Winter Brass Lines

[Penn State]

I'm guessing the majority of the indoor drumlines have high school aged kids in them. I don't think kids outside of drum corps are missing anything.

...and another thing.. in my experience, the winterguard participants are a different breed entirely. Many of them, once they're in it, stay in it well past their age out years for drum corps.. and they generally don't exhibit burnout.. just because doing one helps keep their chops up for the other and vice versa.

The indoor drumlines.. I don't know how many actual drum corps have them. I know Blue Knights had one for a long time. I thought Revolution had one.. but I don't think it's happening as part of the main stream drum corps community. The lines out there are independent entities..

It sounds like this guy is suggesting that drum corps should start these programs. IMO, drum corps have enough on their plates and the off season (winter season) is a time to set the line and learn the music and drill before your season begins. He seemed to think that the brass lines are sitting idly around.. and I'm sorry but even in the smallest division III corps I've worked with, NOTHING was sitting idly by in the off season.

Stef

I agree, most corps instruments are in use during the winter months. I do though feel alot of high school's marching brass instruments are collecting dust during the 'non-marching' band season. Why couldn't it be an etxtra curricular activity at the schools for these kids? Isn't that the way indoor drumline works? I really don't know, curous though B)

[Penn State]

double post <**> .....deleted it

Edited April 9, 2007 by Penn State

[supersop]

Flat out there is no use for an indoor winter marching instumental ensemble and would only experience minor interest in an independant division. School programs have other ensembles they have to focus on to outside of the marching ensembles. Indoor gaurd and perc have flourished because they fill a need in schools. outside of band and corps WGI gives the colorgaurd members a forum to use thier abilities and hone skills outsie of band and corps. It gives tehm a chance to perform for the long months between marchign seasons. indoor percussion units give the same oprotunity to all the percusionists also. the typical concert ensemble has no use for the number of percusionists a marching ensemble does, Indoor drumlives gives the percusionists a chance to play outside of the band/corps forum. when was that last time you saw an orchestra or wind ensemble with over 20 percusionists. but schools and comunity and profesional ensembles give the instrumentalists more then enough oprotunities to play and perform so and indoor marching winter unit would just be excessive.

rant through. :)

Actually, in Michigan there are a handful of indoor marching brass ensembles that compete in MCGC which is an affiliate program of WGI. These are not "super high" caliber programs, but they are being used (as I understand it) for more than one purpose in the school systems that compete.

1) It gives the brass players a chance to continue learning good marching technique during the winter

2) Any time you get to perform 4-10 times in 3 months is a bonus for any ensemble

3) These groups can also perform at school basketball games year round (mens and womens) in place of a pep band situation.

4) They get to compete for a state championship.

5) It offers more playing time with more individualized instruction from brass specialists (at least it should).

There's been alot of talk about musicianship in the hall vs on the floor. I think it all comes down to who's calling the shots and what type of sound you're looking for. I think the only difference between the field and the hall is dynamic range, tamber and lack of vibrato. All of the other elements are taught to the members: Articulation, tone quality, balance, blend, breathing etc etc etc. Saying that performing in a marching venue is a lesser contributor to musicianship than performing in an auditorium sitting down (to me) is silly.

Yes i believe the students should get a well rounded education and know the different between how they should play on and off the field. Notice I have slanted this toward secondary education programs and not collegiate. Reason? I think it's a great excuse to get kids playing more on a regular basis. It's another vehicle to add to the arsenal. The nice part about it is ... indoor = smaller ensemble. Which in turn means more of a concert style sound with the ability to knock the stands back and you get more one on one time with your brass players. To me, it's the best of both worlds (see: Future Corps.net or Blast! for an example).

In the end, any marching ensemble has one distinct advantage to the concert hall...... it requires more rehearsal time which keeps the horns on the kids faces. How good of a musician they become is up to the educator. Give them the right skills with a well rounded philosophy and take advantage of that time to mold them (and not just the 45 mins you have during class hours each day with 75 kids as opposed to 25 kids for 3 hours at a time).

I played in every ensemble I could get in to in school. I think marching drum corps gave me a greater passion for music and inspired me to play as often as possible in every style and setting possible. It also taught me to break pieces down, know how I fit in the ensemble and inspired me to get my hands on tons of music and analyze the heck out of it. I'm sorry, but that never would have happened based on the level of education I was getting from my band director alone.

All you're doing is offering another program to students that will instill and a greater love for music and a better understanding of how to be a good musician in any environment ..... and isn't that our job as educators?

Edited April 9, 2007 by supersop