THERE AND BACK AGAIN or HOW I MADE 500 GRILLED CHEESE SANDWICHES IN ONE NIGHT!

GLASSMEN DRUM AND BUGLE CORPS - TOLEDO, OH

For those of you who don't know, Daddy V's oldest daughter Laura, is embarking on "an adventure of a life time" by pursuing a baritone spot with the Glassmen Drum and Bugle Corps from Toledo, Ohio. Friday, November 23 was the beginning of the Glassmen camp with 260 prospective members in attendance, breaking down to 100 brass, 100 percussion and 60 guard (approx.). After registering, Daddy V was whisked off to the Glassmen kitchen to help prepare the evening snack (which consisted of the afore mentioned 500 grilled cheese sandwiches) Glassmen have there own building known as G-West. To be perfectly frank, it's a dumpy old school building that leaks air, smells bad and is falling apart - but, hey, it's home! Laura attended the first all corps meeting and then joined the horn line for their first practice. To be honest, I worked til 1:00 AM on Saturday, got up and helped with breakfast at 6:00 AM, worked until 1:00 AM Sunday morning (no kidding - it takes a lot of work to feed and clean up after 260 kids) got up at 6:00 AM again and worked until 3:00 at which time I attended the "show and tell" presentation. Except for meals, I never even saw Laura! Her audition went well and she is planning a return trip during December for Round 2 and daddy V is once again planning a return to the kitchen - just don't let Mrs. Daddy V know or she'll expect me to do kitchen work at home too!

Pep Band Time

Hey banders past and present! Basketball season is just around the corner and that means plenty of pep band tunes on the way! What are your favorites both past and present? Give us your top 5 likes and dislikes! If you are a Patriot alum, give us an idea what year your tunes were played.

LEARNING ABOUT BAND FROM BIRDBRAINS!

Teambuilding and Teamwork

Geese… Fact #1: As each bird flaps its wings when flying in formation, it creates uplift for the bird following. By flying in a “V” formation, the whole flock adds 71 percent greater flying range than if one bird flew alone.
Lesson Learned: People who share a common direction and sense of community can get where they are going quicker and easier because they are traveling on the strength of one another.

Geese… Fact #2: When a goose falls out of formation, it feels the drag and resistance of flying alone and quickly returns to the formation.
Lesson Learned: If we have as much sense as geese, we will stay in formation with those who are ahead of where we want to go and we will be willing to accept their help as well as give our help to others.

Geese… Fact #3: Geese in formation honk from behind to encourage those up front to keep up their speed.
Lesson Learned: We need to make sure our honking from behind is encouraging and not something else.

Geese… Fact #4: When the lead goose gets tired, it rotates back into the formation and another goose flies at the point position.
Lesson Learned: It pays to take turns doing the hard tasks and sharing leadership.

Thanks to Krista Lucas for the above post! I hope we all read it and learn!

PATRIOT GUARD GEARS UP FOR COMPETITION!

PATRIOT GUARD RETURNS TO COMPETITION!
For the first time in 10 years, the Patriot Guard will be competing this winter in the Indiana High School Color Guard Association winter guard circuit. For those of you who have never seen a winter guard program before, it takes place on a high school gym floor. Each guard designs a show that includes flags, rifles, sabers along with props, back drops and other things to "tell" their story. This year, the Patriot Guard will compete in class B which means our show will be 3 minutes long. After class B comes class AAA, the AA, then A. After this comes open and world class. Each class requires a longer show length. Every guard must work themselves up through the ranks in order to compete in the higher classes. Jay County was one of the first competing color guards in the state of Indiana, starting way back in 1980. We were out of it until about 1993 when Lori Mark and Daddy V started the winter guard up again. The guard competed until 1998, narrowly missing state finals in 1997. The new edition of the winter guard is thanks to the enthusiasm of Emilie Boyes who spent 5 years competing in winter guard during her high school career (no genius, it didn't take her 5 years to get through high school - her guard used middle school kids!) Keep your eye on TTMDV for updates as the show progresses.

WEEKEND WITH THE STAFF!

Daddy V and Lucia Hart

One of the best parts of my job is the people with whom I get to work Not just the kids - most of you are a pleasure to work with - but also the adults who I work with in and out of school time. Saturday was a staff reunion at Scotty's Brewhouse in Muncie and a good time was had by all! On Sunday, we had our first creative meeting for next summer's show. We listened to a lot of music and tossed around some show ideas, themes, and titles. Certainly not in a position to make any big announcements yet but probably some time after New Year. Stay tuned.

FLIPPIN' INCREDIBLE!

That's right! Flippin' incredible! I was in total shock yesterday when the saxophones tested on the parade tune and FIVE, count 'em, FIVE students could not play the required measures. Not due to lack of practice but because their instruments were not in working condition! That's incredible! It's like going to take a test in class and forgetting to bring a pencil! And I'm sure there are similiar problems in the flute and clarinet section. Within 10 minutes I had all but 1 of the saxes up and running again - small problems! How can you sit in class day after day with an instrument that does not work and do nothing about it! Everyone wants to win - everyone wants to be the best - everybody thinks we get shafted - yet we proved yesterday that many of us do not know how to be champions. People are griping that we are testing - they're gonna quit - they hate concert band - it's boring! But next summer - whoa baby, we want to be the best! Well ya know what, in the words of legendary band director Dave Humbert "Everyone wants to go to Heaven but no one wants to die!" If you can't stand the heat get out of the kitchen! We don't need you if your best is a broken horn and a half-baked attitude! Anderson Highland used to have over 200 kids in their band and were moderately successful. Many quit when Mr. Fletcher came along because he held them accountable for their ability to play their instruments in a correct and musical fashion. The numbers are steadily increasing and guess what - they won State Fair last year! If our summer marching program is what you consider to be your be all and end all of bandom then suck it up and start working now! This is a class with a state mandated curriculum and standards and as long as Mr. Smeltzer is in charge it will be run according to those standards. If it's too much work then, again, in the words of Mr. H, "don't let the door hit you in the butt!"

Talk to me, I'm
Daddy "Steamin Mad" V

SAVE THE DRAMA FOR YO MAMA!

:(

Once again the ugly face of drama has begun to surface in the Patriot Band program. For a while, the drama always seemed to be limited to the guard, but it seems to have infiltrated the flute and trombone sections. I hope you all know what I'm talking about. That "woe is me", "I'm the only one who cares", "she said this about me", "he looked at me cross-eyed" attitude that does nothing but cause problems in the organization. The worst is the "I heard that she/he said such and so about me". In the legal world, that's called heresay evidence and is not permissable in court. In the band world, we call it the "telephone game". You know, I say something to you and you say it to the next person, who says it to the next person, etc. and by the time it gets to the end of the chain "Four score and seven years ago" turns into "A bucket of wings and a six-pack to go" (six-pack of rootbeer, that is). Get used to it! It happens in the adult world, too, but there it's called gossip and it hurts just as much whether your 15 or 50. But folks, it's only words and words can't hurt you. Hurt your feelings, yes, but that's it! That's also when you find out who your true friends are. Friends support by lending an ear not a fist. A shoulder on which to cry is better solution then revenge. There's a great line from the musical "Fiddler on the Roof" in which one of the townspeople insists that the Jews fight the Russians. As he says "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth" (Old Testament - The Bible) Tevye's comeback is "So then we all end up blind and toothless." Think about it and then "save the drama for yo mama".

Talk to me,
I'm Daddy "Back Again" V

BACK IN THE SADDLE.....

Greetings to all my TTMDV fans and my apologies for leaving you hanging for the last month. Secretary (aka Jason Hart) told me that the server that takes care of TTMDV was hit with a power surge, effectively frying the drives and shutting us down. Personally, I believe it was a plot by left-wing liberal, tree-hugging, Bambi-loving, Hillary-supporting Democrats who are trying to take away my inalienble (or is it unalienable) rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness! But I digress! I have a boat-load of issues backed up in the "Daddy V file" that will be posted shortly! As always, my thanks goes out to my two favorite tekkies Jason "Secretary" Hart and Mark "Melon-soon-to-be-wed" Garringer for their help in getting TTMDV back on line. You guys are #1!!!!

Welcome Miss Hargraves

The JCHS Band is proud to welcome Miss Becky Hargraves to the band staff this semester. Miss Hargraves is a student at Taylor University and will be completing a portion of her student teaching with the Patriots before her anticipated graduation later this year.

Well now...Where to begin?

 Look at the pictures of the summer as well as listen/view some of the media. It was another super successful summer with the Patriots. Some people seem to think 5th place at State Fair isn't a good thing but I'm super pleased considering there were 50 bands there. I know one of my years we placed 3rd and there were only around 30 band there. Not to mention the fact that the kids just played their hearts out and sounded awesome. It's definitely not the kids fault that the judges didn't like the content of the show.

Now intead of working 8-5 for the day job, then 5-9 for the band, then 9-1 for the day job I might actually have some free time to look at houses and get things back to a semi organized state!

Nahh...