The 2009 Spring Preview Concert - March 28-29, 2009
The first public performance of the complete 2009 Kiltie musical repertoire was greeted with a wonderful ovation in the near full Gilmore Middle School theatre. It was the climax of the indoor portion of our 2009 season and it sets us up nicely as we head outdoors in April to begin putting “Renaissance Le Parte Due” on the field.
A large, ugly, messy winter storm was in the forecast for Saturday evening and right on into Sunday, but the storm held off long enough to allow smooth sailing to camp. Kilties from far and wide made it to Gilmore ahead of the storm. By 10AM our bellies were full of “Kiltie breakfast” and we began the weekend with a full corps stretch session in the gym fronted by guard member Amber Jarosz. Amber introduced some new stretches that had me feeling muscles that I didn’t even know I had. Stretch concluded with the singing of “Happy Birthday” to fellow mello Kathy Delano! Happy 29th Kathy! Stretch was followed by a marching technique session for the brass line in the gym while the guard invaded the cafeteria, and the drums headed off to the theatre. Visual work by the brass and percussion sections was limited at this camp so that we could concentrate on preparing for our Sunday performance. After a mere 45 minutes of marching, we found ourselves back in the cafeteria for brass warm-up fronted by Bobby Lindsey. I really like our increased emphasis on moving our feet whenever we are playing our horns. We are even marking time during our brass warm-up this year. I think this increased emphasis on the feet will pay dividends down the road.
Then we spent some time on our non-field show repertoire of “Slow Syne”, “Parade Syne”, “Scotland the Brave” and “Water is Wide”. We touched on a couple of the Movements of our 2009 field show before breaking up into sectionals. Sops and mellos headed to the band room to work mostly movements I and V. Baris and Contras stayed put in the cafeteria and worked the same tunes. By lunch time, my chops needed the hour break!
For the brass line, the afternoon was spent in the cafeteria fronted by 2009 brass arranger Rick Kirby. We touched everything in the show, but concentrated on Movements II and IV. Movement II is based on music from “Carmina Burana”. I absolutely love this movement of the show. Everything in the piece is interesting, varied and exciting. Time signatures change every couple of measures, as do the feelings emoted in the various sections of the piece. The literal translation of the full “Carmina Burana” title translates from the original Latin as follows: “Songs of Beuern: Secular songs for singers and choruses to be sung together with instruments and magic images”. For me, the arrangement of this piece definitely conjures up “magic images”! Movement IV is our ballad. Rick explained that the inspiration for this arrangement was a vocal piece, and we need to project a stylistically vocal feel when playing it. The arrangement concludes with a sweet soprano solo backed by full corps 4 part vocal harmony. I’m happy to report that our vocal abilities rival our instrumental abilities. I was getting goose-bumps!
Much of our time after dinner was spent in full music ensemble in the theatre preparing for our Sunday performance. We defined our concert formation with the battery on risers at the back of the stage, and the pit at the front of the stage. It was a tight fit, but we squeezed everyone in. The brass line formed 2 arcs between the stage and the first row of seats. Looking back to last year, I thought this year’s Saturday night pre-concert full ensemble session went much smoother. The minor breaks and mistakes that we inevitably encountered went a long way in pointing out where we needed the most work. At the end of the evening Scott Stewart pulled the corps together and told us the good and the bad. Things are indeed mostly good in Kiltie-land, but Scott told us that our rehearsal etiquette at times was not where it needed to be if we are to be as good as we have the potential to be. He stressed that going forward, more will be expected from the corps veterans in the way of setting an example of proper work ethic and discipline. I think it was a point well taken, and I’m happy to report that I think there was a noticeable improvement in this regard on Sunday. It was good advice indeed.
By Sunday morning, the streets of Racine were covered with about 6 inches of wet, heavy, cement-like snow and it was still snowing to beat the band. Stories of cars being stuck in the wet muck abounded at breakfast, but we all made it to Gilmore in time for 10AM stretch, once again led by Amber Jarosz. Then the percussion headed off to the “Wrestling Room”, the guard kept possession of the gym, and the brass line arc-ed up in the cafeteria. Bob Lindsey warmed us up nice and slow in preparation for a full day of playing. The rest of the morning was spent in sectionals and full brass ensemble sessions.
After lunch at around 1:30, we assembled brass and percussion in the theatre for an hour of full corps pre-concert fine tuning. The snow storm had subsided, and people were starting to trickle in as we rehearsed, so we had a little audience. I thought this session went exceptionally well, and I felt confident that we would put on a good performance when we broke at 2:30 so that our guests at the concert, the “Kenosha Beats” indoor drum line could use the theatre to sound check and warm up before their 3 PM performance.
I watched the Beats rehearse under the guidance of Kiltie snare Chris Tomaloff. Chris arranged all of their music this year, and it is a wonderful show! The Beats were sporting cool new uniforms this year. Black pants, cool black silver and white tops, and no shoes! At 3 PM, the Beats director, former Kiltie Paul Taylor, introduced the group. He told the audience that the Beats are comprised of high school students from Kenosha Bradford, Kenosha Tremper and other Kenosha high schools. They are one of only a couple of Wisconsin based competitive indoor drum lines, so they need to travel extensively to compete in the Minnesota indoor percussion circuit. They are completing their fourth year in existence and they are going stronger than ever having seen great success both competitively and as a very entertaining act.
Their 3 snare, 2 quad, 5 bass drummers and 2 cymbals occupied the area just in front of the stage, and their extensive pit percussion section occupied the stage. They played a show in 3 distinct sections that projected 3 distinct moods. I thought their show was cleaner, and the more technical challenging than last year, chocked full of cool visuals. The crowd at it up and responded with spontaneous applause throughout, and a wonderful standing ovation at the end. Thanks Kenosha Beats and good luck at your upcoming contest next weekend in Minneapolis, MN. You folks were great!!!
At 3:30 or so, we entered the theatre clad in matching black t-shirts and blue jeans. Scott welcomed the nearly full house to Gilmore and gave a brief history of the organization. Then he introduced our traditional concert piece, “Water is Wide”. This great Jerry Kelsey arrangement was originally written as a tribute to our fallen brother Joel “Lothar” Magnuson”. I still get emotional every time we play it. Then Scott returned to the stage to introduce our 2009 parade repertoire consisting of a new street beat, and 2 classic Norman/Sorney pieces, “Scotland the Brave” and “Auld Lang Syne”. As you might expect, these classic Kiltie songs were very well received.
Then Scott introduced the field show program, “Renaissance Le Parte Due”. He explained that after a successful exploration of Renassance music last year, we are going to further explore and develop this musical genre on the field. Scott introduced Movement I, and after performing each of the five movements, Scott returned to the stage to introduce each movement. I thought we got stronger and more confident with each movement. By Movement IV we were in full swing having long overcome the early show jitters, and I thought it was cool that the guard, which was sitting in the first 2 rows of the theatre, stood up and faced the audience for this song so that they could sing the ending along with the rest of the corps. Movement V was perhaps our best performed number of the day, and after the final big power chord to end the show, we were treated to a wonderful standing ovation. I soaked it all in, thinking to myself “mission accomplished”.
Scott then thanked the audience, and told them that this was only the first of 21 performances that will be given by the 2009 Kilties, and he invited everyone to come to future performances in the area. He said that we will field a corps consisting of 41 brass, 29 percussion, our largest ever guard of 20, and an honor guard of 6-12 for a grand total 100+ marching members. Then he introduced the traditional playing of “Slow Syne” to close out the weekend. It was a great way to wrap up the performance.
I had a wonderful time socializing with all the Kiltie alumni and friends in the audience after the show. The reaction was overwhelmingly positive. It was especially nice to see former Kilt George Fennell on hand autographing copies of his recently published second book about the history of the Racine America Legion “Boys of 76” Drum and bugle corps (available at a Kiltie souvie booth near you). This exhaustive history of the corps that put Racine on the map back in the 1920s is a must read for anyone interested in drum corps history. It comes on the heals of his first book which is a pictorial history of Racine Drum corps, another must read.
And so ends phase one of the 2009 Kiltie season. Next month we move outdoors to put the first quarter of the show on the field. The guard already has the equipment work for Movement I, and I can’t wait to see what the rest of the visuals for this show are going to be like. I have a feeling that this year’s show will indeed do justice to the Latin translation of “Carmina Burana” and invoke a score of “Magic Images”.
Til next time,
J.C.
