - 2007 - Open Conducting:

lets just run through my day. i was late in getting up to arcadia from san diego. so i drove like a mad man. had to pick up my tux-attire that morning. did it all quick. hauled ass. (got there in like, 1.5 maybe 2 hours THANK YOU! kids.... do NOT try that at home... or anywhere...ever...)

i go to get into my uniform after i find out they had made some major alterations to the schedule - instead of having the hour that i thought i had, there was only about 15 minutes. crap. so i go to get dressed to find out two things.... 1- my tie was left at home. 2- my BLACK DRESS SHIRT was left at the cleaners all the way in san diego. needless to say i was pissed, but the show must go on. thankfully i was wearing a shirt with long sleeves that could look like a dressshirt when i put a vest and someone elses tie over it.

MEAT AND POTATOES:
going through the performance was great. except the shirt that i was now wearing wasnt meant as a dress shirt. so it was shorter. i dont even think i got 1/4 of the way through my routine before my shirt came COMPLETELY untucked and was now hanging there. what made it worse is that the side got stuck in my vest. so now, every time i went to make a gigantic downbeat (i tend to get in to my music a lot) youd see, quite clearly, my looney tunes boxers all flying out there like nobody's business. at that point, i think brennan england had a cow. my appearance score was nothing to be proud of. very embarassing.


and then somehow it happened again at montebello, but this time i HAD my dress shirt. it was the semester of underwear for me. how wonderful.

HA HA HA!!! Laluenke!

So, are you bringing any kids to L Pattern this year? Funny stories btw.

Umm, you weren't there for the "Tequila" moment cuz that happened at Thousand Oaks in 1999. (shows how old i am).

Another funny moment was back then, some of the judges would switch up the vocal commands within a category. I remember getting caught off guard, and being used to seeing ppl do left and right face. When I got up there, the judge told me to do the opposite, but it was too late. It was already in my head to do left and right, and I got penalized for not listening. LOL!

For the record, I did not have "a cow," but maybe a kitten.

The tequila incident will go down forever in my mind as a time when time stopped and my brain could only think of things I could not record on tape (I was apprenticing, and Schroeder was way nicer than I dmcoach.)

I too have messed up the directional commands. If memory serves me it was at USA South. I said "Right Hace" in my best drum major voice and promptly turned to the Left. I was absolutely mortified, but kept on going. To make it right I had to say "Left Hace" and turn to the Right. Ben Schroeder and Chris Bender had a good laugh at my expense.

But the best moment was when as drum major at El Roble IS as a pubescent boy. I called the band to attention as loud as I could muster and my voice cracked. The entire band laughed and the band director made a joke at my expense. I was a unhappy boy. But as a band director now, I would probably laugh too.

You were apprenticing that day?

This season's gonna be fun, and I know we'll see those moments on the L.

bryan, L-pattern? no. i cant spin. you saw the atrocity known as my l-pattern attempt at arcadia hahahaha. it was so bad, one of the judges thought i was doing l-pattern to joke around when in ACTUALITY... i wasnt. lol. i just had no coaching and really had only a slight idea of what i was doing, not that it helped me save face any.

no no, ill be trying to bring up kids through the conducting ranks. i have a couple that i think could be state champions if their talent and perserverance (i totally spelled that wrong) from band and music can transfer over to conducting properly. its just hard convincing people. thats all.


okay brennan, ill give you that. a "kitten." the look on your face could have easily been misconstrued! lol. you didnt look too pleased about the matter.

As a matter of fact, I do not like judging open divisions. Open divisions at this point are not supported by the Association, and many times it just prolongs an already very long day. Many times the intentions behind Open divisions are well thought through, however, many of the performances are not.

that can be understood.

i do it to have fun, but its not like i do it to joke around, ya know? its just a chance to keep my skills sharp, with the occasional friendly competition here or there. im kind of glad they have the Open division.

Then there are those days when Open Divisions are just plain fun.

Still, the most successful Open Division executed was when Gladstone first hosted it in 2000. We had approximately 10 - 12 people signed up for it ranging from Apprentices, to Alumnis, and also having both State Champions from the prior year from both mace and military (Daniel Lutsch and Kevin Rhodes), and even a former State Champion competing. That was an amazing event because all styles were included, Military baton, American mace, and Scottish mace. The fact that current and previous State Champions had the opportunity to compete against each other was great!

True, the day could be a little long, but I feel that no one should be excluded from any of the competitions. If there's a demand for a division, and the hosting school decides to accommodate it, then more power to both parties. There's nothing wrong in good entertainment, friendly competition, and the promotion of drum majoring.

*sorry for getting off topic*

yeah. it gives everyone a chance to compete against eachother if they want to. a few of my students say they want to practice and do all that to challenge me in the open division. more power to them, i think thats awesome. good motivator for drum majors.

Nothing compared to the above stories (TEQUILA?!!!), but I remember there was a competition my junior year where my whistle unknowingly fell into my vest and I had to continue the whole L with vocal commands. To make things worse, I was catching a cold so my voice sounded like I was going through puberty again. Good times. Is Arcadia doing open again? Can't wait to see legends like Laluenke and Bryan back in action again while I sit on the sidelines in a t-shirt and jeans, right where I belong

haha. on the side-lines?? where you, WHAT?! mr 2nd place state champion???? you should be up there on that podium!!! (just for the record though... im not a legend. lol. too much pressure. )

i say mr big bird joins the ranks of us old-farts-to-be and performs!!!

all the "I's"????

So I have Been Missing for a little bit......haha but I came on here after so long haha..Aw I do Miss Going out to compete..I used have so much fun...I do got A couple Embarrsing Moments haha..I remember this one Year at Glendora It was Raining and the competiton was inside, i was doing my military routine and I did so well up till my hault and i was doing the most simple thing and my Baton went flying behind my head haha...Hum...I Remember when i used to conduct i used to be afraid that the high podiums would tip over and i always got so close to the edges haha..funny stuff... [/b]