April 9th Rehearsal Introduced Drill Sets! April 9, 2006 Drum Major John Richard said “When people started to arrive at Veteran's Stadium on Sunday, I noticed a certain level of intensity on the faces of our members. I think the urgency of the situation has hit home and the Corps is up for the challenge and ready for some serious hard work. The members wasted no time in eliminating any marching cobwebs that might have existed and jumped into the warm up exercises and our new drill. This attitude was pervasive throughout our stay at the stadium.” Rehearsal was certainly CHILLY by the bay because of some determined wind. But we were more determined to accomplish our goals and improve ourselves. The drumline stayed at St. Andrew's to work hard on percusion, while Director George Lavelle started the hornline and color guard outdoors in a drill block, which soon gave way to our formation coming on the field (loaded with the Bridgemen antics people are waiting for!). The color guard girls were all smiles! Their enthusiasm was contagious and they were fun company as we mingled and joked with each other. Until we were called to attention by our staff or drum majors, then we were all business. Soon the drill charts came out and we were learning real drill sets to the opening phrases of Paglaiacci into Land of Make Believe. Once we had the drill sets locked down (while singing our parts), the hornline warmed up and played it a few times while doing our opening drill. President and Lead Baritone John Riccardi commented, “Can you BELIEVE how good we sounded? We were hitting our sets, everyone was running BACK to our first set, everyone was LOVING being there!” John Richard said, “George was ecstatic at what was accomplished and let everyone know it. We met, or should I say surpassed our objectives for phase 1 of today's rehearsal. Now, the hard part, will we lose that edge with the necessary break to get us to St. Andrew's? Not a chance. The troops arrived downtown, rearranged the practice areas and jumped back into the zone. The level of intensity could immediately be felt when you walked into the drumline sectional. Bob Dubinski and the rest of the instructional staff had our drumline smokin' and thinkin'.” Back at St. Andrew's, Larry Kerchner pulled out a new arrangement of Summer of '42 that put us back to work musically. Larry K. explained that "Dennis Delucia and I discussed how this chart needed to be a little more compact and bring out some of its lush passages more." Larry K. took mellos, baris, and contras, while Matt Krempasky took sopranos aside and we learned it fairly quickly. Frank Bentivegna said, "Y'know, I like the new arrangement of Summer of '42 better? It's pretty much the same song, just rearranged with some nicer parts!" It's also true that it allows for more expressive passages, as evidenced by how much fun Larry was having conducting the ending with a more expressive decelerando and decrescendo (ummm .... that means it got slower and softer at the end!). Soon afterwards, we found ourselves back in the gym for ensemble, which pushed our progress further and showcased our improvement. It was AMAZING how it all came together and we moved forward by leaps and bounds. John Richard said, “Our focus was really apparent on the faces of all members in every section at the Show & Tell. WOW, what a day! If this is a harbinger of future rehearsals, look out. The Bridgemen will be back with a vengeance on 6-10-2006.” Nancy Ducharme commented, “The corps turned the corner on Sunday - you could see it on everyone's faces by the end of the day - very tired, but with GREAT satisfaction. The energy and enthusiam was amazing. I saw it start with the drummers on Saturday and continue with them and the whole corps on Sunday. There was no going back now - the push was on!!! There was such a huge sense of pride and accomplishment when we finished on Sunday and WE ALL FELT IT!" John Riccardi commented afterwards, “MAN, that was a great day! I CAN'T WAIT 'TIL JUNE 10th!” John also said that there are only 3,000 seats available at Veteran's Stadium for our Tournament of Stars Invitational show, which are first come, first served. A lot of corps attending will be bringing friends and family so seats will fill up fast. Best to score tickets early so you don't miss out! Back to Information Articles