[nabs-l] Marching Band

Fri Sep 12 16:09:53 UTC 2014

Hi guys,
Sorry it took me so long to reply.
It is getting better, we are practacing our drill for the first song
in our homecoming game show!
It's going well, but there's a lot of slide stepping! I decided not to
use the tether, I have just been following my section leader's
playing, since she is right next to me.
JJ

On 9/3/14, Miso Kwak via nabs-l <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> Kaiti brought up a great point.
> Section leader(s) are responsible for everyone in the section. This
> being said, section leaders are also students(just upper classmen with
> more experiences) so it is normal for anybody in the band to have
> whichever kinds of problems while going through the season.
> In addition to expressing your gratitude through small gifts such as
> baked goods, etc make sure to always acknowledge positive aspects while
> being assertive with your needs and desires when conversing with your
> leaders and staff.
> Also, remember that your leaders and staff are your resource. If your
> band has assistant drum major(s) and/or instructors in addition to your
> director ask them for help in finetuning your posture, horn angle, step
> size, whatever it may be. I used to ask my marching instructor to help
> me with improve postures or execution of certain techniques outside of
> our rehearsal time when I felt the need to do so.
> I am going to echo Kaiti in that the key here is to find what works for
> you and the band. I was able to work with a student guider because of a
> large sized band in which not everyone in the marching band was
> selected to competitively march and it was not necessary for the guider
> to be in the middle of the marching block. I know a student who has
> marched field shows with a student guider and I have read an article in
> which student just relied on verbal cues and sound cues when marching
> in a field band.
> I almost quit marching band myself in earlier years of high school but
> I am beyond glad I stuck through.
> Hope things will work out in favor of you as well as the band as a
> whole.
> Best,
> Miso Kwak
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Kaiti Shelton <crazy4clarinet104 at gmail.com>
> To: Miso Kwak <kwakmiso at aol.com>; National Association of Blind
> Students mailing list <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Wed, Sep 3, 2014 7:29 pm
> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Marching Band
>
> Also, another trick I found useful is to show your section leader some
> appreciation for what they're doing to help you.  It doesn't have to
> be something extravagant, but maybe give them something to show you're
> appreciative every once in a while.  Sometimes that sort of thing can
> go a long way.  I gave my first section leader a cute little picture
> frame with a bunch of pictures of our section in it, since she was a
> senior, but other times I've put together little goodie bags as well.
> These are great for when your band has bus rides to football games or
> shows.  I typically put a Gatorade or Poweraid in there, some candy,
> and a bag of chips with a thank you note.  It seems small, but it can
> go a long way in making the section leader feel like the time they
> work with you means something important to you.  I also usually baked
> something at least once during every high school season and brought it
> in for the section to share, so other people who helped me out on the
> field would feel the same sort of thing.  I made the sweets I baked
> open to everyone in the section, but when offering it to certain
> people who help I'd just tell them thanks as they took their
> brownie/cookie/whatever.  These are relatively small things you can do
> to make people a little more willing to look out for your placement on
> the field during the rehearsals, not get impatient if it takes you
> longer to correct a wrong set, etc.
>
> On 9/3/14, Kaiti Shelton <crazy4clarinet104 at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Hi, Johnnie,
>>
>> It's great that you're marching!  Marching band can be very
>> challenging to figure out alternative techniques for, as it is a very
>> intense physical activity which requires a blind person to also
>> exercise their spatial awareness.  To give you a background on my
>> experiences in marching, I am also a clarinetist, and began marching
>> with my high school when I was in the 8th grade.  I marched for 5
>> seasons with them, then for two more years with the band at my
>> college.  In both groups I have found some things that have worked for
>> me, some ways to approach working with section leaders and directors
>> to make everything work a little more seamlessly, and ways to even
>> adapt the drill so you can independently read it.  I'll tell you what
>> worked for me, and feel free to ask questions or contact me off list
>> if you would like more information.
>>
>> I had a pretty rough start to marching band myself.  My director had
>> never had a blind student in the band before, and I was not the most
>> coordinated kid.  Being one of the only middle school students invited
>> to play with the high school, I was also very intimidated by my older
>> peers.  I was lucky to get a great senior section leader, who was next
>> to me in every set.  We were a competition band though, so a lot of
>> our drill required me to move in curved lines, make different shapes
>> with the band for our sets, and be very attentive to where I was going
>> so I could line up with others.  We were hesitant to use a guide or a
>> tether, because we were worried judges would take off points.  I'm
>> sure we would have used a guide if we had to, but I was able to
>> develop techniques that allowed me to work without one.  If you do opt
>> to use a guide though, I'd see if a staff member could do it rather
>> than another member of the band.  I recommend this for several
>> reasons, mainly so the sets don't have to be totally rewritten to
>> accommodate the hole that would be created by pulling a band member
>> out of the sets they already have.  Also, having a staff member out of
>> uniform stand behind you sends a clearer picture to the judges.  It is
>> much easier for them to focus on the band and forget about the staff
>> member behind you than for them to question why two people in the same
>> outfit are marching one behind the other.  It's less likely that the
>> judges will assume something is wrong, because judges who have never
>> seen a blind person in a marching band will probably not pick up on
>> the reason for the guide from where they're sitting and while they're
>> focused on their score cards.
>>
>> If the section leader is unwilling to work with you, that is
>> definitely something to bring up to the director.  A section leader's
>> job is to assist the people in their section, and even though this is
>> a different kind of situation from what most section leaders will have
>> to work with, it's still their job.  You don't have to taddle on the
>> person because that certainly won't fix the problem, but maybe the you
>> and the director can brainstorm some ways in which your section leader
>> can better help you.  Perhaps they're just unsure of what to do or
>> feel overwhelmed, so they're hesitant to do the work.  I can say from
>> experience though that the first year is when the foundations for the
>> techniques is laid, so having a section leader on board with you can
>> make all the difference.  I'd also see if you could find some other
>> members of your section to help out with different tasks.  For
>> instance, though my section leader helped me to refine my technique in
>> that first year, I asked other members of my section to help when she
>> wasn't available to read dot sheets or to check my horn angle.  This
>> shows the section leader that the responsibility isn't totally on
>> them, and lets them know that although their help is valuable to you,
>> you are taking ownership of your own learning and are willing to seek
>> other sources.  Other upperclassmen in the section should be willing
>> to help you with other things as well.
>>
>> Learning slide steps just takes a while for any rookie to master,
>> because you have to get muscle memory.  Even veterain marchers need to
>> review it at the beginning of every season, and most bands review it
>> throughout the year because tapes will show sloppy shoulders, awkward
>> horn angles, and other issues that need to be fixed mid-season for
>> continued improvement.  You are definitely not alone in struggling to
>> slide.  What really helped me to get the hang of sliding was to have
>> my section leader guide me as I marched sideways.  They gently put
>> their hands on my shoulders, and follow me as I march.  They'll apply
>> pressure on the front or back of my shoulders to keep me from sliding
>> forward or backwards as I go sideways.  This exercise can get your
>> torso used to twisting the correct way, and once you get the muscle
>> memory marching in slides should be much easier.
>>
>> Listening to those around me has also been a big help.  It will take
>> practice, but after a while you'll start to focus on what those around
>> you are playing.  After a while in band I would be able to use the
>> people on either side of me as beacons, so I knew if they sounded
>> farther away than usual, if our line was continuing to move in a
>> particular direction, etc.  You should also know this information from
>> your dot sheets, but the sound is another tool you can use to help.
>>
>> For reading documents independently, my college marching band director
>> and I came up with a really great system that works wonderfully.
>> Instead of giving me a dot sheet along with the band, he will email me
>> my coordinates, which I can braille onto index cards.  I can punch a
>> hole in the top right corner of each card, and slide them onto one of
>> those metal rings.  The ring is easily clipped onto a belt loop, or
>> can hang on my right thumb while I'm playing so it doesn't get in the
>> way of the keys.  This is great because I don't have to rely on others
>> around me to look at my coordinates.  It takes a little more time to
>> braille out the cards, but you can put multiple sets on each card so
>> they'll fit.  Be sure to label the cards with the sets that they
>> contain to make finding the set you need faster.  Having that bit of
>> freedom in rehearsals is so worth the extra time.
>>
>> I think the secret to learning how to march for anyone is just finding
>> what methods work for them.  I'm very sensitive to changes in
>> lighting, so for the first year or so my biggest struggle was refining
>> my technique so I could still continue to march when we were marching
>> into a setting sun and I couldn't see anything, or if I was having a
>> bad visual day and everything had a halo.  I had to learn how to
>> accommodate for altered depth perception, to not being able to guide
>> to my right and to not being able to guide at all in certain lighting
>> situations, and to realizing that even if I am precisely on my dot,
>> the important thing is to go where the band goes over where you are
>> supposed to go, even if you know that it is wrong.  Every person is
>> going to find some technique that works for them, so I would encourage
>> you to stick it out at least for this first year to see how you like
>> it.  Marching band can be really rewarding once you figure out the
>> tips and tricks that work for you, it just takes a little while to
>> find what they are.
>>
>> Feel free to email me off list with any other questions you might
> have.
>> Kaiti.
>>
>>
>> On 9/3/14, Miso Kwak via nabs-l <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>>> What Marissa pointed out is how I marched my competitive parades.
>>>  From my experience, the guider method works perfectly well with
> parades
>>> and certainly adaptable with field band which Johnnie's school seems
> to
>>> be doing.
>>> Side steping or also known as sliding is also possible and can be
> done
>>> with the guider.
>>> My high school did not heavily march field shows (mostly competitive
>>> parades) but I have done basic field band including forward marching,
>>> sliding, and backward marching with a guider.
>>> Teather is a possible option but based on my experience, is not the
>>> best option because each uniform is structured differently, so not
>>> every uniform is conveniently built for attaching the teather.
>>> Also, if your high school band is marching in a competitive field
> show,
>>> it will not serve well for the band's performance as a whole. You may
>>> disagree, but I don't think participation of a blind student should
>>> serve as a down side for the band as a whole.
>>> If your band is performing only locally, teather can work out given
>>> that you are able to utilize it with your uniform and you have people
>>> who are willing.
>>> In terms of finding a guider, I would recommend a student who is
>>> willing and is a good marcher but not necessarily the strongest
>>> musician. This will serve greatly for both you and the band.
>>> However, this may not be the best solution depending on the size of
>>> your band, type of band, style of the show, etc.
>>> Lastly, if your band is competing, your band director should be able
> to
>>> get appropriate paperwork stating that the band has a blind student
> if
>>> that is necessary.
>>> Best regards,
>>> Miso Kwak
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: Marissa Tejeda via nabs-l <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
>>> To: johnnie Jean duran <johnniejduran at gmail.com>; National
> Association
>>> of Blind Students mailing list <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
>>> Sent: Wed, Sep 3, 2014 3:49 pm
>>> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Marching Band
>>>
>>>
>>> Hi,
>>>
>>> Do not quit.  I am in marching band and have been for thre years
>>> now.  We do not do drills and such, but rather, move forward as
>>> one.  I suggest talking to your teacher.  Explain to him or her
>>> your problem.  My teacher, stands behind me with his hand on my
>>> shoulder, guiding me.  It's very easyly worked out and if people
>>> ask, we just explain that I cannot see and they understand
>>> immediately.
>>>
>>>
>>>  ----- Original Message -----
>>> From: johnnie Jean duran via nabs-l <nabs-l at nfbnet.org
>>> To: nabs-l at nfbnet.org
>>> Date sent: Wed, 3 Sep 2014 12:40:11 -0700
>>> Subject: [nabs-l] Marching Band
>>>
>>> Dear NABS Members,
>>> For 3 years, I've always had a passion for the clarinet.  I was
>>> first
>>> clarinet player in my middle school's concert band, and now that
>>> I am
>>> in high school, I am taking on marching band.
>>> Marching band was wonderful, intense but amazing, that is until
>>> we
>>> started marching.  I was doing ok with marching forward, but now,
>>> I am
>>> doing the slide steps.  These are when your torso and face are
>>> facing
>>> one way while you're marching the other way.  I am now
>>> continuously
>>> drifting away, and I have no control over it.
>>> My section leader was amazing at first, she helped me a lot, and
>>> now
>>> she is not willing to work with me as much at all.
>>> Does anyone have any ideas? My TVI suggested a teather, but my
>>> section
>>> leader refuses to use it.  I'm stuck, and am having thoughts of
>>> quitting.
>>> Please help!
>>> JJ
>>>
>>> --
>>> Ms.  Johnnie Jean Duran
>>> 9th Grade Student
>>> Alameda International High School
>>> Lakewood, Colorado, United States
>>> Member Of The National Federation Of The Blind Of Colorado
>>> (NFBCO),
>>> The Colorado Association Of Blind Students (CABS), and the North
>>> Metro
>>> Chapter of the NFB.
>>> Facebook: http://facebook.com/johnniejean.duran
>>> Skype: jj.duran13
>>> Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/jj_duran14
>>> Voicemail: (303) 552-9683 (Voicemail only)
>>>
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>>
>>
>> --
>> Kaiti
>>
>
>
> --
> Kaiti
>
>
>
>
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-- 
Ms. Johnnie Jean Duran
9th Grade Student
Alameda International High School
Lakewood, Colorado, United States
Member Of The National Federation Of The Blind Of Colorado (NFBCO),
The Colorado Association Of Blind Students (CABS), and the North Metro
Chapter of the NFB.
Facebook: http://facebook.com/johnniejean.duran
Skype: jj.duran13
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/jj_duran14
Voicemail: (303) 552-9683 (Voicemail only)