Moved!

Hi all - Its official...I've moved my blog to wordpress.com!  You'll probably have to resubscribe and stuff to get my new posts.  My domain, sandyclarinet.com, will go directly to the new site, and so shall all my links on this site.

So enjoy!

-Sandy

My first week

This week was my first week at my band.  It was awesome!  I'm going to love it :)  It was a short week, because the band had liberty on Monday and Tuesday, so my official first day wasn't until Wednesday.  Basically, all I did all week was check in with people and practice.  That's it!  I'm not on any gigs for a week or two, so I get to spend most of my time practicing for awhile.  Pretty sweet deal if you ask me!  The band gave me a brand new Buffett Prestige to play for indoor gigs, and a really old (circa 1998) greenline R-13 outdoor gigs.  The greenline actually plays really well considering it looks like its been through hell and back.  The prestige is very nice, although it is brand new, and plays brand new.  I need to break it in a little.  At this point, the greenline plays a little better than the prestige!

Its always hard starting a new job, just because I don't know anyone.  Its always so awkward!  And the band is sooooo much more laid back than the school!  Everyone goes by first names now!  And I can't believe how much little time we spend at work.  Granted, I haven't started on gigs yet, but I have a feeling I'm going to have a lot of spare time on my hands!

In other news, Ben and I got a puppy!  Meet little Mojo :)

He's a chihuahua, and we got him from some friends of ours in Rochester.  He is going to be a great addition to our family!

I made it!

Well, its been a long five months, but I made it!  I am officially a military musician now.  I graduated from the armed forces music school on Friday and reported to my band in Norfolk.  I'm so excited to get started with my new career!

Some of the highlights from the last couple months include a master class with the President's Own Marine Band in which I got to play:

I also won student of the month at the school for September.  

That was pretty cool because I wasn't expecting anything like that.  The way it works is that you get nominated and then you have to go do a "board", where you sit down with senior enlisted (in this case the Command Master Chief and the senior enlisted leader of the Marine detachment) and they evaluate your military bearing and ask you questions about yourself.  I couldn't believe that I had gotten it out of everyone! I guess I'm not so bad at this military thing!

So Friday was the graduation, it felt weird!  I had been to several graduations before to play at and to attend, it felt weird that it was finally my turn.  Here's some pictures from the ceremony:

I also ended up scoring high enough on my final audition that I became instructor qualified!  I had to go through a "staff appraisal" in which I had to teach a mini lesson so that my teaching ability could be evaluated.  Thankfully, I passed!  So I am officially qualified to teach at the school.  We'll see if I ever end up back there.  I also scored high enough on everything to achieve early advancement, which means I don't have to take the exam to become an E-4, it will just automatically happen in 4-10 months.  Awesome!  It also means that I will be eligible to take the E-5 exam six months earlier!  

I'll try to be better about posting updates...I was just so busy at the school!  Now things should calm down a bit.  Hopefully :)