Dream Shows

[supersound]

What’s your dream marching band show?

[madisonbandman1]

What a perfectly timed question! I just recently had to turn in my show design for my leadership essay. Here you go!


Over the years I have come to realize just how much time and energy it takes to create and maintain a competitive marching show. That’s why I took my time designing my first show for you, The Fog of War. It began with a journey. Because I knew how invested I wanted this show concept to be, I finished the first part of the essay as soon as I could without rushing to give myself time to fully develop my ideas in this show concept. This show is designed to fit the abilities and timing of a finalist caliber BOA band, and the major theme of this show is pain; all of the pain endured throughout the depths of the second world war.


Let us begin with staging. First off, the front ensemble must include two mic’d up concert bass drums, one on either side of the ensemble. The props include two different types of judge blockers, with the first set of judge blockers on the front sideline. On these judge blockers there is a scene of soot covered rubble on the ground with a fade towards what looks like a fiery orange skyline at night, but there isn’t enough room to reveal it all. The other set of judge blockers are for the back sideline, and picks up where the front blockers left off -- a fiery orange skyline fades to dark, smoky sky with silhouettes of airplanes flying overhead, and the smoke parting to clear sky in the wake zones behind them. These judge blockers will be taller than the ones in front, much closer to eight feet tall. More props will be hidden behind both of the judge blockers for the guard to use throughout the show. Those will be introduced at a later time.


Just as every story begins with an introduction, each marching show must do the same. Our story begins with the winds scattered randomly across the field, their instruments laying on the field, their heads hanging low, and their body swaying in each direction. There are no shakos present, and the guard is hidden behind the frontfield judge blockers. The electronic system up front is playing a recording of Philip Glass’ “100,000 People.” Right away the crowd will notice that there are two different uniforms among the wind section, one light brown and tight to the body, and the other dark olive green and more baggy. What the audience doesn’t realize yet is that the olive uniforms represent the allies and the light brown uniforms represent the uniforms of the Heer (the German Army before and throughout WWII). Some choreography is performed by the winds here as the introduction comes to a close. The winds reluctantly pick their horns up as an air raid siren is heard as if they don’t want to pick their weapons up and go to war.


BOOM! The first explosion is heard (produced by the mic’d up bass drums up front) as the winds snap their horns up energetically. The ensemble dives right into the fast, technical masterpiece that is Peter Graham’s “Metropolis 1927,” but it isn’t being played how much of the world would think. Nearly all of the technical playing is done by the woodwinds and the brass serve as the aggressive background sounds heard throughout. The upper brass don’t play much in this movement because there’s only some bass notes in the background. The drill is flying all over the place, people are falling out and being left behind. This movement is entitled “The Descent Into War,” and the high velocity drill adds to the chaotic environment that the movement creates. The duets in this piece are played by an oboe and a clarinet, both All-State musicians. The chaos eventually slows down into an inverted Ode to Joy (just like the one Carolina Crown used in their 2015 show, “Inferno”) as another explosion is heard, serving as the ending to the first movement.


The second movement is entitled “Arrival”, which is the world’s arrival into the depths of the war. This is a much slower movement, as Five Finger Death Punch’s rendition of “Bad Company” is beginning. The wind sound effect found in the start of the music video is being played as the color guard emerges from behind the judge blockers, and before you say anything, there is a reason why the guard doesn’t come out until the second movement. They are wearing black and bronze vertically striped jumpsuits and most are carrying assorted mining and work equipment. Some, however, are not carrying work equipment and are wielding traditional guard rifles and sabres. The band is split up across the field -- high brass and woodwinds on side one and low brass and battery on side two. The guard members dance as the band fills section by section into playing the piece stated above (I’m thinking of something like “F Around the Room”, but I can’t put it in the proper words), and as the energy picks up the guard are doing work and the winds are intertwining in the drill. The two different blocks are now recognized as the two different armies, as they were really split not by sections but by color of uniform.

The high brass and woodwinds (light brown uniforms) begin surrounding the low brass and battery as a trumpet plays the guitar solo, and and the whole band plays the last note in unison with the solo trumpet on top. When the band releases the low brass and battery fall to the ground together while at the same time the high brass and woodwinds take their instruments off of their mouths, turn, and points their instruments at the allies. Everyone knows who is who now, the allies at this point being the Polish (they will be different later).


The beginning of the third movement is the front ensemble’s time to shine, as they quietly play the melody to the traditional russian song, “Polye Polyushka,” but at a tempo much closer to that of the beginning of Brian Balmages’ “Moscow, 1941.” Metal banging against rock echoes in the background as the guard works tirelessly near each end zone. Everyone is standing by now, one army on each side of the battery, each doing some sort of choreography. The choreo stops and the battery has a drum break as the winds are going through contrasting drill on each side of the battery, picking up intensity and difficulty. The battery pushes slowly forward throughout their feature as if they were a part of a company front, and as the feature ends that is exactly where the winds end up -- in a company front playing the big impact of the movement and slowly pushing forward towards the crowd, and when the big impact comes, the entire guard drops their work equipment and picks up swing flags, and does exactly what they know how to do. Brimming with emotionally charged shaping, each phrase of this glorious ballad attempts to suck every drop of water from the viewer’s eyes. The band releases the last note up into the air and nothing but complete silence is left behind. Slowly bringing their horns down, the winds turn backfield and flutter to the back half of the field. A guard soloist comes to the front 40 yard line on side two and dances to only the front ensemble playing with no amplification. It’s quiet. It’s serene. It’s beautiful.


The electronics are silently turned back on and the winds begin playing on their knees facing backfield. It’s the beginning of the closer, a powerful piece written by Craig Armstrong, “Escape.” The guard begins running sporadically around the field, having no purpose but to look chaotic. You can hear airplanes flying over your head. More explosions ring out. At this point the winds are still facing backfield, but their volume is increasing now. In one fluid motion, the band spins and stands up so they are facing you. One by one, a wind player marches slowly towards the crowd. There is no special drill here, just power. The winds are, however, swaying side to side as they approach the front sideline. You’ll notice that the high brass and woodwinds are in the direct center. The speed picks up, and the drill finally comes together. The high brass and woodwinds are pushing at the rest of the ensemble trying to escape, but to no avail. The block is still moving forward, growing louder and louder. The explosions are more frequent now -- the bass drums booming at a constant rate now.


Suddenly, all of the music and electronics but the front ensemble go silent and the low brass face the high brass. After what seems like only a split second, the low brass whip to the front and play a wall of sound as the high brass immediately fall to the ground, but the low brass are no longer just low brass. They are a balanced ensemble now as they exchanged instruments while facing the high brass. Here, the guard stands over the German army and points their equipment at them. The ensemble releases and poses, signaling the end of the performance.


So I hope you liked it. The title if you haven't caught it by the way was "The Fog of War."

Let me know what you think!

[boahistorybuff]

I am not creative enough to design a whole show; so what I would consider a dream show that I would have liked to march in are:

In DCI: 1988 Madison Scouts, 1989 SCV, 1991 Star of Indiana, 1994 Blue Devils, 1996 Phantom Regiment, 2000 Cadets, 2006 Cavaliers

BOA: 1998 Lassiter, 1999 PCEP, 2000 Marian Catholic, 2007 LD Bell, 2010 Avon, 2014 Broken Arrow, 2014 Tarpon Springs, 2016 Carmel, 2016 Flower Mound.