Band geeks?

[personman]

Who else is a band geek? I'm a huge one and I'm damn proud of it. I have 'I cant turn you loose' as a ringtone on my cellphone which is a song we played for our show last year and I played it for our director and he just laughed and called me a nerd.
I play the Clarinet, Bass Clarinet, Trumpet, and I'm learning the Sousaphone for marching season next year. I've played the clarinet since 1st grade, Bass Clarinet for 5-6 years I think, and the Trumpet for under a year. I learned the trumpet because I didn't want to march with the suprano clarinet, and I did pretty well considering I learned it over the summer. My band director didnt believe I learned it over the summer.
Well, our band is going to be short a few tubas next year because a few are graduating this year so I was like heck, why not. I just borrowed a sousaphone from the school and bought a new mouthpiece today and I'm fooling around with it. It's pretty heavy, and playing it makes my face tingle. The mouthpiece is HUGE compared to the trumpet.

So who else is a complete band nerd?

I also play guitar but thats not really a band instrument.. well, atleast it's not a wind instrument. Thats what, 5 instruments? :)

[tony3]

Nerd!

[B.A.M.]

Band is a cult at my school and keep to themselves

[Archangel Kid]

Sousaphones... worst tone quality EVER... get a contra and be a real man :D... oh BTW I'm a huge one, marched 1st trumpet this past season my last year :(. I go to Southern Regional High School, if you know TOB then you've probably heard of us. I'm planing on auditioning for The Cadets next year. I auditioned two years ago and got a 2- for trumpet and that was after a year of marching baritone for my highschool band. I love the trumpet and as a matter of fact I have mine sitting next to me right now =D!

[behemoth]

Adam, what did i tell you...


Alright folks,
Dont mind the short-bus students... :cool:

[AGDlover]

well i kinda am i play baritone Saxophone

[personman]

Yeah Sousaphones have really crappy tone. But you cant have a marching band without multiple sousaphones. It just donnnnt work. :)

This thing is really heavy. I need to work out.

DIAF behemoth

[wad04]

alto sax, yeah i'm right up there with the band nerds. us band nerds just got back from hawaii, we played at pearl harbor and a mall.

[behemoth]

DIAF behemoth

Im bigger than thou, I'll kill you.

[personman]

Im bigger than thou, I'll kill you.
Only if you roll over me.

You guys went to hawaii? Damn, thats where we were supposed to go but not enough people could afford it. Instead we are going to NYC for a few days which will be cool I guess but we arent actually playing anything. Just touring.

[SAW]

Yeah Sousaphones have really crappy tone. But you cant have a marching band without multiple sousaphones. It just donnnnt work. :)

This thing is really heavy. I need to work out.

DIAF behemoth
Aren't they only like, 40 pounds? :)

[personman]

I guess its not that bad but I dont have the sholdur pad on right now and my back was sore after a few hours of practicing ;)
Not sure on the wieght but yeah it feels somewhere around 40 pounds. I'm a pretty strong backpacker so it doesnt bother me all that much but all the wieght is on one shoulder opposed to two sholdurs (sorry I cant spell sohludaoder worth a crap) and your hip.

[behemoth]

Only if you roll over me.

Contrary to popular belief, that wouldnt kill you. However, repeated blows to the face would.

[Maksimus54]

I'm a band geek. I play alto sax(Marching) and bassoon(concert). I am really quite bad at both, but all my friends are in band and i just haven't had a good enough reason to quit.Go band geeks!!

[SAW]

I'm a pretty strong backpacker so it doesnt bother me all that much but all the wieght is on one shoulder opposed to two sholdurs (sorry I cant spell sohludaoder worth a crap) and your hip.
Cool. I'm not the only one who thinks carrying a 80 pound pack is fun. :)

[Miscue]

Braces saved me from becoming a band geek... I could no longer play the trumpet. In high school, I took up computer science in place of band... I suppose it's a very good thing in retrospect.

[gamarada717]

Big percussionist right here. In all truth, I absolutly hate band, but I can't give up something that I love so much. I can't wait to get my snare on for next years marching season....it's going to be hella sweet.

[B.A.M.]

Braces saved me from becoming a band geek... I could no longer play the trumpet. In high school, I took up computer science in place of band... I suppose it's a very good thing in retrospect.
exacatly looked how you turned out. I think ill take my bass instead of those other instruments which cost thousands.

[personman]

Basses cost just as much as wind instruments...

And miscue thats a sad excuse. I played trumpet with braces for a while and I did just fine ;)

[-=Squid=-]

The question is, how well can you play said five instruments?

[personman]

The question is, how well can you play said five instruments?
Pretty well actually. Well, except for the tuba, I just started learning that last night.
Clarinet I would say I'm pretty good at but I dont play it much anymore, I've moved on to the bass clarinet. Bass clarinet I've recieved alot of complements on my tone.. Trumpet, I'm nothing special but I've been playing less than a year and my teacher says she's never seen anyone learn so fast. Gutiar I'm nothing special but I'm better than alot of people. I've only been playing guitar for about a year and a half.

But how well you play an instrument has absolutely nothing to do with being a band geek. So, it's off topic.

[-=Squid=-]

Pretty well actually. Well, except for the tuba, I just started learning that last night.
Clarinet I would say I'm pretty good at but I dont play it much anymore, I've moved on to the bass clarinet. Bass clarinet I've recieved alot of complements on my tone.. Trumpet, I'm nothing special but I've been playing less than a year and my teacher says she's never seen anyone learn so fast. Gutiar I'm nothing special but I'm better than alot of people. I've only been playing guitar for about a year and a half.

But how well you play an instrument has absolutely nothing to do with being a band geek. So, it's off topic.
I didn't mean it as a stab at you if you took it that way, sorry.

[personman]

I didn't mean it as a stab at you if you took it that way, sorry.
It's all good. BFF?

[Miscue]

Basses cost just as much as wind instruments...

And miscue thats a sad excuse. I played trumpet with braces for a while and I did just fine ;)

Playing fine with braces is not hard, but exceptional is a different story. :p And it doesn't affect everyone the same way, some worse than others - for me it was bad. Part of the problem, that I did not realize until years later, is that my mouthpiece was too small. It sounds stupid, but I had no idea that there was a difference. It was appropriate for an 8 year old, which is when I started.

I still could play, but my range and endurance were limited. My lips would go to complete failure, where I could no longer produce any sound regardless of effort or determination.

I tried using wax to keep my braces from slicing me up so bad, but that made it harder to play. Instead, I would just deal with it and bring a towel to soak up the blood. Before a performance, I would stop playing for a few days to heal up as much as I could.

[gamarada717]

Our best trumpet player in our band (and I'm talking, amazing good), puts these blue plastic things on his braces. They slide right on, and prevent his lips from being cut up.

[personman]

Yeah cue I know what you mean. My lips got pretty bad too but I got them off so it's all good :)

And of corse I'm sure there is a big difference between starting off with braces and getting them after you've already learned..

I used some of those plastic things for a while, they help kind of. The ones I had came off alot though.

[Vex]

Well I'm not a band geek, but my wife is. She's been playing flute (get your minds out of the gutter!) for 20 years. She's currently found a nice gig playing in the North Little Rock Community Concert Band. It's volunteer, but it's her outlet to play. The band director is very fond of marches, particularly Souza. I wonder why... ;)

[Indi86]

mFlollerskates at the basses don't cost as much as wind instruments comment. Talk to me when you start looking at custom luthiers to make your basses, sonny. BAM seriously why don't you watch your words.

[Ole Unka Phil]

The Kid was in Band all through Junior and Senior High... Marching and Jazz both. Then last year he was in Clemson Tiger band. He really enjoyed that as they take them to most of the Away football games as well as they play and march at all home games. Not a bad experience. Plus everbody knows... band chicks put out. ;)

[warpspyder]

I play 1st trumpet for Waukesha North high school. You may have heard of us if you watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Band is life, and with a little paintball thrown in- what more do you need?

[frontrunner]

I marched all 4 years of high school and as 1st trombone for 2 seasons so i'm a large one too