This past weekend, my family (minus the big boy) traveled to Fort Myer in Virginia to attend the Army Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps's Junior Workshop. It was a great event. The drive was pretty long, but we stopped at some historical sites, slept, studied, slept, memorized, slept, and generally had a good ride. The plus sides of these activities were that we didn't lose too much sleep from getting up at four and at five to drive and that I now know all of my 363 lines (give or take a few).
We stopped at Antietam National Battlefield on the way. The size of the place is incredible. And how is it supposed to feel to stand in a beautiful space of land and know that thousands of men killed each other there? My older brother, who is fascinated by the Civil War (and can probably tell you the name of any private in the war, where he came from, who he fought with and who his mother-in-law was), was the one who couldn't be there. There was a funny moment, however, when my freckle-faced red-headed little brother found and tried on a mock Abraham Lincoln beard in the Visitor Center gift shop.
The workshop itself was two days long and was seriously great. The fife section covered everything from fife maintenance to sight-reading to rhythm. Jointly we all did marching. I have no idea what the drummer sectionals were like... I was with a group of seven (four of us were from my corps) and we worked with a couple of hilarious sergeants. (The Old Guard musicians receive the rank of sergeant immediately upon graduation from Basic.) They were really great and fun to work with, and it was funny watching one of them, in an on-duty Army uniform, blowing into a fife that had a balloon on the end while the other exclaimed, "Why hadn't we thought of this before?" (It was my foresaid little brother's idea.)
We also visited Arlington National Cemetery (again, the scope of it was enormous), went to chapel on base on Sunday (the first time we've ever had the vehicle searched on the way to church), visited the Lincoln Memorial, and spent time with some good friends of ours who currently live in DC and who were extremely gracious in letting us stay with them instead of at a hotel.
Overall, it was an excellent weekend. I was reminded why I love being a fifer so much and equipped better to deal with my promotion. Now, moving on with my life.
We stopped at Antietam National Battlefield on the way. The size of the place is incredible. And how is it supposed to feel to stand in a beautiful space of land and know that thousands of men killed each other there? My older brother, who is fascinated by the Civil War (and can probably tell you the name of any private in the war, where he came from, who he fought with and who his mother-in-law was), was the one who couldn't be there. There was a funny moment, however, when my freckle-faced red-headed little brother found and tried on a mock Abraham Lincoln beard in the Visitor Center gift shop.
The workshop itself was two days long and was seriously great. The fife section covered everything from fife maintenance to sight-reading to rhythm. Jointly we all did marching. I have no idea what the drummer sectionals were like... I was with a group of seven (four of us were from my corps) and we worked with a couple of hilarious sergeants. (The Old Guard musicians receive the rank of sergeant immediately upon graduation from Basic.) They were really great and fun to work with, and it was funny watching one of them, in an on-duty Army uniform, blowing into a fife that had a balloon on the end while the other exclaimed, "Why hadn't we thought of this before?" (It was my foresaid little brother's idea.)
We also visited Arlington National Cemetery (again, the scope of it was enormous), went to chapel on base on Sunday (the first time we've ever had the vehicle searched on the way to church), visited the Lincoln Memorial, and spent time with some good friends of ours who currently live in DC and who were extremely gracious in letting us stay with them instead of at a hotel.
Overall, it was an excellent weekend. I was reminded why I love being a fifer so much and equipped better to deal with my promotion. Now, moving on with my life.
No comments:
Post a Comment