Hi everyone! I hope you are all home safe for Thanksgiving and ready to celebrate tomorrow! We finished classes yesterday and I came home last night for the first time since October break. But besides preparing for my favorite holiday, during the past two weeks I played in pep band for the first time, met John Mackey, and enrolled for next semester!
Last Saturday I played for Holy Cross Pep Band for the first time! We played for the men’s hockey team vs Air Force and it was really neat to play a new role at the games, since I go to most of them anyway. Pep band traditionally plays the National Anthem as well as every third whistle during the game, and it is a great opportunity to play more well-known songs (like “How Far I’ll Go” from Moana) than our Concert Band repertoire. It was a great experience and I am looking forward to the rest of the hockey and basketball games!
In other music news, this past Friday the one and only John Mackey came to campus as Concert Band’s guest clinician for the semester. We are playing one of his pieces, “Foundry” for our upcoming concert and it was really neat to meet with him and receive his input. For context, bands around the country, from middle schools to conservatories, play his music (even one group at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade!) and he is widely known in the wind ensemble community. I played his music throughout high school, so it was really neat to see him in person!
Additionally, even though it feels like I just moved in, last Monday I enrolled for my second semester classes. I will be taking political science, history, music theory 2 (for the major) and I will continue with my Montserrat. For whatever reason–probably to make you question taking 8AMs–enrollment takes place at 7 AM on a Monday, so inter-house council provided a lovely post-enrollment breakfast for first-year students.
That’s all for now! Be sure to check back in for some post-Thanksgiving updates as I brave the two weeks of class heading into finals. Happy Thanksgiving!
