Day 34

May 28th

Routine PT at 5:20. Today we actually ran faster than the piddle walk a few times. That run was almost perfect for me because I was not pushing myself but also not bored. I'm looking forward to some good self directed PT for the weekend. We had another rehearsal this morning and then we went out onto the parade square with our instruments!! We split up into our instrument groups and did the basic stand at attention/ease/easy etc with instruments. we also practiced changing music and getting ready to play while marching. For lack of a better description: everything was student led. Our section leaders did the teaching instead of any officer. After a break we lined up in larger sections to practice things for the color sergeant and others. Then we put everything together as a fulll band. It was sooo cool to march in band formation!!! We didn't actually play but we did all the drills and march steps. It's going to take some super practice to be able to march and play and pay attention to dressing and drill commands. HOLY COWS!! So basically if I have the music close to memorized, that will lighten the load on my brain. Also I'm glad I'm not in the first rank! (Euphs in the 3rd! No more back row!) After lunch the recruits did their QL3 and QL4 music testing. Basically these were the theory and aural portions of the qualification tests that make us elidgible for promotion. It was like being in basic skills again. I found them so easy and I think I made no more than 3 mistakes in all 4 tests combined. The theory was a joke too. I am so surprised that ppl who take music at the university level had difficulty with these tests. I am super thankful for the education I got from Joan and Miss Kasper! After that we were done for the day other than a short meeting of info for next week. My room mate and I played "barrel of monkeys" with another girl named Emma. I've never played, and it wa a lot of fun! I spent the evening doing laundry, polishing boots, taking out garbage/recycling and cleaning up a bit. Then I visited some of the room parties with my amaretto but decided not to go out for the evening. Like I said, I am looking forward to some self directed PT on the weekend :)