Thing #6

Searching for blogs to feed my reader was interesting. I tend to look for blogs that are fairly easy reads, and hopefully use some humor. Finding the educational blogs was not as difficult because having read one blogger in the assignment yesterday, I knew I already liked the way Cool Cat Teacher wrote. I like the fact that she has a daily post about a variety of topics. I was also able to find another that I liked, so I know I will enjoy seeing their posts. Looking for blogs in my field was more difficult. In fact, I was disappointed that there were just not that many blogs about band and the educational aspects. I was able to find some news feeds and some interesting articles. During this time of year, anyone that enjoys and follows student musicians is a fan of Drum Corp International. They are an organization made up of several musical marching organizations across the country. These organizations are not bands, they are corps. What is the difference you ask? Well they do not use any woodwind instruments, just drums, bugles (brass) and color guard. The students that are members of the various corps, travel and compete every summer. They will ride buses all night to get to the next town, sleep on a gym floor when staying overnight, and practice and compete almost every evening. This culminates in the World Championships held in August. Most of us that teach marching band use their "style" in our field presentations and they have had a huge influence on marching band across the country. We currently have a Mesquite High School Band Alumni student marching with The Crossmen, and he will be performing here in the Dallas area this summer. Many of our current student and ex-students are looking forward to seeing him.