Monday, April 24, 2023
As the specter of Marching Season rises again to terrorize band directors everywhere, here are a few key things you can jump on top of to get the ghost before he gets you. The list below is a small (and by no means comprehensive) checklist I've used in the past yearly to set up marching percussion programs for the rigors to come.
Marching Drums
Changing all your marching drumheads ideally should happen around twice a year (once at the beginning of the season after band camp, and once before the big contests at the end of the year). Once a year is fine for most programs but plan some time to re-head your drums before your first performance. It's generally a bad investment to buy new heads only for them to quickly deteriorate from weather, use, and heat of weeks of band camp.
Make sure drumheads match between like drums on the field. You'll never get the same sound from each student if each student is using different equipment.
When changing drumheads, remember to:
- Rub surfboard/candle wax around the bearing edge of the shell to allow for head movement over the season. (I've also heard bar soap works but have not tested this one myself.)
- Give your tension rods a dip in lithium grease before putting them back into the lug housing. This will help rust from collecting on the lugs and keep them turning for a long time.
- Press directly with good force into the middle of the fresh head as you are making your first tension rod turns. This will pull the material in tightly around the shell of the drum, and will, if you are turning rods in the right order, help you center the head.
Wipe the shells down with Pledge and a microfiber cloth.
Institute a "nuts and bolts" and damage check. Check all lugs for missing tension rods and check all drums for damage to both metal and wooden parts. Bass drums are especially prone to develop subtly cracked hoops that need to get replaced.
Fit carriers to students and make sure you and your students know how your carriers are supposed to fit. I have found that Randall May whale-tail harnesses are especially difficult for students to understand the fit (it's called a belly plate for a reason!)
Non-Electronic Front Ensemble
Wipe down hardware of keyboards with microfiber cloths and Pledge or Windex (anything that's not bleach). Afterwards, if your keyboard hardware is black, some like to mark chipped parts of the frame with a sharpie. Keyboard casters also like to collect hair, which is super fun to make your students clean out.
Clean out your stick bags! Front Ensemble students like to "move in" to their instrument, and, if not properly evicted, can leave things in there that will make the next tenant feel like you did about that weird smell in your first college apartment.
If you have show music in hand, figure out a plan for the auxiliary instruments. It's much easier to do this ahead of time rather than in the middle of rehearsal two days before a show. Make sure that you have a plan for each instrument listed.
- Do we have this instrument? (I have a music store in mind if you're looking to order anything!)
- How/when/where will it be played during the show?
- Where will it live while it's not being played?
If you have a show in hand, figure out now what your physical front ensemble setup will look like for the year. Most people are going to do the standard straight line in front, but think more detailed. Which instruments are going to go where in the setup? Do I want my drum set/rack behind my center marimba? Do I want a center marimba? Do I want like instruments grouped together?
General "nuts and bolts" check here as well. It's especially important to make sure that everything is tightened on each instrument firmly, as front ensemble instruments tend to take a beating, especially with all the jostling on rough terrain. Be sure to check gong and bass drum stands; these often get overlooked and it can be the most disastrous when they fall apart!
Electronic Front Ensemble
General mixer/big equipment cleaning. Dusting and wiping down the outside is a must, but it's also a good idea to get into the nitty gritty inside your mixer. Spray an aerosol duster on big moving parts, gently wipe down boards/other components with a damp cloth, and get into tiny moving parts with a cotton swab. If this isn't something you're comfortable with, a repair shop near you is certainly able to do a routine cleaning. Think about how much more often your sousaphones get cleaned and detailed than your mixer, which has many more delicate and intricate parts.
If you know your front ensemble setup for the year, begin thinking about your cabling plan. Are you daisy-chaining your cables? How will you get your inputs to your mixer? What's the plan for the outputs? Do you have enough miles of cables to make your wildest dreams come true?
Input/Output check. Take a cable that works and a mic that works and test each input on your mixer. If the connection doesn't work, tape off that input so that no one uses it mistakenly. It's also good to use this process to test all your mics and all your cables as well. This is a little time-consuming but is so much better to deal with than suddenly learning that the mic you were planning to use tomorrow at the regional doesn't work.
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Caleb Evans graduated from the University of Arkansas in 2017 with a Bachelor's of Music Education, and from Baylor University in 2019 with a Master's of Music Performance in Percussion. Caleb shortly maintained a healthy private studio in DFW before moving back with his wife to his home area of Northwest Arkansas. Here he continues to work as a passionate advocate for music education and uses his expertise to assist band programs in the area. Caleb's teaching experience is extensive: he has maintained high level private lesson programs in TX and AR and has teaching experience with the Crossmen Drum and Bugle Corps, Vigilantes Indoor Percussion, the Baylor University Drumline, and several BOA competitive high school programs. He has also designed, arranged, and produced competitive sound design for high school BOA marching shows. He has a daughter, a wife who works in music education, and two spoiled cats residing in Bella Vista. In his spare time, Caleb enjoys philosophy, writing music, working out, and cheering on Arkansas football. |
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