It’s time! For the first time in two years, The Marching Virginians are reunited, unmasked, and are gearing up for the season ahead! Our band has officially gotten back together again, and we are SO incredibly excited to share with you our first week of band camp. In this article, we will go over our favorite moments and traditions as we start off the 2021-2022 MV season!
Are you as excited for Band Camp as our Net Leadership?! I think not; Source: Emery Poulsen.
Hunter Allen, section leader of the Piccolos, conducting and practicing with the other section leaders; Source: Emery Poulsen.
Okay, so if you have been in the MVs, then you will remember your rank captain and section leaders. These people are the ones that you report to, learn from, and who you bond with. In preparation for band camp, the MV leadership undergoes training, which is otherwise known as the Leadership Retreat. During this process, they are taught important leadership skills and have the opportunity to practice their abilities before they meet the new members.
Section leaders, our student leaders in music, would fine tune their musical abilities by having a mock sectional practice, and work on how to properly teach. One fact that many do not know about our section leaders is that they actually belong in a rank of their own! They do not lead the marching aspects of the section, but instead focus on musicality, tone quality, and rhythms.
David Rudolph, Danny Shupp, and Paige Greenberg are collecting registration fees during the beginning of Band Camp; Source: Emery Poulsen.
All of our leadership work extremely hard in order to bring you the shows that are presented onto the field. Whether that is by marching, music, or administrative tasks, the Leadership Retreat prepares the MV leadership. We even had the honor of welcoming Katie Mey, from the Women’s Center, and Ben Nelson, the VT Drum Major during the 1999 National Championship, who discussed topics regarding leadership and diversity. The MVs thank them for giving their time and look forward to working more with them in the future.
And with that completed, registration commenced. Officers worked all through the morning and afternoon to welcome all of the MVs through various stations, which included general registration, fee collection, instrument checkout, and our picture stations. We even had some fun with it and were singing throughout the process. Music was played through the speaker, people danced, and we had our Elmo pictures!
In the picture above, rookies and returners refine their marching skills. Throughout this segment, rookies have a green nametag, and returners have a blue name tag. Our MV leadership have a yellow name tag, and all adult staff have an orange name tag; Source: Nayha Pochiraju.
Marching Fundamentals were taught to the incoming members, and even in the pouring rain, they absolutely killed it! No matter the weather, the show must go on, and the MVs have always proven this to be true. With these new skills that we learned during Band Camp, even had a Drill Down on Wednesday, where the Saxes claimed victory! Go Saxes!
MV Drumline and the Color Guard went through their auditions, and after their rigorous selection process, they welcomed their new members wholeheartedly. They were so excited to see each other face to face, and you won’t want to miss them in our upcoming performances! We have some pictures that were taken during their sectionals, and auditions, together, featured later on in this post.
Currently, we are learning more drill for our first performance, which includes Led Zeppelin’s Kashmir, Rock and Roll, Heartbreaker, and Stairway to Heaven. No doubt, this will make the MVs return to the field even more impressive. We are also working on familiar stand tunes, such as Frankenstein, Bom Bom, Light Em Up, My Type, Madison Square, and more!
Many in the band have expressed concern about their marching and playing ability (especially after not having marched in a few years), however, right now they are killing it and are improving very rapidly. We are so happy with how this season is progressing, and we can’t wait to share our music and spirit with you in the Virginia Tech football games.
The MV Drumline are in the midst of their auditions and are working on making this season a great one (like always); Source: Emery Poulsen.
Another wonderful surprise was that WSLS 10, NBC Affiliate, came to the MVC and decided to feature The Marching Virginians on their show! We were on air on August 20th, 2021 at 5:45am and 6:45am on Channel 10 for their “Feel Good Virginia” segment. But don’t worry, if you missed it, then it will be located on their website at a later time. The Marching Virginians were very grateful for their time, and thank you all who watched and supported the MVs!
Also, we have to give a huge shout out to all leadership, officers, managers, senior student staff assistants, Tau Beta Sigma, and Kappa Kappa Psi members for their assistance in this process. Due to the fact that the Marching Virginians mainly have Polly and Chad for administrative purposes, these members have made it possible for our band camp, and the band in general, to function.
Thank you so much for reading to this point! Here are some final pictures from our first week of Band Camp that just have to be shared. This week has been so much fun, and we can’t wait to share so much more with you! #MVs4Lyfe #GoHokies
Our Managers are ready to support The Marching Virginians! And we can never thank them enough; Source: Emery Poulsen.
MV Leadership are painting signs for rookie registration; Source: Nayha Pochiraju.
The 2021-2022 edition of the MV Color Guard! We’re so happy to have them with us; Source: Julia Pimentel.
Jessica Stewart, Nikki Jean, Rafael Garcia-Rodriguez, Alex Eng, our Trombone Rank Captains, are ready to bring in their rookies. Go Bones!; Source: Emery Poulsen.
Kappa Kappa Psi members (and Tau Beta Sigma) volunteered their time to help with our registration! Thank you all so much, we can’t thank you enough; Source: Emery Poulsen.
From the Trumpet section, we have Julian Ware and Julia Inman-Ryan proudly displaying their nametags; Source: Emery Poulsen.
The VTubas showing their Hokie Spirit by learning the Hokie Pokie; Source: Emery Poulsen.
Dal3 (Levi White) from the Tuba section embodying the Tuba spirit; Source: Emery Poulsen.
Featured from left to right: Lauren Owens, Guy, Dean McDonough, Casey Rogan. The Tones are the smallest of our wind sections, and because of that, they tend to be one of the closest. We love you Tones!; Source: Emery Poulsen.
Marian Parong, one of our Flag Rank Captains, practicing during our Leadership Retreat. We are so impressed; Source: Emery Poulsen.
The WSLS 10 Camera Man featuring our Virginia Tech Marching Virginians; Source: Breanna Goode.
Our Executive Officer Lauren Chuderewicz is giving words of wisdom to the incoming members of The Marching Virginians; Source: Nayha Pochiraju
The Clarinets are killing it in this parade rest; Source: Nayha Pochiraju.
Thank you so much for you support! We can’t wait to show you what we got; Source: Nayha Pochiraju