Technique Topic

[Jak]

do today's guard staff even teach "technique"?

If anything, I do too much. It's fairly common for us to spend 1 hour to 1.5 hours of a 3-hour rehearsal on technique. It's good in theory, but sometimes we suffer becasue we just don't get enough ensemble time to get the show on and clean. But trying to limit our movement person to a 30 minute dance class is like pulling teeth.

[Musical_Spinner]

If anything, I do too much. It's fairly common for us to spend 1 hour to 1.5 hours of a 3-hour rehearsal on technique. It's good in theory, but sometimes we suffer becasue we just don't get enough ensemble time to get the show on and clean. But trying to limit our movement person to a 30 minute dance class is like pulling teeth.

30 minute dance class? I wouldn't even bother with a movement person and I wouldn't bother teaching a guard

for that amount of time either if I was that movement teacher. That's barely enough time to warm the body up.

[MHSmirage]

Let's face it. We fight for time with our kids that are involved in other activities and such. We don't get the time we *wish*. Since I have my kids in an actuall guard class and not just after school, I use the class times to do focus. Typically Monday, Wednesdays are Movement technique and Tuesday, Thursday are equipment technique....fridays are typically shot to heck due to friday games during the fall.

I still have beef with the 'technique' issue in this state. With marching contests Texas judges tend to reward you for the size of the guard as opposed to what the demand/technique and so on is. You can have a 24 member guard and catch clean with thier buttcheeks, but are still nothing to the guard that has 50 dance team members jazzrunning and leaping at a constant right shoulder *not covering a crutch*. Wow...I just vented from stuff from last year. Hurricanes do silly things to people. /end rant.

[byline]

Let's face it. We fight for time with our kids that are involved in other activities and such. We don't get the time we *wish*. Since I have my kids in an actuall guard class and not just after school, I use the class times to do focus. Typically Monday, Wednesdays are Movement technique and Tuesday, Thursday are equipment technique....fridays are typically shot to heck due to friday games during the fall.

So very true. Gosh, it's all coming back to me now. I didn't even have my kids in an honest-to-goodness guard class. I got half an hour to 45 minutes of sectional time during band rehearsal . . . if I was lucky. Yet I was still persnickety about technique . . . a.k.a. self-inflicted torture.

[Jak]

30 minute dance class? I wouldn't even bother with a movement person and I wouldn't bother teaching a guard

for that amount of time either if I was that movement teacher. That's barely enough time to warm the body up.

That's what he says, and why we usually do close to an hour. But sometimes you have to just warm-up and go. When you only have a 3 hour rehearsal, it makes it very difficult to do an hour of movement and 30+ minutes of equipment technique. Rehearsal is half over and you haven't started on the show.

On a similar note, we've been hosting a Regional now for 3 years, and I always make it a point to watch some of the top groups rehearse while they're in town. I'm amazed at the lack of time they spend on techinque. It was pretty common across the board for them to do a 15 or 20 minute movement session, give the kids 5 minutes to spin their hands out, and then start on the show. I won't name names, but I'm talking about several top level groups in both the Scholastic and Independent classes. It has definitely made me re-think our approach.

[dugg]

technique?why bother?

"just get the show on the floor,worry about technique later".[overheard at rehearsal]

to many guards "technique" is something you work on a week before wgi,that's if you aren't doing massive re-writes in desperation.

let's face it many equipment judges don't really seem to mind if technique from performer to peformer is all over the place you will still be rewarded,not to worry.

[Musical_Spinner]

Let's face it. We fight for time with our kids that are involved in other activities and such. We don't get the time we *wish*. Since I have my kids in an actuall guard class and not just after school, I use the class times to do focus. Typically Monday, Wednesdays are Movement technique and Tuesday, Thursday are equipment technique....fridays are typically shot to heck due to friday games during the fall.

I still have beef with the 'technique' issue in this state. With marching contests Texas judges tend to reward you for the size of the guard as opposed to what the demand/technique and so on is. You can have a 24 member guard and catch clean with thier buttcheeks, but are still nothing to the guard that has 50 dance team members jazzrunning and leaping at a constant right shoulder *not covering a crutch*. Wow...I just vented from stuff from last year. Hurricanes do silly things to people. /end rant.

Normally I would agree with you but my HS just got 2nd in 4A state last state year and they had a guard of abouuuuuuuut, 8-12 somewhere in that range.

Maybe in 5A (which my HS is this year!) it's like that......

Edited September 24, 2008 by Musical_Spinner

[MHSmirage]

Not talking about UIL at all. The problem has to do with the other marching contests....hosts hire judges with little to no training or real colorguard background (mostly dance teachers).

UIL: your not mentioned at all untill the end of the tape....largely because the 'colorguard comment' is on the last line of UIL judging sheets and even then the comment is like "oh, uh yeah the guard was nice."

[Musical_Spinner]

Well what's the next topic?

[MHSmirage]

*passes the baton to someone else to come up with a topic*