Too many props!!!
Danielle
Marching band used to be about heel to toe, cleam formations, and
powerful music. Now marching band has also become about props and
electronics on the field. Marching band needs to go back to the way it
used to be with not props, mics, or electronics. The extra junk on the
field takes away from the band. It lessens the greatest of the band
program by taking attention from the band and putting it on the props and
junk. When watching a show nothing is worse that a prop falling apart or
a mic going haywire in the middle of the show. I like tradition marching
band shows where it is the band and only the band on the field. Remember
this is just my opinion and I am sure many will disagree, but that is part
of a newsgroup.
Danielle
Chris Boyd
On Tue, 27 Jan 1998 00:08:33 -0600, Danielle wrote:
| Marching band used to be about heel to toe, cleam formations, and
| powerful music. Now marching band has also become about props and
| electronics on the field. Marching band needs to go back to the way it
| used to be with not props, mics, or electronics. The extra junk on the
It all depends on what you expect in Marching Band. Alot of folks are
in band for the fun and camaraderie. Alot are in it to take the art
form the most extreme.
I was in one of those high school bands in Texas that NEVER had any
fun at our high school football games. All we did was practice and
practice and practice, just to compete at the festivals and
competitions. While many of us became excellent marchers and musicians
when we went of to college, it was NO fun at all, and it sucked. We
had props, we had miked solos, etc etc. That was nice having a nice
band. But it sucked sitting there at football games, looking glum and
never leading cheers.
Now at college, all of us are good players and marchers by default.
And thankfully we have craploads of fun here. We've never miked a solo
as long as I've been here (well, maybe once for a woodwind solo) and
I don't think we've ever had any silly props on the field like we did
in high school. The emphasis I've noticed has been on leading the
crowd in cheers, doing all that school spirit stuff that one can never
really buy into completely when in high school.
As far as drum corps goes, they can do whatever they please to push the
boundaries of marching. Personally, I miss the days of showing off
brass muscle. "Precision" shows just bore me rotten. :)
Chris Boyd
Kansas State University Marching Band
http://www.ksu.edu/band/KSUMB
KSU Alto Saxes ('95-
Stinky
Chris Boyd wrote:
>
> On Tue, 27 Jan 1998 00:08:33 -0600, Danielle wrote:
>
> | Marching band used to be about heel to toe, cleam formations, and
> | powerful music. Now marching band has also become about props and
> | electronics on the field. Marching band needs to go back to the way it
> | used to be with not props, mics, or electronics. The extra junk on the
>
> It all depends on what you expect in Marching Band. Alot of folks are
> in band for the fun and camaraderie. Alot are in it to take the art
> form the most extreme.
>
> I was in one of those high school bands in Texas that NEVER had any
> fun at our high school football games. All we did was practice and
> practice and practice, just to compete at the festivals and
> competitions. While many of us became excellent marchers and musicians
> when we went of to college, it was NO fun at all, and it sucked. We
> had props, we had miked solos, etc etc. That was nice having a nice
> band. But it sucked sitting there at football games, looking glum and
> never leading cheers.
What does this have to do with having props on the field or not? A band
can practice like crazy, do a precision field show that wins awards -
which usually doesn't make people glum - and still have a lot of fun
with the music in the stands. The morale problems of your high school's
band has nothing to do with props.
Stinky
Mbguy900
I am in the Wevster High School marching band and we used no props in our show.
And for those of you think thatnyou have to use props to do good you don't.
Our band came in 10th place in the BOA grand nationals without props. We had
awesome music and sets and that is all it really takes to be an awesome band.
Nate
Webster
2001
Danielle
YES! YES! YES!!!!!!
kevin ward
I'd like to say the in TOB this year, the top 3 bands had absolutley NO props. Not a
single one. Big flags, and a few columns to hide the equipment, but other than that,
just good old fashioned big sound, clean marching, and prefect sets. Well, not
prefect, but Pocano Mountain came close. And thats what I wish All marching band was
about.
WarpThis
For the past several years, my band has used props. For instance, last year for
our "Road to Oz" show we had 40 black-and-pink A-frame flats on the field (I,
personally, thought that was too much). This year we did "Where the Wild
Things Are" and used big backdrops with paintings of forest scenes and "wild
things," not to mention "Max's Room" and palm trees on the field. I think, to a
certain extent, that props are ok. It depends on what the show is. If it will
help get the idea of the show across better, then it's a good thing. If it's
just a distracting gimmick, then that's something completely different.
Brian
Plymouth-Canton Educational Park
Trumpet--class of '00
Awesoman
> Marching band used to be about heel to toe, cleam formations, and
>powerful music. Now marching band has also become about props and
>electronics on the field.
Yeah, that's pretty much what Pope High School thrives on over here in
Georgia. They could probably put together some really good shows without the
fancy toys.
Colin Hartnett
props don't give you points, and they don't take them away.
they may add excitement to the crowd, but effective writing can do that as
well.
let's leave it at that. that is where ever message of this has been going.
colin hartnett
http://drumline.ml.org/
char...@audiophile.com
note: to reply remove SPAMSUCKS from my e-mail address
rahway hs snare 95; tenors 96-00
jersey surf plates 98
"to be yourself, in a world that tries, night and day, to make you just like
everybody else - is to fight the greatest battle there ever is to fight, and
never stop fighting" -- e.e. cummings
BigBirdTpt
Don't go tooting your own horn. Also...I do recall a black stage/platform
thing for the pit...I do believe that qualifies as a prop.
>I am in the Wevster High School marching band and we used no props in >our
show.
> And for those of you think thatnyou have to use props to do good you >don't.
>Our band came in 10th place in the BOA grand nationals without props. >We had
>awesome music and sets and that is all it really takes to be an awesome >band.
>
>Nate
>Webster
>2001
Kevin Pfefferle
Westerville North H.S.
Trumpet
http://members.aol.com/BigBirdTpt/home.html
Brian Haynes
kevin ward <kw...@voicenet.com> wrote:
>
>I'd like to say the in TOB this year, the top 3 bands had absolutley NO
props. Not a
>single one. Big flags, and a few columns to hide the equipment, but
other than that,
>just good old fashioned big sound, clean marching, and prefect sets.
First of all, KEV, there are FOUR groups in TOB, and if I remember the
scores correctly, group 2 had the two best bands overall, and both of
them used props (Middle Twp. and Lake Lehman, 1-2 respectively).
Also, Colin Harnett wrote the following: "props don't give you points,
and they don't take them away. they may add excitement to the crowd, but
effective writing can do that as well."
Colin, you are DEAD WRONG. There are two marching band judging captions
called GE visual and IA/EA Visual. the GE Visual looks at how our sets
look as in formation and the effectiveness of any props used. IA/EA
Visual looks at horn angles, footing (out of step & phasing), and the
usage of props. In our first competition, we had tarp covering musch of
the field, but we used it just for the first movement, and the judges
took off points because we did not utilize the tarps as we could have, so
we took them out, and the next competitionwe jumped 7.9 points, fully
utilizing the rmaining props, of which there were a lot.
As for the excitement, effective marching doesn't cover it anymore. One
of the better bands in TOB is Clearview Reg. HS, which is reknowned for
their marching critique and lack of props. However, the shows are
starting to get repititous, and it no longer has flare. Also, the
biggest crybabies in TOB are the Triton Reg. HS Mustangs. They had no
props as well, and despite getting fourth in Group 2 at ACC's, their show
was more boring the movie "Driving Miss Daisy." Everyone kept saying
that we had a better show and better performances than Triton. My band,
Deptford Twp. HS, did "Sunset Blvd" for our field production. We had the
"Hollywood" sign in the backfield, lamp posts effectively positioned to
create an intersection (Sunset and Vine), and boxes for the color guard
to stand on during our second movement to create better visuals.
BRIAN HAYNES AXF...@prodigy.com
(trombone/baritone Deptford Twp HS '99)
Stinky
Brian Haynes wrote:
>
> First of all, KEV, there are FOUR groups in TOB, and if I remember the
> scores correctly, group 2 had the two best bands overall, and both of
> them used props (Middle Twp. and Lake Lehman, 1-2 respectively).
Brian, how do you figure that "group 2 had the two best bands overall"
when the groups don't compete directly against each other? And I don't
remember Middle Twp. using any props, but my memory could be bad... What
props did Middle Twp. use?
Stinky
Tuba03
way to go kevin.....wn has never used props... lol
Kateri NYC
>Marching band used to be about heel to toe, cleam formations, and
>powerful music. Now marching band has also become about props and
>used to be with not props, mics, or electronics. The extra junk on the
>program by taking attention from the band and putting it on the props and
>junk. When watching a show nothing is worse that a prop falling apart or
>a mic going haywire in the middle of the show. I like tradition marching
>band shows where it is the band and only the band on the field. Remember
>this is just my opinion and I am sure many will disagree, but that is part
>of a newsgroup.
>
>
people still like the oldies music and some go for the new stuff out there
.....marching band is changing with the times ...some people (bands) are
changing with it and some still like the older style....that's all it
is....props or no props the best done show will win
Kateri NYC
t
kevin ward
Ok, hi. Well I was refering to GROUP 4 only. I really dont pay atenttion to
the other groups[ well i do to 3] so you'll have to cover it from their.
thanks.,
IMChaotik
>The extra junk on the
>>field takes away from the band.
It only takes away from everything if you don't march or play the show very
well so you have to add stuff to make it cool. Marching and playing technique
is first priority. Props don't make your show less of a show unless of course
you don't know what you're doing.
§~§~§~§~§~§~§~§~§~§~§~§~§~§~§~§~§~§~§~§
-jenny porter IFFL Center Grove HS, c/o '00
<A HREF="http://members.aol.com/IMChaotik/main.html">My Home Page</a>
<A HREF=mailto:ProN...@somethingorother.com>E-mail me!!</a>
Supersack
Well.....to all you people who think props don't help, they do! I'm in the
Westerville North Marching Band and we marched the show Apocalyptic Dreams. Now
if any of you saw our show it would be pretty dull with out the props we had.
The props are what you call General Effect...those count as points! And props
can also hurt your score, belive me I know! Being a senior this year I'm
graduating, so I dont have another chance to go back to Grand Nationals and try
again! Without the props we had we would not have placed as high as we did. Now
I know we weren't in finals but, oh well! From that you could figure out that
props can hurt you, but they can also help you too! Without our big props we
wouldn't have made a name for ourselves, and we wouldn't have been talked about
as much.What I ment by that is that people actually thought we were good and
were a threat to other bands. Without them, we would just have been another
band, but a really good one:-)
Jenny
Class of 98
Tuba03
word
mitch
wm tuba line
'99
Bsnplyr82
Too many props can be good and bad. Anyband does NOT need props to win,
i.e.=MARIAN CATHOLIC. ok, thats just because some bands use props to haid the
aweful level of playing the band has, butt in some bands, they have props and
sound awesome, SOOOO, if you got it flaunt it!
Jim Partich. MD
"Debbie, did you eat the casserole in the oven?"