We were finally able to kick the football players off of the field so that we could learn the routine. Marching lessons were over and the real work had begun! We set to work learning the routine. We were given dot books that showed us exactly where we supposed to be on the field and for how many counts we were supposed to be there. The drumline always found their places easily, but were not so good at remembering how long they were supposed to be there, or where they were supposed to go next. I think this is because they had a relatively short attention span, and didn't pay attention, but perhaps it was just because they forgot. I have usually been able to remember things easily once I see them written down on paper.
We had learned the first few sets of the first song and were ready to put them together. I pretty much knew what I where I was going and the boys thought they did too. But when the woodblock started beating out the tempo and we started going, I went one way and the boys went the other. Fortunately, I was the one who went with the rest of the band; the boys ended up knocking into everyone else and caused us to start over. This happened set after set after set, usually with the boys banging into me. They'd grumble a "fuck! Sorry," and quickly changed their direction to get back in their place and in step. By the time the day was over, the boys had placed me in the middle of the line so that they could watch where I went and when I went there. They'd laugh and goof off during breaks and then forget the routine once we started up again. It was going to be a long time before the boys got it...and we still hadn't marched and played our instruments at the same time yet.
2 comments:
I must say it wasn't until the past two years that the marching band I was in ever had problems with the drumline. Because we've been slowly shrinking in size the band director does not have the option of selecting who will be in it. She always puts the most skilled players on quad and snare. Usually these players stick together like glue and actually do a decent job at following the drill. The bases have a miserable time. 2/4 cannot see over their drums. The guy that had the largest drum was shorter and smaller than me (i'm only 5'2"). During my senior year we have two base players fall over with their drums, and three wipe outs. The third movements in our shows always feature a percussion break. Usually we do some fancy drill in which the drum line goes through the entire rows of the horn line. Last year the french horn guy got wedged between two of the bases (the instrument now have a permanent dent in the bell), a clarinet got completely side swiped by the biggest base (she had to go to the hospital), and myself and the other alto player almost got plowed over by the two drummers who couldn't judge distance (luckily the director stopped the band before it could happen). I feel bad for the drumline. It's not that they're stupid like the stereotype leads you to believe, they just always end up with the short end of the stick. :(
Yeah, it's hard to maneuver yourself with a drum that's half as big as you. However, the mentality of most of the line was "the band will move for us." We sometimes forgot to take into account that we were in back of them and they couldn't see us coming...
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