Closing Blog: Myself! Jessica Weiss

I absolutely love the concept of blogging. Whether it is to express yourself, help inform others, or to keep a public diary for memories sake, having a blog can be really fun. However, it is not for everyone. It takes discipline. Also, I feel like you have to have the right personality for it. Then again, maybe not. The internet can be a really easy tool for someone to hide behind and be someone they normally aren’t. As for me, I’m a pretty quiet and reserved person. Expressing myself for others to be aware of what my opinion on a subject matter is not be. I wouldn’t use the internet, even anonymously for that either. I’m a person huge on wanting to remember everything, though. Maybe, in the future, I will have a professional job that requires me to keep a blog about something. Then, once I get the hang of that, I can create a personal one about my family or hobbies.
Overall, I think this was a really good project!

Last camp of 2013 Season

BitterSweet

As an ageout, this past weekend was my last camp ever with the Crossmen Drum and Bugle Corps. While I still have the summer to look forward to, there won’t be anymore just-the-weekend activities for me.

Camp started at 8pm with a corps meeting on Friday night. From there, members split up into their respective sections and did warm ups and sectionals for two and a half hours until snack time. After snack, it was lights out and an early wake up for the morning. 7:30am was wake up for breakfast. After an hour of that, the percussion and hornline members met outside on the track for a 25 minute run.

After this very boring form of exercise, we finished the morning block learning drill for our 2013 opener. This was a very productive process and continued on all the way through the afternoon block after lunch. Finally, after 8 hours of learning drill and movements, an hour and a half dinner break came, to eat and have a corps meeting to talk about move ins. After the break, we continued on with inside reherasal working on music within our sections and then putting it all together with the hornline.

It was a very long day, but soon, snack and shower time came and we couldn’t be more ready to get to bed.

Sunday morning was an even earlier start as the alarm music went off at 7am. We all went to stretch and warm up outside for an hour. Then, we warmed up on our horns and all went to full ensemble with the entire corps to finish out our weekend of rehearsal.

The weekend went by incredibly fast and I cannot believe that in three weeks, we will be moving into Blossom Athletic Center for all-days for almost a month of training. Time flies and I cannot wait to get this show on the road!

YouTube Interview!

This interview is of Spencer Merryfield.
The newest contracted member of the Crossmen Drum and Bugle Corps.
As a rookout, Spencer has been contracted to the Crossmen hornline as a flugelhorn player.
Spencer is best friends with two members already in the hornline and couldn’t be more excited to start this summer in 19 days.
He has not been to any camps and is only getting preparation from his friends. He is very talented and should be ready to go just as anyone else as if he has been preparing since November.
Congratulations Spencer!

Click above for Part 1!

Click above for Part 2!

Click above for Part 3!

The video did not transfer well from the phone to computer, so each segment is about 1 minute long for a 3 minute interview.

Crossmen 2013 Camps

These pictures are mostly of my mellophone section at camps during rehearsal breaks.
We get into a bunch of silly shenanigans and I can’t help but pull my phone out to take pictures.
Pictures really do say a thousand words, with these guys, and they will always be the solid memory of what we do when all of the days mesh together in a monotonous routine.

My goal this summer, during tour, is to take 500 picuters.

My corps- Storify

http://storify.com/jweiss2268/my-corps.html

Crossmen Alumni Association

CAA

After the age of 21, members are exited from the activity and officially become alumnus of their corps. It is a very bittersweet year, however there are still ways to stay involved within the activity.

For the Crossmen, the alumni association is strong and proud. Click HERE to check out some of the history, funding, and members of the alumni.

When a member ages out of the Crossmen, the first year of the alumni association is free to encourage participation in the corps. However, after the first year, an annual membership fee is charged to help fuel the organization. There are many perks to being in the alumni association. For example, every year at a major show, called a Regional, is located in Allentown, PA. This is where the Hall of Fame Ceremony takes place and dozens of old Crossmen come out to support the current members, meet each other, drink, and have a good time. It’s a great day for everyone and is most definitely looked forward to every year among many other events as well.

DCI Website

In order to get more information on the activity in itself feel free to visit DCI.org.

There are several regions of information found on this page.

• Each Specific Corps
• Upcoming Tour Schedule
• Merchandise
• Pictures
• Latest DCI news

This organization is a non-profit. It is up to each and every individual corps to gather money every year to make it down the road. It costs one million dollars to operate one corps. There are about thirty corps total. Donations are always welcome in this activity and without the generosity of our supporters, the organization would not exist.

Random Pictures

Sometimes, it is hard to put each amazing summer into words.
Pictures really are worth a thousand words in these circumstances.
Here are just a few favorites from previous summers.

Training Site

We do it for the fans. They love us and we love them. Moments like this, even in just a parade, are the reasons why we come back each and every year.

Mean Girls Hype Day 2010

Back of the bus 2012

Crossmen Mobile App Idea

The Crossmen already have several different Twitter and Facebook accounts.

However, what they don’t have is a mobile app!
Fans can get close and personal with members on a different level!

DM Announcement!

Congratulations to the 2013 Crossmen Drum Majors!

Jarod Hall
Jordan Schock
Caitlin Hall

These three individuals worked hard over a 2 month long process to perfect their conducting skills in order to make it to the top of the list. Jarod Hall will be head conductor for the 2013 program while Jordan Schock and Caitlin Hall will be primary field drum majors. Jordan, with his previous 3 years of corps experience, will take on the majority of the Crossmen leadership roles.

For more information on these individuals, check out the Crossmen website! Congrats again!