Field Timing: Set Your Phasing to None!

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Let me ask your opinion, Mike.
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Okay.
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Mediocrity is the new if you're mediocre you're above average.
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Oh yeah.
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Agreed.
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Oh yeah.
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That's that's definitely above average is working too hard.
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Right.
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And good is the enemy of great.
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Those two things don't coexist.
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I do believe that one.
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I uh you know, I listen, I have made it a mission in my life to not see the negative before I look for the positive.
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Yeah.
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It's sometimes it's just really hard.
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Oh yeah.
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You know, and and this may be a um indicator of my age, but when my first response is, How hard is this?
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Yeah, that's usually my time to stop and go, well, now wait, I have no idea what this person's going through.
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So anyway, how's your world?
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My world is perfect as always.
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Perfect as always?
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Is it full?
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Are you books solid?
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Yeah, having to turn away people.
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You know, there's just not enough time in the day.
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And you know, by the time I make carve out time to go see some soccer games and some little little league football games and whatever, you know, gotta, you know, need to do that too, you know.
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Well, those absolutely matter, so I'm glad you're finding time to do that.
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Yeah.
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So it is we we feel pretty busy still at the music store.
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I think the the tsunami wave of back to school is somewhat over, but it's still pretty busy hanging out at the old retail music store.
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So we're blessed and fortunate for that.
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Yeah.
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But um let's let's see what we could do today to help some of our fellow music educators in their quest to become uh a better march uh a better educators and be a better marching ensemble.
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Yeah.
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What do you think?
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I think that's a good idea.
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What we want to talk about today is field timing, and we we did this about a year ago, but I've got some new stuff to kind of introduce.
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But I it's one of the the number one problems I see in bands, you know, and they're and sometimes the directors aren't quite sure exactly what to do to fix it.
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So maybe we can offer a few little things here and in the thought process to to alleviate that fear you know and see if they can get that thing fixed up.
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Fantastic.
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Well, do this for me, just because I'm and this is just for me.
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I know everybody else is smarter than me, but when you say field timing, define what you're talking about.
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Just the idea that uh when a group performs in the field, that all that sound gets to the press box at the same time.
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That's probably the simplest definition.
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So there's not tear production issue.
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Yeah, yeah.
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So you don't have like the trumpets being, you know, half a second ahead of the woodwinds or or whatever the case might be.
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You know is this the famous tennis balls?
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Oh, yeah.
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All the all the tennis balls hit at the same time?
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Yeah, that's that's the goal.
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That is the goal.
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Cool.
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And sometimes that's a good mental picture or a good visual for the kids to understand that every time they play a note, it's like throwing a tennis ball at the speed of sound.
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You know, and uh in those tennis balls, the the goal is to get them all to get to the same place at the same time.
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And so if someone's really close to the front sideline and watching the drum major and stays with the drum major's hands, and someone's really far back on the field and watches the drum major, stays with the drum major's hands, then the kid on the very front, their tennis ball is gonna hit the press box quicker.
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It seems like it wouldn't happen because I mean sound is what 767 miles per hour.
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It's hard to believe there's a delay built into it, right?
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Yeah, and that's something that there's there's that much of a delay, you'd think it would be more instantaneous, you know, but you know, light for us is instantaneous, you know what I mean?
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Right.
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And it kind of goes against the one of my favorite things to learn in science in the ninth grade was you can drop things of different weights at the same time and they fall at the same rate.
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Yeah.
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Because that's how gravity works.
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It doesn't matter how much it weighs.
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It doesn't really work with sound in the marching field.
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Not at all.
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And uh, you know, and seeing is kind of believing when you're working with groups so that you know, sound travels relatively slowly.
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And yeah, I know all the directors out there have told their students this before, you know, about sound, but it takes but take some time to kind of demonstrate it to the group.
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Uh take like half your win players and place them behind the drum line, you know, just set the drum line maybe on the right in the middle of the field and uh have them sit there and play, and then the other half of the wins stand up on the front sideline, and then have a few kids go up in the stands and then have everyone play at the same time.
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And they're gonna hear a marked difference between the winds, woodwinds and brass that are behind the percussion, not because they're behind the percussion, they're just further away.
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And uh, and so we we kind of try to work it to where all sound comes from the back and works its way forward, you know.
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Okay as they throw their tennis ball and it goes over the head of the person in front of them, that's when the person in front of them throws their tennis ball and that chain reaction happens all the way through.
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And uh that that's almost too complicated to explain because you don't really want the kids to be thinking, oh, I gotta wait longer or I've got to wait shorter.
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But it's more just uh knowing your listening responsibilities.
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Right.
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I'm gonna say this almost sounds like a complex physics uh equation you have to figure out.
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I don't think it's that hard, but you lead us and give us some hints and show us how you can help correct that.
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Yeah, so another way to do it is just to have uh I know we used to do it in drum core back in early decades of my youth.
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Um, but John Simpson would have put us in a circle, then you put the percussion in the middle, and then we'd all take, we'd play a portion of the show, maybe 16 measures, and then we'd all take like eight steps back, straight back, so the circle gets bigger, and then we'd play it again, then the circle gets bigger, and you play it again and play it again.
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And it's not very long until you start to realize that even though we're all playing along with the percussion, that we're hearing the people on the other side of the circle after we're playing.
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Right.
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And then so then we turn everyone to the front in that circle and flatten the circle out, almost a company front, facing the front with the percussion right with us, and then all of a sudden you don't get that same feeling.
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It's not a feeling, you don't get that same listening experience.
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And so it's a matter of you, it's it's almost like we could explain it to death, but it you know, it's you've got to do some sort of exercise like I just explained, so they understand what's happening.
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And I don't want it to be so drastic, like you know, when my dad taught us how to swim, he just threw us in the water.
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You know, there's no explanation.
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He just he just we're at the lake and then get in the water.
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Okay, you know, threw us in the water.
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And he would have sagged us, of course.
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He wasn't gonna let us drown, but you know, we'd flounder around until we figured out how to swim.
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And I'm not saying that's what we want to do in terms of learning about field timing, because uh one thing is we don't have the time to waste, you know, but explain it to them and then show it to them.
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Every single one of your win players knows and believes intrinsically that the geometry of their placement on the field in relation to where the percussion is is highly important in their timekeeping responsibilities.
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That has to be like a mantra that's in their head.
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They need to be aware of where the percussion line is, the battery is at all times.
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You know what?
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I'm I'm gonna ask you this too.
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Uh you can agree or disagree.
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I don't want to bog down on it, but I also think the human the human brain is such a fantastic machine.
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It is such a uh, you know, I'll use the term miraculous.
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It will figure things out, even if we don't sit there and go, okay, this has to do this, has to do this, you know, just like depth perception, just like any of our other uh things that it analyzes and corrects on the fly all the time.
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Yeah, once they have the experience of what you can tell yourself, I need to listen for X or I need to be aware of Y, your brain actually does a lot of that computation on its own.
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You just have to have the experiential marker to create in your head to go, okay, that's what I'm listening for.
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Or that's exactly right.
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And I'm trying to accomplish.
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The kids have to know what to listen for and what to ignore.
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Because that's important.
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Yeah.
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We've yelled at them.
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Hey, I'll just say we've yelled at we've yelled at them since the beginning, band.
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Listen to each other, play together, listen to each other, play together.
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Then we get on a football field and we go, don't listen to us, don't listen to the woodwinds here, don't listen to this.
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Don't front ensemble.
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You're supposed to listen, but battery, don't listen to the front ensemble.
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And so it's but you're right, the human brain, if if if you tell the students enough times and then they trust us, then eventually they'll figure out that, well, when I play, it's always going to sound like the front ensemble's ahead of me.
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If they're on the actually on the front of the field.
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You know, and sometimes we stage them in the middle of the field in smaller groups, especially.
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You know, but once they get used to that, the human brain will filter it out.
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It's kind of like I give the example like in our band hall, because we had those, like most band halls, had fluorescent lights.
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This is before LEDs were real popular.
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You know what I mean?
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I guess is it LEDs?
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Yeah.
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You know that but uh but the fluorescent lights would buzz, wouldn't they?
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So it'd like you get everybody to be quiet and said, now, all right now, and then they wouldn't think about it.
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He goes, Do you hear the lights buzzing?
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The 60 cycle, yeah.
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Oh yeah, yeah, I can hear that.
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Said, yeah, and actually, that's an E-flat in the Wiley band hall, by the way, because they're all tuned to concert E-Flat.
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Um they weren't tuned to anything, it's just what they were.
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And then said, But you isn't that amazing how before I said that, you didn't really listen for that.
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Preparing it, but your brain was filtering it out.
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Your brain was like, Oh, that's always there, saying that's not important to my survival.
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So I uh I'm not I'm gonna filter that out.
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Now, listening to the percussion line, that's kind of important, not that maybe that's dramatic, important to our survival as a marching band, you know.
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So the the human brain will filter out what it doesn't need in order to survive, you know.
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And so we've got to we've got to make it work that way for them, you know.
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And we have to, I think that it's also important.
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It's also amazing to me.
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We rehearse day after day after day in a certain environment, but the first time you go into a stadium, suddenly everything sounds different.
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Yes.
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And you feel very isolated and alone and you're looking for that anchor that you're used to hearing.
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So and even more complex to that is every stadium's a little bit different.
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Correct.
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Because you can hear the if you're in a big old rat lift over there in Odessa, you can hear that sound slapping back at you a little bit later than if you were in the stadium at a little 1A school, you know, where they go right off the you know, you might not even come back at you.
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Just we've even talked about this before.
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Some stadiums, Midland has such a low slope uh the gradient is so different in the stands that it makes the sound completely different.
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Yeah, and either way, you don't listen to what's coming back at you from the stands, but that definitely is disconcerting.
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You know, if it depends how you hear you're used to, yeah, all of a sudden your brain's going, This is different.
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Is something else different too?
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You know, your brain is very complex and it can filter things out, but it also can trip you up because it's it's thinking, well, that was different.
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Now do I still listen to the percussion?
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You don't actively think that consciously, maybe, but you definitely, your brain will start to try to trick you in that regard.
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Um, and the next thing we have to do, oh my gosh, and uh one of my pet peeves, I guess, you know, use a backfield metronome.
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You know, you backfield keyboard there.
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You've got to use a metronome to rehearse.
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And I've seen, and some folks go to the level of where if the band's not doing very well, they'll use it during a halftime performance.
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I never did that.
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Probably should have at times.
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But um, but you need a backfield metronome.
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And I'm certain that many of my the listeners or whatever, that seems insultingly simple and obvious.
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Okay.
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But it's been my experience.
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I've seen so many bands that are reluctant or they're resistant to utilizing a backfield metronome during rehearsals.
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Worse yet, they'll use a front field metronome.
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You know, have it pointed into the band with their regular speaker system.
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And it simply kind of boils down to some kind of puritanical sense of pride.
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We ought not to use a metronome.
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We the music is internal, it's in our soul.
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We should just open our hearts and the music will flow out in time, you know.
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What a bunch of crap.
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You know, it's a, you know, it it's a methodical logistical process, you know, and so you have to have that met going during fundamental marching, during the warmups, whatever.
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It and it's irritating, you know.
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I'd always tell my bands, we knew we arrived when I said, how many of y'all when I turn off the metronome, you still hear the metronome?
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And they're all like, yeah, we do.
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They sort of tink, tink, tink, tink, tink.
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It's like ingrained in their brain.
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And I said, Yeah, it's the the brainwashing and the torture shall continue.
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You know, so it's it really helps us a lot.
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It's and we just have to succumb to it, you know, and it kind of the same process.
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Um, I've seen bands really get confused on the field in a rehearsal when I'm there working the band because they'll start the band on the field and the director will be up in the tower or the deer blind or the press box or whatever, you know what I mean?
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And they're counting with the band, and they've got their microphone on.
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So the band's playing.
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That unbeknownst to them, every single time they say the number one, two, three, four, it's about a half a second behind what the kids are hearing on the field.
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And but to you in the press box, you think you're counting right with the band, but you're counting with the tempo that's reached you already.
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And it's a it's a vicious cycle.
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And so don't ever count with the band out loud, you know, or use a gock block or you use a metronome kind of hooked to your speaker, you know, where like you you think you're just trying to adjust it to what the band's playing.
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Um, the the the metronome is what drives the bus.
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It's the driver.
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Okay.
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And so we do we need to do everything to get out of the way of that.
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Uh also a metronome is the only guarantee for success in your auxiliary performers.
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Who tosses, other maneuvers are tied strictly to written tempos.
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If your band gets excited and plays 20 beats a minute faster, um, I feel for your color guard.
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And it's just as difficult for the guard if they're doing 20, 30 beats a minute slower.
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Because then it's almost painful trying to get the routine to work.
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It was the the drill, the marching and the color guard routines, you know, Choreo, they were written at a certain tempo.
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That makes sense.
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And so we kind of fight that.
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We fight that a lot.
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And so, you know, the guard is such an important part of what we do, especially in uh in our world in Texas, and you know, with uh now an area, you know, there's actually for most of our classifications, there's now a guard judge.
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Right.
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And that that's a fairly new progressive thing for us.
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You know, back in the day you just had five band directors, and you know, there might out of all five, they judge music and marching, but probably all five never said a word about the guard.
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The guard could have just evaporated and would have changed anything.
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And uh that's that's not good.
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Those kids put in just as much actually, those kids sometimes put in a lot more time than Woodwin Brass.
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Yeah.
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So, you know, we we've got that responsibility too, so we've got to make sure that the guard understands what's happening.
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Cool.
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You know, I also think just to throw this in, a lot of times the guard learns that through a recording, whether that's from the publisher or your band recorded it for them at the beginning of the summer so they'd have something to practice with.
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And then if you change that tempo without telling them or re-recording it, it's just gonna almost fiasco ish advocating for that metronomic feel again.
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But it's like those evil bands that'll play extra fast for the drill team on Friday night on purpose.
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I don't know of anybody that would do that, Mike Glenn.
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No, I don't know of anybody.
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I've never played for a drill team, honestly.
00:15:44.720 --> 00:15:45.440
I never have.
00:15:45.600 --> 00:15:49.919
Um, we started a drill team and I ended up retiring before the band was playing for the drill team.
00:15:50.000 --> 00:15:51.919
I just said, no, they just need to use a recording.
00:15:52.000 --> 00:16:02.240
Uh uh, I'd been there enough years I could throw a little political cloud around, but I've never actually played for a drill team, but I know bands that, you know, it's not necessarily the directors.
00:16:02.320 --> 00:16:03.519
Sometimes the kids get a kick out of it.
00:16:03.679 --> 00:16:04.960
So let's kick this thing up.
00:16:05.120 --> 00:16:05.600
Watch this.
00:16:05.840 --> 00:16:10.559
Yeah, let's let's watch the let's watch that drill team get after those boots are flying.
00:16:11.600 --> 00:16:12.000
Sure.
00:16:12.559 --> 00:16:13.600
It's hilarious.
00:16:13.679 --> 00:16:15.360
Um well it's hilarious to me, I'm sure.
00:16:15.679 --> 00:16:16.399
It's a curious thing.
00:16:16.480 --> 00:16:17.279
It's our drill team.
00:16:20.080 --> 00:16:21.600
You blank ity blank.
00:16:23.600 --> 00:16:24.720
Or I knew it.
00:16:24.960 --> 00:16:25.440
I knew it.
00:16:25.519 --> 00:16:26.879
I knew they were doing that on purpose.
00:16:27.039 --> 00:16:37.600
Um, so one of the basic things we have to do, and it, you know, most of life is basic, I suppose, when we talk about logistics and field timing, but you have to assign specific listening responsibilities.
00:16:37.919 --> 00:16:42.240
You have to explain, take the time to explain to them what they need to do.
00:16:42.399 --> 00:16:53.919
Once your students understand the effect that the speed of sound has on their ability to play in time on the field, then it's time to give them some simple rules for what who they play along with, what they hear.
00:16:54.159 --> 00:16:57.679
Um when they sit, do we watch the drum majors?
00:16:58.159 --> 00:17:00.159
Do we not watch the drum majors?
00:17:00.399 --> 00:17:10.960
And uh so that that's something that's interesting because I think to most of the public and to a lot of uh a lot of band directors, they think just always watch the hands of the drum major.
00:17:11.200 --> 00:17:18.640
You know, but there's a reason why if your front ensemble is actually in front of the band on that front sideline, they should never watch the drum majors.
00:17:18.720 --> 00:17:23.359
They should be listening back to the ensemble more specifically to the battery who's behind them.
00:17:23.599 --> 00:17:26.960
And so then it comes like, well, where do we draw the line?
00:17:27.119 --> 00:17:29.440
You know, how far backfield is backfield?
00:17:29.599 --> 00:17:38.319
And I think just to start by telling them, I say if you're in front of the front hash, then your definite goal is to listen for the battery.
00:17:38.559 --> 00:17:38.880
Okay.
00:17:39.119 --> 00:17:39.359
Right.
00:17:39.519 --> 00:17:50.880
If you're behind the in the middle of the field or behind the back hash, then your goal is to also listen for percussion, but you should be watching the drum major's hands, you know, and it'll make it work.
00:17:50.960 --> 00:18:04.960
And a really simple rule, if you can draw a line from the like the batteries behind me and I'm standing in a certain spot, me and the drum majors in front of me, if I can draw a straight line between those, all I have to do is listen to the battery.
00:18:05.519 --> 00:18:06.640
That's all I have to do.
00:18:07.200 --> 00:18:09.440
You know, so that's just a really simple rule.
00:18:09.599 --> 00:18:15.119
If you can draw a straight line from the drum line to yourself to the drum major, then you can listen and not watch.
00:18:15.440 --> 00:18:16.640
You would be the midpoint.
00:18:16.799 --> 00:18:18.000
You'd be the midpoint.
00:18:18.160 --> 00:18:18.559
Yeah.
00:18:18.799 --> 00:18:22.240
So that's the time that it's the easiest for it.
00:18:22.319 --> 00:18:26.480
But just as our front on, like I said, our front ensemble members, they listen backwards for their timing.
00:18:26.559 --> 00:18:29.599
Um, they listen backfield, uh backwards, listen backwards.
00:18:29.759 --> 00:18:30.720
That's like spelling.
00:18:31.359 --> 00:18:32.000
I knew what you meant.
00:18:32.160 --> 00:18:32.640
Yeah, yeah.
00:18:32.720 --> 00:18:34.240
Uh hopefully the listeners know what I meant.
00:18:34.400 --> 00:18:38.640
Uh so your performers in this zone leading directly from the drum line to the drum major.
00:18:38.799 --> 00:18:41.920
And, you know, there's spreadsheets out there, there's programs.
00:18:42.000 --> 00:18:58.160
Uh Andrew Rogers is a, if you Google that, uh, there's a lot of like uh really cool tools where you can like enter, put your drill into it, and it'll tell you the different zones on the field of what to listen to and what not to listen for, or what to watch, or what not to watch, things of that nature.
00:18:58.319 --> 00:19:07.920
And uh, you know, when it all boils down to it, if a band is really, and this is hard, if a band's really well trained, then the one who controls the tempo is not the band director.
00:19:08.160 --> 00:19:11.039
It's not the drum majors, it's the center snare.
00:19:11.359 --> 00:19:12.480
Center snare, right?
00:19:12.720 --> 00:19:19.440
Yeah, so whatever they do, mainly the drum majors, their job in a well-trained band is to follow the center snare's feet.
00:19:19.680 --> 00:19:25.519
You know, and just stay with that center snare's feet the whole time, you know, and that and everything will work out correctly.
00:19:25.759 --> 00:19:28.000
Easier said than done.
00:19:28.400 --> 00:19:28.720
Okay.
00:19:28.960 --> 00:19:30.960
A lot easier said than done.
00:19:32.160 --> 00:19:40.720
But uh there'll be some things we have downloadable, some little links of by Andrew Rogers that uh on sound delay, so with those.
00:19:40.960 --> 00:19:49.839
It's not necessary that you have all those figured out, you know, and and use them because you can also, you know, get paralysis by analysis.
00:19:50.000 --> 00:19:50.799
You know what I mean?
00:19:50.880 --> 00:19:55.279
You get so deep into it that you're thinking, oh, well, if I'm on the 20-yard line and blah, blah, blah.
00:19:55.440 --> 00:19:57.519
And I'll tell you an example that just blew my mind.
00:19:57.680 --> 00:20:03.359
We did a Queen show one year, and we started with ba-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da.
00:20:03.680 --> 00:20:07.359
You know, and the trombone started, 20-yard line back hash.
00:20:07.599 --> 00:20:09.200
But they had to start the show.
00:20:09.359 --> 00:20:12.079
They were the single source that started the show, was the low brass.
00:20:12.400 --> 00:20:18.400
So the drum majors started the band, but they had to play a whole half of a beat ahead of the drum majors.
00:20:18.880 --> 00:20:19.279
Wow.
00:20:19.519 --> 00:20:26.319
So we had to teach them to, you know, when they were seeing the ictus, it was like, hit, hit, hit, hit, hit, hit.
00:20:26.480 --> 00:20:27.200
They just had to know.
00:20:27.279 --> 00:20:29.599
And what I did was I had one really smart trombone.
00:20:29.680 --> 00:20:30.640
Well, I had lots of smart ones.
00:20:30.720 --> 00:20:32.000
I picked one smart one.
00:20:32.160 --> 00:20:36.799
And their job back there was just to count out loud, a half a beat ahead of the drum majors.
00:20:36.960 --> 00:20:41.440
And then the kids were watching the drum majors to kind of double check where, yeah, we're supposed to be ahead of them.
00:20:41.519 --> 00:20:47.279
They're also listening to that one kid going one, two, three, four.
00:20:47.519 --> 00:20:50.720
There's nothing wrong with communicating with each other on the field.
00:20:50.960 --> 00:20:51.440
Agreed.
00:20:51.599 --> 00:20:52.160
You know.
00:20:52.319 --> 00:20:54.079
Um, especially if it's a bigger band.
00:20:54.160 --> 00:21:03.599
Now, if you only got 17 kids in your band and they're all yelling at each other on the field, there's gonna be a problem because all you're gonna hear is kids yelling at the audience is gonna be, why are they arguing?
00:21:03.680 --> 00:21:05.119
Why are mom and dad arguing right now?
00:21:05.279 --> 00:21:07.119
Yeah, why are the kids so upset on the field?
00:21:07.279 --> 00:21:16.160
And it, you know, but if you ever step foot inside Hebron high schools, marching rehearsals, it's uh it's pure organized chaos in the middle of that rehearsal.
00:21:16.240 --> 00:21:19.359
And I mean that with all love, and it's it's a it's an incredible band.
00:21:19.519 --> 00:21:25.279
Those kids are barking orders and the section leaders are talking and they're telling kids what they need to do and they're giving advice.
00:21:25.519 --> 00:21:27.119
This is while the kids are playing.
00:21:27.279 --> 00:21:33.039
You know, they stop playing to kind of shout down the line that hey, just quit rushing, you know, or we're dragging.
00:21:33.680 --> 00:21:37.759
You know, so the Lone Electricon that you call that good noise.
00:21:38.000 --> 00:21:38.960
Yeah, that'd be good noise.
00:21:39.039 --> 00:21:39.920
That'd be good noise.
00:21:40.079 --> 00:21:43.440
And so, you know, it's not like we're getting a cherry limeade after rehearsal kind of noise.
00:21:43.759 --> 00:21:44.960
It's actually good noise.
00:21:45.200 --> 00:21:59.759
And uh one of the things is uh, you know, we can all present quite the challenge for our drum majors and field conductors because, in addition to having to provide clear, unchanging tempos, they must do this while ignoring some conflicting information.
00:22:00.319 --> 00:22:02.400
That's reaching their ears all the time.
00:22:02.559 --> 00:22:12.799
And they just have to be oblivious to what's happening sometimes because there's some things that are just going to sound wrong to them, but everything's hitting the press box at the same time.
00:22:12.960 --> 00:22:17.200
And I know that sounds counterintuitive, you know, but uh, but it really does work.
00:22:17.359 --> 00:22:22.480
You know, if the battery's behind the winds, then the center drum majors should conduct to what they see the battery doing.
00:22:22.720 --> 00:22:28.799
Looking at the center snare sticks, feet, et cetera, are all those are excellent cues of what to do.
00:22:28.960 --> 00:22:45.119
Um, if the battery, if the if you have side conductors, you got a big enough band, side conductors and drum majors, maybe on the 30-yard lines or 25-yard lines, uh, they're conducting areas of the of a big band that are outside what I call the safe listening environment.
00:22:45.279 --> 00:22:50.240
Yeah, that's not the same, because the sound delay works side to side as well as front to back.
00:22:50.559 --> 00:23:05.440
So sometimes those conductors, and this you this like arguing religion and politics here, yeah, because I know directors who will say that I'm just an absolute idiot for saying this, but I can find enough directors to vouch that either way you do it, it'll eventually work out.
00:23:05.599 --> 00:23:11.599
But they have to conduct slightly ahead of the center conductor's hands in order for it to all line up correctly.
00:23:11.680 --> 00:23:13.519
And it's all a matter of compromise.
00:23:13.599 --> 00:23:14.319
It certainly is.
00:23:15.039 --> 00:23:19.839
And that's in order to ensure those performer sounds reach the audience simultaneously.
00:23:20.000 --> 00:23:22.880
Everything gets them at the same time, you know.
00:23:23.200 --> 00:23:29.119
And it's uh it's it's a tough deal because you know, the and it's not just a big band thing.
00:23:29.279 --> 00:23:31.119
You know, sometimes it's easier in a big band.
00:23:31.200 --> 00:23:34.000
Uh Anthony Gibson's a good friend of mine.
00:23:34.160 --> 00:23:36.880
And of course, he was at a couple of different schools.
00:23:37.039 --> 00:23:40.240
Uh, probably his biggest band was at Allen High School over in Dallas Fort Worth.
00:23:40.480 --> 00:23:41.680
At like 600 plus, right?
00:23:41.920 --> 00:23:43.200
600 kids in the band.
00:23:43.359 --> 00:23:44.240
You know what I mean?
00:23:44.559 --> 00:23:46.400
Just kids everywhere.
00:23:46.559 --> 00:23:49.839
But he was working my band, and I said, Man, we just we're having trouble with field time.
00:23:50.000 --> 00:23:53.839
He said, just tell everyone outside the 30 yard lines to not play right here.
00:23:56.720 --> 00:24:00.880
It's like, all right, everybody outside the 30 yard lines, don't play for these 16 measures.
00:24:01.039 --> 00:24:03.599
And it sounded just the same, except it was in time.
00:24:04.240 --> 00:24:08.000
And then once the drill morphed into something else, he said, now just tell them to play again.
00:24:08.240 --> 00:24:10.160
So talk about an easy fix.
00:24:10.240 --> 00:24:14.319
But you know, you can't really do that if you have three trumpets and two of them are outside the 30s.
00:24:14.400 --> 00:24:15.680
Now you've got one trumpet playing.
00:24:15.839 --> 00:24:21.440
So everything has to be taken kind of with a grain of salt and kind of figure out how big, you know, know how big your band is.
00:24:21.680 --> 00:24:32.960
Um, you know, with the with the timing and what we're doing, um, we have to kind of think in terms of how does it sound on the field to the performer?
00:24:33.680 --> 00:24:33.759
Right.
00:24:34.000 --> 00:24:35.279
And that's hard to remember.
00:24:35.440 --> 00:24:43.039
So I would really try to ask our band director, brethren out there, if you feel comfortable doing it, get out of the tower.
00:24:43.519 --> 00:24:44.720
Get down on the field.
00:24:44.799 --> 00:24:52.640
And it's okay to have your microphone on the field and you turn it on and talk to the kids and the speakers will be in front, you know, while you're using the PA system.
00:24:52.799 --> 00:24:55.839
But get out there and kind of hear exactly what they're doing.
00:24:55.920 --> 00:24:58.880
And sometimes you have to do that in order to fix a problem.
00:24:59.039 --> 00:24:59.279
Right.
00:24:59.839 --> 00:25:01.839
You can't fix it from the stands.
00:25:02.000 --> 00:25:07.920
You know, you have to make sure that you you can fix it from where you need to where where the problem's happening.
00:25:08.079 --> 00:25:12.799
Like if the the woodwind feature's not working, get out there where the woodwinds are playing.
00:25:12.880 --> 00:25:16.640
And then all of a sudden you're listening, going, Oh, now I've got it figured out.
00:25:16.799 --> 00:25:18.079
That's because they're listening to the snare line.
00:25:18.160 --> 00:25:20.480
The snare line's on the other 20-yard line right now.
00:25:20.640 --> 00:25:22.960
So they're going to have to watch the drum major's hands.
00:25:23.119 --> 00:25:26.480
And this is a case in which they're not going to listen to the battery.
00:25:26.720 --> 00:25:33.759
Because they're the same distance from the front sideline as the battery, but there's 45 yards between them and the battery side to side.
00:25:34.240 --> 00:25:41.200
So if they listen to the battery, it's going to be that weird triangular effect where they're always going to be playing behind the tempo the battery's playing.
00:25:41.759 --> 00:25:44.960
So you've got to get out there and listen and go, oh, that's what's happening.
00:25:45.119 --> 00:25:51.279
So, you know, um some things to do um to really make it work right.
00:25:51.440 --> 00:25:56.160
Um, these are things that uh Luke McMillan, a good friend of mine, he writes marching shows.
00:25:56.240 --> 00:26:00.640
If you've heard of Luke McMillan Music.com, there's the free plug, Luke.
00:26:00.720 --> 00:26:01.279
There you go.
00:26:01.440 --> 00:26:06.319
Um, but he he said he always starts everything with a single sound source.
00:26:06.559 --> 00:26:19.599
If it's like an exposed section, it might just be one snare drum playing, and then all the other snares come in on the second measure, then the whole battery comes in on the third measure, then all the brass come in on the fourth measure, then the woodwinds come in on the fifth measure.
00:26:19.920 --> 00:26:29.839
That almost in itself, by constructing it that way as a composer, eliminates most of your timing issues because it comes from a single source.
00:26:30.079 --> 00:26:30.400
Right.
00:26:30.559 --> 00:26:30.880
You know.
00:26:31.119 --> 00:26:34.000
Um something to think of, and you can just do that as a band director.
00:26:34.079 --> 00:26:40.799
You can say, okay, now on this part we're having problems with timing, so let's not have the woodwinds and brass play their first two measures.
00:26:41.039 --> 00:26:45.200
You know, and at first it'll feel awkward, but they'll figure it out pretty quick.
00:26:45.279 --> 00:26:55.359
You know, if if they all they have to listen to is the snare drums playing, you know, or one snare player starts, then all the snares kick in, then all of a sudden it kind of builds up like Lego blocks.
00:26:55.599 --> 00:26:57.599
You know, sound wise it's Lego blocks.
00:26:57.759 --> 00:26:59.440
So it helps a lot.
00:26:59.759 --> 00:27:00.640
That makes sense.
00:27:00.799 --> 00:27:04.400
I mean, the yeah, it's funny how you hear something and you go, huh.
00:27:04.559 --> 00:27:05.200
Yeah.
00:27:05.440 --> 00:27:06.720
Why didn't I think of that?
00:27:06.960 --> 00:27:07.200
Yeah.
00:27:07.359 --> 00:27:16.319
And we've all been in situations, even if you're not a band director, where like, let's say we're at a college game and there's a really good marching band on the field and all of a sudden they start to phase.
00:27:16.480 --> 00:27:18.000
You know, there's a tear in the tempo.
00:27:18.319 --> 00:27:29.680
And even as just a bystander, if you know these rules, you can figure it out pretty quick and go, you know, if they hadn't to put the tubas behind the percussion, then I bet they wouldn't be phasing right here.
00:27:29.839 --> 00:27:37.839
And it makes you sound really intelligent, even though you might not really know exactly how everything's working, but it happens to the best of them.
00:27:38.000 --> 00:27:44.799
You know, all it takes is one slip on the ice and you you're your butt's gonna hit the hit the ground, you know.
00:27:45.440 --> 00:27:51.440
Well, I think you know that we've talked about some of this before, and then the next time I see something, I'll text you, look, look, look.
00:27:51.599 --> 00:27:51.839
Yeah.
00:27:52.799 --> 00:27:55.839
I bet they wish their percussion was in the middle of the field, you know.
00:27:56.000 --> 00:28:01.839
And the younger your band is, and uh, you know, keep the percussion in the middle of the field.
00:28:02.079 --> 00:28:11.680
You know, some it's uh because if they're if they're not a uh very mature band in terms of playing abilities or or behavior, you know, keep everybody in the middle of the field.
00:28:11.759 --> 00:28:13.359
Um Barry Hurt's a good friend of mine.
00:28:13.440 --> 00:28:19.599
He said just, you know, keep everybody between the 30s, if it's a small band, and everybody in front of the middle of the field.
00:28:19.759 --> 00:28:24.640
Make that your entire stadium field from 30 to 30, from sideline to midfield.
00:28:24.880 --> 00:28:29.680
And for a real small band, I've seen them pull it off where they they just go to where the front hash is.
00:28:29.920 --> 00:28:30.319
Right.
00:28:30.640 --> 00:28:32.480
It's about the size of a gym floor.
00:28:32.799 --> 00:28:48.880
But even the same, we both saw at area contests a year or two ago where they put a it almost looked like the uh indoor floor, they spread it out on the field, and that's how they contained their whole show was within that uh that big floor that they laid out.
00:28:48.960 --> 00:28:49.119
Yeah.
00:28:49.279 --> 00:28:53.200
So they never got outside of the area that would affect them that way.
00:28:53.440 --> 00:28:56.480
Yeah, they were continuously in a safe listening zone.
00:28:56.640 --> 00:28:56.799
Right.
00:28:56.960 --> 00:28:58.079
You know, no matter what happened.
00:28:58.160 --> 00:29:03.119
And that the band we're talking about did really well, and I'm pretty sure they advanced to state marching in 5A.
00:29:03.359 --> 00:29:05.279
Well, I knew they made finals, but I didn't remember if they were.
00:29:05.680 --> 00:29:06.720
Yeah, really good band.
00:29:06.799 --> 00:29:16.319
And I I snuck down because I wanted to see their floor because I knew they would pull it off the field and kind of, lack of a better term, they'd kind of wad it up and they'd take it down somewhere and they'd stretch it back out and fold it correctly.
00:29:16.480 --> 00:29:18.160
Because I just kind of wanted to peek at it.
00:29:18.240 --> 00:29:23.920
And sure enough, they they were very intelligent because they had marked some drill spots on the tarp.
00:29:24.000 --> 00:29:28.079
You know, there's like little sharpie marks, you know, where the the kids knew exactly where to go.
00:29:28.240 --> 00:29:30.000
So I thought that was actually brilliant.
00:29:30.160 --> 00:29:37.119
Plus, think of this with all this wet bulb uh temperature stuff we we live under now as UIL procedure.
00:29:37.200 --> 00:29:39.759
Um, their whole show fit in a gym.
00:29:40.000 --> 00:29:40.319
Right.
00:29:40.559 --> 00:29:41.119
How about that?
00:29:43.039 --> 00:29:51.519
Yeah, you know, Denver City, the their show's bigger than a uh a basketball court, but their show fits entirely in their band hall.
00:29:52.640 --> 00:30:03.119
You know, so that that makes it to where they don't have to worry about if it's 105, 110 degrees outside and humid, you know, it's uh what is that, level red or whatever is sometimes where you can't even rehearse anymore.
00:30:04.160 --> 00:30:08.559
Then they can just they can just rehearse inside and put the air conditioner on 72 degrees.
00:30:09.519 --> 00:30:11.039
So I think that's really smart.
00:30:11.200 --> 00:30:26.559
Another thing to do, and uh this happens a lot because we watch drum cores and we watch really, really good marching bands, and we see like the woodwinds play a beautiful ballad moment, and there's no other things going on except the woodwinds playing.
00:30:26.720 --> 00:30:34.160
And then all the students around them, they march in time and good leg position and good foot position, good leg shape.
00:30:34.319 --> 00:30:36.960
Everything works well, especially in a drum and bugle core.
00:30:37.039 --> 00:30:43.599
And then we get so upset because we wonder why our smaller, maybe not as mature of a group can't do that.
00:30:44.000 --> 00:30:48.079
You know, here's the thing don't do that.
00:30:49.119 --> 00:30:49.839
Don't do that.
00:30:49.920 --> 00:30:55.759
And if you must do it, you know, I'll I'll explain it this way from talking like with Luke and other folks.
00:30:55.920 --> 00:31:00.400
And you know, you can put parts in, you know, and sometimes it's not a slow ballad.
00:31:00.559 --> 00:31:19.599
You know, that we we love the moments where it's like the battery plays, then the woodwinds have their you know, it's woodwind brass percussion, woodwind, brass percussion, throw the rifles as high in the air as you can, you know, you know, those moments, it's exciting.
00:31:19.759 --> 00:31:24.559
But then we figure out how come we how come my my woodwinds can't stay in time right here.
00:31:24.799 --> 00:31:28.240
One trick to doing that is never let the percussion quit playing.
00:31:28.400 --> 00:31:36.720
Just have about two snares go to their rims and just write out a part that the woodwinds can hear that's conducive to their woodwind feature.
00:31:40.799 --> 00:31:46.799
You know, just enough to where they hear it plainly from where they're at, the audience, if they're listening for it, they'll hear it.
00:31:46.960 --> 00:31:48.480
But it's not like the whole battery playing.
00:31:48.559 --> 00:31:51.039
And then when the battery plays, it's boom, we're all playing.
00:31:51.200 --> 00:31:56.400
Then the brass, we don't have to worry as much about the brass because they're they'll do their own pulse pocket, you know.
00:31:56.559 --> 00:31:58.720
You know, so the brass are that way, you know.
00:31:58.799 --> 00:32:00.640
They'll how come the band's dragging?
00:32:00.880 --> 00:32:01.759
You idiot.
00:32:01.839 --> 00:32:03.200
You know, I'm a I'm a trumpet player.
00:32:03.920 --> 00:32:05.519
Why is the metronome dragging?
00:32:08.640 --> 00:32:09.839
The metronome's not dragging.
00:32:09.920 --> 00:32:11.680
No one switched the metronome, Mike Lenny.
00:32:12.160 --> 00:32:13.039
It's you rushing.
00:32:13.119 --> 00:32:13.440
Okay.
00:32:13.680 --> 00:32:15.440
So so sometimes that happens.
00:32:15.519 --> 00:32:23.839
And then, you know, as we get into this, we talk about the reason why we all have to count when we're learning drill.
00:32:24.240 --> 00:32:33.519
And it'll be a shocker to band directors because they'll allow, and I know it's we're pressed for time, and it's like I'm tired of telling them to count, but you got to get everyone to count.
00:32:33.680 --> 00:32:35.759
They don't have to yell, they just all have to count.
00:32:35.920 --> 00:32:49.200
Because if you have people on the 20-yard line over here counting, and 20 people on the yard line to other 20-yard line counting, and no one in the middle of the band's counting, the chances of those two being together counting are very slim because they're gonna be listening to each other.
00:32:49.279 --> 00:32:53.440
And it's a vicious cycle of group A's listening for group B.
00:32:53.599 --> 00:32:55.839
So they start to slow down because of the sound delay.
00:32:56.000 --> 00:33:04.400
Group B is listening for group A backwards, and then all of a sudden they're slowing down even more, and it's as vicious cycle as the tempo goes down the drain.
00:33:04.640 --> 00:33:05.519
You know what I mean?
00:33:05.680 --> 00:33:08.960
And so if everyone's counting, there's not a pulse pocket.
00:33:09.119 --> 00:33:10.720
That's what a pulse pocket is.
00:33:10.880 --> 00:33:18.160
And if they don't do it when they're counting, if they don't all count, then we run into that problem when the band doesn't learn their music well enough.
00:33:18.319 --> 00:33:22.400
You might have like 15 brass players that don't know their parts, they just quit playing.
00:33:22.559 --> 00:33:29.200
And all of a sudden, one part of the brass starts playing uh one tempo, and another part of the brass starts playing another tempo.
00:33:29.519 --> 00:33:33.359
Both sides think they're right until the music stops.
00:33:33.519 --> 00:33:36.960
And then all of a sudden everybody goes, Oh, we weren't together.
00:33:37.200 --> 00:33:38.079
We didn't end.
00:33:38.160 --> 00:33:38.240
Yeah.
00:33:38.400 --> 00:33:39.519
Yeah, we didn't end together.
00:33:39.759 --> 00:33:50.960
And through that whole process, they thought they were together because their ears were telling them that I'm playing along with my low brass, and the low brass are going, we're trying to catch up with the trumpets, and you know, we're trying to make this work.
00:33:51.119 --> 00:33:53.759
And then you end, it's like a second apart from each other.
00:33:53.839 --> 00:33:55.920
You know, it's like digga digga, digga digga.
00:33:56.400 --> 00:33:59.440
It's that far apart from each other, we should have been all together dig-a-dig-a-dup.
00:33:59.839 --> 00:34:07.119
You know, so you've got to make sure to eliminate those pulse pockets by simply how it knows how to say simply.
00:34:07.359 --> 00:34:08.880
Everyone has to know their part.
00:34:09.119 --> 00:34:10.960
Everyone has to contribute to the sound.
00:34:11.119 --> 00:34:20.559
You know, if they all contribute, and if they still can't do it with everyone contributing, then the next level of that or the next layer of that onion is the drill.
00:34:21.199 --> 00:34:33.280
Obviously, either the drill is not conducive to what we're trying to do, or our band's not mature enough at this given point to have the drill do this and us still perform.
00:34:33.440 --> 00:34:33.599
Right.
00:34:34.800 --> 00:34:44.960
So, you know, I know directors who are just scared to death to change things, you know, but you know, uh, but man, it was just like a daily process for me.
00:34:45.199 --> 00:34:46.800
It was like, you know, this isn't working.
00:34:47.039 --> 00:34:50.480
We tried for a while and said, um, by tomorrow I'm gonna change that.
00:34:50.639 --> 00:34:50.880
Okay.
00:34:51.039 --> 00:34:54.800
We're gonna change that to we're gonna give you 20 counts to get there instead of 12.
00:34:54.880 --> 00:35:00.559
We're gonna add these two measures in the battery percussion, you know, so that way you can get there and not have a pulse pocket develop.
00:35:00.719 --> 00:35:01.119
Right.
00:35:01.280 --> 00:35:08.719
You know, so all those things kind of tie in together for our bands to be able to to play and do what they need to do.
00:35:08.880 --> 00:35:20.400
But I think that's one of the some of the key items that an audience member, we're not even talking judges, but the things they notice the most, I think, are kids who are out of step, right?
00:35:20.719 --> 00:35:31.119
You know, even grandma Susie up in the corner goes, the band doesn't march in step, you know, because everyone knows the feet are supposed to move together, unless it's like some kind of platform run kind of esoteric thing.
00:35:31.280 --> 00:35:32.719
You know, they're supposed to move together.
00:35:32.880 --> 00:35:34.960
The horns don't come up together.
00:35:35.280 --> 00:35:37.039
You know, that that's an obvious thing.
00:35:37.360 --> 00:35:40.639
Another really obvious thing is when the band's not playing together.
00:35:40.800 --> 00:35:45.679
The ensemble, part of the ensemble is playing at a different tempo than the rest of the ensemble.
00:35:45.840 --> 00:35:54.000
And I don't care how um, and I mean this all love how ignorant an audience member is about music, they do know that that's wrong.
00:35:54.320 --> 00:35:58.079
You know, so they might not be able to articulate what is wrong.
00:35:58.320 --> 00:35:58.639
Oh, yeah.
00:35:59.039 --> 00:35:59.599
But it's wrong.
00:35:59.920 --> 00:36:00.480
It's wrong.
00:36:00.639 --> 00:36:03.760
It's like, and it makes them uncomfortable, it makes their butt clench.
00:36:03.840 --> 00:36:04.639
You know what I mean?
00:36:04.800 --> 00:36:07.519
So they're in the audience going, are they about to fall apart?
00:36:07.679 --> 00:36:08.960
And the answer is yes, they are.
00:36:09.039 --> 00:36:09.840
They are about to fall apart.
00:36:10.639 --> 00:36:16.639
You know, unless we've all been in that experience where all of a sudden it kind of just drifts and drifts and drifts, and then all of a sudden it's together.
00:36:16.800 --> 00:36:20.320
It reminds me of those old windshield wipers and the old jelly buses.
00:36:20.559 --> 00:36:30.320
You know, every once in a while they're together, then all of a sudden they're like they're apart from each other for about 15 seconds, then after a while they finally kind of line back up for just a little bit.
00:36:30.480 --> 00:36:32.880
You know, that's kind of how sometimes bands play.
00:36:32.960 --> 00:36:38.320
You know, my example is the the blinker at the stoplight and the music on your radio.
00:36:38.480 --> 00:36:38.719
Yeah.
00:36:38.960 --> 00:36:47.599
For a little while they it's clicking together and then they just gradually separate and then they come back together and then it's a same feeling.
00:36:48.239 --> 00:36:54.239
You don't know why it makes you uncomfortable, but you know, it it will make it, you know, we could and our brain kind of tunes it out, don't we?
00:36:54.320 --> 00:36:55.039
You know, we're listening.
00:36:55.440 --> 00:36:59.280
Pretty soon we either tune out the radio or you tune out the clicker, you know, blinker.
00:36:59.599 --> 00:37:00.239
Most people do.
00:37:00.320 --> 00:37:01.920
I typically turn off the blinker.
00:37:02.079 --> 00:37:04.480
Yeah, well, I mean, those things are just not necessary anyway.
00:37:04.719 --> 00:37:08.400
I mean, uh as soon as somebody else moves, everyone behind me knows which direction I'm going.
00:37:08.480 --> 00:37:12.239
So what's the point in, you know, using that lever thing, you know.
00:37:13.760 --> 00:37:23.440
But you know, if if you can if you take the time, and it's easy for me to say because it's easy for me to sit back because I don't have a marching band, you know, but I know this for a fact.
00:37:23.599 --> 00:37:38.159
If you take the time to teach the drill correctly, and you take the time to do music pass-offs, and you take the time to do field timing exercises with your band, and then you take the time to diagnose field timing problems, then you're gonna reap the benefits of improved timing.
00:37:38.320 --> 00:37:48.880
You know, besides giving your band sound this real kind of cool polish and maturity, improved ensemble timing results, and actually far, far greater volume and impact.
00:37:49.119 --> 00:37:49.440
Right.
00:37:49.679 --> 00:37:54.639
There's something about that impact moment when it all hits your chest at the same time in the audience.
00:37:54.880 --> 00:37:57.840
You know, and it's not always just a volume issue.
00:37:58.079 --> 00:38:00.880
It's more it's sometimes it's just a precision issue.
00:38:01.119 --> 00:38:09.199
Because we've all heard, I've heard really good German bugle cores in rehearsal that have a problem at one time or another, and all of a sudden they just lose all their impact.
00:38:09.360 --> 00:38:23.519
And you've got kids out there, kids or adults, you know, in a top-tier drum core, they're all 19, 20, 21 years old, and they can have a problem in rehearsal, and all of a sudden it's like, wow, that just sounded like a bad marching band for a second.
00:38:23.840 --> 00:38:25.519
Then they'll turn around and they'll fix it.
00:38:25.599 --> 00:38:41.840
You know, when all those sound waves arrive at the audience at exactly the same time, they add up and amplify and provide this incredible listening experience that actually gets kind of a visceral response from the audiences and the judges alike.
00:38:42.000 --> 00:38:44.400
That's when we start going, yeah, yeah, yeah, let's go, band.
00:38:44.559 --> 00:38:50.239
Yeah, we're supposed to be judging, and all we're doing is cheerleading the band, you know, shouting into our competition suite microphone.
00:38:50.400 --> 00:38:50.800
Yeah.
00:38:51.039 --> 00:39:03.679
But as you look for the next level for your marching band leading into these upcoming performances, whether it's a halftime or an early contest, try to implement these ideas in your show because they will yield tremendous results.
00:39:03.840 --> 00:39:11.760
Uh, and then the last thing I want to kind of end with is don't fall for the trap of if we just rep it enough times, it'll fix itself.
00:39:12.159 --> 00:39:12.719
Right.
00:39:13.039 --> 00:39:16.719
Because sometimes that works when it's a woodwind feature or a brass feature.
00:39:16.880 --> 00:39:19.920
Sometimes you can just say, uh, do it again.
00:39:20.159 --> 00:39:21.119
Just do it again.
00:39:21.360 --> 00:39:22.800
And the kids will work on it.
00:39:22.960 --> 00:39:42.800
For whatever reason, I don't know acoustically or physics-wise why it doesn't work, but you can, if they don't know exactly what they're doing, if you don't give them instruction verbatim, then they can rep it 40 times and do it 40 times wrong and just get more frustrated and more frustrated to where they finally just basically that they'll just give up.
00:39:43.039 --> 00:39:44.000
You know what I mean?
00:39:44.559 --> 00:39:44.880
I do.
00:39:45.440 --> 00:39:47.280
It it's it's it's a scary process.
00:39:47.440 --> 00:39:53.440
So don't do that because what is that the definition of insanity, doing the same thing over and over, expecting different results?
00:39:53.679 --> 00:39:54.079
Yeah.
00:39:54.239 --> 00:40:00.000
And sometimes that definition of insanity, it works with a a trumpet feature or a saxophone feature.
00:40:00.159 --> 00:40:04.000
You know, it's like, you know, just just wrap it, just do it again, do it again.
00:40:04.159 --> 00:40:10.000
As long as you got a metronome running, so just hey kids, just stay with the Met, start the Met again, click, click, click, go.
00:40:10.159 --> 00:40:13.519
You know, and if you do it 15 times in a row, I bet it will get better.
00:40:13.760 --> 00:40:15.599
Timing will not it'll actually work.
00:40:15.920 --> 00:40:18.719
I'm here to say a couple of quick thoughts that you you came with me.
00:40:18.800 --> 00:40:25.360
Number one, we've talked about I heard you say take the time to do this, and you've got to take the time to do this.
00:40:25.440 --> 00:40:29.280
You've got to because one of your I've seen you post this several times.
00:40:29.360 --> 00:40:30.639
I've heard you say it many times.
00:40:30.800 --> 00:40:32.400
You cannot cheat the process.
00:40:32.559 --> 00:40:33.760
Yes, you can't.
00:40:34.079 --> 00:40:35.920
You have to follow the process.
00:40:36.079 --> 00:40:36.400
Yeah.
00:40:36.559 --> 00:40:44.159
And so this is the time of year, friends, that you need to not try to cheat that process in the interest of reps and more sets on the field.
00:40:44.320 --> 00:40:45.840
I think that's one of our downfalls.
00:40:46.000 --> 00:40:47.599
How much can I get on the field this week?
00:40:47.760 --> 00:40:48.559
It doesn't matter.
00:40:48.639 --> 00:40:51.519
How much can you get on the field that looks good?
00:40:51.760 --> 00:40:52.559
That's more important.
00:40:52.880 --> 00:41:06.639
And I'm glad you brought that up because, you know, just this earlier in the week, I was working with a band and they were they were kind of in a panic mode because their Monday night rehearsal, or actually it was a Tuesday night rehearsal, um, went really poorly the night before.
00:41:06.800 --> 00:41:09.679
So they didn't get anything done that they should have gotten done.
00:41:09.760 --> 00:41:21.280
And it's it and it just and uh just for general purposes, the third week of uh the six weeks, the third week of the school is the worst week.
00:41:21.599 --> 00:41:24.159
And you're not gonna have a good night rehearsal the third week.
00:41:24.559 --> 00:41:25.519
It's not gonna happen.
00:41:25.679 --> 00:41:27.360
You know, so biometrics, yeah.
00:41:27.519 --> 00:41:29.519
Just just work on stand tunes at night.
00:41:29.679 --> 00:41:32.079
You're just gonna beat a dead horse if you're trying to learn drill.
00:41:32.400 --> 00:41:48.079
But then the next morning I was with their band at like seven o'clock in the morning, and then the band director was running through the sets, and then they would stop and they say reset it, and they'd run back and I'd go, Don't you have a procedure where it's like freeze, check, adjust, stand by?
00:41:48.320 --> 00:41:49.840
Don't you have a four-step process?
00:41:50.000 --> 00:41:51.199
Oh, yeah, we do.
00:41:51.440 --> 00:41:55.760
Well, you'd better use it, or you're gonna be reteaching all this in October.
00:41:56.000 --> 00:41:56.400
Quick G.
00:41:56.880 --> 00:41:58.320
They are not learning it right now.
00:41:58.400 --> 00:42:00.079
They are not learning it, you know.
00:42:00.239 --> 00:42:01.519
And we all need that reminder.
00:42:01.679 --> 00:42:05.039
We need someone to kind of lean over and say, turn off your microphone a second.
00:42:05.199 --> 00:42:10.159
You know the second thought I had, Mike, was you talking about when it's right, it's right.
00:42:10.239 --> 00:42:11.519
It's almost like intonation.
00:42:11.599 --> 00:42:17.360
You can get two kids to listen to each other, and when intonation is correct, they both feel it and they kind of sit up.
00:42:17.519 --> 00:42:18.719
Yeah, they go, ooh.
00:42:18.960 --> 00:42:25.199
Yeah, it's judges are not immune to a well-timed sound from your band.
00:42:25.440 --> 00:42:25.760
Yes.
00:42:26.000 --> 00:42:30.559
It's almost like they quit judging for a while, going, Oh, I like this, I like this.
00:42:30.719 --> 00:42:39.519
And they quit looking for bad things, but some of those terrors make them go, oh, and they start noticing once you get in a negative track, you get in a negative track.
00:42:39.679 --> 00:42:40.159
Yeah.
00:42:40.480 --> 00:42:42.960
And it's it's just gonna keep going and going and going.
00:42:43.039 --> 00:42:46.800
I had a band one time that literally just stopped on the field during halftime.
00:42:47.119 --> 00:42:47.440
Oh.
00:42:49.599 --> 00:42:52.480
And we all just we couldn't even make eye contact at the end of halftime.
00:42:52.559 --> 00:42:57.280
We all just round and hit our pump or whatever, third quarter.
00:42:57.599 --> 00:43:07.039
The final thing you made me think of it just it happens, is about the don't just assume repetition repetition will fix it, how many reps.
00:43:07.280 --> 00:43:12.079
I do think I've heard you and other people I trust say things like accidentals or missed notes.
00:43:12.239 --> 00:43:15.599
A lot of those will fix themselves through repetition because kids will hear they're playing the wrong note.
00:43:15.760 --> 00:43:19.119
Somebody will say you're playing the wrong note, and through repetition they can fix that.
00:43:19.360 --> 00:43:21.760
But that's different than timing.
00:43:22.000 --> 00:43:22.239
Yes.
00:43:22.559 --> 00:43:26.480
If you don't teach them what's wrong, they won't fix it through repetition.
00:43:26.639 --> 00:43:30.559
Yeah, and the reason it doesn't get better is because to their ears they think they're doing it right.
00:43:31.199 --> 00:43:32.159
Does it make sense?
00:43:32.320 --> 00:43:34.320
Yeah, because it goes against common sense sometimes.
00:43:34.559 --> 00:43:40.800
Yeah, because they're they're they're looking at you, saying, This we're not together, and everyone's going, it's like the Spider-Man meme where they're all pointing at each other.
00:43:40.960 --> 00:43:41.679
You know what I mean?
00:43:41.760 --> 00:43:46.239
Because everyone on the field's thinking, you know, well, I'm pretty sure I'm correct.
00:43:46.480 --> 00:43:46.719
Right.
00:43:46.880 --> 00:43:49.599
You know, and it's and you've just got to fix it for them.
00:43:49.679 --> 00:43:54.480
You gotta be have you ever had an argument with somebody that knows they're right and you know they're not?
00:43:54.800 --> 00:43:59.760
Yeah, and in fact, I've been in arguments where I knew I was wrong, but I just kept going because I just wanted to make them mad.
00:44:00.000 --> 00:44:01.599
Don't don't negate my point.
00:44:02.320 --> 00:44:02.960
Sorry.
00:44:04.480 --> 00:44:15.199
I do think that when a kid thinks he's right, especially of a certain temperament, yeah, they're just gonna fight with you because they're pretty sure they're right and they're not gonna listen to your argument about why they might not be.
00:44:15.360 --> 00:44:15.679
That's right.
00:44:15.840 --> 00:44:20.480
Which is why I think all the way back to the beginning, go sit them in the stands and let them hear it.
00:44:20.639 --> 00:44:21.039
Yeah.
00:44:21.280 --> 00:44:25.119
Or let them hear what's actually wrong instead of just telling them you're wrong.
00:44:25.280 --> 00:44:25.440
Yeah.
00:44:25.760 --> 00:44:26.719
Because that's just an argument.
00:44:27.280 --> 00:44:33.360
And there's some great YouTube on that thought, there's some great YouTube excerpts out there, you know, that you can you can have.
00:44:33.440 --> 00:44:40.480
You can just play for it on your, you know, on your screen in the band hall and just show the kids and it goes through step by step.
00:44:40.639 --> 00:44:42.000
It takes about 10 minutes.
00:44:42.239 --> 00:44:48.639
I promise it'll be about the best 10 minutes you've ever spent, you know, because all the kids will go, oh, that does make sense.
00:44:48.960 --> 00:44:49.760
Quick, you know.
00:44:49.920 --> 00:44:50.239
Yeah.
00:44:50.400 --> 00:44:50.719
Yeah.
00:44:51.039 --> 00:44:51.519
Cool.
00:44:51.760 --> 00:44:55.039
Well, this is one of those times I guess terem anewin's not a good thing.
00:44:55.360 --> 00:44:56.159
Yeah, that's right.
00:44:56.639 --> 00:44:57.280
Yeah.
00:44:58.159 --> 00:44:58.960
Be gentle.
00:44:59.199 --> 00:45:00.800
Be gentle that young performers.
00:45:04.559 --> 00:45:05.039
Awesome.
00:45:05.199 --> 00:45:15.199
Well, I guess if anybody has other questions, you're glad to respond if they'll send it to AskMike at tarpleymusic.com, then we can help them uh point them in the right direction for some things.
00:45:15.360 --> 00:45:16.400
Thanks for the wisdom, my friend.
00:45:16.559 --> 00:45:16.960
Oh, you bet.
00:45:17.039 --> 00:45:18.719
Hopefully it help help out a few folks.
00:45:19.360 --> 00:45:19.519
Right.
00:45:19.760 --> 00:45:21.760
Everybody, enjoy your marching season.
00:45:21.840 --> 00:45:23.440
Maybe it won't be a hundred degrees next week.
00:45:23.599 --> 00:45:24.719
Wink, wink.
00:45:25.039 --> 00:45:27.360
We're having a cold front of uh 95.
00:45:28.639 --> 00:45:29.599
Talk to you soon, friend.
00:45:29.760 --> 00:45:31.199
All right, see you letter Derek.