Do you dot shop?

[Eddie]

Please visit the site below for all your dot shopping needs

http://www.yamatodrumcorps.org/catalog/pro...products_id=221

:P

[Morgoth Bauglir]

Over my years of marching corps and WGI, I have become a huge fan of marching dots. Here are a few reasons.

Personal Accountability

Each performer should know their stuff like their were born knowing it. Marching forms tends to allow individuals to coast along on other people's hard work. To many times you have guys in the snare line who only know how to "dress center". When you make the cleanliness of the drill dependant on other people, you make the performers dependant on others. And that is dangerously close to laziness and leeching off of others talent and work. Someone told me that there is no such thing as a "line player." Meaning, if you can't play the notes by yourself, you can't play them with the line. You are either contributing to the ensemble or you are hurting it. And when you rely on others to march the drill well while you just follow along, you are not contrinuting.

Consistancy

When you march forms, you will never do the same thing twice. It is as simple as that. The step size you had in rep #7 during visual block will not be the same as rep #3 or #9. Or what you do in the run through. And who knows what might happen during the show. The whole point of practicing is to make something happen the same way EVERY time. And when you have so many people all looking to someone else to figure out what is right, it will always be a mess. Even with dress points, it only takes 1 brain fart or missed direction/change to ruin the drill for 30+ people.

Worry about your own job

Along the same lines, if you march dots, you only have to worry about your own show. You don't need to think "Is Steve the mello player going to do it right today? Or is he going to take to small steps and screw me over?". Just know your show, and march it well. If Steve flubs his drill, the staff will see it and take care of it.

Elimination of "Junior Staff Members"

And it should be just the staff taking care of it. Or at most, section leaders. With forms, people are notorious for being "junior instructors". People who always tell others to adjust to them. Of course they are never wrong. You might be inclined to call these people "dot nazis". Well everyone should be a dot nazi. If they are on their dot, get on yours and the drill will be fine. If they are wrong, get on your dot and they will look wrong. And the staff will fix them. Just worry about your own show and let others worry about theirs.

It's how we play music

When you learn music in drum corps. Do you just follow the people next to you? Or are you supposed to know the notes, articulation, shaping, ect yourself? We have sheet music. You are supposed to memorize it. This is true for every ensemble out their. I do not know of one group that does not stress the acccuracy of the written show. Sure there are times when the horns listen to the battery for time, or the snare match heights. But if 1 trumpet comes in early, is the rest of the section supposed to jump the gun with him? If the center snare drops a stick and is out for a bar, is the whole line supposed to stop playing? No. You play your own book like the arranger wants.

Cascade Failure/Effect

One of the worst problems with marching forms. What might be a small mistake to 1 person in 1 set might completely screw someone else over a few sets later. If you are suppsed to dress down a line and the guys on the end make it to shallow or their intervals are too small, what happens 2 moves later when you had a set that was suppsosed to be a 4 to 5 but is now impossible? Stuff like that happend to me all the time when I marched. A guy on the end would have really small steps, so he wouldnt really concentrate on his drill for that move. While people on the other end, end up paying for his mistakes by having to make massive and awkward, sometime impossible corrections. The drill is written so everyone can perform it. We all learned in math class that the farther away from the starting point of a line you get, the bigger the changes in the angle are. So if you are lining a field and your where you start painting is off by 1 inch where you are, it might set the line off 5 feet on the other end of the field. That same stuff happens in drill. And when you have 20+ baritones who are all human beings relying on the 2 guys at the end with small steps, it is a recipe for disater. I know I have been screwed over more times than I can count from just that kind of thing. Good luck trying pass throughs when people are just dress intervals that are too small.

You don't solve a problem by creating more

We have all been in those drill rehearsals. The ones about halfway through tour, when drill is getting changed and people are starting to get on each others nerves. You are on the field and 1 set just isnt hitting the way it should. You raise your hand to ask if it can be fixed, but the vis guys want to move on. So when you say, "my dot is 3.5 outside the 35B and 8 behind the front hash", they just yell and say "I don't care what your dot is, the judge doesnt have your drill, just get in the form."

I ask you, what did that fix? Nothing. The source of the problem is still there. And it will keep happening until the guy who is causing the problem get's his head out of his ### and checks his dot book. But if you march dots, this situation would not even occur. Everyone just gets on their dot and the one guy who is spacing out looks wrong, and the vis techs fix it. When you rely on others to march your drill, when they do something wrong, every one else needs to do something wrong to "fix" it. But it's still wrong. And 2 weeks later, when they ask why that form is so off, you can't just tell the staff it's because they ignored the problem 12 days ago and it just kept getting worse every time the line "adjusted".

Does all this mean that the members should just stare at the ground and ignore the rest of the corps? No. But I belive that far to many ensemble who start out with dot books and mark things off abandon it too quickly in favor of quick fixes. Near the end of the season, the emphasis should be on form. But only when the corps is good enough with their dots so that the biggest correction is maybe .5 to 1 step. And in visual block, when checking a form, it should ALWAYS be dots. The last saturday morning you should still have your dot book out their. Of course by then you should have it memorized so well you can tell the vis staff what page the the grass stains or scribble marks are on without looking at it. Too many ensembles don't force their members to memorize their dots, and it just causes more problems in the end. In a performnace and in practice you should always be aware of what is going on around you. To not do so is dangerous. But that is never an excuse to abandon what you should have been practicing the same way all day.

We all know doing something differnt in a show is what causes the most amount of problems. So why teach a method that casues that by it's very nature?

[Eddie]

well here, I'll give my serious side of the issue.

More or less, dots are for learning the drill. dressing is for everything else. One should know their spot, no doubt about it, but field conditions such as length of grass, gopher holes, no grass, wet grass, etc. can alter the mechanics in one's legs, which could as well alter step sizes. Lets face it, we're human. The same step size every single time just isn't going to happen, and being given the simplicity of marching on the same exact field everytime isn't going to happen either. So at times (if not most of the time), you have no choice but to dress.

Now if you're guessing where your spot is based on the others around you, then yeah, you're sucking, but don't think that a judge is going to give you credit for hitting your spot dead on when the rest of the form is a fraction of a step off. This is where that teamwork concept comes in. You have to trust the others around you that they will not suck, allowing you to dress to them... at the same time allowing them to trust you to not suck so they can dress to you.

That's just my 2 yen.

[Morgoth Bauglir]

Good drill is like a good clock or machine.

Each piece just does it's job. No more, no less. If one peice is broken, than one piece is fixed. No more, no less. And when they are all doing their own jobs as best they can, the whole machine works. Each gear does not do the job of others.

And with a good marching unit, each member just does his or her job. That's it. You just march your show to the best of your ability. Play your notes as best you can. March your drill as best you can. And when everyone just does their job as best they can, the final prodct works perfectly. And also if everyone just does their job as best they can, when 1 person sticks out, as the form-people so like to claim will happen, all the staff has to do is fix that 1 person. You will never have 15 people behind him all flubbing their drill trying to make up for one person's errors. They do their jobs, you do yours. Whoever is wrong will be fixed by the staff, and whoever is right will be left alone. It's pretty simple.

Edited May 27, 2006 by G-Cym

[Eddie]

I don't disagree, but a staff person isn't going to be able to stop the corps in the middle of a performance and tell them to fix it. You should be ready for anything and everything that may happen in the course of Murphy's law.

[TickleMeElmo]

Over my years of marching corps and WGI, I have become a huge fan of marching dots. Here are a few reasons.

Personal Accountability

Each performer should know their stuff like their were born knowing it. Marching forms tends to allow individuals to coast along on other people's hard work. To many times you have guys in the snare line who only know how to "dress center". When you make the cleanliness of the drill dependant on other people, you make the performers dependant on others. And that is dangerously close to laziness and leeching off of others talent and work. Someone told me that there is no such thing as a "line player." Meaning, if you can't play the notes by yourself, you can't play them with the line. You are either contributing to the ensemble or you are hurting it. And when you rely on others to march the drill well while you just follow along, you are not contrinuting.

Consistancy

When you march forms, you will never do the same thing twice. It is as simple as that. The step size you had in rep #7 during visual block will not be the same as rep #3 or #9. Or what you do in the run through. And who knows what might happen during the show. The whole point of practicing is to make something happen the same way EVERY time. And when you have so many people all looking to someone else to figure out what is right, it will always be a mess. Even with dress points, it only takes 1 brain fart or missed direction/change to ruin the drill for 30+ people.

Worry about your own job

Along the same lines, if you march dots, you only have to worry about your own show. You don't need to think "Is Steve the mello player going to do it right today? Or is he going to take to small steps and screw me over?". Just know your show, and march it well. If Steve flubs his drill, the staff will see it and take care of it.

Elimination of "Junior Staff Members"

And it should be just the staff taking care of it. Or at most, section leaders. With forms, people are notorious for being "junior instructors". People who always tell others to adjust to them. Of course they are never wrong. You might be inclined to call these people "dot nazis". Well everyone should be a dot nazi. If they are on their dot, get on yours and the drill will be fine. If they are wrong, get on your dot and they will look wrong. And the staff will fix them. Just worry about your own show and let others worry about theirs.

It's how we play music

When you learn music in drum corps. Do you just follow the people next to you? Or are you supposed to know the notes, articulation, shaping, ect yourself? We have sheet music. You are supposed to memorize it. This is true for every ensemble out their. I do not know of one group that does not stress the acccuracy of the written show. Sure there are times when the horns listen to the battery for time, or the snare match heights. But if 1 trumpet comes in early, is the rest of the section supposed to jump the gun with him? If the center snare drops a stick and is out for a bar, is the whole line supposed to stop playing? No. You play your own book like the arranger wants.

Cascade Failure/Effect

One of the worst problems with marching forms. What might be a small mistake to 1 person in 1 set might completely screw someone else over a few sets later. If you are suppsed to dress down a line and the guys on the end make it to shallow or their intervals are too small, what happens 2 moves later when you had a set that was suppsosed to be a 4 to 5 but is now impossible? Stuff like that happend to me all the time when I marched. A guy on the end would have really small steps, so he wouldnt really concentrate on his drill for that move. While people on the other end, end up paying for his mistakes by having to make massive and awkward, sometime impossible corrections. The drill is written so everyone can perform it. We all learned in math class that the farther away from the starting point of a line you get, the bigger the changes in the angle are. So if you are lining a field and your where you start painting is off by 1 inch where you are, it might set the line off 5 feet on the other end of the field. That same stuff happens in drill. And when you have 20+ baritones who are all human beings relying on the 2 guys at the end with small steps, it is a recipe for disater. I know I have been screwed over more times than I can count from just that kind of thing. Good luck trying pass throughs when people are just dress intervals that are too small.

You don't solve a problem by creating more

We have all been in those drill rehearsals. The ones about halfway through tour, when drill is getting changed and people are starting to get on each others nerves. You are on the field and 1 set just isnt hitting the way it should. You raise your hand to ask if it can be fixed, but the vis guys want to move on. So when you say, "my dot is 3.5 outside the 35B and 8 behind the front hash", they just yell and say "I don't care what your dot is, the judge doesnt have your drill, just get in the form."

I ask you, what did that fix? Nothing. The source of the problem is still there. And it will keep happening until the guy who is causing the problem get's his head out of his ### and checks his dot book. But if you march dots, this situation would not even occur. Everyone just gets on their dot and the one guy who is spacing out looks wrong, and the vis techs fix it. When you rely on others to march your drill, when they do something wrong, every one else needs to do something wrong to "fix" it. But it's still wrong. And 2 weeks later, when they ask why that form is so off, you can't just tell the staff it's because they ignored the problem 12 days ago and it just kept getting worse every time the line "adjusted".

Does all this mean that the members should just stare at the ground and ignore the rest of the corps? No. But I belive that far to many ensemble who start out with dot books and mark things off abandon it too quickly in favor of quick fixes. Near the end of the season, the emphasis should be on form. But only when the corps is good enough with their dots so that the biggest correction is maybe .5 to 1 step. And in visual block, when checking a form, it should ALWAYS be dots. The last saturday morning you should still have your dot book out their. Of course by then you should have it memorized so well you can tell the vis staff what page the the grass stains or scribble marks are on without looking at it. Too many ensembles don't force their members to memorize their dots, and it just causes more problems in the end. In a performnace and in practice you should always be aware of what is going on around you. To not do so is dangerous. But that is never an excuse to abandon what you should have been practicing the same way all day.

We all know doing something differnt in a show is what causes the most amount of problems. So why teach a method that casues that by it's very nature?

Good post G-Gym. Everyone should follow this. Marching dots, IMO, is the best way of learning drill. It teaches responsibility and self-awareness. Can't argue about the "junior staff members", especially when their freshmen (can't believe a freshmen would do such a thing).

Edited June 4, 2006 by TickleMeElmo

[contra love]

I've never marched/taught anywhere where dots are more important than dressing, but I recognize how it could work and work well.

What's better? I have no idea, but I do know that making sure everyone is doing the same thing is the only way it's really going to work.

[liebot]

Over my years of marching corps and WGI, I have become a huge fan of marching dots. Here are a few reasons... We all know doing something differnt in a show is what causes the most amount of problems. So why teach a method that casues that by it's very nature?

That was way too long for me to ever read.

Good post G-Gym. Everyone should follow this. Marching dots, IMO, is the best way of learning drill.

I agree. Marching drill is a different story.

[XxDrumCorpsFanxX]

That was way too long for me to ever read.

I agree. Marching drill is a different story.

yes i think you should march dots when you learn drill also

[Eric12183]

Ok, I was just telling my girlfriend about this post and she came up with what I think is a great response:

Marching to the dot is like Communism. In theory, it's a great idea, but in reality it just doesn't work.