Cavaliers Marching Technique

[wdlover]

Everyone can think what they want but chances are you just don't understand how the technique is done unless you've marched it. Everyone's gonna teach what they want and that's okay.

I happen to know a lot of successful high school programs that use the Cavaliers marching technique or at least some elements of it. When it comes down to it, you have to do what ever makes the most sense... That's an argument that could last forever. Not saying there's a correct or incorrect answer to that it just depends on what you know, how well you know it, and how good of a teacher you are.

I'm not campaigning for one technique over another, in fact, I'm pretty indifferent as I've seen groups have success (not just competitive but in consistency in establishing a technique) with both techniques. I really do get amused by the amount of ignorant accusations made by people with zero dependable experience and an opinion that is formed by uninformed observations.

Besides, wasn't the original point of this topic for someone who marches or marched in the Cavaliers could explain the mechanics of the technique?

[Darkosto]

Ok, first of all, for all you people responding to this thread who have absolutely no idea what the criteria for each caption here is a refresher.

A previous poster listed all of the Visual Performance scores over the years, Visual performance is judged solely on individual technique. There is absolutely nothing in that particular caption that judges anything more than that. The Visual Ensemble caption judges at the ensemble level, basically what you are doing and how well you are doing it. For those of you who think that there is more emphasis placed on how good you look from up top you are wrong. Both these captions have a total score of 20, are combined with the colorguard number and divided by 2 (if you have an 18 in performance, 17 in ensemble, and a 19 in colorguard you will have a visual score of 27). The judges are required to stay in their caption and the tapes they make each night is indicative of that.

Obviously their marching technique is not awful if they are coming in the top 3, on an individual level, every year.

[whitedawn]

i don't especially care for the cavaliers' technique -- i think it looks strange -- but #### if they don't all do it exactly the same!

and that's all that really matters.

[drumelloboe]

No offense but that's stupid because it goes against the fundamental reason The Cavaliers march the way they do (where a midpoint snapshot of frontwards and backwards look the same).

The high school I tech for does the same thing- I've noticed it's become a common thing in Texas to do "Cavaliers-style" forward and straight-leg back. I've never asked the specific reason, but I have some guesses.

I've marched both techniques- Cavaliers-style at my University and straight-leg with my corps. I had to fight every single day of corps to not bend my knees. For *me*, bending my knees helped my upper body stay still, allowed more fluid movement, and the ability to stay steady and slow and fast tempos, forwards or backwards. I'm a very awkward person and have a horrible sense of balance, so this was a big deal for me.

That being said, the backwards Cavaliers-style technique was VERY hard for me to get the hang of for a while. Going backwards is unnatural no matter what, and having marched straight-leg first, it was an automatic reaction. However, once I got used to it, I found that it was SO much easier to move around the field at faster speeds with my feet completely touching the ground each step.

Reasons for the "hybrid" in high schools? My guess would be that bending your knee as you move forward is natural- and I do not believe that the very slight bend in a straight-leg technique is anywhere comparable to the natural bend when you walk, making it easier to transition to a Cavaliers-style forward march. However, the backwards marching feels rather unnatural and would be very hard to teach and very hard to clean with a large group of high school students. But... that's just a guess.

[Lance]

The high school I tech for does the same thing- I've noticed it's become a common thing in Texas to do "Cavaliers-style" forward and straight-leg back. I've never asked the specific reason, but I have some guesses.

That's what we did when I was in high school. It was pretty normal for a lot of northern California bands.

I don't personally care which technique a group uses as long as it's uniform.

[FTNK]

Let's face it, every marching technique has its pros and cons, and elements that are part of the technique manly because it looks cool, is stylized and distinctive.

[It's Godzilla!]

First of all don't talk bad about a performing group before you see or hear them. These kids perform their hearts out and learn the technique as best as possible. But hey, I bet you feel awesome about making fun of 14 to 18 year old kids who perform with all they have.

Lol. You sure are defensive about some things I didn't say. The only part I feel awesome about is riling you up, because the 14-year-olds don't read these boards. (I teach autistic kids for a living, if you want to pull the ######## kid card next.)

I've taught, I've marched--Groups that won, groups that failed horribly, and groups that went undefeated for years. Bad straight leg back up looks like they're bicycling. Even large step good straight leg backup looks like bicycling. As long as they look like the kid next to them, it's all the same.

Next time someone agrees with you, you might not want to crucify them.

[newterak]

Ok, first of all, for all you people responding to this thread who have absolutely no idea what the criteria for each caption here is a refresher.

A previous poster listed all of the Visual Performance scores over the years, Visual performance is judged solely on individual technique. There is absolutely nothing in that particular caption that judges anything more than that. The Visual Ensemble caption judges at the ensemble level, basically what you are doing and how well you are doing it. For those of you who think that there is more emphasis placed on how good you look from up top you are wrong. Both these captions have a total score of 20, are combined with the colorguard number and divided by 2 (if you have an 18 in performance, 17 in ensemble, and a 19 in colorguard you will have a visual score of 27). The judges are required to stay in their caption and the tapes they make each night is indicative of that.

Obviously their marching technique is not awful if they are coming in the top 3, on an individual level, every year.

Does individual technique not go beyond hornline or drumline? (i.e. color guard?) and if so doesnt that include a little more than just marching technique? I'm not claiming to know the specific caption but from my little bit of experience, I do believe its a little more than individual marching technique.

[shaners]

This thread has gone the road of too many immature posters, people getting super angry and defensive for those posters, and then people getting all angry and defensive before they actually read the quality posts and perspectives written in this thread. If someone wants to continue a conversation about this with me, shoot me a PM.

Otherwise, i have no interest arguing with dozens of people who want to dispute apples and oranges.

[tizzizzailslf04]

Hello DCP.

long time lurker...but i have to speak up on two points. First off I can't believe nobody has mentioned the drumline's (tenors specifically) duck-walk. Is it really worth it marching like that? I dont know any FMM-drummers to ask.

Michael

This was, in fact, a Carrier (more specifically, the j-bars) issue. In 08, we spent a few winter/spring camps going back and forth with XL testing out different types of carries to fix that problem. This year they switched companies all together. I haven't paid much attention but I think that problem is fixed now, or atleast significantly less of a problem. The only good think about those XL carriers (in my opinion) was that they didn't stick out under the uniform like every other carrier.

To get back on topic though...I definitely think the Cavalier technique is much more natural and feels much better than straight leg, and does much less wear on your legs. In my opinion, though, it's harder than straight for the simple fact that you have to exaggerate the movements so much more (especially the backwards march).

The whole "look the same going forwards and backwards" is something the staff mentioned, but more specifically, it prevents that ridiculous looking level change going forwards to backwards and vice versa.

Also, going backwards....you have less balance and control of your body weight when you are up on the platforms of your feet, not to mention the inevitable bouncing that is bound to occur.

I could go on and on. The technique was design to fit the rigors of marching a Cavalier show, and it works. One of the great things about the staff is that they will only do it if it makes sense. And if they find that something isn't working out, or can be done better in a different way, they're not just going to keep doing it the old way because it's tradition.