Members of the Virginia Tech Color Guard; Source: The Spirit of Tech Facebook
Wednesday, May 1st was “Decision Day,” the last day for high school seniors to declare Virginia Tech as their home for the next four years. We are so excited to welcome the Class of 2023! To those of you that are thinking about joining the Marching Virginians – I guarantee you’re making the right choice! If you are specifically interested in being a member of the MV Flag Corps, this post is for you!
Your very first step should be filling out an interest form. Once you fill this out, you will automatically be updated as audition and band camp information becomes available. I would also recommend exploring the Spirit of Tech website and other posts on Marching with the Virginians, so you can get a feel for who we are as an organization – a group of talented performers that are passionate about what they do, serving the community, and having fun.
The other thing you should be doing right now is practicing! Everyone involved in the audition process cares about your success and will do everything possible to ensure that you are comfortable, but auditions do move at a fast pace! Keeping your guard skills sharp by practicing over the summer is a great way to make sure that you are totally prepared for band camp.
Olivia Monseur, Band Camp 2018; Source: The Spirit of Tech Facebook
So what is band camp/ the audition process even like? Your first day and a half will just be you and all of the other rookies. These people will likely be your first friends at Virginia Tech, and your best friends for years to come, so this is a really exciting time! You will go over some flag and marching fundamentals, learn the flag routine to Tech Triumph, Virginia Tech’s fight song, and the flag routine to The Hokie Pokie – a very popular song with all of the Hokies at Virginia Tech.
Your second day of band camp, you will connect with the returners, and really begin prepping for auditions, as even the returners have to re-audition. The audition consists of Tech Triumph, a try-out routine, a drill routine (a short routine that involves spinning while marching) and the possible addition of a toss drill. You will spend a lot of time over the next few days learning these routines, so you will definitely feel prepared when auditions roll around!
The day of auditions is really exciting. In the morning, you do a process of “mock auditions” where you will perform all of the audition routines for each of our captains and coaches and get individualized feedback before your actual audition. This process can seem intimidating, but is EXTREMELY helpful, and will help you feel a lot calmer as you’re heading into auditions. Later that day, you will audition with the same routines. After auditions, the entire team goes out for a meal together. By the time the team finishes eating, the coaches have posted the list of who made the team!
Julia Pimentel, Band Camp 2018; Source: The Spirit of Tech Facebook
If your name is on that list, you will go right back to rehearsal and continue preparing for the Marching Virginians first show of the season. If you don’t make the line, then it’s not the end of the world. There is always the opportunity to continue practicing and return the following year! You’ll also have the opportunity to interview for a manager position, if you’re interested. This is an incredible opportunity for people who are passionate about band and who still want to be a Marching Virginian. You can check out this blog post about Kelly Guthrie, a MV who originally auditioned for drum line, spent time three years as a manager and eventually joined color guard her senior year! Whatever happens, it is an incredible experience to audition for the MVs, and one you will never regret!
If you are interested in learning more about the Marching Virginians Color Guard, feel free to reach out to captains Julia Pimentel (julia314eng@vt.edu) and Hailey Schmidt (shail99@vt.edu); they will be more than happy to answer any questions you may have about the process.
The most important thing to remember is that this audition is more than just an audition; it’s an opportunity to make friends, to learn from talented students and instructors, and to get a taste of the incredible Hokie spirit that you’ll see everywhere on campus. As The Marching Virginians start to prepare for the upcoming season, we get more and more excited to meet you and see what you’ve got!