June 2nd- Rocky:“What was once acceptable in May is no longer acceptable in June” (technically a day late, oops). A drum corps saying that just signifies how every day that we’re out here the bar gets put higher and higher. Anytime we take off or don’t get better is time for the competition to pass us up. That’s what I like about this activity. It’s competitive. The standards and expectation are constantly getting higher and more intense, and thus we’re constantly pushing to get better to get this twelve minute show as perfect as we possibly can by finals night. This constant push to improve can definitely get rough if you ever get behind.The bassline this year consists of 4 vets with 8 years of prior drum corps experience combined (that’s a lot!) and then our bass 4, Nick, is a Rookie. He is definitely having the hardest time of all of us, as expected. He’s new this year and I’ve been put in charge of helping him and doing everything that I can to make him a world class bass drummer by our first show in 2 weeks. I come out early with him on meal breaks to go through drill and music, and I’m constantly talking to him to check in and make sure he isn’t being overwhelmed by what we’re asking of him. It definitely has its ups and downs, proving to be frustrating for everyone at times, but he has improved so much from the day we moved in. He’s working hard just like the rest of us and I have every confidence that he will be able to hang with us and represent Madison well at the first show. Brotherhood is what this is about. We would never leave someone behind. Once someone goes down, we all do.