Director
05-22-2007, 12:00 PM
Marching Band is about uniformity; both aurally and visually.
Aurally, we want to hear all of the instruments as one complete whole. To accomplish this, each instrument must sound the same. All of the flutes must play the same rhythm, notes, articulations, phrasing, dynamics, pitch, etc, so that they sound like one flute. The same things apply for every instrument section.
When all play together, we want to hear the above characteristics as well as proper blend and balance and group intonation (all are playing in tune together). This creates a uniform aural presentation.
Marching band has the added dimension of the visual element: marching. The band must look uniform as well as sound uniform.
Parade band uses the traditional ‘block formation’ where each member is equally spaced apart in the form of a filled-in square or rectangle, e.g.
+ + + + + + +
+ + + + + + +
+ + + + + + +
+ + + + + + +
+ + + + + + +
+ + + + + + +
+ + + + + + +
The goal is to maintain this perfectly spaced square or rectangle shape as the group moves (marches) together.
Like music, uniformity in marching has several aspects to it: attire (the band uniform), posture, instrument angle, body movement, in step, in phase and step size. When everyone is executing all of these elements the same way, visual uniformity is achieved.
When you look at a band block that has visual uniformity you can see perfect ‘lines’ (ranks, files and diagonals) at all times.
Imagine you have a piece of graph paper on your desk. As you move the paper across your desk all of the squares move at the same rate and it always appears organized and uniform. That is the visual goal of a marching band.
With that introduction, I want you to watch the 2 videos below. Both feature Arcadia High School and demonstrate very clearly the idea of aural and visual uniformity.
Color guard members: although the guard's routine is not as difficult as guards are doing today, notice how great it looks. Why? Because they are all doing the same things the same way at the same time: uniformity!
tRJ_dldggWo
jOTrI9UjWiU
Aurally, we want to hear all of the instruments as one complete whole. To accomplish this, each instrument must sound the same. All of the flutes must play the same rhythm, notes, articulations, phrasing, dynamics, pitch, etc, so that they sound like one flute. The same things apply for every instrument section.
When all play together, we want to hear the above characteristics as well as proper blend and balance and group intonation (all are playing in tune together). This creates a uniform aural presentation.
Marching band has the added dimension of the visual element: marching. The band must look uniform as well as sound uniform.
Parade band uses the traditional ‘block formation’ where each member is equally spaced apart in the form of a filled-in square or rectangle, e.g.
+ + + + + + +
+ + + + + + +
+ + + + + + +
+ + + + + + +
+ + + + + + +
+ + + + + + +
+ + + + + + +
The goal is to maintain this perfectly spaced square or rectangle shape as the group moves (marches) together.
Like music, uniformity in marching has several aspects to it: attire (the band uniform), posture, instrument angle, body movement, in step, in phase and step size. When everyone is executing all of these elements the same way, visual uniformity is achieved.
When you look at a band block that has visual uniformity you can see perfect ‘lines’ (ranks, files and diagonals) at all times.
Imagine you have a piece of graph paper on your desk. As you move the paper across your desk all of the squares move at the same rate and it always appears organized and uniform. That is the visual goal of a marching band.
With that introduction, I want you to watch the 2 videos below. Both feature Arcadia High School and demonstrate very clearly the idea of aural and visual uniformity.
Color guard members: although the guard's routine is not as difficult as guards are doing today, notice how great it looks. Why? Because they are all doing the same things the same way at the same time: uniformity!
tRJ_dldggWo
jOTrI9UjWiU