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The One About WGI-CON 2024
171 Plays3 months ago
Join our hosting panel as they talk all about WGI-CON 2024 with some amazing guests. We hear about all the inside scoop and behind the scenes of everything that went down at this year’s event from presenters and attendees. Join our special guests Tony Lymon and Jara Clark along with some of our regular hosts as we go deep in WGIcon 2024
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
Austin Hall - @Austin_hall10
Jose Montes - @joeymontes57
Bobbey Biddle - @bobbeyboy107
Peyton Billhart - @peytonbrillhart
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
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Tiktok:www.tiktok.com/onawaterbreak
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Contact Us:
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.onawaterbreak.com
Keywords:
Drum Corps International, DCI, Marching Music, Marching Arts, Drum Corps, Marching Band, Marching Percussion, Marching Guard, Marching Arts Podcast, Drum Corps Podcast, Marching Music Podcast, Marching Arts Community, Drum Corps Community, Marching Band Community, colorguard, dci, WGI
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Overview of WGI-Con
00:00:00
Speaker
Hey everyone, we're back for another week of exciting rehearsals. This week we will find out what is going on with the WGI-Con. We're here with some presenters and spectators. We'll also find out what made Trish say, oh my god, oh my god, god, oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, we're gonna get off to it, oh my god. But to her, I was going, oh my god. And why Ashley said,
00:00:24
Speaker
It's like f freaking wads of dirty Q-tips on the N-Sleeves flagpoles. Tape, around tape, around tape. All that and more. So get out there on the field and we'll see you back on the sidelines for this week's episode of On A Water Break. Eight off the Met and go. Welcome to you On A Water
00:00:52
Speaker
Everyone bring it in.
Meet the Hosts and Podcast Background
00:00:54
Speaker
It's time for a water break. All right, welcome back to another episode season two of On A Water Break. This is the podcast where we talk about everything you and your friends are talking about at rehearsal on a water break. I'm Nicole Younger. This week we're looking inside WGI-Con. This is the third year, I think, of WGI-Con, and this year it was held in San Francisco. But before we get into all of that, we're going to see who's on the sidelines this week. um Let's see, Trish, what's going on? one
00:01:25
Speaker
No, not much. How are you guys doing? Doing well, doing well. So has your band gone out for their first competition yet? Saturday. Saturday night. Yep. by That is going to be so hyped for you all because I know your home show and first show, right? I know. Yep. So cool. So cool. Yeah. Well, I mean, I will send you all of the good vibes
Host Catch-up and Personal Updates
00:01:50
Speaker
for Saturday. Thank you. Thank you skills to all your kids. Thank you.
00:01:55
Speaker
All right. And Ashley, I feel like we haven't seen you in ages. It's been a couple months. It's been very busy in Van Land, Bataan Land, ah work land, everything.
00:02:11
Speaker
Everything, Land? Everything. Ashley Land has been very busy. Oh my goodness. Well, I remember the last time we talked and we did the podcast about all the twirlers and how ah hard they go. like I'm so glad that your season's over with that. Just for your mental health sick anyway. Me too.
00:02:34
Speaker
Oh my goodness. So ah we have two glass conditions with us this week.
Introduction of Guest Clinicians
00:02:39
Speaker
And we also have Joey. Joey's going to join us a little later. He is um late to rehearsal. Okay, so he better have Starbucks.
00:02:48
Speaker
praying this But we have two questions to speak on here. We wanted to give a presenter perspective and also a spectator perspective. So our first-guest clinician, um this is the first appearance on the on-a-water break, but no stranger to all things percussion, and also serves as a counselor member with me ah for the our marching counts, and also could run a masterclass in just being a very good Swifty. Okay.
00:03:20
Speaker
Hi, Tony. Don't drag me into the swift because like real swift would roast me right away. f um so I guess you could say. You've got you've got ah you've you've got a ah community behind you, Tony.
00:03:39
Speaker
awful And our second guest is um first parents on as well, um on on a water break, um a marching arts enthusiast, and we'll find out a little bit more, but also attended WGICON as a spectator. We have a Jar Clark. Hi, Sarah. Just like Sarah, is a little bit. Thank you to you guys. Everybody, hello.
00:04:00
Speaker
Jared, thank you so much for coming. So we're going to do something with both of you that we do with all of our ah our guest clinicians that come in. um I'm going to go ahead and start with Tony first. So this is what we call arthur three this is our count life story. um So what we'll do is we'll give you eight off the met and then you're in and ah we hope you finish. All right. well are All right.
Tony Lyman's Journey in Percussion
00:04:29
Speaker
My name is Tony Lyman. I was born in Greenwood, Mississippi, and I graduated from Greenwood High School. I went to the University of Southern Mississippi as a percussion major. There, I cried out for the Star of Indiana drumming bugle corps. I was in the front ensemble, 91, 92, and 93. Had a great time. Thought I was going to graduate and go to the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
00:04:49
Speaker
started a band that went on tour, got a record deal, met a guy named Rick Giotto when I was there as our producer. He taught me a lot of things about audio, and then I wound up doing audio and pageantry, and um here I am. Yeah! Very good.
00:05:10
Speaker
I always, I mean, i and I know that we'll give you more to finish, but I always, when it gets to the end, I start to get a little anxious myself. But I never knew about that recording deal. Yeah, we that was my former life. Oh, wow. poor Yeah, we we toured for eight years and actually played at Woodstock 99 and all that stuff. Yeah, did the wow did the things. Wow. Go ahead. It's funny because when you said that, though, you said um you played at Woodstock 99. I aged out of drum corps in 99 at the Patriots in Hope State, New York. So we saw a lot of things on the side of the room.
00:05:46
Speaker
Yeah. i I was one year old. we Awesome. I was hoping that I would get a reminder of how elderly I am. I was a sophomore in high school. So we're all at different places. I love that. Keep them coming.
00:06:04
Speaker
Right? My parents weren't married yet. yeah
00:06:11
Speaker
Oh, wow. And Jarrah, so I know that we are basically just meeting for the first time too right now. And Jarrah is a really good friend of Susie, who is always on the podcast. So we're just going to jump into your 32 count life story. And then we'll find out more about you on the way. How about that? All right.
Jera Clark's Color Guard Experience
00:06:31
Speaker
wait All right, my name is Jera Clark. I'm from Oklahoma. I graduated from Union High School in 2002. I've worked at Union, Sepulpa, Jinx is where I spent most of my time. I've been in the color guard world for over 20 years, spent the last 11 years building Jinx color guard and winter guard program app to be the competitive.
00:06:50
Speaker
Awesomeness that it is and then I step down let my assistant take over now. I'm a certified Pilates instructor So I get to still move bodies and take care of bodies but in a different way I also work with an independent guard here in town called reference and then I'm a guard coordinator for groups around the state and close to us So I still choreograph and design and all that stuff. So I could say more but my time is up
00:07:16
Speaker
So really quick though, you said something that kind of like sparked an interest in Jinx Color Guard. Is that a high school color guard? Yes, it's a high school here in town, Jinx High School, Jinx Public Schools. They have a competitive marching band, competitive winter program. and when i went When I got there 11, I think it was 12 years ago now, but they the guard was pretty small, pretty non, um they were competitive, but you know not not placing as well as they wanted.
00:07:45
Speaker
Um, and so we, we built that program up to be really competitive. They went competed at world championships, made semi-finals my last year there. Um, one of my joys, an honor to have built that program to what it is. And I still go watch them and share them on. And I love that program. So perfect. I do remember seeing, I do remember going to be away and seeing jinx. This was years ago, but I do remember them like having an leaving an impression on me. So.
00:08:13
Speaker
good program. Very good. program Okay, so um Hello, Joey. Did you bring Starbucks?
Guard Closet and Community Impact
00:08:21
Speaker
I did not I didn't even bring I brought a cake. I brought some Joey water and we saw podcast brought to you by Coca Cola. Is that what you call Coke is Joey water?
00:08:32
Speaker
That's what the kids call it. We have a thing called, um, two liter Friday where they try to force me to drink two liters of soda every Friday rehearsal. So i if you're asking, yeah, I have it. i'm working on it i get I love it. i i love it but Tackling fuel.
00:08:50
Speaker
Well, phew. I'm glad we have everyone here for rehearsal now. um I'll make sure that both Tony and Jera get some water before they head back out to the field. So we've got to take a look at that ballad, but then we'll be right back into what's happening for WGI-Con 2024 right after this.
00:09:18
Speaker
Hey, this is Christine Rehm. And Chris Green. 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.
00:09:34
Speaker
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. Additionally, Guard Closet offers custom and pre-designed costumes, flags, floors, and formal wear, full or partial showwriting, educational programming, and other services.
00:10:03
Speaker
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.
00:10:30
Speaker
All right, and we are back.
WGI-Con Sessions and Creative Empowerment
00:10:32
Speaker
So WGI content has been going on since 2019, offering sessions in every category of color guard, precaution, wins and management. um I think color guard had about nine sessions, percussion had about the same. um We also had the wins who had about five, and then the management sessions had a couple of different ones as well. They also had two keynote speakers,
00:10:57
Speaker
Deanna Marglacy and also Shirley Doherty. So we have two of the presenters here with us, Joey and Tony. I'm gonna go into Tony first. um Tony, what was the name of the session that you did? Mine was called Zero to Hero Pageantry Design for the Left Behind. And can you yeah and can you give us just a little synopsis of like what you presented and what people got, or hopefully what people got from your session?
00:11:26
Speaker
Well, something I'm very passionate about is as I travel around the country and design and work with several bands, I see kind of a divide of the bands who are kind of in the know and have all of the resources or most of the resources, or they they're in an area where you know there's a competitive ah domain where you know there are a lot of competitive groups in that area. They get to see all of the things all of the time because of their culture and their community. But then there's the other 99% of the bands across the country that see these things happening while they go to a DCI show or a WGI show and they see these great groups that are out there
00:12:11
Speaker
And they want the same things for their band, but they don't quite they're not in the know. They don't quite have the resources to you know ah bring people in or They want those same things. so this is I've been very passionate in my career to reach out to those bands and those communities to give them a helping hand and kind of bring them into going from saying something that they like to create is something that they love.
00:12:43
Speaker
and um
00:12:46
Speaker
you you hear all um But yeah, that's the thing that i um I tried to get across is to take them behind the scenes of the design process. And I just kind of aggregated um some of those processes based on the design rooms that I have been in.
00:13:06
Speaker
and um A lot of things that you know we on this podcast think are common knowledge or you know we've forgotten that we when we learned it, it becomes comprehensive knowledge. a lot The other 99% may have never experienced that for before. It may have never understood how that process of how do you go from seeing that thing to how do you adapt it for what you have in your band program. So that's basically what it was. and um
00:13:37
Speaker
again i'm very passionate about that you know it's boom wow very very nice i know that ah just looking at this from someone on the outside there's lots of conversations happening about like I guess but exactly what you were talking about, like what's being gate kept and what's not, and how can the younger designers and choreographers learn you know from you know some of the people that are here right now doing that job? There's always going to be another generation, but just how do they get there? right And it does seem like, what is it? ah Proximity.
00:14:17
Speaker
to approximately that information or those people. um So like I can speak to this because I came from that. you know I came from ah a small, I was in a small band program when I um grew up in in the Mississippi Delta. um And then when I taught, I taught at Petal High School, which was it's a small rural permit um high school in in south mississippi and so after being able to experience it on the other end of being in a performer in some of the higher level groups and then being able to be a part of teaching and designing for those groups i've wanted to know how can i how the kids in south mississippi are the kids who are in rural minnesota or wherever they are how do they get the same things that the other kids get and that's
00:15:12
Speaker
I feel like there's a there's a need for that information. And and that that's where I tend to live. Yeah. I think there's a need for that. you know Like you said, you've done it in and you know in with percussion. And I've seen pedal. And what you've brought to that percussion group was unmatched. You can just tell that they got that information. Thank you.
00:15:40
Speaker
Yeah, first thing out, especially if I'm looking at Color Guard and I can't stop looking at the drum line. But yes, you did an amazing job of pedal. um But i and I have been in lots of talks even yesterday um with young young people coming up in WGI who are in percussion, who are in the wins groups and color guard, like how do they make that kind of thing happen? um So future leaders are talking about it, which means the younger people are talking about it. So um I'm sure that your, oh, I guess you could say your love child right now, as far as that you know that category or that topic is concerned is definitely something that a lot of people are talking about.
00:16:27
Speaker
So, love that um, would you mind sharing like your biggest, like, what was the thing in in the, in the presentation that got people going, Oh, did you, did you have any moments in that during the presentation or, or like, did you see people like, you know, writing down things at some point like, Oh, I guess that's a big, that's a big thing that makes sense to, you know, the people in the room or, you know, the big sense to Tony Lyman, but how does, you know, how does, you know, Susie Q from, you know, South Carolina, South California.
Understanding Performance Essence
00:16:56
Speaker
you know know that and did you see people writing anything down in your presentation? I think the biggest aha moments I saw was the process of planning your effects and of planning your moments and um and one of one of the things that I like to preface that with is You need to know what it is you're trying to say before you start choosing the words. And I think what happens is we see all of these things that inspire us in drum chords, like, man, do you see how they cost that? Or, man, that tenor break was awesome. Or the way they that drill move went like that. We see all of those elements, but then what do they mean? A lot of those things were awesome because of the of the context that they fit in.
00:17:46
Speaker
So, if you just go, I want to do that toss, it's like, well, that toss is, first of all, you don't have those performers. Second of all, a large part of it was what came before it and what came after it that made it be effective. So, I kind of just broke down like, okay, well, we want to do a show about this. What is what is the takeaway? Like, when let's say the show's done.
00:18:13
Speaker
How do we want the audience to feel and what's the takeaway when they walk away from that show? Because that's ultimately what your show is going to be. Your show is going to be told to someone walking by the concession stand. Hey, did you see the show about the whatever? Oh, yeah, I saw that show. And that's it. And if you make that interaction be something magical, then you've made an impact. So I start there. I start very macro.
00:18:40
Speaker
and then we start to drill down on the details. And the aha moments were just taking that lens and as we start to focus into the minutia of it, to make sure that the integrity of that moment where two people pass stays intact as we start to build the show from outside to inside. Those are the aha moments I think I saw. That's perfect. I think that that's a great way bring new designers in because obviously they have that creative lens, but I think it's the whole that stacking it up. Like how do I get from point A to point B? um
00:19:22
Speaker
There are so many more new designers that need that. Tony, I told me i expect you you to talk more from like the sound aspect of it, because I know you're a lot into that too. I know you've done some great DCI i work with that as well. And I mean, when you're talking about you know these these groups like you know going to a DCI show and seeing that and hearing that and saying, you know I want that.
00:19:48
Speaker
How do you like do that with the group? Like, how do you, how do you explain that to people at that cost? I mean, I'll take my band, for example, my marching band in New Jersey. um I'm obviously the guard person. So I don't, other than when it relates to designing the show, I don't really get so involved in that, but we went from, okay, we have a mixer a couple of years ago to nobody can forget the mixer, you know,
00:20:14
Speaker
To now, to now, there's mics all over the field. The color guard has to be careful if there's mics all over the field and there's a whole soundscape. And today I was at rehearsal and they hit me with, so there's a pre-show now. And I'm like, they have pre-show now. How do we go from a couple of years ago, we have a little mix everybody walking around with, to now we have a pre-show.
00:20:38
Speaker
So wait, how we gonna, you know, but like, I know that she's in the band directors has invested thousands and thousands of dollars on taking us from where we work to where we are now with all these, the soundscape and the whole of Trump. Like, so i your presentation must've been so fascinating because I mean, what do you tell these people who like are just like starting out on a really low budget that,
00:21:04
Speaker
You ain't going to have the blue coat sound system. You're just not. you know So how do you start it small? How do you explain to them how to start it small? Well, we try to get to what the essence of those moments are. And you know why was that touching? Why did it grasp you? It wasn't because they had the right compressor in that mixer cart and it was dialed to the right frequency like and it it had the right amount of threshold on it and that's what made everybody cry no no no no no it was what you were trying to say and you were effective at pulling it off so what i try to do is get them to the point where we look at the essence of what how they're trying to affect the audience and then we go find what they have to do that with okay
00:21:58
Speaker
You know, and and and I referenced two moments. The two most talked about moments in pageantry had nothing to do with any money. One was a horns up, a well-timed horns up in Santa Clara Vanguard and in the Babylon show. People have been doing horns up since John Philip Sousa said, hey, everybody stand up. We're going to march down the street now. And they're like, what? I thought we were just sitting down, you know? And then, you know, you got to bring your horns up now. OK.
00:22:28
Speaker
But that being well timed in that show, everybody still talks about that. Number two, two left-hand isolated shots, whole notes in Broken City. Bop. Bop. All of you, the arena went wild because the reason why it was effective is because of what happened before it, which was silent.
00:22:53
Speaker
And the audience who's an educated audience knows how very hard it is, first of all, to play a left-hand rim shot with traditional grip and to do them with so much space in between without there being anything timing but your intuition. So that effect was essentially free. Those two effects were true.
00:23:16
Speaker
So we didn't have to go pay $250,000 for those effects. So I try to lead them to how we can be effective with what we have and then we can build out from there. we and but then Then you start to realize it's not really about the costumes, not really about the the sound system or or the number of people in your band is what you set out to say and being effective in that way.
00:23:44
Speaker
I love that too. I love that you said, you know, you find what they have and you you use that because not everybody has thousands and thousands of dollars, but they can still be effective. yeah people don't And those like with programs, they deserve just as much awesomeness as the blue coats and Santa Clara. Like those kids are working just as hard, you know? Um, so I love that you find what they have and you use what they have to make it, make it great. That's awesome.
00:24:13
Speaker
Because the the myth is out there that it's stuff. Because there's you know there you can see there's correlation, but not causation kind of thing. like Usually when you see something awesome, there is a lot of stuff, but that doesn't mean that the stuff is why it's awesome. So I try to break that mentality first.
00:24:38
Speaker
yeah We talk about it being like, hey, what's and what do we have in the tool bag? right That's what we have to build the house. you know And so many people, well, we can add an electric hammer. we can It's like, no, we don't got money for the electric hammer. Why don't we just hammer nails in really well? you know Why don't we just play quarter notes really well? you know Yeah, no.
00:24:59
Speaker
Well, that's a great segue over to you, Joey. I know that you also were a presenter this year and you presented a session called It Takes a Village. Can you tell us a little bit more about that?
Building Teams in Marching Arts
00:25:14
Speaker
Yeah, so my session was about building teams um and building a community where, you know, ah I live in Raleigh, North Carolina and the Marching Arts is is kind of prevalent there. We've got First Flight and CVP, um Alchemy was around, Gold Drum Corps was around.
00:25:30
Speaker
ah but There really wasn't anything in terms of wins for about eight years, six years maybe. um And so when I moved here three years ago, two years ago, I was like, I'm going to start a wins group and I'm going to give some of these students ah an opportunity to keep performing past high school. um The wins circuit is really big. We've got about eight to 10 wins groups, which is in our circuit alone, which is pretty big. As I'm talking to other people, like some people are like, we're the only wins group in our circuit.
00:25:58
Speaker
And that's crazy um knowing that like i I teach five of the wins groups that compete at the circuit championships every April. So my my presentation was about um how how we how that happens and and how to continue that growth. And so we talked about investing in students, how to work together as a staff, and then how growing the community has kind of created the environment where students and and ah even staff can feel supported and nurtured um to achieve their fullest potential. And so we talked about, you know, I've been teaching, I'll use Sydney Beasley as an example. I've been teaching Sydney Beasley since 2016. She graduated in 2020, I think it was 2020, might've been 2019. She went off and did some college. She said, oh, I wanna do marching band um for a living, but I'm a bartender. And I go,
00:26:50
Speaker
Our tending is past seven. Most band stuff is done at six. So that's great timing. You just get done and you serve up some knowledge and then you serve up some libations afterward. And so we really put Sydney under our wing and then we have another kid named Matthew Coyle who's a little bit older and we've kind of put him under his wing. And so we pushed him off to March Spirit. he marched cadets he just aged out with the blue devils this past summer which is incredible when you think i there's a video that i used to send out to band directors of choreography and he's in the back doing this until it's time to do the choreography and then he hits the choreography and i didn't know that it existed until a band director was like hey i want that kid's choreography and i looked back there i was like
00:27:38
Speaker
Matthew, what are you doing? That's just 16-year-old Matthew being himself. and you know we We talk about what these two kids, now young adults, now young designers, you you know the process of of what it took to to grow them and creating opportunities for them. so you know If there wasn't a high school that they felt like they could have taught at, it probably would have been done.
00:27:58
Speaker
But because I work with so many groups, I was like, oh, Sydney can work here. Matthew can work here. You know, Mr. Irwin's going to work over here. You know, Sam is now ah here and now we brought him over here. So it was about finding opportunities for students and and given the opportunity to succeed to succeed and then also to fail. And we can talk about that, that failure and how to how to not let that happen again, because we can't, you know,
00:28:20
Speaker
teach everything like there's there's kind of like in the moment things it's like well you know that would have just been like a hey let's just take a water break reset as a staff and then move on and then the other thing that we talked about so that was like the the students investing in our students and ah we actually have a ah student his name was Seth Benbow he went and did the um was the Boston um audio internship and now he's on staff as an audio person. He's our audio guy here at the high school I'm working with and he's he's doing incredible jobs. So like Tony was saying like threshold and gain and all this stuff and he came back with all that knowledge and was saying stuff like that and was like well you know we got to make sure we're we're compressing at this and that you know these cables going to be here there's got to be bolts in this and I was like did I I tell kids to point their feet like I don't know
00:29:06
Speaker
I don't know what any of that means. Thank you. Thank you. And they're just like, this is the wrong mic. We need another mic. I go, Oh, let's get the right mic. I don't, I don't know what any of that means. And so it's great to see that, but it's also important to invest in your, in your staff and kind of know the hard, the hard conversations that we had in the presentation was knowing when it's time to let go of your staff. Um, and so we talk about the three C's, which is chemistry, competence and character. You know, are they a good enough person to be in front of your students? Do they have character?
00:29:34
Speaker
um they competence Are they saying the right thing you know to your students? you This is the embouchure. This is the hands. This is the throw. you know And then chemistry, are they feeding off of each other? and are they feeding yeah Are you filling in each other's gaps of knowledge and teaching? And if you don't have that,
00:29:50
Speaker
you know That's kind of the one that you you need the most, I feel like. If the and the staff gels and is saying the same things and has the same vibes, you're going to have a successful group. you know but chemistry The chemistry, the competence kind of comes with sending people off to WGICON, to Midwest, to TMEA, to all these different things.
00:30:09
Speaker
And so we talked about that and then we ended it with um how we've kind of created this space where the high school feeds the independent group, which feeds the high school with new staff members, you know feeds the high school with new props because we're not using them anymore. And it's kind of just this big cycle of like, I help you, you help me, I help you, you help me. And now we've got kids.
00:30:29
Speaker
expanding past our um what's it called our our county, our school county, and they're they're in Wake County, they're in Johnson County, they're in Roanoke, they're they're all the way on the on the coast now teaching, and it's because we gave them opportunities to to succeed and and again to fail sometimes too.
00:30:47
Speaker
I think that's really important that you say giving the opportunity to fail because you learn the most from what you don't um get right. um Instead of giving all of the right answers, you know give them the wrong answers sometimes because they have to experience what it's like.
00:31:05
Speaker
And to fail to fail in that safe environment where they know they can come to you and learn from it and okay I know this was I did this incorrect How would you do it in the future like they're in that in space where they can learn from it? So that's really awesome because we do we have to fail to learn and get better Absolutely. I used to call my um I used to call my rehearsals failure labs This is where we you put on your lab coat and you're gonna come here. and We're gonna fail. I love that So that we can succeed in front of people It's the perfect time to do that. You want to get all those mistakes out, get all those errors out, figure out what doesn't work and what works so that you can put the, what works in the tool belt and pull it out every contest day, every performance.
00:31:45
Speaker
um Absolutely. We call that, ah well, I used to call it um just a science fair experiment. We're doing a science fair experiment right now, so just hold your horses. um I do want to go back into what you were talking about, like when it's time to let someone go. And reason being is because I've been around I don't want to say in it. I've been around the simple fact of when someone is on staff and um some people people will just keep them there. You know what I mean? Because I think that it would be, or they think it's easier to keep them around than it is to get rid of them. And what it's actually doing exactly, what it's actually doing is a disservice to your act to your kids.
00:32:30
Speaker
To keep them around when you know that there's nothing like fruitful coming out of that. So can you go into a little bit more detail? Yeah, so um we Let's see. How do I know we did it in the presentation? I could do it So I mean there's tons of up there's tons of times where you know There's there's a there's a big personality on the staff and they really want to be the one in charge of but the the answers or the ah information that's coming out is not leading to the the successes that you're looking for. you know Or maybe they're just hard to work with, or you know maybe the character isn't there. you know they're They're saying things that you don't want to have said around your kids, you know or it's ah posting things that you don't want to be you don't want band parents to post. And you know I think some of the band directors that I talk to and researching, they're like, well, they're just they're the best in the area.
00:33:22
Speaker
ah what at this thing. And it's like, is that is that good enough for you, though? you know is that you know I have this this idea that if you create this space where people can feel successful and and grow, there's always going to be somebody else to fill in your village. you know There's always another profession director. There's always another wins director. There's always another person that wants to do color guard.
00:33:46
Speaker
Give them a shot, give them an opportunity because I you know i think i think as we see you know all the headlines of this this band director did this, this band director did that, this ah independent ensemble director did this, you know that's where that comes from is, but they're so good.
00:34:01
Speaker
you know that is a That is a culture that i I do hear a lot about, but it's just like, and I mean, I mean think all of these come in hand in hand because while we're having this conversation, which is very important to have because at some point you have to say, hey, what's the dynamic with my group?
00:34:21
Speaker
and You have someone um you know that is new, a new designer that's coming up who is fairly green, but really like the logistical lies of everything. Yeah, passion. You can't teach that. like like Anytime I taught Color Guard, I was like, I can't teach you performance quality. like That comes from you. But if you show me a little bit of it, I can teach you in the right direction.
00:34:49
Speaker
with someone who's been around for a while and that stuff, you know, has racked up some, you know, bad publicity, let's put it that way. um But also it's just like, well, this is the way I do things I don't want to change. It is it is easier to bring someone more in who is green, who is passionate, who really wants to do it and wants to learn to be better. Yeah. So I feel like all of these. Yeah.
00:35:17
Speaker
Yeah. And and and so, i you know, talking to band directors, they're afraid of the unknown. And we all are. But I think post these post COVID students are very different, you know, and we can't we can't teach them like I was taught in 2011, as people were taught in 2001, as people were taught in the 90s.
00:35:35
Speaker
the 80s, the so-and-so, those were different times. you know And these these students are are are so smart and able to get things, and and and when you don't have to yell and scream at them. you can I literally can just go, hey, as we talk about the flexion of the ankle through the end count, you can think about, blah, blah, blah, and they go, got it. you know It's no longer, oh, you're freaking fake, baba. At least the places that I teach at, that doesn't have any place anymore.
00:36:04
Speaker
i don hope and it You said um you know some people just don't want to change. And I feel like this is the environment that you can't have that and you can't have that mentality anymore. like You have to be able to change and be willing and want to change with the times, if you will, because our students demand it. We cannot teach them the same. And if you're still teaching the way you did 10 years ago, eight years ago, 20 years ago, you're not reaching those kids. And so you have to be able to change.
00:36:32
Speaker
that neighbor on his staff that's not willing to change, not willing to move forward and and talk about calmly how to fit point your foot instead of just yelling point your foot. yeah That's not really okay anymore. And I'm thankful that we've gotten to that point, but people have been willing to make that change. Yep. And the the last thing that I said in that that part of the presentation was, you know, um even though you this person no longer has space in your village or doesn't like what's going on in your village, it doesn't take away from the fact that your village can offer somebody something else, A. But B, it also doesn't mean that they're maybe they're not wrong, they maybe just don't fit in. like it does We don't have to sit here and be like, you're wrong, you're wrong. you know like It can literally just be like, hey, it didn't work out, let's just be adults.
00:37:17
Speaker
Go do your thing over there. I'll do my thing here. you know and And things are fine. you know Strike does things way different than Pulse does. you know um you know all these All these groups have different ways of doing things. It doesn't make it right or wrong. But maybe it just doesn't maybe just doesn't fit. And that's OK, too. Everybody can find their village and and find um find a home. And it's just you know give them the chance to go find home. If this isn't home, go find it. Exactly.
00:37:42
Speaker
you know Oh, I love that. I'm a very um'm very big on Find Your Tribe. Very big on Find Your Tribe. there It's out there. It's there. You just got to find it. um I do want to pivot, and I do want to say thank you to Tony and Joey for bringing ah a subject that you're so passionate about to WGI-Con because there are lots of people who are educated.
00:38:06
Speaker
um who come in to get that knowledge. They are basically feeding from your tree. And so this is where we have Jarrah on here. Sarah, Jarrah, Sarah, Jarrah. And Jarrah, you went as a spectator, correct? I did.
First WGI-Con Experience
00:38:25
Speaker
Is this your first time at WGI or no? Yes, this is our first time to attend WGI-Con. My husband and I both went. We work with the Winter Guard here and our Independent Guard here, but we both went together for the first time. we We've been to, if you've heard of Summer Symposium before, we've been to that a few times and really loved it. But when it's something, WGI-Con's obviously geared more for just winter.
00:38:45
Speaker
activities, whether it's a winter guard, percussion, or wins, it's geared just for that. So we wanted to go see what it was, see if we liked it, and then we loved it. We're hopeful to go back next year. There were so many classes. The only thing was I wanted to split myself in half so I could take multiple classes. I couldn't do that. um So sometimes my husband would go to one and I'd go to another one. um But there were still some that we missed that we just we just didn't have the time to take. so um But yeah, we really enjoyed it.
00:39:14
Speaker
Walk me through it. like what what What is it that you foresee when you get into WGICON? Because I know it's all at the hotel, right? It is at the hotel. We went in a few days early and took a little vacation beforehand, so we got to go we went to Alcatraz and the Mirror Woods and had a little fun before we went to WGICON. And then by the time we got to WGICON, we were ready to sit and and learn, so that was really nice. but And you get there, the hotel was so nice. It was more of a marionette there in San Francisco and it was really well located too. There was food really close to us. So I mean, WGI, they did a great job of where they located it. um So that was really cool. And then you go down, downstairs, all of the ah classes are in there.
00:39:55
Speaker
Conventions convention center comp they had conference rooms downstairs so everything's really close together and you can see where each class is offered and you kind of pick your schedule basically on what classes you want to offer every class was 45 minutes to an hour and you get that schedule maybe it was a few weeks before and me being my type A crazy personality. Of course, I sat down and figured out my schedule and made my own itinerary on where I was going to go. And some people just showed up and went to classes and that's fine, but I cannot function that way. So I made myself a little schedule. um and then But you can pick any class that you want to go to and you're not, you're not committed to it. You know, if I would have decided, oh, I want to do this. And then the day of, well, I want to do this instead. It's not like you have to stick with what you chose. Nobody knows what you're choosing. You just kind of pick what classes you want to go to.
00:40:42
Speaker
um And you could some place in most of the classes you could record or audio record. So we did that somewhere. I'm limited obviously for ah Copyright but a lot of stuff we got to record and I took a lot of notes and stuff But just picking the classes really that are geared more for what you needed or what you wanted to focus on and Getting to meet so many different people because like being from Oklahoma I mean we have competitive guards and bands and percussion groups here we don't have any wins programs to my knowledge, which is a Joey ah we was saying that we have and we don't have any yet. And I'm like, let's get some land programs. Anyways. Y'all need to start a wins group. Okay. We're trying other people, you know, winning activity, meeting people that you only see at WGI at worlds, or we only see in Texas. And so getting to hear other people's thoughts and meeting those people and those connections were really cool. So yeah.
00:41:41
Speaker
Let me ask you about this. And so you ah you took some sessions. um What session did you come away with more information, do you think? Or that you had a really good ah time sitting in that session?
Impactful Sessions on Mental Health
00:41:56
Speaker
I have my notes pulled up because I am clearly a very organized person. I pull notes up and make schedule for the WJI Con for myself. But looking through my notes, trying to figure out what my favorite class was because I really did like so many of them.
00:42:10
Speaker
Every class, Shirley did two. I always pronounce her last name wrong. I don't want to say it wrong. Shirley. Doherty. Is that correct? Doherty. She did a class on um when excitement becomes anxiety, conquering performance, the performance roller coaster. And then on the last day, she also did another one. She's more on on the mental health and physical ah mental well-being of members.
00:42:33
Speaker
which I would say is my focus is I do have a degree in psychology, so I tend to lean towards that. um The last time she did one on building mental health, I'm sorry, building mental wellbeing in today's performers. And both of those classes were, one, extremely eye-opening. My husband was blown away with some of the statistics she provided. like I don't want to give you the numbers because I don't have them written down. I don't want to give false numbers. um But the amount of students that are dealing with mental health issues or any i think any kind of mental health is just skyrocketed since 2020. And so I think we all are aware of that, you know, working in the marching arts, but like seeing the numbers and actually like talking about it with other people. And it it's it was really eyeopening to to hear it and getting information on how to help those performers. Surely one of the classes that stood out the most to me was she kind of didn't trick us, but
00:43:30
Speaker
gave you gave us a performer's anxiety, if you will. I don't know, I assume everybody in this on this call or on this podcast has been a performer at at least one point in our life, but you might not remember that performer's anxiety as much. And she did a really cool activity where she had to stand up, had to mentally count backwards, sit down when you got, like, by two, some crazy, like, complicated thing. and my it was It was hard, and I was so embarrassed, and I can feel my heart rate. It was performance anxiety, because, you know, you were going to have to sit down and people were going to see you.
00:43:59
Speaker
And so she literally brought all of us into that, this is what your kids are going through every Saturday, every Friday night. And it's like, oh God, that is a lot. And I'm 40 years old. Those kids are 15, 16, 17, 18, 20 years old. it's It's hard. And on top of, you know they were taking social interactions away for two years or a year and a half. That changes all of that. So surely her classes were incredible on one, giving you the information on what they're going through.
00:44:28
Speaker
and two kind of ways to help them navigate. ah One of the things that I'm going to start implementing in our winter rehearsals is um checking in with yourself while we stretch because a a lot of times we stretch our members out and we're talking about the counts and the foot and the arm and the well that's great. That's a perfect time also to All right, let's take this song, to just lay, breathe, stretch, check in with your body. How's your elbow feel? Were you injured yesterday? How's that knee? How's your mind today? Just how are you feeling today? That sounds okay i was so silly, like basic, but we're asking them to do so much stuff now. um Sometimes we take the brain and themselves out of it. And that's really important to still focus on, especially after COVID.
00:45:18
Speaker
ah those kids need that. So anyways, I feel like I rambled. I apologize. It's so cool and so important with taking care of their mental well-being, which I think has really come to the forefront since COVID, which I'm thank i'm so thankful for. It should have been there before, but it just wasn't everyone everyone focused.
00:45:40
Speaker
They were very like, here's the show. It's got to be done on this day. And it's got to be. We've got to finish and do this. We've got to be so-and-so. We've got to score this. Right. There was no, Hey, did you, I don't know, take a minute and and breathe. I'm a huge, uh, mental health advocate. Um, it all the things that Shirley Doherty ever talks about. And if you haven't gotten her book, get her book. I have it in my Amazon cart. I want it. I want it.
00:46:08
Speaker
She had it for sale, but I was like, I don't want to get it yet. So I'm going to get it eventually. But I do, I, everything she, after learning from her, I'm like, okay, I'm going to have to read this book now because she doesn't have a psychology background and it is important. And I, and I, like I said, I love that it's now coming more to the forefront.
00:46:23
Speaker
since COVID has happened? A lot of the younger, because this is something that we talk about with the Future Leaders Program too, a lot of those kids are talking about mental health within their peers because they're still marching, they're still performing. So they talk about how that's affecting you know them or their peers and how they need to you know deal with that and how they need to um ah you know get and on the other side of it or help.
00:46:53
Speaker
So it's that is a huge thing for everyone right now. Now, was that the session that you loved the most and that you got the most out of? You're going to make me pick. You're going to pick one.
00:47:08
Speaker
Yeah, which one was the best one? The best one. Oh, no, i I can't. I don't know if I can pick a best. Surely, yes. Or there we did one also.
00:47:20
Speaker
it's great Well, I'm glad that you went out and had that good time and, you know, were able to bring home information that you can implement to your groups, stuff that was, you know, information that was passionate to you. Same thing with Tony and Joey as well. Jara, who was the one person that you were like starstruck by to like, first cause I'm going to tell you right now, I've always been the biggest Michael Shapiro fan. And one year he wished me happy birthday on Facebook. And it was like,
00:47:54
Speaker
And it was like my favorite baseball player, wish me a happy birthday. okay Like for real, for real. Okay, so I get to go a little fangirl, I can do that? Yes, absolutely. I will fangirl. So ah Heather Graham is my... I got to see her, I've always... I met her a few years ago, I'm sure she doesn't remember, but of course I remember. I met her after DCI, some in the parking lot at Indy.
00:48:20
Speaker
saw her and was like, I've always wanted to meet you, kind of met her there and got to talk to her. and But then I've always wanted to be around her while she's teaching or cleaning, just because even though I feel like I'm good at it, she's obviously very, very good at it. And I look up to her so much. Her programs are incredible. She's so smart and just Oh God, her brain. um So seeing her, she did the, I forget what the session was called, but she had three members from a group. on square Yes. I squared. Thank you. I was going to say I spice, but I was like, that's not right.
00:48:57
Speaker
rise swear She had some members from I squared that she taught so rifle part two. I think she only had like 24 hours to do it and just watching her work with them and put it together. And just the words while she was cleaning and talking through was just,
00:49:12
Speaker
I could have watched her forever. So it was I was so thankful to to one, see her be in the same presence of her and two, finally get to see her teach and learn from her while she was teaching. That was awesome. So Heather Graham. I feel like I could buy a Color Guard subscription plan of just watching other people teach. I feel like that would be such a good show.
00:49:38
Speaker
I'll just help you and fly on the wall in your rehearsal so I can eat popcorn and and watch. Not to pick it apart because I love watching how other people teach, how other people run. like You can always learn things from how people do their rehearsals. Yeah. but See, that is that color guard pedagogy that we can't learn in ah and college. you know yeah That's what we pick up from each person. What's most of the feeling? Yeah.
00:50:03
Speaker
this This episode is brought to us by Patreon, actually.
00:50:10
Speaker
all right All right. Well, we've got to get back out onto the field and learn this pre-show, but we'll be right back.
00:50:29
Speaker
Hey everyone, it's Jeremy, your producer from On A Water Break, and here are your announcements coming from the box. While you're enjoying this amazing episode, don't forget our other episodes, including the one about Peggy Twiggs, the one where we go behind the scenes of the Olympics and the marching arms.
00:50:45
Speaker
We check out the first female drummers from Crossman. We also have amazing special features including At Step Off with Jack Goudreau, Lost in Translation with Cynthia Bernard, and Behind the Lens with Chris Marr and Russell Tanakaya. Don't forget our other bonus feature, On a Water Break With, where we explore individuals or small groups. We talk to people like Eric Carr, Forte Athletics, and comedian Tony Deo.
00:51:11
Speaker
If you know of a story or you know of someone that would make a great story, email us at on a water break podcast at gmail dot.com. Okay. All right. We're getting into our next segment of what I like to call what are we doing? What are we doing?
00:51:46
Speaker
What are we doing? All right. So, uh, we're doing, what are we doing?
Rethinking Success in Marching Arts
00:51:51
Speaker
And I'm going to be very random when I pick people for this. So I'm just going to say, Hey, if you're new here, you're going first. Sorry. Tony, what are we doing? Is this, this is where I, something that grinds my gears. Is that, is that what this is? That is it. What? What?
00:52:11
Speaker
when we take our competitive success and tie it to our self-worth. And then we start to become lesser versions of ourselves for our students. And we preach to our students how you know we're here because we want to become you know great. we want to We want to build culture. We want to be better at what we do.
00:52:36
Speaker
and that the numbers don't mean anything. It's just a judge's opinion. But then we feel like if our competitive success as designers or instructors or administrators of this activity, that we are lesser than. And we and and you know I've seen people won't leave their houses. I've been one of them. you know where I thought we were going to do great. And then it did it. And I'm depressed. And I think that I'm worthless.
00:53:04
Speaker
And it's just we we've got to we've got to end that culture immediately. I agree with you. Definitely agree with you. There's been much of times like when I've ever came home from a weekend and it's just like during the week leading up to it, you're like, yeah, we got it. And then you go in and it's just like, well, maybe we don't got it. It's so hard. Yeah. Yeah, it's so hard. We because like Shira did talk about a lot of like, hey, this is what your kids are feeling.
00:53:34
Speaker
I would like to do a little bit more as far as like the instructors. like We have to keep them from experiencing that, but who's keeping us from experiencing what Tony was saying? you know i was just go to so I was just thinking about that when we were talking about the performance mental health thing. I was like, well, what about me? Not to be self-centered, but...
00:53:57
Speaker
Well, you can't give anybody anything out of your cup. Right. If my cup is empty and I'm dumping it in my high school and I'm dumping it in the college and I'm dumping it at work, I got no place to dump. I i feel you there. And Tony, that was a great thing to bring up, too. Jara. No, Jara. Got it. You got it.
00:54:25
Speaker
So this could be anything, anything that just er in the marching arts? Yes. Okay. I'm going to change mine. I had one picked out, but I have a different one because I'm sure we could all pick multiple. Mine would be, it goes back to the mental health and wellbeing of our performers and it goes into the stress and anxiety of the staff or the director.
00:54:49
Speaker
um It frustrates me when, and I understand why it happens and I will say, I know I've done it before and I am really trying to keep myself in check and pay attention to it as I'm getting older and better at this activity, trying to be more mindful, of paying attention to staff's attitude and energy on the way to warm up, during warm up and immediately after the show. Those times are,
00:55:16
Speaker
So stressful, yes for us. I don't want to say it's more stressful for staff than kids or more stressful for kids than staff. The students or the members and the staff both have stress on contest days through the roof for different reasons, very valid reasons. um But that doesn't mean that as a staff or as a staff person on contest day, I get to stress out. Come on guys, we're not ready. Hurry, we're late for warm up. We got to do this. We got to be there. That tone already, those members are not going to perform the way that they deserve. they're They're not going to enjoy that performance the way they deserve to enjoy it. So it really comes down to being the adult, being the adult and your emotions, taking a breath and realizing that we are literally here for those students or for those members.
00:56:07
Speaker
that our job is them. Yes. I think it also comes back to like, we're creating art. It's our artwork. It's our painting. It's our song. It's our, it's our form of art. And so we want it to be great. We want to be perfect. We want it to be amazing. And we put that the pressure for that is on the members. And so that comes out sometimes and not the best way. And so just being mindful of how we respond, how staff responds on contest days,
00:56:33
Speaker
I know myself now well enough to know that like sometimes I can feel that my energy is not the one. And I'll tell my staff one of my staff, hey, I'm too anxious right now. I'm too i'm too much. So I'm just gonna stay quiet in this warmup. I'm gonna stand back. I'm not mad. I'll even sometimes tell the members, hey guys, I am not mad at you. I'm not frustrated. I'm just a little nervous today. So I'm gonna stay quiet and just let you guys do your thing. I'd rather be honest and tell them that than like fly off the handle. Why are you dropping that? That's just my anxiety coming out. That that kid just had a moment.
00:57:03
Speaker
Right? So being in control of our own anxiety on contest days. Yeah. Jera, I think something that you said is very important that kids really appreciate when their instructors show a bit of humanity and show that they experience the same things that they do and that The only reason why they are their leader is because they they are students as well as instructors, as designers, administrators. We're still students. We're just further along in the educational process and that's why we're we're your leader. And when they when they see that you have those same feelings, it justifies those feelings and it gives them a model of how you can control it and how you can use it to your advantage and ultimately be
00:57:53
Speaker
someone that someone else looks up to. So I think that was very important. I think it's, I think it's also that I think, I think both sets of feelings are really valid too. I think it's how you handle it. I had an experience today at rehearsal. I was, I really wanted, we only had a couple of more sets to do with the closer and I really wanted to get them done today because when rehearsal Wednesday night, a football game Friday and our first show on Saturday. So I wanted them to really,
00:58:21
Speaker
cram, even though we were kind of cramming it in, really feel, you know, Wednesday, get comfortable with it. Friday night, get comfortable. Saturday, go out there. What happens? And I'm trying to get all this stuff done. I turn around. Trish, can I get ice goose egg on the forehead whiteness? And I said, okay, let's go to the trainer. Let's go. But in my head, I'm going Now I can't finish it. Now I'm not going to have time. Now she's not going to know it because she's going to go home and you know, and like, she's going to be treated, but I'm going, okay. All right. Okay. Okay. So, you know, you have to just kind of, you just have to kind of keep yourself in check a little bit too. Cause the me that I will always be and never will stop being was going, Oh my God. Oh my God. We're not going to get this done now. Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God. We're going to get off time. Oh my God. But to her, I was going, all right.
00:59:15
Speaker
It's okay. We got this. It's all right. It's okay. We're going to call your mom. Call your mom right now. Tell her we're at the trainer. You're going to come there. We're going to get you ice. But in my head, I'm going. Oh my God. Oh my God. Now she's going to go home. She's not going to know this work. But you know, so you got it. You got it. You just, you know, you just got to kind of keep yourself in check. But both sets of feelings are valid. They really are. We're really, we're teaching them, like we're not just teaching them flags, rifle, saber, dance. We're teaching them also how to handle that anxiety how to handle that pressure how to handle exactly when i get to say i got my head and i am hurt and now i still have to learn that like we we are the ones that have to be the calm steady force that showing them how to do all these things including how to handle the stress.
01:00:02
Speaker
yeah And i think I think it's great that you have a, like you're saying, you can take a step back and warm up, you know, and and we know as directors how how much we want a stronghold of that that time. We go, no, we like this has to, and that do you have a supportive team to be able to go, hey guys, I'm not 100%. You guys take this and the the trust that you have in your staff, I think is so cool. And that's probably why the the group is so successful is that everybody could kind of fill in those gaps. That's that's awesome.
01:00:30
Speaker
It comes down to training members, too. We've got to train them for contest day, train them for warm up. you know that's not They're not going through warm up for the first time. They already know what they're going to do in warm up. So really, we're just there to, hey, that was a little too high. Hey, take a breath. So warm up's really just their time. We hit a few things, but we've we've trained them to kind of do their own warm up, if you will. So we are able to kind of step back and leave let them leave their own, do it what they need in that time.
01:01:00
Speaker
That's awesome. Awesome. What are we doing? So this week, well, we started taping our new show flags because we have our first show on Saturday. And we're like, OK. Everyone remembers I did flags. The members say, yes, I do. I'm like, OK, great.
01:01:22
Speaker
Uh, they in fact do not. So what are we doing? I'm not the only one who has dealt with that, Ashley. I thought I was, I thought I was teaching bad or something. um my god shot it you're i'll go I'm like, okay, we're going to like keep our equipment. Like, well, maintenance. If we have to tape comes undone, we're going to untape it and then we're going to retape it.
01:01:46
Speaker
It's like freaking wads of dirty Q-tips on the N-Sleeves flag poles, tape, around tape, around tape. And I'm, I took all the flag poles home. They're in my living room right now. I'm re-taping everything. I'm like, no one is touching anything. This is how it's going to be. You're going to keep it this way. Okay.
01:02:07
Speaker
yeah like feel you i wish i Yeah, I wish I this moment there. Because it's just like, oh, well, I want it done right the right way. Okay, I'll do it one time. I only want to do it one time. And that's it. ah Trish, yeah what are we doing? Okay, what was I doing? So Saturday, so Saturday, I had rehearsal from 10 to four.
01:02:33
Speaker
and it's probably my last free Saturday night for a while. And my boyfriend was out of town and I had stayed home Friday night. He was out of town all weekend and I had stayed home Friday night. I did a ton of school work as many of you know, I'm a teacher. i did ton of school I did a ton of school work because I didn't want to have it hanging over my head the whole weekend. So I was home pretty much all night Friday night. Then I went to rehearsal on Saturday and I was like,
01:02:59
Speaker
I just don't want to go home and sit home. So you know what I did? I went to a band show. What will I be spending? What will I be spending the next, I don't know, eight or nine Saturdays doing going to band shows? I went to a band show. So what was I doing? I should have just taken the night off, but you know what? It was about a 45 minute ride away from me. And I said, you know what? I'll drive a little bit. I'll clear my head, you know, from rehearsal, take a nice little drive.
01:03:31
Speaker
Plus the show is in Connecticut and if you Oliver have ever heard of Frank peppy pizza You got to get a Frank peppy pizza. So I said I'll grab a Frank peppy pizza on the way home I'll take I'll take it home. We still have some in the fridge by the way um and But it was really really cool. And ah even though this isn't very what are we doing? I'm kind of branching over into gush and go a little bit I've another gush about but um There was a show that was like you guys are talking about, you know making the you got Tony was talking early about making those moments and they don't have to be these big expensive moments and these big, you know, whatever There was a band there banel high school from Connecticut on a family of you have ever heard of them
01:04:14
Speaker
They did a Jimmy Buffett show. And the pit had the little Hawaiian shirts on and you know, whatever. And the backdrops were all, one was a parrot, one was a picture of Jimmy Buffett, one was something else. Obviously they kept it school friendly. They didn't play Margaritaville. They didn't do any of that, but they did a couple of his other tunes. And the two props on the sides turned.
01:04:45
Speaker
and one said fins to the left and the other one said fins to the right and the drum majors turned around and made the whole audience do the fins. So it was adorable. Is it going to be the most competitive show of the year? Probably not, but it was really cute. And like that just when the whole time Tony was talking earlier, I was like, That's Benel taking a little bit of just making it fun. yeah Super not expensive Hawaiian shirts. The pit was it like, it just was fun. So what was I, but still going back to it, what was I doing on my last free Saturday night going to a band show? Girl, I don't It's all right though. Yeah. so We're getting to you, bud.
01:05:29
Speaker
Well i think I think Trish might have just taken my what are we doing, but like what are we doing not to not making time for ourselves? um you know We're talking about you know where phil you know filling this cup, filling that cup. I got an empty cup. you know like what do i what are What are we doing not not taking time for ourselves? and I say that as somebody that did.
01:05:50
Speaker
What was the end? My significant other of 10 years just ah just shared it. I did 16 weeks straight from June, the first week of June, all the way through August, seven days a week of band. Oh, no, no, no, no. Bandcamp. No one's going to put your own advice. What are you doing? Yeah, I, you know, ah ah this past Sunday, so yesterday, yesterday,
01:06:17
Speaker
Yeah, it was yesterday. Yesterday it was my first day where I'd really got to sit down and so ah Friday night going into Saturday morning, I stayed up all night writing drill for clients that wanted rewrites for their Saturday camp. And, you know, if I can do it, I'm going to try to do it. And then I was, I was feeling crummy for my eight to eight band camp on Saturday. And I didn't give my best. And then Sunday I wake up and I have a cold and I'm stuffy nosed and I'm headache, and you know, and I'm like, okay, well,
01:06:45
Speaker
I feel like if I would have had the rest that i day once I would be feeling better on my first day off and I could have gone out and, you know, enjoyed the day, walk the dog, walk the girlfriend. That's not, up grass gets on you know, but yeah, what are we doing? Not, not spending time for ourselves. We can start doing that. that one i I need that one. Yeah.
01:07:13
Speaker
Well, all right. We're going to head over into our next segment called Gush and Go. ah Great job, everyone. Set your equipment down. Gush and Go.
01:07:27
Speaker
All right, so I'm actually going to start the gushing girls because i'm super I have been excited too me i've been excited to be like in my mode for marching band season and it finally starts. like I don't have another weekend off until um I think a week before Thanksgiving.
01:07:49
Speaker
but I prefer it that way. And um so anyway, my gush and go is I'm finally back in it and in the role in the grind and I'm always excited to see what schools are doing, what in what region, but I'm more excited to see if any of the groups that I have judged before have really taking on looking at the sheets um and then like bringing that back and asking questions like straight off a rubric if possible. a lot of the I judge in a bunch of different places so there's different sheets but I also make sure I have my own sheets and you know show it to them during the critique so I'm hoping that we came back a little smarter. But that's my gushing go I can't wait.
01:08:37
Speaker
Um, let's see, let's hit it off this way. Ashley, again, since I haven't seen you, what's your gushing going about? My gushing go, I'm going to go on about, we just got a new band director this year. He is fresh out of college, actually. So I've worked with the University of Delaware for the past, the three years. This is the fourth. And he those three years, he's been in the band. He was just a drum major for the past like two years. Graduated. Our band director, middle of July, was like, hey, I got a new job. And we're like, oh, okay, cool. So he's like, ah does this guy look good? And he pulls up his phone with like his Facebook profile of
01:09:27
Speaker
this kid who just graduated and I'm like, yep, perfect, amazing. That'll be great. And it has been, it's been amazing. Oh, good. Yeah. He's like so positive. The kids absolutely love him. um He's made my life easier. So I think really, really good team. Yeah. And the drill is done. I'm the drill writer.
01:09:54
Speaker
that's got Thank God. I love everybody's hands went up in the air. We all know how hard it is. Do we ever? um Okay, well, great. Tony, what are you gushing going about?
01:10:14
Speaker
My gushing go, and it's not a right now thing, but it kind of is, is the celebrity that our kids get when they achieve at the highest level. And every year it would, well, my kids at Peddle High School would be in the lot at world-class finals on that Saturday and seeing 500 kids around them from all across the country.
01:10:44
Speaker
just wanting to be them. and ah and And I just want to go around to them and go, you know, these guys are just a bunch of country kids from Mississippi. like so yeah they are you know But they put in the work, they put in the effort, they believed in what they were doing for that moment of celebrity where they could be there. And I would just stand back and like, just watch it. And that was my favorite thing about the WGI activity. And it was our reward. It was, it was what we worked for, you know, at our school, you know, it was to, to be able to go somewhere else and be somebody and, and have your hard work pay off in that way where you can just
01:11:38
Speaker
boldly show your talents. it like I get choked up right now just even thinking about it. I don't even work there anymore. But you've left a legacy. you we A lot of people know that. um It almost makes me think of like Frozone during the Incredibles when he's like, where's my super suit? We used to say that. We actually would say that the kids would say, where's my super suit?
01:12:06
Speaker
You're telling me why I shoot this woman? In 2018, we had a kid in the snare line that looked exactly like him. And when he put on the costume, the kids were always like, where's my super suit?
01:12:19
Speaker
Yep. All right. oh Let's see. Jer, Jer. Tell us, what are you gushing going about? I'm going to gush and go today about the fact that I am all caught up on choreography for all of my clients.
01:12:37
Speaker
now i'm going to get letter email tomorrow I have no doubt with here's the next sets and here's the next videos but I am currently caught up and not just caught up but I feel really good this year about the product that I'm sending out not like other years I'm like oh I sent horrible stuff no that's not what I mean but you know sometimes you just feel really good about your creative brain at that time and I feel really good about my creative brain right now. I feel like everything I'm sending out is, I really enjoy it and I'm excited to see it on the field as they start sending me videos of their shows. Yeah, that's my, that's my, I'm excited to be caught up right now. I love how we all have these like post-season glows right now. We should come back when the season's over and be like, how are you? Yeah, I still have to finish all the closers, but currently we are caught up.
01:13:28
Speaker
like All right, Trish, what are we gushing going about? All right, so I have to give a shout out to ah a local high school over here, Bergenfield High School, and if anybody's ever heard of them. um So they've had um a color guard director there, believe it or not, for 40 something years.
01:13:49
Speaker
And yeah, and actually he's Dennis DeLucia's brother, Mike DeLucia. And he was there for 40 something years and now like I'm the OG of Bergen County, but it's all good. It's all good. I was always hanging on to the fact that like, okay, Mike is still at it. So it's like, it's, you know, I'm still so not, you know, up there yet, but now I'm the OG and it's all good. um I, you know, I wear the crown. It's fine.
01:14:14
Speaker
so um However, he retired and I know I talked about this a little bit in some of our summer episodes, but I taught a little color guard program at their summer music program for middle schoolers in Burgerfield. So I know a lot of those people and they were just buzzing all summer about the fact Obviously, not that Mike left, but that now was finally their opportunity to you know take the program in a different direction. They're coming to our home show on Saturday. The Color Guard always traditionally wore these long black, like it's a it's a jacket.
01:14:55
Speaker
and a a black jacket, a long black skirt, and a little beanie hat, the high boots, the high black boots and whatever. And listen, the kids ran through it for years. It was fine, whatever. But now um working in and in the summer music program, I got to meet the new guard director. Her name is Bridget.
01:15:11
Speaker
And she's, she's hitting the ground running man. And I, we played them in football Friday night and I went back there and they didn't do their show cause it was an away game for them. But I said, I'm so excited to see the show next week, you know, and you know, we able to get new guard costumes and she's like, Oh yeah, we're wearing black and gold dresses, which is so not Bergen field. So they're taking, I'm so excited. I told her when I met her in the summer, I was like, I am so excited for you.
01:15:40
Speaker
I wish I could give you a color guard shower. Like how cool would that be? A color guard shower. Like all nice like oh and how would i would how cool how delicate would that be? right the big thing Make that a thing. I want to make it a thing. So um she's super excited. I can't wait to see them. I can't wait to report back to you guys.
01:16:01
Speaker
about how she, and she said, and I kind of had a feeling from teaching the middle school kids, she said there's been like zero resistance from the kids. No, well that's how we used to do it. Or that's how Mr. DeLucia did it. Like none of that's happening. So she's in a really good spot. The kids are really enjoying it and loving life. And I can't wait to see their show. So big time shout out to Burgerfield high school. Very cool. Very cool.
01:16:29
Speaker
Well, oh my goodness, we have reached the end of this rehearsal. I want to thank everyone here for a great rehearsal this week, Trish, Ashley, Joey. um I also want to thank our special class guest clinicians, Tony. Thank you so much. um Can you just tell us where the great people out there listening to honor on a water break can find you? um as far as your socials are concerned? Um, I'm an old guy, so I'm on Facebook mostly. Um, you can see me there or Tony underscore Lyman on, uh, Instagram. And every once in a while I'll wander on Tik TOK and it makes me feel like I'm 90 years old when I get on there. But, um, i i'm around if if if we run into each other, please say hi. I'm a talker, so I love to talk.
01:17:24
Speaker
Awesome. And Dara, where can we find you?
Social Media and YouTube Promotion
01:17:29
Speaker
I am also on Instagram. My first name underscore my last name, J-A-R-A underscore Clark, C-L-A-R-K. ah Find me on there. I'd love to i' love for you to follow me, ask me questions. If you see me at contest days, say hello. i I pride myself on trend memorized names, but if I don't know you, I don't know your name. So tell me your name and let me meet you. So I'd love to meet you and say hello. And thank you so much for having me. I love you.
01:17:53
Speaker
Oh, you're welcome. We'll definitely call on you again. I know it. Perfect. Well, one more thing. I just don't want to forget this, but don't forget that we have that YouTube channel now. And it has a lot of our interviews that are coming out as full video editions. So you can go and subscribe. So
Final Call to Action: Subscribe and Follow
01:18:10
Speaker
don't miss those. so And before you close out of your podcast just listening app, just make sure you go and subscribe. Write us a review. Tell us who your favorite ah host is.
01:18:19
Speaker
um but share it with a friend and follow us on social media at On A Water Break and we'll see you at rehearsal on the next water break.
01:18:37
Speaker
intro and outro music was produced by Josh Lyda. To learn more visit ridamusic.com. And until next time, thanks for tuning in.