And nope. Not MY drum major. I was walking around during rehearsal block yesterday when I heard a lone trombone wailing away. Without putting a whole lot of deductive reasoning skill to use I thought “Who’s that? Why aren’t they in brass block?” Had I put any deductive reasoning skill to use I would have remembered that all 4 drum majors are trombonists. As it turns out, it was Jacob Armstrong.
I really didn’t plan to interrupt his workout, but as I got closer, he stopped playing to say hello, and a conversation started up.
We talked about trombones, the vast differences between college marching band and drum corps, keeping your chops up when not playing every day, etc.
But the fascinating part of our conversation was more about leadership. Jacob explained that while there is a members handbook that the real overarching rule is “Be a Cavalier”.
He said “We teach that being a Cavalier means being a gentleman, being confident, being grateful, and being ( honestly I forgot the fourth one)”.
He went on to explain how student leadership actively strives to tie almost every situation back to these tenants.
“Take last night in Los Angeles. Our members are all so grateful to have had that experience! Or first show in Clovis…we were CONFIDENT walking on that field behind SCV and the Blue Devils…”
Folks … our corps is in good hands.
(I just wish I could remember that 4th descriptor- my listening skills are slipping😂)
Another full day of boot camp here in Palmdale. I’ll check with admin and media team to see if we could bring some video from Ensemble tonight… but no promises. They may not want anyone to see the modifications to the show they are making.
Also going to be shuttling to LAX for several hours this afternoon, but maybe an evening post.
Rolling With the Cavaliers 