Honestly, the chances of beating a vet are slim, but still not impossible. I can rattle off about four or five people who have done it right now. That being said, if you can't march better, then at least try to drive harder. Don't let the vets out drive you. I remember one of my first on the lines, Colin was with me and he was literally roaring down the field (the man is seriously a beast). I almost fell over. I almost fell over the first time I heard someone screaming at tryouts. Try not to scream, just yell. its usually easier to have better drum control if you yell through a breath, otherwise your diaphragm is moving a lot which moves your chest which moves your drum.
Some of the best advice I ever got was to make the squad leaders and staff, when they walk into that room to select the band, believe that not having you will hurt the band. Remember, this is a band. We play TOGETHER. We also march while we play. We are not a park and play line. I promise you will have almost just as much drill as the rest of the band and twice as much black stuff on your music.
Train harder! Go out there everyday as if it were tryouts. We expect no less from any of you. Don't let other people beat you back from water breaks/ to block / whenever. Show us that you don't only just want to be here but you BELONG here.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Friday, July 18, 2008
Learn your music
Summer sessions are there to getyou ready for tryouts.
Why would people not learn the music as soon as possible. If you try that during the season, I promise you will fail music checks and then you won't be in the band. School songs are easy so learn the music, you don't want to have to think about it right before tryouts. Down by the Ohio is probably the most difficult tryout song so don't think you can wait until the last minute. Throughout the summer you are showing us how much you are willing to work and how much you want to be here and if you aren't learning your music that really shows a lot about you.
Be smart. Train hard. Drive through it.
Why would people not learn the music as soon as possible. If you try that during the season, I promise you will fail music checks and then you won't be in the band. School songs are easy so learn the music, you don't want to have to think about it right before tryouts. Down by the Ohio is probably the most difficult tryout song so don't think you can wait until the last minute. Throughout the summer you are showing us how much you are willing to work and how much you want to be here and if you aren't learning your music that really shows a lot about you.
Be smart. Train hard. Drive through it.
I keep telling you, treat it like sports
Check out this video where some excercise scientists hooked a DCI tenor player to some monitoring equiptment during a practice.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Cdc-Ga_K00
Watch it, learn from it.
Learn your music.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Cdc-Ga_K00
Watch it, learn from it.
Learn your music.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Ready...Fight!
Do you understand how tryouts work?
Basically you work your butt off all summer getting ready for tryouts. You sweat, hurt, bleed and cry because you are pushing yourself so hard. You are driving so hard that you can't really talk normally until the next morning and you want to lay in bed all day because your legs and feet hurt so bad. Then tryouts come and you sweat it out and kill yourself for two more days, but then you get cut because some one else out played you, out marched you, or out drove you.
Are you going to let them do that? Are you going to let them take it from you? Are you going to be going down the ramp come September or are you going to be watching in the stands? Everyone around you is trying to beat you, trying to take YOUR spot.
FIGHT for it!
Drive harder than anyone else, longer than anyone else. The vets will likely be better marchers than you, but you can try to out drive them. Show us that you can march with the best of us.
Do NOT listen or do things that other candidates are doing to fit in. If you are there early, then practice marching, DO NOT SOCIALIZE, DO NOT PRACTICE MUSIC (you can practice music at home and chances are you don't have a turf field in your backyard). They are candidates, which means a) that they haven't made the band either, b) are trying to take your spot, c) are probably not good examples to follow. FOLLOW the VETS and SQUAD LEADERS! Especially the ones who have been around for a long time. DRIVE THROUGH IT. Get mad, be fierce, get that fire in your eyes, show us you want to be here! If others aren't yelling very loud, then good, blow them away and yell until you can't. Yell through stretches, through the blocks, sloopy, through the final ramp and the last OH.
Basically you work your butt off all summer getting ready for tryouts. You sweat, hurt, bleed and cry because you are pushing yourself so hard. You are driving so hard that you can't really talk normally until the next morning and you want to lay in bed all day because your legs and feet hurt so bad. Then tryouts come and you sweat it out and kill yourself for two more days, but then you get cut because some one else out played you, out marched you, or out drove you.
Are you going to let them do that? Are you going to let them take it from you? Are you going to be going down the ramp come September or are you going to be watching in the stands? Everyone around you is trying to beat you, trying to take YOUR spot.
FIGHT for it!
Drive harder than anyone else, longer than anyone else. The vets will likely be better marchers than you, but you can try to out drive them. Show us that you can march with the best of us.
Do NOT listen or do things that other candidates are doing to fit in. If you are there early, then practice marching, DO NOT SOCIALIZE, DO NOT PRACTICE MUSIC (you can practice music at home and chances are you don't have a turf field in your backyard). They are candidates, which means a) that they haven't made the band either, b) are trying to take your spot, c) are probably not good examples to follow. FOLLOW the VETS and SQUAD LEADERS! Especially the ones who have been around for a long time. DRIVE THROUGH IT. Get mad, be fierce, get that fire in your eyes, show us you want to be here! If others aren't yelling very loud, then good, blow them away and yell until you can't. Yell through stretches, through the blocks, sloopy, through the final ramp and the last OH.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
High Performance Athletes
JI Row,
Here we are, dead middle of the summer, and the heat is on! Last Thursday you got a small taste of what the summer heat will be like, so stay hydrated! Drink water all the time. If you just drink water at summer sessions, then you are already dehydrated when you get there and this will severely hinder your performance and its dangerous. Bring a water bottle! You can even just take a cheap bottle and refill it.
TREAT TRYOUTS AS IF IT IS AN ATHLETIC COMPETITION!
Seriously, the BEST advice I can give anyone is to treat this like a sport. This summer you have great examples of high level sporting competitions on TV all of the time. Watch the Olympic Trials, Olympics, Tour De France, etc. (baseball not so much for the direction I'm going with this). These athletes spend countless hours working on being able to execute the perfect form every time the step up to the block. They perform countless drills to reinforce the MUSCLE MEMORY of every movement so that no energy is wasted. They spend all of the time they are not practicing thinking about their performance and how to improve. They have a sense of bodily acuity, where they know exactly what every part of their body is doing at any time. They also have proper nutrition. Stay away from foods with bar codes (think Twinkies vs. Banana - go for the banana). Do NOT drink Gatorade because it tastes good, it is a training/ competition TOOL. Gatorade AM is a bad concept unless your a D I swimmer getting up and swimming hard for 2 hours at 5 am. Do NOT work out for an hour and think you need a powerbar. Those are good if you're on a 2+ hour tempo (medium to hard effort) bike ride.
These high level athletes also recover properly. If you work out nonstop and don't get the nutrition you need, then your body can't heal itself properly and be stronger for the next workout. Note: it is unlikely any of you are close to this point of overtraining.
Most importantly though, they practice EVERY DAY. Because they know that if they aren't practicing, then someone else is and becoming stronger/ faster/ better.
So be smart, if you have questions then ask. Katie is a massage expert, I'm well versed with training and nutrition and Jordan is a jock too. So we know what we're doing.
OSU Football is a top athletic organizations, they deserve the band that works just as hard. Do not insult this band, the row, alumni, fans, football team, past and present coaches, people of Ohio by being out of shape or not giving your full effort all the time. They call us the best because that is the respect that this band has earned. But simply to earn it once is not enough, we must work tirelessly and strive to be the best. Records were made to be broken, reputations fade, but legends live on. You may make mistakes, but Drive Through It!
Be Safe. Train Hard. Train Smart.
Here we are, dead middle of the summer, and the heat is on! Last Thursday you got a small taste of what the summer heat will be like, so stay hydrated! Drink water all the time. If you just drink water at summer sessions, then you are already dehydrated when you get there and this will severely hinder your performance and its dangerous. Bring a water bottle! You can even just take a cheap bottle and refill it.
TREAT TRYOUTS AS IF IT IS AN ATHLETIC COMPETITION!
Seriously, the BEST advice I can give anyone is to treat this like a sport. This summer you have great examples of high level sporting competitions on TV all of the time. Watch the Olympic Trials, Olympics, Tour De France, etc. (baseball not so much for the direction I'm going with this). These athletes spend countless hours working on being able to execute the perfect form every time the step up to the block. They perform countless drills to reinforce the MUSCLE MEMORY of every movement so that no energy is wasted. They spend all of the time they are not practicing thinking about their performance and how to improve. They have a sense of bodily acuity, where they know exactly what every part of their body is doing at any time. They also have proper nutrition. Stay away from foods with bar codes (think Twinkies vs. Banana - go for the banana). Do NOT drink Gatorade because it tastes good, it is a training/ competition TOOL. Gatorade AM is a bad concept unless your a D I swimmer getting up and swimming hard for 2 hours at 5 am. Do NOT work out for an hour and think you need a powerbar. Those are good if you're on a 2+ hour tempo (medium to hard effort) bike ride.
These high level athletes also recover properly. If you work out nonstop and don't get the nutrition you need, then your body can't heal itself properly and be stronger for the next workout. Note: it is unlikely any of you are close to this point of overtraining.
Most importantly though, they practice EVERY DAY. Because they know that if they aren't practicing, then someone else is and becoming stronger/ faster/ better.
So be smart, if you have questions then ask. Katie is a massage expert, I'm well versed with training and nutrition and Jordan is a jock too. So we know what we're doing.
OSU Football is a top athletic organizations, they deserve the band that works just as hard. Do not insult this band, the row, alumni, fans, football team, past and present coaches, people of Ohio by being out of shape or not giving your full effort all the time. They call us the best because that is the respect that this band has earned. But simply to earn it once is not enough, we must work tirelessly and strive to be the best. Records were made to be broken, reputations fade, but legends live on. You may make mistakes, but Drive Through It!
Be Safe. Train Hard. Train Smart.
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