Transcript
Speaker: Hey, everyone. We are back for another exciting episode. This week, we get a big history lesson with Peggy Twiggs. We'll also find out what made Nicole say. And then 20 years later, it's just like, well, literally half the world is doing this. And why Tom said... Oh, gosh, you know what? I hope not. I didn't really like first grade. Sometimes kids were just horrible back then.
Speaker: All this and more on this week's episode of On a Water Break. Let's go. Set it up. Top of the show. Form, check form. Cover down. Do it again. Run it back. And we'll see you at the show.
Speaker: Welcome to another episode of On A Water Break, the podcast where we talk about everything that you and your friends are talking about at rehearsal on a water break. I'm Jackie Brown. I am so excited about the interview we have coming up today, but
Speaker: Let's start at the beginning here. Winter activities are wrapping up soon. We have two shows coming up that will bring in hosts and guests to do some predictions for what's going to go down at WGI Championships in the coming weeks.
Speaker: The shows will come out in the weeks of championships tackling both percussion and guard. So you will be able to listen on your way to Dayton. We've already recorded the guard episode. I got to talk to Cynthia Bernard, Leanne Dromama, Cindy Berry, and the wonderful Paul Simon -Dak. Who won? Right? I can't tell you. You got to wait until you listen to the episode next week.
Speaker: Oh, I love that. Let's check in, see who's the staff on the sidelines this week. And who's ready to take the long ranger first? Nicole, you look like you're ready for it. Pick me, please. Yes, yes, yes. So just the things about my week. You just said this. You're like, oh, everything's wrapping up. And it actually makes me feel kind of sad because it's the end of the season. And I don't know. It's almost like when you take down Christmas decorations.
Speaker: And you're like, oh, all this stuff is going there. Totally. Right. And I was just like, oh, that just hit me. So yeah, I mean, you always hear they have that one, would you call it like promo that they play? It's like, it's the most wonderful time. Because yeah, you are seeing family and everything, but it is like Christmas. But yeah, we're getting close to the end of the season. I literally just did my last show, my last judging show.
Speaker: last weekend in Pennsylvania. That was cool. And I saw Jeremy and we hung out and took a picture and just got to see how that side did. Oh, and I also ate a Philly cheesesteak in Philly, but later it was told
Speaker: go to the right place for the Philly cheesesteak. I don't think you can go wrong and I'm totally jealous because here in California, they just look at you like, what? Yeah, yeah. Pass it off to Tom. Pass it to me. Well, it's, you know, it's, uh, we're getting ready here in California for SoCal and Northern California Percussion Championships. And like, I didn't even know California had this many schools.
Speaker: Yeah, so that's that's super awesome to see the competitive is coming back. Groups are coming back into the arena. That's awesome. So that's exciting here in California. And it is, of course, sunny today, a little chilly, but
Speaker: Always, always study. How did the preparations for your percussion episode with Steven go? Where are they going, I should say? Tomorrow. They're recording that. And we have some special guests. I don't know who Steven's bringing.
Speaker: And I don't think he knows who I'm bringing either. So it'll be fun to find out who likes who. Oh, gee, get your guests and bring them on. Well, before we get too deep into our rehearsal, let's perhaps start with our gush and go time right up front. And Nicole, we were talking I wish we had
Speaker: been recording our pre -show chatter because we were talking about this pre -show. So I, you jump on that gush and go girl. Okay. So I am a rookie when it comes to the judging community right now. And one of my biggest things is, you know, like when I would get a tape, I remember getting tapes before and I would have to listen to them like,
Speaker: three or four times. And I'm just like, okay, I'm going to write these big words down because I have no idea what it means and I can't find it on the rubric on the sheet or whatever. And you know, it's so it's almost alienating a little bit to get something like that. And it's just like, man, I feel
Speaker: I mean, for lack of a better word, I feel dumb as an instructor or a designer because I don't understand what this one judge is talking about or this adjudicator is talking about. So, I mean, my biggest thing is, and I've definitely brought this up everywhere that I went. I'm not trying to like, you know, challenge the man or anything like that.
Speaker: meeting people where they are and using words that people understand because you know like a lot of the designers that are out there especially for like the beginner classes like regional a you know they're young
Speaker: Super young, you know, and they still need to be taught. Yeah, they were taught how to do what they're teaching those kids to do. But now they need to be taught how to be that instructor to teach. Yeah, exactly. And so, um, there was a lot of, there was a lot of that for me. And it's just like, I have to, I mean, I still challenge it too. I think they call it judge speak. I just, I, it's, it's, it irks me a little bit because it's just like,
Speaker: With every new generation of show that comes out, and there's new generation of instructors, and there's everything. We're all evolving and changing, so that language has to evolve too, to be able to have that conversation with all the other instructors. That's something. When people ask, because I did my level one, level two trainings, and
Speaker: that when I started doing my local shows after doing my training versus before I did my training, I actually got asked like, hey, could you like go back like to how things were before you got trained because like you used to be able to like
Speaker: talk to the guards. And a lot of these guards, they don't, at least the smaller local ones, they don't necessarily have an instructor. It might just be the band director and he's relying on a student. Right. Right. And they don't know that. They're just like, okay, there's a big note here. Let's put them up. You know, that kind of thing. So I completely, I get that, but it's just like,
Speaker: Yeah, a lot of us, well, I don't even know if it's a lot of us that do that. But yeah, Tom, you're a judge too. Is it like that in percussion? Interesting. Judging percussion, I find that people like when I just talk like I'm talking to them. When I judge color guard, and I'm not saying anything, but when I judge color guard, I have to use more proper terminology.
Speaker: I've actually gotten a little push, you know, a little, little criticism for my color guard tapes. Like, you know, we're not drummers being casual, more casual. And, you know, I think they want more detailed things. I appreciate that completely. So something I'm working on too.
Speaker: Yeah, I have definitely, I've judged visual for percussion before and it's reactionary. Like, at least for me, like when I'm judging visual for percussion or GE for color guard, it's all reactionary. So it's just like, I'm reacting to what I'm seeing. I'm, you know, I'm showing you how this is affecting me, you know, whether it's positive or negative, it's an effect.
Speaker: And so, yeah, yeah, definitely. So that's my gush. And I think that's what I'm taking away from this season. Like, this is my season, you know, how I'm having it and how I'm, you know, dealing with it. And honestly, too, I listen to myself talk so much between this podcast and then listen to my own tapes that it's just like, okay, you know, when I'm using those five, 10, $20 words, like, do I even believe I know what it is?
Speaker: Well, and like, I think a question too, this really valid question is who's asking for the more proper terminology, the instructors, other judges. Personally, for me, like with me, it's band directors asking for less of the proper terminology. But like, I know it's different and different. See, I've never judged WGI or anything like that. So like, who's asking for that on that end of it? You know what I mean?
Speaker: No, I think it's you know, you're right. I think it's it's more directors and designers not not the actual Texts and and you know people in the trenches. They would probably prefer a more casual conversation Yeah, like get to the point tell me what you need or tell me what I'm not doing but then it does all go back to like
Speaker: Yeah. Know your sheets. Like a lot of the younger, you know, like, and again, this, this goes back to that whole circle of where we started this whole conversation just now is, you know, those younger instructors don't know the sheets, you know? And so if, if there's a way for us to get them to go back to the sheets and say, okay, this correlates with this, work on that section of the rubric in your show. So yeah. Tell them what do you want to gush and go about today?
Speaker: Uh, well, at the time of year, um, at my high school, we have started spring percussion classes where we combine the high school and the middle school. It's one of my favorite times of the year. We bring the little kids in with the big kids and it's, yeah, they, they get like a big fish partner. And it's, it's a cool atmosphere. They get ready for the high school. Yeah. So it's, it is, I love boom, boom.
Speaker: Can I say that? Hey guys, sorry to interrupt, but I have something important I wanted to gush and go on about real quick. I just got done recording an excellent episode of performer spotlight with, uh, Abel Trujillo from the broken city snare line.
Speaker: It's so good that we're actually gonna start rolling these out as their own episodes. Watch out, it'll upload all the same places that On A Water Break uploads. But we're gonna start putting these performer spotlights out to be a little bit long form, a little bit more time with these great guests that I've had a great chance to talk to. So watch for it, performer spotlight with Abel Trujillo coming out soon, same place. Look forward to seeing you there. Back to you guys.
Speaker: Hey Steven, I know you're not even at rehearsal today, but I'm going to send everybody over to you because I'm so excited for them to hear about the bonus content on a water break performer spotlights that you have been working on. They are available now. Also, we have a special gush and go with Deb Confrito from our very special interview with the president elect from Nathmee. Go ahead and take a listen to what Deb had to gush and go on about.
Speaker: Hey everybody, this is Deb Confredo. I'm a professor of music education at Temple University and your president elect for the National Association for Music Education. Just wanted to tell you a little bit about some happy things that have happened in my life and what's going to happen going forward. I just have had the best time
Speaker: this past spring slash, I should say winter slash spring, getting to work with a lot of younger people in the NAFBY organization. I am just so thrilled that we have this groundswell of young folks. And when I see young folks, I mean
Speaker: our collegiates, even our folks in Triem and the high schools who are a Triem group of folks growing and growing and growing. Also the collegiates, they just have a wonderful voice and we want to make sure that the collegiates are heard because the collegiates are the future of music teaching across the country. So we want those collegiates to feel really welcome and
Speaker: We have more events coming up for the Collegiate, including the National Assembly, which is happening in Washington, DC in this coming June. I want to extend a personal invitation. If you are a Collegiate NAFME member, please, please, please think about joining us in Washington.
Speaker: We are going to do a lot of advocacy work for, not just for a band, but for all types of music education. We need your voice. I really want those young folks to become the next layer of leadership across the country. I'll be looking forward to seeing you guys. If you have questions about that, you can, you can email me at Deb Confredo at temple .edu, or you can go to nafme .org for more information. Hope to see lots of you guys there. I want to gush about the fact that, you know, I had
Speaker: I had a baby like a year and a half ago now and I kind of have not really done a lot of instructing since then just cause it's hard. Um, but I'm going to be doing a clinic.
Speaker: In just a couple of weeks, April 22nd, I will be in West Virginia at the University of Charleston doing a color guard clinic. We're just going to go and spin some flags and have a fun day. Push a little bit of boundaries, especially for kids who are in high school and thinking about going to college. You know, we want to do a nice big recruitment push. The University of Charleston is one of the few, uh, colleges in the country that offers a color guard scholarship.
Speaker: So yeah, if you've been interested in anybody who's interested in like checking out their campus and wants to go see what it's like to be on a college color guard or just check out the facilities or meet me or whatever, we'll spin and have fun.
Speaker: You know, back in the day I did one summer choreographing for the University of Dayton, but it was also like four different shows. They don't do one show. They do like a bunch. That drives me crazy. Well, it drives me crazy. It's cool. But also I'm like, I don't know how they do it. Cause like, even when I was in college, Color Guard at Mizzou, we did a different show every week and I don't understand how they do that.
Speaker: like a new show every single week? It's crazy. Well, I just, okay, I need to get on to the next part because, oh my gosh, you guys, I'm so excited. I've been working on this all month and it is finally, I say all month, it's April. I was working on it through the entire month of March and I'm so excited to bring it to you finally. This is the Peggy Twiggs interview, so.
Speaker: If you have been a member of Color Guard in the past 50 years or so, you may have heard of an advanced flag spin called the Peggy spin. This is a technique that was created alongside many of the moves that we now consider basics by a wonderful woman whose name is Peggy Twiggs.
Speaker: She created these when she was a member of the 27th Lancers back in the 1960s and early 1970s. She's had a wide -ranging effect on our activity first as an instructor and then in 2005, she was inducted into the DCI Hall of Fame and then later WGI inducted her into their Hall of Fame in 2017.
Speaker: Unfortunately, she's been battling a brain disorder that prevents her from speaking. It's called progressive super nuclear palsy. She's been battling this for the past several years, but she still finds ways to communicate with her closest friends and family from as far back as her childhood. So we are super blessed on the podcast for having
Speaker: to have someone here to talk to us today with Peggy's full support. She has approved all of this. Her name is Ann Fields and she is one of Peggy's earliest color guard friends. So everybody grab a flag and let's get out there with Peggy Twigs. I'm getting in the front of the block.
Speaker: Hey, this is Nicole, one of your hosts for On a Water Break, and I want to tell you about the cookout. The cookout is an event celebrating people of color in Color Guard. This event is happening in Dayton, Ohio, April 16th, the day after WGI finals at the Courtyard Marriott Hotel, aka headquarters. There will be presenters and speakers, networking opportunities, food, and more.
Speaker: To get more information on how to get your tickets to go to The Cookout, visit marchingcookout .com or visit our Instagram. It's thecookoutcg or our Facebook page, The Cookout. We can't wait to see you there.
Speaker: Hey everyone, it's Tim hitting the beast of the marching arts here from the marching roundtable podcast. I got to tell you this week's podcast, I think you'll really enjoy it. It's called trusting your gut in the creative process. Jessica Slaybaugh talks with Zachary Barber and they do it in the context of creating a winter guard show, but it's all about kind of figuring out if things are going well, when you're putting your show together, when to know when to pivot, maybe make some changes. I think you'll enjoy that conversation next week on Monday, April 10th,
Speaker: Matt James is here as part of our series on three things I wish I'd known when I first started teaching. Matt James, of course, was the director of bands at Lawrence Central High School and had those wonderful shows and wonderful bands for so many years. I'm sure that you'll be interested in hearing what he has to say, advice for you as you're doing your own teaching, especially if maybe you're early in your career. And then the week after, on Monday, April 17th, well,
Speaker: I tell you, you can't always have a great podcast. I had a hard time finding a guest, so I'm going to be talking with this group from this new podcast called On a Water Breaking. You know, it may not be our best episode ever, but I think you'll enjoy hearing from some of the hosts. They seem to have thousands of them, but anyway, some of the hosts are on that to talk about how they put the podcast together and the lessons they've learned as they've started the process.
Speaker: So make a note, April 17th, a group from on the water break and enjoy the podcast we have out now. And remember, you can find over 1100 podcasts at our website at marchingroundtable .com. Hope that you'll go and listen and learn. Hey, this is Christine Reem and Chris Green.
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Speaker: All right. So for anybody who's listening, who doesn't know, I am talking today to Ann Fields. She is a very good friend of Peggy Twiggs. And I'm so excited to be talking to you because some of the stories that you have are just
Speaker: incredible you know we've kind of gone back and forth on the phone over the last month or so and you know I had talked to Sadie on the podcast earlier this month and she kind of went over some of Peggy's later instructional years and but you've known Peggy for a really long time so how long have you known Peggy? I figured it out about 55 years. Oh my gosh.
Speaker: Yeah, she was about 15 years old. Peggy and I, and it's funny, we, she had birthdays practically. Hers is May 4th and mine's May 5th. But as she likes to remind me, I was born in the 40s and she was born in the 50s. So we've been friends all these years, you know, from the time, you know, she was only 15 years old.
Speaker: So when in throughout all the decades, you know, sometimes we see each other more often, you know, like now we see each other all the time every single week. So yeah, oh, that's amazing. I just I think it's so great that she has such a great support group with, you know, with friends like you because you're just there for her for whatever she needs. Right, right. So how did you guys meet? Were you did you meet in marching arts together or or was it?
Speaker: Peggy's two brothers joined the Reverend Senior Corps and I was in the Senior Corps and Peggy was in the Junior Corps at that time. I asked her what she carried and she set a flag and she was a flag because she wasn't good enough to be a rifle.
Speaker: Attitude among the, I think Peggy, that's why she was such a wonderful flag instructor. She changed a lot of people's opinions on what was the best piece of equipment to be on and what may have the most effect. But so I've known Peggy and then we went on to the 27th Lances. We were in the original Corps 1968.
Speaker: And we taught together from 19, she started teaching in 1974. I was teaching from 71 to 78. And she continued on with the Lancers and then went to cadets. But we've always maintained our friendship and we taught many units together too as well. St. Joseph Medford and she taught Urte
Speaker: and Holy Family Rockland, you know, but we've always, you know, continued our friendship. What was Peggy like in those early days? Was she pretty outspoken or was she more reserved? And what was your guys' relationship like?
Speaker: She was never reserved. She was always a character. She just had that personality. She would get people on the bus and have everybody singing and ask me please not to sing. Because I have a terrible voice and she would do opera. She was just the life of the party. She just had a phenomenal personality. I mean, anybody that remembers her even from the early days, you know, she was just a character, you know.
Speaker: her personality stood out. How did that kind of translate over as of course you know we know that like being a color guard performer tends to you know be helped by being outgoing and outstanding like that but how did that translate to her instructional style so you said you guys talked together for a while too like how did she
Speaker: How did she relate with her students, I guess? What was it like to be on Peggy's guard? That's one of the last things that I just came up with this morning and thinking about it as far as her strengths. Her strength was her ability to communicate and connect with her students. People had funny names. In fact, the past couple of years, I used to write all her happy birthday messages for her because
Speaker: she could no longer type or even see so um and i found out you know all the different names and nothing was ever derogatory i mean back in the day we had names crazy names and you say i'm sorry i refuse to repeat that but with peggy um there was one lancer laurie colewin mcbride who's still teaching to this day and she called her colewina everyone had their little nickname everybody thought
Speaker: that they were Peggy's favorite. She had that ability with, you know, no matter how many people were in the flagline.
Speaker: You know, she had a special connection with them. You know, oh, here's your flagpole. This is the right way for you. And I would look at her and just start laughing because they were all the same, but she had that ability, you know, to connect with people from the very beginning. We, that argument over, this is my flag. This is my flag. No, they're all the same. No, they're different. That still goes on to this day. I can tell you, we work with,
Speaker: I work with so many guards and that's literally it's ubiquitous. It's everywhere.
Speaker: So what drew you to be friends with Peggy in the beginning? How did you decide you wanted to connect with her? What started your relationship? It's funny because, you know, we're in the color guard together and she had gone to my, she was a friend of my cousin's, which I didn't realize they had gone to high school together. And she said to my cousin, why is Anne Fields picture on your mantle? So that's my cousin. And then, um, yeah, we had a connection there too, but,
Speaker: I don't even remember when I met Peggy. It's just like, I just feel like I've always known her.
Speaker: And the funny thing about Peggy is way back in the day, Peggy wanted to be a drummer. And that's before, I mean, if you were a girl, you were in the color guide. And to this day, you know, that's one thing, if you gave her drumsticks, she could sing out parts. And I think that was a strong part of her teaching ability too. She would sing all the different parts rather than just do counts. She always loved drumming.
Speaker: And I feel like that like singing the parts has kind of really carried into the color guard culture now and and i've seen a lot of groups do that, you know we did that when we were in when I was in DC I when I marched blue stars, we would sing our parts and and.
Speaker: instead of counting or we would count in the musical tones that it just kind of helps it stick in your mind so much. We always talk about the Peggy spins and of course even her healthcare worker Rosanna who has been a blessing has gone with us to see the cadets and stuff and she's just overwhelmed and you know the respect that people have just for the name Peggy you know because she calls her Margaret
Speaker: But in 1972, when Peggy was marching in the Lances, Ike Ionesa, who was a fabulous instructor and an innovator in the Massachusetts area, decided that he wanted to have six girls become trick flags. And they were six of the most talented, and they were going to do things that the rest of the flag line would not do or probably couldn't do. And Peggy was put in charge of those six girls.
Speaker: And I think that's where, you know, that feeling of being a part of something in something that was new and different. I think that's what started Peggy on that path because someone saw something in her.
Speaker: which was, you know, a real - How old was she at that point? She was, it was her next to the last year matching. So she was probably 20 years old. Okay, okay. Because she aged out in 73. So then when she aged out in 73, in 74, the drum call was not that good. 27th came in 20th place. But Peggy, along with Steven Kovitz, who was another innovator in this area,
Speaker: would do routines together and he would do something with a rifle and she said well if you can do it I can do it with a flag and that's basically where you know a lot of the creativity you know came in and then after that in 1975 along with George Zengali we taught the flag line and
Speaker: Peggy, as they say, was on her way into being one of the best in the area. In the Peggy spins, how she ever came up with 100 spins on the left hand, right hand, and every single unit in this whole area. And I know that she has all her spins far and wide across the country.
Speaker: It's and it's spread not only across the country, but I'll tell you, I lived in Brazil for a little while and I taught some color guard while I was down there. And those students knew what a Peggy spin was going into, you know, it wasn't even from me, they were going into it. So it's like, this has spread around the world, really.
Speaker: Right? Because I know my friend Stephen taught in Columbia and they had people there that were big followers of DCI and they you know came to DCI to see it and you know so I know it is funny you know it's such a small local activity but you know
Speaker: Well, yeah, and that's how it started. I don't know. What's your favorite memory of Peggy? What's your favorite Peggy story? There were so many. I mean, she lived in a house with a bunch of drum corps people and, you know, it was just like that. They were always out in the backyard and throw it. In fact, when they moved out of the house, they noticed all the ceilings had dents in them from people doing tosses.
Speaker: But yeah, and it's really, it's like a family is what it is, you know, between George Zingali and Steven and all the people who came up through the 27th organization. I just can't, none of us can imagine lives without it, but especially Peggy. It had a big effect on her, you know, because she had difficulty in school. It's not that she wasn't bright, she found
Speaker: doubt she had dyslexia. So I think this really, I know how it made a major difference in her life and to go, no matter where she goes, everybody knows who she is. I wonder if her dyslexia, and maybe this is something that you've talked to her about before, but I wonder if her dyslexia maybe is part of what contributed to her
Speaker: Being able to create these new the new moves that she was creating and being able to put things on the left hand and the right hand because before before her creations wasn't most of the flag line stuff performed on the right hand and most of the rifle was performed on the left correct.
Speaker: Yes, we carried our flags on our right hip because we wore an Aussie hat. And we, it was actually a CM Brown belt, and they had, it was really a flashlight holder. And that's where we kept our flags. Oh, that's so cool. When Peggy became a trick flag, they didn't have the same belts. They didn't have any belts.
Speaker: You know, they, you know, they carry, they just carry the flags in their hands. So that was, you know, some of the beginning of it.
Speaker: Wow. I never even knew that about the flashlight holder. So basically you would just like click your flagpole into your belt. Yeah. Yeah. It was on the right hand side. Yeah. On the right hand side. So basically, you know, everything that you did was from them, whether it was a present or sweeping, but it wasn't out until, you know, then with Peggy and stuff.
Speaker: you know, in 72 when she started it and then it kind of filtered down through the whole core. It was 72 and 73 and then after that, you know, it was just the flag line in general did all those things.
Speaker: That's amazing. So basically what we have today is entire color guards full of trick flags. Right. Oh, absolutely. In fact, I tried to look up some of the past ones. I remember, I think it was in 1976, Larry McCormick, who did videos and sold drum equipment as something and the Lances had owed him some money. So in Ann Arbor, Michigan, they had
Speaker: of the color guard do all of their warmups and everything. And they made a video and I can't find it. I looked up Larry McCormick today. The only thing I can find is about the 1980 Lancers. When you look at the 80 Lancers, you can see the kind of flag line. And so then when you see cadets and stuff, after you see the 80 Lancers, and then Peggy said she went to cadets in 82.
Speaker: You know, and she and George, and Jerry Corradino as well, we lost, you know, all those people on the staff went to cadets at that point.
Speaker: i'll have to look up those videos and see if I can see if I can find i'll do some research, maybe our listeners maybe someone who's listening knows. knows about Larry mccormick's videos and we can we can find those and get those shared out with the world because that's that's amazing seeing some of this historical footage and just for just for people who are in the activity to know.
Speaker: where it came from and why we do what we do and why we do it the way we do it. I think that's so important. And Larry McCormick also had other people. I don't know whether Mickey Kelly was one of the people that showed a flag and they had different rifle people. So they had all these videos that if you were learning before they had camps, basically around the time they, we used to do band camps and stuff and they would fly staffs in, you know, to work with them. But I know they
Speaker: videos of this too, you know? That's incredible. And do they have videos of Peggy's warm -ups and things that she had created?
Speaker: As I remember, but I remember doing the whole run through and stuff and watching and you can hear Peggy and George throughout the whole thing in Ann Arbor. I just, and for some reason I think it was 76. It could have been 78, but, and I even looked up 27th Lancers in Ann Arbor, you know, with Larry McCormick. I didn't have any luck, but.
Speaker: Well, we'll have to, we'll have to look for it. We'll have to get, get our feelers out there and get our history researchers on, on the case. Do you think she, let's say, do you think she would like the way that things are going now? Is she still involved in watching Color Guard at all?
Speaker: The last few times that Peggy has seen any drum corps is when we took her to see the cadets when they were practicing locally. So Denise Bonfiglio, who her parents started the 27th Lancers, was the director two years ago of the cadets.
Speaker: So we were the only ones, no one ever knew that Peggy and I had gone. And we had gone to their practice because it was a closed site. And at that point, she really couldn't see. And I said to her, what do you think? She said, I can hear it. And that's when they had almost all except five flags were brand new.
Speaker: And, but they got the whole color guard together and everybody always knew Peggy's story. That's one thing I give cadets credit for. Everybody always knew Peggy. Whenever she came there, they, you know, she was so wonderful to her.
Speaker: But at that point, that was really one of the last times that she can't really see anything now. But I think she would be happy with the way it's going. She's still friendly with a lot of the people. I joined the intercof, who has done blue coats. I think like myself, I still am a supporter of the drum corps.
Speaker: through the years, people say it's changed, but everything has changed. What's the change? I mean, you know, being from Boston, the Celtics have changed, you know, from when, you know, Larry Bird played till now, when it's the same thing with the activity.
Speaker: You know, it cost a lot of money and, you know, someone like Peggy wouldn't have been able to join Drum Corps in, you know, in this day and age. I think there's a lot, there's a lot of barriers now, too, that I don't know that I would have been able to join it now if I was young. It's so much more difficult. I think it's more expensive and, you know, the standards just keep going higher and higher every year. Oh, definitely. Yeah.
Speaker: Would you or do you think Peggy would be all right with you talking about kind of what has what has happened to her what what is going on with her that she doesn't have very good vision and and has trouble communicating now.
Speaker: Well, I think the best thing about it is for people to be aware of what some other people, you always say everybody has a story and this is Peggy's story. 14 years ago, she started to lose her balance and she was diagnosed with supranuclear palsy, which is a neurological disease.
Speaker: And in that time, she basically needs 24 -hour care. Sadie has been wonderful and has set up a foundation. And through the years, people have raised a lot of money to help with Peggy's care. The Cadet Girls, I say girls, they come every year, visit her, you know, and spend the afternoon. And they'll do, they'll bring out their flags along with Rob Godin, too, has been wonderful.
Speaker: you know, he'll show up and visit with the cadet girls and with Peggy. So the disease has progressed and right now she doesn't have any ability really to speak. It's a thumbs up bar.
Speaker: She's lost her vision, but her sense of humor, if I say anything wrong, she'll just look at me and shake her head. Her brain is unbelievable. That's something that they say that she's survived a lot longer than most people that have this type of palsy. Right.
Speaker: yeah and usually they live about seven years and she's going on 14 years. I think that's just such a testament to to to you and to her wife Denise and and everybody who's and Sadie, of course, and everybody who's been supportive of her. That's just awesome she's had so much help.
Speaker: What is something that you think Peggy would want today's Color Guard performers and young instructors to know going into the new season? As we wrap up WGI, we're going into DCI again. What do you think she would want to let them know as advice for the season? Yeah. You know what? Peggy always
Speaker: treated everyone the same. In other words, you know, years ago, if you were rifle or saber, it was considered better, you know, that you were more talented. And I think Peggy's one of the ones that really made it known that, you know, a flag is a very important piece of equipment and adds so much to the show. And I think people know that now. I know with George Zengali, when he had his competitive color guard, he was one of the first ones to pull
Speaker: everybody on the ending and everybody had flag. Yes. Yes. The big flag feature closing. Yeah. So, I don't know. I, you know, it's really hard to know what you would want to say to people, you know, as much as, I mean, I haven't taught with her since 1978.
Speaker: our friendship has taken a different form. Fortunately, she lives very close to me. She used to walk over with her dogs. The doorbell would ring. There'd be Peggy standing there with one or two of the dogs. So yeah, I'm not really sure.
Speaker: You know, I know she's really happy that people still think of her and and admire her for what she did. And she just did it out of sheer love. She just loves the activity and, you know, and they are her family, the cadets. I mean, she was with staff. She was with so many different units.
Speaker: Yeah, right. Yeah. And I mean, and it's so great that she was she was able to spread that that sort of progressive influence so far throughout our activity. I just I love it so much. Well,
Speaker: And thank you so much for all of your help with this and you know for being such a great friend to Peggy and for being able to come on and talk about her on our show. This has been really awesome getting to meet you and getting to talk to you. And it's wonderful what Sadie has done too and Sadie was concerned that people would think that she was part of the Peggy Spins and I said
Speaker: You don't understand Sadie. Peggy just thinks the world of her and Sadie's been such a wonderful friend to her. So I said no. Peggy's not like that. It's not with her. It's about the activity and the friends.
Speaker: Well, and if anybody wants to help out with that, with some of the work that Sadie's doing, there's actually on Facebook, there's a group that's called the Peggy Twiggs, actually I think it's called the Margaret Peggy Twiggs fan club.
Speaker: It is. And you can join the group and I know Sadie does fundraisers in there and there's a lot of people who share like old memories from the good old days of Drum Corps. Right. In fact, I know many times like in
Speaker: We go to Allentown and she'll have people in the back and they'll meet and stuff and do Peggy spins and, you know, just to keep people together. I love that so much. I need to get back up to Allentown again and jump in on this. Well, thank you very much for all you do to, you know,
Speaker: help the activity and stuff. And even though I've been in the activity for many, many years and people kind of put it down, it's still entertaining. And you know what? Those kids still build the same friendships that we did way back in the day. And that's what it's all about. Absolutely. Absolutely. Well, thank you so much for taking the time out to do this. Your contributions too are so, so, so appreciated. Thank you.
Speaker: Hey, this is Nicole, one of your hosts for On a Water Break, and I want to tell you about the cookout. The cookout is an event celebrating people of color in Color Guard. This event is happening in Dayton, Ohio, April 16th, the day after WGI finals at the Courtyard Marriott Hotel, aka headquarters. There will be presenters and speakers, networking opportunities, food, and more.
Speaker: To get more information on how to get your tickets to go to The Cookout, visit marchingcookout .com or visit our Instagram. It's thecookoutcg or our Facebook page, The Cookout. We can't wait to see you there.
Speaker: Hey everyone, it's Tim hitting the beast of the marching arts here from the marching round table podcast. I gotta tell you this week's podcast, I think you'll really enjoy it. It's called trusting your gut in the creative process. Jessica Slaybaugh talks with Zachary Barber and they do it in the context of creating a winter guard show, but it's all about kind of figuring out if things are going well, when you're putting your show together, when to know when to pivot, maybe make some changes. I think you'll enjoy that conversation next week on Monday, April 10th,
Speaker: Matt James is here as part of our series on three things I wish I'd known when I first started teaching. Matt James, of course, was the director of bands at Lawrence Central High School and had those wonderful shows and wonderful bands for so many years. I'm sure that you'll be interested in hearing what he has to say, advice for you as you're doing your own teaching, especially if maybe you're early in your career. And then the week after, on Monday, April 17th, well,
Speaker: I tell you, you can't always have a great podcast. I had a hard time finding a guest, so I'm going to be talking with this group from this new podcast called On a Water Breaking. You know, it may not be our best episode ever, but I think you'll enjoy hearing from some of the hosts. They seem to have thousands of them, but anyway, some of the hosts are on that to talk about how they put the podcast together and the lessons they've learned as they've started the process.
Speaker: So make a note, April 17th, a group from on the water break and enjoy the podcast we have out now. And remember, you can find over 1100 podcasts at our website at marchingrattletable .com. Hope that you'll go and listen and learn. Hey, this is Christine Reem and Chris Green.
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.
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.
Speaker: So yeah, that was my interview with Ann about Peggy Twiggs. Oh my gosh. I absolutely had such a great time talking to her. I think it's amazing how she, they've been friends for so long and she still goes to visit her once a week and they're doing all these things to make sure that like there is, you know, still a piece of Peggy.
Speaker: in the world and people still get to communicate with her through her friend. Oh yeah, for sure. And to see all of that. I think that's awesome. Honestly, really think about it.
Speaker: I mastered Peggy spins before I mastered drop spins. I don't know if that's supposed to go. Oh my gosh. Right, right. And I don't know if that was the way it was supposed to go, but now every time I hear about Peggy, I'm just like, I love your spins. I love your work. And that's one of the things, just having those people around her I think is a really big reason why she has like,
Speaker: outlived her life expectancy of this disease so much because she just has so much support from her family, from her friends who come and visit her. And there's just such a good structure there of people that love having her in her life that she just can compress through and has something to look forward to every day. Right. And with that, I mean, what? She's 70 now?
Speaker: I think so. I think we didn't talk about her age, but I think she's in her 70s. Okay. I don't think we're allowed ever to ask that, are we? I was just making, you know, doing the math, but at the same time, it's just like, okay, when you're given a certain amount of time with, you know, a brain disease and you get seated that far exceeded it.
Speaker: You know, like there's a lot that these people are that the people that are, you know the support there's a lot that they are bringing to the forefront of You know everything that they're doing because you know what they can't do for themselves those people are Yeah, I will hardly agree I mean I her friends been around her since she was seven
Speaker: You know, I don't know. And, you know, I'm hoping that I have friends who, when I was seven, will be around when I'm, you know, that old. And then... Oh gosh, you know what? I hope not. I didn't really like first grade. And some of those kids were just horrible back then.
Speaker: But the fact that she has been in DCI, and honestly too, I know 2017 and then 2015. In 2005, she was inducted to DCI, and then 2017 was WGI, yeah. Okay. So I'm glad that she was able to see those. There are a lot of people who've been inducted into all the fame of DCI who don't get to see it.
Speaker: Yeah, yeah, don't get to see that legacy and you know, yeah, be a part of it for sure know how many people out there still hear about her and know about her and care about her basically is like the big part of it, I think.
Speaker: And, you know, she totally left her mark, you know, in so many ways on the activity. It's, you know, she's got something named after her, which, you know, I think is all of our goal in this activity, right? I want the Tom Scherer rudiment one day. I taught up until two years ago when I stopped teaching, I taught Peggy Spence.
Speaker: Every year. Every year. I'm like, you should know this. This is a staple. She is a staple. Yeah. Well, there's so many other moves that weren't named after her that she still invented that were, we just use them and we don't even know that they're hers because of whatever the name is, because she just called them whatever she did and then gave them to us. It's - And just to be in the room when something is invented like that and be like, meh, we're just going to do it.
Speaker: And then 20 years later, it's just like, well, literally half the world is doing this. Yes. That's the great thing, though. When those things happen, you don't know you're inventing something, right? You're just exploring your own creativity and hopefully someone thinks it's cool. And that's why we do what we do. That's why it's absolutely true. So true.
Speaker: Well, we have a lot more to get to on this water break, so let's get right into it. Whitney is back this week with some info to help you wrap up the end of your season in this week's Wisdom from Whitney. Hi, everyone, and welcome to this week's Wisdom from Whitney. I know that many of you are done with your season at this point, and maybe if you are lucky enough to be traveling to Dayton for WGI,
Speaker: You will be preparing for that right now. If you are done with your season, here are some things that I would recommend doing. That you are taking apart all of your equipment from the season. Retape every single thing. Strip everything down to the bare piece of equipment that you can. Wash all of your show silks. Retape rifles. Check for rifles that may need to be thrown away or fixed in some way.
Speaker: And just make sure you are keeping a clear inventory of what you have, what you want to sell in our closet, and what you may want to reuse for another season. Also, make sure you are cleaning your tarp.
Speaker: before you put it away, take some good pictures of it, take pictures of your props, have those prepped to either restored or sell them if you can. It's always easy to get a little bit of money back from all of your really expensive purchases if you can. You just have to put in the time and effort to post them or send all of your stuff somewhere to be resold in your closet.
Speaker: But other than that, I hope everybody has a fabulous WGI week. I can't wait to see everybody there. It's going to be amazing. Happy end of everybody's season. If you're actually done or if you're about to be done, I hope it is fabulous. Thank you. Thanks, Whitney. What are the things that you all do when you're closing out one season and getting ready to start the next one? Cry.
Speaker: I mean, okay, so one of my biggest things too is, oh, sorry, my phone won't run. One of the big things. I'm running out of time all of a sudden, like, like the Academy Awards. Well, you want to, when you're finishing up, like, my biggest thing is, okay, let's make sure that
Speaker: everyone is thanked and so I always had a box of thank you cards and it's not just like everyone in the guard I always wrote everyone in the guard a thank you card but like also I sent a thank you card to the people that made our uniforms I sent a
Speaker: thank you card to people who made our flags, to the parents that were there at each show. And then I knew how to get in touch with the people who drove our buses, so they got a thank you card. A thank you goes a long, long way. And if you can't give them money,
Speaker: you know, just showing them that they are appreciated. And yes, because like, honestly, that time, like, if you tell them thank you one year, and you need them again the next year, then you know, it skips with all those introductions. And you already know each other, there's, you know, and there's more that comes with that, not to mention, like, there's so much more that comes out of it, when they know what you're doing, what your group's doing, and how hard they work and everything like that. So
Speaker: And they know they're appreciated. They're, they're willing to put it back, put that effort in again. We're here learning life lessons, but please and thank you go so far in life. You would never know how many people just don't say it and they just, okay, well, see you next year. Same time. One thing that we do is like, we, we take care of our equipment. Like we stripped down our flags and, and put everything away properly and whatever. We wash everything.
Speaker: Tom, do drummers have a similar thing that they do? Oh, sure. But a lot of programs are going straight into fall season already. So they're going to start spring and summer drumming. But we do end of a season inventory, strip down the keyboards, and take all the unnecessary gadgets and toys off that we had in the winter for a fresh slate and palette for the fall season.
Speaker: Do you take the raps off the drums and everything like that too? My school, we leave them on well into the fall until we have the new ones. Okay, gotcha. But some schools take them off right away and inventory it and there it is for future seasons perhaps.
Speaker: True story. That literally is just like what we do. I call, I used to call it strike day. Like Jackie said, we'd strip all the flags off the poles and everyone would wash them. Like, you know, it's like, okay, how many flags do we have in this bag? All right. You take it home and wash it and bring it back. Make sure they're folded.
Speaker: You know, that kind of thing. That is precarious stuff. And not to mention too, like sometimes those swags will turn into fundraisers for you. Or let me just do a little plug. You could always send it to the guard closet. Yes. Send your book to guard closet. We bought most of our stuff from the guard closet. So we turn around and we resell it so we can buy more from the guard closet. Yes. And if you do it for consignment, I mean, this is not a paid advertisement, but if you do it for consignment credit,
Speaker: You guys want more money off of it than if you do it for a check. So it's awesome. Okay. So hey, wait, let's go to our next segment. So our friends at the Drum Major Leadership Academy are giving us some leadership and drum major tips each week. So take it away DMLA.
Speaker: Hey everyone, this is Beth, one of your on a water break hosts. I am here in Epcot with one of my groups since I'm a group travel planner at peak. And I know you're expecting to hear Joshua today with another great tip tip about DMLA training. But guess what we are working on an actual new
Speaker: piece and feature for this podcast all about drum majors and you're going to have to stay tuned to find out what it's going to be about. So looking forward to that and we'll see you next week.
Speaker: All right, so now it's time for us to get our history lesson of the week. So each week, marching arts pageantry museum folks are going to give us a little bit of history so we can know what came before us and know that we have tons more stories that will come. So take it away, Bill.
Speaker: Hey, everybody. This is Bill Ives from the Marking Patentry Art Museum in Upper Derby, Pennsylvania, with this week's fascinating snippet of Marking Patentry history.
Speaker: Very early on a July morning in 1971, Blue Rock departed from Pensgrove, New Jersey en route to compete in the prestigious CYO Nationals competition at Collie Stadium in Lowell, Massachusetts. This show featured 14 corps including all the major contenders including the Santa Clara Vanguard, Anaheim Kingsmen, Casper Troopers, Chicago Cavaliers, Boston Crusaders, Madison Scouts and the Blue Stars and more.
Speaker: The trip was going well until the Corps reached Connecticut, and the girls bus making its debut trip was struck by a drunken driver. No Corps members were injured, but the Corps was forced to sit on the side of I -95 for over three hours while the police completed their reports. Upon finally arriving in Lowell an hour before the show,
Speaker: Corps members were told to get a quick shower and then get dressed in uniform and go through a brief warm -up. That night, Blue Rock was on fifth among the 14 competing corps, and despite having no practice time, won the CYO National Championship by three and a half points, defeating every major corps for the first time in Blue Rock history.
Speaker: That night, the Corps celebrated their championship by spending the night at their housing site, a converted barn sleeping under army surplus air mattresses. Stay tuned to future podcast episodes for more fascinating snippets from the colorful history of this wonderful activity we call the Marching Arts. To learn more about the Marching Patentry Art Museum, go to marchingpatentryartsmuseum .org and follow us on social media.
Speaker: What we've learned from the past, now it's time to move on to the present. That's right, Nicole. And if you don't follow at Drum Corps today on Instagram yet, you should. They are keeping us all up to date with everything that's going on in Drum Corps. So meet our newest correspondent, Jeremy, from last week's show. So take it away.
Speaker: Hey everyone, Drum Corps today with another Drum Corps news segment. First up, we have the rehearsal camps that are coming up. This weekend, only two camps are scheduled. Stentors have a camp up north in Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada from Friday, April 7th to Saturday, April 8th. Impulse has a brass rehearsal camp out west in Gardenia, California on Saturday, April 8th.
Speaker: Next weekend, there are eight camps lined up. At West, Bessel has a breast camp in San Dimas, California on April 16. Gold has a breast camp Eastvale, California from Saturday, April 15 to Sunday, April 16. Down South, Genesis has a breast camp in Bastrop, Texas from Friday, April 14 to Saturday, April 16.
Speaker: Heading a bit east, Heatwave has a brass and color guard camp in Interlochen, Florida from February -April 14th to Sunday -April 16th, and Impact has a camp in Orlando, Florida on Sunday -April 16th.
Speaker: In the Northeast, Raiders have a brass camp in Salem, New Jersey from Friday, April 14th to Sunday, April 16th, with Sunday opening up to Color Guard members as well. In the Midwest, two new sound sport corps each have a camp. Eclipse has a camp in Indianapolis, Indiana on Sunday, April 16th. In Northern Lights has a camp, Skegan, Michigan on Saturday, April 15th, where they'll be rehearsing their 2023 production, Cathedral, featuring music by Debuzzi, Tchaikovsky, and Wagner.
Speaker: In addition to that, there have also been two more cores that have released their 2023 productions. Spartans will be shooting the medal at open class finals with their production, Surreal, featuring music by Ohos de Brujos, The Deer Hunter, Mingus, Polypha, and No Doubt. And Guardians will be celebrating their 10th anniversary with their production, I Know The End, featuring music by The Alabama Shakes, Yif Zihan, Otunde, Ajoa, Radiohead, My Chemical Romance, and original music by Ben Helton, Matt Penland, and Tyler Sammons.
Speaker: Our next topic is scholarships. There are still 21 scholarships up for grabs to help with those bloated tour frees, but deadlines are coming up fast. 14 of those deadlines are next week, so make sure to check them out before time is up. Lastly, if you're looking for a spot this summer, there's still over a thousand open spots waiting for you. All of this information can be found on our Instagram page, at Drum Corps Today, and links to everything can be found at the link in our bio, or link to yours slash Drum Corps Today. And stay tuned for more Drum Corps News.
Speaker: All right, let's move right into our news segment. Tom, want to kick us off? Sure. So I've got first some, you know, university news. Rutgers University is one of the oldest colleges in the nation. And for the first time ever, they're going to have a female band director. Woo! That's amazing. Taking huge steps. Good for those guys.
Speaker: Her name is, and I'm sorry if I get your name wrong, Julia Bondmas. I hope I got that right, but congratulations to you. Sounds like great things are going to happen there, and that's going to be so awesome. And not only is she like the first female land director, she's an immigrant too, or she's a
Speaker: only a first generation American, right? Wow. Yeah, I believe so. Philippine islands. She's got so, yeah, way cool. Yeah, her mom's just as excited. My mom would be too. Wow. Congratulations.
Speaker: Nicole, what do you have for us? All right. So let's see it in North Carolina. We have a volunteer story, which honestly, like a lot of these programs, college, high school, you know, DCI, WGI is run on volunteers. But this volunteer story started in the late 1970s. I mean, sorry, it started in the late 1970s.
Speaker: And it's Edwin Owens. He was a student at Davie High School. He played trumpet, and then he played tuba in the marching band all throughout high school. And he went to Appalachian State University. So during his time, he learned how to pack musical instruments into the bands, buses, or wherever the transportation was going. And I know that we all know what that is because some of us were on the voting crew for DCI. Yeah, it's Tetris.
Speaker: especially if you're by yourself, it's worse Tetris. So anyway, so he managed to, he managed the uniform closet, taking care of and distributing the uniforms. And he was on every band trip since 1979. That is every band trip since the year after I was born. Oh my gosh, that's a lot of band.
Speaker: Right. It's a ton of ban. And so he says that it's all about the kids. And when they stop wanting me around, I'll probably quit.
Speaker: I completely agree about that and honestly I'm glad that they have highlighted him because it is just one of those it's one of those things where you I mean we all know this you find your tribe and then you a lot of band kids are like this too it's just like I'm not gonna wait around for somebody to tell me what to do I'm gonna go and do something right you know and keep going with it so I think it's awesome that they've highlighted Edwin and his volunteer story and well I hope they never
Speaker: stop wanting him around. Absolutely agree. Well, this is not good news, my story here. But it is something we need to be aware of because this could happen to any marching ensemble and we really need to be careful of it. The Akron police are searching for a thief
Speaker: who stole a band trailer from Elet High School on Wolf Avenue. It's, I believe it's worth more than $10 ,000. They actually captured the guy on video surveillance videos at 8am on March 26. And he just basically pulled in to the parking lot.
Speaker: and hooked it up and took the trailer. He took his time. He knew where it was. He came in the middle of the day and just took it.
Speaker: I don't know. He actually came with tools. Like, it's not just like the trailer was just sitting out somewhere where anybody could access it. He came with tools to break the trailer free and then attach it to his pickup truck. So he knew what he was doing. This was premeditated. He knew. Yes. I can't - It's got the lowest form of being a thief, stealing from a school. Yes. Not that being any more a thief could be, but
Speaker: Well, that's terrible. I mean, I've heard of, and the thing about this, and I hate to say it, but it is kind of common for people to take banned trailers, and there's a lot of money inside of them, too. Yeah. Because a lot of schools will keep stuff in there. So yeah, I feel - Yeah. I've seen a half dozen here in California over the last couple of years. Just as a side note, Guard Closet does not accept stolen items for consignment. Just throwing that out there.
Speaker: You know what? Nobody will. Yes. Nobody should, for sure. So you wasted your time. But are they taking any kind of donations or anything like that to get? Not that I know of. I think more of right now, they're still just trying to find the thief and trying to basically get the trailer back, is what they're trying to do at this point in time.
Speaker: I wish them all the love. Yeah, I wish them the best. The community will come together and that person won't get far. I hope so too. Tom, being from Boston, it sounds like you have another story for us today? I do, and it's always lovely when it's about drumming, right? The Hamilton Garrett Music and Arts Academy in Boston has decided to expand an after -school program.
Speaker: And what better way to do it than putting together a drum line. So it's open to all the kids in the community to join up and be part of.
Speaker: And they partner up with a historic Charles Street, African Methodist Episcopal Church. And I've seen that church. Beautiful. So, you know, you want to drum, be part of the community, go check that out. And it sounds like such a cool program. And anytime you can add a drumline to anything, it's a great fit.
Speaker: I don't care what, after school daycare, at a drumline, church program, at a drumline. All the beats, any beats, all the time, everywhere. I feel like it's such an essential part of our history and culture. Like if you think even as far back as like Native American tribes and Native African tribes and whatever, and they're having like drum circles and stuff, like it's so like drumming is that it is who we are.
Speaker: yeah they did it on um supposedly like the way that they got warmed up on the set of Wakanda Forever is that they had an actually a guy with drums like with the hand drums and stuff like that it's used everywhere it's everywhere amazing well i have another really fun story now because i had such a sad story i have to have a fun one now um there is a an independent ensemble in hawaii
Speaker: And I hope I don't butcher this pronunciation. It's called Kaikalino. And basically, it's really, really fun because it's so different for the people of Hawaii. They're used to doing things outside because the weather there is beautiful all the time. So they're used to doing things outside. They're used to wearing their grass skirts and everything. And doing Winter Guard for them is so much different because they're indoors. They're in an air -conditioned gym.
Speaker: they aren't competing with other sports for space because everybody else is doing everything outside. And it's just such a, such a different, uh, such a different thing for, for their culture. Uh, I really related to this a lot because they talk about being a, um, uh, really remote, basically, you know, being off in Hawaii, you can only pull performers from Hawaii and, you know,
Speaker: where I live, it's kind of the same situation. We really can only pull performers from a fairly close area because there's so many hills and mountains to get to where we are.
Speaker: And it's crazy that you can't just pull people in. You have to take the people that you have and train them up to be what you want them to be. And, you know, kudos to them because they are such a hardworking team, such a hardworking team in order to really, really perfect their craft. Honestly, too. And I mean, with the backdrop of Hawaii, come on. I mean, I would love that. I mean, let's do...
Speaker: the one thing that I've been loving for over half my life and then put it somewhere destination. So you're saying we need to do an on a water break clinic out in Hawaii. We need them. If anybody from Kaikalino is listening, call us up. Nicole and I are ready. We'll come in and spend some plagues with you. We're easy travelers. 100%. Yes. Let's get some drum lines started over there with Tom.
Speaker: Oh. You know, I feel like dating for the course.
Speaker: We all need to go to Hawaii for championships and have a wonderful time. That sounds perfect. I like that. Could you guys imagine? You know, I mean, honestly, I have some friends who actually have taught in Hawaii before and they have that, you know, obligatory Hawaiian t -shirt, let's take a picture together photo and I'm like,
Speaker: Really? You guys? Like, that's a flex. I don't know who you are. That's a flex. So yeah, I would love to do that, even if it is once. So yeah, yeah, yeah. Nicole, one more news story. Why don't you take this one? Okay. Um, so this kind of hits home to me just because of like, uh, you know, I would say in the last maybe four
Speaker: four years a lot of teachers have taken a pivot you know from teaching to go to something else and not just from like after teaching for maybe five years or maybe you know but like teaching for 25 years. So there's a news story about a teacher from Oklahoma whose tweet went viral
Speaker: because, and I'll just read the tweet, and it just says, I quit teaching today. I have completed year 25 in May, the disrespect by students, parents, politicians, and the public in general is just too much to tolerate. Good luck to those who persevere. Education is a sinking ship, and the only ones who can save it made the holes.
Speaker: So, you know, and then seeing some of that, I'm not saying like, this is my story, it's not at all, but like being able to listen and really think about this, it's just like, oh, and this is a band, this is a band director, you know, and you we all have gone, you know, have had band directors and they're even, you know, when you call it survived through our old programs for years and years and years.
Speaker: And not just because they are band teachers, but they're teachers, just like any other teacher. There's a lot that's on the teacher's shoulders right now. It's true. It's true. And there's huge shortages within, not just band teachers, but there's huge shortages in percussion instructors. There's huge shortages in guard directors.
Speaker: and designers and even some techs because you know it's not just getting them out there but it's also keeping them like right you know all my stuff comes back full circle but it's just like it's the appreciation of having those people there you know yeah and my best friend who's a director at Templeton had a bit of the same crisis going into this this coming year
Speaker: who's been a teacher his entire life and he's a fantastic teacher. And, you know, said to me in June, I think I'm done, Tom. I was shocked. Thankfully, he's back and we're still hammering out fun shows and whatnot. And he's found a new light, but he had all those same concerns.
Speaker: In this article too, I mean, Irby talks about how, you know, when he was, when he was taught to teach 20, 30 years ago in a different world, he was told like, don't smile until January, we're supposed to discipline strongly, control your classroom, don't get personally involved with students and demand they call you Mr. or Mrs. And
Speaker: I feel like that's the tough love part of it, you know, and as we are all, you know, band kids, I mean I wear my band nerddom with pride, and there is very little
Speaker: like you know I mean I don't know when I came up in the activity and doing marching band and band in middle school and high school like there was never really a problem with being disrespectful or anything because you all loved band you all loved playing your instrument so like yes I wanted that teacher to like me so I can get taught more and get more information and all this other stuff and so I
Speaker: I don't know what it's like right now in those classrooms. The thing that gets me the most, I think I come from, I was a biology teacher, a public school biology teacher for 11 years. And the thing is, I saw how the students were in my classroom to me.
Speaker: when they didn't want to be there. They had to be there because they're required to take my core class as a credit to graduate. And the fact that I'm seeing that we're seeing this now, not just in those core classes, but in band, in art classes, in choir, where kids are there because they choose to be there and they want to be there, it's like, it terrifies me for where the
Speaker: where the education is headed with this. And I honestly think, I feel like band and music and art are gonna be the things that could save it. And they're the things that keep getting cut every year. He does say that in the article too. And like the last just little part of this is just like, it doesn't all end in a bad way. He has been contacted by other school districts. They have openings. And he does say, hey, the teacher shortage is real.
Speaker: So no wonder that. No wonder that's happening. Well, hopefully the schools are starting to figure it out and starting to realize like, oh, we need to pay better respects to our teachers and help them out and, you know, do better. I know here, recently, this school district that I used to work at got a pay raise. So maybe, maybe they're starting to wake up to it. So, there you go.
Speaker: All right, everybody. Thanks for a great rehearsal this week. Thank you to our hosts, Tom and Nicole. You guys are so wonderful to chat with. You're welcome. Thank you to Whitney for your season finale advice, as well as Bill from the Marching Pageantry Arts Museum. Follow them on social media at marching underscore pageantry underscore arts underscore museum. Joshua from the Drum Major Leadership Academy at DMLA Training and Jeremy from at Drum Corps today. Super big thank you.
Speaker: from the bottom of my heart to the amazing Ann Fields for helping us with the Peggy Twiggs interview. Oh, absolutely. Next week is going to be our WGI guard predictions episode, and it's going to be released on Tuesday instead of Friday. We want you guys to be able to listen on your way to championships. So literally driving or flying or whatever, get your headphones, listen to the guard predictions episode as you prepare to watch everybody
Speaker: in person or if you're on float marching, whatever, it doesn't matter. Are you guys gonna give my quick little, why you think, like what's so great, what should we check out kind of thing as well? Oh, absolutely. Okay, good. We've given so much, it's crazy. Then the week after that, the following Tuesday, we will have our percussion predictions episode with Steven and Tom and their mystery guests. That's gonna be so much fun.
Speaker: Make sure you subscribe, write us a review and share this with a friend. We will see you at the next rehearsal on a water break. Don't forget to follow us on social media at on a water break. We'll see you later. Go practice.
