Well, this summer has been the busies one so far in my life. I have participated five summer programs: Keith Hall Summer Drum Instensive- June 16 to 21, JazzStart- June 30 to July 2, Michigan State University Drum Major Clinic- July 10 to 12, The National Summer Transportation Institute- July 13 to 25, Introduction to Robotics Engineering at Michigan State University- July 27 to 31. Each links above explains each programs that I participated.
Two of them has to do with music, one has to do with drum major, and last two has to do with engineering.
What I got to do at the Keith Hall's drum instensive was learning how to play the drums in a jazz way. Training songs, trying methods that could help out with playing, talking with a special guest from New York, and enjoying my time there.
JazzStart was short, but it is almost similar to the drum camp, it is playing an instrument in a jazz form. However, this is just pure jazz and I got to play with a band with members from different states and cities within Michigan. What was fun about my band was that we had a name; which was called the Barbastic Batmen and the Queen (AKA BBQ). I didn't come up with that name, someone within the band came up with it. It was funny, as you can see. We learned how to become good musicians that can go on for ever.
After a couple of days of staying at home, my dad dropped me off at Michigan State University for drum major camp, which was three days of now stop learning on being a conducting, marching, posture, doing the bending back motion, and being a leader to our band and everyday. It did go fast, but I am planning to come back to do better.
The longest camp that I have done so far was first sitting just for 14 hours on a Michigan Tech Uni. charter bus from Kalamazoo to Houghton (we went left around, instead of going straight North). Not really my favorite bus ride, but when we go there, it was nice to take a tour around campus and get started for the next two weeks. It was mainly about civil and environmental engineering, which I might take consider of looking at in the future. It was busy there, trust me, they provide good activities and teachings. If you are interesting in civil engineering, check out the link above and think about attending there during the summer. It will help you understand the importance of engineering in humans. They do want more people to attend, which I recommend.
Coming back was not too long as the first bus ride, but we got to Kalamazoo in the morning.
After a nights sleep, my bag was all packed for a trip back to MSU and stay there for five days. Robotics engineering is what we got to learn and understanding the different forms. There was hand on activities of building two different VEX robots and do coding to program the robots. Check out the links above to see what I mean.
Overall, this has been the busies summer that I have been in my life time. Right now, I am in my high school marching band camp for five days this week from 9am to 5pm everyday. I am a second year drum major for a junior. The theme for this year is Queen; Freddie Mercury is the guy that really put up a life time show in his life as many of you know that are born around his year. I will tell you what songs we will perform this year in my next post.
Well thank you for reading this and I hope all of you have the rest of the summer in a positive way.
Peace out brothers and sisters -MNM
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| The Mackinac Bridge |
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| Me after 2 hours and 30 minutes of dancing on my last day @ MTU |
