The Student's Guide to Marching

THE STUDENT’S

GUIDE

TO MARCHING

Chris Previc

© Copyright 2006 Christopher Prevics.

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Contents

Preface

Introduction

Chapter I: A Brief Explanation of the Marching Arts

Chapter II: Educating Yourself

Chapter III: Center and Balance

Chapter IV: Movement from Center: The Eight Directions

Chapter V: Meditation and Breathing Techniques

Chapter VI: Stretching and Exercise

Chapter VII: The Field and You

Chapter VIII: Now, Stand Up Straight!

Chapter IX: Taking Step One

Chapter X: Phrases, Sets, and Music

Chapter XI: Using the Drum Major

Chapter XII: Basic Exercises

Chapter XIII: Two Marchers

Chapter XIV: Parade Block

Chapter XV: How to Use a Dot Book

Chapter XVI: Rehearsal and the Eight Step Process

Chapter XVII: Arcing the Gap

Chapter XVIII: Performance

Afterword

Acknowledgments

Glossary

Dedicated to all who love marching.

Preface

This book is an assemblage of three things I love very much: marching, writing, and education. From my earliest days as a marcher, I have been in awe of this art form. I have marveled at its structure, its order and its complex simplicities. I have smiled at its beauty, its ability to allow us to communicate from our most primal and spiritual regions. I have been engrossed by its potential, its limitless capacity to teach us something new! I have felt as the ancient Greeks must have felt about their first democracies; I have bowed to its greatness and have felt great inside of it.

And I feel now as I felt then: a great art form such as marching deserves a literature. The existing library (not literature) of the marching arts is admittedly vast, but our history is vaster. We marchers communicate so primarily in visual and audible forms that our shelves are thus filled with video and audio recordings. It is understandable. As marching artists, we put so much of our energy into the evolution of the medium, so of course we would then document ourselves in the closest format possible to that medium. The consequence is that our history is aural, only our recordings tell our tale. We rarely imagine a time before 1970.

But as the shows have evolved, so too has the culture. Marchers are constantly becoming a more complex people. Like any community, we instinctively yearn to study ourselves from all angles. First there were only photographs; then audio recordings were added to the time capsules; then basic video; and now complex, multi-angle capturings of each show so that we may study our work more thoroughly.

For us, books are the next frontier. With technology exploding around us, there is still no substitute to the printed word. No matter how far audio and visual effects develop, nothing can surpass the imagination, and nothing can stimulate the imagination more than reading. Radio, motion pictures, compact dics, television, and on to their current incarnations, though giving us the ability to spread information at lighting speeds, their shortfalls are that they are passive. One cannot be a marcher on the field and be passive. Marching is active. Reading is active.

Furthermore, the Internet has proven that marchers have vigorously embraced written communication. Chat rooms are filled. The marching news media grows in size. Clippings of Harry Dinkle’s strips are found on every marching corkboard. We are rich in culture-and we like to read.

I grew up believing that one should always give back after reaping the benefits of the marching cradle. I was inflicted/blessed with a hyperactive mind and a hyper-graphic hand while a marcher on the field, and so upon aging out, I found myself with notebooks full of ideas. It thus came to me to focus these scratchings into this book-the return on marching’s investment in me.

This book is written for you, the marching student. Though I may be shortsighted in believing this, most books on the marching art form have been written for the teachers of marching. While there is nothing wrong with that, Iwanted this book to speak directly to you, the student, for I believe you to be completely capable of learning on your own.

I have witnessed a change in marching over the last decade. Where once our militaristic heritage kept us in a trickle-down educational structure (a system that is necessary in military engagements and useful in other situations), our artistic nature is turning marching groups into cooperative ventures. Marching performers are more educated now than ever before. The ability to read musical notation used to be a rarity, now music illiteracy is the exception. Many color guard members show up with years of dance training. Marching students no longer need to be force fed information, drilled relentlessly, or tricked into performing. The modern marching student is ready to join the educational process in equal partnership.

I have written this book to help arm the marching student with knowledge, to prepare them to enter a marching group with a sound footing. Education is at its best when all participants are aware of what they do and do not know; and while this book cannot make you complete, it can start you on the correct foot. If one student is able to enter their group with confidence and merge with the existing structure with ease after reading this book, then the work will have been worth it.

I have tried my best not to write the definitive marching textbook-not that that would have been easy or possible. Marching is too dynamic to conform to one person’s viewpoint. This book is written only to be part of the dialogue on marching education. It is my contribution to the marching conversation.

I am sure that there will be disagreement inside the community to words I have written. There will be remarks about omissions in my text, errors in my reasoning, faults in my design-I welcome them all! It is my greatest hope that the response to this book comes in the form of other books from other marching writers. It is my dearest dream that the reading of books such as this one will invoke an interest in marching history, fiction, science, and other genres. When we begin to communicate with heightened consciousness and awareness, we all win.

I would like to welcome all of you to join the conversation at marchingedu.com. There, you can find a message board dedicated to the pursuit of marching education, lists of books and essays on marching, links to other marching sites, and like marching itself, an ever growing field of more.

Happy reading and happy marching to you!

Chris Previc

Introduction

Welcome to The Student’s Guide to Marching! This book is your personal instructor in the marching art form. It is a reference manual written in chronological order, taking you from your first desires of being a marcher to performing your first show. The body of this book concentrates on the act of marching itself, leaving out the specifics of playing marching instruments or using equipment that is marching oriented. This guide will take you on a tour of marching’s fundamentals.

The Student’s Guide to Marching is not meant to be a definitive marching encyclopedia. Every marching group is different in their own way, so it is impossible to impose one standard over the entire activity. This guide was written to explain the most common aspects found within the marching community and to give basic examples that regularly appear in the activity. It is not a program in itself. If you, the student, use this book to give yourself an introductory education in marching and then apply what you have learned to the specifics of your own marching group, you will have used this book wisely.

Though you do not need to be in a marching group to use this book, you will need to eventually join a marching organization to put the full knowledge of this book into practice. As you read through the book, you will notice that it only refers to marching groups and organizations in generic terms, never anything specific. The Student’s Guide does not cater to one branch of the art form (marching bands, winter teams, drum corps, etc.), but works toward training you to be able to march in any type of ensemble you choose.

When a student desires to do something beyond their own know-how, their instructor must take two very important steps before the student can achieve their aim. The first step is that the instructor must tell the student what they are going to do. The second step is that the instructor must show the student what they are going to do. This book’s instructions cover only the first necessary step. It will take a marching organization or another book to specifically show you in detail what to do.

You are, though, heavily encouraged to do and experiment at any point. Let inspiration grab you and set you on your feet. Do not stay in the confines of the text. Experience of any sort is the best teacher, and you are responsible for your own education. Be active, live free, and run! Enjoy and have fun!

But when your own path has taken you to places where you can tread no further, then return to the guide and see what roads you may have skipped along your way. Only after you have considered all possible routes can you truly know the best way to get where you are going. This book’s role is simply to explain to you, in a perspective different than your own, what you can do (if you choose) to better understand the art form of marching. It is up to you to interpret and perform those explanations, and to achieve your goals.

Chapter I: A Brief Explanation of the Marching Arts

In this chapter, you will learn:

•   what marching is;

•   the roles of a marching group;

•   your role as a marcher in a marching group.

Marching Today

Marching is a dance of unified steps. A dance is any form of expressive movement, usually performed rhythmically. The unified movement of marching comes from its military roots. Marching began as a tool of necessity for armies that needed to move large numbers of troops from one battle to the next and through the battle itself. The easiest way to move many soldiers is with unified steps and commands. Through artistic evolution, what was once martial became solely a presentation of music, expressive movement, and color. Warfare has changed, but the need for marching has not.

In artistic marching, soldiers are called performers. There are three types of performers. The first group of marching performer is the wind instrumentalist. Wind instruments are any instruments that create music through the manipulation of your breath. Flutes, clarinets, saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and tubas are all examples of wind instruments. As of yet, stringed instruments like the violin do not have a marching outlet, though anything is possible in the future.

The second group of marching performer is the percussionist. Percussionists are split into two distinct groups in marching: battery percussion and pit percussion. Battery percussionists are the group that march on the field and include the snare drum, tenor drum, bass drum, and cymbals. Pit percussionists are also found on the marching stage but primarily stand in place as they perform. Pit percussion instruments include keyboards, timpani, gongs, and any other percussive equipment that can be imagined.

The third group of marching performers is the color guard. The color guard is the most dance-oriented of the three groups. This group usesequipment-primarily flags, rifles, and sabers-to create a visual effect. Increasingly, these performers are combining their skills with equipment with the fundamentals of ballet and modern dance. This group takes on the largest amount of responsibility for creating visual effect in a marching show.

Today, the marching arts are primarily presented through competitive circuits. The main outlet for marching groups is through a community’s public school system. Most public schools and many private schools have a marching band. Marching bands are where most performers get their start. Their main functions are to perform at the halftime of the school’s football games, perform music in the stands at the football games, perform in parades (see chapter fourteen), and participate in competitive showcases. Marching bands are good because no matter what type of marching performer you are, there is a role for you in a marching band.

The creation of winter marching ensembles is on the rise in public schools. Until now, these groups have typically been reserved only for color guard performers, but indoor marching percussion shows are growing in popularity. Indoor marching shows that also include wind instrumentalists are beginning to appear.

Beyond the public schools, there are independent organizations and circuits for marching groups. There are many independent indoor ensembles for both color guards and percussionists. The largest independent summer circuits are for drum and bugle corps. Drum corps are just like marching bands with the exception of flutes, clarinets, saxophones, and other wood wind instruments. Drum corps rehearse and tour the entire summer in their own traveling caravan.

Marching groups can be found locally as well. You may have a parade group in your area that concentrates on ethnic or historical music like bagpipes or fifes. The marching art form is constantly changing, and you may find stage productions that include marching at universities and colleges or even privately produced exhibitions. To find the marching organization that best suits you, use the Internet. It is filled with quality information.

Roles in a Marching Group

It takes many different jobs to put together a marching organization. Each job is crucial to the group, and your marching group would not function properly without everyone’s involvement. As you read this section, learn to appreciate the different roles and begin to see how they work together.

The first job in a marching group is performer. The performers are the core of a marching organization for the simple reason that without any performers there would be no reason to have the rest of the group. That does not mean the other roles are less important, only that performers are the product of the marching group. No product, no business.

Surrounding the core of the marching organization are various levels of responsibility (Fig. 1.1). Each encompassing level outward directly supports the next inner level and all levels inward of it. The jobs are not as sharplyseparated as the graphic shows-each role is interconnected. The graphic represents the level of responsibility each job holds. The performers, being the core, spend the majority of their energy on the show and their skills. The other jobs exist to support the creation and distribution of the show.

The next level of support around the performers is a drum major or captain. The drum major or captain of a marching organization is usually a performer that holds extra responsibilities of leadership. They help the performers to stay focused on their responsibility of learning and improving the show. They are the direct connection between the performers and the instructional staff.

The instructional staff are the members of an organization that aid the performers in developing their musical and marching skills, and they also assist the performers in learning the show. Instructors are split into many specialized groups to help the instrumentalists and percussionists play, the color guard spin, and everyone march. Think of them as a small representation of your audience that can give you instant feedback on your performance. What they teach and how they instruct comes from the show designers and coordinators.

Roles in a Marching Organization

The show designers are the team that creates the show. They study the performers to see what they are capable of achieving. Then they create a coherent program that best showcases the strengths of the group. The designers are joined by show coordinators that help organize the instructional process through detailed schedules.

Volunteers and support staff are the first group to involve themselves outside of the show’s creation. Volunteers are usually parents of performers or past performers who enjoy helping wherever they can. As support staff, they drive trucks and busses, prepare meals, sew flags, make props, and dowhatever needs to be done so that the designers and coordinators can create the show and the performers and instructional staff can rehearse and put on the show. The support staff aids the administration in their needs. This group deserves a lot of respect.

The administrators are a group that takes care of the needs of the organization. The administrators find places for the group to rehearse, make sure there are shows for the group to perform in, insure that the schedules include meals and breaks, make sure there is transportation to and from show sites, create a budget for everything, and deal with any operational function of the group. These administrators are greatly supported by the volunteers and support staff.

Outside of the administrators is usually one individual whose job it is to support everyone. This individual is the director. Their job is to look at the entire organization as a whole and help it achieve its goals. What the drum major is to the performers, the director is to the entire organization. Wherever aid is needed, they are there. They are the top administrator, making sure all the schedules and budgets are unified. They are the trusted individual that makes any executive decision that needs to be made.

Your Role

If you are using this book, then you are most likely a performer. Once you join an organization, look for the people who fill the other roles of a marching group. Though your main responsibility is to learn your show and hone your skills, do not shut yourself off to the other groups. Everyone is there to support you and your fellow performers. Your job is to perform, but it is also to help them. Wherever you can lend a hand, do so. Whenever you can express thanks to someone in your organization, do so.

In this respect, nothing has changed from marching’s military heritage. The armies that worked together won their wars. The generals who respected their soldiers saw them fight bravely. The soldiers that respected their generals were handsomely rewarded. The goals are different, but the principles are the same. What you put into your group is what you will get out. Eventually, no matter your position, learn to care for your group as if you were the director. Know that it is your job to take care of the group. But first, your role is to learn how to march.

Chapter II: Educating Yourself

In this chapter, you will learn:

•   what education is;

•   that you are responsible for your education and genius enough to handle it;

•   the ingredients of education;

•   the UPRAP method of educational traveling.

So it begins. You have an interest in the marching arts. One day you heard the drums beating off in the distance. One day you saw the colors churning in the field. One day you turned a corner and it was there, larger than life, heralding and trooping and calling your name. Then you knew what you had to do. You knew you had to do that. You had to be there. You could no longer just be a witness to this world. You had to be part of it.

Or, in fairness, perhaps it happened very differently. Maybe you joined reluctantly. Your best friend, or maybe a love interest, is going to march, and you don’t want to be left out. Perhaps your parents thought it would be a good character-building experience and made you do it. Regardless of your path, you are now here, and you have the potential to be a performer of the marching arts.

This will be the first of many moments when you ask: Am I or am I not a marcher? You are currently on the cusp of being a marcher. At this moment it would be very easy to put down this book. You are at that point where you could go in any direction, nothing is tying you to the marching arts. You could just as well be a student of the mashing potatoes arts. It is now your choice.

Because you are reading on, you are a marcher. There is not a day in the future when you will earn the title of marcher. There is not a test you have to pass or an amount of time you have to put into the activity. Just by taking an interest, you are a marcher. The only thing that can ever stop you from being a marcher is to stop being a student of the art form. Right now, you are a marcher.

You Are Responsible for Your Own Education

Being a student means being a person who strives to reach deeply into a subject. It means you intend to be great at what you do, that you are not content to be ignorant. If you are going to step onto that marching field, you cannot be ignorant of how a marching show works. Just like if you are going to mash potatoes, you cannot be lacking in your knowledge of spuds and tubers. As a student, you must be constantly looking for opportunities to develop. A student is not one who is timid to learn. Being a student means being serious about your education.

Education is the path a student takes toward the highest understanding of their subject. Education is not a thing to acquire. It is not a place to go. Education is a path to take. It is the way in which you grow: marching or mashing. It is the life you live.

The first mistake any student can make is to think that one day education will end, that one day they will know everything and will be the teacher of everyone. Education is the road that never ends. There is always something to learn, something to know, and somewhere to grow. Become comfortable with learning, and know that you are learning at this very moment and will constantly learn your entire life. After you have matured to the point that you become a teacher, never forget that you were once and forever will always be a student.

On the path of education, you will have goals. Goals are points along the path. An example of a goal is finishing this chapter of this book (Fig. 2.1). Education is continuous and eternal, but goals have a beginning and come to an end. When you come to the end of this chapter, you will be more a marcher than you have ever been-and the potatoes will wait.

Education is motivated by goals, giving the student a purpose to their development. The educational development of the mind, the body, and the spirit is always for a certain purpose. Your purpose can be anything. Your purpose could be to mash the potatoes. Your purpose can be as simple as one moment in time: to stand in a certain spot, to perform a certain pose, or to sing a single note.

In marching, you prepare yourself for each moment. Every moment has an ideal. You are to be in a certain spot. You are to strike a certain pose. You are to sing a certain note. As a marcher, your goal is to perform in these moments as they have been idealized.

Your goals can be accomplished by many means. You can arrive at a moment through many paths. You do not have to read this book to be a marcher. You are responsible for your path. You must decide how you are going to achieve your goals.

For the marching student, the world has a lot to offer. The world has instructors, people of experience, from whom to learn. The world has fellow marchers with whom to share inspiration and bold experiments. The world has books to read. The world has videos to watch of shows gone by that tell the story of the art form’s development. The world is a great resource for your marching education.

Yet with all the resources on the planet, the world cannot educate you. The world cannot make you listen. The world cannot make you study. The world cannot make you train. The world cannot make you practice. The world cannot make you perform. The world cannot make you visualize ideal moments. There is no person or group that can accomplish your success for you. The choice to take your studentship in the marching arts seriously is yours and yours alone.

You are responsible for your education: it is the most important thing you can learn in any venture. Listen and follow your instructors, but do so knowing that the progress you make is yours. It is you who have listened and you who have applied the information. Likewise, there is much information within this book, but it is you who must read and use the information. The instructor does not march your show. This book can do nothing but sit on a shelf. It is only you who is capable of making progress.

While this all sounds like a lot of pressure on you, remember one thing: you are inherently genius. You are inherently genius. Within you is the capacity to do anything. No show is beyond your ability; nothing