Texas Bandmasters Association
Bandmasters Review • September 2013
18
us never performed a show quite like the shows we
are asking our students to perform. If this sounds
familiar, we invite you to come down from the tower
and experience a portion of the rehearsal from the field
level. Here are some exercises that will put you “in the
kid’s shoes” and increase your understanding.
• Stand next to your metronome behind your center
snare drummer and listen to the sound delay that your
marching percussionists experience.
• Stand next to your drummajor, while the backfield
metronome is on, and experience how difficult it is to
conduct with the feet of the center snare drummer
(rather than the sound of the metronome).
• Stand “inside” your front ensemble (facing away
from the field, of course) during a tutti moment in the
show. When the brass is playing and the tam-tams and
cymbals are ringing, ask yourself if you can actually
hear the battery parts. This might make you think
twice before shouting the all-too-popular phrase: “Hey,
pit! Listen back!”
• Shadow a wind player on the far outskirts of the drill
and experience how difficult it is to ignore the sounds of
the battery and only march with the conductors’ hands.
If that seems easy, attempt to play that student’s part
(while marching). Placing your feet “with the hands” is
one thing; ignoring the fact that your sound is not being
created with many of the sounds occurring around you
is another thing all together.
Now that your awareness level has been increased,
let’s examine some intellectual points surrounding our
timing issues.
• The ensemble sound should only be perceived
as “together” from the vantage point of the press box.
That is, only a staff member in the press box (or along
a direct path from the drum major podium to the
press box) can comment on “true” timing precision.
Hopefully, your tower places you (or a staff member)
somewhere along this path.
• Sound travels slower than light. After a certain
distance, even casual observers will notice that the
sound waves reaching them are occurring after the
accompanying motion of feet, hands, equipment, and
instruments.
• Tempo can be determined only after two
occurrences of a sound or image. Therefore, we should
defer to any audio or visual cues that occur more
frequently when selecting our focal points. Therefore,
clear sixteenth notes give and control pulse more easily
than quarter notes. The same can be said of eighth
notes played by the battery versus quarter notes being
conducted by the drum major.
• In general, on-field performers should rarely, if
ever, listen forward. On-field performers should listen
side-to-side only within reasonably close distances
(less than 10 yards). The conductors must never
conduct to the sound of the ensemble. The front
ensemble should always listen back and rarely watch
the conductor.
• Remember: Our job is not to get the performers
to “play together”. Our job is to get the performers
sounds to the judges’ ears at the same time. These are
two mutually exclusive tasks; we cannot have both.
The Unique Demands on the Marching Musician