Marching techniques

Will · Post by **Will** » Mon Apr 24, 2006 10:52 pm

Leland wrote:Now, how about backwards technique?

I tell my kids to be aware of their center of gravity. Keeping on their toes can make them too top-heavy. They may need to crouch down with the legs just a bit to improve their maneuverability.

HH

Leland · Post by **Leland** » Mon Apr 24, 2006 11:27 pm

Will wrote:
Leland wrote:Now, how about backwards technique?
I tell my kids to be aware of their center of gravity. Keeping on their toes can make them too top-heavy. They may need to crouch down with the legs just a bit to improve their maneuverability.

HH

I've found it easier to stay on the toes and push off with the front foot. It's a little silly if it's too high at small steps, though, and a few corps have taken to rolling the front toe up at slow tempos.

It also helps to maintain a visual presence, keeping their posture upright and not crouched over. That also helps keep their backs from getting tired.

Will · Post by **Will** » Mon Apr 24, 2006 11:36 pm

They stay on their toes. I just have them bend their knees a bit for faster tempos. Lowering that center of gravity.

HH "6 posts for the day! not bad for being out of commission for a while"

Leland · Post by **Leland** » Mon Apr 24, 2006 11:38 pm

Speaking of posture --

I had a college band director that described good posture as rolling the shoulders back, chest forward, head up, and settle the weight on the hips. That's not at all what I learned elsewhere, and he seemed like he had no clue that I was doing something differently, but whatever -- I let him do his thing.

Partway through one marching season, I had a flute player complain to me that her back hurt. I asked her what she was doing, and she described his posture exactly. That's when I realized that his method was actually causing the pain, so I told her how I carry myself -- tall, upright, straight, balanced, and weight off of the hips. She tried it out while standing there, and said, "Oh my god, that feels a lot better!"

If you see how a dancer stands there -- ballet, modern dance, etc -- without doing anything, it's a neutral, balanced, upright posture, neither slouching forward nor leaning back. It looks clean and natural, but just as importantly, it distributes the load as evenly as possible on the muscles and skeleton.

Marching is just dancing, military-style. Many of the same body core principles apply.

Leland · Post by **Leland** » Mon Apr 24, 2006 11:42 pm

Will wrote:They stay on their toes. I just have them bend their knees a bit for faster tempos. Lowering that center of gravity.

I (or should I say "we") keep my legs straight, at least at the push-off, for faster tempos. I don't feel top-heavy, I just feel like I'm staying more off of the ground. It's good for 180-190 bpm or more.

Leland · Post by **Leland** » Tue Apr 25, 2006 9:12 am

While I'm thinking about it, DCI is having another "Classic Countdown" of 12 shows that were voted among the best of all-time. If you're not doing anything else Thursday night (this is a long broadcast; all shows are full-length, not highlights), and you want to see that there really are a bunch of variants on "corps-style marching", this would be where to go.

http://www.dci.org
http://www.bigscreenconcerts.com/subpag ... ventID=574