(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