Ohio State University

[perc2100]

I checked out the OS drumline page http://www.jirow.org/candidates.php just for fun, the following is quoted:

"Every year DCI drum corps seem to take it to the next level in modern percussion excitement. Thousands of people travel far and wide to see their favorite corps. I was in awe when I had a clinic with the Blue Devils drumline. Amazing chops. Amazing visuals.

The DCI marching style is easier to master than the 8to5 chair step. Every year, there are usually one or two DCI members who try out and don't make the band. You have to be able to march our style, which takes at least a summer to master. If your chops are amazing, but you can't pick up the step, then you will not make the OSUMB.

Moreoever, it's important to understand that the band is based on military-like operating procedures. Your say is determined by your rank. This falls in with attitude... clear your mind of your rank in high school. Everyone has an equal chance of making the band."

This is very true, and in the early/mid-90's at least, the visual was significantly more important than the playing: i.e. a great marcher who is a mediocre player would've ALWAYS made the band before a great player who's a mediocre marcher.

As for DCI stuff, I've known people who won DCI in August, came in to audition for tOSU Marching Band, and didn't make it because of the visual thing.

Those statements quoted from the website are very apt in regards to how difficult the chair-step style of marching is compared to the standard marching technique of drum corps. My freshmen year at tOSU, I went to some summer band sessions to check it out, and I wasn't anywhere close to being able to do that marching style! My playing chops were strong, but my HS was a corps-style band and I struggled adapting to the chair step thing. It's easy from a drum corps execution standpoint to sling insults and talk about how dirty college band execution is compared to DCI Finals. But I guarantee a lot of those folks would struggle to master tOSU Marching Band's marching technique

[RContra]

Saying that DCI marching style is easier to master is the sign of someone who has never marched in the modern top 12. This is absolutely wrong.

I marched with tOSU and I marched in the top 6. This is just straight-up false. Anyone who isn't a massive tick in a top corps can go into chair-stepping, and sore quads aside, master it in a couple days. It's not difficult, just a pain in the ###. The skill level needed isn't high.

This thread reeks of people who've only done one version or the other trying to comment on the other side of the fence. Anyone else done both styles within the last 15 years?

[perc2100]

Saying that DCI marching style is easier to master is the sign of someone who has never marched in the modern top 12. This is absolutely wrong.

I marched with tOSU and I marched in the top 6. This is just straight-up false. Anyone who isn't a massive tick in a top corps can go into chair-stepping, and sore quads aside, master it in a couple days. It's not difficult, just a pain in the ###. The skill level needed isn't high.

This thread reeks of people who've only done one version or the other trying to comment on the other side of the fence. Anyone else done both styles within the last 15 years?

I marched DCI in the late 90's (went to tOSU summer sessions in the early/mid-90's before I marched drum corps).

Perhaps your description of it being "a pain in the ###" is more apt than my description. Perhaps I should've clarified that 8-5 roll-stepping corps style is an easier concept (and more natural for the average bando) than tOSU chair-stepping style: especially when it comes to playing percussion. As a snare drummer used to wearing a vest carrier the added difficultly of adapting to the different marching style + wearing a snare from a sling under my armpit was evident.

Perhaps the adaptation is 'only' a "pain in the ###," but it was enough of one for me to decide it wasn't worth it for me to pursue being in the band (and instead marched drum corps where I had no problems adapting to drum corps style marching). At the time I was 18, a Music Ed. major with a pretty full academic schedule on my plate, and chose instead of investing the time needed to adapt do the different skill sets to focus on academics and other experiences.

Or maybe experiences vary, and neither yours nor mine are the definitive, but yet two different experiences had

[jonnyboy]

I only posted the quote because the marching step does seem like a constant workout, and the quote verifies it to some extent. Usually people don't go as far as saying DCI is easier when it comes to marching, but as far as energy expelled for the average 8 to 5, DCI may just be easier in this case.

Also, I didn't post the video to slam the the technique, but it was the only close up I could find of the drums. Another video has the line on stands, and the drums look much lower than where they are wearing them. The OSU style is unique and works for them. I just wish they would clean up the arm swing.

In the past I wasn't, but in my older age I'm really enjoying the OSU style of show. I would actually prefer to go to a game and watch the whole days activities than to go to a G7 show, but one day at OSU would be enough. And I do have to say, given the choice between watching the most recent OSU video and watching BD 2013 I would choose the former.

[perc2100]

I only posted the quote because the marching step does seem like a constant workout, and the quote verifies it to some extent. Usually people don't go as far as saying DCI is easier when it comes to marching, but as far as energy expelled for the average 8 to 5, DCI may just be easier in this case.

Also, I didn't post the video to slam the the technique, but it was the only close up I could find of the drums. Another video has the line on stands, and the drums look much lower than where they are wearing them. The OSU style is unique and works for them. I just wish they would clean up the arm swing.

In the past I wasn't, but in my older age I'm really enjoying the OSU style of show. I would actually prefer to go to a game and watch the whole days activities than to go to a G7 show, but one day at OSU would be enough. And I do have to say, given the choice between watching the most recent OSU video and watching BD 2013 I would choose the former.

1) I did not mean to say "DCI is easier than tOSU Marching Band from a marching standpoint." I meant to say "roll-step technique is more natural and a lot easier to grasp in a fundamental/basic way than chair-step marching technique." As I said, I've known DCI World Champions who have felt the same (some who made TBDBITL, and some who were cut).

2) I am the same as you: when I was younger, I couldn't stand TBDBITL: I was a drum corps person, and the old-school style wasn't my cup-of-tea. When I went to summer sessions, I appreciated the difficultly & hard work involved, but I liked the style even less (especially since many of the drum line members were not music majors, did not have "drum corps chops," etc). As I've gotten older (wiser), I've come to really appreciate the band. I went to college with the current tOSU Marching Band Director (though he as a tuba player and me as a percussionist we had different sets of friends and only really interacted in various performance groups, not as friends per say), and respect the heck out of what he has done for the program, how he's brought a ton of positive attention, etc.

Not to mention when people find out I'm a music teacher & went to Ohio State, without fail the next question is ALWAYS "were you in the marching band?!" I wish I would've stuck it out, went for it, and spent at least a season in the marching band.

Either way, everyone is correct: college marching band & DCI = apples & oranges, waffles & pancakes. Both are great in their own ways, and this tOSU alum is proud as hell to see tOSU Marching Band in national news stories praising their entertaining shows & high tech teaching philosophy (seriously makes me smirk to see TBDBITL on a practice field with iPads)

[garfield]

1) I did not mean to say "DCI is easier than tOSU Marching Band from a marching standpoint." I meant to say "roll-step technique is more natural and a lot easier to grasp in a fundamental/basic way than chair-step marching technique." As I said, I've known DCI World Champions who have felt the same (some who made TBDBITL, and some who were cut).

2) I am the same as you: when I was younger, I couldn't stand TBDBITL: I was a drum corps person, and the old-school style wasn't my cup-of-tea. When I went to summer sessions, I appreciated the difficultly & hard work involved, but I liked the style even less (especially since many of the drum line members were not music majors, did not have "drum corps chops," etc). As I've gotten older (wiser), I've come to really appreciate the band. I went to college with the current tOSU Marching Band Director (though he as a tuba player and me as a percussionist we had different sets of friends and only really interacted in various performance groups, not as friends per say), and respect the heck out of what he has done for the program, how he's brought a ton of positive attention, etc.

Not to mention when people find out I'm a music teacher & went to Ohio State, without fail the next question is ALWAYS "were you in the marching band?!" I wish I would've stuck it out, went for it, and spent at least a season in the marching band.

Either way, everyone is correct: college marching band & DCI = apples & oranges, waffles & pancakes. Both are great in their own ways, and this tOSU alum is proud as hell to see tOSU Marching Band in national news stories praising their entertaining shows & high tech teaching philosophy (seriously makes me smirk to see TBDBITL on a practice field with iPads)

I also marched in Gyro (the "J" and "I" rows are the drum line rows in the band), and I went to an OSU-style competitive HS marching band AND I marched corps. For me, marching corps was more difficult because I was trained in tOSU style. Drum corps had more movement out of the elevator block and was more cerebral for me to grasp.

That said, chair-step is undoubtedly more difficult and, if you look close, you can see that few, if any, in the band actually march chair-step style. Sure, it's knees up, but rarely an actual chair except at the slowest of tempos. Watch the ramp entrance videos; I would challenge any marcher, in any line, to march 80 yards downfield doing a chair-step and actually keep the tempo that the drum line actually sets up in the "ramp" entrance. Drives me crazy that the tempo lags slower and slower the farther downfield they go, but I just remember how exhausting it was, especially (as a snare player) after playing the entrance cadence about a bazillion times while the band came out the ramp and lined up.

All that said, I enjoyed my time in corps much more than being in TBDBITL even as I often tear up these days watching the ramp entrance. The two styles have their own place and the two really aren't compatible. Especially for snare drummers swapping between a chest-carried snare and a vest-carried snare.

Apples and oranges doesn't really do justice to the differences between the two.

And I, like you, love seeing TBDBITL in the news. The new direction is more showy than military while still preserving the look, feel, and style of the band. It's quite refreshing to my eyes as well as the Buckeye football freak's eyes, too.

Edited November 19, 2013 by garfield

[jjeffeory]

This is very true, and in the early/mid-90's at least, the visual was significantly more important than the playing: i.e. a great marcher who is a mediocre player would've ALWAYS made the band before a great player who's a mediocre marcher.

As for DCI stuff, I've known people who won DCI in August, came in to audition for tOSU Marching Band, and didn't make it because of the visual thing.

Those statements quoted from the website are very apt in regards to how difficult the chair-step style of marching is compared to the standard marching technique of drum corps. My freshmen year at tOSU, I went to some summer band sessions to check it out, and I wasn't anywhere close to being able to do that marching style! My playing chops were strong, but my HS was a corps-style band and I struggled adapting to the chair step thing. It's easy from a drum corps execution standpoint to sling insults and talk about how dirty college band execution is compared to DCI Finals. But I guarantee a lot of those folks would struggle to master tOSU Marching Band's marching technique

I completely agree. That style is very difficult to master. I've also known DCI vets who have auditioned at tOSU and not made it. I also know a couple who have marched DCI corps, made tOSU, and said that tOSU was more difficult because of the "chair" style marching. These were Sousaphone players and baritone players who marched in two different top 12 corps...

So they're different and BOTH are difficult.

[jjeffeory]

1) I did not mean to say "DCI is easier than tOSU Marching Band from a marching standpoint." I meant to say "roll-step technique is more natural and a lot easier to grasp in a fundamental/basic way than chair-step marching technique." As I said, I've known DCI World Champions who have felt the same (some who made TBDBITL, and some who were cut).

2) I am the same as you: when I was younger, I couldn't stand TBDBITL: I was a drum corps person, and the old-school style wasn't my cup-of-tea. When I went to summer sessions, I appreciated the difficultly & hard work involved, but I liked the style even less (especially since many of the drum line members were not music majors, did not have "drum corps chops," etc). As I've gotten older (wiser), I've come to really appreciate the band. I went to college with the current tOSU Marching Band Director (though he as a tuba player and me as a percussionist we had different sets of friends and only really interacted in various performance groups, not as friends per say), and respect the heck out of what he has done for the program, how he's brought a ton of positive attention, etc.

Not to mention when people find out I'm a music teacher & went to Ohio State, without fail the next question is ALWAYS "were you in the marching band?!" I wish I would've stuck it out, went for it, and spent at least a season in the marching band.

Either way, everyone is correct: college marching band & DCI = apples & oranges, waffles & pancakes. Both are great in their own ways, and this tOSU alum is proud as hell to see tOSU Marching Band in national news stories praising their entertaining shows & high tech teaching philosophy (seriously makes me smirk to see TBDBITL on a practice field with iPads)

I did Spring band ( and basketball band), but not the fall marching band so I got exposure to the marching style, but I also dealt with woodwinds....

I preferred my drum corps experience, but had a LOT of fun at OSU too.

Edited November 19, 2013 by jjeffeory

[N.E. Brigand]

Michigan's show this week involved giant laser displays, so they clearly upped the ante on that rivalry:

[clip of UM's Beyoncé tribute show]

Finally got around to watching that clip. It's often hard to clearly see what's going on, unfortunately--shades of BD's "lights out" show. But what most struck me is that Michigan's performance opened with a video introduction from Beyoncé, while as we all know, Madison and DCI were never able to secure video rights for another song by Beyoncé's husband.

(Heh. DCI's spell-checker knows to put an acute accent in "Beyoncé".)

[N.E. Brigand]

Stanford did a tribute to the Irish potato famine at Notre Dame and a tribute to OJ at USC. There is no question about which college band is VK's legacy.

Given that Stanford's band has a history of getting banned for their antics, the best drum corps comparison might be to the Renegades.