On Thursday, August 27th, the
Cicely Tyson Community School held 3 separate orientations for
parents and students of the Middle School and High School. The
Summer Camp Marching Band was asked to play at all three
sessions. This page is an account of what happened that day.
I arrived to take photos at about
11:00 AM. The band had already played their first performance in
the auditorium and were getting ready for practice between
performances. The band is too big and there are too many students
to take it all in in one shot, so I'll break it down into
sections. The drum section lined up on the left.
Still on the left, in front of
the drums, are the glockenspiel (bells), piccolos, and flutes.
Now we look along the right side,
where we find the saxophones.
Starting long the back wall on
the right swe come to the brass section. The tuba players are
playing sousaphones today so they can march them into the
auditorium. We also see the beginning of the clarinet section and
the trumpets.
Panning along towards the left,
we see the rest of the clarinets with the brass in the back
against the wall. Remember, the band is just tuning up and not
all members are in their places yet, so some people will be
missing in these action photos.
Finally, in the lefty back corner
are are the trombines, and back to the drumline again. Sorry if I
left anyone out; you guys move too fast for me to keep up.
The band director, Mr. Frederick
Goode, finally calls for silence and gets the band ready to
practice.
The band is practicing, not just
for today's performance, but for future performances as well.
They have to be ready weeks in advance, and every spare moment is
filled with working out problems as they learn to play together
in harmony.
The above video shows how they
are coming along with two of the pieces on which they are
currently working.
Just before lunch break, the
various sections split up into different rooms and spaces for
group practice sessions. This photo was taken through the glass
of a practice room where the flutes are being put nthrough their
paces by the section leader.
There's no room inside for the
drums and they make the most noise, so they are sent outside for
their section practice under the guidance of alumnus Rasheem
Franklin. You will often see Rasheem conducting his drums
separately in the background, keeping them all together and
reminding them not to overpower the other band instruments, which
they can easily do.
The school has not provided
lunches for the band. Instead the lunches have been provided by
and served up by the Band Parents.
The band members aren't even
allowed to eat in the new caffeterias, but make do with sitting
on the steps in the parking lot behind the band room.
But that's all right with the
students. The Band Parents' Association has provided plenty of
pizza and drinks and this is a time to relax and socialize with
one another.
Some students hurry through lunch
so they can get right back to work again, like Darian Bravo who
is finishing writing some arrangements for next week's practices.
He's working in the new school, but still using Digital
Production Studio's equipment because the school's computers
aren't yet ready. Mr. Goode uses his lunch time to consult with
students individually.
The students then come in from
lunch and spend some time tuning up their instruments again. Then
they line up and get ready to head to the auditorium for the 1:00
PM orientation session and their second public show.
The members of the East Orange
Unified Marching Band Summer Camp line up on the stage of the
auditorium, under the bright lights and in front of a large
audience of parents and new students. You can hear and see their
performance in the video below.
The next public performance will
be at the closing Awards Ceremony for Summer Band Camp, August
31st. After that you can hear the band play at the first football
game half-time show on Saturday, Friday 11th, 7:00 PM at Vernon Township High School, Vernon, NJ.
