January 8th Rehearsal Gets the New Year Off To A Great Start!
January 8, 2006

Our Sunday rehearsal on January 8th brought together familiar faces and new faces to the fold. It's always great to see new people caught up in the fun! It reminds us that we're on the right track.

We assembled in the gym at 12:00 and circled up around Director George Lavelle to hear the rundown of how he's planned out our rehearsal day. George then had us line up to work on drill basics to shake out the cobwebs of the winter holidays and get our heads into the game. We got together in a block and moved forward, sideways, and backwards; the basics of a good marching drum corps. We were all pleased at the progress we made in so short of a time. After all, we each bring a lot of experience to the table and gel together well. Soon we moved into working on the Bridgemen shuffle, one of the visual hallmarks of the corps that fans, old and new alike, will enjoy!

Soon we were back with our sections and getting warmed up to get to work.

Horn instructor Matt Krempasky has a knack for getting us to concentrate and think about our technique on the horn. He's a motivating presence who gets us to focus and WANT to do better. Plus he has a good sense of humor and makes us feel comfortable. We began with familiar charts and soon moved into new material. We worked on phrases again and again until he was satisfied we were achieving Larry Kerchner's goals for the piece. The difficult sections and lush chords of My Favorite Things, In The Stone, Land of Make Believe, and Summer of '42 really came to life under his guidance. We're looking forward to hearing how rock solid this will all sound in the coming months. If this is where we're at in January, we'll blow people's minds this summer!

The color guard stretched and warmed up, ready for the physical workout that is a dancer's life. Flags and rifles ripped through the air as our girls learned new routines and solidified what they'd worked on before. Veteran Matt Hurley proved he is a master of cheoreography and technique in putting our girls through the paces. With the help of Nancy and Claire, the guard is moving closer to showtime and the attention of a revved up crowd. Imagine how great they'll look wearing black coats! Read what Kelly had to say in the article below.

Dennis Delucia primed his drumline with the discipline and determination you'd expect from a veteran of many drum wars fought and won. His warm-up exercises reflect his ability to get his drummers primed to reach their potential, with the tenacity to do their best. Soon they were ripping into Bridgemen music, bringing the battery to life and ready to wreak havoc like cannon fire! We all remember when Dennis' drumlines were the tops in their divisions at DCI, DCA, and more. All eyes are on Dennis' latest effort. Jim Mallen, a former head drum judge of DCI, brought valued assistance to keeping this drumline on track to make a GREAT impression this summer.

Drum Major Jim Jordan put us to the test when we all joined together in the gym for Show & Tell at 5:00. Jim's experience as one of our greatest drum majors and as a dedicated leader brought us together for final run throughs as we put all the pieces together. Then we could ooh and ahh at each other's abilities!

At day's end, we walked away satisfied that we had challenged ourselves to learn more of our 2006 show and clean it up along the way. Director George Lavelle thanked us for our dedication and gave us good reason to want to return to next rehearsal, January 22nd, ready to go. He pointed out that there's only 9 rehearsal weekends left until our own Tournament of Stars show! Optional rehearsals on Wednesdays or Thursdays will go a long way to getting us prepared.

Veteran John Nadrowski has a great Bridgemen Tribute site where you can see LOTS of photos.

Anyone who'd like to come on down to Bayonne to be a part of us is welcome to check us out. The ranks will close after next rehearsal so let us know if you're interested! If you'd like to speak with someone about which section you'd like to join, or want to discuss who you can travel in with, feel free to contact Bridgemencorps@Bridgemen.com.



January 2006 Guard Rehearsal Was The BEST!

Well today we had our first practice for the new year. I can say for myself and for the other Guard members it went GREAT!!!!!

Matt Hurley showed us new routines to do and when he was done, Claire Kronenfeld helped us out. When we do the new routines, sometimes Claire or Matt will make a name up for us to remember the part. Some of them are funny like “wash the windows,” “sweep the floor,” or “feed the puppy.” Those names really help some of us to remember. Matt is a very talented guy and Claire is a good coach. Together with Nancy Ducharme, they are a GREAT team.

During our practice, Matt will go over and work with the rifle line and Claire will work with the flag line. Claire will break down each part and go over it twice or maybe three times, then move on to the next part. Then we put it all together with the tape playing.

This Sunday practice, I must say, was the BEST. There were tough new things to learn. The flag line did their spins and the rifles did their tosses.

Matt will listen to the music as we stand there and watch him spin the flag, and do some little routines. Then he will turn to us and show us what he wants us to do. We go over it a few times, then Claire will take over.

At one part of practice, Matt wanted to change a small part in the routine and we all said “No, leave it the way it is!” and Matt turned around and said “You guys are Cuba and I am Castro!!!” and we all laughed! Then he turned around and said “You guys are right, leave it the same.”

We went over everything we learned and kept going on with it until everyone got it. Then towards the end of our practice we all got together and did all the routines together with the rifle line.

I am very proud to be a Bridgemen Guard member under the care of Nancy, Claire, and Matt. They help you out when you don't understand something and they will tell you when you are doing it wrong and never get mad!

At the end of the rehearsal, we all got together. As the horn line and drum line played what they have learned, and we put all our work together with them, it looks soooo awesome. To put it all together and see what it sounds like and looks like is a great feeling.

I must say that the Bridgemen are BACK and will be SMOKIN'!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

- Kelly Matos, January 8th 2006 rehearsal


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