Do drum corps over practice?

[steeldrum]

I had an interesting conversation with someone, a current corps member, about the fact that corps seem to practice every available hour up until performance time, and does this much practice on show days help or hurt. So I thought I'd post the topic here.

On show days corps typically get up early morning, practice several hours, break for lunch, practice in the hot sun several more hours, load up, take a quick shower, eat a fast dinner and head to the show. When they get to the show they unload, do more practicing including block drills, horn/drumline warmups, and play through the show. All this after probably traveling on a bus all night with little sleep.

By the time they get to the field to perform they must be exhausted. I've seen many posts and reviews state that "corps A" had no energy, ran out of steam at the end or just looked tired.

So, do you think that a corps would perform better if given the day of a major show to just relax, maybe just show up at the show and run through their pre-show routines? Seems to me that they'd have so much more energy to put on their best performance.

Thoughts?

[GlassSoprano]

As a marching member of the past 2 years, we practiced exactly in this fashion. 100% all the time until we absolutely had to leave for the show. Personally I never felt to exhausted to perform. I know this sounds stupid but when I put on the "super suit" I was always motivated to give that extra to put on the best performance. I felt great physically, and mentally. My chops felt great nearly every performance. I can also understand that there are probably some members that do feel over practiced and not "fresh" for performance. For me though i never felt that way.

[PRAng]

Corps build stamina by having lots of days like the one you've described, not by resting.

Nevermind the fact that if they didn't have full rehearsals on show days, they wouldn't have anywhere near enough rehearsal time in the season. Major (regional/championship) show days generally have a more relaxed feel to them and staff makes sure they get plenty of sleep the night before, but they can't ease up on rehearsal time - that's what's building stamina and getting them to their mental & physical peak.

If a corps "had no energy, ran out of steam at the end or just looked tired" then either A) there were some extenuating circumstances (bus issues, etc) that affected them or B) (more likely) they haven't yet built up enough endurance to fully perform their show on a regular basis and they need MORE tough days, not less.

[seinphan]

I was in a top 12 corps and didn't have a schedule that grueling. We got to the housing site and had plenty of sleep time (usually 6-7 hours AFTER the 4-5 hour bus ride/sleep time). On tour, we rehearsed (generally) noon-4 on show days, then eat/shower/load/leave. Unloading and warming up at a show isn't so draining. Tour is a lot of hard work, but it wasn't exhausting.

Just my experience.....

[seinphan]

Although I will say that "all days" was by far the hardest thing I've ever done. THAT was an ### kicker from start to stop, non-stop, 9am-midnight 7 days a week......

[AlexL]

This situation probably happens even more the lower you go due to less available rehearsal time. Its even more rough when the corps youre competing against is going on an hour or two later than you in shows, giving them an advantage in rehearsal time.

[Joelle]

One corps I know of does push their members a little to far...upwards of 6 full runs a day with only gush-n-go for breaks. IMO when you do this many run throughs where's the time to clean segment by segment in their show...I assume if they push that much that the members will "just get it", in the end they won't especially if the member thinks they have it when they don't.

I had a yr where very little water or bathroom breaks were given, and yes we were a very tired corps BUT there is something that comes with putting on the uniform and the energy that comes from it, but that energy can only last so long...