DOWNRIVER FANFARE VIDEOS COMING SOON!
Welcome to Drill Design 2011
Steve Martin Composer/Designer- GPG Music Publications
Roosevelt HS Marching Band, Mark DeAngelo, Director
2011 Show "Heroes and Villains"
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"Mid-Season Evaluation"
As a benefit of the amazing technology available to us, I was able to provide commentary and criticism to the Marching Chiefs on their first evaluation show of 2011. I did this by watching a high-definition video on YouTube of the Marching Cheifs' 9/17/11 performance at Wayne Memorial HS, while simultaneously making a digital audio recording of my comments. Once I finished, I converted my recording to MP3 and emailed it to Mark for is review. The end result: Mark and the band had a tape from me as if I was in the press box that day! Most of my comments were directed at the kids, but I was also making suggestions for Mark. I suggested he edit the "tape" for the students to keep the comments for them separate. Frankly, I'm blown away by the technology factor of this dialogue, and I hope more designers can make use of this type of interaction to give their clients more feedback throughout the season.
My focus for comments was very broad. I was able to comment on the band's achievement, accuracy, and the coordination of the musical and visual design packages. From my perspective (and using just this one snapshot of their season as a reference point), I think the band is progressing faster than last season. Their comprehension of the music and drill is comparable to when I saw them in early October last year. It's encouraging to so the potential. I believe the drill design is going to facilitate success in terms of supporting the concept well, appropriate demand and still being very achievable for the ability level of the Marching Chiefs.
I will have the opportunity to work with the band this year in early October. I'm looking forward to seeing and hearing the show live, as well as attending to some of the details that need a little fine-tuning in the musical book. If the band brings the same great attitude from last year to the time we have next month, it will be a great opportunity for all parties to make great strides! I'll be sure to report here on the results of our time together.
Steve Martin
"First Thoughts" by Composer/Arranger Steve Martin
Downriver Fanfare (October 4th)
Marching Festival LIVE! on Banddirector.com with color commentarty by Steve Martin GPG usic Publications
First Thoughts from Ed Waren (Drill Design, Warren Creative Designs)
Drill Design 2011
Drill designer initial thoughts
I am looking forward to my first season writing for the marching Chiefs. I have know
Mark a while and spent some time talking with him last year as he progressed through his
season.
I have been writing drill and coordinating visual programs for about 30 years and am glad
to have the opportunity to collaborate with Mark, his staff and Steve. The program will
be more a concept approach as opposed to a thematic idea. I am busily working on the
sketching process and will begin actual finalized pages in the next couple of days. I am
currently high lighting the different layers of voicing so that I can make sure everything
is staged and ready to be staged for the up coming musical events in the score.
Steve has done a good job capturing the different characters and ideas in his writing and
does a great job moving the voices around to create variety musically and to allow me to
do so with the staging.
I will continue to update as the creative process continues!