Every year, as marching season approaches, you struggle to come up with a marching band show concept that will

help you attain your program

goals, motivate your students, entertain your audiences, and impress your judges.

You must decide what is achievable by everyone in your group, and then put together a show (both music and drill) that will move your goals for
the group forward. It’s a delicate balancing act between what they can do, what you want them to be able to do, and what they will connect with.

Below is a list of seven things you should consider doing the next time you find yourself designing a marching band show for your group. Creating a
successful show requires careful planning, finding the right people to help build it, making goal-specific decisions about the details, and effectively
using your resources.

You are most likely familiar with the process, but what follows is the result of what I’ve learned over the years, having been in the band director,
percussion instructor, and arranger seats.

1. Know your group and your goals

There are countless studies that suggest planning and goal setting are major contributing factors to the level of success achieved by any group or
individual. In order to create a successful marching band show, you must first clarify as much as you can about your group’s demographics and
determine your goals.

To get started, answer the following questions:

How many players will you have for each instrument?

What are the various skill levels of each section?
Will you have any potential soloists?
What are the group’s general weaknesses?
What are the group’s general strengths?
What do you want to have achieved by the end of the season?
The more you know about the demographics of the group and your goals for them, the better you can design a show that is both attainable and
beneficial to everyone involved.

2. Assemble “A” team players

Look for the most talented people you can find or afford to help you plan and construct your show. Everyone needs to be an “A” team player for
this to be a success. If you don’t have much of a budget, they may have to come from within your own staff (assistant directors, feeder program
directors, your percussion instructor, etc.), which in a perfect world would already be filled with “A” players.

No matter what your financial or staff situation, look for the best people to create each aspect of the show. You will most likely need separate
people for the wind music, percussion music, drill, and colorguard work. Recruit people with experience in their area, and whose work you like.
Consider their personalities as well. Can you work with them? Will they be able to work together?

Not matter who you assemble as the creative team, try to get everyone on staff who will be teaching the show, or working with your students,
involved in the process: additional directors, the colorguard and percussion instructors, and any marching technicians whose opinions you value.

You want everyone involved to “buy in” to the show, the group, and the program. The more they buy in, the more effective they will be in helping
you achieve your goals.

3. Find the perfect show concept

As you know, marching band shows are theatrical productions, so begin the design process by finding an over-arching theme.

Look for a concept that can be broken down into at least three different subcategories or aspects. After you have subcategories, see if you can
describe each one using one or two keywords. If a subcategory can be divided into two different qualities, actions, or descriptions, then it can
probably carry a movement of music.

Keep your students, audience and judges in mind when coming up with ideas. Try to avoid things that will bore your students, offend your
audience, or bewilder your judges. I always try to keep it fairly light-hearted and as artistic as possible. Remember that you will be spending months
and months on this show.

The following process has worked well for me over the years:

Meet for a brainstorming session. Involve everyone on the creative team. Consider including your students as well.
Set a time limit and write down every idea. Be imaginative. Include many different sources: pieces of music, general concepts, movies, stories,
artwork, everyday experiences, cities, etc… Anything goes.
Go through the list of ideas, combining similar ones and eliminating ones that do not fit your students or audience. Try to narrow it down to 3-5
ideas.
Divide each idea into subcategories. Try to come up with 3-4 subcategories or aspects for each. For example, if the idea were “Metal,” then the
subcategories could be different types of metal, different uses for metal, etc.
Describe each subcategory. Try to describe each subcategory with at least two different adjectives. These adjectives will drive the musical ideas.
Reduce your options to 1 or 2 finalists by considering each one’s accessibility to the students, the audience, and the judges. Is it a good fit for your
program this year? Will it translate well into a marching band show or to a piece of music?
Sit on them for a few days to give them time to incubate. Then, have a second meeting to discuss any new ideas or additions, and to pick the
winning concept. Consider putting the ideas up for a vote with your students.
Keep a record of all the discarded ideas for future reference. You may create three or four years worth of great show ideas in one sitting. Try to
involve your students in this process in some way, because the more they are part of the process, the higher the chance they will be excited about
learning the show when it is all said and done.

4. Create a blueprint
Just like building a house, productions of any kind need a plan, or blueprint. There are many different ways to structure a show, but there needs to
be some sort of broad architecture that holds it together.

The concept is the driving force of the show, so use it to help you determine its structure. From the show design process, the concept is already
divided into several subcategories, and those into descriptive adjectives. The subcategories are going to be the starting point for the overall
structure. Try to place them in an order that gives the show momentum.

A very common and effective layout of marching band show movements is:

Opener – set the tone of the show, make a big statement.

Feature Movement – showcase the talents of your soloists, sections, or your marching technique.
Ballad – get the audience involved emotionally. Make an impact here.
Closer – bring the show to an exciting close, tie the movements back together, or introduce a surprise twist.
Other musical forms can work just as well. Keep the beginning, middle and end in mind and almost any arrangement of music can work. Here are a
few ideas:

Theme and Variations – keep the number of variations between 5 and 7 so the show has some continuity
Three Part Form (Fast-Slow-Fast) – four part, minus the “Feature” movement.
Programatic – tell a story, dividing it up into sections based on the action in the story.
5. Predetermine as much as possible
The overall structure of a show is the framework for everything else that goes into it. Once the framework is in place, fill in the details about
everything else. Be as specific as possible, both to make sure the show is effective and to make sure you communicate exactly what you want out
of the show with the creative team.

Here are a few important things to consider:

Make sure something interesting happens every 30 seconds to 1 minute. Any longer and you will lose your audience and the show can lose its
sense of direction. It can be a Music Effect (impact point) or a big Drill Move (usually coupled with a music effect, played by a different group than
the one executing the drill).
Make sure there are at least three different tempos or time signatures during the course of the show. The range does not have to be large, but
there should be some variation to prevent the drill and music from stagnating.
Plan the transitions between sections of the show. You want them to flow together smoothly, both musically and visually. Make sure you leave
time for transitions, especially for the guard.
Showcase all the different elements of the marching band, both the members and the design, at some point during the show. The elements to
feature:
Sections – Brass, Woodwinds, Battery and Pit (together and/or separate), and Colorguard.
Soloists – you want to show off your best students. Consider a unique place to stage them, not just on the sideline.
Drill – little to no playing other than percussion, but can be silent, then land in a big chord.
Music – little to no drill movement, or a “Park and Blow.”
Determine the Level of Difficulty. The show should be in the group’s “zone of proximal development” which means that it is sufficiently challenging
to a majority of the group, but still attainable with practice. Refer to your demographics and goals.
6. Aim for integration
An important and often neglected part of the show construction phase is the music and drill integration. They must work together in many ways for
the show to be successful.

Follow these simple rules to avoid problems:

Make sure the right people are in the right place at the right time. Find a drill writer who can read music or specify for him/her exactly when
different groups need to be in the front.
Keep the woodwinds closer to the front, especially if you want them to be heard. Many drill writers shove them in the back where they will never
be heard.
Avoid asking students to do difficult drill moves and play difficult music at the same time.
Play your most difficult music standing still.
Do your most difficult drill moves when the winds are not playing. (the drumline should be excluded from difficult drill moves if possible)
Keep the group closer together during complex musical sections. They can spread out when the music is less complex or when sections are not
playing.
Make sure the field coverage is appropriate for your group’s size. Placing students more than 8 steps apart not only dilutes the drill, but makes it
more difficult to stay together musically and in the drill.
If the music and drill work well together, then the other pieces of the puzzle can more easily fall into place. Make sure you include your percussion
instructor/arranger and colorguard instructor/choreographer in the process. Send them music and drill, let them know about changes, and get
their input and feedback as parts of the show are finished.

7. Check everyone’s work

As you receive the various parts of the show from your composer/arranger, drill writer, colorguard instructor, and percussion director, study them
for any potential problems, exactly like when you prepare to teach a new piece of music. Don’t wait until the end of the process or until the entire
show is finished, because then it may be too late.

If there are problems, or things you don’t like, don’t be afraid to ask for changes to be made. You are, after all, paying for a product. It should be
exactly what you want and need it to be.

The benefits of a carefully planned marching band show

Careful planning will ensure that none of the design stands in the way of your success, and that the show is the appropriate level for your students,
making teaching it easier and more productive.

You can prevent unexpected and unnecessary costs by anticipating problems and reviewing segments of the show before they are finalized.

By streamlining this process and assembling a team of “A” players, you can take much of the stress out of designing the show, and set your group
up for its most successful marching band season yet.