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UCMB Preseason 2016 Highlights
Saturday - Daniel Fasciano
It was the first day of Preseason, so the Drumline, Front Ensemble, Colorguard, Freshmen and Section Leaders moved in before the rest of the band arrived on Monday. After saying goodbye to our families, often with a traditional stop at the UConn Dairy Bar, Preseason begins in earnest. Due to the summer camps, the Percussion and Guard already have met the new members in their sections, however this is the first time the rest of the incoming class will get to meet their leaders, and the first time they get to rehearse as part of the UCMB, so it's very exciting. After an afternoon full of practice, the night is concluded with Traditions night, where new members get to learn our cheers and chants, and then wander through UConn to try and find their way back to their dorms for their first night at college.
Sunday - Matthew Chodes
Day two of new member weekend was extremely productive! The new members finished a great deal of our sequence, and were on their way to being one of the fastest learning new classes in the UCMB! It was great to see so many of the new members getting to know each other more, as this was many of their first ever college experiences. Having rehearsal all day can tend to be tiring, but the new members were running strong and had enough adrenaline to keep them on their heels. With returning members coming the next day, we were excited to present this incredible new class to further raise the bar for our performances.
Monday - Emilyn Tuomala
Monday of preseason is always filled with excitement, nervousness and the feeling of comfort when driving past Horsebarn Hill and seeing the W Lot sign on your right. For all the new members, Monday was a chance to show the returning members how much they accomplished the first weekend and to meet the 200 or so people that they would be able to call friends. For the returning members, it was like slipping back into an old routine. My favorite time of the whole day was running around the courtyard and welcoming/hugging those friends you hadn't seen all summer. The first day naturally blew by, with sectionals, music rehearsals, our first time on the marching field for the season and then convocation to complete the night. We laid the foundation for the great season we are having so far.
Tuesday - Samantha Morales
After kicking off with full-band preseason on Monday, we started our Tuesday off with breakfast at South Dining Hall. While most of the band had marching rehearsal at the band field, the front ensemble gathered in the music building for a morning of warming up with technical exercises and learning more part one music. The band returned to south for lunch and then broke off into sectionals for part of the afternoon. Halfway through the afternoon session, winds joined together in the music building for a music rehearsal. During this time, drumline stayed up at the band field practicing drill and music while the front ensemble stayed in the music building separately to begin working on b-tunes and c-tunes (songs to be played at Gate C at PAWS ARF as fans enter the stadium). Tuesday night’s dinner was per diem, so the front ensemble put together money for a pasta dinner night at one member’s apartment. There was pasta, garlic bread, and tons of laughter and section bonding! After dinner the front ensemble returned to the music building for our final rehearsal session of the day while the rest of the band headed back to the band field for some marching and music. Once we had completed another productive day of preseason, the band was rewarded with an ice cream social at the band field!
Wednesday - Aliana Robichaud
Today marks the 5th day the Colorguard has been at preseason. We are starting to get tired and very sunburned, but it is all worth it because we started learning the show today!!! In the morning we took the opportunity to develop our skills further on rifle, working on spins, tosses, and adding a few new exercises to our repertoire. We also took this time to learn a whole bunch of work that will be going into part two of the show. The twirls are fast, hard, and fun. Today's spirit day was "on Wednesdays we wear pink" so we were a very colorful section. In the evening the whole band got together to learn the first several sets of our show and we were able to put some work to it that same night. Overall, Wednesday was a huge step forward for the 2016 UCMB and it got us ready for the many performances to come.
Thursday - Nicole Ware
The Thursday of preseason was the first day the pit joined the rest of the band up at the field. They came up in the afternoon and joined the band for playing part one. After a delicious dinner break and a little more practicing, the band got ready for their circle ceremony. New members gathered while returning members successfully made a circle. Glowsticks were distributed as well as little dog shirts and hats to big buddies. Returning members were ecstatic to welcome the new members to the UCMB, during one of our favorite long standing traditions!
Friday - Timothy Paproski
Friday was an exciting day of preseason! First, we finished learning part 1 of Rockquiem, and then repped it to get comfortable. We had a special visitor flying above us for our rehearsals-a drone piloted by two of our alumni, Jason and Devon! After dinner, we all met back at Mirror Lake for a really exciting event- our first public performance as the 2016 UCMB! Our annual Concert By The Lake went very well; we had a great turnout of families, friends, alumni, and students alike! For the first time of the year, the band ROCKED it! After the conclusion of the concert and the singing of our Alma Mater, our Freshmen members went off to their Class of 2020 Freshmen Convocation, and the rest of the band retired early for the night to rest up for another day of preseason!
Saturday - Megan Ennis
Saturday August 28th was our last 3-session day of preseason. In the morning, we started by cleaning up America and part one. It was an extremely humid day but the band powered through and rocked the practice! (hahaha see what I did there?) Anyways, in the afternoon, the band went inside and had rehearsal while the Drumline stayed at W Lot to rep Pregame. The most exciting part of the day however was the evening rehearsal. The band loaded into the handful of buses and made their way to PAWS ARF. There we ran through everything multiple times get practice using the field. Overall it was an extremely successful day filled with an excessive amount of sweat, smiles and sunshine.
Sunday - Thomas Ropes
As the UCMB’s 2016 Preseason was finally coming to a close, only one day stood in the way of the true beginning of the semester: picture day. With a call time of noon in the center of campus, it was the first day since the beginning of preseason where we were all able to sleep past 9am if we chose to. We would not have to deal with another rehearsal at W lot from 9am-12noon again until our mini camp the day of the preview show, which was a week away and not of great concern to us just yet. Needless to say, many of us thoroughly enjoyed the extra three hours of free time and made use of it most likely by sleeping. By noontime that day everyone had congregated at the UConn seal in the center of campus. All of the members were around the seal, some in their sections having friends zip up the backs of their uniforms, and some figuring out their place for the picture. The tubas and drumline were just finishing staggering in from unloading their equipment from around the corner of the Homer Babbidge Library. As everyone piled into their spots, we all looked to the sky to the professional photographer taking our photo of us spread evenly across the seal. He was perched on a cherry-picker and was very quick and efficient with our pictures. Immediately after the pictures, our fearless leader Dr. Mills briefly stopped us to give us a quick update that we would be having rehearsal later in the afternoon starting at 2pm. We then all scurried over to the welcoming shade behind Laurel Hall right next to Rowe. It was not the hottest day of the week, but as any band member can tell you, our uniforms can get very hot very fast. So, as everyone waited to have their individual and section photos taken, we all were able to relax in the cool shade (“cool” is a relative term here; it was still quite hot out). Everything went smoothly, ending at around 1pm, and everyone had around an hour to quickly eat and get ready for rehearsal. At 2pm, everyone had arrived at W lot. We warmed up, cleaned some drill, and overall worked on our pregame and halftime field show. There was nothing unique about the rehearsal. Nothing, that is, except for the amount of time we spent at the field. With rehearsal ending at around 4pm, it was amazing at how fast the time went by. Of course, standing out in the sun for two hours usually doesn’t go by too quickly, but compared to previous days with all-day rehearsing, this was a luxury. By the end of the rehearsal, preseason had ended. You could observe, at that moment, seniors who were sad (or happy; we don’t judge) about their last preseason being over. You could also observe freshmen thanking the marching band gods that it was finally over. Overall, however, it was a very good and productive week for the band. From the amount of rehearsal time that preseason had offered us, we were looking and sounding great. We were (and still are) on track to be the greatest UCMB ever!
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