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How To Motivating Students


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This may be extremely random, but I have a great job working with band students this summer. Band camps start in a month and I just want to get them geared up. Some would love DCI, but I cannot get them to see a show. Any ideas on how to get young adults (14-18) to see that they can do more then they think and that drum corps are cool, amazing, and very possible if you go for it.

Edited by hwmnyrds
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This may be extremely random, but I have a great job working with band students this summer. Band camps start in a month and I just want to get them geared up. Some would love DCI, but I cannot get them to see a show. Any ideas on how to get young adults (14-18) to see that they can do more then they think and that drum corps are cool, amazing, and very possible if you go for it.

Play a DVD of a recent DCI show?

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I would say if you can get them to attend a show make sure they visit the parking lot after the show. Try to get a conversation started with a current marching member. Your kids will see that they are just like them and this may motivate them to march next year. Once one does it, others will follow...

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This may be extremely random, but I have a great job working with band students this summer. Band camps start in a month and I just want to get them geared up. Some would love DCI, but I cannot get them to see a show. Any ideas on how to get young adults (14-18) to see that they can do more then they think and that drum corps are cool, amazing, and very possible if you go for it.

Hmmm....is a DVD of the ESPN2 show available? Might be a good one to show.

Are you near any shows...maybe you could take some kids to a rehearsal/houseing site to watch?

Of course, a live show would be great too.

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DVDs always seem to entice kids to want to see it live.

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- See if a recent age out would be willing to stop by and do an impromptu "clinic," a chit chat session, and maybe share some photos from his or her

recent past years with a corps. Bring a guard person as well.

- Play the DVD of "Blast" for them...

- Play some "311" for them and tell them Chad Sexton was a SkyRyder

- Tell them about being away from mom and dad for the summer... that usually get's about half of them interested right there...

- and if all this fails show them pictures of a gymnasium filled with sleeping bags and smelly towels.

wait, maybe that's not such a good idea... :P

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Once one does it, others will follow...

This is true. One person will do it and others will hear that person run at the mouth about it. then others will go march, too, and before you know it there's a whole subset of the band that is in drum corps.

There were a few people in corps in my band program that got me interested in drum corps (they were in the Guardsmen during their twilight years, and of course Quad City). I know that several people in my band were in corps after I was there. I think one was in Bluecoats for like 5 years and one was in Cavies (95 I think). The one who marched Cavies actually stopped me in a grocery store years later to tell me about how he marched...he was beaming with pride and it was cool because it seemed like he had understood what I'd said about corps when I was in band...

Seriously, one goes, and the others follow.

Edited by festive
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Get some recordings of recent shows. Play them on whatever is available whenever there is down time--transitions into and out of practice, common meal times if available, rest time. I got my daughter interested by playing and playing and playing the same homemade CD of the Troopers 70 - 75 shows and the amazing Madison 75 show. Although she had seen drum corps (Troopers) at a couple of shows/parades when she was younger, I think the power of the sound is what really hooked her first when she was transitioning from middle school to high school and into beginning marching band. The timing was right. The first live show that hooked her was the Boise 03 show. Although she wasn't sure she could actually measure up to marching drum corps, she became really interested when Trooper DM Mike Gough (a local "boy") casually talked to her after the show. He offered her a spot that night, but the timing was wrong.

I also agree with GGarrett about getting a vet to talk with the kids. There is nothing like having someone who is so into the activity really get to know the kids and talk on their level. The “fun” in drum corps comes from being with people who have the same interest, work together towards the same goal, and which whom you form lasting friendships. Also, if there is a corps being housed nearby, take a few kids to witness a practice. Timing is everything: make sure you take kids who have that fire inside and thrive on competition.

As a parent, this has been the best thing for my daughter. It is frustrating for me to talk with parents who aren't sold because it is such an intensive activity. I've noticed many parents of current public school students are more into telling their kids how good they are at *insert activity name here* and aren't helping them really push themselves beyond the stage of being entertained. (Before you get on my case, I teach 8th grade and deal with these overindulgent parents on a regular basis.) Too many parents want their kids to spend their time having fun (read: being entertained) at the expense of actually developing the adult-like skills that drum corps teaches. It is that push beyond where you thought you could reach that really helps you become an independent person. (rant off)

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