irishbugle Posted May 16, 2011 Share Posted May 16, 2011 I have always told my drum majors to get their time from either the Center Snares feat, or the feat of a seasoned battery player positioned near the center of the field at the rear of the form. The hornline and pit listen back to the battery, the drum major is watching the feet of the battery and getting time from there. By doing this, everyone between the battery and the drum major is on the same tempo. Dr. Beats are great during a rehearsal to help push through a tough section of the show where you may have meter changes, complicated rythyms.. etc. They are also great to check the tempo of the corps performance during rehearsals against what the tempo actually should be. No corps will ever have a tear during a show because they haven't used the Dr. Beat in 12 hours. As long as the communication between the battery and the drum major is solid, and the hornline is achieving their listening responsabilities, whatever tempo comes out of the battery will keep everyone together. Just for the record.. I'm pro Dr. Beat all the time at rehearsals. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perc2100 Posted May 16, 2011 Share Posted May 16, 2011 I have watched many music ensemble rehearsals by several top competitors in recent years. I find the use of the Dr. Beat metronome to be annoying musically and I believe it is highly over-used. yadda, yadda, yadda... ** snip ** Here we go again. Dr. Beat is integral for teaching the concept of rhythmic and tempo accuracy to a large ensemble. When you get 150ish musicians coming from all over the world, with a plethora of experience and training which also brings a plethora of interpretations of tempo interpretations, you HAVE to use an amplified metronome to train the groups on playing in tempo together. When you also factor in that a) often throughout the performance the design dictates that members are often spread out over 25+ yards but still need to play/attack/release together and b) the musical and visual design of the show changes weekly (sometimes daily), thus having a need to for an audible met during rehearsals as performers are concentrating on learning/perfecting the changes. Staff members approach the audible metronomes differently: some use it only during spring training/early season, and then only as reference, and some use it all the time except during runs. But obviously it works, and has been a "way of life" for decades in drum corps. I'm sure you probably know (or maybe not) that it is also a way of life in music in general in the professional realm. Nearly every professionally produced album, regardless of genre, is recorded with a click track via headphones. Every movie soundtrack is recorded via headphones/click track. Producers and engineers in the music industry are VERY insistent that performers are perfect with the click track. What I mean to say is, that's how it's done "in the real world," as well as academia (and drum corps). Corps don't use it for performances, so why do you even care?! I am 100% with you that I hate hearing gock blocks or mets at a show from a group warming up, but using a Dr. Beat DURING A REHEARSAL is not only OK by mean, but an accepted part of the music profession 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perc2100 Posted May 16, 2011 Share Posted May 16, 2011 well, ensemble tears happen in shows can't be faulted on the beat. Too often, especially with younger corps, they get addicted to the beat and don't know how to do a run without it. More often than not, from my experience, ensemble tears that happen in shows happen because a staff has failed to define for the members where the listening point is (of if members should be watching DM instead of listening). Maybe the group isn't used to performing w/out the met and the staff failed to wean them off properly before the performance, but I think that's maybe more rare (especially in drum corps) than just staff not teaching kids where the center of pulse at any given moment is (since that can typically change from set to set). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perc2100 Posted May 16, 2011 Share Posted May 16, 2011 I for one am completely for getting rid of something that consistantly makes people better. Add to that: "I for one am completely for getting rid of something that consistantly makes people better that is ONLY used during rehearsals and NEVER used during a public performance." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruckner8 Posted May 16, 2011 Share Posted May 16, 2011 As a person with marching and tech experience, I've come to these conclusions about "the inner game of ensemble timing." 1) The sensation is unique to every individual (different brains, diff places on the field, diff instrument response, etc) 2) "Put the sound with the hands" is the best starting metaphor 3) "You're late" is the only instruction needed beyond 2) (it's rare that someone is early, lol) Putting it all together, a field tech has to be "in there," listening to every player, giving individual instruction "you're late" until the problem is solved. Each player is a different distance from the DM, and each player has an entirely different concept of time anyway. With experience, the player learns their own "internal timing formula" based on the inputs of distance, speed and air requirements. Veteran members are light years ahead of rookies during this painful process. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wadep66 Posted May 17, 2011 Share Posted May 17, 2011 I too hate hearing that crappy sharp click all over the campus of wherever there's a rehearsal or competition going on. We barely used one when I was in band, but that was mostly because: 1) I'm a dinosaur (44) and the amplification then sucked and wasn't really portable 2) We were small compared to DCI corps 3) We didn't march so fast our soles smoked after a run-through 4) Differences in scores of 0.05 didn't differentiate 1st and 2nd place I like the shows I'm seeing so I see it as a necessary evil made possible by our ever-increasing ADD. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DITD Posted May 17, 2011 Share Posted May 17, 2011 tempos win championships... Yes. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DITD Posted May 17, 2011 Share Posted May 17, 2011 IMO the met is MOST important when you are rehearsing a ballad. You have to remember that even if the hornline is just playing big open footballs, the pit is usually playing faster technical passages behind that. If the hornline pushes and pulls the tempo in an attempt to be musical, it becomes impossible for a section to remain in time while playing the underlying sixteenth notes or sextuplet passages. In an activity where over a hundred musicians are spread across a hundred yards, establishing a pulse center is crucial. The Dr. Beat assists in doing this, and is the main reason why modern groups have been able to reach a level of precision that has been unparalleled in this activity. The key is providing information that accompanies the metronome. When the met is on, focus on rhythmic accuracy, and memorizing how that feels and sounds. When the met is off, focus on recreating that sound. Check in with the met again, and then recreate. Lather, Rinse, Repeat. Agreed. A huge challenge with ballad/legato playing is changing notes together. At times, we tend to mix up emotional expression with not playing together. The technical aspect, because it is outdoors with visual responsibility, is even more important. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Ream Posted May 17, 2011 Share Posted May 17, 2011 More often than not, from my experience, ensemble tears that happen in shows happen because a staff has failed to define for the members where the listening point is (of if members should be watching DM instead of listening). Maybe the group isn't used to performing w/out the met and the staff failed to wean them off properly before the performance, but I think that's maybe more rare (especially in drum corps) than just staff not teaching kids where the center of pulse at any given moment is (since that can typically change from set to set). well yes...because they tell the kids to listen to the beat 24/7. trust me, i'm not anti-met. i'm anti addicted-to-the-met-so-bad-you-can-get-in-line-for-food-without-it. and there are those ensembles 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mello Dude Posted May 17, 2011 Share Posted May 17, 2011 well yes...because they tell the kids to listen to the beat 24/7. trust me, i'm not anti-met. i'm anti addicted-to-the-met-so-bad-you-can-get-in-line-for-food-without-it. and there are those ensembles Meh, it's a tool. I'll take Dr Beat on the practice field over the dutting on the show field ANY day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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