The time I went from pre-camp to normal camp as a freshman proved to be shocking to a certain extent. For the entire period of two to three days, everything I've been doing involved marching in straight lines with only 8 to 5 steps; the first three sets of the Spanish show involved me marching in non-straight lines (ie curved) with adjusted steps. So what exactly isn't really taught at band camp but still needed?
The number one thing to a good show is knowing your parts, sets and maneuvers but considering that one hundred people that are not all equally motivated to learn them are marching with you (what happened to the smaller competitive band idea?), you need to "dress to form"; in other words awareness.
So how do you exactly dress to form? Three things:
- Simple geometry. I hope you know what a straight line is like... or a curved line.
- What part of the geometry you're part of. You can usually cheat this by seeing what others are doing, but I'm not endorsing it.
- Where in the world you are in the line (you may not use a GPS).
Curves and diagonals are kind of funny. Since they're more a "2D" feel (not really.. they're still lines... ), you have to either move in the vertical or horizontal direction. The general rule of thumb is to adjust forwards and backwards as left and right intervals are usually too noticeable to the Box of Judgement (press box). If you really need an example to be drawn out, and waste another 10 minutes of my life working a graphics program, facebook me.
Another thing is uniformity. In my opinion, we spend way too much time worrying about uniforms (and those darn hair) which is WAY less visible than those darn horn angles. If you wear white socks, I doubt the judges would notice if the person next to you is holding his/her flute at a complementary angle to your angle (go do some geometry, good for your brain). While you're marching around, remember to follow your section leader in their example of horn angle. I don't care if your arms gets tired, you'll build up awesome muscles if it gets tired.
But when you're tired, deep into the third tune, with bases loaded and no outs, still remember to hit your key spots. One such spot is opening set, where I think half the band don't know how far to go past the hash (kudos to Brent for knowing where to go every time we set up off the field). That's a pretty critical set. Other such places you should hit is when you're leading a line with a follow the leader maneuver. Don't be like Kool-Aid guy and lead people to doom in front of trombones, know where you're going (you should know where you're going at all times anyways.... but this is especially important). Also of importance: point of diagonal, front of vertical line, furthest point back etc.
Several other stuff I've noticed over the years that I can't really elaborate much on, or self explanatory:
- It helps greatly to play a sport or be in shape, marching was a PE credit back in George Bush's regime for a reason.
- Wind players need to blow more from the stomach, I see lots of people raising their shoulders to breath meaning a shallow breath and no air for Pedro.
- Keep the tune in mind when you march, the tune usually corresponds to a lift (with the exception of any way you want it... which we could easily fix...... >.>)
- Learn to judge depth by using your angle to the podiums (maybe this work for mathy people but that's how I judge sometimes, and it helps)
- Don't get too close to the person to the left or right of you. The person on the opposite side will get lonely.
NOTICE: DCI people all memorize where to go and exactly how to get there, this is for those people who don't practice for 15 hours a week on the field. Still please learn your spots. I didn't touch on fundamentals as I assumed that we've catched them by now...
-runiteking1
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