Blog Post #4:There Is No Honor In Fracking

           The September 10^th visual rehearsal was mentally demanding on the students, because they were trying to conceal their excitement for the upcoming competition, as well as maintain a high level of focus. After the visual rehearsal was over, the students took a 15 minute water break, and had the opportunity to get their focus level reset to play their instruments while simultaneously working on drill. The students were also told to put their marching hats on, so they would get a sense of what it feels like to play and march with the hat on. The students have a type of marching hat called a shako, which is similar in shape to a bucket and has a strap that goes around the neck to secure it on the head. The potential problem for these students is if the strap is not placed in the right spot on the neck, or is too tight, it can cause serious musical issues because it is cutting off the one pathway for the air to get to the instrument.

                When I first started warming up the band, they were very sloppy in their playing technique. They were missing attacks and releases all over the place, and through repetition it wasn’t getting any better.

I told the students to take off their hats, because I had a feeling that they were the issue. I was surprised to find out I was wrong; the students, as before during their visual rehearsal, were lacking focus. It wasn’t until about halfway through the warm up when the students kicked up their focus level and started playing well. During the latter half of the warm up, the band was starting to get a really nice blend and balance and I was really quite pleased with their core sound. It then occurred to me when they went on the field and started playing with the drill that I made a big mistake in my methodology. The beautiful blend and balance the band had standing still was gone when they started moving.  I learned that I need to have the students play more during the visual rehearsals so that they can get used to listening to each other more on the move. I will now incorporate music in the visual rehearsals and see the results I get. 

The following clip is the ideal warm up and overall core sound I want for the Boonville High School Band. This is Carolina Crown Drum and Bugle Corp's tuning sequence from 2010. Turn up the volume! (be careful though, the end is REALLY loud!)

Blog Post #3: Keep Those Legs Straight!

         The date is Saturday, September 10, a busy day for the Boonville High School Band of Gold. This day was the band’s first competition, to be held at Central High School. Unlike usual days where the band has a competition, they practiced on the asphalt, which meant I could be very picky about their technique. It wasn’t very hard to be picky, however, especially towards the beginning of rehearsal. The band was very excited about their upcoming competition and they were really un-focused. After a nice long stretch, the band worked on their fundamental marching techniques with me. The first exercise we did is called “one step” in which the band gets an eight beat count off and then they take one step. This first step is extremely crucial because if the first step is not in time, then the band will never play together. The way I run this exercise is by repeating it over and over until the band can do it near perfectly three times in a row. If they get to two and then mess up, they get to start over. As mentioned, this part took a while, because they were very un-focused and it was the beginning of rehearsal. After finally getting the one- step forward exercise right three times in a row, I asked the students a rhetorical question, “Should that exercise have taken 15 minutes to get right?” I then presumed to tell them to get their focus level up and do the one step backward exercise. It then occurred to me that talking about their focus level was the right thing to say. We did the one step backward exercise 3 times perfect in a row, and it took only about three or four minutes. In my opinion, everything to do with marching band is 90% mental and 10% physical. If the band stays focused and believes they can accomplish a goal, and the goal is achievable, then the band will be able to do it. This rehearsal was very productive and once the focus level went up, the band’s marching technique became very polished and scary good. 
        The following clip is a very good example of the kind of marching technique I intend for these students to achieve by the end of the season. Enjoy the Cadets Drum and Bugle Corp, and observe how straight there legs are and how, from the waist down, they all look exactly the same.