#marching arts

[cemeterygrace]

ok so rumor has it we get little treats if we come to marching band in costume but i don’t have costume shit. should i just wear a fall out boy shirt and excessive eyeliner and say i’m an emo? or like what should i do lmao

[mooremarchingmusic]

call me a cantankerous old lady but can DCI bring back shakos and plumes? apparently I'm the only person on Earth who thinks traditional marching uniforms actually look cool but either way, you can't deny they look sharp as hell on the field

[rifewithrifles]

Penn State Blue Band stimboard (x) (x) (x) - (x) (x) - (x) (x) (x)

[sorchasolas]

Literally no one i know irl is being helpful so im turning to Tumblr where im not sure i will receive much more help because this is SO niche

[redboonetv]

something I’ve really been enjoying about this year’s season of DCI is the general move from (often unnecessarily) elaborate props and show designs. don’t get me wrong, when it’s done right, it’s done RIGHT (bloo 22??) but it usually ends up being way too chaotic for its own good. the shows I’ve enjoyed the most thus far are beautifully simple regarding props and design, and I’m loving the potential!

[mrmarchingband]

Backwards Marching

well this is literally just gonna be about backwards Marching.

First we will learn about the INCORRECT ways that could possibly harm you.

Marching with your toes (which is correct) BUT you go fully down with your heel, which at high tempos can cause you to trip and if you are rehearsing on asphalt, can definitely HURT!

Marching with HEELS, I have no clue if you CAN actually do this, but either way it would hurt you and would be incorrect.

Marching with your toes, BUT you don't keep your upper core steady, how to fix this exactly? You try to tighten up your core, which warm up exercising before rehearsal will definitely help!! If you do have warm-ups during rehearsal though, make sure to do them!

Now, onto the CORRECT ways to march backwards.

Marching with your toes, making sure that your core is tight, so that your upper half is NOT bouncing or moving at all.

Why did I exactly make this post?

I see these be common mistakes, and sometimes people do it on accident, or they actually DON'T know how to do it.

So... that is it!! If you would like to learn or read about some basic marching techniques, request/ask!! I love responding to them!!!

[balaenopteraricei]

hey guys!! I need your help. I have the opportunity this summer to march with a world class DCI corps (more information on what that is under the read more) but it's pretty expensive. I'd really appreciate if y'all could donate a dollar, buy pasta (up to 50% of profits go to my tuition!), or just reblog to help me reach more people. this is something that is super super exciting to me and I am so absolutely pumped.

please dm me for donation/pasta links

I don't feel comfortable posting a link straight to my full name so please shoot me a dm and I'll can hand out either the pasta or the donation link. any little bit helps and I'm so grateful I get to do this <3

"I have the super exciting opportunity this summer to go on a tour with a music group! As a member unit of Drum Corps International -- “Marching Music’s Major League,” it is very exciting for me to be a part of one of the world’s most exclusive & elite national touring ensembles as we celebrate our 31st Anniversary season and DCI’s 51st Anniversary tour.

If you are not familiar with our group and the activity in which we are involved, I would like to ask for just a minute of your time to tell you a little about it. The Jersey Surf is made up of more than 100 musicians and dance performers between the ages of 16 & 21, who come to be a part of our organization from throughout the USA & beyond. We are interested in furthering our musical and performance education and becoming trained as future leaders through our involvement with The Jersey Surf.

The organization was started in 1990 and is a model of excellence in youth programming – I am very proud to be a part of this special group of people. Being a member of The Jersey Surf will allow me the opportunity to receive instruction from some of the top arts educators in the country, tour the United States, and perform before tens of thousands of people this summer along with our entire team people just like me. During the summer we will travel extensively, on our way to the prestigious DCI World Championships in the state of the art NFL Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, IN.

[medinerd]

I thought I was video recording me announcing Greater Latrobe High School during the 2024 Norwin Band Festival. Instead, I ended up taking a great portrait shot. The bokeh effect is especially cool.

Throwback Thursday – October 3, 2024 – Medi-Nerd 2 https://medi-nerd.com/2024/10/03/throwback-thursday-october-3-2024/

[lylahammar]

My take on unicorns! I'd really love to make a mythical creature field guide someday, since the Spiderwick Field Guide is what inspired me to start drawing in the first place 🥰

[mooremarchingmusic]

Okay y'all it's time to rant again.

I just found out that my high school alma mater cut the marching band program, and needless to say I am livid. My most popular post on this blog is about the importance of marching band, but I feel like I need to expand on it; this time, from the perspective of an adult who’s long out of school, watching the real-time crumble of the very thing that brought me to where I am now. 

When I was first begrudgingly pushed into marching by my director, I was a completely different person: skittish of my own shadow, chronically out-of-place, and cripplingly shy. I didn’t have the constitution for sports, and whatever other activities I found myself drawn to either couldn’t break through my hesitant demeanor or had no place for the strange personality they found on the other side. 

But I immediately belonged in marching band. They didn’t mind my reserved nature, and strangeness was something they celebrated. Over the course of a single marching season, I got into good physical shape, dramatically improved my musicality, made more friends than I’d ever had… and most importantly, developed a still-quiet but genuine and unwavering confidence. 

I found myself in marching band. The acceptance and fellowship it offered allowed me to learn who I was, and I brought that into every other aspect of my life. It gave me the courage to continue branching out to find other things I loved, the social skills to finally forge lasting connections with others, the opportunity to discover my own leadership style, and the assuredness to trust myself in walking my own path. 

And if you’re not the type to be convinced by waxing poetic about intangible concepts, maybe you’ll be convinced by the direct impact marching had on my future career. I went into writing, and even well-meaning family members told me not to focus so much on marching band when it didn’t have any relation to the type of work I was pursuing. At least until the local newspaper hired me for high school practicum because they wanted me to write about band. In turn, that led to a performing arts beat job in college, which then led to an internship with Halftime Magazine: writing (about the marching arts!) on a national level at 19 years old. Marching band jump-started a completely unrelated career with opportunities that I wouldn’t have otherwise had, and that’s not even taking into account the passion and community that gave me such an important thing to write about in the first place. 

I acknowledge that my life right now is the product of many intersecting circumstances, but it’s an undeniable reality that I would not be who I am without marching band. 

That’s why it kills me to see this happening. It’s not just my old high school cutting the marching band. The little drum corps that I joined one summer folded in its first season due to a lack of funding or support from much of anywhere. The second college I attended removed the marching band from the pregame show a couple years ago, and the last time I went to an alumni event there, they were constantly cutting the band off during pep tunes in favor of playing Top 40 songs on the loudspeaker. 

Seemingly more than ever, the marching arts are being sidelined and it pisses me off. 

It’s been proven, over and over, for decades upon decades, that music education is invaluable to kids’ development and success. Schools with access to music education have an average attendance rate of 93.3%, compared to 84.9% in schools without it; and music students have an estimated 90.2% high school graduation rate compared to 72.9% of non-music students. Band members trend 87.6% to be in the top ten percent of their graduating class, and 94.9% of valedictorians and salutatorians participate in music education. Music students in America attend college at a rate of 86.4% ��� the highest rate of any discipline — and have a collegiate graduation rate of 88.4% compared to the national graduation rate of 60.4%. Band members have the lowest levels of current/lifelong use of alcohol, tobacco, and illicit drugs of any group. They have higher rates of brain development, critical thinking skills, motor capacities, and camaraderie; while having lower rates of bullying, racism, and disciplinary infractions. [x] [x] [x]

Don’t get me wrong, I recognize that sports are life-changing for kids. We all know that. There are umpteen billion studies and marketing campaigns and feel-good movies about how sports can turn someone’s life around. But the arts do the exact same thing, not just for kids who don’t have athletic inclinations, but for all kids who benefit from the cognitive, social, and cultural advantages that music introduces to their lives. 

When you bend over backwards to continue funding athletics but cut arts programs without a second thought, what you’re really doing is looking at a group of kids — intelligent, talented, promising kids — and telling them that their futures are less important than someone else’s. You’re telling them that their passions and pursuits are inconsequential. You’re ripping potentially life-changing opportunities from them because of arbitrary and completely false narratives that the arts somehow have less impact than athletics, just because they don't bring in as much money and aren't as glorified and exciting on TV.  

Funding is an almost universal issue for public schools, and I know it’s complicated to navigate. But I see no reason why budget cuts can’t be split up and applied equally to all programs, giving all students the opportunity to learn how to fundraise, work together in the face of setbacks, and come up with creative solutions to make their collective dreams a reality. I will never understand the decision to instead single out particular groups of kids, and I cannot fathom the sort of closed-minded, backwards thinking that causes arts programs to be the first to go. 

In more ways than one, marching band took a timid, directionless wallflower and catapulted her into a confident, successful, and fulfilling adulthood; and I will defend music education for as long as it takes to ensure that the generations who come after me get that same chance. 

[hoymiko]

Welcome to the express

[fineapple20]

Portraits

Retouched this set from last year, because it was haunting me laying there 80% finished

[daeyumi]

I am what you made me 🩸