Ohio State University

[HornTeacher]

While, at the same time, the director of The _kid's symphonic winds at Capital Univ calls his music staff "coaches".

I don't know whether to cry or laugh.

D### it, Gar...you never fail to make me throw my hands up in happiness and exclaim to the Gods "SOMEBODY gets it!!!!". You're not the only one...but it seems that you always come up with these when I need them most. Thank you, Sir.

Edited September 22, 2014 by HornTeacher

[N.E. Brigand]

While, at the same time, the director of The _kid's symphonic winds at Capital Univ calls his music staff "coaches".

On a similar note, sometimes members of these forums refer to corps as "teams".

But the word coach seems to have been applied to academics before it was applied to sports.

Edited September 22, 2014 by N.E. Brigand

[HornTeacher]

On a similar note, sometimes members of these forums refer to corps as "teams".

But the word coach seems to have been applied to academics before it was applied to sports.

That is true N.E. However, I attribute that to what has become a sports-mad society.

[N.E. Brigand]

The _kid is now a HS freshman in marching band, but he's been to 13 DCI finals in his 15 years. Their band camp started the week of DCI finals (The _kid was excused from band); they've been practicing 3 or 3 1/2 hours a day, 4 days a week on their show. This past Friday was their fourth (of ten) football games, last Saturday was their first OMEA "adjudicated event" and, as of last Saturday, they had yet to complete their show. Out of four movements the directors had hoped to have the fourth movement learned in the week before their "contest" but, alas, they did not. They played 3 1/2 movements with drill and parked for the closer. I place the blame squarely on the directors, not the kids or the caption heads, and as much on OMEA themselves.

Huh, a missed opportunity. I gave serious consideration to attending the Hilliard show Saturday, but opted for something closer to home, as I did also the previous week.

This will do as an excuse to bring up something I meant to mention following especially the earlier contest. I had never attended a marching band show so early in the season (nor competed in any so early back when I was a student, so maybe it was ever thus--but see more below* on that subject), and I was stunned to discover that several marching bands, like some corps nowadays, were performing shows that were far from complete. About half the groups I saw the first week and a quarter of those I saw the next week either played obviously short shows or, like your son's, in standstill. And one group played and marched a full show but without having memorized their music. In the first week, the band that was by far the best, and the only one to earn a "superior" rating (which qualifies a band to compete at state "finals"), Brunswick, was also the one whose show was complete and even somewhat polished. I got the sense that some parents in the audience attributed Brunswick's success to their large size (192 members, nearly twice as large as the next-largest group--although in size terms, that's probably not even in the top ten among competing Ohio bands), and while that surely helped with volume, it was by no means the deciding factor. They won because they had a complete, well-designed, well-performed show. A point made repeatedly on these forums about early-season drum corps.

*(I should note that twenty odd years ago, Ohio bands even in competition often included a standstill number, so shows in that respect were easier in the 1980s than they are today. On the other hand, Ohio band shows used to be longer on average than they are now.)

[Rifuarian]

In part to justify themselves to potential funders. I work for a non-profit arts organization. The more we can show that our work connects to education, the more donations we get.

That makes sense. Can anyone confirm that this is also true for drum corps? I still can't help but cringe at the pretense though.

That is likely true, but we should remember that the majority is often, perhaps even usually, wrong.

I mean, how many songs in the current Top 40, which by definition are popular with the majority, are actually any good? Should drum corps really be playing Nicki Minaj's "Anaconda"?

These are hardly matters of life and death. Where does right and wrong, good and bad fit into popular entertainment (so long as no one is being harmed and no one's rights are being infringed)? I'm always amused when people in our activity, which is so often dismissed as crass and simplistic, take some Adorno-like stance towards marching band, pop music, etc.

And while I'm no fan of Nicki Minaj if corps can make good use of Anaconda in their show then I say bully for them.

[jjeffeory]

I wasn't referring to the quality of the players. Just the schedule of practice.

Oh, well that should be similar around the country I would guess.

I think in the end, it's the design that's different. I'll agree that the talent is similiar overall.

[N.E. Brigand]

These are hardly matters of life and death. Where does right and wrong, good and bad fit into popular entertainment (so long as no one is being harmed and no one's rights are being infringed)? I'm always amused when people in our activity, which is so often dismissed as crass and simplistic, take some Adorno-like stance towards marching band, pop music, etc.

OK, kudos for the Adorno reference. But I wasn't trying to make a point about the Kulturindustrie, just about some bad examples of pop culture. If you don't believe that some music is good and some is bad, well, we'll just have to disagree.

[Brad T.]

Great post with lots of fascinating insight. I'd be curious to hear more people's thoughts on the three sections (the numbers are my addition) that I've excerpted above.

[1] Does it happen the other way around? Are there OSU marching band members who try out for corps and can't make the cut?

[2] Would the Ohio State audience not be entertained by Bluecoats "Tilt"? If so, does that indicate a flaw with Bloo's show or with OSU's crowd?

[3] What drum corps do in this respect is indeed very different than what most other musicians ever have to do. Orchestras, for instance, play a different 90-minute repertoire every week or so for six months or more on end. (But then again, orchestras unlike OSU frequently "require audience thought or seek to evoke some hidden emotion".) But because drum corps travel, for most of the audience, who see the show just once, the repetition isn't apparent. (Maybe the closest analogue is a theatre company on a long engagement, who attempts to put out the exact same show night after night.) But wasn't perfecting one show even the purpose of corps in the 1970s, when they were much more like OSU than they are now? And doesn't perfecting one show enable them to generate the sound that, as you note, OSU cannot?

Excellent follow ups! The question about kids in the OSUMB doing auditioning for DCI and not making the cut is something I cannot answer because I just do not know. I am actually curious about that myself now and may try to get an answer. I would have to say it is a rare situation that someone from the OSUMB would not make a DCI corps simply due to the training that OSU gives in time management, flexibility, and quick memorization of music. I don't have any DCI experience myself, so I cannot personally compare a DCI tour to OSUMB rehearsal. The majority of my comparisons come from other peoples' stories and social media posts showing tour daily schedules.

Bloo's Tilt show was interesting to me. I'm not really a fan of most recent DCI shows but the music, drill, and impact was all very fascinating and entertaining to me. I however don't think it would be received very well by OSU fans. OSUMB fans would love the musicality and expression, the drill would be received marginally well by band fans, but to the average rear end in the seat, it would miss that huge impact that has been in shows recently. I was also in the band prior to the recent popularity, and there were times that the stands would be half full to watch us. We did some "cutting edge" style shows those years too. We put an entire rock band on a stage in the center of the field that rocked out to Rolling Stones music, we featured a Jazz singer on a Ray Charles themed show, and so forth. Much of the drill was composed of "diamond cutter" drills, step twos, "flower petal" drills... Lots of symmetrical sets and designs that are still seen performed by the Aggie Band. These charts were boring to the fans. We would do an occasional picture, as the band had done for decades before. It really wasn't until the movie themed show we did in 2006 that we experimented with animated pictures. The crowd went wild when the band formed the Titanic and sank it into a blue tarp ocean, from which the Black Pearl from Pirates of the Caribbean rose up. The crowd went wild for those formations, and a new tradition was born. I think animated picture drill is so successful for the band because unlike corps who have really shed their militaristic roots, the band is very much rooted in military bearing, so flat emotions, 1000 yard stare, and no emotion after a successful solo or feature are the standard fare. The only way the OSU band tells its story is through music and drill. Corps have the luxury of narration, guard, dancing, props, and so forth. The only props that are used in an OSUMB halftime typically consist of fire extinguishers and painted banners. The story isn't told on the expression of the musicians, but rather the forms on the field.

Lastly, drum corps have been doing the one show thing for decades. I appreciate your comparison of a corps to a traveling troupe. That is something I hadn't considered before. You also make a point about volume and tone quality in regards to perfecting a single show. But I feel that if you can do those things for one show, those attributes of musicianship should transfer over to multiple shows of varying style.

And lastly, one person correctly stated that I was describing the OSU band schedule to demonstrate that OSU doesn't rehearse much more than other bands during the school year. The difference is that students are expected to put in about 25-30 hours of additional practice time in per week. The big difference between most colleges and OSU is that students don't try out for the OSUMB for fun and games or to "let their hair down," if you will. I am in the band, and also working a 40 hour a week job. I don't have much time for anything else because band takes up so much free time. I wouldn't have it any other way, because it has. retained been a bucket list thing that I wanted to do (not planning on dying anytime soon by the way).

[MikeD]

That is likely true, but we should remember that the majority is often, perhaps even usually, wrong.

I mean, how many songs in the current Top 40, which by definition are popular with the majority, are actually any good? Should drum corps really be playing Nicki Minaj's "Anaconda"?

Only if the vidoe is being projected on a large screen at the same time.

[MikeinCMH]

I live in Columbus and find it difficult to believe that this story continues to be part of our local media. OSU is always big news here however. Just wanted to add that in the early 80s at BGSU in northwest Ohio DCI was very well represented. We had kids from Glassmen, General Putnams Men, Bluecoats, Marion Cadets, Scouts, 2-7, Phantom, Garfield, Troopers, Guardsmen, Royal Crusaders and probably others.

All of this in a high stepping band wearing fuzzy white busby hats. 2 hours of practice each day, extra sectionals as warranted and a 1 week band camp prior to the beginning of the term. And even though just weeks before many of us were IN DCI finals, we were college kids having fun in band. It was more fun to yell "beat mi-am-ee" togther with a cadence than it was to debate the recent scores in Montreal.

And although there were many traditions attached to this group, we did not get hazed. I was in a social fraternity as well ... we got hazed. My hope is that the kids in the OSU band get to finally be taken out of the media spotlight and have a safe, fun time being members of a college band.