Kamarag Posted March 18, 2016 Share Posted March 18, 2016 So much great info in this post, especially: (If people laugh at you for doing yoga/dance/pilates, they're dumb. Also: chicks dig guys who do this stuff.) - If you don't make the cut, go to another corps (DCI/DCA/Soundsport) and get experience. A bunch of World Class corps will have openings well into the spring, even the summer. You'll be a better performer and will know exactly what to expect if you choose to re-audition again, or you'll return to your first corps as a vet with a large circle of friends you can count on. TL;DR - Play the instrument you want to play. Start getting fit if you're not already. Yoga is *incredibly* important, both visually and musically. it's swiftly becoming the basis for not only breathing, but how corps move. Yoga and dance is replacing hours and hours of marching basics (and it should). Getting experience is going to be critically important if you want to make the tuba line at Bluecoats. Same with Crown. If you don't make the line on your first try, you absolutely should march somewhere else. A year in any DCI or DCA corps will help you get where you want to be, especially if it's another DCI World Class or top 5 DCA corps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRacer Posted March 18, 2016 Share Posted March 18, 2016 (edited) +1 on being in shape. In the off season BITD I would work my upper body by doing multiple sets of inverted butterflies while hanging from a chin-up bar using anti-grav boots (the type that clamp over your ankles) and free weights, working up from 15 to 45 lbs on each weight. Another exercise was a variation on Myron Rosander's (may he RIP ) "101 Count" exercise in which I would hold a free weight in front of my face lengthwise in "playing" position, check my posture against a wall, step forward a few steps, MT high for 101 counts, "snap" the weight to a vertical position by rotating my wrists, then hold still for 30 seconds and control my breathing. I'd rest 2-3 minutes, then move up 5 pounds on weight. I'd start at 5 lbs. and work up to 40, which in retrospect was probably pretty extreme. And, keep in mind this was "old school/real" high mark time, not present day instep-to-calf HMT. I know my son attaches weights to his practice trumpet when he marches or he will use an old 3-valve silver DieNasty G-horn (from Pacific Crest) I gave him. I'd also recommend finding a football field and practice marching solo at different pace sizes & tempos while blowing air through a horn; this is a technique I've used to prep for the 'SCV Rose Parade '04, Kingsmen Alumni Corps '05-'07 and other stuff. Edited March 18, 2016 by TRacer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassClefTristan Posted March 23, 2016 Author Share Posted March 23, 2016 Thank you, everyone. It seems to me the big ideas people have tried to convey here were to get in shape (I'm pretty darn skinny, but a muscular skinny, being 5'5, weighing 129 Lbs) audition on what is most comfortable (which is kind of an issue, because I'm equally comfortable on both, with this exception; my tone is better on tuba, but my technique is better on baritone. As for auditions, I still don't get how the horn thing would work out. Don't I have to march with a horn in my vishal audition? I've watched some video auditions and they all had to march with a horn. I came across one guy who auditioned for Crown on a sousaphone, and his playing audition was good (because it was on a concert horn) but his visual was bad because the sousaphone held him back. So I'm worried about taking a sousaphone. That's probably the main concern I have with marching tuba. Thank you, all! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kamarag Posted March 23, 2016 Share Posted March 23, 2016 Thank you, everyone. It seems to me the big ideas people have tried to convey here were to get in shape (I'm pretty darn skinny, but a muscular skinny, being 5'5, weighing 129 Lbs) audition on what is most comfortable (which is kind of an issue, because I'm equally comfortable on both, with this exception; my tone is better on tuba, but my technique is better on baritone. As for auditions, I still don't get how the horn thing would work out. Don't I have to march with a horn in my vishal audition? I've watched some video auditions and they all had to march with a horn. I came across one guy who auditioned for Crown on a sousaphone, and his playing audition was good (because it was on a concert horn) but his visual was bad because the sousaphone held him back. So I'm worried about taking a sousaphone. That's probably the main concern I have with marching tuba. Thank you, all! Where do you live? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassClefTristan Posted March 23, 2016 Author Share Posted March 23, 2016 I live in Memphis, but travel is not an issue, fortunately for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Boo Posted March 24, 2016 Share Posted March 24, 2016 I had been wondering what Woody Allen is playing instrumentally these days now in NYC. Clarinet, every Monday with his 7-piece traditional New Orleans-style jazz ensemble at Cafe Carlyle in Manhattan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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