Spirit holds three-day rehearsal
Shalon Montgomery
Issue date: 2/7/08 Section: News
This past weekend, Feb.1 through Feb.3, served as the first three days of rehearsal for the 2008 Spirit of Jacksonville State University.
Spirit will hold one three-day rehearsal at JSU every month until May. This first rehearsal consisted of 130 musicians from all across the country, with the ages of the musicians ranging from 15 to 22 years of age.
"I have been practicing for the Spirit program for a year now," Vince Osam, a senior at Fred J. Page High School in Franklin, Tennessee, said. "I wanted to join Spirit because of my passion for drum corps."
The staff for the Spirit program consists of two main directors and multiple musical assistants. The management director is Joel Vincent, and Randy Nelson is the design director. There are a number of assistants as well, such as Dr. Ray Vasquez from Auburn University, Danny Eaton from the University of Minnesota and Eric Willie from Tennessee Tech University, just to name a few.
During the rehearsal last weekend, the three sections of the Spirit Corps (color guard, hornline and percussion) practiced for four hours a day. According to the directors, the first rehearsal went rather well.
"The rehearsal went great," Nelson said. "We learned the first part of the show."
The expectations for the director and the drum and bungle corps members for the 2008 season seem to be the same.
"Our goal is to reach our highest level as a team," JSU drum major and Spirit member Josh Walker said.
Spirit travels all across the country during the summer to perform and compete. The 2008 Spirit of Jacksonville State University has held drum and bungle corps auditions at the beginning of each month since November 2007.
The first official performance for the Spirit of JSU's 2008 season will be on June 22 in Dublin, Ohio.
Spirit will hold one three-day rehearsal at JSU every month until May. This first rehearsal consisted of 130 musicians from all across the country, with the ages of the musicians ranging from 15 to 22 years of age.
"I have been practicing for the Spirit program for a year now," Vince Osam, a senior at Fred J. Page High School in Franklin, Tennessee, said. "I wanted to join Spirit because of my passion for drum corps."
The staff for the Spirit program consists of two main directors and multiple musical assistants. The management director is Joel Vincent, and Randy Nelson is the design director. There are a number of assistants as well, such as Dr. Ray Vasquez from Auburn University, Danny Eaton from the University of Minnesota and Eric Willie from Tennessee Tech University, just to name a few.
During the rehearsal last weekend, the three sections of the Spirit Corps (color guard, hornline and percussion) practiced for four hours a day. According to the directors, the first rehearsal went rather well.
"The rehearsal went great," Nelson said. "We learned the first part of the show."
The expectations for the director and the drum and bungle corps members for the 2008 season seem to be the same.
"Our goal is to reach our highest level as a team," JSU drum major and Spirit member Josh Walker said.
Spirit travels all across the country during the summer to perform and compete. The 2008 Spirit of Jacksonville State University has held drum and bungle corps auditions at the beginning of each month since November 2007.
The first official performance for the Spirit of JSU's 2008 season will be on June 22 in Dublin, Ohio.
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