My Digital Sabbath: Saturday, September 16th, 2012

My digital sabbath was observed this weekend, from Friday night through Saturday night. Having an incredibly hectic week made it hard for me to schedule this in, so I figured the weekend, especially with the way mine was structured, would make this task go smoother.


It started on Friday night at 11PM -- after a night out, I came back, turning my phone off and putting my computer away. A few friends were over, so we chatted for a little bit, then I settled into bed.

Waking up the next day was a slight challenge.  Unfortunately, since the only alarm clock I own is on my iPhone, I had to use that to wake up at 7AM.  I showered, got ready, and grabbed a bowl of cereal for breakfast. After quietly creeping around my room, so as not to wake my roommates up, I walked out the door and headed for Kidd Brewer Stadium, for a 9AM Marching Mountaineers gameday rehearsal.

 

At our gameday rehearsal, we warmed up in sections, then instrumental choirs. After a full band warm-up, we ran through our pre-game sequence, as well as our halftime show.

 

As one of our piccolo section leaders, it was required of me to make sure everyone was following the drill correctly. No technology required here, since drill charts were printed out on paper, and so was music. Instruments were amplified accoustically (with the exception of our featured soloist, whose saxophone playing was amplified through the microphone).


Right after rehearsal, which ended at ten thirty, I made arrangements to grab lunch at eleven with a few friends from band before we had to run off to play in pep bands -- three smaller groups of band members who traveled around campus to play at different tailgating sites. After some good conversation over sandwiches, we headed out to the tunnel by Duck Pond to play the fight song as the football team came through for Mountaineer Walk. We then dispersed as pep bands, and my group played around main campus on Sanford Mall as well as for tailgaters at the library parking deck.


After playing in the pep bands, we headed back to the Broyhill Music center at around one fifteen. We had thirty minutes until the full band rehearsal on Walker Lawn, so I spent some time cleaning my instrument and chatting with a few friends. At one forty, we headed out in full uniform to the lawn, where we had a full band warm-up. The band then headed to the top of the hill behind the music building to line up and march into the stadium.


After marching in, we waited for the clock to signal us to start pre-game. We then marched pre-game, and headed back to the stands after, where we watched the game and played stand tunes for the team and the game attendees.

At halftime, we headed out to play our show, Led Zeppelin, featuring "Immigrant Song" and "Rock-n-Roll." Since it was military appreciation weekend, we played "God Bless America" as well, forming a giant USA on the field.

After halftime, we went back to the stands, where we continued to watch the game and play more stand tunes.

Appalachian took a beating this weekend as we suffered an unfortunate loss of 28-52 to the Citadel. The band, as usual, played the post-game concert, where we played our staples Appalachian Spring, You Can Call Me Al, Tennessee Waltz, and the fight song, Hi Hi Yikas. Though the game was not fun to watch, the Marching Mountaineers took The Rock by storm this weekend with our music and marching. Here's a quick photo of a friend and I after the game:

The night concluded with me heading back to my dorm after the game. After a much-needed and relaxing shower, my roommate, suitemates, and I heated up some yummy homemade veggie burgers that were accompanied by fresh tomatoes from the community garden, as well as some community garden squash that we pan-fried and spiced up.

 We also indulged in dessert, consisting of chocolate animal crackers and vanilla frosting....


 We spent the rest of the night in -- a nice low-key Saturday night.  I did end up using my computer later that night (the sabbath's 24-hour stretch ended at 11PM). A fun and eventful day was concluded in a nice way, accompanied by some restful sleep later on.



Though my day went without use of technology (except for the use of my iPhone alarm), I wasn't really missing much. I wasn't dying to check Facebook, pin things on Pinterest, or peruse cute puppy videos on YouTube. I think that being involved in Marching Band all day was a blast, and I got to do what I love all day without using technology in any way. Granted, making plans was a little challenging since I couldn't just easily text people, but luckily all of the people I needed to contact were around me for a majority of the day. The experience was a great one. I think technology is a great resource, but sometimes we just need to get off the computer, turn off the television, and get out to do other things where we can all interact face-to-face as people. This digital sabbath challenge, for me, involved mostly communication technology. As far as technology being used in the classroom, I feel that if digital technology can be connected to the lesson, it can be utilized in an effective way. As long as it does not become abused, the students can learn by using these resources.  However, I don't think we should abandon real (not virtual), hands-on activities completely for digital technology-related ones.