Bushwackers Drum Corps

Do you want this community?

2005-01-17T01:52:06Z

I made this community for current and past members of the Bushwackers and people who are interested in knowing more about the corps. This community hasn't gotten much use and I have been the one posting most of the time.

So....

I ask if you are interested in keeping this community, PLEASE USE IT! If not, please let me know.

I would also like to step down as the maintainer for this community so if you DO want to keep the community on LJ, please tell me.

If I do not hear anything, then I will simply close the community altogether.

Holidays are here!

2004-12-21T21:37:50Z

I just wanted to take a minute to wish everyone Happy Holidays and a joyous New Year!

The percussion and brass sections have had a rehearsal during Open House and the weekend of December 18th and 19th. From what I heard, it has been very exciting!

Anyway, happy holidays....and feel free to post here!

<3 Jenni

Happy Thanksgiving!

2004-11-25T18:25:57Z

I wanted to take a minute to wish everyone a very happy Thanksgiving! I hope that everyone enjoys their time with family and friends.

Open House: Saturday, November 27

Bush 2005 Schedule

2004-10-24T13:42:12Z

Hey everyone!

I'm getting excited about the up-coming year with Bush! I am posting the schedule from the board to live journal for all to view.

I also want to point out that January 9th is my birthday and I like ice cream cake. ;)

Nov 27th, 12-6 open house, Rutgers Newark.

Dec 18-19, 10-6 Full corps camp, Rutgers.

Jan 9th , 10-6 Full corps, Garfield AL Post.

Jan 15-16 ,10-6 Full corps camp, Rutgers.

Feb 6-7, Full corps camp, Rutgers.

Feb 19, Drumline only 10-6, Garfield AL Post.
Feb 20, Full corps 10-6, Garfield AL Post.

March 5, Drumline only 10-6, Garfield AL Post.
March 6, Full corps 10-6, Garfield AL Post.

March 19-20, 10-6 Full corps camp. Rutgers.

April 9-10, 10-6 Full corps Camp. Rutgers.

April 23, 10-6 Drumline only, Garfield AL Post.
April 24, 10-6 Full corps, Garfield AL Post.

bushwackers @ 2004-09-18T01:06:00

2004-09-18T05:06:46Z

Since no one posts in here....

Enjoy!

2004-08-11T20:09:19Z

Hi, i'm just here advertising again about my community for mallet percussionists, we're really starting to grow, but of course it's always great to have more members. We accept all mallets players, whether you're on marimba, vibes, chimes, bells, xylophone, it doesn't matter.... just as long as you play! If you're interested, then please click on the link below and join our community.... Thanks!

Click here to join----------> mallet_mania

mallets

2004-08-05T08:30:31Z

hi, i'm new here. I am a mallet perucssionist, and i'm kind of trying to promote growth in my new community for mallet percussionists. if you're interested, click on the link below:

http://www.livejournal.com/userinfo.bml?user=mallet_mania

Intro

2004-07-30T08:42:03Z

bushwackers @ 2004-07-29T22:46:00

2004-07-30T02:46:11Z

hey can't wait for this weekend

Weekend up-date :)

2004-07-27T13:18:56Z

Heavy rains on Friday caused a cancellation of our show for Saturday. The forecast promised rain in large and small doses for the entire weekend. Our plans were to push ahead and get better by practicing both Saturday and Sunday.

I have to say that the weekend went extremely fast for me. Saturday's rehearsal went from 9-5pm and I loved how a lot of people showed up early to help line the field and take care of everything that needed to be in place for rehearsal. It was awesome to have everyone stretching and starting the day together because all the tasks were taken care of! WOOO! Overall, the day went well and we fixed some stuff for the show.

After rehearsal was Jamie's "Alumni" party. I say "Alumni" in quotes because there were more corps members than alumni that showed. I was hoping to see some more alumni but I guess since our show was canceled many people did not want to come out. Who knows? A good time was had by all at Jamie's party.

Sunday was another rehearsal day and INSTANT HORNLINE. In the beginning of the season we had instant drum line and and we got like 7 more horn players. I was excited as hell! I can't wait to clean more drill this coming weekend and max the mother fucking SHIT out of the show at Rhode Island in two weeks!

Yeah....so next weekend is another "camp" weekend. Come by, cheer us on, check us out.

I hope for us to turn some heads by finals!

(By the way, other members of this community can post here by going to up-date in your journal, then go to optional setting and change it to "bushwackers" for the journal to post in.)

Love to all, Jenni :)

Clifton weekend

2004-07-20T17:22:13Z

Friday night was a typical Friday. We start as close to 8pm as possible and people trickle in until the rehearsal is over. For some people there's a long drive and lots of traffic so that's completely understandable. The hornline sounded pretty good. We actually did a full run of the show but I remember when we used to do it his drums and guard standing still, of course. I would love to do that every friday night as a wrap-up.

Saturday I got there a little before 8am and there was talk about lining 3 fields. I don't know, I just got the yard markers and hauled them up to the field in my truck because someone asked me to. It turned out two fields were lined in the grass by the soccer fields. Rehearsal started with the ballad which was good because we re-learned it last Sunday and it needed to be better for the show that night. After pshing through the ballad, we worked on parts of the closer were the changed drill all over the place for the mellophones. Then we worked on parts of the opener and ended with a run of the opener. It was the first summer-like day of rehearsal and I know the tension was think luckily no panic buttons were hit. They gave us an hour lunch and I KNOW I needed that. After lunch we broke into sectionals and the horns had Joe Exley! I can't even remember all the things we worked on but that afternoon section was very focused. Plus we also had Lew, Scott, Chris, and Dena so there were a lot of ears and eyes to help us out. After we warmed up, we hit the field for ensemble after about a 10 minute water/break. In ensemble the tension came back but I know it's because everyone that's there wants us to be the best we can be and when there are letdowns, it very frustrating. We wrapped up the afternoon with a full run of the show which was not one of our best runs and Lew said, "Bad run throughs equal good shows", or something like that. I guess they were trying to keep us positive and I knew inside that we would definitely perform better after a little break.

Parking at the Clifton show was crazy as usual. Of course we are one of the first corps performing and one of the last to get to the show site and the showers. Around 6:45pm the guard, horns and drums met at the truck to go to warm-ups. The horn warm-up was pretty good and I was very excited about taking the field at Clifton. After warming up we went back to the truck for water and marched over to the field as a full corps. Clifton has a great stadium but the weirdest field. The grass there looks soft and perfect but underneath it's like a mine field because it's so bumpy and uneven! At the end of the show I felt like we had finally performed our show well. We all felt really good about the performance and afterwards we marched back to the truck together. When the scores came out it was sad to know Hurcs beat us by less than a tenth or something like that. Plus we barely went up in score and our show was MUCH better than the previous week. Sometimes knowing what DCA wants is impossible.

Sunday rehearsal started around 9am with stretching. Then the horns did basics and the guard worked on their stuff. After basics we changed the ending of our show. Throughout the afternoon it rained on and off and we did two run-throughs with our new ending. I actually feel like I have a good amount of energy toward the end. It would be coold if we don't have to dosey-do at the dosey-do section anymore because the guard is there tossing their rifles. The ending looks hot and is VERY exciting. We really lucked out with little rain over the course of the day for rehearsal which allowed us to focus on our show and accomplish a good amount of new drill.

I'd say it was a good weekend and the corps is really working together to be good. I love the way everyone pitches in to help out and do the right thing. It's awesome.

I'm really glad I came back this year. :)

Weekend themes...

2004-07-13T17:20:11Z

7/17 - Clifton, NJ - 70's

7/24 - New Brunswick, NJ - Mardi Gras

7/31 - Camp weekend - Crazy 80's weekend

8/7 - East Providence, Rhode Island - Toga/Bad Beer

8/14 - Kingston, NY - Christmas

8/21 - Waterbury, CT - Formal attire

8/28 - West Haven, CT - New Years Eve

9/3 - 9/5 - Finals weekend - Sunday night - Halloween

Reading...

2004-07-13T12:13:51Z

This past weekend was the Reading show.

I thank all those alumni, friends and family who came out to cheer us on or help out.

There are some definite plans to revamp some aspects of the show and more members are coming down to fill out the sections. This is only the beginning and I'm so excited to see the end product at finals.

Next week is Clifton so anyone who's interested, come out and support us.

REMEMBER: If you know anyone who can hold and play a horn, tell them to get there butt down to rehearsal so we can kick some tremendous butt!

The weekend in review....

2004-06-30T14:40:07Z

It's Wednesday and we're halfway through the week but I felt like posting about the weekend.

Friday night I didn't go to rehearsal because I'm in Bloomingdale Cornet Band and they were suppose to have a concert during the fireworks but due to bad weather, it was canceled. This gave me time to get ready for the weekend which was MUCH better.

Saturday I had no directions to the show but Vin printed out a map from mapquest.com and we found our way with such ease. In fact, it was better than the directions we had ever been given. I work well with maps. Vin and I arrived around 8:45am and people were finishing the field lining so we started stretching about 9am. Then we hit the field for about and hour and a half of rehearsal where we focused on the last half of the closer. Then we got to march in the ever-so-lovely Barnum Parade in Bridgeport. For the first year I wasn't tired and hung over because it was on Saturday instead of Sunday. In the parade the percussion section tracked the closer A LOT and I think we played about 3 or 4 times. At the end of the parade we were told to wait toward the side and we would be picked up by a bus to bring us back to the school and we wait for too long. FINALLY a bus comes after they told us to move toward another side of a bank building and we get back to the school for about 2 more hours of rehearsal.

Then it's time to shower, change, and warm-up for the show. Things are different with new staff but it keeps things fresh. Rich is really dedicated and he has so much enthusiasm and energy that it's infectious! It makes you want to do well because you don't want to let him down. Horn warm-up went well but that too is different...no clapping to focus in the beginning and we set up arch my Josh calling the commands when we used to stand at dress center until everyone was there. I like when we arrived at horn arch and stood at dress center until everyone was there. It motivated everyone to get there on time, or at least me. Times are different and I can accept that.

The show went well. I did pretty well except for the ballad where I AM CLUELESS about 3/4 of it! I missed the weekend it was taught and we haven't really gone over it so I made up some really good drill. ;) "Oh, there's Kim, meet up with her and then there's Tina, make an arch with her." We came in second with a 68.somethingorother. Go to dcacorps.org if you want the details. I tend to not focus on placement just because some of it is BS.

Sunday rehearsal started at 10am and we fixed and added some neat things. Hornarc ROCKED with Joe Exley. OH MY GOD HE IS AMAZING! We played SO MUCH BETTER with him in front of us. I feed from his passion and focus on the music. I really enjoyed hornarc with him. I seriously hope he comes around more often.

Overall, a good Bush weekend and it really made me solidify why I'm back. I just love Bush. It's not about the scores or the placement, it's about being with people who I love, making incredible music, working hard and supporting each other.

Another season is off to a good start...........

Bridgeport Weekend Checklist

2004-06-25T02:04:57Z

UNIFORM PARTS:

_____ Uniform top
_____ Uniform pants
_____ Black shoes
_____ Black socks
_____ Navy tee-shirt for the show (I think it's white for percussion?)
_____ PLAIN WHITE TEE-SHIRT for the parade
_____ Hat
_____ Gauntlets
_____ Clean white gloves
_____ Underwear/shorts/sports bra (to wear under your uniform)

EQUIPMENT:
_____ Horn/mouthpiece
_____ Cleaning cloth for horn/polish
_____ Dotbook/Drill
_____ Music
_____ Blue Towel
_____ Valve Oil

SHOWER STUFF:

_____ Towel
_____ soap, shampoo, conditioner
_____ hair brush/hair elastics
_____ shower sandals
_____ toothbrush/toothpaste

CLOTHING:

_____ shorts/shirts for practice on saturday
_____ shorts/shirts for practice on sunday
_____ sneakers
_____ socks
_____ undergarments

OTHER ITEMS:

_____ money
_____ sun tan lotion
_____ bug spray
_____ hat/sunglasses

FOOD:

_____ WATER
_____ Gatorade/juice
_____ bread
_____ lunch meat/cheese
_____ mustard
_____ fruit/veggies
_____ beer

This is my "drum corps preparation list" inspired from Al. Since I'm a huge fan of lists, I figured I'd post what mine is like.

I'm sure you can add/subtract certain items depending on your section but it helps me to make sure I'm prepared.

bushwackers @ 2004-06-17T21:32:00

2004-06-18T01:33:36Z

Kinda quiet on here, ay? How about.... which weekends are which? Theme-wise, I mean. Or if it's some big secret that no one is supposed to know, then nevermind this post...

Hello All!

2004-04-21T02:58:21Z

First off, Happy 4/20! It will be an entire year until I can say it again. ;)

Secondly, feel free to post here!

Third of all, SPREAD THE WORD THAT THIS JOURNAL IS HERE AND INVITE OTHERS TO JOIN!!!!

Since I am the moderator....

2004-02-27T23:56:19Z

I'll get the ball rolling.

What was your favorite year at Bush? Why?

REHERSAL, REHEASAL...Read all about it!

2004-01-15T22:31:10Z

This weekend The Bushwackers have winter camp on Saturday, January 17th and Sunday, January 18th.

Check the Bushwacker's Website for times and directions.

corps!!!

2003-10-20T21:06:43Z

Hi fellow band dorks!!!

Well, I'm interested in joining a corps, so I figured this would be a good place to find out some more info. Bear with me here, guys, i know absolutely NOTHING!!!

I'm a junior in high school, and I play trumpet. I'm a pretty good player, I'm in our school's honor band, but I'm not amazing or anything. I have range issues, too - a b above the staff is it.

QUESTIONS:

1. WHAT CORPS DO I JOIN? I live in Hightstown, NJ. I know of Jersey Surf and Bushwhackers. Which one do you think would be better for me out of those, or are there any others in the area? Ideally I'd probably want to go to a nearby one because as of right now my mom's not too happy about the whole driving thing.

2. WHAT DO I PLAY? I'm assuming that in a bugle corps, there are bugles not trumpets. Is it hard to get used to playing a bugle as opposed to a trumpet? Do you have to buy your own? Would I be 2nd or 3rd soprano??

3. Do you always sleep over the place, or are there any corps where you can just go for the day and come back again?

4. HOW MUCH DO THESE THINGS COST?

5. Any nice person wanna give me rides??????

6. HOW DO I CONVINCE MY MOM DO LET ME DO THIS??

lol. sorry guys. i am totally clueless, i don't really know anybody who's been in a corps before, but i love marching band and i'm willing to make the

FINAL WEEKEND IS HERE!

2003-08-28T23:07:33Z

I'm so excited!

Finals weekend is here! I can't wait for Prelims and Finals!

YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!

Finals....here comes The Bushwackers! :)

Good Luck to all the Corps that are competing!

Welcome!

2003-08-26T17:18:54Z

I've created the Bushwackers LJ Community for members and alumni. If you are a preson who like the Bushwackers and wants to learn more about it, feel free to join in.

I hope that members will post about their weekend, events, news or anything else related to the Bushwackers.

Enjoy!