Saturday, May 1, 2010

State Festival: The insane chronicals of the lives of musicians.


So I know I just posted my introductory thing a little while ago, but I felt the need to share a story. It will be long, so here we go.
A couple of months ago, the musical groups I play in went to our district festival. We got straight ones, which is pretty much a 4.0 GPA in the world of music festivals. Seeing as though we got straight ones, our directors decided that they would take us to state festival. We learned a couple of new songs, prepared them for a performance, and figured out what we were going to do for states. Our directors prepared pretty much everything and we were along for the ride. On the day of states, our directors seemed pretty cool, but we all knew they were freaking out like turkeys on thanksgiving. We were told to report to the high school to board the buses at 4:20 PM, so that's exactly what we did.
So here's where the fun part begins. I play in both groups, so I had to bring both of my instruments to states. We loaded up the trailer with larger instruments and I miraculously fit my horn in there, while my violin was to ride with me on the bus. Now, if you've ever been on a bus full of musicians, you know that it's always insane, no matter how controlled it may seem. I sat with a few of my friends. (Don't worry guys, I'll only use your first names. :) ) Helen (Sara), Julianne, Shelby, and Chris. We started out pretty calm and not much was going wrong. Shelby and Helen were in a seat in front of me, Julianne was in front of them, and Chris to our left. Julianne was strugging with her hair blowing all about, Helen was doing God knows what, Shelby and I were singing songs from Sweeney Todd, and Chris was talking to our pianist, Daniel. AKA Danielle, but that's a story for another time. Anyway, in the middle of singing Pirelli's Miracle Elixir, we saw smoke and smelled something weird. (Don't worry, nothing was wrong with our bus.) So in the midst of questioning it, we passed a charter bus that was on FIRE. Yes, it was flaming. All the people on the bus were on the side of the highway and we were like 'HOLY CRAP, THERE'S A FLAMING BUS!' Luckily, it had just burst into flames, so there wasn't a traffic jam yet, which was a stroke of our good luck because we wouldn't be late and/or miss states.
After about 20 more minutes of driving, we get to the school we were to perform for our judges and such. We unload our trailer and walk up to the second floor into our warm up room. Apparently the person who teaches in that classroom really likes bacon, for the walls were filled with posters about bacon. We were like "This room is awesome! :D" However, the whole school was about 90 degrees and we were all out of tune by the time we were to warm up, so we were all complaining that we were boiling hot, sweaty, and probably smelled like apes. Too bad for us, we were stuck there for about five hours. While everyone was in the cafeteria eating, my small group of friends (except for Julianne) was wandering the hallways. We walked all around, then decided that Helen and I were going to play leapfrog. This didn't exactly work, because we were in floor length dresses, but it was certainly very fun.
Afterward, we had to go warm up. We got our instruments out and wandered downstairs to the library to tune and stuff. (By the way, even though you probably won't read this, thanks again Taylor for carrying my horn.) Orchestra finally got to the stage and began performing. For the last song, I had to migrate to the back of the orchestra, and I didn't make it back in time to carry my violin, so I think Giuliana carried it for me. Then we sightread, which was very fun because we had a pretty awesome judge. (She's like your grandma, but really mean. Right Mrs. Molnar?) Then I had to go back upstairs, pack my violin, and get my horn from Taylor. We went straight to warm up, tuned, then to the stage. Apparently the dreaded American Overture went well, and I never have to play it again. Yay!! :D Anyway, sightreading was scary because I was reading a first horn part, but I think we did well. We then got all of our stuff out of our warm up room, loaded the trailer, and waited in anticipation for our scores.
So this is definitely the part where you get a look at the insanity that musicians live through. I sat at a table with Helen, Shelby, and Chris. In the midst of singing 'If You Were Gay', our scores went up. Drum roll please... straight ones! Both groups, too. It was definitely my doing. Lol just kidding. We then loaded the trailer, found our seats, and let the craziness begin.
So this is how the seating arrangement worked out. We got four seats on the bus, two on one side, two on the other. Helen got one, I got one, Julianne got one, and Chris and Shelby were sharing a seat. Bad idea to begin with, but it added to the hilarity. A little after we got on the bus, Helen was very very tired so she was like "I think I'll end up falling asleep on the bus." We'll come back to this story. Then Shelby and Chris were doing God knows what in the seat behind me. (Don't worry, nothing too bad. PG-13.) Helen and I did end up supervising, though. Some crazy stuff went on. One being me on the phone with my mom with Helen yelling "YOU GUYS SHOULD MAKE OUT!" to Shelby and Chris. Then Julianne and I were talking to our director about stuff such as the difference between cow poop and horse poop, Indians, and Julianne dressing up as a turkey. Now we come back to Helen falling asleep. She fell asleep sideways on the seat and fell out of it twice. When we tried to wake her up, she claimed that she was afraid of parked vehicles and needed her sleep. Yes, she was VERY tired. But Shelby and Chris were either tickling each other, talking about crazy stuff, or participating in many strange activities. We then got into a conversation about Stuart videos ("Aaaaand, I'm just gonna sit here and... eat a cookie.) Also, at one point, Chris began talking about something... inappropriate, then he was like "Who's sitting up in the front seat?" (Because we were near the front) and I said it was our band director. He then proceeded to sink in his seat, praying that she didn't hear. It was pretty hilarious.
When we finally got back to the school, someone had PEED in the percussion room. Literally, like, all over everything. Wtf, why would someone do that? Excuse my acronym, but it was necessary. Lol (God, forgive my naughty word. Also, please don't kill the human race. Amen :D) But really? Why would you PEE all over the percussion stuff? People are stupid. Anyway, my mom had yet to get there, so I decided that I should probably go get some shoes from my locker since they'd been sitting in there for a while. I walked down the hall with Chris and got them, which was fun because Helen was following us lethargically. She ended up dropping her phone a few times, for she was extremely tired. I finally left, went to the gas station to get some tea, and went home. Then I fell UP the stairs. Yes, that takes talent. I then changed into some pajamas and concluded the day of insanity, dreaming about it all over again, anxiously waiting for another experience like the one I'd just gone through. The end! Wow, that was really long...
♥♫♪ JMJ

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