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