Preparation for Band Camp

How to Prepare:

You are athletes in training, so you need to treat your body to proper nutrition, sleep, and hydration, especially during the intense training at band camp. If your body is starved of these important things, your performance will suffer and you may experience problems such as heat exhaustion, fainting, decreased concentration, and weakness.

Hydration:

Start drinking fluids days before band camp (as well as competitions), especially in hot weather. Water, fruit juice, or Gatorade type drinks are good choices. Soda may contain sodium and does NOT do an effective job. During camp you will have frequent water breaks to replenish the fluid you will be losing. You must drink during these brief breaks.

Dehydration and Heat Exhaustion:

These are serious conditions and may be prevented. Dehydration means your body does not have the fluid it needs to maintain normal bodily functions. Early symptoms are dry mouth, headache, lightheadedness; thirst may or may not be present. Heat Exhaustion is also serious and means your body is overheating and cannot cool itself properly. Symptoms include increase in body temperature, absence of perspiration, nausea, fainting, weakness, and probably thirst. These conditions can be very serious. Please seek immediate help from the medical staff if you are experiencing the above mentioned symptoms.

Exercise:

Marching while playing an instrument takes endurance. Your body needs to be in good cardiovascular shape. Get in condition NOW, prior to starting band camp, to maintain good performance. Walking, swimming, biking, and hiking are good ways to increase your heart rate. Before band camp, start getting conditioned to working out in the heat. Living in air-conditioned comfort all summer then stepping out into the July/August mid-day sun for band camp is a tough adjustment.

Diet:

You must eat breakfast before coming to camp each morning. Your body will need the calories. Avoid salty foods. Eat a variety of foods. Get your sleep! Please prepare yourself physically and mentally for band camp. Everyone needs to be able to perform at his or her maximum level. Band Camp is the foundation of the marching season. So, please prepare by exercising, getting plenty of rest, eating well, and drinking plenty of water before and during band camp.

Medical :

Must have a completed, up-to-date medical form. If students use an inhaler, the student should carry his/her inhaler at all times – especially on the field. Please consider bringing a spare inhaler that can be given to the medical chaperone. Students who have food or bee sting allergies should also carry an epi-pen with them if it is warranted and provide a spare for the medical chaperone. ALL prescription medications must be properly labeled with name and dosage.

No student is allowed to give any other student over-the-counter medication.

REMINDERS!

1. Wear light colored clothes and sneakers – no sandals.

2. Bring a water bottle with your name on it. It is better if you can attach it to your clothing so you can drink whenever you need to. Bring fruit chilled in a cooler for quick energy.

3. Wear a hat and sunglasses.

4. The use of sun screen and bug repellent will be to your advantage!

Band Camp Guide

Band camp is not the worst thing in the world. The worst thing in the world is to come to band camp unprepared. The following guide should help you arrive at band camp prepared, and more importantly, survive.

Instrument: Yes, students have actually forgotten their instruments!! This should be obvious by now, don't you think!

Chapstick: Only if you think you'll need it- most brass players use this especially.

Breakfast: We have seen far too many freshmen throw up and have to sit out the first day of band camp because they did not eat breakfast. You must eat breakfast before camp. It will not sit like a lump in your stomach or make you feel sick while you are marching.

Lunch/Dinner: At times the band boosters will provide lunch & dinner for you. There are days when this will not happen; you will need to bring your own meal for those times. It will be announced when these days will occur. The band boosters will make every attempt to provide lunch and dinner, but if band dues are not paid on time, then they cannot provide meals. When you have lunch and dinner, DO NOT DRINK a large amount of carbonated soda, eat greasy foods, or eat a lot of candy or sweets.

Water Bottle/Cooler:

This one is obvious. You will sweat a lot at band camp. During breaks, you will need to fill up with water. Do not bring water bottles filled with carbonated sodas or sugar drinks (kool-aid, juicy juice). These drinks will just make things worse. Water is best, but sports drinks such as Gatorade or Powerade are acceptable too. It is very important to stay hydrated! Please mark your name on it and bring LOTS of IT.

Clothes: Wear shorts every day to band camp. No jean or biker shorts and defiantly no long pants!!! You will live to regret the rehearsal if you wear thick or long pants. Please wear basketball gym like shorts. Everyone is to wear WHITE T-SHIRTS – no exceptions!! Tank tops and sleeveless shirts are ok, sports top ok for girls, no string bikinis, and bring an extra shirt in case of rain. You may want to purchase a poncho should it rain. There's no big explanation. It's just going to be HOT!

Socks and Comfortable Shoes: NO SANDALS, FLIP FLOPS, SKATER SHOES or other shoes inappropriate for marching. It is best to wear tennis shoes.

Hat: It will keep the sun out of your eyes and face (Let's you avoid "Raccoon Eyes" from sunglasses, which look silly in your school pictures.)

Sunglasses: These definitely keep the UV light from your eyes and make the glare bearable, since you have to sometimes look into the sun.

Sunscreen: Bring lots of sweat proof type even if you usually don't need it!!!

Bug Spray: We will be working into the evening hours with the mosquitoes - they love us too!

Drill Book/Dot Pages: Your drill book is used to hold all of your warm-ups, music, and drill. Insert 40-50 clear page covers to hold all of the papers you will be given during rehearsals. Make sure you have plenty of pencils with erasers and highlighters accessible to make corrections in your music and to highlight your position on your drill. Your Dot page is a single sheet of paper which contains all of your drill dots available for easy access on the field. Place a string through the corner of the page, and wear it on your body or horn. These can be purchased at Amro Music Store.

What can I do at camp to make it a better experience? What are the main things to remember from this FAQ?

Respect the directors, staff, officers, and upperclassmen. They have done this before and know what they're talking about.

Eat Breakfast and Lunch everyday

Bring something for Dinner

Wear shorts and tennis shoes

Bring your INSTRUMENT. ALWAYS HAVE A PENCIL, DRILL BOOK and DOT PAGE

Wear sunscreen and sunglasses

Expect to work and work and work really hard.

Expect a suntan or sunburn, with tan lines from your shirt and socks.

Expect to get bossed around by instructors. They're only trying to make you better.

Expect the unexpected – every previous year's band camp holds several stories. Find an upperclassman for details.

Expect to learn the majority of this year's show and expect to be proud of the hard work you will put into making the Cadets of Cordova Band one of the best bands around!

There is nothing to fear about the camp experience. Returning members look forward to camp as one of the highlights of their summer. The staff and upperclassmen work hard to provide a nurturing environment for first time members of the marching band.

Band camp is hard work, but you will find that there is something really cool about working hard, and then seeing the result of that hard work - and being really proud of it

Get to know people. Freshman, go out of your way to meet upperclassmen. It'll be worth it. And upperclassmen, freshman are people too, treat them like your little buddies. Remember you were once a Freshman…and soon will be one in college.

Show up: There have been a few cases of people who completely messed up and didn't realize that there was a band camp, or that band camp was required. The 70+ hours of rehearsals that take place during this two-week span will equate to 10 weeks of regular rehearsals. It is imperative that members attend ALL rehearsals with no interruptions.

Difficulties with families, vacations, doctor visits, and jobs must be eliminated during the camp period. Should one member of the ensemble miss one hour of rehearsal, it means that we ALL must go back and re-learn the same material again....a loss of one hour multiplied by 50 members equals to 50 hours of lost rehearsal time. The staff and director want to put the best possible musical performance on the field at every performance. Clearly, this is a monumental task in itself. It becomes next to impossible to achieve with members having to attend to other business during rehearsal time.

Be on Time: If you arrive early, you will be on time. If you arrive on time, you will be LATE. If you arrive LATE, it’s not acceptable. You are responsible for being on time. You cannot blame traffic, car trouble, or your parents. You must take full responsibility for arriving on time.

The only exception is if you call the band room BEFORE the time you are suppose to arrive and explain the situation (i.e. car trouble, parents overslept, etc). The band room phone number is (901) 416-2118.

Behave: Just get in line, stay in step, and do whatever is asked of you. The instructors are not slave drivers, contrary to popular opinion, and if you work hard they will take note - as well as the other members around you. Behaving also tends to get things done a lot quicker (nothing is worse than resetting over and over again because the band isn't behaving or listening to instructions.

Keep cool: Both literally and physically. First make sure you are not overheating (the intent is not to make anyone sick), but also keep a calm mind. So you can't hit the line the first time you try it? As long as you keep trying, and listen graciously to advice, you WILL eventually get it. Our staff and officers are here to help you, so let them.