koburd Posted December 22, 2011 Share Posted December 22, 2011 I'm a sophomore in high school, and I am highly interested in drum corps. I play trumpet and consider myself a fairly good player, (All-District level not All-State). I'm not in that great of physical shape either. (A little on the chunky side). But I would like to hear any suggestions for ways to prepare for auditions. I plan on attending the Crossmen audition camp next year for the experience if nothing else, but I would love to be really prepared for it anyway. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GUARDLING Posted December 22, 2011 Share Posted December 22, 2011 I'm a sophomore in high school, and I am highly interested in drum corps. I play trumpet and consider myself a fairly good player, (All-District level not All-State). I'm not in that great of physical shape either. (A little on the chunky side). But I would like to hear any suggestions for ways to prepare for auditions. I plan on attending the Crossmen audition camp next year for the experience if nothing else, but I would love to be really prepared for it anyway. Any help would be greatly appreciated. #1 great attitude and desire start running for endurance know ahead of time how you are going to finance this..2 many kids feel entitled and no clue how financially they are going to handle this..You go in with a plan and I bet you dont have a thing to worry about. good luck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
koburd Posted December 22, 2011 Author Share Posted December 22, 2011 I have my plans in place for paying the fees. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GUARDLING Posted December 22, 2011 Share Posted December 22, 2011 I have my plans in place for paying the fees. thats great...you will be way ahead of most and believe me it will be noticed. good luck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soccerguy315 Posted December 22, 2011 Share Posted December 22, 2011 start with the pushups and running... endurance is probably the biggest issue. Even if you start running just doing something like 1 minute running, 1 minute walking, etc for 20 minutes, that will help. Then you can do 1.5 minutes running, 1 minute walking. Then 2 minutes running, 1 minute walking. etc Or you can try to bite off more, and run for 10 minutes and don't worry about how fast you are going. Then slowly increase to 11 minutes, 12 minutes, etc. I've seen people who are out of shape get injured, and people who are out of shape just give up. Spring training is rough on the body, going for 12 hours each day. Pushups are mostly useful because it seems like the staff likes to give out pushups. My first year, I dropped 20 pounds getting ready for tour, and then another 20 on tour. Now I am aged out and fat, attempting to get back in shape Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Boo Posted December 22, 2011 Share Posted December 22, 2011 I'm a sophomore in high school, and I am highly interested in drum corps. I play trumpet and consider myself a fairly good player, (All-District level not All-State). I'm not in that great of physical shape either. (A little on the chunky side). But I would like to hear any suggestions for ways to prepare for auditions. I plan on attending the Crossmen audition camp next year for the experience if nothing else, but I would love to be really prepared for it anyway. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I can't stress this enough, (being of kindred body mass and more than just "chunky"). Please see a doctor and make sure your heart is strong enough to undertake a strenuous physical fitness campaign. And if you get the okay, imaging yourself in another year or two for inspiration. Drum corps is the greatest experience I could recommend to a young person, but it's not worth risking your health over...just in case you have a condition that has been undetected. Good luck! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
koburd Posted December 22, 2011 Author Share Posted December 22, 2011 Thanks for all this help guys. Are there any tips on specific things to work on playing wise i.e.-triple tounging.... and things like that? Plus, are there any Crossmen alumni that could give me a good idea of what that corps is all about? Their staff and such. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shamu89 Posted December 22, 2011 Share Posted December 22, 2011 Agree with Boo. Get a checkup with a doctor. Also, agree with getting in shape to prevent injury. Doesn't have to be anything extreme, but you should be able to comfortably jog a mile or two without feeling like you're going to die. And I'll let you in on a little secret. While you may look at DC kids and see people that do things that normal humans shouldn't be able to do, they didn't start out that way. Most of the kids I've encountered with my daughter's corps the past two years are pretty average when they start out. Where they are way above average is drive, determination, and toughness. Regardless of what level they began the season, they all come out the other end as BAMFs. So don't stress too much about being a top notch player or a triathalon level athlete. Just having your chops and body in reasonable shape is good enough. But be mentally ready to work harder than you ever have in your life, be humble and do what the vets do, keep your head down and mouth shut and absorb all of the teaching the instructors, and most of all, be ready to "figure it out", whatever that may be, and you'll be fine. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JGuy1288 Posted December 22, 2011 Share Posted December 22, 2011 Thanks for all this help guys. Are there any tips on specific things to work on playing wise i.e.-triple tounging.... and things like that? Plus, are there any Crossmen alumni that could give me a good idea of what that corps is all about? Their staff and such. I'd say you should work on a few things especially, and they are very basic: 1) Basic tone production - Some people can play fast, loud, and high, but they don't sound good doing it. So sit down (or stand up!) with a tuner and make sure you're centering your tone. Make sure that people will enjoy hearing you play. If you have a private teacher, talk to him/her. If not, talk to your band director, because your bell is pointing at him/her all day! They'll have some good advice for you. 2) Initial articulations - Also known as initial attacks, attacks, the first note, etc. What's the most important note you will ever play? The first note! What's the most important part of the first note? The articulation! Every day, practice in a room where you can hear yourself clearly (this may actually be harder to find than you think), and just play some short attacks. The progress from short attacks to longer, and longer, and longer, and finally just air attacks with a long note. Don't use a metronome for these, and exhale fully after each one so that you can start the next one with a clean breath. If the articulations sound "split" or "uneven", then there's some work to do there. Concentrate on always having your air either moving in or out. Never hold your air in, or "lock" your throat up in between inhaling and exhaling. If done right, this will help your response immensely. But it could take a while to get the hang of it, so stick with it! 3) All other articulations - Practice them all! Tenuto, attacks, marcato, staccato. You'll have to use them all in drum corps, so get a head start. You can only become a better player by starting early. 4) Flexibility - Also known as lip slurs. So many hornline exercises are built on these, so it will be good to walk into an audition already having some experience with them. Do these with a tuner in order to make sure you stay relaxed through the whole exercise. If you tense up, the pitch will go out of tune. You'll find exercises like these just about everywhere! If you don't have any, I have a packet of trumpet lip slurs that I use on euphonium and give to students of every brass instrument. PM me and I'll send it to you. So get these 4 things reasonably down, and they'll LOVE you at your audition because you'll be able to do everything you're asked for. Happy auditioning! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerriTroop Posted December 22, 2011 Share Posted December 22, 2011 Current brass caption head is Jason Buckingham - has done a lot of good work in the drum corps world including brass caption head at Troopers for a bit. (I marched with him at Troopers in the 80's). I would email him now and see if they'll let you in on this year's audition process so you can get ready for your own down the road. I suspect you can get a hold of him through the corps' website. As far training goes, it's not just endurance. Core strength is essential for good body movement and control. If you're working your legs and your upper body but your back and abs aren't conditioned, you're missing a big part of the movement package. Core strength will also help your endurance conditioning. If your family has a netflix account (streaming or DVD or both) you can get core fitness workouts that way for really cheap. There are likely things online for free as well if you look around a bit. And as someone else said: do consult your doctor before doing any endurance training. Walking and biking and elliptical training are a good start and are low impact. The last thing you need is to blow a knee or ankle by trying to get fast results. Healing from soft tissue injuries takes valuable time out of training! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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