Drillwriting

[bssop97]

REMOVED BY AUTHOR

Edited August 7, 2006 by bssop97

[Snapps]

I didnt relise how much times had changed in drum corp from my day, I mean after watching the espn broadcast on how the cavies (and the rest of DCI write their drill) I remember standing on a cold wet sports field in february/ march freezing my wing wang off while the corps director had to work out where we were meant to be standing, in todays method at least members have a printed out version of where and how many paces etc they are meat to march making it easier for everyone to understand (I do hope I made sense).

So my input is PC Software is the way forward

[Ryan H. Turner]

Hey G...GREAT ANSWERS TO THE QUESTIONS ASKED BY SHANNON! Thank you my man.

And I would be that person in #4. Old. Crotchety. Creative. And stubborn.

Bah humbug.

[ULMusicMan]

so I have found some books on drill design, but are there any "must have's" that anyone can suggest. I bought Pyware and I really want to get started trying to learn it better. I learned a little in class, but it was a couple years ago. I have many ideas in my head. Hopefully by next spring I can line up a few shows to write for the following fall.

edit: I had asked this before and couldn't find that post, I found it and just purchased Complete Marching Band Resource Manual: Techniques and Materials for Teaching, Drill Design and Music Arranging. Still open for more suggestions though.

Edited July 22, 2006 by ULMusicMan

[StrongResolution]

Some of these arguments are similar to using notation software to write music. Writing by hand was always my first choice until 1) notation software became quick and easy to use (sounds like the drill SW isn't currently mature enough) and 2) I can drive 3 computers of orchestral of audio samples with the notation, hear what I have written, and hear what various changes sound like. The Midi end of this is analogous to seeing your drill move in real-time. Now, I am reasonably good at hearing music off a sheet of paper but I cannot imagine being able to match the reality of hearing the sampled instruments. Question: Is drill the same way? Would you rather see it move in real-time or is it just as good or better to imagine it in your head?

A bit more - Does the drill SW accept tempo inputs etc so it can tell you that you are at or beyond the marching abilities of the marcher? The max marching abilities would of course be configurable. Can you input music difficulty at various points in the drill so it can give you an idea if the marcher is moving too much to perform the music? Would these check be useful? Probably for beginners anyway.

[sburstall]

I'm curious...

Do most drillwriters use computer software? Which program do most use?

I have not taught a computer drill in at least a decade, and I am sure the drills from these programs have gotten better. My drillwriter of choice writes by hand, but I am interested in learning to write on computer.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks!

I used to write by paper. Felt freer and more creative doing it that way. I tried Pyware (at that time) and it wasn't worth the money, even if it was free evaluation. If I ever ge back into writing, it will still be with paper, pencil and flex-curve.

[cavalier81]

I wouldn't be surprised. At a winter guard show about 6 years ago that I was announcing, Jay Murphy was sitting next to me. Jokingly, I said, "If you had one bit of advice to give to me as a drill designer, what would that be?" And he seriously looked at me and said, "Don't use a computer to write your drill. Do it by hand!" Hmmmm...he seemed pretty serious. Don't know if he's changed or does what I do with Dream by giving it to someone to put into Pyware...but your observation makes sense with me.

Now who's the show off? ^0^ ^0^

[Ryan H. Turner]

so I have found some books on drill design, but are there any "must have's" that anyone can suggest. I bought Pyware and I really want to get started trying to learn it better. I learned a little in class, but it was a couple years ago. I have many ideas in my head. Hopefully by next spring I can line up a few shows to write for the following fall.

edit: I had asked this before and couldn't find that post, I found it and just purchased Complete Marching Band Resource Manual: Techniques and Materials for Teaching, Drill Design and Music Arranging. Still open for more suggestions though.

Billy--where'd you get that book, who is the author, and can I get it too?

[Piper]

The main benifit to using software is to save TIME. By that I mean that if a designer writes a program without it, and it doesn't turn out the way they intended, they have to re-design and re-teach. That takes a lot of time and a lot of blood pressure on the part of everyone. Better to have a general idea of what you want to do - then teach it and tweak it later.

[BRUXXUS]

I've been playing with Pyware for a good 5 years, experimenting with the demos and hoping to write drill someday. Finally I've got the chance this season to get my designing off the ground and I'm writing for a few schools. I think any drill writer should be able to write by hand although I don't think that's the smart way to write. There is a learning curve as with anything, but once you know the program you can get your ideas down and animated within a few minutes. I like the 3D perspective view to check out what the forms look like from any angle, hight or distance from the field. The people working at Pyware are AWESOME and really helped me with getting started with my designing this year, they gave my # and email to some really respected writers and i'm getting some of their overflow for this season.

The program's free to try and they're adding some really crazy features that will hopefully help out with kids learning the drill in the future. Take it easy- Brooks