Planning for Next Year’s Marching Band Show
OK, some of you are serious “type A” personalties and have the entire marching program planned, music arranged, and drill design done and ready to go. For the rest of us it’s that time of year when we are either beginning to look for next year’s marching band show or are in the process of working with the arranger, developing a show concept and selecting music. Now, is a great time to get your drill designer and colorguard instructor involved in the process. Their input can be most valuable in concept development and planning the overall flow of the production and creating visual moments in context with the music arrangement. This will make the end product far more cohesive and keeps the visual designers from forcing visual impact moments into the show after the fact. From my years of experience the most successful shows have been the ones where this integrated planning has been utilized.
Many times I have been surprised how the original concept has evolved into a completely new (and better) direction because of the additional dialogue between the directors, arranger, drill designer, and colorguard instructor. Each one comes with a perspective based on their area of expertise and thus will have a slightly different idea on how to approach the concept. No, this is not a bad thing! Just be aware that each one will bring a set of priorities and it is the blending of all these components that makes for the best marching band program. It’s so much better to work through the programming and music arrangement with the visual team during these early stages of the program development. Before the music arrangement is complete the drill designer can begin mapping some preliminary design ideas and start coordinating with the colorguard instructor on equipment and staging. Now is the time to make any adjustments to the music needed to accommodate visual design ideas you may want to integrate.
A Quick Overview of Marching Designs:
The Drill Designers page has articles from marching show design experts and listings of marching band drill designers for marching band, colorguard and indoor percussion ensembles.
On the Arrangers and Composers page you can find articles and information related to marching music and arranging as well as music selection and programming for marching band shows and winterguard.
The Instructors and Choreographers page deals with marching technique and marching clinics as well as colorguard choreography with in-depth articles and information.
Ever wonder where you can find a good camp for your drum majors or a clinician for your color guard? The Camps and Clinics page is the online resource for camps and clinics for marching band, color guard, marching percussion and drum majors.
Uniforms and Color Guard Equipment is more than just a listings of marching band and colorguard uniforms. You can find articles and information on band uniform design and great resources for color guard equipment, colorguard flags and rifles.
The Instruments page has information on everything from brass to marching percussion and drums with articles on maintenance, tuning and other topics related to marching band instruments.
All the Supplies and Equipment your marching band or colorguard could ever need can be found here - from metronomes and audio systems to band towers for marching rehearsals.
How did you build those big marching band props? Where did you get those custom printed flags for your colorgaurd? You can find those answers and more on the Printing and Props page. While you're here you can get some custom designed shirts for the directors and t-shirts for your entire band.
One of the hardest things to do is find a marching contest on a particular date or a score from last year's marching competition. On the Contests page you'll find a comprehensive marching contest events schedule plus links to the marching band contests and marching circuits to help you schedule and get information and scores from marching competitions around the country.
All the news, scores, and information for DCI and the Drum Corps activity is located on the Drum and Bugle Corps page.
The Software page is the best online resource for drill design, band administration and music notation software as well as information and articles on marching software.
The Audio / Video is your online resource for audio engineering and music production for winterguard, videographers for marching bands and information on how to use technology for your marching show.
You can find instructional videos, magazines and books marching band, color guard and marching drums on the Publications page.
The Associations page is a handy online reference of marching circuits and music education associations.
