The Ferndale High School Golden Eagle Marching Band Preps for Camp

This week the Ferndale Golden Eagle Marching Band prepares to take our yearly trip to Interlochen for our band camp. The week we spend at Interlochen is at the heart of our band family, and for many is the best part of the season. Not only is it where we learn most of our show, but also it creates bonding time for the staff, parents, and students that carries with the band throughout the season and frankly, for the rest of our lives.

All of that aside, prepping for band camp is a lot of work! Everybody that plays a role in camp have preparations to make. Of course for the Jamison family this year, we’ll be adding a baby to the mix… but hey, what else are you going to do? This weekend Avery and Mallory (the senior and junior drum majors) spend some time at our house answering all their music questions. Some of the music this year has some complex rhythms and places where the drum majors will be conducting in two different time signatures. That will be tough to put together, but worth it when it works. 

Also on Sunday was the chaperone and staff meeting to talk about camp rules, schedule, and expectations. Personally, I’ve also been working on typing up and putting together brain teasers (for a cabin activity), the scavenger hunt (a night-time activity between sections and their coaches), name tags, labels for coordinates (I’ll explain those later), and making a huge packing list. We also made our big pre-camp shopping trip to Target. If you go to CVS or Meijer on Sunday night, you’re bound to run into some band kids.

Elon and I (and Kieran) went over Jason McIntosh’s house to see what drill he has written so far. The “drill” is the forms, or places that the kids march to, on the football field. Each movement of music has somewhere between 15-35 different pages, which represent each time a form “hits.” Students will receive at camp their “coordinates.” Coordinates show a student where to stand in relationship to the lines on the field. When each student sets themselves up in their spot, it creates a form. Each form can go with any set number of beats of music, often 8 or 16 beats. This process is the most time-consuming process for the band. Much of our day at camp is dedicated to learning where these spots are, then putting the music or guard work with these spots. Jason has the first two movements of the show done so far, and is working out the ballad (the third movement). It’s very tricky this year as the tempo is very slow, which makes it hard to march. He’ll have four out of the five movements done by camp.

On Monday and on Wednesday this week we have our normal practices, at which we’ll keep working on the show music and marching fundamentals. Monday was a big day because the kids signed up for their camp cabins and buses for the rest of the year. Our cabins at camp hold about 12-14 kids each, and these cabins carry on traditions – much like a fraternity or sorority, so these placements are extremely important to the kids. We also have a parent meeting explaining camp, especially for new parents so they can be more informed about the experience their kids will be having at camp.

On Saturday we have one of our “mini camps” – a full day spent entirely rehearsing at the high school. On that day we will learn how to read coordinates, welcome our new exchange student from Germany to the sax section (he comes to the country on Thursday and jumps right in), and hash over camp rules, among many other things. The next time we see the kids will be bright and early Monday morning to leave for camp.

Catch up with us next week when I will write frequent updates about what’s going on at camp. I hope you continue to enjoy the journey!