never marched, but would love to one day

[kauliflower]

Hey guys!

My name is Rachel and like the topic title says, I've never actually marched. The reason I'm here is that I accidentally wandered across drum corps on facebook and began to look into it from there. It looks really really interesting and I've been playing the french horn for 4 years now and so I thought there might be the slightest possibility I could get involved, but the major hurdle is.... I live in australia. Still, I could always take a gap year from university some time (i'm 17 now, leaving high school) and give an audition a go, but before I make some sort of gargantuan effort to make it into a drum corps first try, I think I should get a better idea of the sort of experience drum corps actually is. So here I am. Anyone want to help?

There's not really much in the way of marching bands over here, I can only find one within 30 km of me, so any info on marching in general would be helpful too.

[thelonelysnare]

Marching isn’t all that hard once you get the hang of it. I agree with you that it would be relatively hard to move to the United States to participate in a Drum Corp. I have never been in Drum Corp either because I’m in high school. I’m in my high school marching band. I’ll tell you about that sometime later as I’m at school right now. You can email me at thelonelysnare@yahoo.com.

[kauliflower]

awwww, thanks lonelysnare! so yeah, about marching. how do you rehearse? like is it done indoors and only the last few rehearsals done marching?

[84BDsop]

awwww, thanks lonelysnare! so yeah, about marching. how do you rehearse? like is it done indoors and only the last few rehearsals done marching?

Ohhh nononononononooooo!!

Here's the schedule we had when i was in Blue Devils in 84 (as best I can remember it):

Wed night: Each major section (brass, percussion, guard) met at separate locations for about 4 hours to work on their respective stuff. no marching involved. The brass line was in the auditorium of a local elementary school (and how we fit 62 people in there I'll never know!)

Weekends were all day both days. i don;t remember the frequency at the early part of teh season...I think it was every other weekend for a long time, then it accelerated to every weekend around May.

Once the school years were done in early June, it was all day, EVERY day (we called them 9 to 9s....but 12 hours was generally the minimum we spent on the field when actually on tour), and on tour you live, eat, breathe, and sleep drum corps 24/7.

There were also camps once a month where the entire corps would meet, load up on busses (which the corps owned at the time) and go to some high school a distance away....those were constant work except for meals and sleeping. The travel gave the corps members and staff chances to fine tune the touring process prior to the season starting.

Marching started the first day we were at a weekend camp (January, if I remember right). Other corps start marching later only because there's snow on the ground in their area...but they might be able to swing some indoor location to at least work on basics or drill that doesn;t take up too much room (fairly easy if you;re a small corps...NOT so easy when you have 128 people)

If you go to YouTube or Google video, plug in some corps names and watch their shows....understand that you're looking at the end result of several hundred thousand man-hours of work. You canNOT do modern drill by only starting work on it near the end....it has to be locked in from teh beginning.

For a modern corps teh schedule might be a little different, but the work requires is the same.

The above was for a Jr corps....for an All-Age, it tends to be a bit different because we all have jobs and family to worry about (and school for the younger members)

You usually have around 16 weekend rehearsal days before teh first show, and you don;'t have the luxury of weekday practices (although some corps set them up on a voluntary basis). The schedule tends to be one camp a month (not a traveling one, tho....just everyone showing up to a designated site and going home at night) from 9-5ish. This accelerates to 2 camps per month at some point in the season, then wvery weekend once it's almost the first show, then every weekend until the end of your season.

As for your playing...not many corps use French horns today....they're notoriously difficult to play well (so;s the concert one, but you're sitting down for that one!), so most corps have moved to mellophones, flugelhorns, or some other alto range instrument that's more forgiving of playing on the move.

As for marching...30km's not that far...I'd go and check it out and learn to get your feet under you. Since Australia -- like teh UK -- has no tradition of school marching bands like in North America, you won;t have grown up with the mechanics of playing and marching. The mroe experience you have in ANY part of our world, the better.

But you never know...a LOT of corps have members from outside NA....Japan sends a lot of people, and there was one year the entire Boston Crusaders' cymbal line was from England.

If you take your gap year to try a corps in teh US, might I suggest one of the many in sunny Southern California?? There are 6 currently operating in teh Los Angeles area (5 jrs and one all-age), with several more in the planning stage, and all with their own unique style.

Luck to you!

[kauliflower]

Wow. i'm still trying to figure out how you remember the details from umm... 23 years ago. i've youtubed a couple of drum corps shows and it's starting to sink in just how much practice it must take on the field. It sounds like heaps of fun (and hard work).

Some more questions:

With respect to instruments... do most people do their first audition for the hornline on a trumpet? or do people actually own sopranos, mellos and baris before they start?? i have no idea where i'd get a mellophone from in australia and i can't see there being any use for it here lol. from general talk on this forum, it sounds like people switch between horns a bit and I wouldn't really mind playing other horns, but i couldn't handle anything big. I'm 150 cm, i'm not sure what is in feet, but it translates to "midget"

Is junior drum corps the one i've researched a bit where you have to be aged between 16-24? i'm a bit confused with ages in drum corps.

it'd be really nice to see what kind of standard you generally have to be at for drum corps so I'd have something to aim for. We have AMEB (australian music examination board) exams here, can someone suggest something to compare that with??

Sorry if these are really obvious questions, I haven't really been able to research much because i'm meant to be studying for my HSC (read "last exams in high school, EVEEEEEEERRRRR!!!"). Thanks in advance for any help that comes my way :)

[DKracing]

Wow. i'm still trying to figure out how you remember the details from umm... 23 years ago. i've youtubed a couple of drum corps shows and it's starting to sink in just how much practice it must take on the field. It sounds like heaps of fun (and hard work).

Some more questions:

With respect to instruments... do most people do their first audition for the hornline on a trumpet? or do people actually own sopranos, mellos and baris before they start?? i have no idea where i'd get a mellophone from in australia and i can't see there being any use for it here lol. from general talk on this forum, it sounds like people switch between horns a bit and I wouldn't really mind playing other horns, but i couldn't handle anything big. I'm 150 cm, i'm not sure what is in feet, but it translates to "midget"

Is junior drum corps the one i've researched a bit where you have to be aged between 16-24? i'm a bit confused with ages in drum corps.

it'd be really nice to see what kind of standard you generally have to be at for drum corps so I'd have something to aim for. We have AMEB (australian music examination board) exams here, can someone suggest something to compare that with??

Sorry if these are really obvious questions, I haven't really been able to research much because i'm meant to be studying for my HSC (read "last exams in high school, EVEEEEEEERRRRR!!!"). Thanks in advance for any help that comes my way :)

I auditioned on trumpet and ended up on mellophone... I would email the caption heads of the corps you're interested in though. Nothing wrong with learning the trumpet though, it's a skill everyone should possess :). I think some corps may allow you to audition on your principal instrument (such as french horn or trombone) not sure, again I would ask the specific corps instructors. Most people don't play marching intruments outside of drum corps anyway (aside from trumpet) so I suspect they're more interested in how good you are at what you have available to practice on.

22 is the oldest you can be in junior corps (depending on when you turn 22), you don't necessarily have to be 16... but, I take it you're older than that anyway since you're ending high school soon.

The standards depend on what corps you go for... but drum corps for the most part is about the willingness to learn and improve, so if you show them you really want to do it and you show them the effort, it goes much further than anything else.

Hope that helps a bit!

[kauliflower]

haha, ahh trumpet. if i learnt the trumpet i'd have to take a year's worth of telling people that the french horn is far superior, and i couldn't possibly do that :P nah, i've borrowed a student trumpet off a friend and have been randomly playing some of my horn pieces on it, but i find the trumpet harder than the french horn.

I'm a bit fuzzy on what a caption head is. It sounds like the manager for brass/percussion/color guard, is that right? I don't think I'll be having a go at drum corps for at least year because i need to learn to march first, but in the mean time i'll be having a look at the different corps. I need to figure out what i want to look into before i start blanketing all the corps with enquiries lol.

Do different corps tend to have definite styles? Like i saw a youtube video of the renegades doing a jazz thing.

standards-wise, I have a feeling i'm not very good at playing the french horn but i can't tell because i've only ever been in my school music program and people don't practise very much here. It sounds a bit dodgy, but considering I've never marched before, do you think you could suggest some lower standard corps? Probably in california too, because my cousin is staying there.

Eeeep! I'm 17, turning 18 next january, that only gives me.. 4 years to try and get into a drum corps!

But first things first. The local marching band I mentioned has some videos on their website and from the looks of it, the french horns just march holding up their concert french horns... Do you think that would still help with marching technique? I'm a bit skeptical. I've tried walking around and playing before when i want to get something, and it really doesn't work very well. If you feel like taking a look at an humble australian marching band, here's a link to their website. I'm a bit skeptical to be honest.

that's all for now, thanks for answering all my questions

Edited October 29, 2007 by kauliflower

[84BDsop]

Wow. i'm still trying to figure out how you remember the details from umm... 23 years ago. i've youtubed a couple of drum corps shows and it's starting to sink in just how much practice it must take on the field. It sounds like heaps of fun (and hard work).

Yeah...it's a LOT of wor, but there's nothing quite like 30,000 people screaming your name! as for how I remember it....when you live the show for 9 solid months, it sticks with you...I can still kinda play about 75% of my show (not very well, but the fingerings are there!)

I'm a bit fuzzy on what a caption head is. It sounds like the manager for brass/percussion/color guard, is that right? I don't think I'll be having a go at drum corps for at least year because i need to learn to march first, but in the mean time i'll be having a look at the different corps. I need to figure out what i want to look into before i start blanketing all the corps with enquiries lol.

Pretty close...the caption head is essentially the head instructor for the three major sections. SOMETIMES the caption head is also the musical arranger.desgner for those sections, but not always.

and when you approach a corps....don't even consider Madison Scouts or the Cavaliers....they're all male (a holdover from their Boy Scout roots)...Madison has only has a women in the corps twice in it's 69 year history. Cavies once.

Corps with larger staff will also have people working with individual sections within each line (like the snares, tenors, and basses in the drums), referred to as "techs." They're job is to not only teach the individual sections, but to ensure they play the way the caption heads wants.

Do different corps tend to have definite styles? Like i saw a youtube video of the renegades doing a jazz thing.

Pretty much. Blue Devils afre jazz, Phantom Regiment is classical, etc....the styles aren't as locked in as they were back in the 70-80s, but you probably won't see Phantom playing "Back in Black" anytime soon!

standards-wise, I have a feeling i'm not very good at playing the french horn but i can't tell because i've only ever been in my school music program and people don't practise very much here. It sounds a bit dodgy, but considering I've never marched before, do you think you could suggest some lower standard corps? Probably in california too, because my cousin is staying there.

Don't get trapped into thinking that a smaller corps means a lesser quality...the only difference between some full-size corps and some smaller ones is purely on size. You'll still work just as hard, although the show demand MAY be a bit less.

That being said, a new corps in the first few years of existence would be more forgiving...for some corps, if you're breathing, you're in!

Where in California is your cousin? That would help with getting advice.

Eeeep! I'm 17, turning 18 next january, that only gives me.. 4 years to try and get into a drum corps!

for a Jr corps yes...for an all-age, you can be in until the first shovel of dirt hits your face.

But first things first. The local marching band I mentioned has some videos on their website and from the looks of it, the french horns just march holding up their concert french horns... Do you think that would still help with marching technique? I'm a bit skeptical. I've tried walking around and playing before when i want to get something, and it really doesn't work very well. If you feel like taking a look at an humble australian marching band, here's a link to their website. I'm a bit skeptical to be honest.

that's all for now, thanks for answering all my questions

Not too band sounding, actually. VERY heavy Brit influence in teh arm swing on teh march and the snare sticks (plus the drum major's "by the centah" command...meaning tat the center file of people sets the intervals between the ranks and everyone else guides to them)

Marching technique isn't an issue of the instrument (unless it;s something like a baritone sax, which hangs down to the knees), it;s a matter of properly placing the foot down so you don't jar the instrument arond on your lips...the ideais to make t as smooth as possible and roll your foot from heel to toe as you move...called a rollstep.

The other thing is I didn;t see them doing any sort of backward or slide marching like drum corps do...that's something that would have to be learned (but rookies usually get cut soe slack while they're learning).

if you go to teh Giolden Roos, you'll at least learn how to march and play in step....for drum corps style, dunno....but like I said, that can be learned. Believe me, there's nothing quite like coming from a college band with NO corps style at all to Blue Devils!!!! a VERY steep learning curve for me!

[kauliflower]

ahhh! I wiki-ed the cavaliers this morning (australian time) and noticed the corps mission statement mentioning a "fraternity". I got a bit concerned after that, but I take it that most other corps accepts females. Just out of interest, what do you think the proportion of female members in corps are these days?

I'm not actually sure about where in California at the moment, but I'll find that out soon.

Just checking, are div 2 and div 3 for younger corps?

I understand that I'm going to be working my butt off wherever I go, I just want to have an ok chance of making it in. Marching til the dirt hits my face sounds like fun though. Do people really hang around until they're like sixty?

That arm swing made me go "errrrgghhh". It made me think of the videos they make us watch in history, about the parades and things for the arrival of the queen back in 19(something pre-60s). lol, "by the centAH"! Ok, so I'll have a good look at the golden roos then. Do you... ever find yourself just roll-stepping as you walk around? I've been trying what i've read read from fairly generic descriptions, it's starting to become a bit habitual. For backward and slide marching, do you think it'd be better just to leave it or to make an attempt off online tips? unlearning and relearning something is always much more tedious than just learning it right the first time.

It will be a rather steep learning curve for me if/when i try this drum corps thing, but steeper learning curves are more exciting! Besides being more daunting and stressful.

[84BDsop]

ahhh! I wiki-ed the cavaliers this morning (australian time) and noticed the corps mission statement mentioning a "fraternity". I got a bit concerned after that, but I take it that most other corps accepts females. Just out of interest, what do you think the proportion of female members in corps are these days?

That really varies from corps to corps....and even then it can fluctuate from year to year. When I marched Blue Devils, for example, we had quite a few women in the horn line, one in the battery, and a few in the pit (the guard was entirely women...BD didn't go co-ed there until 1992)....but in a later year -- 94, i think -- I don't think there was a single woman in the horn line. Not because they weren't allowed -- BD has always had a tradition that gender was irrelevant i.e. if you can play, you;re in -- but just because no woman made the audition cuts that year. You'll see the highest percentage of women in teh color guard, then in the pit, then the hornline, and lastly in the battery.

Just checking, are div 2 and div 3 for younger corps?

Sometimes that's the case but the division is really based on the size of the unit...it USED to be that div III was for 60 members and less, Div II for 61-89, and Div I for 90 to the then max of 128. I'm not sure what the limits are now, with the renaming of Div I and II/III to World and Open Class. You DO tend to get a younger corps in the smaller groups, however, but it's not required, and plenty of people age out in small corps.

I understand that I'm going to be working my butt off wherever I go, I just want to have an ok chance of making it in. Marching til the dirt hits my face sounds like fun though. Do people really hang around until they're like sixty?

In the All-Age ranks, yes...especially in a long-standing corps with decades of tradition behind it like Hawthorne Caballeros, for example. When I was in Empire Statesmen, I marched with a guy who was in his late 50s.

Sometimes the member can't actually march, so they go into the honor guard, which is STILL considered a part of the corps, if nt the actual performance unit.

That arm swing made me go "errrrgghhh". It made me think of the videos they make us watch in history, about the parades and things for the arrival of the queen back in 19(something pre-60s). lol, "by the centAH"! Ok, so I'll have a good look at the golden roos then. Do you... ever find yourself just roll-stepping as you walk around? I've been trying what i've read read from fairly generic descriptions, it's starting to become a bit habitual. For backward and slide marching, do you think it'd be better just to leave it or to make an attempt off online tips? unlearning and relearning something is always much more tedious than just learning it right the first time.

It will be a rather steep learning curve for me if/when i try this drum corps thing, but steeper learning curves are more exciting! Besides being more daunting and stressful.

I think you'll do just fine....

as for rollstepping in normal life....oh lord YES....we ALL do it....once you go through years of marching band or drum corps, it becomes natural, especially when you hear music and habitually get in step with it....or get in step with the person walking next to you.

It's also a handy skill to have when you're carrying drinks!

For backward..I;d wait until you have a chance to get instruction in person...there are a number of different techniques that vary from corps to corps and they're kinda difficult to learn by yourself.