I apologize for the absence. I have a lot to blog about, but things have been pretty hectic lately, schedule-wise. Not an excuse, just a reason.

See, it’s indoor percussion competition season for me, and late February and all of March has been full of late rehearsals and busy, tiring weekends. West Campus, my only competitive school this year, has been putting together a very unique show (ever seen a drumline eat someone before?), and each week the goal was to have a different ending. There are technical, musical, visual, and overall design issues that need to be addressed, not to mention trying to make sure the abilities of the members continue to increase.

What makes the show unique isn’t just the shock value (did I mention eating someone during the show? I did? Alright, then). The caption head, Noah Clark, came up with an idea of doing a story-driven show about surviving in a deserted winter environment. There is a beginning, middle, and end to the story, with lots of acting.

That is the unique aspect of the show.

Most indoor percussion shows that I have seen in the past few years at the WGI level have been 6-minute drum feature, done in the vain of drum corps field shows. And that saddens me. Not that all indoor percussion shows have to have a story. In fact, done right, a simple theme and some visual interpretation of the music can make for a very good show. The problem is, a lot of the WGI shows consist of music that sounds like incidental score music for a movie, interspersed with several battery features.

Intro. Snare feature. Pit chords and runs. Tenor feature. Odd pit melody. Bass feature. Pit build. Battery impact. Ensemble music leading into the next snare feature. Etc.

You get the idea, right?

The problem with this is that it isn’t interesting to listen to or watch. When a show theme is present, say, medieval times, or “gone”, or computers, the theme is usually turned into a one-note gimmick that doesn’t get expanded on or developed. Instead, the audience is given several, similar reminders of the theme through the show to the point where the show repeats itself until the end. All set to forgettable (in many cases) music.

This isn’t the case for all shows. In fact, there are several non-WGI high school groups that have been trying to do interesting things in their shows. Not all are successful, but A for effort.

When putting together an indoor percussion show, I try to stick to some guidelines. Here are a relevant few:

1. It’s a show set to music, so the music had better be memorable, interesting, and captivating.
2. The show shouldn’t be repetitive. Motifs are one thing, but when the audience feels like they’re watching the same segment over and over for 6 minutes, it’s time to rethink the development of the show.
3. It’s not a frickin’ drum feature! If the show is an excuse to show off tricky licks and the monster chops of the line instead of the music and and its visual interpretation, then the show isn’t a show, it’s a drumline feature. This isn’t to say that the show can have those things, but unless the show is entitled, “Show Offs”, then it’s music first, cool licks second.
4. Never be afraid to experiment.

Noah pointed out that the talent and ability of present day drummers has come a long way since I first did a winter show (1994, folks. I have some students that were born that year). Unfortunately, show design hasn’t evolved into anything spectacular (don’t even get me started on electronics). Shows that are essentially field features don’t necessarily teach the members to be good musicians, just drummers with monster chops. And while chops are a good thing, they’re useless unless they are used to express via music.