Balancing It All on the Head of a Pin

That’s what I call it, making a rehearsal schedule for a competitive marching band. How much to rehearse, how many shows to do, how we rehearse, and how to handle attendance are key parts of running this marching band which I deal with every day. Balancing the schedule of a competition marching band is a delicate endeavor. Meeting the needs of the students is the priority however we do "compete" so we need to maximize our rehearsal time, and get as much done as is possible. We need to utilize every minute without hurting the quality of our group. The balance is as tricky as balancing something on the head of a pin. I have been asked many questions from parents and students about how I schedule rehearsals and competitions so in the spirit of communication I have posted my philosophy of rehearsals, competitions, and how we have built our schedule.

How Many Hours to Rehearse
I have had some parents ask me why we rehearse so much. I have had even more parents ask me why we don’t rehearse more. Well, when starting the competitive marching band here at Roslyn, they rehearsed 2 nights a week, Saturdays, and did a show every weekend. They even added some rehearsals if the band needed it. Coming here in 2003, I decided that we would go with a 1 night rehearsal format, no Saturday rehearsals, and try to add an hour or two of rehearsing on show days, before we leave the high school. This is the least that I felt we could practice and still be competitive. By having great communication among the staff, proper planning, and efficient rehearsals, I felt we could build a dynasty with this structure. Hicksville HS in the 90’s had the highest scores on Long Island and had this exact schedule. I observed them frequently and they were efficient, there wasn’t a minute of wasted time in their rehearsals. It amazed me that they could have the highest of scores, with 150 members, and rehearse so much less than the bands they were scoring above. I used them as a model when I came here to Roslyn.

Why No Shows this Weekend?
I always schedule a break weekend in the middle of the season to recharge our collective batteries. I copied this from some of the upstate bands. Playing the same music over and over can be daunting and create a malaise among band members. By taking a weekend off to visit colleges, or just spend time with our families, we can create another peak for our band, hopefully at the dome. I feel that this avoids us getting into a plateau where we stagnate.

Back to Backs
Why not do two shows in a weekend like all the other bands in our area?
We don’t do “back to backs,” a Saturday and Sunday show weekend, and here is my reason. I have always, throughout my 26 years of doing marching band, avoided doing two shows on a weekend. Many bands do this and feel that it helps them keep the momentum going. I feel it becomes too taxing. In my formative years, I had a famous band director upstate tell me “never do back to backs.” I asked why, he said “look at your kids on Sunday night after doing a back to back and that will answer your question.” Last year, not sticking with that advice, we did a “back to back” for the first time, the New York Championship at Griffin Field the day after the Denton Avenue Show. I looked at our kids after the Sunday performance and now I totally agree; I feel one show a weekend is definitely enough. As a side note on this issue, the upstate bands do Saturday night shows, and nothing else on Sunday and those bands are amazing. Rarely do you see one of the top upstate National Bands double up shows on a weekend.

Formulating the Schedule
I build the schedule in April, put it up online, finalize it in mid August, and stick to it. I do not schedule anything on the “off weekend." I will not add anything after we get to band camp because I feel it is unfair to the band members to require them to be at everything and then add something. We get many requests to perform at various events on and off our campus with only a few weeks notice. My policy is clear, we will perform if given the dates prior to band camp. Requiring perfect attendance, which we must do since we have a drill where every person is of the utmost importance, creates this policy where we don’t add performances after the schedule is finalized.

Rehearse Less? Rehearse More?
For the parents that say we need to rehearse less, I submit that it would greatly hinder us to even take a few hours out of this schedule. We are at a bare minimum in terms of being a competing band. Any less would mean going to a “home game and Newsday band” format, where we only perform at the home games and Newsday Festival, which is what most bands on Long Island do. Any more rehearsing, and we would burn out, not be fresh with the show, and it would hinder our academics and not leave time for jobs, other activities, etc. Personally, I feel that a competition band teaches so much more about music and life. I feel that the schedule we have is perfect for our school, students, parents, and community.

Is Our Schedule Working?
I feel that our schedule is clearly working. We rehearse 100 hours inclusive of band camp, the Spring Wednesday night rehearsals, and every minute we work on marching band outside the school day. We are very successful, being one of the most talked about bands, getting exponentially better each year. Our competitors, virtually every one of them, rehearse between 175 and 225 hours. We are certainly among the top 3 or 4 bands on Long Island, regardless of the scores, so this schedule works for us.

Constantly Learning and Tweaking
As a band director I am constantly learning about maximizing rehearsal time, meeting with the staff regularly, and tweaking our schedule year to year. I welcome parental and student input and have used it regularly. Right now, I feel we are on the right track with our schedule. Our kids are excited, fresh, and love the marching band, which is the top priority!

Closing the Gap. What Gap?

So where is the gap which is keeping our band's score down? Is it the gap during the Lindenhurst show, where all the judges consistently had us down by 1 to 3 tenths? Is it the Copiague show, where the GE Music judge had us down by 1.6 points in his caption, burying us while the field visual judge had us up? Is it the gap where the GE Visual judge had us down at Brentwood by 1.6 points in his caption, while field music had us up by .65? Or is it the gap yesterday where we were down in music and up in Ensemble visual? Honestly, the staff and myself are entirely baffled. The judging this year is clearly unusual and hard to understand.

Our band performs a very difficult, championship level drill, constantly moving to 63 sets with excellent lower and upper body technique and totally in step. Are we getting credit for it? No. Our band has an incredible drum line, blowing everyone away in every way, performing a difficult book, marching proficiently, and energizing the entire stadium. Are we getting credit for it? No. Our winds are amazing and powerful, attacks and releases are proficient, in tune, and with a great dynamic range. Are we getting credit for it? No. Our guard is the best it has ever been. Are we getting credit for it? No. Our show is difficult, musically, with many tempo changes, mixed time meters, and a high level of technique is clearly required and being met. Are we getting credit for it? No.

What are we getting credit for? Not much. This year, our band is exponentially better than last year, yet the scores are consistent with our scores of our past two years. It just doesn't make any sense.

Judging is subjective, I've been saying it for weeks, but to be totally honest, this has become a real mystery.

I am very proud of how the band is totally accepting and understanding of the subjectivity involved in this activity. Yesterday, they clearly performed with the confidence of a championship band. Yesterday they were a championship band.

I can sum it up in a few things that happened yesterday. For one, a parent came up to me as we walked off the field and said "they nailed it." Yes, they did! Then the drum majors told me that not one person asked them how we did. That is incredible. Think about that. The entire band knows how great they are! They don't need to ask anyone!

Hopefully, soon, we will get the judging community to acknowledge the band we are becoming.....no.....have become!

Closing the Gap!?

I will have a post up sometime this afternoon.  Is there a gap?  Should we be over 3 or 4 bands overall at the show yesterday? You decide.  Watch our video on youtube today, and then come back here for my recap.  I have to carefully write this blog today.

Cut and paste this link into your browser to see our band yesterday.  It pretty much speaks for itself!

http://www.youtube.com/user/roslynmarchingband