Sweet Home, Alcove

Hello?  Is anyone still with me?  I realize it's been over a month since my last post.  It's been far too long, and I apologize that this post is so overdue!  I guess that's what happens when you start back at school and it absolutely takes over your life and consumes all free time.

Recently, my gig schedule has taken almost just as much time as my class schedule.  This is mostly a good thing, but occasionally it can make for REALLY long weeks.  This past week I had the good fortune of playing 7 paying gigs in 7 days.  I had a good time playing all of them, and I made a good chunk of change.  I'm too modest to disclose numbers, but let's just say that I made enough to more than match what I paid to buy a new clarinet at the end of the summer!

The range of gigs I've played recently has been pretty wide, and it's made for an entertaining week for me and a lot of new stories.  I did several straight-ahead jazz combo gigs for university events recently, and the band was treated really well at all of them.  Plus we got to eat!  (Side note: the catered gig food diet is not recommended for weight loss or even general health, but it is delicious.)  Since I didn't do a ton of small combo playing and improvisation all summer, it's been really nice to work on that again.

Last Friday was pretty interesting in particular simply because of the juxtaposition of playing I did that evening.  I played a jazz quartet gig for the UA Arts and Sciences Leadership Board earlier that evening.  It was mostly populated by professors, and it was a classy, controlled, and laid back event.  Just a few hours later, I carried my saxophone into a dive bar in Tuscaloosa called The Booth to play with a local cover band called the Druid City Band.  Talk about a 180.  The Booth is mostly populated by fraternity and sorority members and is typically crowded, wild, loud enough to induce vomiting, and just downright terrifying sometimes.  I went from tastefully improvising over "Have You Met Miss Jones" to wailing pentatonic licks over Widespread Panic tunes and high-fiving my new fratty fans in the same evening.  Both gigs were certainly fun in very different ways, and they required me to use very different aspects of my playing.  The important thing to remember is that no matter who your audience is, you're being paid to entertain them.  (Even if your audience is a group of several drunk girls who insist on sitting on the stage and spill beer all over your shoes...)  You must leave your ego at the door and do what the gig calls for.  And in most cases, if you do that in a humble way and respect the music you're performing, you can have a blast playing anything.

I played another interesting gig on Saturday night at the Kappa Alpha fraternity house.  Just so you have a mental picture of where I was, this is what the basement/party garage at the house looked like:

 Looks pretty family friendly, right?  Yeah...

The name of the band is Cosmic Charlie, and they do Grateful Dead covers plus cover the entire Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon album.  I was the designated sax soloist, so I got to play those famous solos off of the album on "Money" and "Us and Them."  The other perk of this gig (other than playing fun music) was that I got to reunite with several of my musician friends from the band.  They're based out of Athens, GA, and I've only played a couple gigs with them when they've come through Alabama before, but we all really hit it off the first time we met.  Every time I've performed with them, they have brought an incredible amount of energy, clarity, creativity, and professionalism to the gig, and they are very knowledgeable about a variety of styles of music.  It just goes to show you that there are talented musicians everywhere, and you should never dismiss anyone simply because they're playing cover tunes at a frat party.

After my marathon gig weekend, I had a break for a couple days, and then I returned to my weekly gig at the Alcove International Tavern on Tuesday.  Out of all the venues I've played since I've been in Tuscaloosa, the Alcove has felt the most like home.  This month marks 2 years that I've been playing a weekly jazz gig there on Tuesdays, which is quite a miracle in a town that isn't really known for being hip to the jazz scene. (I have musician friend who was seriously asked one time "Oh, so you play jazz- like Rush and Neil Peart and stuff?")    However, the Alcove has the exact combination of ingredients that allow jazz to not only survive but thrive there.  

So what makes this bar so special and different from the droves of other bars in town?  Part of it is the management.  Chad Smith, the owner, opened the Alcove in 2009 with the idea of creating a space that was unique.  He built much of the bar on his own and by hand, and he made it into a hip space that's sophisticated enough for the elite business people of Tuscaloosa, but relaxed enough for the average college student to feel comfortable as well.  He also wanted to take a risk with music: instead of always hiring the typical rock/pop cover bands, he wanted to start a jazz night from the very beginning.  Thanks to good fortune and a little bit of dumb luck, I sort of fell into the gig from the start, and I've been playing there every Tuesday ever since.  I'm thankful for an owner and friend like Chad who had a strong enough creative vision to try something new and trust that it would be successful.

The other factor that makes the Alcove so special to me is the audience.  For the past two years, every Tuesday I've had the pleasure (and sometimes shock) of meeting an array of strange and wonderful people.  Some are regulars and strangers who I've nicknamed over time: Clark Kent, Golden Dollar, Hawaiian shirt guy (whose real name is Doug), Prom Hair Lady, etc.  Others are people who have become friends and loyal fans, and I love chatting with them every week and often times discovering new music through them.  The bar is also filled with businessmen drinking bourbon, professors who come to escape the college party bars, visitors from other countries who are passing through town, hipsters in plaid and thick rimmed glasses, country boys who didn't even know they could enjoy jazz, music students, moms on ladies night out, and the occasional creepy older gentleman.  I've always been a people watcher, and this job lets me observe the behavior and interaction of all sorts of fascinating people.

The last (but certainly not least) factor that makes the Alcove feel like home is my band.  I've worked with several arrangements of musicians there over the years that have all had a special place in my heart.  However, I feel like I've particularly hit my stride with my current group.  I play with Jonathan Harms on guitar, Josh Kavanaugh on bass, and Michael Battito on drums.  They are all great musicians and terrific people, and they make my job pretty easy every week.  After playing together for quite a while, I feel like the group has really started to gel and develop our own vibe.  For the first time in possibly my whole musical experience, I really feel like I'm starting to find my personal voice, and I owe it to these guys for opening up avenues that let me explore that.  It's a rare and beautiful thing to play with musicians that truly allow you to be yourself, and week after week I never take that for granted.

This past Tuesday felt particularly magical to me.  Maybe it's because fall weather is starting to blow in, or maybe it's because of the nap I took that afternoon, or maybe it's just that the crowd was exceptionally enthusiastic.  For whatever reason, I felt more comfortable and satisfied with my playing than I have in a long time.  I closed my eyes for a long time while digging into a solo on a particular tune.  When I finally opened them back up, what I saw amazed me: people were dancing.  To a jazz quartet.  To my band.  And they were students who were my age.

All of the sudden I realized that jazz isn't dead, and it's not even irrelevant.  It doesn't need to be confined to museums and academic institutions, to stuffy concert halls or historical presentations.  It isn't simply the music of an older generation that bears no relation to me.  It's a living, breathing, EVOLVING art form, and I'm actually a part of it.  And despite the preconceived notions we have as musicians, people WILL actually listen if you just give them a chance.

I left the bar that night in good spirits.  I laughed to myself as I noticed Doug discussing the merits of Tom Petty with a student less than half his age, and I saw the table of Mechanical Information Systems students still partying their Tuesday night away.  The Alcove will always be a home for me.  There isn't another place in Tuscaloosa like it, and I'm starting to think there aren't that many places in the world quite like it either.  

Maybe there's something more to this town than football after all.  

Onward and Upward

I can't believe it's over.  After 11 weeks working for Disney with 20 other amazing friends and musicians, we had to say goodbye.

I wish I could communicate completely exactly how I felt on our last days together.  It was a strange mix of joy and sadness, of wanting to stay in the moment and knowing in the back of my mind that we would soon have to move on.  While I will miss all of my fellow college band members dearly, I know the time was right for us to part ways.  We have much to accomplish outside of this summer.  There is a whole world waiting out there for us.  Onward and upward, as Ron would say.

I want to take a little time to mention all of my friends from this summer individually.  I've always felt like I express myself more accurately in writing than in speech, so hopefully this will let all of my bandmates know how much they really mean to me.  And hopefully for my other readers, it will give you a large enough slice of there personalities to know what wonderful people they all are.

Corinne- I seriously couldn't have asked for a better in-room roommate this summer.  You are such a beautiful person inside and out, and everything you do is filled with such authentic joy and passion.  Thank you for all the love you brought to the band.  I know you'll be a friend I'll have for life.  Best of luck with taking Provo by storm with all your great plans!

Stephanie- You are truly one of the most unique people I have ever met.  It was thoroughly entertaining to have you as a roommate all summer.  I hope you always stay true to who you are, and keep up your rollerblading and scrabble skills!  You're incredibly talented, creative, brilliant, and witty, and I hope you find a career path where you can use all your skills to their fullest extent.

Lexie- I think all of us in the band will agree that you have an incredible amount of energy!  I always admired your outgoing personality and your kindness to people of all backgrounds.  I'm very proud of your job with the Navy, and I hope they treat you well!  Maybe you can teach those soldiers some dance moves ; )

Brett- There's no doubt you're an incredible musician.  However, I learned this summer that you're also a great friend.  It was great to see you come out of your shell this summer, loosen up, and have fun!  I hope you can take some of the joy from this summer and apply it to all of your musical endeavors.  I wish you the best of luck, though you don't need it- I know you'll do great things.

Dan- I really admired your playing from day one in the band.  It was a blast sitting and dancing next to you all summer, and you kept me laughing even through all the long rehearsals.  You've really got it together, and I wish you nothing but success with your CD and all your projects that follow.  Just remember us little guys when you make it big someday! :)

Ben Katz- NEW YORK!  I'm really glad we got to know each other this summer, and I'm happy to say I now have a good friend in NYC.  I hope the New School treats you well, and I hope I'll be able to get up there and visit you sometime soon.  I'm sure you'll take over the city with your killer sax playing AND your super fly Express wardrobe!

Andrew- You made me laugh all summer long with your quotable quotes and hilarious party shirts.  Besides being a super fun guy to hang out with, you're also an incredibly talented trumpet player with chops of steel!  I'm happy for your move to North Texas, and I know you'll do great things there.  Don't let anything get in the way of your positive attitude and incredible work ethic- remember, after this summer, you can do anything!

Mike- I'm sorry we never found Italian ices, but I do hope you still enjoyed your time in California!  After watching our final train station video, I'm even more impressed by your incredible trumpet range.  I know after this summer though that you are capable of much more than just screaming high notes, and I hope you find a career path that allows you to use all of your talents.  Best of luck!

Drew- You really are the Golden Boy.  I enjoyed hanging out with you all summer and playing lots of frisbee, volleyball, and soccer (despite Chris's soccer accident).  Thanks for being my partner in planning and organizing so many activities.  We're both sort of in the same boat as we enter our senior years and start the whole grad school audition process, so I hope it's as clear cut and stress free for you as possible.  I really look forward to seeing you at JEN- expect a big hug!

Kai- Everything you do breathes individuality, whether it's your trumpet soloing, your intellectual conversations, or your thrift store sweater choices.  I truly enjoyed listening to you play every day of the summer.  You definitely have your own voice, so stick to it because you've really got something special.  Best of luck "cultivating your hedge" and deciding what direction to take in life- I know you'll be successful no matter what you choose!

Ben Ford- I think you definitely win the award for wittiest one liners in the band.  I was always laughing when I was around you.  Besides being a naturally hilarious comic, you're the most powerful lead trombone player I've ever heard.  You're also a wonderful friend, and I admire your incredible patience with and encouragement to everyone in the band.  You've got great things ahead of you, so stay positive and stay focused!  I'll see you playing in one of the premiere military bands someday :)

Kyle- You truly are the real deal, sir.  I was so blown away by your soloing from day one, and you never ceased to impress me.  You're still really young, and I know you'll practice your butt off to get where you want to be.  Make sure you take the time to make connections with people and have fun too!  It was great to see you come out of your shell some this summer, and I only hope that process continues.

Sean- CHAMP!  You are a killer trombone player, an amazing friend, and a true southern gentleman.  I'm so glad we got to share an American summer of barbeques, beach trips, arnold palmers, and hilarious sound effects provided by you.  You really have a heart for helping others, and I know that will take you far.  Please visit Alabama like you said you would!

Jon- I think you had one of the most amazing transformations in the band this summer, both physically and mentally.  I was so happy to see you become a confident, positive, encouraging force in the band.  I love your sincerity and your terrific hugs :)  Hopefully this summer has taught you that you can do anything you want- I really look forward to seeing where you'll go next.

Danny- My other Puerto Rican half!  Throughout the summer you were consistently polite, upbeat, and a pleasure to work and hang out with.  You're also an incredible dancer, as I found out with our three little pigs choreography!  I know you have way more up your sleeve than just playing tuba, and I look forward to following your musical adventures.

Eric- It's all gravy, dawg.  I can't remember a single day all summer when you didn't seem happy to be playing percussion toys.  You did it so well that I almost forgot what a great piano player you were too!  You have an incredibly unique sense of humor, and I was always laughing when I was around you.  Best of luck with your comedy and piano enterprises.  I can dig it!

Adam- I think you win the award for the most chill person in the band.  From the beginning, you were always an easy and fun person to talk to and hang out with.  As much as we joked on you for it, the band really was a great group of guys- and you were absolutely one of them!  Keep playing that bass, and I really look forward to seeing you (and everyone else!) at JEN in a few months!

Tommy- Everything you say and do is really genuine and heartfelt, and that's something I appreciate.  It was really fun to see you accomplish your lifelong dream of working at Disney.  You certainly brought a high level of enthusiasm to work with you every day.  Your dedication to your wife and your family is something we all respect and admire.  I hope you continue to pursue all of your dreams!

Mitch- I know being the youngest member of the band may have been a challenge, but you certainly made yourself a vital part of everything we did.  We couldn't have made it through the summer without your enthusiasm, positive energy, and steady "bus driving" on all our jazz sets.  You have such a bright future ahead of you, and I know you're going to accomplish a lot before you even finish your undergrad.  Stay motivated, stay focused, and please stay in touch!

Chris- As our T.A., it's only fair that I saved your shout out for last.  Thank you so much for everything this summer- you did a fantastic job and I can't imagine how we would have all made it without you.  I had a blast hanging out with you both on and off the job, and I learned a lot about all of your strange and varied talents: trombone playing, beatboxing, dancing, whistling, nerf gun shooting, etc.  I hope you figure out exactly what you want to do in life and go for it!  I'm absolutely confident you can do anything you want.

I'll miss you all dearly, and I can't wait to see you around "on the other side."  I'm already thrilled about going to JEN in January and reuniting with several of you.

Lastly, I'd like to thank everyone else who was involved in making this summer incredible.  I can't say enough wonderful things about Ron, Patti, Lori, Patty, Ben, Ernie, and the whole Disneyland team.  You guys were more than just our bosses, employers, and managers- you were family to us, and from my first day on the job I always felt welcome.  Thank you to the countless Disney employees- costuming, kitchen staff, parade dancers, security, show support, other entertainment acts, sound crew, etc etc etc- who made us feel loved and at home.  Also, thank you to my wonderful boyfriend Joel who cheered me on all summer even though it meant we'd be apart for months.  And thanks to all my family and friends back home who have encouraged me the whole way through.

So what's next?  Well, hopefully a multitude of great things.  I plan to keep this blog going as a journal about all my musical and non-musical journeys.  There are a lot of plans I have in the works, and I'm very excited to hit the ground running for my last year at the University of Alabama.  Hopefully you'll follow me and see what happens!  Like I said before, it's only onward and upward from here.

Bless you all, and go in peace.  Love to everyone.

An Embarrassment of Riches

Holy smokes!  The past couple weeks have been so chock full of adventures that it's hard to even know where to begin.  Hold on to your seats!

To catch you guys up from a while ago, I need to tell you all about my encounters with some studio magic.  A couple weekends ago, the band was invited to an ASCAP young composers scoring session at FOX studios.  The event was held at FOX's huge scoring stage where they record for films.  Several composers had won a spot in this program, and at the culmination of their classes, they got to conduct and record a film cue they had written.  The coolest part about the whole experience is that they had a full orchestra of some of Los Angeles's best studio musicians sitting in front of them.  We got to sit in the room and be flies on the wall for the session, which was pretty mind blowing.  I was most impressed with the musicality that all the players brought to the compositions on the first read through.  It's one thing to sight read everything technically perfect; it's a whole other level of professionalism to actually make music on your first time through a piece.

The studio guys were welcoming enough to let us hang out next to their sections and even glance at their parts over their shoulders.  Alex Iles, Jim Thatcher, and John Lewis deserve big shout outs for letting us hang with the brass section during the session!

I tried to take a lot of pictures while at FOX, so hopefully you can get a sense of how impressive this room was.  Check it out:

That's the scoring screen behind the orchestra.  Watching how the music lined up with the film was pretty cool!

This is a cimbasso, which is a trombone/tuba hybrid instrument.  Apparently it is the loudest instrument ever.  Think of the soundtrack to Inception, and it will all make sense.

The band got in on a little studio magic of our own when we went to our recording session for out CD.  Every summer the AACB records a selection of some of our jazz material and street tunes.  The CD isn't produced for retail- it's simply a way for all of us in the band to take home a recorded memory of how our band sounded this summer.  Our recording session was at Warner Brothers studios on their gigantic scoring stage.  It was probably the nicest studio I've ever visited (sorry, FOX!).  We were picked up from the dorms at 7:00 AM that Tuesday, then we traveled to WB, recorded for 4 hours, traveled back to Disney, and played 3 sets that evening.  It was an exhausting day, to put it lightly, but everything went about as smoothly as possible.  We were able to record about 5 or 6 jazz tunes and most of our street set material.  If anyone wants to check out the recording after I get it, I'll be happy to share it with you!

Our recording room from the sax section's point of view.  Check out all the rich mahogany!

The board to end all boards.  Gear nerds, feels free to geek out.

We've had an "embarrassment of riches" in our guest artist department over the past two weeks.  Saxophonist and woodwind doubler Sal Lozano was with us for a concert of July 30th.  Sal has a terrifically dry sense of humor and is a wonderfully generous musician.  He's also played with everything and everyone in town from Disney to Gordon Goodwin's band to Dancing With the Stars.  Sal was kind enough to meet with the saxophone section previously in the summer for a group masterclass, so it was great to see him again.  As a special bonus, he brought the whole saxophone section goody bags of reeds from Vandoren!  You can never have too many of those around.

Singer Sunny Wilkinson performed with us this past Thursday.  Sunny has had a long career as both a musician and music educator.  She's a really brilliant and talented jazz vocalist who certainly has her own musical voice.  Now, to be honest, I'm always a bit wary of charts that singers bring in for the band to read.  However, all of Sunny's charts were excellently written and really fun to play.  I was impressed with how knowledgeable she was in all aspects of jazz- the history, the theory, and the music business.  The concert was a ton of fun, and I learned a lot about musical phrasing just by listening to Sunny sing melodies.

Following that, trombonist Jiggs Whigham performed with us in a concert on Saturday.  Jiggs has an unbelievably impressive resume, and he's played with just about everyone from Dexter Gordon to Mel Lewis to Cannonball Adderley.  He's also recently been appointed artistic director of the German Youth Jazz Orchestra BuJazzO.  BuJazzO is made up of German students from the ages of about 17-25, and it's a very prestigious jazz ensemble that finds the best students from all over Germany.  Since they're currently on a U.S. tour, they actually got a chance to come hang out with us a Disneyland for a morning.  We played for each other, and then did a couple charts together.  Our band was incredibly impressed by their playing, and it was a really fun hang when we mixed up the ensembles and played together.  It was a great international moment, and I realized that the students in BuJazzO are much more similar to all of us than they are different.  It's pretty amazing that even though they're from the other side of the world, we can all share our love of jazz music and perform it well.  Even though jazz was made in America, it's become an international music, and to me that's really encouraging.

Our concert with Jiggs went really well.  He still sounds incredible, and it was a blast to share the stage with him.  Jiggs was our last guest artist concert scheduled for this summer, and I think it was a pretty good choice to close that portion of the summer with him.  

We officially have one week left performing in the park before we leave- to be specific, 4 days.  I'm pretty blown away that the summer has zipped by so quickly.  Everyone in the band is starting to get really sappy, and I'm sure we'll all be a mess after our last set next Friday.  Right now I'm just trying to spend as much time as possible with the 20 other people in the band I've come to know as family this summer.  I'm having a very strange conflict of feelings as the summer heads towards a close.  On one hand, I'm incredibly sad to say goodbye to everyone and to leave California.  On the other hand, it's starting to feel like it's the right time to wrap things up.  Even great things must come to an end at some point- it's just a fact of life.  I know I'm incredibly excited to stay in touch with everyone after the summer and see what incredible paths everyone will take.  The College Band program wouldn't be nearly as meaningful if it didn't have some sort of long-reaching impact past August 14th.  I know my friends will go on to do great things, and I can't wait to brag about all of them as they go on to conquer the world.

I'll leave you all with a story about one of my most meaningful experiences of the summer.  Ironically it taught me much more about people than music, but I think it's one of the most important things that's happened to me in the past two months.  One of our band super fans is a guy named J.J.  We see him just about every week and sometimes two or three times a week at our shows.  Now, J.J. has Down syndrome and possibly some other conditions I'm not completely aware of.  Before you feel sorry for him though, you should know that he probably enjoys what we do more than any other audience member.  He stands up and cheers for the entire show, and he even knows some of our dance moves that he'll do along with us.  It's incredible to watch his sister's face light up (she's the one who brings him to the park all the time) as she watches him watch us.

One day last week after our train station set (the last set of the day), after we had already walked backstage, Patti our stage manager rushed us back onstage to take a picture with J.J.  This was definitely a special situation because we don't usually go out of our way to take group pictures with guests.  J.J. was thrilled to see the band and ran up to us.  We all gathered around him and the whole time pictures were being taken, he was smiling and laughing and yelling in happiness.  I was so overwhelmed by his joy that I literally started tearing up and almost outright crying.  (For those of you who know me well, you have to understand that this is a pretty big deal, as I don't get choked up too often.)  

What that simple picture with J.J. taught me is that we have the power to change lives in this band.  Every day, with every encounter we have with guests, we have the chance to make their day a little better.  The band obviously means a lot to J.J., but what he may not know is that he means a lot to us.  It's guests like that who make this job worth every long rehearsal day, every cramped van ride to the park, every sweaty and hot set, and every sore muscle.  If you've ever been blessed enough to make a career out of being a musician, I hope you never take your job lightly.  Though it sounds cheesy, I think it's really true- we have the power to change the world, one life at a time.  Never take that for granted.

I'm sure there is going to be a sappy and emotional post about my last days here in the near future, so be on the lookout for that!  Have a great week, and I'll be back with you soon :)

Awestruck.

A lot has happened since my last post.  Thinking back on the musical experiences I've had in the past couple weeks, I can hardly believe it all actually happened.  Fortunately I have 20 other witnesses in the band who can back me up and say that it really did!

Two weeks ago, we had Arturo Sandoval come and play a guest artist concert with us.  Yup, THE Arturo Sandoval.  It was a really special occasion because we turned our usual Friday night swing dance sets into a Latin dance party with Arturo.  It was nice to play 3 full sets with a guest artist- usually when other guest artists come, we only get to play one 30 minute Plaza Gardens set with them, which always feels too short.

We had two mornings of rehearsal with Arturo before the show.  They were definitely high energy and somewhat chaotic as we tried to get all of his music in order.  Arturo is definitely a very intense guy- he gets completely into the music whenever he plays.  He also has the most blinged out trumpets I've ever seen.  Ha, they had cigar stickers on the bells of the horns!  I don't think I'll ever forget the first time we played through A Mis Abuelos with him as a band.  As soon as he came in with the super loud screaming melody line, it was this really bizarre full circle moment.  I can remember listening to that song specifically when I was in middle school and geeking out with all my trumpet player friends.  Fast forward several years, and here I was playing it with him!

Besides playing incredible trumpet, Arturo also plays timbales and piano and really well.  At the end of one of our rehearsal days, he sat down at the piano and started playing "All the Things You Are".  He was totally absorbed in that tune for about 10 minutes, and we all just stood and watched him in silence.  Ha, we were so transfixed that Patti our stage manager had to force us to leave and get on the tram to costuming.

Our concert with Arturo was a strange mix of terrifying chaos and musical joy.  We were never sure of what our tune order would be until a few minutes before each set, and at most we had played each tune twice through before the concert.  We were literally on the edge of our seats trying to concentrate as much as possibly on the charts in front of us.  Despite the tinge of anxiety, the concert was outrageously fun.  Arturo played beautifully and impressively as expected.  At some points we could literally see STEAM (or mist, or whatever it was) coming out of his bell from the intensity of the air he was pumping through the horn.  The most nerve wracking parts of the concert for me were my flute parts, which were fairly extensive.  Side note: why is it always that you learn to play flute with this beautiful, upright posture, but they every time you're doubling in real life, you're hunched over into a microphone in the worst possibly playing position ever?  They should teach you how to play flute while you're crammed into the fetal position and your elbow is in your neighbor's shoulder.  That would be a more realistic playing situation.

Before the very last set, Arturo took a couple minutes to talk to us.  He somehow got off on an anti-drug and alcohol rant that was absolutely terrifying.  I didn't ever intend on abusing either one of those, but I certainly won't after Arturo threatened to hypothetically fire us all if we ever did.  Scary!  

The concert was definitely a high point of this summer and a landmark for the whole College Band program.  My souvenir and proof that it happened is this picture I got with Arturo after the concert:

As if that concert wasn't enough of a musical pinnacle for the summer, less than a week later we had John Clayton come in as a guest clinician.  If you're not familiar with John's work, he's an incredible bass player, arranger, and bandleader.  He's also one of the most deeply intellectual and generously kind people I've ever met.  I sincerely hope that everyone gets the chance to be around John at some point, because it is an absolutely life changing and perspective altering experience.  

John talked a lot with us about our career paths.  It was both a very humbling and encouraging experience to have someone as successful as John show sincere interest in our life goals.  John's perspective on improvisation is this:  There are no bad solos, and there are no good solos.  It's all art, so the judgement is left up to the listener.  All we can aim for as artists is to play with honesty and clarity- play what we feel, and play it with the technical proficiency required to get the emotional message across clearly.  That thought process was a real game changer for me.  I realized that I don't need to worry so much about judging the quality of my solos against those of other players I admire.  I only need to aim to express myself as clearly and honestly as possible.  That definitely involves jumping a lot of technical proficiency hurdles that still stand in my way, and a lot of soul searching to truly find my musical voice.  I'm starting to finally reach the point in my musical career where I think I'm on the brink of really creating something that's my own, and that process is really exciting.

The other point from John's clinic that really hit home was when he advised us all against a "fear-based education."  What he meant by that was going to music school- particularly graduate school- to get a degree you're not really interested in only because you're worried your plan A won't work out.  For instance, if your dream job is to be a top studio musician, you don't necessarily need 3 degrees.  However, plenty of people will stay in school only because they're afraid to take the plunge into their career or aren't really sure what steps to take to get where they want.  Now, I'm a big fan of school- I plan on getting a master's degree myself, and I may end up with a doctorate someday.  But John's statement made me really consider why I want to go to graduate school.  I decided my motives are pretty noble:  I really desire the knowledge and new perspectives I'll gain wherever I go, and it will help me build a musical network in other areas.  Of course, having extra degrees will theoretically help me get a teaching job, which is something I want to do (and not just "fall back" on).

Our concert with John was a total blast.  All the tunes we played were his arrangements and really well done. Even though John is a very gentle and somewhat reserved person in conversation, he is a fiery bandleader.  He literally runs around the stage and has a collection of pretty crazy cues!  His energy and passion for the music is infectious.  John, who studied with Ray Brown, actually plays on Ray Brown's bass.  He brought it with him and I got the chance to touch it, which was a eerily powerful experience.  You can't touch an instrument with that much history and not get chills.

Oh, and check this out- anyone recall the INCREDIBLE performance of the National Anthem by Whitney Houston at the Superbowl way back in the day?  Whitney kills it, but what's equally amazing about this performance is the super hip arrangement the orchestra is playing.  Guess who wrote that?  Yup- John Clayton.  Take a listen:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wupsPg5H6aE&feature=related

There is a lot more to tell you about events that have happened, especially over the past few days.  Since this is already a long and rambling blog post, however, I will save it for a not so distant future post.  Cliffhanger!  We're on our 9th week out of 11 here in the College Band program, and I still continue to be in awe every day of the opportunities I've been granted.  I'm incredibly thankful for whatever it was that got me out here, whether it was a good audition, a reference from a friend, dumb luck, or a divine plan (or a little bit of each).

More to come soon!  Stay tuned :)

A Midsummer Night's Update

Alright, alright.  A few friends have been asking for a blog update- *cough cough* Daniel Western- and I'm sorry it's taken so long.  I suppose I'll stop promising to keep this more updated, because it's obviously not happening.  Things are warp speed out here!  So, updates will happen when they happen, and I'll try and jam pack them full of info as much as I can for you guys.

I'll try and run through the major musical events that have happened in the past two weeks.  First of all, Rick Baptist was our guest artist on July 2nd.  Rick is probably one of, if not THE most recorded studio trumpet player ever.  He's played on a bunch of John Williams movie scores, all the Disney Pixar movies, Family Guy, the Dancing with the Stars band, the Academy Awards orchestra, etc etc etc....Chances are if you've gone to the movies at all this summer, you've heard him playing.  Rick was a super fun guy, and had some of the greatest gig stories I've ever heard.  Hopefully he's going to help get us into a studio to see a movie scoring session, which would be really sweet.  Here's a picture of me and Rick:

By the way, Rick filled us in about how much money he makes as a studio musician, and let me tell you, it's REDONKULOUS.  I won't go into all the details, but he got a check in the mail about a week ago for the royalties he's received for movies and television shows that have been replayed or resold as DVDs or whatever.  Guess how much that was?  $185,000.  For things he's ALREADY been paid for.  Now imagine what he actually gets paid the first time, and you do the math.

Last week we had a clinic and guest performance with drummer Gregg Field.  Gregg is another one of these ridiculously talented, successful, and nice musicians we've met out here in LA.  He's played/worked with almost everyone, from Basie's band to Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder, Quincy Jones, P. Diddy, etc.  He also is one of the top producers for the Concord record label, which he informed us has grown to become the largest independent record label in the world.

Gregg gave us SO much great information on how to approach time and how to really make a band swing.  Not only was everything he said great for personal practice (for all instruments, not just drums), but I'm sure it will come in handy for teaching jazz ensembles in the future as well.  His big concept involved, "spanking the beat from the bottom," which is very difficult to explain over the internet, but it basically all comes down to the crispness of timing of his high-hat on the drum set.  Playing with Gregg was an absolute joy- everything felt perfect and easy, and the band settled right in and sounded fantastic.  We played a concert mostly out of the Basie songbook, and it was pure fun.  I have to admit that my musical experience so far hasn't necessarily let me to play a lot of the classic big band repertoire, so I'm thrilled to be covering a lot of it with such a great band out here.

Did I mention that Gregg is married to Monica Mancini?  As in Henry Mancini's daughter?  Yeah, during one of his clinics, Gregg started off a story by saying, "My father in law, Henry Mancini..." and we all had to blink twice before that statement really registered.  What?!

Onward and upward...4 members of the sax section, including myself, traveled up to North Hollywood this weekend to have a lesson with Bob Sheppard.  Bob is a terrific saxophonist with many studio and record credits to his name, and he's also on faculty at USC.  Probably the coolest thing to me is that he's played with Steely Dan, which would be my absolute dream gig.  Anyways, Bob was welcoming and gracious enough to have us all over at his house for the lesson.  He has a home studio set up with a ton of cool stuff in it, including a larger collection of mouthpieces than I will probably ever own, and enough old reeds to replace popsicle sticks in a kindergarten craft closet.  

Bob had tons of great things to say, but the main point I took away from the lesson was that practicing music is supposed to be fun.  I know that sounds obvious and simple enough, but if we musicians are truly honest with ourselves, a lot of us will probably admit that we don't have fun practicing nearly often enough.  We get too caught up in academic assignments, and strict practice routines, and logging hours and taking notes, and competing with our classmates and peers.  None of these things are bad in and of themselves, but too often we can't see the forest for the trees; we get so involved in checking off items on our practice list that we forget to actually make music.  Bob reminded us that none of the players we admire mastered their art by working though tons of books- they learned by playing with other musicians.  You can't always wait around until you feel "ready" to perform or play with others.  Sometimes you've just got to jump right in and react, and as Bob said, "You've got to try, and you've got to fail."  That's how you really learn and improve.

I think I've decided I need a little more failure in my musical development.  I need to stop worrying so much about "sounding good" for others and just aim to challenge myself to the point where I really improve.  I need to take more risks in my practice and playing.  And I have a hunch that these changes will make my practice more fun.

Speaking of fun, I had a blast this past weekend while my mom and brother visited.  They came into LA on Friday, and they caught all of our sets in the park on Friday and Saturday.  I was ecstatic to say the least.  Performing for guests is always fun, but when those guests are family, it's really something special.  It was really wonderful to finally have family from Alabama meet and interact with my band "family" here out in California. 

Here's a video of part of our train station set from last Saturday.  My mom makes a star guest appearance around 8:08!  She'll be a youtube celebrity in no time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DLV0e6usLA

On my off days this past weekend, I spent time with my family exploring the Southern California coast and LA.  We spent bajoodles of time in the car and stuck in traffic, and I've concluded that driving is just riskier out here.  Hardly anyone uses turn signals, merging onto the highway is a death defying stunt, and pretty much 100% of people think they have the right of way 100% of the time.  People refer to freeways as "The 57" or "The 405", rather than just "Highway 405".  As my good friend and California native put it, "We're just really personal with our traffic around here."  I haven't really developed that bond yet, and I'll take crappy Tuscaloosa drivers over SoCal drivers any day.

I think I officially have 1 month of shows with the band left after today.  It's insane how fast time has flown out here, and I'm sure I'll blink again and it will be over.  I'm doing my best to make everything and every day count.  Fortunately, I feel like once this program ends, it's only going to be the beginning of great things to come.  I've had a lot of doors opened this summer, and I've made a lot of friends that I plan on holding onto long past August 14th.  

If you've stuck it out through this wickedly long post, you're a trooper!  Gold stars for you! There will be a quiz later ; )  Peace, happiness, and love to all.

(Hardly) Working for the Weekend

So it's officially been one month since I arrived in California, and I think I can safely say I love it out here.  My job is awesome, the weather is awesome, and the people I'm surrounded by are awesome.  Don't get me wrong- I love Alabama- but there are several factors out here that make California some pretty tough competition.

The band has finally gotten into a regular routine now that we've completed a full work week in the park.  Honestly, the first full week was a little rough for me personally.  I caught some sort of cold bug around Wednesday of last week, and it still hasn't gone away.  I'm pretty sure I performed shows between Thursday and Saturday while running some sort of fever, and I've had a terrible sore throat and chest congestion.  I literally lost my voice sometime around Friday or Saturday, and it's just now starting to come back little by little.  It's weird to think that you could catch a cold out here when it's 77 degrees and sunny all the time, but I guess high-fiving hundreds of little germy kids in the park will give anyone's immune system a challenge.

We also had our first guest artist/clinician this week: it was Steve Houghton, a great jazz and studio drummer who teaches at Indiana University.  He's also an AACB alumnus.  Steve was pretty harsh in some instances, but honestly it was probably exactly what we needed.  His biggest critique was that we all need to improve our sightreading, which I know is definitely true in my case.  I thought I was a great sightreader at school, and then I came out here and realized I still have a ton of work to do in that department.  The game really changes when new charts are thrown in front of you every day, and you're expected to perform them near-perfectly on the first or second read.  It definitely requires a more intense level of concentration to pull that off, so I'm trying to improve that every day on the job.

Our concert with Steve was on Saturday, and it went well although it was a bit stressful to get through it.  The saxophone section had to haul our horns and about two doubles each over the the Plaza Gardens stage (where we perform our jazz sets) and then get everything set up before we started.  Once we actually began playing, the wind really picked up, and music started threatening to fly off the stand.  At one point I was playing one page, holding another with my hand, and stomping on yet another with my foot to make sure it didn't fly away.  We had stand clips, but it's tough to clip everything in place when you're reading a 90 mph chart that's 8 pages long, and you constantly have to turn pages.  We managed to make it through with no major disasters, and Steve played great.  Saturday was just one of those examples of doing whatever it takes to get our job done.  Sure, we could have used a little more rehearsal on the music.  We could have used more time to set up so we were more comfortable and prepared.  We could have not been playing soprano sax, flute, and clarinet with no time to tune them all.  But that's what the gig called for, so we did the best we could to make it work.  As I discussed with one of my friends in the band, sometimes the biggest lesson this band teaches is adaptability.

Despite some scattered moments of stress and chaos throughout the week, most of the time this job hardly feels like work at all.  Every day I wake up and think, "I'm getting PAID to play SAXOPHONE in DISNEYLAND for people who actually WANT to hear it?!" We literally make kids and adults smile every day, and for all the happiness we create, we get a whole lot back.

Still, it's nice to have off days from work at the end of the week.  We get every Sunday and Monday off to do whatever we please!  I'll fill you in on just a few of the things we've done so far:

Sometimes on days off work, we actually go back to Disneyland- but this time as guests and not employees!  We get into the parks for free, so it's fun to ride everything and see all the shows.  You would think working at the park and knowing how things operate behind the scenes would ruin the magic, but for me I think it actually enhances it.  It's cool to know exactly how things work, but then still be completely blown away by the production.  One of my favorite moments so far this summer was watching the fireworks show with some other AACB members.  We went on a night when Shelly, our choreographer, was going to be a part of the show.   If you've never seen Disney fireworks, one of the big moments in the show is when Tinkerbell flies in over the castle.  Well, Shelly was Tinkerbell that night!  When we saw her fly down, we screamed so loudly that people around us probably got weirded out.  I literally got goosebumps seeing her do that- I felt honored to know the woman behind the magic!  Here's one of my more successful pictures from the show:

Other days, we head down to the beach, which is only about 20-30 minutes away.  We've been out there twice now, and both times it's been perfect!  The weather is always gorgeous, though the water is pretty cold for this Southern girl.  Today, Corinne's family (she's one of my roommates) actually was gracious enough to have a barbeque on the beach for the whole band (they're from California).  It was a blast, and I made s'mores over a fire for the first time in years!  Here's a picture of the beach from the pier that I took the first time we went, just so you can see the whole California vibe for yourself:

Eventually I'm hoping to branch out some and get more into L.A. on some of our off days.  I'd really like to check out some local music clubs.  I'm already in the process of scheduling some lessons with some major L.A. players while I'm out here.  The great thing about College Band is that we have access to contact info for all these incredible musicians, and fortunately most of them are actually willing to talk to us!  I'm doing my best to take advantage of every opportunity for musical growth while I'm out here.  I don't want to miss anything.

I guess that's enough for now- there's tons more to share with you, but it's probably best to keep it in manageable doses!  I'll try to be better about updating this a little more often to keep everyone in the know.  I'm having an incredible summer, and I wish I had enough money to fly everyone from home out here to see me!  Trust me, I think you would love it here too :)

Have a great week, world!  

Bri

All Night, All Day

So it's begun!  We opened for our first day of shows in Disneyland today, and it was truly one of the most exciting days I've ever had.  But first, I must tell you how we got there...

Monday night was our infamous ALL NIGHT rehearsal.  While it sounds like cruel and unusual punishment, it actually serves a very practical purpose:  it's the only chance we get to run our sets in the park before opening day, and we have to do it in the middle of the night because no guests are there.  We got picked up by the shuttle bus at 10:15 PM, and our night/morning ended at 7:00 AM or so.  It was probably the most unique experience I've ever had as a musician or performer, and it actually ended up being a blast.

Disneyland is a strange and busy place in the dead of night.  There are workers everywhere cleaning lightbulbs, laying down concrete, moving trash cans, checking sounds systems, etc.  The most mindblowing thing to me is that they actually replant a lot of the flower beds every night.  No wonder their flowers look so fantastic!  Ha, I'm probably not even supposed to be telling you all this, because it's revealing the magic behind Disneyland.  Just promise not to tell ; )  I certainly couldn't take any pictures!

Our wonderful manager and "den mother" Lori had tons of goodies to give us at the start of our all nighter.  Most of the food and drink was intended to keep us awake, so it was all a lot of delicious junk food: M&Ms, candy bars, goldfish, coffee, sodas, and cheez-its.  I haven't eaten that much candy in a REALLY long time, so I had quite the sugar rush.  Miraculously I managed to stay pretty awake and energized for the entire night. It was really surreal to run our sets in the park for the first time, even if it was dark and empty.  There was a certain energy in the air just knowing that in a few more days we would be performing for real.

The band's momentum finally worn down at about 6:00 in the morning during flag retreat rehearsal.  Flag retreat is our patriotic set around the flagpole as security removes and folds the American flag.  It's a pretty cool set when guests are there to enjoy it, but it's somewhat miserable when we're just rehearsing it without an audience.  It doesn't help that I'm on clarinet for the whole set.  We literally watched the sun come up as we played around the flagpole, and by the time we were done, everyone was really spent.

Fortunately we had a couple days of recovery after the all nighter, so everyone was fresh and ready for opening day!  I was almost too excited to sleep all the way until my alarm went off.  We rehearsed for a short time this morning, and then it was off to costuming!  My costume actually fit better than expected- definitely not the most feminine look ever, but not clown pants either!  Have I mentioned our awesome shoes?  They're really nice New Balance walking shoes, and they're super comfortable.  We actually get two pairs, so it's possible I'll take a brand new pair home at the end of the summer.  Score!

Our first was in front of the castle, and everything went pretty well, all things considered.  The biggest hiccup we had was a carrier malfunction in the percussion section, but Mitch (the victim drummer) was a trooper and stayed in character even while his drum was on the ground!  Other than that, it was a really fun performance for everyone!  It was crazy to see how many people showed up to see us.  We were completely surrounded by guests on all sides, so it was fun to interact with everyone during the show.  There were some really adorable kids, including one little shy girl who Ron brought up to take a princess bow.  There were also several APs (Annual Passholders- more Disney lingo for you!) who were super psyched to see the band on opening day.  Most of them had cameras and video cameras, and there are already photos and videos from today popping up on the internet.

In fact, here's a video of our very first tune of our very first set on our very first day.  You should feel special that you get to see this!  It's like you were there too :)  Keep in mind that it may be a little rough around the edges, but it's sure to only improve throughout the rest of the summer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBohEnjYOrs

Did you catch my sweet dance moves?  Betcha didn't know I could do that!  Me neither, until a couple weeks ago!  Additionally, here's a really awesome picture of my taken during my intro.  I'm in the middle of a big heel click!

We had four other sets throughout the day, and it seemed liked our performance gradually improved throughout the day, which is good.  We ended the day with our Earth, Wind, and Fire medley, which is super high energy.  It was so high energy that at one point I ran up to a small kid in the crowd and accidentally scared the crap out of him.  I'll have to either work on friendlier facial expressions, or pick out slightly larger children in the crowd...

I can't even explain in words how amazing this job is.  I get to wake up every day and go play my instrument for huge, enthusiastic crowds.  I get to dance and jump around and act like a fool in a ridiculous uniform all for the sake of making kids happy and excited about music.  I work and live with 20 of the most talented, fun, and generous musicians in the country.  And don't forget that I'm doing it all in beautiful, low-humidity Southern California!  I'm seriously grateful and humbled every day to wake up and remember that this job is a reality.  I only hope I can give as much back as it's given to me.

For any of you musicians out there who have ever felt burnt out, I'm here to report that music does still matter.  I saw it matter to a whole street full of people today who I high-fived.  I saw it matter to a child whose face lit up when I played to him.  It's easy to get cynical and dark in a career where our skills often go unrecognized and under appreciated.  Although every gig can't be perfect (and I've played some that are FAR from it), as Ron says often, we always need to be "striving for perfection."  We can't ever act like it doesn't matter, because then the audience won't think it does either.

Maybe I'm simply the eternal optimist, but everything I've experienced in my short career so far makes me believe that music was the right choice.

If you'd like to see more pictures of our performances, check out photos of me on my facebook.  There's one  photographer who takes a ton of pictures, and I'm trying to tag myself in as many as possible so you can check them out too!

Thanks for reading, and come back soon!  As we like to say around here, have a magical day! :)

Crunch Time

Hey world!  Sorry for the delay since my last post, but things have been crazy here for the last couple weeks.  I have a lot to share about how rehearsals have been going and about what life is like out here in SoCal!

So we're currently about a week and a half into our rehearsal schedule leading up to opening our shows in Disneyland on June 16.  Most of you may be wondering exactly what we perform in the parks.  I'll admit that describing our shows is kind of confusing, because when asked about it I usually say something like "Well, we're basically a jazz ensemble instrumentation, but we play a lot of movie music and Motown stuff, and we dance sometimes."  Not the clearest picture.  So, here's a link to the band from last year performing the Disney Movie Medley:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMon9LASK3E&feature=related

Consequently, we're also doing that same medley this year.  It's a pretty fun one.  The guy counting off the tune at the beginning is Ron McCurdy, our director.  Did you see the uniforms I'll have to wear?  Pretty sexy, right? ; )  When I got fitted for my costume this week, the pants were literally about a foot too long.

Our show schedule will run Tuesdays-Saturdays, and each day we have 5 performances.  3 shows are similar to the style of the video above, 1 is a flag retreat set with all patriotic music (where I'm on clarinet), and one is a sit down jazz set.  Don't be fooled by the sometimes goofy choreography and abundance of high fives- all of the members of this band can really play.  I've been absolutely impressed with everyone's level of musicianship since day one.  The majority of the band members are really great jazz players, and I can't wait to actually sit down and play some tunes with everyone- when our daily 9:00-5:00 rehearsals are done!

So since two Wednesdays ago, most of our rehearsal time has consisted of learning choreography for the sets with movement.  Our choreographer is a woman named Shelly Nichols, and she has more enthusiasm and energy than almost anyone I've ever met.  She's been really great to work with, and she's really patient with us even when we're super tired and not so patient with her.  Shelly has taken me from thinking that I'm a horrible dancer to playing Stevie Wonder and doing some pretty crazy dance moves at the same time.  Okay, I may still actually be a horrible dancer, but I'm pretty coordinated when moving and holding a saxophone.  Maybe I should advertise this new skill set!

Right now is kind of crunch time for the band.  Since we open on Thursday, we're all doing last minute cramming of music and choreography memorization.  We have one more regular rehearsal tomorrow that will be mostly a review session, and then Monday night is the infamous night rehearsal!  We'll rehearse from when the park closes at night until it opens in the morning.  The reason for this is that it gives us a chance to run our sets in the park when guests aren't there.  It should be quite the experience to catch the sunrise when we're on our 5th or 6th hour of rehearsal!  Fortunately we don't have anything during the day on Monday, and we have Tuesday and Wednesday off completely.

Throughout these past two weeks, it's really sunk in that being in this band is a pretty big opportunity.  We've been introduced to several people who work in the higher echelons of Disney, and several of them were involved with the College Band at one point or another.  Some alumni have gone on to be film scorers and composers, arrangers, or studio players.  Others work in management positions in the entertainment department or work for companies like Yamaha.  The really cool thing is that all of these people are willing to meet with us, give us career advice, or give us lessons just because we're in the College Band this summer.  Ron has demanded that we take advantage of every contact and opportunity we have this summer, and I certainly plan to.  I'm humbled to be surrounded by such an impressive network, and I hope I don't blink and miss anything while I'm out here.

I'll leave you with a picture of a float from a parade in the park that we got to see.  It's called the Soundsational parade, and on this particular float Mickey is playing the drumset (he's actually playing too, not just miming it!).  The picture doesn't do justice to how gigantic this float was.

Starting Thursday, I'll be part of the magic too!  I'm really looking forward to it.  I'll do my best to keep you posted on how everything turns out.

Hope everyone is doing well!  Hugs to everyone in Alabama- I miss you guys.  You'd love the weather out here!

-Bri

We Create Happiness!

Hello again, friends!  I've been in California for three days now, but I'm just now getting a chance to update you all since everything has been so busy and new and exciting here.  It's been a blast so far, and things are only getting started.

The All-American College Band is being housed in an apartment style dorm at Cal State Fullerton for the summer.  They are decently nice dorms- no frills, but plenty of space and they've got everything we need.  Each suite has three bedrooms, and each bedroom contains two beds.  We also have two bathrooms, a full kitchen, extra storage space, and a large living room/dining area.  This is what my room looked like right after I unpacked:

That picture looks pretty sparse, but the room actually feels much more homey now since my lovely roommate Corrine moved in and brought many more colorful things than I did.  One thing that's cool is that the dorm staff does a linen exchange for us, so we don't have to wash our sheets and towels- we just exchange them for new ones every week.  So even if the sheets are a little scratchy and not fitted to the bed, at least we get CLEAN scratchy, unfitted sheets every week!

The campus here is beautiful in it's own way.  It's not a traditional looking college campus at all because everything is fairly new.  However, it has a lot of trees and flowers all over, and all the buildings and sidewalks appear to be really clean.  California smells great so far- just walking around campus, I could smell what I thought was honeysuckle (I don't know if that's what it actually was, but it was pleasant).  The weather is actually significantly cooler than I thought it would be.  I don't think it's gotten past the low 70s for a high temp yet, and it's kind of chilly in the mornings and at night.  I'm definitely enjoying the low humidity level though- SOOO nice.

Today we had our first day of Disney orientation.  It was what they called their Traditions class, and they basically educate us about the history, mission, and expectations of the company.  It was definitely a LONG day.  Our shuttle picked us up at 8, and we were done at 5.  Despite the repetitive and drawn out nature of any and all orientation processes, what I was most impressed with today was the company's consistency and attention to detail on every level.  We got somewhat of a tour through backstage (employee only areas) AND "onstage" (any area inside the park where guests are), and nothing in the park is there by accident.  Every small detail, from the flowers to the trashcans to the pavement, serves a purpose within its specific area and theme.  While Disneyland is a really crowded park, the place is about as squeaky clean as an amusement park can be.  You never see trash on the ground.

Finally, at the end of the day after we were all pretty tired of smiling and cheering, we received our Cast Member IDs and name badges!  Mickey came out and presented them to us, which was fun.  Here's mine:

Pretty cool, right?  It was the thing I was most excited about getting today.  At Disneyland, one of the company mottos is "We Create Happiness."  As cheesy as that sounds, when you think about it, it's actually a big responsibility.  People come here from all over the world for different reasons, but they're all expecting to have a great time.  My job description actually includes making sure that happens for them.  I may just be playing saxophone and wearing a silly outfit, but I have the ability to literally make someone's day by performing for them.  That's a really powerful thing.

We also had our welcome meeting with the band's staff last night.  Everyone on staff is fantastic of course, and they've all gone above and beyond so far to make us feel at home.  Ron McCurdy, our director, gave us a little pep talked to get us fired up about the summer.  In his speech, he said that we all must have "a voracious appetite for greatness."  That quote really struck me, because it's how all musicians need to be if they really want to succeed.  You can't just wish for success and personal improvement; you must have a hunger for it so overwhelming that you can't help but chase after it with everything you've got.  The further along I get in my musical career, the more I realize this simple truth: There is no secret formula to success, only hard work.  That's true here as much as anywhere.

There are a lot more stories and pictures I need to share, but it's all too much for one post.  I'll get to everything bit by bit.  Thanks for following, and stay tuned!

Roll Tide, 

Bri 

She packed her bags last night, pre-flight...

I hate packing.

I hate packing so much, I'm procrastinating it by writing about packing.  What a loser I am.

Seriously though, no matter when I start packing, I'm guaranteed to still be throwing something in my bag two minutes before I leave the house.  I have a hard time committing to the limited amount of stuff in my bag.  Therefore, by the time I'm done, my luggage typically looks like a bloated disaster waiting to happen.

The night before a big trip always makes me really antsy- it's a mix of excitement, anxiety, and the feeling that I'm forgetting something major.  It's hard for me to sleep in this state, and so I usually only get a couple hours of sleep before hopping on the plane.  Fortunately, I am world champion at sleeping in ANY moving vehicle, so I usually nap like it's my job for 80% of the flight.  People have told me before that I nap with my mouth wide open when seated in an airplane, and I'm sure it's absurdly unattractive...but then again, who ever looks cute on an airplane?

I do have good reason to be excited and a little nervous.  I'll be gone from May 27 until August 14 for the job with the Disney Band.  I've never been in California longer than a few days, so I have to somewhat pack and prepare for the unknown!  A girl's got to have clothing options, and a saxophone player has to have 45930 mouthpieces and reeds...since I fall under both these categories, you can see why this process is a tad stressful.

I said farewell to the South in the best of ways tonight: with FOOD.  Mom decided to take me out for a farewell dinner, and we chose Greenbrier Barbeque, a local favorite with a definite southern menu.  My meal looked like this:


And of course, I drank sweet tea :)

So, I suppose I'll get back to doing the last of my packing.  My flight leaves Huntsville a little after 8 tomorrow, and I'll be in L.A. by early afternoon!  The adventure begins!

I'll do my best to keep everyone posted over the next few days.  Sleep well, world.

Here we go.

Hello world!

So I've done it.  I bit the bullet and started a blog.  Despite my previously held opinions about how lame blogs are, I've been sucked into this virtual world.  I guess no one is safe.

I AM here with a purpose though- at least to begin with.  For those of you who don't know, I'll be in Anaheim, California starting on May 27th until August 14th.  I made the Disneyland All American College Band and will be performing with the group in the park all summer!  Many of my friends and family members have requested that I keep up with them while I'm gone, so I figured this would be a handy way of doing that.  Plus it's an excuse to let my closet writer come out!

For those of you who aren't that familiar with me (if you aren't and you're reading this, you probably need more hobbies), here's a little background info:  I'm a girl from Madison, AL who loves music, specifically jazz.  I'm a jazz studies student at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, and I play the saxophone.  I'm doing my best to make a career out of music somehow, and along the way I've met a lot of great and strange people, traveled to some pretty cool places, and built an impressive collection of bizarre gig stories.  Other fun facts:  I'm definitely a dog person, and will never own a cat.  I have a love for cute coffee shops.  I pretend I like to run, but I really hate it.  I can probably eat more than you.  I have a song to learn how to spell my last name, and yes, I will teach it to you if you ask.

This blog's beginning reflects a lot of new beginnings happening soon in my life: a new job, new musical experiences, and new friends that I'll meet.  I'm flattered by anyone who follows my journey, and I hope you can learn something from it, or at least get a good laugh.  Music definitely tells a story, and I'm excited to share mine with you.

See you soon!  Love to you all.