How To Motivating Students

[TickleMeElmo]

Don't forget to tell them about dci.org and drumcorpsplanet.com. The way I got sucked into drum corp was seeing it on ESPN.

[GGarrett]

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)

yeah, OK... but that was a GOOD rant... ^OO^

[Morgoth Bauglir]

I would say that if you show them a DVD, make sure it's one from the past 3 or 4 years. Showing them how drum corps was 10+ years ago doesn't show them what it is like now.

[TitanSop06]

i dont agree with the 1 kid doing it=more will follow thing. i did it during both my sophomore and junior summers of high school and when i got back, i was pretty much labled as the biggest band geek in the band. the only person that really talked about was my band director and that is only because he marched MB3 (91 i believe) and he tought SkyRyders in 87 and Southwind in the mid 90s. Now, yes i did get some interested in it, but they all said they will wait until college to march. i just told them you are throwing away chances to have the time of your lives.

[mellofan]

i dont agree with the 1 kid doing it=more will follow thing. i did it during both my sophomore and junior summers of high school and when i got back, i was pretty much labled as the biggest band geek in the band.

My daughter also was unable to generate much interest. Plus, she was much too intense for most of her peers. Funny how marching drum corps makes one want to perform their best for each show.

Better to generate interest by getting someone OUTSIDE of the current program. I've heard it said that to be considered an "expert" in some career fields, you must get off a plane. The same with high school kids. Most of the time it can't be a kid from that high school. Get someone unknown to the kids and have the person actually gain the respect of the group then begin talking drum corps.

[bssop97]

Well looking at the topic title... Tell them about 2000 Blue Devils and their Bass Drumer. You could also mention snacks every night.

Get it.... High Student into Marching.

[randomnoise]

Last year, 4 of my students marched.

This year, 15. Most are in local corps (SCV, SCV Cadets, Mandarins). One is in Madison.

What I did:

1. Hired drum corps staffers and veterans to teach Marching Band

2. Showed DVDs of DCI, WGI, Blast!

3. Told them to go to Tournament of Champions in 2004 - that made a BIG difference.

4. I perform in a Drum Corps, and that definitely made them curious.

5. We play music that Drum Corps have played in our top group. (Blue Shades, Festive Overture, Overture to a New Era, etc)

6. Invited representatives of local corps to come in and recruit.

7. Encourage them to attend Quarterfinals and Classic Countdown in movie theaters.

We are located in a Drum Corps hot spot (Bay Area), so the students are exposed to it. It is easier to get the guard and percussion kids involved. Brass players not so much. I think it might have to do with guard and perc having Winter season.

[RobH]

"How to Motivating Students"..............

please god I hope this is just a typo........ b**bs

depends on what the motivation is, what it is you want them to be motivated for.

To join DC? To "like" DC? To want to be better musicians? To be more involved in a musical activity?

[kingdarkstar]

Don't forget to tell them about dci.org and drumcorpsplanet.com. The way I got sucked into drum corp was seeing it on ESPN.

i dunno. they might shoot themselves when they meet me.

[Morgoth Bauglir]

Last year, 4 of my students marched.

This year, 15. Most are in local corps (SCV, SCV Cadets, Mandarins). One is in Madison.

What I did:

1. Hired drum corps staffers and veterans to teach Marching Band

2. Showed DVDs of DCI, WGI, Blast!

3. Told them to go to Tournament of Champions in 2004 - that made a BIG difference.

4. I perform in a Drum Corps, and that definitely made them curious.

5. We play music that Drum Corps have played in our top group. (Blue Shades, Festive Overture, Overture to a New Era, etc)

6. Invited representatives of local corps to come in and recruit.

7. Encourage them to attend Quarterfinals and Classic Countdown in movie theaters.

We are located in a Drum Corps hot spot (Bay Area), so the students are exposed to it. It is easier to get the guard and percussion kids involved. Brass players not so much. I think it might have to do with guard and perc having Winter season.

I think the school that they attend and the marching band have a lot to do with it as well. I, and 2 other guys on the drum staff where I taught all marched corps. We told the kids in the line about it a lot, we showed DCI and WGI videos whenever we could, I even took quite a few of them to the Toledo show in 04. We have a PSA indoor line that just competed in WGi for the first time last season, so a number of the kids seem to be getting more into that. And about 6 of them have even gone to drum corps camps. But no one has ever really tried to march. They give up after one camp or even if they make it, they decide to not do it for various reasons. They just never showed that much interest in it, or think it's too much work. The concert band at the school is top notch, and usually get's straight 1s and wins many captions at whatever festival they go to, including international festivals in Europe. But the marching band programs is complete junk. It was competitive for a whole 2 years, and most of the kids hated it, so it's back to just being a football band. Everyone (non-drumline) is into goofing off and refuses to practice. While the drumline tries a lot harder, I think the attitude of the other kids still has an effect on them, and they tend to give up easily and scoff at hard work.

The drumline has made leaps and bounds in quality since us corps guys started teaching there, but we have hit a wall. I think the fact that the whole school is full of ghetto kids and slackers just prevents us from really instilling a sense of hard work and desire to be great in them, no matter how hard we try.

It seems to me that a lot of the people who march corps come from schools that have great marching band programs. They have known quality marching ensembles for years and "graduating" to drum corps is just the next step. It's very hard to just take a kid in a mediocre school or band program, and just get him interested in something takes so much work and effort. Just look at schools like Centerville, Avon, or some of the east and west coast schools. Many of these schools have TONS of students. They also have publically accecpted and well-liked band programs that probably have a good source of funding. Many of the middles schools in the area also get the kids interested in the activity early. They have stellar marrching bands that regularly compete, and WGI lines and guards that are equally stellar. Some even have more than one, like Centerville. The kids at these schools are being inundated from 6th or 7th grade up into a quality program in all aspects.

So I think it takes a lot more than just a few kids who have gone to that school and marched to get more interested. You really need to have the entirety of their marching and band experinace be a quality one from the get go. That means a quality and well funded concert band, marching band, middle school band, and even WGI programs. Now of course it's possible to get some kids interested without these factors being "the norm", but it is exponentially harder to get them and keep them interested without them.

Edited June 20, 2006 by G-Cym