Stay on the Train(ing)

It's January, you have show music passed out and the first show is only weeks away. Maybe you did a short Holiday Camp, or you took that break off completely. Maybe you had some snow days in December like we did here in Cincinnati. Either way you are feeling the pressure of that first show. Are you behind? It probably feels like it. Should you be freaking out? It probably feels like it.

So what should we do if we are in this situation? The first thing I would recommend to all of us is that it is NOT time to freak out...YET. The season is not won or lost at the first show. I usually approach that first show as a time to just get the students out there to perform. Remember, they (and you) have been working at this for a couple of months now. Additionally, you have members that have never performed in this venue before. Regardless of how the show goes, it will be a new and exciting experience for them.

As you are prepping for that first show, you have to ask yourself a few questions.

1 - What is important at that first show?

2 - What am I hoping to get out of that first show?

Each of these questions is something that you must answer for yourself, and I don't think there is a right or wrong answer. There is an answer that is "right" for you and your ensemble, and I believe that you should do that regardless of what I, or anyone else says.

So what is important at that first show? As I stated above, the member's experience is but what else. For me, I want to set the students up to feel successful. This does not mean that we will have the full show out there at show one. It means that I want the students to be able to successfully perform whatever we put out there. On more than one occasion, I have taken a group to the first show with 45 seconds of show on the floor. In each of those instances, those groups made WGI Finals and one was a medalist in their class. It's not about how much you do, but how well you do it as a first impression. Remember judges can only judge what they see...HOWEVER, you can tell them about what they haven't seen in critique which is a topic for another day.

What am I hoping to get out of that first show? CONFIDENCE! For both the members and the staff. Confidence might not come from having a great first show either. Your group loaded and unloaded the trucks and broke nothing. CONFIDENCE in the loading process. You established getting in and out of warm up, and the show flow in one piece...CONFIDENCE gained. You went out in front of people and no one melted down...a big win in the CONFIDENCE catagory.

So what we do from now until the first show. My first instinct, and the reason for the title of the article, is to focus on the training. In a 3 hour rehearsal, I will do at least an hour and a half of training. Sometimes more with my front ensemble. This is defintely split up in different things. With my high school front ensemble, I will do 30-45 minutes of drum pad time working on timing, rhythm, wrist turn (technique) and dynamics. Then I will do 30-45 minutes of 2 mallet playing usually focuses on scales, wrist turn (technique) and hand speed. Lastly, we will spend 15-45 minutes on four mallet technique. The reason that is such a wide window is it depends on how comfortable with four mallets the average of the group is. With super young groups, 15 minutes is enough time to focus on technique and burn their hands out. With an older group, 45 minutes is enough time to do some block chords, some alternating stroke and some inside mallets (potentially hitting some lateral strokes if needed).

For a battery, I would split that time up 45 minutes of music fundamentals and 45 minutes of visual fundamentals. Again these times are just a rough estimation based on the where the ensemble is. In my music fundamentals time, I would focus on timing, rhythm, wrist turn (technique), and dynamics. The vocabulary we hit would be based on what they need for the show music and/or skills I am hoping to build in them. This could be double strokes, flams, faster rolls, paradiddles, etc. I would spend a TON of time in my visual fundamentals getting the students to focus on pushing step one with energy. If you want them to play with energy, they are going to have to move with energy. I would then do whatever visual exercises we normally do with a focus on leg shape and energy.

Nothing I do is earth shattering in fundamentals. I don't pit tunes and all my exercises are short. However, I do add numerous variations to each exercise to engage the students while maintaining focus on a skill (or 2). I do this so the students don't have to exert a ton of mental energy, or time, in learning notes that are not meant to be played outside of warm up. Instead they can use that mental energy, and time, on strengthening their skills.

I should add that I will do a chop out almost every rehearsal, especially early on. Sometimes this means that the students won't play as well in ensemble that night, but I am building to be great at the end not necessarily on January 5 (or whatever day it is). Performers can NEVER have hands that are too strong, but they can definitely have hands that are too weak.

Why so much fundamental time with the first show coming up? I am of the opinion that judges can see the difference between a well trained group that doesn't perform well, and a group that lacks training but has had a ton of show pushed into them. The second group might score better at the first show, but in my experience the better trained groups do better at the end of the season.

That is why recomemend staying on the training you have been doing. I would also remind you, as I stated earlier, to do what you think is best for your group regardless of what anyone says. My hope is that this blog makes you think about your preperation for the first show. Whatever you are doing, just keep working and pushing yourself, and your students, in the direction you see best fit.