World Class Finals Recap

Comment now » // August 11th, 2008

Wow…where to begin…where to begin.

We have never seen a winning margin as small as 0.025, one-quarter of a single tenth. Until the DCI World Championship World Class Semifinals, Phantom Regiment hadn’t even beaten the Cavaliers this season.

Phantom Regiment (1st, 98.125) won by adding 0.45 to its total score, while the Blue Devils added a smaller margin of 0.05. Considering the Semifinals margin of BD over Phantom was 0.375, as minor as it might seem, that made all the difference in the outcome.

Phantom’s Visual Effect score was 0.35 under that for BD, but Music Effect was 0.30 above, almost a wash in total Effect. But the corps’ total Visual score was 0.65 less than BD’s and Phantom’s Percussion score was 0.85 greater after being 0.55 above in the Semis. The corps won Music Effect, Music Ensemble and Percussion.

The Rockford corps’ Visual Performance score was 1.10/0.55 under BD in Semifinals, but only 0.10/0.05 behind in Finals. Closing the gap of 1.00/0.50 in that caption was a major reason Phantom passed up BD. (Remember that all captions except for Visual Effect and Music Effect are divided in half before being added to the final score.) However, that spread was largely negated by Phantom’s Color Guard score, which was 0.70/0.35 behind the Blue Devils after it was only 0.20/0.10 behind in Semifinals.

Phantom’s Brass caption closed up a 0.30/0.15 gap in Semifinals to 0.10/0.05 in Finals. Their Percussion, strong all season, outscored BD’s line by 0.85/0.425 in the Finals after doing so by 0.45/0.225 in Semifinals. The total Music score, (combining Brass, Music Ensemble and Percussion) was 0.725 above that of Blue Devils. It helped make up for the corps being 0.65 under BD in total Visual, (the combination of Visual Performance, Visual Ensemble and Color Guard).

Throw it all together and you get a scoring scenario that almost defies plausibility.

Blue Devils (2nd, 98.100) picked up 0.30 in total Effect, lost 0.10 in total Visual, and lost 0.15/0.075 in total Music. Their Percussion score slipped to 5th after tying for 3rd, but only lost 0.10/0.05 in the process. The spread in Percussion was 0.85/0.425 to Phantom’s advantage. In total Visual, the corps slipped 0.10/0.0520 from Semifinals.

The two top corps did a good job of mixing up the captions each won. Phantom won Music Effect, Music Ensemble and Percussion. Blue Devils won Visual Effect, Visual Ensemble, Color Guard and Brass. (The Cavaliers won Visual Performance.)

The Cavaliers (3rd, 97.325) lost 0.225 from their Semifinals score. Total Effect accounted for 0.20 of that amount. The 0.80 gap between the corps and Phantom came mostly in the 0.60 advantage Phantom had in Music Effect. The 0.775 gap between the corps and Blue Devils happened mainly in the 0.65 spread BD enjoyed in total Effect. They were 2nd in Percussion, Visual Effect, Visual Ensemble and Color Guard.

Carolina Crown (4th, 96.800) gained 0.10 from Semifinals, losing 0.10 in total Effect and gaining the same amount in both total Visual and total Music. They took 2nd, in Music Ensemble, 3rd in Brass and 4th in Percussion, making total Music (2nd place) the strongest caption for the corps.

The Cadets (5th, 94.750) lost 0.70 from Semifinals. Half of that, 0.35, came in the 6th place Music Effect caption, with another 0.20 coming in the 5th place Visual Effect caption. The corps scored 1.00 under Crown in total Effect. They were 3rd in Visual Ensemble, but all other captions were either 4th or 5th.

Bluecoats (6th, 93.175) passed up Santa Clara Vanguard by 0.15 after being 0.825 behind in Semis, a scoring difference of 0.975. The 1.15 advantage that SCV enjoyed in total Visual in Semifinals was practically cut in half down to 0.55. The two corps tied in total Effect and the Bluecoats were up 0.80 in total Music. Other than the 4th place finish in Percussion, all other captions ranged between 5th and 7th.

Santa Clara Vanguard (7TH, 93.025) fell 0.50 under the Bluecoats after being 0.825 ahead. 0.70/0.35 of the Finals deficit came in total Music. All captions finished in 6th or 7th.

Blue Stars (8th, 90.425) lost 0.15 from Semifinals, with a 10th place finish in Percussion, 7th in Color Guard, and all other captions finishing in 8th. The corps increased its 0.875 spread over Blue Knights to a margin of 2.175. The corps’ total Effect spread of 0.40 increased to 1.00 largely due to Blue Knights dropping 0.40 in Visual Effect and 0.55 in Music Effect.

Blue Knights (9th, 88.250) dropped 1.40 from Semifinals, largely due to a 0.95 drop in total Effect. 0.55 of that came in Music Effect. With the exception of 8th place in Percussion and 11th place in Color Guard, all other captions were 9th or 10th.

Boston Crusaders (10th, 87.275) dropped 1.70 from Semis, with 1.50/0.75 of that coming from their Visual Performance score. The corps’ Percussion caption stayed at the same score, but every other caption fell in score from Semifinals.

Glassmen (11th, 87.200) fell 0.925, with 0.45 of that coming in Music Effect and another 0.575 deficit in total Music.

Madison Scouts (12th, 85.225) scored 1.15 lower than in Semifinals, with 0.65 of that coming in Music Effect. Another 0.70 of the drop occurred in total Music.

by Michael Boo at DCI

Tagged Marching News

Drill Design Writer’ Block

Comment now » // July 31st, 2008

Ok - I’ve been sitting here in fron of my computer now for over a week and the school for whom this drill is being written has got to be getting antsy by now.  We’ve had our initial meetings and a rough outline of the show staging.  The only problem is, right now I’m my worst enemy.  When sitting in meetings or even just sketching, its easy as a designer of any facet of performance, to lock your brain into what you want to see.  For me, it was the first movement (Vapor) or a show entitled Aqua. 

 At the staff meeting, we chose to utilize a molecular idea and of course my little brain took off in the “let’s do small groups working independantly of one another to create a sense of organized free form.  If only it were that easy.  The drill itself did not want to cooperate.  Everything I tried to do based on what I had in mind only lead to poor staging, poor development or just ugly sets.  I am in a state of writers block because I can’t let go of initial ideas.

The best remedy for this, at least for me and the way that I write, is to try and take my own advice . . . let the drill go where it wants to go.  I know it sounds a little artsy-fartsy but for me it works.  In this case, I settled down and focused on one aspect of the group and wrote what worked well for the them.  From there I began adding instrumentation in and around the existing section.  It is sort of the Beethoven approach to drill design as opposed to the romantic notion that it just flows from a creative font deep with-in.  I guess my wife is correct and I really am not much of a romantic. 

Now that I have something actually on paper and have let go of my preconceived notions of the look of the drill, I can manipulate what I have in front of me and concentrate on the fundamentals of good design.  It looks like this school will get its drill after all.

Scott Kurtzweil   www.kurtzweildesigns.com

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What Drum Corps Did for Me, Part 2 by JohnDonovan.biz

Comment now » // July 24th, 2008

Survival is another big element that drum corps taught me. How to survive among your peers, and how to stay alive and in the game when the action gets molten hot. You have to be in it, to win it. If you don’t fight to survive, you get passed up. Before you read any further, please note I do have respect for everyone that has done drum corps, whether you are a fan, music educator, corps volunteer or professional performer, however I am looking to motivate the few performance professionals that will come from the marching field in the next few years to join to professional musician workforce. Three new lessons I have to share are: turning the other cheek to naysayers, being innovative as a professional and to never quit.

Turning the other cheek to the naysayers is an important lesson in professionalism. When you are outside of the box, trying to make a world a better place, people will talk behind your back, slander you online behind fake screen names, and try to knock you down with every step you take. I learned a big lesson almost ten years ago when I tried to import The Majestic XTD Marching drums from Holland. With no experience, I tried to move a mountain with little money, but with all the drive drum corps taught me. Long story short, anytime I was flamed online, I fought back. Wrong move. Turn the other cheek, smile, move on, and try harder next time with a better plan, and prove the naysayers wrong. Anytime a naysayer tries to knock me down, I work harder and smarter. My failure with Majestic resulted in bankruptcy, and embarrassment. However, this also inspired me to earn my undergraduate in music business. Looking in the mirror to see your deficiencies is the first step to understanding where you need to go. Every day, ask yourself: “what can I do today that would be better then yesterday?”

Being innovative as a professional. My innovation as a performer has changed my life. I now improve with DJS at really expensive parties, on a mutated marching setup. With the number of drum corps folding and merging, change is needed. This is my challenge to DCI: Hire a few people like myself who actually care about long term popular growth and not just the traditional elitist contentment which is plunging the education that changed my life into the sewers. Yes, I just said something drastic and controversial. Imaging this scenario: The year is 2020. There is an all time number of startup corps educating a greater amount of high school and college musicians entertaining a record number of ticket buyers, on both sides of the field, due to drastic changes. In 2017, a rule is passed by DCI requiring all corps to pick top 40 music from the previous year. I heard from a famous drumline arranger at PASIC last year that you can’t write great drum corps music from pop music. That’s pooh-pooh! I improvise rudimental parts all the time over top 40 music playing with some of the hottest DJS on Long Island/NYC and I know the same can be done by the few professional brass performers that also aged out of DCI. Maybe the writing jobs should go to the guys that actually still continue to eat, breath and sleep musical performance 24/7 after they age out. Let the guys who know what it takes to get people dancing design the shows. Did we forget what the jazz era taught us about entertainment? Anyhow, imagine in 2018 a rule passed by DCI that requires all corps members to hand flyers out house to house, the morning of the show. This would have to broken down by town. If you have 1,000 kids marketing for four hours in a systematic way, how many advertising impressions could you knock out? In groups of two, you could probably, over the course of five hours, hit fifty thousand houses or more. Do the math. How many kids could you flush out of their garage band practices to come see a Godsmack show, a Tool show or even a Shakira show with over a thousand live musicians performing? Plenty. The year is 2019, ticket sales are high, and large corporations are getting involved to sponsor the shows and the corps, thus increasing the amount of scholarships drastically enough to include cross country travel and to support a recruitment organization that travels around to actually scout talent and make the best placements according to all variables. The year is 2020. There is an all time number of startup corps educating a greater amount of high school and college musicians entertaining a record number of ticket buyers, on both sides of the field, due to drastic changes. I dare someone with the money and the guts to make this happen.

Never quitting. Quitting is not an option for me. People told me when I got married to my great wife Lauren, a DCI tuba vet from LVK, and had our kid Evan who will be two this week, that I would have to quit music. Remember what I said about the naysayers? I’m now doing better than ever, and not looking back with regret at all. Even on the hottest day of corps when I marched with Pioneer, I knew that quitting was not ever an option because of my goal to be a professional drummer. If I would have quit, I would have never tasted sweet victory with the Pioneer drumline in 1996. Every year I might meet one or two more full time drummers who did corps, and the respect level among all of us is great, because we all have solid work ethics as professional performers. Drums Corps is all about not quitting, regardless of how hard it gets.

Bio: John Donovan has played with professional dance bands, rock bands, metal bands, jazz bands, musical theater pit orchestras, cruise ship bands and DJ’S.  In 2002, John performed with One Man Religion, which opened for internationally recognized Metal band, Breaking Benjamin.  He is also a multi-world, national and state rudimental drumming champion,  marching with Pioneer, Jersey Surf and The Reading Buccaneers Drum and Bugle Corps.  A music business graduate of McNally Smith College of Music, formerly known as MusicTech, John has served as composer, arranger, instructor, and manager for drumlines across the Northeast and Midwest. John was featured in Modern Drummer Magazine, March 2008, pg 192. John is a performing artist and clinician for Mapex Marching Percussion and  can be reached through http:// www.JohnDonovan.Biz

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Current Top 12

Comment now » // July 21st, 2008

1. Blue Devils                                     90.819

2. Cavaliers                                        89.694

3. Cadets                                            88.494

4. Carolina Crown                             88.444

5. Phantom Regiment                      88.325

6. Bluecoats                                       86.038

7. Santa Clara Vanguard                  85.631

8. Blue Knights                                  82.435

9. Boston Crusaders                         81.640

10. Blue Stars                                    80.290

11. Glassmen                                     80.181

12. Crossmen                                     77.679

Tagged Marching News

Weekend Open Class Contest

Comment now » // July 21st, 2008

With only a couple weeks left before the Drum Corps International World Championship Open Class Quarterfinals in Michigan City, Ind., the Open Class corps have swung into full gear, with major shows on both coasts this past weekend.

Just a reminder: When reading about the recaps, please be aware that General Effect (GE) Visual and GE Music are the only two captions that are not divided in half prior to their addition to the final score. When caption spreads are mentioned below, those other than General Effect are first listed with the score given by the particular judge for that caption, followed by a slash and the half-value score that was added to the overall score.

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Jersey Surf Summer Classic
Here is a glimpse at the Open Class results from the Jersey Surf Summer Classic in Wildwood, N.J.Jersey Surf (1st, 79.65) won both Visual Effect and Music Effect, all Visual captions (Performance, Ensemble and Color Guard) and Brass, and placed 2nd in Music Ensemble and Percussion. The corps’ spread over Citations in Effect was 1.0 in Visual Effect and 0.8 in Music Effect, accounting for all but 0.8 of the corps’ 2.6 point spread over Citations. While Visual Performance and Visual Ensemble both had just a 0.2/0.1 advantage over Citations, Color Guard was 0.9/0.45 above Surf’s nearest competitor. Brass had a 0.3/0.15 advantage, but Music Ensemble and Percussion both scored 0.4/0.2 under Citations.

Citations (2nd, 77.05) placed 2nd in all captions, with the exception of Music Ensemble and Percussion, the two captions the corps won. The corps enjoyed a 1.4 advantage over 3rd place Raiders in total Effect (combined Visual Effect and Music Effect) and a 0.65 advantage in total Visual (combined Visual Performance, Visual Ensemble and Color Guard). Much of the Visual spread came in Color Guard, which was 3.8/1.9 above Raiders. A 2.2 spread over Raiders in total Music was due to a 1.1/0.55 advantage in Brass, a 0.6/0.3 spread in Percussion and a larger 2.7/1.35 spread in Music Ensemble.

Raiders (3rd, 71.45) placed 3rd in all captions except for Color Guard (6th) and Music Ensemble (5th). The corps enjoyed a 2.6 total spread over 4th place Spartans largely due to a 1.7 advantage in total Effect and a 0.85 advantage in total Music. Due to the 0.9/0.45 deficit to Spartans in Color Guard, the corps outscored Spartans in total Visual by just 0.05.

Spartans (4th, 68.85) took 5th in Visual Effect and Brass and 4th in all other captions. The corps’ 1.75 spread over 7th Regiment largely came from a 1.25 advantage in total Visual, as total Effect was just 0.3 above and total Music 0.2 above. The corps’ 4th place Color Guard outscored Raiders’ guard by 0.9/0.45.

7th Regiment (5th, 67.10) took 3rd in Color Guard and Music Ensemble, 4th in Visual Effect and Brass, 5th in Music Effect, Visual Performance and Visual Ensemble and 6th in Percussion, placing under Spartans’ total Effect score by only 0.3 and Spartans’ total Music score by 0.2, but falling under Spartans in total Visual by 1.25. The corps placed over Racine Scouts in every caption.

Racine Scouts (6th, 63.80) took 5th in Color Guard, (outscoring Raiders’ guard by 0.1/0.55), 6th in both Effect captions and Brass and 7th in all other captions.

Les Stentors (7th, 58.70) took 6th in Visual Performance, Visual Ensemble and Music Ensemble, 7th in Visual Effect and Brass, 8th in Music Effect and Color Guard and 9th in Percussion, 1.9/0.95 under the next highest Percussion score.

The high point for Targets (8th, 57.90) was a 5th place finish in Percussion. Music Effect placed 7th, Color Guard 9th and all other captions 8th.

Spirit of Newark/New Jersey (9th, 52.85) placed 7th in Color Guard, 8th in Percussion and 9th in all other captions.

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California State Open
Here is a glimpse at the California State Open in Gilroy, Calif.Blue Devils B (1st, 81.65) earned a 1.50 spread over Vanguard Cadets by capturing all captions except Color Guard (0.4/0.2 under Vanguard Cadets) and Music Ensemble (0.3/0.15 under Vanguard Cadets). Most of the overall spread came in Effect, with BDB outscoring Vanguard Cadets by 0.8 in Visual Effect and 0.4 in Music Effect.

Vanguard Cadets (2nd, 80.15) placed 2nd in all captions with the exception of Color Guard and Music Ensemble, which the corps won. The corps’ 8.3 spread over 3rd place Gold was due most of all to Music Effect, in which the Vanguard Cadets enjoyed a 2.4 advantage, and Percussion, where they outscored Gold by 2.9/1.45.

Gold (3rd, 71.85) placed closest to Vanguard Cadets in Color Guard (0.3/0.15 behind) and Visual Performance, (0.9/0.45 behind). Despite placing 1.6 under 4th place Impulse in total Music, Gold maintained the 0.45 total spread over Impulse by staying up 0.5 in Effect and 1.55 in total Visual.

Impulse (4th, 71.40) stayed within 0.45 of Gold by placing 3rd in Music Effect, Visual Performance and all Music captions (Brass, Music Ensemble and Percussion). That 1.6 advantage in total Music was muted by placing 1.45 under Gold in total Visual, mostly due to a 3.4/1.7 deficit in Color Guard.

Mystikal (5th, 67.65) took 3rd in Visual Ensemble and 4th in Color Guard. While beating Impulse by 1.2 in total Visual, the corps fell behind by 1.9 in total Effect and 3.05 in total Music.

Incognito (6th, 64.95) was 5th in Music Effect, Color Guard, Brass and Music Ensemble and 6th in all other captions, outscoring the higher placing Mystikal in total Music by 0.15.

Blue Devils C (7th, 55.45) placed 7th in all captions.

Michael Boo www.dci.org

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Can’t make it to Bloomington? Here’s the next best thing!

Comment now » // July 18th, 2008

‘Big, Loud & Live 5′ will explode into more than 340 theaters on Aug. 7

If you can’t be there in person for the Drum Corps International World Championships in Bloomington, Ind. this August, the next best thing is to head to your local movie theater to catch “Big, Loud & Live 5,” DCI’s annual live simulcast of the World Championship Quarterfinals. In conjunction with National CineMedia’s (NCM) Fathom Events, Drum Corps International has nearly tripled the number of venues for fans to watch the live digital movie theater presentation in this, the fifth year it has been beamed live to movie theaters across the United States.The event will kick off in theaters on Thursday, Aug. 7 at 6 p.m. Eastern time, originating from a live satellite feed directly from Indiana University’s Memorial Stadium, where all of the World Championship action will be taking place. Tens of thousands of drum corps fans across the country will get the best possible view of the performances, sitting in air-conditioned comfort with hot, buttery popcorn always in arm’s reach! And with 340 theaters presenting “Big, Loud & Live 5″ in 43 states and Washington D.C., fans who may not have had the opportunity to view the event in range in the past, are now likely to have a theater nearby!

“Our fans asked for it, and we’re thrilled to have tripled the number of theaters that will showcase the world’s most elite and exclusive marching music ensembles,” said Dan Acheson, executive director and CEO of Drum Corps International. “There are now more opportunities than ever for fans across the United States to experience Marching Music’s Major League on the big screen.”

“Big, Loud & Live 5″ will feature the top 15 World Class drum corps performing their competitive programs in their entirety, soaring onto the silver screen in all of their power, pageantry and precision, with high definition video and 5.1 surround sound audio. The event will also include highlight clips of the first five World Class corps that performed earlier in the day preceding the start of the live simulcast.

The broadcast is made possible through the NCM Digital Broadcast Network, the largest cinema broadcast network in North America. Cinema chains carrying “Big, Loud & Live 5″ include select AMC Entertainment Inc, Celebration! Cinema, Cinemark USA Inc., Goodrich Quality Theaters, Georgia Theatre Co., Kerasotes ShowPlace Theatres, Marcus Theatres, Malco Theaters, National Amusements and Regal Entertainment Group movie theatres, as well as the Penn Cinema (Lititz, PA).

Visit DCI.org/cinema to watch a movie trailer and to find additional info.

Tagged Marching News

Color Guard Auditions

Comment now » // July 17th, 2008

When it comes to selecting color guard members for any group (drum corps / winter guard / marching band), I have always found it important to select the best performers . . . not necessarily the best spinners or dancers. Crazy you say? Well hear me out. 

We all know a great guard elevates any average show and a bad guard will kill it no matter how well the book is designed or the horns and percs perform.  It then stands to reason that you want kids in your guard that are good communicators and really want to be on stage.  Here is my process for auditioning. 

Each prospective member is judged in 4 areas: 

1. A short essay in which they explain why they wish to be in the color guard.  A kid who cannot string thoughts together into a coherent paragraph will never be able to drive a show concept for up to 11 & 1/2 minutes.  I have actually cut kids based on their essays without ever seeing them pick up a flag).  
2. Pre-taught equipment fundamentals. 
3. Pre-taught movement fundamentals. 
4. A 2 minute performance of any medium they choose.  This may seem a bit odd to many directors but it was something I picked up from my days in the 1980s with the Madison Scouts.  By allowing the auditioner to choose his performance tool, you really get to see his desire to perform and his comfort level being in front of others.  These are traits that usually aren’t as apparent when first learning how to spin and dance.  

My breakdown for weighting the evaluations on the day of the audition are 25% equipment / 25 % dance / 50 % personal performance.  Some have asked why so high on the performance.  The best response I have is as follows: “I can teach the skills needed to be a good guard member (spinning, dancing, reading forms, etc . . .) but the true love of performing has to come from the individual. 

- Scott Kurtzweil 

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Central Florida Boys & Girls Club enjoys special visit by the Blue Stars

Comment now » // July 16th, 2008

Some very special guests were in attendance at the DCI Orlando event this past Saturday, July 12. Members of the Central Florida Boys & Girls Club, youth ages 5 to 14 who participate in a local drum line supported by NAMM: the International Music Products association and area music stores, had the chance to enjoy their very first drum corps show.At the show’s intermission, members of the Blue Stars came into the stands for a surprise visit with the Boys & Girls Club drummers. The Blue Stars members shook hands, answered questions, and even let the kids do a little bit of drumming on one of their snare drums.

“I had a chance to speak with a few of the kids and was very touched by their reactions and enthusiasm for what they were seeing on the field,” said John DeNovi, DCI director of business development. “The looks on their faces when four members of the Blue Stars came into the stands to meet them was priceless! I’m not sure who got a bigger kick out of this… the kids, or the members of the Blue Stars who did such a great job making our guests feel so special.”

Boys & Girls Club students have been invited by Drum Corps International to three more DCI Premier Events this season, including 350 members in San Antonio, 400 in Atlanta, and another 100 in Bloomington, Ind. for the World Championships.

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Starting the Visual Design Process - Scott Kurtzweil

Comment now » // July 15th, 2008

 (The below excerpt was taken from the Drill Design Clinic 2008 - www.banddirector.com)

A Drill Designer’s First Thoughts About Field Show Creation
Scott Kurtzweil – Kurtzweil Designs

Spring has begun to roll into summer and it is again time to begin preparing, in earnest, for the upcoming fall marching band season. This year’s show design clinic features the Wyandotte High School Marching Band under the direction of Mark D’Angelo. Over the next few months we will follow Mark, his staff and his students as together we develop the program concept and visual design for their production of “Aqua”.

Before we start looking at the particulars of putting together the program for the Wyandotte production of “Aqua”, let’s take a look at the general prep work that needs to be done prior to designing any drill.

I. Degree of Demand (Grade Level)
Prior sitting down to design a visual package for a particular ensemble, I like to review video of its previous three years of performances. From these I can gain a wealth of information including performance and design techniques with which the students are already familiar and an over all sense of performance quality both for individual sections and the band as a whole.
Like most band music, a drill design can often be graded based on the demand that it places on the individual performer and the ensemble as a whole. In fact, many designers will grade their designs on the same 1 to 6 scale that is usually associated with band scores to make for an easy correlation. Also, like in choosing music for the band, it is important to purchase or create a drill design that offers the students the opportunity to grow while at the same time accenting your ensembles strengths while drawing attention away from its weaknesses.
For example, I have found that when it comes to visual design, the two most important sections to keep in mind when writing are the battery percussion and color guard. We will get in to the specifics of how to handle these sections in the next installment.
II. Design Concepts
Designing a show that will resonate with your audience is nearly as important as designing a show to fit your ensemble. If you are writing for a program that traditionally marches a Big Ten style half-time show, the last thing you may want to design is an extensive free-form moment complete with dancing mellophones. Conversely, if your audience includes judges, it is also important to write a show that is going to maximize your potential score in both composition and execution.
III. Dissecting The Musical Score
Prior to plotting that first page in Pyware, I will sit down with the entire program staff and break down the score into phrases . This final pre-design meeting ensures that all of the design team is on the same page with regard to phrasing and also gives me insight into necessary staging throughout the program (This is especially true with regard to the color guard as staging for them is critical based equipment, costume changes, etc.) The final result of this meeting is a phrasing spreadsheet (see below). This spreadsheet lays out not only count structure but also…
• Important Instrumentation – Staging important voices in the music book is as equally important as the type of movement you are designing. When staging, keep in mind the size and projection abilities of the instruments you are staging.
• Score Texture – The thickness of the voices in the music book has a big impact on the visual presentation of that book. If the voicing is fairly exposed, open up your staging and allow the eye to relax. If the texture is very dense, stack you layers vertically. This will add focus to the visual book but also make for a more homogenous band sound.
• Velocity – The speed of the visual development should match the rhythmic and harmonic tempo of the piece you are interpreting.
• Color Guard Staging Plans – Working with your guard designer should give you a good idea as to the type of work he/she is planning. Keep in mind the “reach” of the choreography (i.e. – a silk on a 6 ft. pole allows much greater visibility than a body only phrase).

Example of Program Development Sheet

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What Drum Corps Did For Me; Part 1 by JohnDonovan.biz

1 Comment » // June 13th, 2008

As the 2008 season kicks off, it makes me not only think about the great memories from when I marched, but more importantly, how it changed my life. Drum Corps for me was formal percussion training. To this day, I am convinced that drum corps training for an aspiring professional drummer is extremely valuable.  I knew from the time I was playing with Transformers that I wanted to be a professional drummer.  What drum corps taught me went far beyond just the technical side. It taught me about intense work ethic  and constantly adjusting to new situations.

On the technical side, I choose a training path that is still to this day, uncommon. While most corps style drummers choose to stick with one section for the duration of their training, I knew early on that it would benefit me to become proficient on snare, tenor and bass. Not only did this benefit my drumline arranging skills by producing parts that sound well balanced, but each of the segments has it’s own unique educational advantage. I feel that snare drum training focuses on rudimental proficiency, tenor training focuses on movement mechanics and bass training focuses on fills and crazy timing. I touch on these subjects more in my Instructional/Performance DVD entitled: Drumline Vs. Drumset, which is still in post production.

Work ethic is very important in the music business. Often, as a professional musician, you have to work three times harder then someone who has a normal 9-5 day job, just to make ends meet.  If you don’t have an intense work ethic, you will be eaten alive in this business. I really credit my work ethic to drum corps training, as well as watching directors Roman Belenski and Bob Jacobs in action. To wake up everyday and love doing what you do to financially survive is rewarding,  but it sure can be stressful. My work ethic is what keeps me involved in professional music every day, and I will never quit. I might have been forced out of DCI because of age, but my heart never left. I still strive to become better every day.

Learning  to constantly adjust  to new situations as a professional drummer is an art. Every day, week, month and year is different. You never know what is going to happen. Control is an illusion. You can have a week where you have it figured out that you are making a grand and then all hell breaks loose. A musical director dissolves his band, and sells his contracts off to the highest bidder, half your private students miss for various reasons, checks from clients bounce, your truck breaks down, all on top of catching a cold from your wife and your toddler son. Then there are times that you know the week is going to be really tight, and then opportunity after opportunity pours in. No matter what type of week I am having, I can go to sleep at night knowing one thing: I am a professional drummer that did not quit after aging out of DCI. I will admit it is depressing knowing that probably more than 96 percent of all that performance talent coming off the field at finals just vanishes into thin air. The music business would be a better place if more drummers that aged out became full time professionals.

John Donovan has played with professional dance bands, rock bands, metal bands, jazz bands, musical theater pit orchestras, cruise ship bands and DJ’S.  In 2002, John performed with One Man Religion, which opened for internationally recognized Metal band, Breaking Benjamin.  He is also a multi-world, national and state rudimental drumming champion,  marching with Pioneer, Jersey Surf and The Reading Buccaneers Drum and Bugle Corps.  A music business graduate of McNally Smith College of Music, formerly known as MusicTech, John has served as composer, arranger, instructor, and manager for drumlines across the Northeast and Midwest. John was featured in Modern Drummer Magazine, March 2008, pg 192. John is a performing artist and clinician for Mapex Marching Percussion and can be reached through http://www.JohnDonovan.Biz

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