Andrew Zweibel

Music Educator, Tech Enthusiast, Social Media Innovator

Weekend from Hell

Categories: jazz, miami, practicing, sports, tau beta sigma

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Published on: November 17, 2008

Well the so-dubbed “Weekend from Hell” is over, and I’m still alive! This past weekend, which really started on Wednesday, included:

Marching Band, Basketball Band, and Jazz Band rehearsals (Wednesday)
Trumpet lesson (Thursday morning)
Last regular-season home football Game (Thursday night)
First women’s basketball game (Friday afternoon)
Last volleyball game (Friday evening)
TBS Showcase (Saturday afternoon, more to come on this!)
First men’s basketball game (Saturday night)
Women’s basketball game (Sunday afternoon)

This was about as much playing as I’ve ever done in a 4-day span, except for the Illinois All-State musical my senior year (think 3 run-throughs of Les Mis each day, for about a week!). I’m feeling pretty good after it, though, and I had a blast! In all these athletic events this weekend, the ‘Canes went 4-1, with the only loss being Sunday’s women’s game (which the ‘Canes lost on a fast-break with 4 seconds left after they came back from down 13 to tie it). My voice is all but gone from all the cheering, though.

It was an awesome weekend, for sure. Busy? Yes. Tiring? You betcha (I took a 4 hour nap today)! But very rewarding and so much fun getting to spend the entire weekend doing my 2 favorite things: playing music and cheering on the ‘Canes!

Basketball Band

by Andy Zweibel

Categories: miami, sports

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Published on: November 14, 2008

Oh how I missed it… today was the first game of the season (a women’s game, albeit, but a game nonetheless), and it was a blast getting to play fun music with awesome people! And the lady ‘Canes looked great in a 91-42 romping of the Norfolk State Spartans! Between the football game last night and the basketball game today, my voice is already almost gone, and with a volleyball game tonight, another women’s game on Sunday, and the first men’s game of the season tomorrow night (!), I don’t expect to have any semblance of a voice left come Monday!

Go ‘Canes!

Update

by Andy Zweibel

Categories: just for fun, miami, sports, tau beta sigma, video, website

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Published on: September 24, 2008

So I know it’s been a while since you all have heard an update from me, so I figure I’ll give you a quick synopsis of the last few weeks, while I have time to breathe (read: procrastinate).

Firstly, I’ve really been trying to get you guys some video in the form of another “vlog,” but the webcam drivers for my laptop have been acting up, and I can’t even get the darn thing to turn on, let alone record anything, so at this point, a vlog may not be in the near future… I’m working on it, though, promise!

Secondly, I know that the links to the music don’t work… I’m going to try to get those fixed within the next few days, if possible. I’m also trying to figure out why the Twitter bar on the right side of the screen is not showing any of my “tweets,” because I’ve had quite a few. At any rate, until that’s working, you can find my tweets at http://twitter.com/Zweibz7.

Now, onto the good stuff. Where I left you, the ‘Canes had just come off a loss up in Gainesville, but I was optimistic. It turns out my optimism was warranted, as I had the pleasure of watching my ‘Canes rip apart the Texas A&M Aggies (for the second year in a row, I might add) by a score of 41-23. Quarterback Robert Marve threw for 212 yards and two touchdowns in the game, and Halfback Graig Cooper and the rest of the Miami offense made Texas A&M’s D-Line look just plain silly (Cooper ran for 128 yards and 2 TD, as well). It was a great game on all fronts, and the ‘Canes look forward to this coming weekend, where they play host to the North Carolina Tar-Heels in an effort to avenge a loss from last season.

In other news, classes are all going well. Life is busy, and now that the semester is in full swing, so is my process of being a membership candidate with Tau Beta Sigma, the co-ed national honorary band sorority. Between school, rehearsals for “Circus Maximus” (which are coming along fine–the composer will be on campus in just under 3 weeks, and our performance is in just over 3), and TBΣ, I never want for something to do nowadays!

I’ll try to give smaller updates more often in the future, but for a quick rundown of what I’m up to on a daily basis, be sure to check out my twitter feed, I tend to tweet a lot more often than I do post because of the speed factor.

I’m also looking forward to a few great jazz shows coming up in the next two weeks, so I’ll try to get some “reviews” of those up for you as well!

Until next time!

Gators 26, ‘Canes 3… a SUCCESS?

by Andy Zweibel

Categories: just for fun, miami, sports

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Published on: September 9, 2008

This weekend, the Miami Hurricanes carried themselves excitedly into “The Swamp” on the Gainesville campus of the University of Florida for the first football meeting between the two teams since the Peach Bowl in 2004. The ‘Canes were a 20+ point underog in the game, but that didn’t stop over 10,000 UM fans from making the trek to come support their team as they tried to topple the number five team in the nation.

The Florida Gators ended up winning the game by a margin of 26-3, but the score does not tell the story of the game. The ‘Canes held the explosive Gator offense to just 9 points in the first three quarters, only failing to keep the pace in the final period. The UM defense showed fans a lot of different sides, including a solid defensive line that pressured Gator QB and 2007 Heisman Winner Tim Tebow all night. The secondary, on the other hand, struggled, allowing Tebow to throw for 256 yards and two touchdowns in a 21/35 effort. The linebackers were sometimes where they needed to be, and other times fans were left wondering if they were even on the field.

The Hurricane offense was the most cause for concern. Starting QB, red shirt freshman Robert Marve, threw 10/18, for 69 yards and no scores. He was sacked three times. The offensive line struggled much of the night, failing to give Marve the time he needed to make the right decisions, as well as struggling all night to create running room for halfbacks Derron Thomas and Greg Cooper, who combined for just 53 yards. Starting HB Javarris James ran for 4 yards in two attempts before leaving the game with an ankle sprain. The ‘Canes managed only an average of 1.6 yards per rush.

The final frustration of the night came from sources outside the players, namely the playcalling and the refereeing. There were a few very questionable calls made by the SEC referees, including a Tebow pass to the 5-yard line that was ruled incomplete on the field and then overturned upon review (with not enough evidence, according to ESPN). The drive ended in UF’s second touchdown–the beginning of the end. The playcalling from Miami’s Offesnvie Coordinator Patrick Nix did not send the ‘Canes out with an aggressive gameplan, which, in my opinion, was something he needed to do. Ninety percent of the plays that UM ran on first down were rushes straight up the middle, and Marve only had the chance to take one shot down field all game.

The team played very well, though overall. The defense held Tebow and the Gators for three-plus quarters, and despite the offense’s inability to get in the end zone, they had very good ball movement at times. They did a great job to hang with such an explosive team, and despite the score seeming lopsided, the ‘Canes came into Gainesville this weekend and showed the Gator Nation that they shouldn’t underestimate the University of Miami. If the Hurricanes play the rest of the season with the intensity and drive that they had this weekend, they definitely will contend for the ACC title.

On another note, the rest of the trip that I took with the “Band of the Hour” to play at this game was lots of fun, including spending all my per diem at a fancy seafood restaurant and many hours on a bus. I’m looking forward to the rest of the season; it should be a good one!

Go ‘Canes!

Week 1… for REAL This Time!

by Andy Zweibel

Categories: just for fun, miami, sports, tau beta sigma

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Published on: September 2, 2008

So now it’s time for the REAL first week of “school,” including such firsts as:

First day of classes
First Hurricane Football Game (!)
First long weekend
And a few others that I’ll mention later on

I’ll try to go chronologically since my last post. The weekend of band camp went well, and was capped off by a successful performance at UM President Donna Shalala’s annual incoming freshmen picnic. Granted, the freshmen seemed to care a bit more about the free food than they did about our attempts at starting “Lets Go Canes!” cheers, but that’s nothing new…My audition for placement in the school of music ensembles also took place on Sunday, and although I wasn’t particularly pleased with my audition, it seemed to be enough to put me atop the Symphonic Winds trumpet section (pending one more audition), so that was exciting.

A few more short days of camp and it was time for classes to begin on Wednesday! My classes are pretty great, all things considered. My schedule is very busy on Monday’s and Wednesdays (straight from 8 am through 6 pm with only a break from 2:30 to 3:15), but almost nonexistant on Tuesdays (one class from 12:30 to 1:45) and only slightly less so on Thursday (that 12:30 class, plus a nighttime one from 5 to 7:30). Friday’s I have off, basically, with only a few forum discussion classes. I’ll put my full schedule up on another page of the site sometime soon, so you can all see exactly what I’m doing at a given time (can you say stalker?)

EDIT: Schedule is up! Check it out! http://andyzweibel.com/schedule

Wednesday became the best day I had had in a long time, though, when I found out after band rehearsal that I had been “tapped” for Tau Beta Sigma. TBS is a co-ed service sorority comprised of men and women in the band program whose mission is to support the band in any way possible. The initiation process is similar to “pledging” to a fraternity or sorority (minus the hazing, of course), and I can’t wait to get started!

Another exciting “School of Music” activity I’m taking part in this fall is the performance of John Corigliano‘s “Circus Maximus,” a piece written for a concert band, a surround band scattered around the house, and a small marching group that comes through and plays in the aisles at one point. I have the privilege of being able to perform as part of this marching group as the epic piece is performed by the Frost Wind Ensemble under the direction of Gary Green. Rehearsals for this piece began on Thursday afternoon.

Not to be upstaged in my day, the first hurricane football game came quickly after the first Corigliano reherasal. Thursday night, the ‘Canes opened up a new season in a new home at Dolphin Stadium, after 70+ years at the Orange Bowl. I was very pleased with the way Dolphin Stadium was made to make UM feel like it was their “home” stadium, and not just that we were playing in an NFL stadium. Everywhere you looked, you saw the “U” or something screaming Orange and Green, and that’s the way it should be.

The game, of course, was awesome, as the ‘Canes romped Charleston Southern by a score of 52-7 (some of us were disappointed we couldn’t break 60…). Now we turn our sights to this coming weekend, when the ‘Canes (along with the band) head up to Gainesville, FL to take on the Florida Gators (BOO!) in the “Swamp,” as their stadium is called. UF is ranked #4 in the nation right now, so the game will definitely be a test for the “Canes, but everyone is psyched and ready to go! We leave on Friday morning

So I think that’s enough for one post… I’ll try to get a video post done from somewhere on campus during the week this week, and maybe one from the bus on the way to Gainesville if my seat partner will let me (don’t count on it). Adieu!

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