Remainder of Tour

To read about the remainder of the Mandarins 2010 DCI tour, check out our "virtual tour" here: http://bit.ly/drxtjn

August 1-2, Ohio

Our stay in Ohio continued with weather that was much better than what we had encountered in Texas and the south. We shared housing at Northridge High School in Dayton with Pioneer. However, the facility was very large and spread out, so we did not really see too much of each other.

Mr. Chow's meatloaf was the highlight of several fantastic meals served up by our ever working food crew.

Monday night's show was a good effort, and many parts of the show are starting to show significant improvement, although there was not quite the same energy as the Atlanta show. However, we continue to make improvement with every rehearsal block, every performance.

Next stop, upstate New York!

July 29 - 31 Atlanta

Our housing for the Atlanta show was at Temple Middle School, Temple GA. A very large school for a middle school. A great set up for us with a couple of fields, kitchen and cafeteria...and very good weather!

Nearly two full days of rehearsal was something we hadn't had in a while. Time was spent cleaning the show, with considerable emphasis on the opener. Frank Dorritie, a drum corps icon who is also very active in the recording industry spent time with the corps during our stay.

Saturday's show was a big one, with every world class corps in attendance. Our work in Temple paid off as it was the best show of the season, and both staff and members were very happy with the effort and the performance.

After our performance, a sudden downpour occurred as the members were walking back to the buses (it is about a 15 minute walk). As a result, much of the next day was spent drying uniforms and clothes that had been soaked in the downpour.

We are in Ohio for the next couple of days, with a show in Centerville on Monday.

July 27/28 Mississippi

Arrived at D'iberville High School for a two day stay. The first day was spent in rehearsal, the evening - laundry day!

The show Wednesday evening was held at the University of Southern Mississippi, home of Brett Favre. A good show, but plenty of things to work on in the coming weeks.

The corps will moving on to Georgia, where we will have 2 rehearsal days before the Atlanta regional. Looking forward to getting a lot accomplished!

July 26 - Louisiana

Had a great stay at Iowa High School today. Thank to the band and color guard, and band director for being such terrific hosts.

Thunderstorms throughout the day so we moved inside and under cover for the last couple of hours of rehearsal.

No rain at the show, in contrast to Monroe LA in 2008 when the corps got drenched on the starting line.

Show was a mixed bag, some parts showed greater clarity, others still needing work. Plenty to work on before Wednesday night's show in Hattiesburg MS, but we are moving forward!

San Antonio July 25

Today the corps started off with I and E - Individual and Ensemble. The corps was very well represented in a number of categories. You can see the results here: http://bit.ly/bbET5J

Then a well deserved free day down at the River Walk. Off to Iowa, LA , pronounced I-O-Way for housing and a show in Lafayette Monday night.

July 23/24 Dallas/San Antonio

Last two shows in Texas. The show in Dallas Friday night had a rough start but the corps went on to give a solid performance.

Our housing in San Antonio is terrific; St Mary's Hall, a private middle school on a very large, wooded campus. Plenty of field space, great facilities and very supportive hosts.

Saturday's show in San Antonio was the best of the season. Everyone's hard work this past week definitely paid off. A great way to cap off a week of shows here in Texas.

Today, I and E in the morning, then free day at River Walk!

July 21/22 Houston

The corps stayed at Bammel Middle School, a familiar place as we have been housed there in the past. The entire pre show staging was completed during our Wednesday rehearsal day.

Thursday's show was delayed first due to possible lightening, then rain falling. At one point, three corps were assembled under the back stands waiting for the weather to clear!

The performance was good, but there were also several spots that everyone feels can be cleaned up by Friday night's performance in Dallas.

We are in Dallas now, some floor time, rehearsal, then it's Showtime!

July 20 Odessa TX

Show Day: Thunder in the Desert, Odessa TX. The show was at the stadium used in the filming of the movie "Friday Night Lights"!

The weather was great today, especially in contrast to the past few days, although it was a bit windy. The local water on the hand, not so much.

Some parts of the show are showing definite improvement as a result of work during the past few days since the SoCal weekend. Tonight, the corps also had the opportunity to provide the encore performance at the show; all the members enjoyed the opportunity to perform once again; the staff had a good time as well!

Long bus ride tonight to Houston, then a rehearsal day before Thursday night's show.

El Paso TX - Monday, July 19

Monday was a rehearsal day in El Paso TX. The corps worked on several aspects of the show, including sketching in the basics of the pre show. Front sideline screens were also added, and the logistics of getting them on and off of the field addressed.

All sections are definitely showing improvement on a daily basis as we head east during this first week of tour. We are also spending time on getting some of the new brass players into the show.

After rehearsal, the corps is headed off to Odessa, TX for Tuesday night's show, Thunder In the Desert.

July 18 Mesa AZ

Upon arrival in Mesa, the corps rehearsed from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m., then rested and slept until it was time to prepare for the evening show: this allowed us to avoid being outside during the hottest part of the day. The school facility was very nice, and a welcome change from the previous couple of days.

During warm up at the show site ("the lot"), the skies opened up with rain, thunder and lighting. After a delay, the show was cancelled, although a couple of corps then performed a standstill (by then we had already packed up the equipment).

It was off to Texas, going through New Mexico, roadrunner territory! The exhibition show in El Paso has been cancelled due to show sponsor issues, but we still have retained the housing site, so it will be a rehearsal day instead.

The staff has been very impressed by the corps members thus far on tour. They have been resilient and done a fantastic job, particularly given some of the logistical challenges in Southern California and the rainout in AZ. They are focused and hardworking in rehearsal, and appear driven in the task of improving the show rep by rep, show by show. They are doing a great job!

Next show is in Odessa, TX, Tuesday night.

July 16 and 17

Our last couple of days in California are now over. During our stay there were some issues with the show sponsor provided housing and rehearsal fields, yet the corps was able to work through them. Saturday's show in Paramount was the best of the season to date.

Shirley Dorritie was with the corps this weekend reinforcing the positive performance visualization techniques and methods she had introduced at the Memorial Day camp. This certainly contributed to the success of Saturday evening's performance.

The corps is now on the road to Arizona for Sunday evening's show in Mesa. By the way, this is the first time since 2006 that the corps was full at the beginning of tour, with every spot filled. This season the corps includes 60 brass, 28 guard, 27 percussion and 2 drum majors (and a brass line alternate as well!)

We're Back on the Road!

After several weeks of shows and rehearsal in California, the buses left Elk Grove CA early Friday a.m. on July 16. A couple of SoCal shows and then on to Arizona and Texas for our first week on the road. A lot of improvements and refinements have been made both visually and musically, with more on the way.

The color guard has a number of theme days, which dictate the rehearsal attire for the day. Today is "Pink Day"!

Everyone is looking forward to a great show in Paramount tonight, our last show in California for the season!

End of Training Camp - First Show!

“Show Day” - two words that everyone is always excited to hear, especially when it refers to the first show of the season. The Mandarins first show is tonight at Buchanan High School in Clovis: http://bit.ly/9Yte10

The corps is presently wrapping up a 5 day stay at Washington Union High School in Fresno. The week was spent finishing up the last 12 pages of closer drill and “taking the met out” of the closer. Movement was added to the percussion feature Bollymash, and time was spent to review all other parts of the show and work on basic technique (circle drill anyone?).

The staff also worked on adding in a number of new brass and guard members, including a number of performers from Southern California, with more coming in this weekend; some high schools in Southern California get out late for the summer!

After tonight’s performance, the corps will travel to James Lick High School in San Jose. The corps will stay there through the weekend as there are shows at Stanford on Saturday and in Stockton at the University of the Pacific: http://mandarins.org/news/news.html#06182010.

You can get more info by checking out our latest video newsletter: http://mandarins.org/

Week 1 of Training Camp Complete

The Mandarins finished the Sacramento week of training camp with our annual Family Day event. This includes section presentations, introduction of staff, recognition of support staff and the administrative team, scholarship awards, and of course, two runthroughs of the show, one with drill, one in standstill.

To conclude the formal portion of the evening, all alumni were asked to come down to the track. There the brass line played Year of the Dragon as a way or recognizing and expressing appreciation for those who marched in the corps before them, and made this year possible.

With music (courtesy of percussion arranger Tony Nunez) playing in the background, everyone was invited out of the stands. This allowed corps members, family, friends and boosters the opportunity to exchange hugs, congratulations, high fives and take advantage of photo ops.

Photos of the week are posted here: http://bit.ly/cglCVX

After a day off on Father's Day, the corps is now in Fresno for week two of training camp. The guard will be working in several new members, and working on the closer drill. The battery and brass will work on the remaining 12 pages of closer drill as well. We will be working in a few new brass players as well.

Based on what the design team saw of the show this weekend (including Wayne Downey's observations after his weeknight visit with the corps), there are already a number of show refinements taking place.

Of course, solidifying the show is also the major emphasis for the week with the first show this Friday night in Clovis. See you there!

Nearing the end of Week 1

The corps has been progressing by leaps and bounds. We have about 10 pages of the closer to complete, but have done a lot of teaching this week.

As we approach the end of week 1, more time will be spent reviewing material that has been added throughout the week. This will involve more ensemble work here at the Cosumnes Oaks High School Stadium.

We have had some of our local high school students being added back in the show as school is over. However, we do have over a half of dozen members from Southern California who will not be joining us until next week (and a couple the following week) as the school year goes later in those areas.

The weather has cooled considerably this week as it is in the low 80's!

Tomorrow night, Saturday June 30, is Family night, section presentations start at 7 p.m. and a full run at 8 p.m. Of course, everyone is invited early (alumni especially) if you want to catch up and say hello to folks you haven't seen for quite some time. The corps members will be busy preparing for the evening, so there will not be time to chat with them until after the evening performance. However, we will leave the lights on in the stadium so there will be plenty of photo opportunities for those of you who want to take pictures of corps members in uniform.

Sunday, June 20, Father's Day, is a day off before we travel to Fresno for week 2 of training camp which will include the first few shows of the season.

Hope to see everyone tomorrow night!

Training Camp has started

Friday night the corps assembled at its Sacramento base camp, Cosumnes Oaks High School in Elk Grove. We've set up for the week and had a good weekend of rehearsal to start things off.

We are fortunate to have the support of the administration as we have use of 2 gyms, cafeteria and 3 fields (including the stadium). We've also been set up AV wise to allow the members to see a video of each day's concluding runthrough.

The weekend was spent finishing the the percussion feature, which includes as its source material "Ever So Lonely" by Monsoon. There was also a good amount of sectional time as each caption staff is working to refine specific techniques, and apply them in performance to portions of the show.

We do have a number of high school students who are still in school, so we will be adding people in as the next couple of weeks go by.

If you want to drop by, please do, we'll be here all week. And don't forget Family Day, Saturday night, June 19 at 7 p.m.

We are also looking for a couple of tubas and a couple of guard people, so if you're still thinking about marching this summer, it's not too late!

May and June Camp Report

The Mandarins have been busy the past few weekends with the last couple of camps leading up to our annual training camp.

We now have the opener, 2nd production and first few sets of the percussion feature on the field. We are looking to have the entire show on the field after the first few days of our Sacramento training camp, which will begin Friday night, June 11. You can see a schedule of the week here: http://mandarins.org/auditions/detail.html

The Memorial Day camp included a performance skills session with Shirley Dorritie. Shirley has extensive drum corps experience and is a member of the DCI Hall of Fame. She has combined this experience with an MA in Counseling Psychology to provide a basis for successful performance techniques. Her session was very valuable in getting the staff and members visualize and execute enhanced performances.

We still have a few spots left: guard, tuba and baritone sections have openings. If you are interested, please contact the individual caption heads through the email links on our staff page here: http://mandarins.org/about/info.html

April Camp Report

Everyone was eagerly awaiting the April camp as it was to be the first time the entire corps was together since the December camp. Many of the members had been very busy through the winter months as participants in winter guard and percussion. In addition, this was the camp that we were to start teaching drill.

After Friday evening sectionals, Saturday and Sunday saw a lot of field time. We are fortunate to call Cosumnes Oaks High School home, as we have use of not only the stadium and its artificial turf field, but also use of the natural grass soccer fields.

Considerable work was done on the music book, and the full corps has almost a minute of the show on the field. The staff was very impressed with the members’ ability to perform this portion of the opener, as it was the first time putting music to drill.

Our outstanding volunteers were also kept busy during the weekend, cooking all the meals (including 2 bbq’s!), taking care of administrative forms, and fitting uniforms.

The corps was also preparing for our first public appearance of the year, at the Pacific Rim Festival to be held in Old Sacramento on Sunday May 23. Keep checking the corps web page for details: http://mandarins.org/

There were a number of new members at this camp to help round out the roster. At this time, the corps has a couple of guard spots, a couple of tuba spots and one mallet/aux. perc. spot in the pit. If you are interested, please fill out an interest form on line here: http://bit.ly/afOwul or you can contact the individual caption heads through the email links on our staff page here: http://mandarins.org/about/info.html

The corps’ next camp will be Memorial Day weekend, May 28 – 31 at Cosumnes Oaks High School. The staff and members are looking forward to another great camp as we get ready for the 2010 season!

February Camp Wrap Up

The February camp was held over President's Day weekend, with the best weather we've had to date. Several sessions over the weekend were held outside amidst sunny skies and pleasant temperatures.

Work continued on the 2010 program as the percussion and brass sections concluded camp with ensemble work on this year's opener Meetings Along the Edge, by Ravi Shankar and Philip Glass. The brass line also learned music for the next production, The Mountain of Fruit and Flowers by David Buckley and Samudra Manthan by Shivkumar Sharma.

While there were some absences due to winter percussion, jazz band and honor band performances, personnel wise things are looking good. At this point, we do have a couple of tuba spots. If you are interested, please use our on line registration form and we will be in contact with you: http://bit.ly/afOwul

While the Mandarins summer guard will not be in attendance until the April camp, the Mandarins Guard Academy spent the weekend working on this year's show, set to a medley of Michael Jackson tunes: http://bit.ly/9btTzC

Our next camp will be held March 13 and 14 Cosumnes Oaks High School in Elk Grove. We will continue to audition brass players, especially new tuba players! For more information, check out our audition pages at mandarins.org

Mandarins Update, Saturday February 6 Performances

Saturday, February 6 was a busy day for the Mandarins organization, as both the Brass Academy and Guard Academy had local performances.

After 12 years away from the floor, the Mandarins winter guard returned with an exhibition performance by the Mandarins Guard Academy at the Enochs High School in Modesto. They thrilled the crowd with a show set to an acapella Michael Jackson medley; their next performance will be at McClatchy High School in Sacramento on March 12; the full performance schedule can be seen here: http://mandarins.org/auditions/guard.html

Later that evening the Mandarins Brass Academy held their final performance in a concert that was intended as a way to give back to the community. The Brass Academy entertained an audience of over 50 seniors at the Pioneer House nursing home in Sacramento. One of the 90+ year old residents, who is a former member of the Oakland Symphony, commented that she appreciated the great tonal quality displayed by the brass section. After the concert the Mandarins Brass Academy members presented hand-made Valentine's cards to the residence. In all, it was a great way to finish the second year of the Mandarins Brass Academy.

January Camp Report

The January camp was definitely a big step forward towards the 2010 season. For one of the few times ever, attendance showed a substantial increase from the December camp. The January camp allowed for consolidation of Northern California and Southern California audition sessions. We also had attendees from our Hawaii workshop, and a number of returning and new members from Japan.

The weekend started with a conditioning session with Chris DaPrato. Chris is a former marching member and staff member; he is currently working with NCAA Div. 1 athletes at Cal Berkeley in their Sports Medicine and Physical Therapy departments. You can read Chris’ bio, as well as bios of the rest of the Mandarins staff through links provided on the info page here:
http://tinyurl.com/yf4azmo

The brass line continued technique work and learned this year's opener, Meetings Along the Edge, a collaborative work between Ravi Shankar and Philip Glass.

The percussion line also worked on refining technique and continued with the audition process. There were many difficult decisions to make, and the Mandarins would like to thank everyone who took the time and effort to audition with the corps, as there was an abundance of talented, highly motivated individuals.

In addition to the brass and percussion sections, the Mandarins Guard Academy was also in attendance. A good deal of work was completed on the 2010 exhibition show, which will be performed at local color guard circuits in the Northern California area. The Mandarins summer guard will be off until the April camp to allow staff and members to participate in winter guard activities.

The weekend included auditions and interviews for the 2010 drum major positions. Leadership and conducting sessions were included as part of the process. Saturday evening had all the candidates conducting the brass line during ensemble rehearsal; Sunday morning consisted of interviews with the caption heads, Mr. Mar and Jim Tabuchi. There was an excellent pool of candidates; the two drum majors for the 2010 season are Chris Honda, third year member and senior at Ponderosa High School and Boyce Jefferies, first year member who is completing his first year as a Music Education major at Sacramento State University.

The Mandarins next camp will be February 13/14. Auditions for pit and brass will continue at that time. Further information can be found on the audition page at mandarins.org