Marching Band Nerdery

[mr_teem]

Following links and links and stuff led me to the attached video. Okay, this is a totally nerdy routine by the Penn State marching band. (Okay, this moves me this close to convincing me Penn State deserves to be in the Big Ten.)

Click to view

Comments

[juldea]

Wow. There are too many ways I need to talk about this video.

First off: WE DID IT FIRST. Okay, maybe my high school band didn't do Batman first, but like... some of the elements they used here are hard not to feel possessive of. 1996, we did the Batman theme, and our color guard had those EXACT black capes, and we formed the bat symbol AND The Riddler's question mark. I have this on tape if proof is needed! And wow, you've totally hit an old nerve. I may have to go grab the tape and watch it :)

I'm going to edit the five paragraphs I have written for below this point to summarize as follows: this band is awesome at figures. So many of them are inspired: the Rocky stick figure charactatures were particularly awesome, with the best part being the brilliant idea to clump the sousaphones as the gold gloves. I liked the car and tower and the guitar for Back to the Future, and the Darth Vader was neat and (aside from the stupid school spirit pun) the text was good, and the transition from the "Star Roars" text into the Superman symbol was AMAZING.

And that's what DOESN'T impress me about this band: their lack of movement. They "park and blow", moving from one static image to another, then sitting there and playing for a while. This kind of fieldwork KILLS me! Your audience wants visual interest. A cool figure only needs to be held a short while; the crowd is smart and gets it. Hell, in the case of the Superman logo, the crowd was cheering before it was even finished forming. Hold it a bit, then keep moving, even if it's abstract geometric patterns.

Or do something with your symbols. The Rocky figures could've done more to animate fighting, for sure. There was possibility in the BttF bit for an awesome zap-of-lightning-like-thing with color guard members running across the field with banners behind or connecting them. All sorts of stuff is possible...

"Johnny B Goode" gets a pass as it is the guard feature, so the band is supposed to park.

I have strong feelings on marching band/drum corps things, if you couldn't tell. :)

[mr_teem]

I did know that and I hoped you would see it and comment. :-) You have a point about the band not moving very much--my brother made the same comment to me from his experience. Not surprised to see that elements were stolen borrowed from other bands. (Don't all great writers band directors steal? :-D)

[juldea]

Well, all art is stolen, the skill is in how well you hide the fact it was. ;)