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The One with Nancy from Marching Health & Some DCI Chat
172 Plays1 year ago
This week we continue Women’s History Month with an interview with Nancy Burns from Marching Health. Our guest on the sidelines with us this week is Jeremy from Drum Corps Today. All this, News, and more on this week’s episode of On A Water Break!
Guest Clinician:
Nancy Burns - @marchinghealth
Jeremy - @drumcorpstoday
Meet our Hosts
Jackie Brown - @spintronixguard
Stephen McCarrick - @stephenmccarick
Cindy Barry - @leandermomma
Nicole Younger - @o2bnpjs & @thecookoutcg
Trevor Bailey - @t_pain151
Trish O’Shea - @trishdish1002
Beth Beccone - @bether7189
Chris Rutt - @wildhornbrass1
Cynthia Bernard - @cynthiabern
Ashlee Amos - @famousamossss_
Theo Harrison - @harrisontheo07
Stephanie Click - @stephanieclick
Whitney Stone - @dancerwhit
Justin Surface - @J_dex07
Ashley Tran - @itsashleytran
Jack Goudreau - @goudreau_
Bill Woodward - @remoking100
Emily Nee - @tch.makes.art
Ricardo Robinson-Shinall - @ricardorrobinson
Callie Quire - @cnquire
Music provided by leydamusic.com Follow him @josh.leyda
Avatars provided by @tch.makes.art
Featuring
Lexi Duda - Host for On A Water Break In Rhinestones - The Stories of the Twirlers @lexi_duda
Thank you also to @guardcloset
#marchingband #colorguard #dci #podcast #onawaterbreak #wgi #drumline
Recommended
Transcript
Women's History Month Interview with Nancy Burns
00:00:01
Speaker
Hey, everyone. We are back for another week of exciting rehearsals. This week, we continue our celebration of Women's History Month with an interview with Nancy Burns from Marching Health. We will also find out what made Cynthia say. At the end of the show, she's like, I done it. And she had groups with pictures because she doesn't write with pictures and numbers. She's like, I judge. I know who's first. I'm like, OK, cool. And why Nicole said.
00:00:23
Speaker
My like in the way, in a good way, my mind is being blown on the on the way of thinking, man, how is this judge? What is this judge going to say about this group? All this and more.
Introduction to 'On A Waterbreak' Podcast
00:00:36
Speaker
So get out on the field and we will see you back on the sidelines for this week's episode of On A Waterbreak. Eight off the Met and go. Welcome to On A Waterbreak. The podcast where we find everything marching arts.
Meet the Hosts: Steve McCarrick, Ricardo, and Adriana Hafford
00:00:54
Speaker
Everyone bring it it's time for a water break
00:00:59
Speaker
Welcome to another episode of season two of On a Water Break, the podcast where we talk about everything you and your friends are talking about at rehearsal on a water break. My name is Steve McCarrick and this week we have another action-packed episode. We continue our celebration of Women's History Month with a woman who is taking on marching health in a new way and an interview with Jackie and Trevor that they did with Nancy Burns from Marching Health.
00:01:25
Speaker
We'll also be getting a little DCI update from Drum Corps today in just a little bit, but let's see who we've got on the sidelines this week. Nicole. Hey, man, what's up? Doing great. How excited are you about Ricardo? I hear we've got some new hosts. You know, Ricardo and I served together in so many different things, like our marching counts, the cookout, the Academy, and now this. Like, we're just family now.
00:01:53
Speaker
Yeah, so this is a long time coming, actually. And then also Adriana Hafford confirmed as a new guest I hear, right? New host.
00:02:01
Speaker
Yes. Yes. She is. Excellent. So that's cool. Got some more hosts coming around and I'm happy that you are here, Nicole. Thank you. Also, Cynthia, welcome back.
Cynthia's Podcast and Show Season Insights
00:02:12
Speaker
Happy New Year. Happy New Year. That's been a while. Wow. Yeah, it's been a happy New Year for sure. Indeed. I hear you just recorded a new episode of Lost in Translation too, right?
00:02:31
Speaker
Yeah, I have a new episode with Leticia, which is by now a known one. It's a second interview with her. We did show season as the word. So she just talks to us about how she deals with show season, what it means, how to treat your body, how to approach championships. So I think for anyone who's going to be performing in the next few weeks and months, it's very valuable, I think. So yeah.
00:02:58
Speaker
Yeah. Awesome. Very timely then. Um, and we'll be talking about kind of competition again in a little bit. So I'm sure we'll be getting back to that. But Jeremy, Jeremy from jump for today's back.
Jeremy's Drum Corps Season Preview
00:03:11
Speaker
Hey everyone. It's so great to be back again.
00:03:15
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely, man. We're happy to have you here, getting closer and closer to drum corps season. And you're keeping us informed about drum corps over there on social media. How's that been going? So I mean, this season, it's going to be interesting. We've got four different classes, which means a dozen more cores than we had last season coming to Indianapolis this year. It's going to be exciting.
00:03:34
Speaker
Yeah, that's cool, man. I think about it a lot, like way more than I'm actually comfortable with how much I think about it. My brain is just like obsessing with like all age and what it means for the activity lately.
00:03:45
Speaker
Oh, yeah, I am so excited that they've added the all age class to be a part of DCI. I feel like it's just going to put such a big spotlight on them and give so much more people the opportunity to see them. Because I'm gonna be honest, I feel like a lot of people once Oh, once in these done the seasons over, but they keep going till September or so. And this year, we're gonna have a just a bigger opportunity to be able to recognize their what they're doing on the field.
00:04:11
Speaker
So who's excited for what groups this summer? What are you guys looking forward to with DCI coming up? I'll just go. I'm biased. What could you be excited about? I'm not sure. I mean, every, honestly, this is not, I'm not trying to be like auspicious, whatever, but everyone's going to be working hard. However, I'm really excited for everyone to see Academy. Absolutely. I think that it's so good.
00:04:41
Speaker
I'm actually so excited to hear from you as you go along through the process and get like the inside scoop on what it's like to be like really teaching at the high level.
Guard Performance Strategies and WGI Experiences
00:04:50
Speaker
Like you're really doing the thing. Yeah. I mean, like I used to be with quilts and um,
00:04:56
Speaker
I decided to be on the other side. And honestly, I wasn't really thinking about going back to the other side of the field, I guess you could say. But yeah, I'm excited to see a lot of stuff. And I think it actually comes down to the whole thing of like, I've been digging and like doing something I've never done before, which well, not say never done before, but in the last three years, haven't done is watching videos of guards before I see them live.
00:05:26
Speaker
Oh yeah. So you're mentally deep in it now. Oh, so I have so much to say. I know. I feel like I'm getting that way with winter. We're thinking about summer right now, but I'm so deep, deep, deep in the winter season. Like that's just all that my brain is that at least Saturday and Sunday every weekend.
00:05:52
Speaker
Trish, we have Trish here with us now, a little bit late. I am, I'm back. Glad that we have you here. Do you have Starbucks for the group? No. I wish I had it for myself, but no, sorry. Okay. Fine. Happy you're here though. You were at the Philly WGI color guard regional, weren't you?
00:06:17
Speaker
I was and I had the pleasure of sitting with our own Jeremy Williams, not only prelims, but finals as well. So we had a great time. We had a great time. Now I feel like Jeremy, I feel like he would be a little picky. Is he watching? Is he a big critic as he's watching the shows or is he a big supporter?
00:06:40
Speaker
Yeah, he just joined that club, right? I was in that club as well, so worked out great.
00:06:57
Speaker
Absolutely. I know it. Um, that's great though. I wish they had a Philia percussion
Drum Corps Season Changes and Expectations
00:07:02
Speaker
regional. I'd be right up in there, but I have to go all the way up to Connecticut or all the way out to like Powhatan, Virginia. It's ridiculous. Oh gosh. Uh, you excited about anything coming up this summer?
00:07:14
Speaker
Me personally, I believe that I, as of right now, have a summer off, I believe. The last couple of summers I worked with the Skyliner Alumni Color Guard, but right now they are not really
00:07:30
Speaker
don't really have the membership to have one. So if that kicks off and the spring comes and more people jump in there, then cool. I'll be right there. But if not, it's a summer off and start marching band a little early. That's all. Right. Sometimes it's nice to get the little break. I'm always trying to do so much band all the time, but then you get a weekend or two and you're like, whoa. Absolutely.
DCI's Open Schedule and Logistics
00:07:56
Speaker
What have I been missing? Hold on. It's real.
00:08:00
Speaker
Jeremy, I'm sure you've been doing a lot of thinking about this upcoming drum corps summer. So where are some stuff you're excited about? You know, there's a lot of things I'm excited to take a look at this year between the intense competition we had right at that finals line. I mean, at the end of last season, we thought Pacific Crest might be hopping into finals. And it was it was intense up to that very last moment. But this year between Pacific Crest and Academy, there are so many good cores just right below that line that are just itching to get into finals.
00:08:30
Speaker
And between that, seeing if Spartans can hold up another year, last year they came in first in open class at Marion. And we need to see, I want to see this year if they'll be able to keep that up, that they're going to be able to keep that gold medal again, or if they're going to have some more competition. I mean, gold was pretty solid last year when they were competing up against them. And I think BDB is coming back from California, making their way to Indy this summer. So it'll be interesting to see how that competition is.
00:08:57
Speaker
Plus, obviously, like we've said before, all age joining the DCI grouping, it's gonna be awesome. We're gonna have an entire, like, we already had a whole weekend of events. Now that's Saturday morning, we've got a whole another chunk of events to go to and watch. It's gonna be a great summer.
00:09:16
Speaker
I yeah I'm really excited about it because like right now we're all looking at it like we'll get DCA at DCI and like yeah that that much is already cool and true but I think that now that like
00:09:29
Speaker
You have a way more open rule set on Saturday in the morning at Lucas oil stadium. Like that really changes kind of what the activity can be. Yeah. I imagine that like over a couple of years, we'll start to see like all sorts of radically different groups emerge that like maybe do way less practicing or way different practicing than we're accustomed to seeing. Like.
00:09:56
Speaker
I think it just, it's going to shake things up in really interesting ways. So I've been like really excited, kind of looking forward to all age coming and being a thing next summer.
00:10:07
Speaker
both from a competitive standpoint, like you're saying, but also from a logistical standpoint. I mean, Saturday has always been a nightmare. We've been locked out of the stadium until right before the Coors perform.
Warm-Up Challenges and Marching Arts Experiences
00:10:18
Speaker
I remember a couple of years ago, there were people still standing in line when Coors were stepping off performing and people weren't even able to see their own kids performing, just from logistics being an issue.
00:10:30
Speaker
Hopefully, with the morning being open, there'll be a lot more open with DCI using the stadium, being more cooperative, I guess, and we won't have issues like that moving forward.
00:10:40
Speaker
That's interesting. I didn't know that that's something that I guess you don't really realize, um, just being a performer there. Cause like, I'm not too close to India. I've never been back as a spectator. Uh, I didn't realize it's, it's gotta be kind of chaotic out there, especially since the lots are so far from the stadium too. Like if people want to see people groups warm up, you have to take a bus, you warm up and you get back on the bus. All right. Let's uh, let's get into our gushing goes here.
00:11:13
Speaker
Cynthia, what do you want to gush and go on about this week? Well, I've been gone for so long for a full a full year new year. I think I'm going to talk about the my international part of the world. I'm so happy to see.
00:11:29
Speaker
Quebecer groups back on the field. There's Sonor. I don't know if you guys saw, but in Salem Regional, we had two Sonors in the same category because we just want those kids to perform. So it's a regional A that was in an A class, so in Pennsylvania. And it happens the same thing. It's going to be happening in Bethlehem, sorry.
00:11:48
Speaker
where there's going to be two eclipse group in a class and two sonora group in an eclipse class and two third legend, one in A and one in open class. So it's just very, very fun for us to see our group shown there. And you'll see me running around the stadium because I kind of help everyone and I'm happy to do so.
00:12:10
Speaker
And for moms out there who think that when they have a child they need to stop teaching or being a director, it's not everyone, but
00:12:21
Speaker
My daughter is with us all the time. She's six, you're gonna see her. There's a me, me, me. She's six, she's bossing around. And I'm just starting also to do, yes, yes, you're gonna, yes. I can't believe she's six. People are like, is your daughter here? And they expect me to come out with like my five week old friend. And then no, she's six. And I'm training to be a judge right now. I'm doing my judges trial and she wasn't understanding, thank you.
00:12:49
Speaker
And she was not understanding in Salem. She was like, what are you doing? And I'm like, oh, well, I have like a mentor. She's teaching me how to be a judge. And at the end of the show, she's like, I gen it. And she had groups with pictures because she doesn't write with pictures and numbers. She's like, I judge. I know who's first. OK, cool. You got it. Like she's she knows her stuff. So so yeah, that's cool.
00:13:12
Speaker
That is pretty cool. She would probably make an incredible judge if she just sticks at that for another, you know, she already is early age. I don't want, I don't want to say that. I don't want to give her a reputation yet. She has been in a gym since she's three weeks old. And um,
00:13:30
Speaker
And this year we, Sonora's cadet, who you won't see, but asked her just to be, she's sleeping in a bed. That's her job. And she went to rehearsal with my boyfriend to see how it was and was kind of not into it, but it was like, you just need to lay in a bed. That's it. She came back in the A class gym, got on the tarp, but she knows she's not allowed to walk on a tarp.
00:13:54
Speaker
a well-rehearsal, got into her, got a six-foot pole, did a drop spin, put it down. She was like, here, that's easy. And I was like, okay, what? And yeah, Cadet is not good enough for her. This year, she decided she wants to be with the third legend open. And if you have a chance to look at third legend open, like, no, you're not there, kid. So we'll see what she can be. We'll see what she is. That's great.
00:14:22
Speaker
dream big go. Yep. Oh boy. Well, I look forward to seeing and hearing your daughter's gush and go. She'll probably have a lot to talk about in about three years. All right. For now though, Trish, what do you want to go on about?
Scholarships and Opportunities for Marching Students
00:14:42
Speaker
Well, you mentioned it earlier, the WGI Philadelphia Regional was a blast. I mean, there were just so many amazing performances. I know we were joking before about, you know, being judgy, but
00:14:54
Speaker
Jeremy's 1000% right. We had such a good time. We were out there supporting everybody. There was so many great performances. I had a couple of standouts myself. I love Arlington High School this year. And I know everybody near me was sick of hearing about it, but I just love them. I hope that this is the year for them in WGIS Glass to Gay because they are, that show is just so beautiful and so
00:15:24
Speaker
The detail and it's just it's gorgeous, but I had a couple other favorites, too I thought everybody in world's class was really great really unique really different and kind of Pushing the envelope as to what they've been in the past Oh, yeah
00:15:42
Speaker
mainline, independent, another standout show, but I just, for me, for me, my personal favorite is the Lizzie Borden show that Arlington High School is putting on this year. It's just, if you get a chance to see it, it's spectacular. Did Arlington do The Waiting Room last year? Did they do what? I'm sorry. Was the name of their show, do you remember their show last year? Yeah, it was a Vietnam show. Oh, okay.
00:16:10
Speaker
All right. Yeah, I think there's a few different Arlington's. This is Arlington, New York. Yeah. Um, cause I thought I'd seen them, but I probably haven't. So now I'm going to look for them. Yeah, definitely. All right. Jeremy, what do you want to gush and go on about this week? So.
00:16:29
Speaker
I'm going to start, it's going to start a little unfortunate, but we're going to, it's going to get better. So tour fees really suck. I think we can all agree with that. I mean, we're seeing tour fees over 5,000 for most world-class cores. Oh my goodness. That's a lot of money.
00:16:42
Speaker
There are over 20 different scholarships, over $85,000 worth of scholarships being that are available right now for people to sign up for, get ready for, and all you have to do is go over to DCI.org slash scholarships. They've got them all listed. A whole bunch of them are coming due in just a couple of weeks. March 15th is when that first deadline's coming up, but there's a whole lot of cash out there to help pay for some tour fees.
00:17:11
Speaker
Yeah, that's incredible news. I'm so happy that you shared that. So for anyone in our listening audience that's marching, go apply. At least try, because I didn't try for any while I was marching. And in hindsight, something like that would have been so helpful. Nicole, what do you want to go on about? I have been doing nothing but seeing a bunch of shows, but I didn't go to a regional this weekend. However,
00:17:39
Speaker
Um, I broke my own cardinal rule by saying that I wouldn't watch anything on YouTube. Oh, I'm so glad that I did. Okay. Um, Tampa Bay or no Tampa independent. And I watched them from the side. Y'all. I didn't even see the full show. I was watching them from the right.
00:18:02
Speaker
looking at the floor, side B to side two. That's all I could see was side two. And I'm just like, I was, I was blown away by that. And like you would have thought someone threw a hundred dollars at me because their props moved. And I was like, Oh my God, they move. I mean, I was, I mean, I was generally affected. And, um, how,
00:18:32
Speaker
The 50 people on the floor is...
00:18:37
Speaker
Mind blowing, it's so many people, y'all. It really is. And those kids, those performance ensembles cannot fit in a gym. Anything that they're doing, like I will give all kinds of hats to those judges that are judging those world-class guards of 50 in a gym, in a regular gym, because that's hard. You are going to miss something in your periphery. Oh, definitely. You can't get it all in.
00:19:06
Speaker
True. In a good way, my mind is being blown on the way of thinking, man, what is this judge going to say about this group?
Percussion Shows and Favorite Groups
00:19:21
Speaker
And then I have to, and I've watched every show three times, mind you, because I watched it with my, you know, DA lens on. And then I watched it as a seven year old girl. And then I was just like, okay, let's, I mean, I just want to see it again. I'm surprised by, and yeah, I think surprised is good. I am pleasantly surprised by some groups and I love,
00:19:51
Speaker
what I'm seeing so far. Yeah, that's how I'm feeling about percussion stuff too. That was actually kind of leads me right towards where I was gonna go. I did see something. I only have one percussion group that I love. Which is? Broken City. Okay, valid. Always loved Broken City and I saw a video of them. And Monarch.
00:20:17
Speaker
because I moved with them. Sure. I actually haven't seen either of those shows yet, but I know that I really always love the way that Broken City is like so musical and lyrical with the way that they write their beats and all. We were actually like talking about them a bunch on our, it's funny Jeremy just put in our chat. Yeah, I would have preferred if you had said United or Rhythm X.
00:20:44
Speaker
No, no, it's okay. It's okay. We do love Monarch. It's okay. Yeah, no, we were just talking about that. We just did a percussion recap, which was what my gush and go was going to be about this week. And we got to talk all about like a broken city RCC. RCC has such a cool show, which we got to hear a little bit about in the percussion recap as well.
00:21:07
Speaker
And you know, there's just not always a ton of percussion stuff going on around here. We really like a lot of color card. So for anyone out there who's a bit of a percussion head like myself, you should go check out the percussion recap that we just uploaded. I had a ton of fun with it. And I think you'll enjoy it as well. Hey, it's called gush and go not gush and stay. Let's go.
Health and Wellness in Marching Arts with Nancy Burns
00:21:39
Speaker
Okay, everyone, back out onto the field because I am back on the sidelines later with Nancy Burns from Marching Health. So make sure you all have your proper marching shoes on or else. Well, not a typo. Mist correction. Oh, we're still recording. Okay. Okay, everyone, back out onto the field because I am back. What? I thought we just changed it.
00:22:11
Speaker
Jackie and Trevor, right? Okay. I thought you said that you were. All right. Okay, everyone back out onto the field because Jackie and Trevor are back on the sidelines later with Nancy Burns from marching health. So make sure you all have your proper marching shoes on or else.
00:22:42
Speaker
Hey everyone, it's Jeremy, and here are your announcements coming from the box. You wanna drink up on a water break lost in translation with Cynthia Bernard, uncover the glitz and glamour of twirlers with on a water break in rhinestones hosted by Lexi Duda, get the insider scoop from the stands with on a water break from the stands with Cindy Berry, aka Leander Mama, and join the band family in on a water break family style with Stephanie Klik, plus much, much more to come.
00:23:12
Speaker
Make sure to follow us on social media at onawaterbreak for all the latest updates and bonus content. Got something to share or a burning question? Email us at onawaterbreakpodcastatgmail.com. So don't be the person that doesn't tell their friends about a water break. Make sure everyone stays hydrated. Okay, field staff, take it away. Let's reset.
00:23:43
Speaker
All right, guys, grab your water bottles. We are back on the sidelines. Trevor and I are here and we're going to be talking to Nancy Burns from Marching Health. Hi, Nancy. Hi, happy to be here. Hi, Nancy. I'm so excited to have you. And you and Trevor know each other already, right? Where did you guys work together before?
00:24:04
Speaker
So we were at the University of Alabama together. I was the athletic trainer for the band at the time and Trevor was doing his graduate work and so we just kicked it off and it kind of became a mutual relationship between what could I do for his band and and then he would teach me a lot about marching band as well so thrilled to see him again.
00:24:30
Speaker
Yeah, this is a full circle moment when I saw that we were interviewing Nancy. I'm like, I gotta get in there. It's been several years since we've connected and it's just so great to see you and it's so great to see the success of Marching Health that we'll be talking about here in a second.
00:24:45
Speaker
Oh, for sure. I'm so excited because like I connected with Elliot Cleveland, Dr. Cleveland from Marching Health like in 2019. And so like, we'll get into all that though. I'm just excited to have you here. I'm excited about Marching Health. I'm excited about you. We met at Macy's this year. And so like, it's just been a blast. But one of the things that we do with our new guest clinicians on our water break is
00:25:12
Speaker
something called a 32 count life story. So basically, Nancy, we want to know everything that has ever happened to you from the day you were born until now in detail, but you only have 32 counts to tell it. So I'm going to give you a Dr. Beat to keep track. So are you ready? Yeah, let's go. All right. You get eight off the mat. We go.
00:25:38
Speaker
Okay, so Dr. Nancy Burns, I am a clarinet dropout from the 3rd grade. So I come by music. Honestly, in that regard, I did play a butterfly in my 4th grade nativity play because everybody deserves a role millennial.
00:25:55
Speaker
In my adult life, I got into marching when I was working on my graduate work at the University of Alabama at the time, was a certified athletic trainer, still am, but worked primarily with mainstream sports. And so fell in love with marching and the people... Yay! No, you can keep going. You can keep going. It's good. No, just fell in love with the marching arts, really just with the people first.
00:26:26
Speaker
you know, I had spent 15 years as an athletic trainer and the marching population is just so special. You know, just both as human beings and their passion for the art, that it was just much more rewarding for me to work with that population than for
00:26:49
Speaker
Again, your traditional basketballs, footballs, soccers, et cetera. So I have dedicated my life to promote the art and to promote those who perform. I wish we had video recording for this because the fact of Trevor and I just both died laughing during that.
00:27:11
Speaker
That's great. You have the clarinet dropout. I don't think I knew that a little fast, but that's the one. Oh, yeah, yeah. I love it. I love it. So how did you get involved with Marching Health and then what exactly is, for our listeners who don't know, what is Marching Health about?
00:27:35
Speaker
what's going on there. Yeah, sure. So I will first and foremost, marching health is a all inclusive health and wellness program for those within the marching arts, whether you are middle school, whether you're high school, whether you're college,
00:27:53
Speaker
DCI or DCA. We are here for you both to not only promote you in your art and your success in that art, but also just to promote the health and wellness overall, which unfortunately is what has been lacking in the art and in the sport is that it is just
00:28:16
Speaker
it hasn't been emphasized enough in the history of it, in the culture of it. So we're here essentially to begin that culture change.
00:28:25
Speaker
So that is working health. And I was, again, certified athletic trainer. I was actually in, I was working in a athletic training education program at the time and it just, it wasn't fulfilling. It didn't feel right. It wasn't really where and what I was meant to do. And so absolutely by happenstance,
00:28:50
Speaker
made a career change, worked for a pretty prominent physical therapy company and met Elliott through word of mouth within that company because he had reached out to the company to try to partner
00:29:04
Speaker
you know, with that company in order to get these programs, right, to get the word out about marching health. And people knew my passion about it and we connected. You know, the next thing I know, I am moonlighting for marching health on top of my other jobs, realized that I had to make a decision, right, between the traditional side of things and then to go with performing arts medicine and
00:29:31
Speaker
jumped in, jumped on board to go all in. You're really all into, oh my gosh. And it's so weird that I just want to bring up this little small little conversation I remember having that I remember sitting in, I can't remember if it was the fall of 16 or fall of 2017, but we were sitting in the lobby, Nancy's like treating like some of the band students, kind of giving them the care that they need, you know, treating like injuries or soreness or whatever, giving them advice, suggestions, taping people up.
00:30:01
Speaker
And I'm like, hey, why do you do this? What motivates you to do this? She's like, I really want to do this eventually, like this off-bridge. I want to travel. I want to go and help all these college marching bands do their thing and make sure that they're safe and productive. And they know how their body works. And they know how to take care of themselves. And that's something I'm going to do one day. And it's going to be great. And people are going to be informed.
00:30:28
Speaker
That's wonderful. She's always like bubbly and amazing and just a joy to be around. I'm like, she knows what she wants. She's going to be awesome. And now here we sit. It's like full throttle. She's spoken into existence. And now you have the great Dr. Nancy Burns, helping the marching arts world have a better understanding of their bodies and how to make sure that, you know,
00:30:56
Speaker
we can do the thing that we love to do with the marching arts. So I just wanted to bring up that little story. Thank you, Trevor. I love that so much, especially as somebody who I didn't get to march my age out year of drum corps because I broke my shoulder. And it was a drum corps injury. It was an injury that had happened long before that. And if I had had maybe the knowledge that you're bringing to these kids, I might have known better how to heal from that injury over time and then
00:31:22
Speaker
be able to go in and complete my complete my age out season journey but uh so like so tell us a little bit about marching health and and some of the programs and some of the stuff that you guys offer because i know you work with so many programs we do yeah can just anybody call you up absolutely yeah so uh i mean obviously our information is on our website marchinghealth.com
00:31:48
Speaker
you know, for anybody who wants to investigate more about bringing us to their program. You know, like I said earlier, we are really trying to be on the forefront of the health and wellness culture train, you know, for the marching arts. And part of that is being prepared physically for the art. Some of that is not only preparing, you know, the students and the performers, but also preparing the staff and the band directors.
00:32:17
Speaker
because any culture change has to start from the top and so we want to be there for all levels of of a program of an organization. So right now if you are somebody who wants to you know get
00:32:35
Speaker
be physically better, right? Who wants to get through a practice, who wants to get through a performance without feeling winded, you know, without feeling like they couldn't give their all because they couldn't take that final deep breath, right? Like right at the end when you're doing your biggest notes.
00:32:51
Speaker
We have programs for you. We have several types of programs available. We have a back to band workout that is actually free for anybody who goes online and downloads it. We have a couch to corpse workout. We also have a podium to 5K workout, you know, so one is built for the performers and then one is built more towards, you know, the directors, the staff, you know, to kind of get back into it because
00:33:16
Speaker
everybody involved right to you know to want to be better physically mentally emotionally right for the art and then we do go into individualized programs so whether you are a winter guard program you know winter percussion obviously your traditional marchers in high school middle school
00:33:38
Speaker
college, you know, we have dedicated specialized workouts for those individual programs. And when we come into a program, we are not a one and done operation. We are there for you throughout the entire process. So ideally, we get brought in early in the season before pre-season. Yeah, like before marching basics. Yeah, yeah, yeah, before spring training, etc.
00:34:05
Speaker
you know, we come in, we start first, like I said, we start from the top. So we actually really focus on training and educating the peer leaders within those programs, whether they're the section leaders or whether they're the drum majors, to be able to deliver the program to their peers. This is a student-run program and it is designed that way, again, to begin teaching them and so that they can have the skills to teach others to go beyond.
00:34:35
Speaker
to go beyond their current position. So we're there with them a month later. We'll come back in virtually and do the next phase of the program. Same thing, we focus on the peer leaders and then we come in the third time.
00:34:52
Speaker
you know, do the third part of the program, focus on the peer leaders, but we are there throughout the entire process. So if there's a visual that you have added to your drill that the students are struggling with, you can call us at any time between that engagement and we will modify the program to meet the needs of the visual.
00:35:10
Speaker
Nice. So like strengthening the right muscles and getting the right alignment and making sure that everything works for that. Then just backwards, right? As some flourishes will ask their students to do. Yeah, we, you know, we're kind of living proof here at
00:35:26
Speaker
Western Carolina University. I think we've been using marching house and multi health since fall of 21 is when we had Elliott come in for the first time. Elliott Cleveland come in for the first time. And what Nancy just laid out is it's perfect. Like it really is the
00:35:43
Speaker
the really great breakdown of that initial meeting, teaching the leadership, that mid review check-in and that kind of post check-in, but they just haven't opened to a policy. Hey, email me this, send a video of your band doing this. Hey, we're trying to do this crazy thing on the field that we didn't know we were going to try to do like in August, but now we want to do it and they send back information. Be mindful of one, two, and three.
00:36:09
Speaker
And these are the exercises out of the program that will help making sure that they have the core strength or the lower leg strength or the ankle strength to be able to complete those activities or those visuals that the band is hoping to achieve at a high level. It is such a great tool. It's easy as directors who are in their 40s or in their 50s just to say,
00:36:37
Speaker
Oh, they're young, they're 19, they're 20. They'll just figure it out and they'll just keep themselves safe. It's so easy just to say that. But now the program provides the directors with the information of knowing, no, we got to care about the people who are producing the product as much as we do about the product itself. We got to care about the people.
00:36:57
Speaker
And this program allows you to care about the people physically, emotionally, mentally to do the things you need them to do. And yeah, Nancy, it's a perfect explanation. I can attest to it. So I just want to jump in and say that. Thank you. And we are growing as a company. We are trying to do more with school districts to try to make it more accessible.
00:37:18
Speaker
because we know that not every school has the resources maybe to bring us in individually. We are doing a lot more with DCI drum corps as far as preparing their individuals, their performers for the physicality that is DCI. Marching is hard. It is even tactical at some points.
00:37:42
Speaker
but we know that they are the elite, right, of our marchers. And so we want to make sure that they can get through the entire season. So, you know, stay tuned, stick around, like and subscribe. There will be more from us in the coming years.
00:37:58
Speaker
You guys have an awesome social media presence too. So if people follow at marching health, it's at marching health official, right? Correct. That is the tag. So yeah, so go find that and on social media. And like, I have to say, like, we use the Winter Guard program, not like, there was an online one, because Elliott and I met in 2019. So for our 2020 season, we use the Winter Guard program. And it
00:38:23
Speaker
completely changed how we did guard and I to this day I'm like why did the 2020 season have to get cancelled like there's so much we were going and seriously I don't know that we've made those kind of physical improvements every single week
00:38:40
Speaker
like we did in that 2020 season because we're talking, we had people who were struggling to catch quads and then we would send them home with like, okay, here's your workouts for the week that you're gonna work on these specific upper back and shoulder muscles, chest muscles to help with catching quads.
Advice for Returning Drum Corps Members
00:38:59
Speaker
And they would come back and be able to nail everything. And we were doing drill changes and we were doing things we had never attempted before.
00:39:07
Speaker
And it just completely changed everything when we implemented that. And, you know, I know a lot of people in, especially in indoor, because we have such limited time with our performers on the weekends, they're like, oh, we just don't have time to implement it. We don't have time. But like when you implement the workouts, like marching health, like the marching health program, it actually makes other things go way faster. So you end up making more time.
00:39:35
Speaker
for practice and rehearsal and more, you have less holes, right? Because everybody can perform the drill, so they are on the field.
00:39:44
Speaker
Yeah, definitely. Having everybody in one piece and not sitting on the sidelines just with ice and just staring off into the abyss is... Having something that you know you can do versus just sitting there if you are at risk for injury or something. So, okay.
00:40:06
Speaker
here's a huge one we've been getting so many questions on and seriously like just fielding so much stuff for on a water break this topic keeps coming up over and over because there is a huge change coming to DCI this summer which I'm sure you've probably heard about in that they are absorbing with DCA they're creating the all-age class finals is going to be at DCI finals and all this
00:40:33
Speaker
There's a lot of people now who are considering getting back into Drum Corps where they haven't done anything since they were in their early 20s. And they might be, I mean, maybe they just aged out. Maybe they're in their 30s. Maybe they're in their 40s. Maybe they're older than that. What are they gonna need to do to prepare? Where should they start? Should they go to the Marching Health website? Where should they go? What should they do? As previously stated, we do have a free back to band workout.
00:41:02
Speaker
that anybody who is marching curious, who is exercise curious, right? Love that. Marching curious. That's awesome. You know, can go on and download and start. It's very, all the directions are there, all the exercises are there. We even have companion videos in case there's one that maybe doesn't make sense, then you can go on, you can watch the video and have an understanding of what the expectations are.
00:41:29
Speaker
I will say that, and this is the healthcare provider in me, music is for everyone but marching necessarily isn't. And that is because even though marching and art in general is very fulfilling for the soul, it's very fulfilling
00:41:50
Speaker
you know, just as a person and like the accomplishment of it. But it is very hard on the joints, right? It is very hard on the muscles. And so if you are somebody who has maybe
00:42:03
Speaker
you know, chronic discomforts in the backs or in the knees or you've had previous injuries or you've had surgeries, would highly, highly recommend that you do get cleared by a physician before you start this type of physical activity. And that's just for your own protection, right? To make sure that you are as healthy as you can be before you start tossing, before you start playing, before you start counting.
00:42:29
Speaker
counting off and running at 180 beats per minute. So that is the PSA in all of this is to make sure that you are healthy enough to start first and then self-evaluate right before you get into the art again.
00:42:45
Speaker
One, one of the reasons why I think that this program is so central, especially for like those high schools in colleges, marching units is in winter guards is because
00:43:00
Speaker
of imitation, right? Like we look at programs like DCI programs like, you know, the Blue Devils or, you know, Crown or Blue Culture, something like that. And we, as directors, want our designers to design shows like that, to be like, oh, amazing, we want the props, we want the instruments, we want the electronics, but
00:43:24
Speaker
We also want the visual. We also want the visual demand. We want to look like them. We want to flip and turn and twist and be able to run across the field. And we want our designers to design that. So we're asking so much more of the young performers than they did even 10 years ago. And so like having a program like this, I believe Nancy helps set
00:43:48
Speaker
the programs up to be able to achieve those goals. Can you kind of speak to that a little bit? Yeah, absolutely. So as I stated earlier, all of the programs are specialized for the individual levels. And then we take feedback all the time.
00:44:09
Speaker
either before we come in and implement a program, while we are implementing a program, and certainly after, in order to make sure that the workouts and the mobility work and the balance work match what the visual staff has in mind. Or if there is something that is unique, let's say to that marching style.
00:44:34
Speaker
Trevor, I'm going to borrow you here for a moment. You know, but I know that the blue devils use more of a betney march than say crown who uses more of a straight. And so there are different muscles that work there. The stresses on the joints are very different there. So we would not give cookie cutter programs to those individual
00:45:00
Speaker
schools or not schools, but programs, right? We would design it in order to make sure that the athletes who are performing their joints are safe while they are doing those individual marching styles.
00:45:11
Speaker
And if DCA wants to reach out to us for their older population, then we would modify again and make sure that everybody's as healthy as they can be to perform at a level that they want to perform at and to do their best. Makes complete sense. As a director or as a member of participating in a type of unit like that,
00:45:38
Speaker
having that kind of flexibility and that, you know, it makes you feel valued as a director who's investing in, you know, a product like Marching Health or as a performer, you know, it's like, oh, okay. Like they're really trying to make sure that I can perform at the highest level by giving me these tools for my toolbox. So you're like, yeah, it checks all the boxes with me. I'm really glad that you said that, that it's not like a cookie cutter or like one glove fits all sizes. So that's great.
00:46:08
Speaker
And if you are somebody that wants to get back into it for one of those all age cores, I would highly encourage you to start now. Put your instrument in your hand, put your flag back in your hand, put your weapon back in your hand because you have to prepare for marching. You can't wait to march to get into marching shape. You have to get in shape before you start marching.
00:46:37
Speaker
That is the hardest thing that is the hardest thing because it is it is the culture it is common if we use high schools and college programs as the example and Trevor please chime in because I'm sure you've seen this with your students where once the season is done then they are done they might still play if they're you know if they're
00:46:59
Speaker
Trying to attain their degree, but for the most part they're not engaging in any sort of meaningful physical activity And then they come in after a summer of and I'm gonna be a little rude here But like sitting on the couch right or staying indoors, which is those environmental
00:47:17
Speaker
illnesses that can occur. And then they start marching. And what we have seen in the literature and the research is that the majority of the injuries that happen with our marching artists are in that first month of when they have returned because their bodies just are not used to it. And it's really interesting because there was a wonderful article that came out of the University of Michigan. This is years ago. It was one of the landmark studies for marching.
00:47:47
Speaker
And it showed the progression of how the injuries got better over the course of the season. Demonstrating the point that you have to be in shape before you start marching. I wish someone had told me that when I was like 18, like seriously.
Preparing for Drum Corps and Alumni Experiences
00:48:03
Speaker
Just like, can I go back and tell young Jackie that? However, I will say I am, I'm going to be doing the Blue Stars Alumni Corps this summer. Oh, here we go. So, you know, look for me out there in La Crosse, Wisconsin, just one performance, but I am like, like you're saying, like, we need to start working now on this. I
00:48:25
Speaker
January 1st, I started on it, and I have been keeping up with my new program to get back in shape for this. And for people to understand, this is a serious thing. We have one performance, and it's going to be a big deal. It's going to be at the La Crosse Blue Stars Home Show.
00:48:44
Speaker
But I'm not planning on going on tour or anything like that. And so these people who are talking about jumping back into the DCI all age course now, you really need to be on it and get on that workout plan. Start getting yourself back into that shape. Get outside. It's cold right now, though. Maybe don't go outside in the ice. Some of us are in our warmer states.
00:49:08
Speaker
Which which is not necessarily a problem You know, but there are ways to you know, turn the heat up in in your in your house or whatever and just start doing calisthenics and you know More humid environments. Yep. I wish I would have done that a couple years ago. I
00:49:27
Speaker
people ask me, come on, let's do like the trooper's drum Corps, like legacy Corps. Let's go marching in Boston. Like when it's like 35 degrees, like in November, I'm like, okay. They can, I can still have like one more in me. And I got there, did the thing. I'm like, Oh my God, I wish I would have prepared more for
00:49:46
Speaker
This is my body strength, awful, watching that parade. I was cold, my muscles was sore, holding up my big old baritone euphonium was much harder than what I thought it was going to be. So I wish I would have had a little bit more preparation and the engagement of all these DCA like
00:50:03
Speaker
DCI all eight DCI DCI all age course that's big pickup and a momentum for more people to get involved and to stay involved and talk to your administrators of those groups and let them know that this would be a great investment like marching help would be a great investment in preparing you for a successful performance whether you're marching parade or doing some standstill performance or you're the exhibition corps at DCI finals that people are going to jump up and down for whatever it is
00:50:33
Speaker
This is the program for your group in my honest opinion. And Nancy is super fun too. Nancy is also, bonus information, Nancy is also a huge wrestling fan. Hi. I didn't know that. My husband and I, we do very much enjoy
00:50:55
Speaker
wrestling entertainment. Well, the trouble that's how we connect it. That's how we connect wrestling. You never know what you're gonna have in common with somebody. I love that so much. Well, Nancy, thank you so much for coming on our water break. It's been a pleasure having you and let's definitely keep in touch because
00:51:15
Speaker
I mean, we're going to, this, this is a never ending thing and there's always new research coming out and you know, it's so, so important. It's so important. It's one of our foundational things. So thank you for coming. Of course. Thanks friend. Take care. Grab your water bottles and let's get back out on the floor. We've got like three more reps to do before rehearsals over.
Guard Closet and Financial Support for Programs
00:51:45
Speaker
Hey, this is Christine Reem and Chris Green.
00:51:48
Speaker
Guard Closet was founded as a consignment business in 2000. Since then, it has grown to include Winter Guard, band, percussion, and other genres. We can help you with custom flag and costuming designs. Our consignment inventory has plenty of great looks for your color guard, drum line, and marching band. Pay it forward. When you purchase consignment, you help other programs. Last year, we sold over 400 sets of consignments and returned over $125,000 in payments to our consigners for their skills.
00:52:18
Speaker
Additionally, Guard Closet offers custom and pre-designed costumes, flags, floors, and formal wear, full or partial showwriting, educational programming, and other services. Max out your rehearsal time and set up a microsite for easy student ordering for shoes, gloves, and other equipment. The Guard Closet team is here to help you get everything you want and need for your season. Check us out at guardcloset.com and follow us on social media.
00:52:57
Speaker
Thank you Jackie and Trevor for that great interview.
Coaching and Training in Drum Corps
00:53:00
Speaker
It's kind of crazy to see how much that like DCI and Drum Corps is becoming really professional in the way that we like coach and train students to be more athletic and really just try to be like smart about every aspect of the activity.
00:53:16
Speaker
I feel like I could remember it coming on as I started marching, but nowadays most of these groups are really treating all the students the same way that like a sports team would for the most part, which we had that stuff around when I was coming up. Yeah, definitely. I mean, I didn't do, I don't even know if I had any like before season prep work as far as marching band is concerned.
00:53:41
Speaker
I know I would like cut out something before Winterguard would start because I marched Patriots and I was like, what should I cut out? All right. So no more soda for the season. And what else? A food. OK, I cut out ice cream, you know, and then literally was like, everything else is up for grabs. Like that is the most. You know, sounds like me. I can think back to just some really horrible decision making during my marching days, like
00:54:10
Speaker
I feel like anytime your morning starts with like five hours of sleep and your energy and then you go to sleep. We were so bad with sleep, but now it's like the mandatory hours in the summer and kids.
00:54:27
Speaker
You need to sleep. You need to drink water and sleep and then follow everything else. And I think, but I think it's, it's the Trish and the Nicole and the I, and then the you Steven that is now hurt forever. You know what I mean? Like I know people that cannot walk at 42 properly. Like it's not what we want for the marching kids that are right now. And I think you, yeah, I was like, we're not going to point to ourselves. I have a funny lip.
00:54:56
Speaker
But yeah, and I think that now that maybe we're on staff and that we're directors and that we've gone through that, we are kind of open. I talked to Ditzia on Lost in Translation about that a little bit, how being a professional staff and being a professional member is also knowing your injury and knowing your knowledge towards injury, where it starts and where it ends. And as a director, maybe you are a doctor and good for you if you are, but I dye yarn.
00:55:24
Speaker
So if a kid comes hurt, I cannot treat that. I can dye their shirt, but I cannot treat a hen treat. So, so yeah. Yeah.
00:55:34
Speaker
I think like back to my early days in the activity too, and think just, just so many stupid things that like instructors would make us do, like just like intense PT that is not really tailored towards necessarily anything that we're doing. Like, like all these arm workouts that we used to do and stuff like that. And just like all these pushups and burpees and all, and like maybe the cardio burpees is fine, but like really.
00:56:03
Speaker
Why did, why do we need to break my arms as a drummer? Isn't that like the one important thing that we should maybe take care of is my arms, you would think. So it's good to see that groups like Marching Health, groups like Forte Athletics are out there and we're starting to really treat the performers like the athletes they are. So thank you for coming on the show.
00:56:25
Speaker
Anyway, though, we're moving on here. We're going to start with a new bit that it's quickly becoming one of my favorite bits on the show, actually. We're calling it what are we doing, which is a chance for you to kind of. Is that Trish?
00:56:47
Speaker
I was like, if you've been around Trish in the summer, pretty sure I heard you say that before. I'm sure. I'm sure. Well, I'll kick it off then, Trisha. You can show Cynthia and Jeremy how the bit works. All right.
00:57:07
Speaker
At the Philadelphia Regional in Prelims, there was a group that one of the performers got injured during the performance.
Handling Performer Injuries
00:57:16
Speaker
And we all saw it right away, we're all like, she's hurt, she's hurt, she's hurt. She got herself over to the sideline and she sat down and she kept grabbing her wrist and grabbing her wrist and grabbing her wrist. Now, I mean, it all, I immediately put my director hat on from the stands and started thinking, what would I do?
00:57:37
Speaker
Like, what, what am I doing? What would I do if that was my kid? If that was my kid out there, like, what do you do? Do you run out there? Do you stop the show? Do you, she clearly, you know, Jeremy even noted this, like, she clearly kind of gave the signal, like, I can sit here the rest of the show, like, you know, I don't need medical attention immediately. But honestly, like, as a director, what do you do?
00:58:00
Speaker
Like, what do you do if a kid gets injured like that? I mean, again, like I said before, do you stop the show? Do you run out there? Are you allowed to walk on the floor and just get her off the floor? She was on the sideline. She made her way to the sideline. But I mean, I tried to catch up with...
00:58:18
Speaker
The timing and penalties guy, Jeff Kowinski. I tried to catch up with him, but every time I was kind of walking in or out of the gym, he was kind of looking at his clipboard or whatever, but I was going to ask him like, if that was my kid, what do I do?
00:58:32
Speaker
Like, what do I do? Did I stop? You know, what do I do? Do I let the kids sit there for, you know, another two and a half minutes, injured? Like, it was, it was really tough. And she looked like she was, like Jeremy said, she kind of gave the signal, like, I can sit here. I'm good. But if it was worse than that, what do you do? What exactly? That's kind of what I was thinking is maybe it's depending on the injury. Like if the student gets off.
00:58:54
Speaker
floor, then you might not need to stop the show, but you maybe should, as the director, still go to the student and stop watching the show. But have you ever seen a show stopped because of an injury? I don't remember once. I remember injuries, like bad injuries happening on the floor. Even this season, I was at a show where one of the performers knees got dislocated, but they had. Yeah.
00:59:21
Speaker
And she went down hard too. And they had backdrops. So that girl, like she just took her backdrop and she stayed there for the, cause it happened at the beginning of the show. Oh God.
00:59:34
Speaker
Yeah, and she just stayed back there. And, you know, they went through the rest of their show. They folded everything and then they attended to her. But that's not, I don't know, I don't know what to do with it. Well, it was interesting. I'll jump in again. It was interesting. And we all did talk about it. It was me, it was Trish, Michelle Adcock who's been on the show. You all know Bobby Biddle. Like there was, you know, seasoned people and all of us were sort of like,
01:00:00
Speaker
I don't know. So what came out of that discussion was first off, Trish was going to do this as what are we doing on the podcast, but that we were that there should you as a director should have a conversation with your entirety of your membership.
01:00:16
Speaker
right? And this should, I mean, this is across every board, like marching band, drumline, color guard, whatever, like, that it's a, like a very simple signal that you'd like let them know, all right, listen, I want everybody to know, I will always be standing here, like I will always be near the sound booth, or there will always be a designated person by the sound booth for you to look at. You look at that person, if you are injured, you are to communicate like,
01:00:44
Speaker
yes, I'm good, you know, give them some sort of signal or whatever, like, you know, a hand gesture or something to be like, I'm good, keep going. Right? Or no, this is serious. Because like, when she heard her hand, like, we were like, she looks fine. Like, there's no blood. It's like, okay, but like, she was like, looking like it was a lot. So like, you didn't know and I
01:01:07
Speaker
It just came to be that like, maybe the thing that makes the most sense is to have the conversation, know that the kids know that the performers have a plan. Okay. If this happens, right? Like, and, and, and just fulfill that plan. Now, if that means from an adjudication standpoint, I don't know what that means, you know, like.
01:01:26
Speaker
when that person leaves, I'm sure it's been addressed. I'm sure there's a WGI rule about it somewhere or something. But getting that member off, I don't know. But I think bottom line, have a conversation with your kids. Have a signal, have something so that your performers even know to keep going. You know what I mean? If somebody's down, just keep that in mind and make sure you have a plan. Just like everything else in Color Guard, Marching Man and Drumline, have a plan and you'll be fine. Okay, back to you.
01:01:57
Speaker
Yeah, no, that's good thinking. I thought you were going to say just like everything else in life, like talk about it and be prepared and have a plan. It's just like the responsible way to handle your ensemble when you put it that way. I was not going to come up with it on my own though, so I don't know what that says about me.
Judging Challenges and Scoring in Competitions
01:02:17
Speaker
Anyway though, Cynthia, what do you got for what are we doing this week?
01:02:21
Speaker
I hope I understood well. So winter guard person in the house went to Salem Regional and two things, not the biggest regional, right? Two things. One,
01:02:35
Speaker
Are we going to hit like 125 score at world class? Because to be real, yeah, I don't know if it happens to you, uh, in percussion land, but it happened this last weekend. I don't know if it's because it's such, it's not a, I mean, we keep on saying like, it's such a short regional season. It's not like, it's not like two weeks short, but it's a week or two weeks shorter than it's been. So I think groups that are seasoned.
01:03:06
Speaker
have been really smart and showed up to the first region already for like March. But then what happens now is that I'm going to, I'm going to say it like blessed sacrament right now is in my top three of all time show. And I'm a show geek whatsoever. And I was going to do like a, what are we doing about being a snob and genre? Like if it's not your genre, maybe, but you need to be able to see that show. And that's good. I was like, I was feeling like I was seeing Bethlehem finals, if not,
01:03:35
Speaker
Championship prelims that that performance and premiums especially so I'm like there's no Supra world like they're like they cannot be bumped to world What's gonna happen like in that world? 15 group is already very tight. Like there's no room for newbies like well That's kind of where I was about to head like
01:03:56
Speaker
So it's a, it's deserving that the group I'm about to talk about one, but so pulse percussion got a 92.4 at their first performance. They're the world. They've won world class percussion the last two years, but they got a 92.4 at their first performance last weekend, which is just
01:04:18
Speaker
Insane. And I like the logical reason it's happening is because in California you have six other world-class groups competing against polls at that regional. So in February.
01:04:31
Speaker
You know, the group that's going to come in sixth is going to be extremely remarkably dirty or not to knock whatever group it was, but they're not pulse pulse as something very special and they're their own thing that they can be so clean that early. So all these groups are going to have large spreads and it's going to create this like stratification within world class that forces these scores to be so high and so inflated, like.
01:04:57
Speaker
I bet even the people at Pulse probably would agree that they didn't get or well, they got they certainly got a 92-4. They might themselves not think that that's even that realistic of a score in February. I feel like at some point you need actually that galactic class that we always joke about because these groups should only compete with each other so that it would be OK to give Pulse the 86 that Pulse deserves. You can give Broken City an 84.
01:05:28
Speaker
And now we're adjudicating them in a space that's not just crunching all their scores to the top because they have to compete with the rest of world class. I love that we have.
01:05:39
Speaker
you know, already named that next class, like, because I was thinking universe class, you're like, you know, yeah, first show we're gonna break 90. And you do it. I was about to cuss. But anyway, I mean, and I've seen I've been part of a group that came out to their first regional before. And like, the number was up there. And we just looked at each other like, yeah, we're Yeah.
01:06:08
Speaker
Excuse me? Hey, you have to look back at the kids and say like, okay, that didn't happen. Let's go back to rehearsing like we usually do. Let me go back though, because Blessed Sacrament didn't get the score that about everyone thought.
01:06:25
Speaker
they deserved judges got very very like didn't put them in box five yet at that regional or some of them at finals because they were careful i don't know i'm saying they were like i know what they were thinking but my thinking is because they to me were already box five and and it's it's also playing with the standing i don't know if people looked at the standing and i don't know if in progression in the world how that happens but standing right now i mean you should never really really
01:06:54
Speaker
base your life on standing. Right. But like, South and East groups are it's just people that are in the same gym and judge like, yeah, bless this acronym was with fusion fusion is really, really good. Also, but are they that close? Or should they be closer? And then am and it's so hard because they're all too, too ready for the first term, not too ready. But like, it's
01:07:20
Speaker
That's why I think percussion illustrates the idea so well. It's like California is the only place where you'll have multiple world class groups competing against each other before finals. So everywhere else, a group goes out and at best they compete against one world class group. There's nothing that's going to force you to go high. A judge is just going to sit there and he'll make his or her decision about what number they think represents this, what they're seeing. But.
01:07:47
Speaker
In other parts of the country where there are more world-class ensembles, the groups are going to get pushed up by the nature that they have to create a gap between the groups. So it just validates that you really can't and should not compare groups across competition because it's just not what we're doing. We're only comparing them correctly.
01:08:14
Speaker
That was interesting. That's why I love this bit so much. This bit always pulls out fantastic conversations. Jeremy, do you got anything for what are we doing?
01:08:24
Speaker
You know, I'm going to kind of double down on our discussion earlier about the Marching Health and training the performers a little bit higher up.
Caring for Performers' Well-being
01:08:32
Speaker
Staff members, we have to make sure we have a culture that allows students to be in that vulnerable state, to be able to say, hey, I'm injured, and they're not going to be worried about losing their spot or being kicked out of the group or anything.
01:08:46
Speaker
Like we need to make sure it's like, obviously it's accepted, like they should be able to be doing that regardless, but we need to make sure that culture exists in the activity. We're starting to push towards that, like we've been talking about all night, but we got to get to that point. We're almost, we're not quite at that box five yet, but we're getting there. It's hard because then, especially in the summer, like you have, how do you call them?
01:09:10
Speaker
The people that are on the sideline and wish to have the spot by the end of it. Alternates. There we go. Thank you. Alternates. And they are sometimes by some groups, I hope more when we were marching as you're getting shadowed because you need to step it up.
01:09:29
Speaker
And that's a thing, like using those alternates as like a fear of losing your spot or not saying that you're injured. But then when you go to really high classes or groups like Boston, like if you're hurt, you're going to be, you're going to like a teleguard world. I don't know the rest, but they're not going to give your spot to someone else. They're going to wait the time for your injury, be okay, unless
01:09:52
Speaker
It values your season. It's that part of Cincinnati, she got a concussion, didn't do two shows, then get cut. So why do we, in younger groups, worry that much? You're right. You're so right. Especially younger groups. Some of these performers are literal children. They're still entirely autonomous individual people on their own.
01:10:17
Speaker
We still need to take care of them. Children are so, they're treated so badly in our society. Yeah. I think we all can go back to a time when we all got injured in some way. Basically, if the younger generation is listening to this, we are just trying to make sure that you can walk upright when you're 40.
01:10:44
Speaker
Not cheering, that's your knees. Your knees thanking you. I wish that I had someone like Nicole around when I was marching, because I feel like I caught the very tail end as a bass tremor of just absolutely abusing my body and not taking care of it. Were you bass five? No, I played bass two and one. So usually it wasn't too heavy, but still it's like, I'm really just finding reasons to complain, Cynthia. It's okay.
01:11:11
Speaker
I was going to say, we're going to do a tick tock and we're going to go by age. You'll just look at people, how, how they walk. And you should walk straight. I walked straight, but I'm starting to notice back pain sometimes. And it scares me because I'm like, I'm 26. This is how it starts. It's like, find myself at 40. I'll probably be like, well, you don't stand up. You just, or when you stand up, you give the,
01:11:46
Speaker
Nicole, what are we doing? What are we doing? Um, I'm trying not to implicate myself when I talk about this too much, but, um, there, there, uh, we, hmm.
Revival of 90s General Effect Styles
01:12:04
Speaker
Okay. So what are we doing when we're bringing back the, I guess the GE effects from the nineties?
01:12:13
Speaker
Yeah, they're classics. Okay. Oh my God. You're so right. Okay. Where are they? I mean, you know, at that time when that effect was being made, we were all like, yeah. And now it's like, Oh, whoops. Did you mean to do you did? Okay. Okay. All right. Cool.
01:12:37
Speaker
Not sure how that's going to stand out or stand up because a lot of those, some people that are doing, that are taking some very interesting, making very interesting choices. They're doing those kinds of things like the, the, the silence, the, the, the breath, like the audible breath for more than like a phrase and
01:13:03
Speaker
Y'all, can we stop the whole, like, crying? Like, don't make yourself cry. Like, it's so uncomfortable. And I think I... I think I've talked about this before, but I feel like people aren't listening.
01:13:16
Speaker
So please don't make, don't make your kids cry, okay? Just teach them what a face looks like when you get ready to sneeze and there's all of the emotion that you need. But are you saying like cry like legit tears or like? Yeah, like an audible. Well then we're gonna get in this fight, Nicole, because that's what I said to my kid this weekend. You need to cry. But like, no, no, no.
01:13:38
Speaker
We're not gonna get in a fight, but it's interesting that we're on the opposite side. For me, it's uncomfortable when it looks like my six-year-old that wants a lollipop and I said no, and she's forcing herself to cry. When they're legit acting it out,
01:13:56
Speaker
And sometimes it kind of doesn't correlate with the show. And I'm like, why are you a chicken that is crying? And I'm saying that, and I haven't seen that. But sometimes it gets all the way there. But when the members are living the moment as far as going through the emotion, that for me is like some sort of the epiphany of performing.
01:14:20
Speaker
I remember the year that Lisa Clips did goodbye. They cried every rehearsal, but it was like for two hours you're doing, you're living through the moment and maybe you will cry and not the entire rehearsal or else we, it wouldn't, trauma would happen. There's like mature performing and just like telling your kids to cry maybe.
01:14:44
Speaker
Yeah. And like, and I'm mostly grabbing this from the lower classes. You know what I'm saying? And I don't, you know what I'm saying? I just don't feel like that's not, it's not, it's not on the sheet. They don't need to know that right now. They don't.
01:15:05
Speaker
You know? And honestly, if they are that young and they're doing a show that's about them crying, we need to talk to somebody else, like the adult. We should have a full clip about regional aid, because I was like, when you start to look and judge at regional aid, it's very interesting. It's a very interesting class. It's almost more interesting than world class as an analytic person. World class is world class.
01:15:32
Speaker
regional A's is really interesting as like what's that class like what are we what are we doing right yeah i felt like it was actually like we could go we could do this like we could really go down this rabbit from state to state there are different states whose regional A classes are not regional A like blinking lights not regional A but hey
01:16:02
Speaker
Well, regionally in the percussion world is definitely worthy of a conversation. I remember when I was very briefly getting into judging for a little while last year, I actually felt like it was significantly more difficult to have to evaluate and offer commentary for that end of the spectrum than it was for the best groups. Even if I was splitting hairs between which of the two groups was the best, there's a really well-established
01:16:31
Speaker
vocabulary you know to go through and look for here, whereas sometimes when you're looking at the other end of that spectrum, it asks more of you as a judge or an educator to like figure out what you can say to help this group.
01:16:47
Speaker
And we're not saying this to be like mean to new designers. Cause that's, I mean, they don't exist for that, but that's exactly why there needs to be a conversation. Because when you're starting to design, you want to show people that you can write an open class show, but you need to write, you know, so like, it's not to read anyone. It's just, it's, it is an interesting conversation. Well, we will definitely get into that on another night. For now, let's get into the news.
01:17:27
Speaker
That's like my favorite 10 seconds of the show every week. I love that.
Band Students' Parade Incident and Aftermath
01:17:32
Speaker
Nicole, I think you've got the first story for us. OK, so I think you all know about this. The two the band members that were in the New Orleans
01:17:43
Speaker
parade from LB Landry that was pushed by the New Orleans police officer during the parade. And the friend that like, you know, basically told him, no, bro, don't do it. Okay, so that video went viral.
01:18:03
Speaker
And basically what happened after that is that, I want to say on Monday, the student who was pushed and his friend that was seen on the video calming him down, they were honored by their school for their ability to walk away from a situation before it escalated. Now, here's the whole thing.
01:18:24
Speaker
big ups to them, because there's a whole plethora of factors that go into that, too. And I'm just going to be very blatant, obvious, and blunt. They are two young black males, regardless if they have on marching band uniforms or not, and they're holding horns. Those are two black males. And then the officer is obviously, you know,
01:18:50
Speaker
not a non black person. And when that push happens, you know, it was I don't know who's who has seen it, who hasn't seen it. But it, you know what I mean? Like anybody else, it would set somebody off. However,
01:19:05
Speaker
you know, you're in, they basically went by the rule that every band member is in, you're in uniform, you act as if, you are as if, you know? So it was a huge thing for them to deescalate. Now here's the ironic, you know, thing about it is they were deescalating a situation with a police officer. You know? So, but Mitchell said,
01:19:33
Speaker
that it's great to see all these people come out to show their support for us and congratulating us. Hundreds of students packed into the auditorium at West Bank along with the staff and teachers just to say, job well done. I think it was the local news station. It was the first to show the video. It was WDSU that showed Brandon Mitchell and his friend Jerome Marshall. Those were the two.
01:20:00
Speaker
to the two young men marching during the Thursday night parade during the carnival season. Mitchell said that his friend Marshall spoke words of encouragement to him that night so that situation didn't get worse. So basically was telling him, Yo man, please don't do it. It's okay. Turn around. And then the whole entire time through, like being a hype man for him.
01:20:24
Speaker
Because and here's another real reason of this like outside of marching band like if something like that happens to again a young black man like there is something that happens in here and Not every time do does that young black man have a hype man. So this is So big for these two young men. Mm-hmm
01:20:47
Speaker
for the fact that there was a man, there was this young man who was there who was experiencing this, and then there was this young man who was there with his friend to make sure that he, you know what I mean, doesn't react. Yeah, because that part is also a testament to growing character and stuff that Marching Band teaches too. Having a friend that's going to actually just push you in the healthy and responsible right direction rather than encouraging something
01:21:16
Speaker
chaotic or, you know, some friends, especially when you're like 14 to 18 might try to, they might think it's fun to push you to go do something crazy. So like, it's really just shows a testament to the responsibility of those students in a situation that they shouldn't have had to, you know, be the bigger person or take the higher road, but great that marching band kind of brings
01:21:42
Speaker
It's at least an influence that helps bring these kinds of good values. So that's great. Yeah. So a couple more things. Both students are going to be attending Southern Texas University together in the fall. They both will be playing in the band. Very nice. As for the officer, his name is Alfred Russell. He was taken off parade duty and an investigation was opened.
01:22:09
Speaker
That's all we really know about that. He also recently was accused of payroll fraud. That is somebody else's problem. I don't think I like this guy. I mean, it could have been something else before that, but I don't like him.
01:22:27
Speaker
So one more thing that I think that would be awesome to Chief Ann Kirkpatrick of the New Orleans Police Department and the Director of Public Integrity Bureau sat down with Mitchell and his mom and delivered a sincere apology. So I feel as if, yes, it was a negative situation, but man, like this is the way we need to encourage
01:22:55
Speaker
not escalating, not escalating. This is the way we need to encourage that so that we can keep it going. And I just find it ironic that it was the kids who were getting the police officers to escalate. Good ending. Completely agree.
01:23:17
Speaker
That's nice. Some of these stories that we do when we follow them over weeks at a time don't have good endings some of the time. So it's nice to see something positive when we're following it. Absolutely. Trish, what do you have for us this week?
Strategic Planning and Social Media in Marching Arts
01:23:33
Speaker
So our very own New York Skyliners, I'm going to tell you right now, the New York Skyliners are entering this all age thing with a bang. I think they've had a fantastic off season. I don't know what their membership is like or any of that, but I think from a presence standpoint, I think they've been really smart in their social media presence and all aspects of it. They actually were on a local TV station, which
01:24:02
Speaker
was really, really cool for them because they not only used it as a way to get the word out about the core and what they were doing, but there's a little link in the end of the story if anybody's interested in donating and a link to their website. So they really played that smart. They really used it to their advantage. It was about, I'm sure it was just a regular
01:24:29
Speaker
you know, winter camp, but they termed it a boot camp. I guess that was a little bit more, another smart thing, a little bit more recognizable to people who don't know the activity exactly.
01:24:40
Speaker
So, you know, the director kind of talked a little bit about, you know, the social aspect to the activity and, you know, even though, you know, there's a lot of blood and sweat, you know, during rehearsals, you know, there's a lot of camaraderie and all that kind of stuff. So, I mean, I give them an A plus for the off season. I don't know, again, I don't know how many people they have or what their site, you know, what their, you know, whatever, but their show concept,
01:25:07
Speaker
the way they've been getting themselves out there using that as an opportunity to not only promote the group, but you know, try to get some donations, a plus for the off season for the Skyler is as far as I'm concerned. Nice. That's awesome. Yeah. I love hearing about groups actually like just try to break the mold a little bit, even just calling it a bootcamp instead of calling it a rehearsal weekend. It's just like something that it's like
01:25:33
Speaker
Okay. You're doing something to make this interesting to people that are, that have never heard of you and might just come across this on the internet. Like I think the activity needs so many more versions of that, where we just find ways to make it appealing to a normal person. So that's cool. Hopefully we hear some more stuff as we get closer and closer to DCI season. Jeremy, what do you got?
01:25:59
Speaker
So this past weekend, we celebrated our day of the year in the marching arts, March 4th. And DCI got together, did a whole bunch of different things. They've got this activity book that they did with different coloring pages, different activities, like a wordle sort of thing, lots of fun. And on top of that, they released a whole bunch of information about auditions for the season, open spots. There's literally hundreds of open spots right now across the four classes. I mean, if you're
01:26:28
Speaker
ages 22 to 80 or whatever. If you want to march all age, you want to be back in Lucas Oil on that field, now is your chance. Go march all age. It's going to be a great opportunity. You're going to have so much fun and it's not every single second of your summer. So you'll actually still be able to do stuff. You won't have to commit 100% of yourself to just that. You'll have the opportunity to work a job and then on the weekends do all age. You'll have options.
01:26:56
Speaker
Right. Yeah. That's what I'm so excited about is just, it opens up so many options. Cause like, I don't think with it being in Rochester in the past, like I love old traditional DCA culture, but it definitely opens the door to a lot more by putting finals in there in the big stadium. That like is the biggest event for drum Corps and push it all together and put it in a better place for everybody to get to instead of just, you know,
01:27:24
Speaker
bush and bucks and cabs and the traditional heroes of DCA. I'm looking at this activity book and it's legit. The activity book, yeah. It's not one of those AI put together have trying sort of things. It's legit real deal. An actual person put their brain on it, actually wanted to do something fun for the activity.
01:27:51
Speaker
I love it. I love it. My adh brain is like, Ooh, I want to do all of these. Well, you can on March, but our listeners should hope that they already, uh, heard about it in all this information.
01:28:09
Speaker
So you can go take a look at DCI on their website, DCI.org. If you take a look at their news section, they've got an article March 4th on the Marching Music Day 2024 that they posted on February 28th. All right there, all the options, all the information. They've got stuff about auditions, open spots, the coloring book, which I'm probably gonna spend the night messing around with, having fun with. Nice. Well, get out there, check that out.
01:28:39
Speaker
I like that you mentioned it sounds like they got a human touch. DCI is out here. They're trying to make it cozy for you to enjoy your March 4th. So I'll certainly get in there myself. Cynthia, what do you have this week?
WGI Diversity Survey and Podcast Engagement
01:28:54
Speaker
Yeah, real quick. So for WGI participants, there's actually a survey that has been sent to your director. They are trying to find the demographics. Big word for me. Demographics of diversity of the performers, so you in the circuit. So you can talk to your director. They should have that available for you to fill out. It's important for the activity. But also, you could win $100 credit in Pepware.
01:29:21
Speaker
Awesome. Yeah. Get out there, hit that participant survey. Um, cause I've seen pepper stuff in the tent for years and I've got pepper stuff littering my closet. So clearly this is some stuff that you need to get to, but thank you everyone for a great rehearsal this week. Thank you to our hosts, Trish, Cynthia, Nicole, Jackie, Trevor, and Jeremy from drum core today. Thank you to Nancy as well. You can find Nancy at marching health.
01:29:47
Speaker
And just in case anyone didn't know, we have our YouTube channel up now with several video interviews over there. You can go check them out. Make sure you subscribe to us on YouTube because there's a lot more video interviews coming soon. So go subscribe, write us a review, and share this with a friend. Follow us on social media at On a Water Break. Thank you for listening, and we will see you at the next rehearsal on a water break. Bye, y'all. Go practice.
01:30:16
Speaker
The On A Water Break podcast was produced by Jeremy Williams and Christine Reem. The intro and outro music was produced by Josh Lyda. To learn more, visit LydaMusic.com. And until next time, thanks for tuning in.