Marching techniques

[Hank74]

With parade season getting up and ready again pretty soon, I wanted to ask any of you experienced sousaphone players as to what is the proper marching technique when going down the street with this big horn. I've heard that you put your left foot down on the 1st and 3rd beat. But do you also lift the leg up at about 90 degrees and then plant it for a marching step?

Hank74

[Charlie Goodman]

No.

[windshieldbug]

Monty Python's silly walks generator

[Bandmaster]

But do you also lift the leg up at about 90 degrees and then plant it for a marching step?

Whoa....!!! Not the right way to think about it...

Unless you want to march "big ten" style (Michigan and Ohio State), parade marching should just be considered a "controlled walk". Simplified as much as I can, you want to think of "1 & 2 &", or "left and right and". On "one" your left heal makes contact with the ground, then "roll" your weight forward to your left toe and bring your right foot forward. You want to feel your right ankle come even with your left ankle on the "&" of the beat, then extend your right leg and think about leading with your heal (not your toes). Your right heal makes contact with the ground on count "two", then "roll" your weight forward to your right toe and bring your left foot forward. You want to feel your left ankle come even with your left ankle on the "&" of the beat, then extend your left leg and think about leading with your heal (not your toes). Repeat.... over and over.... Do this with a relaxed yet controlled posture and you will look fine and you won't kill yourself in the process.

[Onebaplayer]

depending on the horn and player, marching and sousaphone may not happen at the same time. I know some things call for us to high mark time (the 90 degree thing you were talking about) and my sousaphone keeps my right leg from getting that far even though im a big guy. Generally i take what ever the director says to do (it differs GREATLY from band to band) and simplify it into the most comfortable version possible while still not looking like crap. Do it in time with the rest of the band and you shouldn't get yelled at except for the repeated attempts to try to get you to play softer.

[Chuck(G)]

i have never heard of the high step marching just the high marktime. but just as the rest said just make sure to roll your foot, don't bounce. This makes it easier to play while marching.

I think he means this:

[Dan Schultz]

-Tubachris... (Who nearly re-broke his left arm because he fell with a sousaphone on...)

Did you damage the sousie?

[hurricane_harry]

Harry's Guide on How to March With a Sousaphone:

step one:
sell your sousaohone

step two:
Buy a shoulder tuba*

step three:
quit bitching about it being heavy and do what everyone else does


*****PLEASE NOTE*****
DO NOT BUY CONVERTABLE TUBAS!!!!
THEY ARE A WASTE OF MONEY!!!!

[iiipopes]

At my high school, we marched quickstep: 160 beats/minute, 22 1/2 inch steps (8 to five yards on the football field) knees up to have your thighs parallel to the ground, shins perpendicular, pointed toes, and everything done off the right foot, on beats 2 and 4, so the left foot was the starting beat. So if you turned left or did an about face, it was simple. But to go right everyone, especially the sousaphones, had to do a 3/4 spin off the right foot. If we were slacking, we had to march "the rack," a frame five yards long with the steps separated by 2X4's, and you had to march it, just like doing laps for slacking off on an athletic team, until the director said otherwise. Some of us got so good at it, 1) we could not only march each five yard line with our toes coming down exactly in the middle of the yard line, but also march the width of the field in the correct number of steps with our toes exactly hitting the hash marks and side lines, and 2) we could tell when the guy lining the field made a mistake with the crushed marble dust used to line the field. We did the usual fancy patterns both on the field and street marching, step-two drills, squad posts, "moving" formations, and some of the same, like file about-faces and the occasional complete spin by the sousaphones, including staggered file sharp corners instead of being lazy with a gate swing, and as we staggered the corners the percussion line all played a syncopated 3-3-2 cadence instead of the regular progression of cadences for straight marching. And to "top" it off (pun intended), the uniforms were wool tuxedos which we wore for formal concerts, with sophisticated multi-layer vinyl overlays with the school letters in contrasting Old English script and cords, plumes, etc., but not with not the usual corp style hats, but with white, only slightly smaller than the real ones, (although granted much lighter!) renditions of the British bearskins the guards wear at Buckingham palace. When we circled the field with 5 minutes before the half, we were expected, regardless of the weather, to stand at a perfectly still parade rest, and when whistled to the field to start the program, absolute rock-still attention until roll-off, or your grade was shredded in front of you. To be the visiting team, and all of a sudden be surrounded by about 100 or so quasi-military uniforms at perfect spacing and attention, was rather intimidating! To this day, if I happen to see another guy who was in my high school band during the tenure of our director, and we happen to be walking down a sidewalk, we will walk in perfect step. If I have to estimate outside distances, I can still walk them to within a foot of accuracy for about each 50 yards.

[tubeast]

I was lucky to spend 10 months in the States as a foreign exchange student.

In High School (Elkhart Central HS, class of ´89) we did those roll-your-feet steps that were supposed to prevent "bouncy" long notes.
There also were eight steps to five yards. A few weeks into marching season I found myself rolling my feet all the time, even when at home walking from my room to the kitchen. When we marked time (and only then), we were supposed to lift thighs to be parallel with the ground, toes pointing straight down.

We don´t do this kind of marching over here (except for some exotic groups and military bands, maybe).
A fraction (i.e. typical follow-the-leader choreographies) of those marching techniques I encountered in HS would be considered advanced level marching over here as far as complexity goes.

Dear memories, these are...

[Will]

I considered myself lucky if I found myself in step. I was never the best marcher but man could I dance with that thing! "You do the Hokie Pokie and you turn yourself around..."

HH "who's 4 years of college mb drowned out his years in high school with something other than water "

[Leland]

How many of y'all do crabstep when going sideways? We do in my school... I wonder how common that is.

Oh goodness, no -- I don't recommend crab step unless it's either for visual effect or you're wearing a harness, such as in the marching percussion (I don't even like seeing cymbals crab step).

I also don't think that sky-high toes are necessary for a smooth roll step. The important parts are to roll from heel to toe evenly (and preferably right down the center of the foot; saves knees & ankles that way) and a progressive push-off from the rear foot.

Name the style -- well, besides dancing -- and, at one time or another, I've marched it. Chair step, Madison Scouts-like mega-high toes, crab step, rock n' roll (for direction changes, not like Chuck Berry), point-and-place, jazz run, bicycle, toe lead, semi-straight leg, Scottish slow march,......

I'm assuming that tempo and subdivisions are a given. The MOST IMPORTANT THING OF ALL is that it has to be smooooth. The typical corps-like glide step is probably the easiest to make smooth (although toe lead is inherently smoother, but not good for any tempo quicker than about 80 bpm), but that doesn't mean that nearly every other style has to be rough. You've got two things to be concerned with -- being able to play without a wobbly tone, and not jarring your joints into becoming a disability.

Now, how about backwards technique?

[Will]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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