Show Concept and Design Clinic 2007
Scott Kurtzweil
Banddirector.com was gracious enough to ask me back again this year to provide another series of articles related to show concepts and design. For the 2007 installment of this online show design clinic, we are extremely fortunate to involve the band program from Sterling Heights High School (MI) under the direction of Mr. Jeremy Duby. Stay with us in the following weeks as we chronicle the progress of this one program’s marching season from the inception of show concept through its design, teaching, cleaning and ultimately performance. This will be done through a series of informational articles, running commentary blogs by Sterling Heights High School staff as well as videos of clinics rehearsals and performances.
The Initial Stages of Show Concept and Design
At the time of this writing, we have one concrete show element . . . the concept. This year’s Sterling Heights High School Marching Band will be presenting the music of James Bond. The James Bond theme and other famous Bond tunes conjure up some interesting ideas and I am looking forward to our initial creative team meetings later this week with director Jeremy Duby and music arranger Anthony Messina. These initial meetings tend to be the most exciting of the season as they are most often free brain storming sessions that produce the central focus of the overall show design.
I am already working to prepare myself for these first meetings by making myself more familiar with the Sterling Heights program. I have spoken with director Jeremy Duby and will soon be reviewing videos of performances from the past few years. This will give me a better handle on not only the direction of the program but also what the Sterling Heights community expects to see from its marching band program (please see the below excerpt from last year’s article Preparing the Marching Show Visual Design).
I am greatly looking forward to the weeks ahead and I hope you will stay with us as we share the adventure of putting a marching production on the field. Comments and questions are always welcome and you may contact me at scott@kurtzweildesigns.com.
From Preparing the Marching Show Visual Design - 2006
I. Degree of Demand (Grade Level)
Before sitting down to design a visual package for a particular ensemble, I like to review video of its previous three years of performances. From these I can gain a wealth of information including performance and design techniques with which the students are already familiar and an over all sense of performance quality both for individual sections and the band as a whole.
Like most band music, a drill design can often be graded based on the demand that it places on the individual performer and the ensemble as a whole. In fact, many designers will grade their designs on the same 1 to 6 scale that is usually associated with band scores to make for an easy correlation. Also, like in choosing music for the band, it is important to purchase or create a drill design that offers the students the opportunity to grow while at the same time accenting your ensembles strengths while drawing attention away from its weaknesses.
For example, I have found that when it comes to visual design, the two most important sections to keep in mind when writing are the battery percussion and color guard. We will get in to the specifics of how to handle these sections in the next installment.
II. Design Concepts
Designing a show that will resonate with your audience is nearly as important as designing a show to fit your ensemble. If you are writing for a program that traditionally marches a Big Ten style half-time show, the last thing you may want to design is an extensive free-form moment complete with dancing mellophones. Conversely, if your audience includes judges, it is also important to write a show that is going to maximize your potential score in both composition and execution.
