Methods of Madness

[SaraNYC]

cool, but i was talking about professional artistic performers.

You either get fired or you just don't get called back for the gig.

[Liam]

Or you just get fired.

Right

I was trying to present varying examples of things short of that, though .... You could get kicked out of drum corps, too, if you're totally hopeless or defiant. Laps, pushups, standing at attention, etc are merely ways to motivate or otherwise focus your attention. Much like sitting in the corner if you talk in class or a sexual harrassment seminar if you were a bad boy at the office

You can argue about the effectiveness of any of these on their own merits, but to say that you shouldn't do one thing in one activity because they do something else in another activity is a nonsense argument, imo.

[Legalhack]

You either get fired or you just don't get called back for the gig.

Yep. If you have bargaining power (or a good collective bargaining agreement), you are relatively untouchable. If you don't, the fear of not working keeps you in line.

[whitedawn]

You can argue about the effectiveness of any of these on their own merits, but to say that you shouldn't do one thing in one activity because they do something else in another activity is a nonsense argument, imo.

but it isn't nonsense.

i guess it all comes down to educational philosophy. i believe that drum corps are educational organizations. in that setting, how is it educational to make someone do pushups when they hang a release? that doesn't address the "why did that happen" -- it only addresses the "don't do it again" which doesn't solve the problem at all. there are far more effective ways to maintain group focus in rehearsals. effective teaching is one of those ways.

further, drum corps kids don't need to be treated like children. the kids who make the "big boy" corps are smart enough to be treated like adults. the staff isn't "superior" -- they are just there to distribute information, not to dole out punishment. what an insult to the teachers, to ask them to "punish" kids!

[thatonekid]

Here's an idea.

From now on, no corps will tick. EVER.

problem solved. I'm a genius.

[Lance]

You either get fired or you just don't get called back for the gig.

Yep. You're supposed to play what's in front of you perfectly every time if you're a professional musician. I think making amateur musicians do push ups if they goof is roughly equivalent to the old piano teacher rapping a student's fingers if they messed up. It probably does work for some people, but not for all. It would be nice if there were any educational approach that was one size fits all.

On a related note, I've always noticed that if I'm having concentration issues, a quick run or any type of workout will help me get refocused.

[flervinuveling]

In the two years I marched Scouts, no instructor ever told any of us to take a lap or do pushups. That was something we did ourselves. It was part conditioning, part competition, and part respect. It never hurts to build yourself up a bit more, and members would compete to see who could do more in a rehearsal day. And when an error was made, it was our way of showing the rest of the line that we recognized our error. You could take the shups out completely and it wouldn't diminish the level of focus in rehearsals. They were something extra we just did simply because we could.

and it's still the same today, too

[07-Socks]

Well one thing, if they made a mistake and then did their push ups while someone on the box was talking about the mistakes and how to correct them, then it seems like the ones who made the mistakes and need to listen the most are doing pushups instead of paying attantion to what the instructor on the box is saying.

It's a shame that kids don't have enough skill to do pushups and listen.

Heaven forbid if you put an instrument in their hand and tell them to march AND play at the same time.

[SaraNYC]

Yep. You're supposed to play what's in front of you perfectly every time if you're a professional musician. I think making amateur musicians do push ups if they goof is roughly equivalent to the old piano teacher rapping a student's fingers if they messed up.

Yeah, that style is called teaching by fear. Teaching people NOT to make mistakes as opposed to teaching people to make music...

[Perry S]

My Sister played Pro basketball 16 years and yes they do run and such. She mostly would have to run up and down the arena steps.