Thoughts and feelings from Drum Major Ashley Drayer
My double life. My alarm went off at 3:10 am this morning….T-minus 62-ish hours until an uncharted, dreamlike world awaited me on the other half of the globe. I stumbled through my day, surviving at best, with my best efforts to be productive and efficient as a working mom, adult, manager….Yet today I also got to be something different. A leader of leaders, an artist, a performer. We made it to rehearsal, albeit with only 5 minutes to spare after a 12 hour work day, 70-minute commute and stereotypical Denver traffic. Nick and I sat in the car, took a few brief moments to wrap our heads around the rehearsal we had coming up, and got going.
We had our first full rehearsal together after a couple weeks as a whole ensemble. Time to get everyone dialed in, on the same page, and performing to our full potential. We got to have some brass sectional time, to hit hot spots, introduce a couple of new members, work out some uniform kinks then hit the ground running to make sure our visual performance was on point. Learning a show on a field in Colorado, to ultimately perform it thousands of miles away, in front of a new crowd, on a different stage and in a completely new environment….I’m so glad we were able to break things down the way we were; I know everyone needed that time to make things more comfortable, so our focus could be on doing what professionals do best, perform. We learned how to get on the field, worked transitions and got some time performing under the lights.
We were able to do 2 full run-throughs of our show, the second to be taped and sent off to our friends on the wonderful island of Bahrain. Then came logistics and details regarding how we could be successful on the other side of the world. We now have our show, uniforms, instruments, fantastic guidance from phenomenal educators and one more big rehearsal to perfect everything we can before an opportunity of a lifetime. And I couldn’t be more excited. I can’t wait to continue taking you all on this journey with us. But for now, good night, a new day starts in 3 hours where I can only hope to continue elevating my own performance for this amazing group of artists, friends…. Family, in just a few short days.
Be sure to check in each day of our Bahrain trip for Ashley’s insights as she leads this group of passionate performers to a place where no drum corps has gone before!!
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