Worried about tomorrow...

whereiscupcake • 9 November 2013 at 2:16 PM

Monday, of course, is rememberance day and there are many events and services in honour of those who died in service. Tomorrow, being the weekend, my cadet unit is marching quite a long way. Roads have been closed and many people will be watching it- which is my problem.

I only joined at the start of last month, so this is my first time 'performing' in public. Between leaving the unit and arriving at our first destination there will be no stops, the same goes for when we leave there and go to the church (which is even further). We then march all the way back to the unit.

I am worried of doing something wrong and people noticing. I know some will film the event and if I do make a mistake people in the unit will notice and probably laugh about it afterwards. During practice there were slip-ups from quite a few people but it didn't seem to matter as much because it was both at night and in the privacy of the unit parking area and turn-off.

I will be in the cadet uniform so I will blend in but this doesn't stop me from thinking I will follow an order wrong or march out of time. The event is compulsary and means being kicked out of the unit if it is unattended without a really good reason, and it is something I would really like to do.

Does anyone know any ways of keeping my focus and not falling out of time with everyone? I know I should watch those on either side to make sure our arms are in time and make my feet move in time with those in front- that way we are all together, but small mistakes happen anyway and then set everyone off...then we all look silly 😋

karamel • 10 November 2013 at 5:00 AM

@whereiscupcake Hey, I'm just going to say that /everyone/ makes mistakes! 😉 Just don't cringe or make a huge fuss when you make a small mistake and people will barely notice. Are you at the very end of a row or near the middle? Being in the middle helps.

As for just keeping in time, listen to music or some sort of rhythmic beat (getting a metronome and just listening to the beats can help). See if you can tap your feet or fingers or nod your head to the rhythm. c:

Just relax and imagine you're doing another practise or a dress rehearsal of some sort. Try to ignore the people with cameras by just pushing them out of your mind or--even better--looking straight ahead (it's a win-win, because you also look very uniform!). Remember that you're not alone--some people are bound to either make mistakes or nearly do so. Don't worry! 😸

whereiscupcake • 10 November 2013 at 7:45 AM

@karamel We weren't going to find out where we fall in until we got to the unit to leave (I arrived at about 9:15 so

I came back from it about 10-15 minutes ago and now I really want to go back and do it again, I'll have to wait another year until the same day comes. The band was the best part 😃

Thankfully, I didn't do anything majorly wrong, the only thing was that I didn't raise my arms high enough- which practically everyone were also being told to do.

karamel • 10 November 2013 at 12:24 PM

@whereiscupcake See? It wasn't so hard. 😋 You just need to relax a little and know that it's okay to make mistakes. c:

whereiscupcake • 10 November 2013 at 2:30 PM

@karamel Yeah, it wasn't hard at all. It was just my brain making a huge thing out of all the small things that could happen.

Apparently I made my nan cry when she saw me marching...though I kind of expected someone in my family to. They always do no matter what it is.