This week on DCI.org, we'll be focusing some editorial firepower on anecdotes and stories related to front ensembles. Think back to those formative, funny, inspiring or memorable front ensemble stories and send them in! They can be as long or as short as you would like. Attach a picture of yourself or the situation you're writing about if you can. And by all means, pass this on to your pit-lurking friends! We'll edit these stories for clarity, grammar and appropriateness. If you have a pit-related anecdote or story, send it to content@dci.org. Sarah "Shorty" Keeton of the 2003 and 2004 Cadets front ensemble sent in some photos and memories from her times in the pit.
(Top left) This is a picture from day on tour in Texas (unfortunately I can't remember where). Standing to the right is the Cadets section leader, Amol Rana, since 2003. When the corps woke up that morning, we discovered that our housing school had put up tons of welcome signs, including the Styrofoam cups in the fence in this picture that read, "Cadets Rock." The next day, a few people rearranged the cups in the fence to spell, "Free Day." "Free Days" were the running joke of the 2003 season simply because, we got no more than one all summer! (Top right) This next picture focuses on a day in Pennsylvania, around the time of the second Allentown show. The pit techs decided we needed to have a marimba vs. vibraphone sectional. I, being a vibraphone player, would like to report that the vibraphones won. Mike Greer and Jamie Eckert took the vibraphones; Neil Larrivee and Gifford Howarth took on the marimbas. I recall this day to be one of the MORE mentally draining rehearsals. (Bottom) In Westchester, Pa., we rehearsed directly in front of the equipment truck. Jamie Eckert, randomly, discovered a trombone near the truck and kept time with it as we rehearsed the pit feature in "Malaguena." Needless to say, Jamie created some pitches I didn't realize existed! Good times.