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ON A WATER BREAK WITH… MATT HARLOFF
186 Plays15 days ago
CROWN BRASS • COACHELLA ENERGY • DCI LEGEND
From Star of Indiana rookie to the face of Carolina Crown’s famous brass line, educator MATT HARLOFF just checked off an unexpected bucket-list item: conducting a 60-piece ensemble for Travis Scott at Coachella. Hosts NICOLE YOUNGER and JOSÉ “JOEY” MONTES III dig into the email that started it all, the three-week scramble, and why saying “YES” to wild opportunities feeds your students, too.
🎙️ HOSTS & GUEST
- Nicole Younger — IG @o2bnpjs
- José “Joey” Montes III — IG @joeymontes57
- Guest: Matt Harloff — IG @mattharloff | Carolina Crown Brass Caption Head
💡 EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS
• 32-Count Life Story — Iowa beginnings → Star of Indiana → Avon HS & Crown
• The “Alyssa” Email — why Matt almost deleted the Coachella invite
• Building a 60-piece brass army with Crown, FAMU & Jackson State
• Rehearsing in Phoenix: three weekends, handful of reps, zero room for error
• Live-show curveballs: 1 AM hard curfew, in-ear stage calls, Travis’s un-rehearsed dance break
• Red-eye gymnastics to catch Avon Winds at WGI finals
• “Stop & Smell the Roses” — Matt’s advice for educators who never slow down
🔗 LISTEN & CONNECT
📥 Be our next guest → https://forms.gle/7GcpYZLfY8Uo54pp9
🌐 Peak Group Travel — peakgrouptravel.com • IG @peakgrouptravel
🛍️ Guard Closet — guardcloset.com • IG @guardcloset
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🏷️ HASHTAGS
#OnAWaterBreak #MarchingArts #DrumCorps #CarolinaCrown #Brass #Coachella #TravisScott #BandDirector #GuardCloset #PeakGroupTravel #Podcast
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to Bonus Episode
00:00:00
Speaker
Hi everyone and welcome to another bonus episode of On a Water Break With. This is where we spotlight incredible people shaping the marching arts. From performers to designers to educators, we're here to learn from their stories and then find out what keeps them coming back season after season.
00:00:16
Speaker
This time we go on a water break with the legendary brass educator, Matt Harloff. Adolph the Met and go. Welcome to On a Water Break.
00:00:28
Speaker
podcast where we a nice clean cutoff I love that I am gonna try and throw all of my horn line knowledge into everything I say so just go with me guys okay Hi,
Excitement and Call to Action
00:00:51
Speaker
everyone. It's Nicole. I am so hyped to be hosting this bonus episode with you.
00:00:56
Speaker
Before we get started, don't forget to follow us at On A Water Break, subscribe, and then leave a review. It really helps others to find us in the activity and then start that conversation. I'm not on the sidelines alone today.
00:01:09
Speaker
Joining me for the first time together is our resident On A Water Break hardline correspondent and the perfect person to talk to our guest today. It's Joey.
00:01:20
Speaker
Hi. Did you like that ah that intro? i It's cool to be called something. you know like it's it's It's nice. you know you know ah i I think i'm the I'm the wins person. Austin and I are the wins people and he's producing today so I get to be on this side of the camera and get to go go wins. Let's do more wins.
00:01:41
Speaker
and we I think we have the best host to talk about doing that and absolutely also fun things. Uh-huh. See, I'm a color guard person, but I started out as a horn line person. Matt doesn't know this, but obviously I started off in clarinet.
00:01:55
Speaker
But then I started to play baritone because I found out that baritones got more solos on the field. And then I was actually good at it. And yeah, but then I marched my first year of drum corps and I was like, i don't want to be a band director anymore.
00:02:09
Speaker
Anyway, I did color guard. So here we go. It all comes back around.
Introducing Matt Harloff
00:02:14
Speaker
Well, just to let everyone else know too, a like today's guest is someone who's worked very hard to shape the sound of an entire generation of performers from the field with Carolina crown to the stage at Coachella.
00:02:29
Speaker
Please welcome Matt Harloff to the sidelines. Hey everybody. Thanks for having me. Hey Matt. um I know that you are a very busy man, so I want to thank you first for coming and chatting with us and kind of being part of this hootenanny for a minute.
00:02:48
Speaker
Joey, do you want to start us off with our first segment with Matt? Absolutely. So before we do anything else, Matt, we'd we'd like to start off with something special. It's your first time on Auto Water Break, I believe, and that means you're due for a 32-count life story.
Matt Harloff's Musical Journey
00:03:03
Speaker
You'll get eight counts off the Met and then 32 counts to tell us your entire journey from birth to today. Are you ready?
00:03:11
Speaker
32 counts? I get 32 counts. yeah I mean, we're not going to stop you if it's 32 counts more than that. Come on now. but Some people have more lore than others. They might extend a little bit. There might be a late cutoff. but It's a repeat. It's okay. You can put it on the loop.
00:03:29
Speaker
There you go. wellll we'll get We'll get eight from the Met and you're off, okay? Here we go.
00:03:39
Speaker
All right. You know, I was born into a musical family. My dad was my band director. So i i got to start with that. And in fact, I'm going to go see him tomorrow. We're going to watch some New York Yankee baseball. So I'm looking forward to that.
00:03:55
Speaker
My brother's a band director as well. So we just followed, both of us followed our ah dad's footsteps. He helped us become huge drum corps fans.
00:04:07
Speaker
In fact, some of our family vacations were to the Drum Corps International World Championships in Madison, Wisconsin. So we did that. I went to school at, I was born and raised in Iowa.
00:04:19
Speaker
I went to school at an Indiana University, spent most of my drum corps career marching at Star of Indiana. And then, yeah, found a job here in the Indianapolis area at Avon.
00:04:30
Speaker
And, you know, rest is history, really. Been here ever since. what I did not. Yeah. Well, I totally didn't realize, and of course I'm going to learn a lot of things about you today, Matt.
00:04:44
Speaker
um But I didn't realize that your dad was a band director and your brother was a band director too. It's like a dynasty. You've got the iron claw on the band stuff, right?
00:04:55
Speaker
Yeah. Ben was also in Blast when Blast started. So he was in that first ah group that went to and here So I went out there for a few days. That was awesome. It's the only time I've ever been like outside the country, like on the other side of the planet.
00:05:12
Speaker
yeah I need to do more traveling. But no, I visited Ben when he was out there. was totally cool watching them. Ben was a part of that Broadway cast as well.
00:05:23
Speaker
So yeah. And then Ben ended up finding his his wife and they moved to Minnesota. And Ben's a band director now. My dad retired a few years ago. and lives up here in Indianapolis.
00:05:35
Speaker
And so, so yeah, it's, it's just been part of our family. So it's, it's, it's awesome. It really makes our family close, you know? I'm sure it does. Yeah. So, and we have a lot of stories, a lot of traveling together to drum corps camps and seeing some drum corps shows and stuff like that. So, you know, music, band director, drum corps has, has made our family really close.
00:05:58
Speaker
So it's, it's awesome. Oh, that is so cool. Well, we're going to, I mean, I'd love that. I think we're going to go ahead and just start you with the questions if that's okay. Let's do it.
00:06:10
Speaker
Sounds All right. Awesome. and so I like that better
Unexpected Coachella Opportunity
00:06:13
Speaker
anyway. Oh, God. Well, I'm going to be for real honest. One of the biggest reasons why, I mean, of course, I love what you do with Crown. I've always loved it.
00:06:24
Speaker
But I also want to know what happened at Coachella and how that can happen and how that did happen. So let's just start at the top. How did this opportunity with Travis Scott become a thing for you and for Crown Brass?
00:06:37
Speaker
Yeah, it's a really funny story. So about a month ago, maybe a little bit more than a month, you know, I'm in my normal routine of getting up in the morning, getting ready for school and, you know, winds rehearsals, guard, drumline, concert bands, all the stuff, and all the things.
00:06:54
Speaker
And as anybody, I think we can all relate. You get up and you check your email. You know, it's like, all right, what do we got? What did I miss in the middle of the night? And most of it, I think, you know, I'm pretty sure that, you know, everybody can share this is like a lot of the emails when you wake up are kind of junk, right?
00:07:12
Speaker
So um there was this one email that I got. I knew i saw it. It was from Alyssa, and but it didn't look real. So I was like, well, this is this is fake, so delete. you know I get to school, and um our band secretary said, hey, there's a voicemail from Alyssa.
00:07:32
Speaker
um Here's her phone number. Give her a call, you know whatever. And again, I'm like, No, don no, I'm not doing that. This is not real.
00:07:43
Speaker
Maybe I don't know what what I thought it was. Maybe some sort of interview or something. I was like, no, no, thanks. I'm good. I'm too busy. We got winds and percussion and all the concert band stuff going on.
00:07:54
Speaker
Right. um Later that day, and Nancy from Carolina Crown, one of the administrators, Nancy Coates, um married to Jim Coates. She messaged me and said, Matt, I just got a phone with Alyssa and you need you need to look into this one.
00:08:09
Speaker
So I was like, okay. So I brought the email back up and I was like, okay, what is this about that I totally deleted? And you know then I read it and said, hey, Matt, we'd like to talk to you about an opportunity to perform with Charvis Scott at Coachella.
00:08:23
Speaker
And so so- thought it was fake at first too, actually, to think to be real honest. Yeah. Yeah. So I called her and we set up a call with her and another, i'm not sure exactly their titles, but obviously there's some sort of a manager or producer or something for Travis.
00:08:42
Speaker
And, um, Yeah. And then we just they they said, this is what we're kind of looking for. Travis wants to have a brass ensemble as part of his Coachella show.
00:08:53
Speaker
And we need a conductor and we want you to be that conductor. And so then we worked it out from there. And that's kind of how all of that started. Yeah. Yeah.
00:09:06
Speaker
So did, so I got to ask from the young inside of things, did you know, ah so obviously you, we don't know Alyssa, did you even skim and see like a Travis Scott thing? Or was it just like you saw Alyssa weren't, weren't about it?
00:09:20
Speaker
I mean, did, did you know who Travis Scott was before that email? That's, that's a crazy rumor that I've heard that, you know, there's, there's a rumor out there that says that I didn't know who Travis Scott was.
00:09:33
Speaker
it's a crazy rumor. i mean, how would anybody believe that I didn't know who Travis Scott was? Not having two teen kids in your house, they would not, not let you know who Travis Scott was. How would I not know that? I mean, had I not known that, then Travis Scott would have known me before I would have known him.
00:09:52
Speaker
So there's no way that that could have possibly happened. Um, you know, when I did, after the call that night, when I, um And I went home, told Susie about it.
00:10:05
Speaker
And i told my son about it. What i I didn't know, and I have to admit this, is that my son went to a Travis Scott concert when he came to Indianapolis.
00:10:16
Speaker
And so i i totally didn't I totally forgot about that. so But yeah, but yeah, um you know, when I saw that, you know, the email, the email didn't look real.
00:10:27
Speaker
So that's kind of the email address. It kind of looked one of those things like somebody was hacked. That's kind of what it looked like to me. Okay. But then when I'm, you know, when I had to look it up again, then, you know, you saw all the names and all the stuff and phone numbers and things like that. So, yeah.
00:10:44
Speaker
That's awesome. That's awesome. most like Honestly, do I listen to Travis Scott's music? I have become more of a you know, I've listened to a lot more of his music lately. Let me just say that.
00:10:58
Speaker
I mean, I'm a huge fan, sure. Okay. I wouldn't expect you to be like, yeah, that's playing in my card right now, bro. It's tattooed on me. yes Well, getting into like the nitty gritty of it, you've already got the email, you guys are working towards it. Now you're doing the rehearsals.
Coachella Performance Preparation
00:11:15
Speaker
So I guess two things, like you got the crown kids involved. I want to know how that happened, but also the process of preparing them for like the rehearsals.
00:11:25
Speaker
And things like that. Like, I'm pretty sure that probably got easier as you had more crown performers come in to do this. So if you could tell me what that rehearsal atmosphere it was like or that process was like.
00:11:38
Speaker
yeah out After this was all like, OK, this is going to happen. Then I was involved in just a couple of calls where, you know, they talked about who was going to be in the brass line.
00:11:50
Speaker
And I think that Travis had already done some projects with ah Florida A&M University, and I think Jackson State as well, but for sure, I think FAMU.
00:12:05
Speaker
So my recommendation right away was let's let's have those, if possible, have those students that have played some of his music before, already have a relationship with Travis. And, you know, that way it'll make this process, which was going to be very quick but to go a lot faster and easier.
00:12:28
Speaker
So then we talked about how many they wanted. The number 60 came up. And so Then I got a text and they're like, hey, would it be okay we had some Crown members come?
00:12:40
Speaker
And I was like, well, I can ask. This is short notice and all that, but I can reach out to a number of them and see if they would be interested. And so eight were invited along with...
00:12:51
Speaker
some members from some students from FAMU and Jackson State. So that created the 60-piece brass ensemble. so okay. I had no idea that it was like ah bunch of different places. Okay, that's awesome to know. That helped because you were talking about the music. Yeah.
00:13:11
Speaker
That was another process of figuring out you know what we would play together you know, for the show. And so what was great about all that was the directors from Jackson State and FAMU, who are great. it was so awesome getting to know them and introducing myself. I mean, they're brilliant.
00:13:32
Speaker
And their students were spectacular to work with. I loved meeting them and working with them. most It was so fun. But anyway, they had a lot of arrangements and they could arrange things pretty quickly.
00:13:45
Speaker
So that made that process go a lot faster as well. So, know, we talked about the music and, you know, we came into that first rehearsal with, you know, a lot of charts that we could possibly work out with Travis.
00:13:59
Speaker
So that was great. that That made that a lot better. So for sure. Oh, wow. This is so cool. All right. ah Can I just jump in more into the rehearsal process?
00:14:11
Speaker
how How much stage time did you get before that first performance? Or did you even get to rehearse with Travis before that? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. So the first...
00:14:23
Speaker
There was ultimately they scheduled three weekends and there were the weekend before the first performance. So beginning of April, right? That first weekend in April, we had a rehearsal and we all flew out to the rehearsal was in Phoenix.
00:14:39
Speaker
And so we all flew out there and we had two days to you know do as much as we could. There was a lot of things. i mean Obviously, if you saw the show, there were so many things in that show. It was it was awesome um being a part of that, ah seeing all of that happen.
00:14:56
Speaker
And I applaud Travis for wanting to involve so many different people in a show. You didn't have to do that. yeah Travis was invited to this huge event where some of the top artists in the world, you know they go every year. There's huge names that go to this every single year.
00:15:17
Speaker
He didn't have to invite but that brass ensemble. He didn't have to invite... the stunts, the acrobatic. ah He didn't have to do that. And so I applaud him for wanting to involve as many people as possible. I thought ah thought it was awesome.
00:15:35
Speaker
But anyway, get back to the rehearsal. When we got, it was Friday, Saturday. We went home a Sunday. So Friday was a lot of learning the music, making recordings.
00:15:46
Speaker
You know, that was the first part of that day. There was some staging and blocking scheduled as well. That night, Travis and all of his guys came.
00:15:58
Speaker
um It started, ah that night started with Travis kind of working some things with lighting crew, stunts. There was that moment, there was that part where he walked down a wall.
00:16:11
Speaker
Yeah. That was really him. i show you He had to learn how to do that. So there was those things that I think they started going through. But eventually, The Brass was invited into the arena and just to work on some music.
00:16:27
Speaker
but That's where um we all met Travis. I met him. it was so cool because Chase B, his DJ, was there. Again, incredible guy.
00:16:38
Speaker
yeah Plus, a lot of his other friends were there as well. They were just so nice, gracious, and you know, hey, they come up to me, hey, thanks for doing this. And was like, thanks for asking me.
00:16:50
Speaker
So it it was it was really awesome. And then we started working the music. You know, it's like, how is this all going to work? They didn't know, you know, so it's like, hey, what do you know? Well, we know this thing. Well, let's play that.
00:17:01
Speaker
We know this. And then we're like, well, why don't you just play this part and I'll play this part. So we just kind of coordinated what would happen with those charts, Fiend, Sicko Mode.
00:17:13
Speaker
Yeah. And there was some things that we ended up never performing, like four by four. yeah But no, we worked out you know a good six, seven charts with him that night.
00:17:25
Speaker
And it was fun. it was It was a blast. So that that second day, more playing, putting music together, blocking, staging, putting in choreography.
00:17:36
Speaker
Our goal was to do a run through We got through most of it. you know There's a lot of details to to work through. so just So yeah, that was that. Nothing that's new to you, right? Being the Avon band director, working on the fall show, working on the winter stuff, like nothing, nothing. Like did it ever feel like it was like this? I guess what I'm trying to say to me, it seems like that doesn't seem like a new world to you. You're just applying this thing you're really, really good at and now applying it into a different medium. Like I just...
00:18:08
Speaker
I don't know how, like, how does a management company find like the right person like that? Like that, I think that is so cool. Cause I can't think of another band director to be like, you know, right off the bat, like he's got access to brass. He's got, you know, this lineage, he's got this asset, like how to like that. I just think that's so cool.
00:18:27
Speaker
um I don't think they knew, by the way, there's many people that could have, done what I did. So there's a lot of great people out there. And I don't think that they knew my background.
00:18:41
Speaker
I think it was all about seeing some of those YouTube videos that are popular, whatever the hammer video, or yeah there's another video called God's Horn Line.
00:18:53
Speaker
It's funny because they actually called that when we started the show, we played that. And so they actually called that piece God's Horn Line from from ah that YouTube video.
00:19:05
Speaker
um So I think when they saw that and, you know, when I, me getting to know Travis, both as watching him very close as a performer, and I got some other stories about that as well, but seeing him as a performer, seeing him behind the scenes in practice,
00:19:23
Speaker
That guy is full out energy all the time. Like there was no like backing off. There was no like going through the motions. There's no, Hey, this is, um I'm singing here, blah, blah, blah.
00:19:34
Speaker
There's none of that. He is full out high energy all the time. And, you know, I think when they were looking for a conductor and they, and they, they found those videos, I think. Absolutely. They're always like this.
00:19:51
Speaker
yeah They wanted that passion and energy. so i think that's yeah I think that's why. They didn't know what they were getting in terms of me and in my background. I think energy was was the number one thing for them.
00:20:05
Speaker
so and You brought it. dude You totally brought in so what it. Just like Travis, you always do. right like that like Like I said, I will just say this. um It's pretty easy to bring that energy when you are in front of some incredible students within Crown, and they have that volume and that sound.
00:20:26
Speaker
And it's also very easy when you have somebody like Travis Scott, you know, throwing some energy at your way. It's easy to get excited. So, yeah. yeah So it's not just me. It's everybody. It's everybody.
00:20:39
Speaker
I've got one more question for you, then we're gonna go to go commercial. But I wanted to know, like, because being at Coachella meant you had to miss the WGI wins championships pretty much up until that last day. I did see that video.
00:20:51
Speaker
And then that's when I was like, what do you mean, Coachella? Somebody tell me, spill the tea. But what was the decision like for you to make that to, you know, ah come later or even, you know, just, hey, I'm going to see if I can make it Well, first, I mean, I'm the head band director of Avon. And with that, it's, I mean, i obviously the kids signed off on this, so I'm not going to lie. You know, you know when I went up to the drum line and said, hey, you know what, I'm going to miss.
00:21:21
Speaker
Yeah. I'm going to miss you know your finals performance. And they're like, if you don't do this, we're going to be pissed. you know So but you better go with Travis Scott. Don't worry about WGI. So the kids knew all of it, even though i mean they had to keep it secret as well. um But...
00:21:40
Speaker
Well, let me go back. um I will say that that was part of the process when the first couple of calls, because I was just like, okay, when is this? And what are the dates? And when they gave it to me, you know, I'm looking at my calendar and I'm like, guys, that's WGI.
00:21:55
Speaker
You know, so if this is going to happen, then is there any way I could take a red eye back? And they're like, sure, that can be, that can, you know, that can happen. And obviously ah I didn't realize it wasn't going to happen, especially for the wins championships.
00:22:12
Speaker
I knew I would miss the drumline because Travis was assigned Saturday. I didn't know was wins until I found out that Travis's time slot was 1130 p.m. ah Pacific time.
00:22:23
Speaker
And that meant there was no red eye. That means you're taking a morning flight now. Right. Well, that I'm not going to lie. That bothered me because, you know, you want to be there for your kids and whether it's, you know, with the drum line as just supporting as the director, I'm not the director of the drum line, but as the Avon band director, I want to support them. i want to be there for them.
00:22:47
Speaker
I want to be one of their biggest fans. So that bothered me. And then when I found out that I wasn't going to be able to make the wins performance, it bothered me.
00:22:59
Speaker
I'm not, I'm, I mean, as it probably would bother anybody. So what I did was I ended up working out with ah travel company. So can how can we get me there as fast as possible?
00:23:10
Speaker
What are ways we can do that? And so... They said, well, the fast i go either to Indianapolis or Cincinnati. So what's the earliest you can get either one? And they're like, well, if you fly out of the Ontario airport, which is just west of l LA instead of LAX, we can go through Denver into Cincinnati. We can get you to Cincinnati by 2.30.
00:23:32
Speaker
And I'm like, okay, then I can get an Uber and get up to Dayton and be there at least for awards. Wow. So I ended up doing that one, you know? Yeah, dude. I mean, honestly, because your kids, I saw that video.
00:23:45
Speaker
Your kids were so hyped to see you. And I was like, what is happening right now? Not that they shouldn't love you. That's not what I'm saying. But I was just like, everyone was so behind. Yes, Matt Harloff is the man. What just happened?
00:23:57
Speaker
Tell me what just happened. But then after I saw what you did, i was like, heck yeah, man. Yes, he is. He's definitely the man right now. And everyone was behind you, literally, like not just your students and your kids, like other fellow educators and, you know, people who just know your wife.
00:24:13
Speaker
But, you know, that kind of thing. yeah im sure ah You've been great. We're going to go into a commercial and then we'll be back with a little bit more ah questions.
00:24:32
Speaker
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00:25:38
Speaker
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00:25:53
Speaker
And we're back. I've got a couple more questions for you, Matt. My first one is what were some of the biggest challenges having live musicians performed in in that kind of a setting?
00:26:04
Speaker
One of the biggest challenges was the first time that we were able to practice how it was going to be at Coachella was when we were there.
Challenges at Coachella
00:26:16
Speaker
So the sound check for us was on Saturday 11 to 1. And there were a lot of things going on because there was, you know, the stage was being set for, and this is the unbelievable thing about Coachella.
00:26:32
Speaker
You know, you do have the main stage, but it's set for each performer. So, what Travis brought for his show was different than Lady Gaga the night before or Green Day before Travis Scott.
00:26:47
Speaker
So, you know, it's just amazing the amount of people that are there to set everything up. And you have this amount just like bands and WGI, you have this amount of time to set everything up and make sure all the pyro works, make sure all of the acrobatic stuff works.
00:27:06
Speaker
But in terms of the live performances and stuff, we didn't have a lot of time to practice with the actual stage being outside. So that was certainly a challenge.
00:27:20
Speaker
Because like I said, in our world, it's all about reps, right? Like do it again, do it again. Do it again. And by the time your marching band or your WGI groups or drum corps, as we're looking into the drum corps season here pretty soon, we have done it thousands and thousands of times.
00:27:39
Speaker
and For us, it wasn't that. We did it a handful of times. And you have earpieces in where people are telling you what to do. Now move here. Now move here.
00:27:50
Speaker
So we're used to, let's do this 400 times. know, and we don't have that amount of time. The other challenge was um the space between the main stage And where Travis spent a lot of, he was different with the weekends, but most of his time was spent on an A stage, which was that circle stage, if you watch the show.
00:28:16
Speaker
That was a good football field and a half away from the main stage. So that was also a huge challenge um to put that, to make all of that work.
00:28:28
Speaker
So, yeah. So those are some pretty big challenges as we went through the whole the two performances. Yeah. right And both of those mediums, it does seem like it would be, well, just a lot to ingest and then do like in a very short amount of time.
00:28:46
Speaker
So, um I mean, Joey, did you have something you were going to too? Well, I was just going to say, I don't know if you guys know this about me, but the start of my performing career was not drum corps. It was stage dance like this for like Chris Brown, Nicki Minaj, Lil Wayne.
00:29:01
Speaker
Those were like things that I did when I was 18, 19 years old competing in World of Dance. And so what the audition would really hold for us was not about, it wasn't about consistency. It was kind of like what Matt was saying earlier.
00:29:13
Speaker
it was all about power. and and energy that you would bring to the the stage. If you could fill up the room is what they talked about, the arena, and then how you could just go with the flow. So like recovery is something that I've really gotten good at teaching because that's all we had was, you know, like Matt saying, sometimes it was an hour where we had to figure out lights blocking, you know,
00:29:34
Speaker
staging of things. And then, and then we'd say, all right, in two hours, we're going to do the show. So, and then right, you know, it's, it felt like a SNL or like a right before a curtain opens, but like, oh, by the way, we cut the second song and we're going right into the third one after the fourth one, flip that ready, set, go. Bye.
00:29:49
Speaker
So, and you know, that's exactly what happened with Coachella. You have a hard stop at 1.00 So it is curfew. It is sound ordinance.
00:30:00
Speaker
And they live by, you know, so that first show, we're starting to get stuff in our ears. Like we got 10 minutes, guys. So we're done in 10. And we had, you know, a good eight songs to go, you know, so there were some quick moves there.
00:30:14
Speaker
yeah The second show, Travis wanted, you know, wanted to say thank you, you know, and appreciate the Coachella and the fans and all that. So, you know, that that knocked the song out, you know, so.
00:30:28
Speaker
So, yeah, I mean, absolutely. And that's hard to do when you have that many people involved. You know, so yeah make sure everybody's on the same page and and things like that. So that whole thing with the funny story, the the second weekend, that whole thing where Travis started dancing with the brass, that was never rehearsed.
00:30:49
Speaker
That Travis made all that happen. Oh, yeah. And it was awesome. It was so awesome. You know, that was never practiced. that was that was never practiced That was cool.
00:31:02
Speaker
What a cool action shot, you know, that that member gets to have now, you know, like you, no, one's going to top that. yeah yeah You know, it's funny. I should have seen it, but I didn't probably because you know, looking at something else, or you know, whatever. So many things to look at. I had thousands of people like right in front of me.
00:31:23
Speaker
But when I saw that video, when we were on the bus heading to the heading back to the hotel, it it was I couldn't believe that that happened. and um But yeah, that's his name's Andrew, one of the one of the members of Crown. So um yeah. All right, man. Where's that picture? where is yeah That's great.
00:31:43
Speaker
With all the things that happened in that short amount of days, can you tell me about some parts that were your favorite, like your best parts of that time where you were at Coachella? Oh man, there's a lot.
00:31:55
Speaker
i I enjoyed getting to know all of the people that were a part of that, whether it was Travis's sound guys that travel with him all the time and they're on the board and they're making the calls, getting to know Chase a little bit.
00:32:12
Speaker
He was so fun to work with. And there was a lot of things we had to figure out. So there was one moment in our rehearsal where we were trying to figure out how the arrangement works with, with one of his songs. And, you know, there, you know, I was, I was working with, I mean, Travis and Chase, we're all just working, trying to figure all this out.
00:32:32
Speaker
And finally I got it. And it's like, okay, I got it. All I need to do is change and teach it to the kids. And, you know, just being able to work with them was a blast. The, the, the,
00:32:44
Speaker
We ended up, this was props to the the the travel companies. we We understood that we needed to get together after that first weekend of practices. They're like, we need to get together before sad before Saturday. So they changed all of our flights.
00:33:01
Speaker
Think about that. 60 flights and all of the people that they changed all of our flights to get in earlier Friday And we had a room and Travis came in and we did a musical run through in this.
00:33:17
Speaker
It was a large convention hall, not huge or anything, but it was a convention space. And it was it was awesome going through the show. They had the band sitting down. just We just got to go through musically from top to bottom, you know. So so there I was, you know, we're doing what we we're supposed to do.
00:33:36
Speaker
And, you know, remember I was saying Travis is energy all the time. We were in this in this room. Nobody was there, just except us. And he was all out. And I was 10 feet from him watching all of this happen.
00:33:50
Speaker
And um it was so awesome to that's what watch um do his thing and have that much energy. Watch the sound guys, watch Chase, and listen to them through our ears and how they communicate during the show and stuff.
00:34:08
Speaker
That was incredible. So the performance thing was certainly at the top of the list. I never got a sense of how many people were in the audience until I came home and Susie Tyson, Shailen and i we watched we watchted it again. And you saw a drone, you know, and I was just like, wow, there's a lot of people there.
00:34:26
Speaker
I was like, I was there, but it's dark. You know, I have sunglasses on and I don't see, you know, i just see the people that are in front of me. And so, yeah, but that was awesome.
00:34:38
Speaker
But all of those memories, and I'm probably forgetting a number, but just getting to know those guys and hanging with them and working with them closely like that, seeing them perform closely like that.
00:34:50
Speaker
It was a treat. It was a treat. No doubt about it. Yeah. I mean, what ah what a cool thing to to check off your bucket list.
Embracing Unexpected Opportunities
00:35:00
Speaker
Well, I was never on my list. i mean You know? Like...
00:35:04
Speaker
I had no idea that was going to be something on the list, but. Yeah, did like actually do it first and put it on the list. Right, right. For sure. Write it in just to cross it off. I mean, so that kind of leads me into my my next question is if you had a if you had to give one piece of advice to performers or educators about taking unexpected opportunities outside of the activity, what would it be?
00:35:27
Speaker
Do it. it Do it. Yeah. Period. Period. Just do it. like Open every email. Yeah. Well, be careful on that one. It is not real.
00:35:41
Speaker
No, I don't know. I guess, you know, like I said earlier, you know, yeah there was a lot to it because I am blessed to be member of one of the directors at Avon, you know, and we do everything all the time, you know, it's,
00:35:54
Speaker
ah I kind of had to you know make sure that it was okay, you know especially to the kids, that I was going to miss that you know that weekend. so um So there's that. But um no, if you get an i mean opportunities, you know whether it's something like this or to perform with an orchestra, or you know there's a there's a lot of different things that you know a band director could could do. and and And again, take things away from, you know, like obviously the kids at Avon were like, man, you know, I have pictures of Travis Scott. Are you kidding me? You know, and but, you know, I can go home as from an educational standpoint, I can say, man, this guy doesn't let up and it doesn't matter if, you know, he's the same person performing or in practice.
00:36:41
Speaker
And it's awesome. And so they see him perform. They see the YouTube, they see the social media, they see, they go to his concerts, but they, you know, they didn't, they didn't see the practices where he's the same guy and he's so good.
00:36:56
Speaker
And no, it was, yeah. If you get an opportunity something like that, go for it. Absolutely. amazing Amazing. Well, I know that we are going to, and thank you so much for indulging us with all the questions about Coachella and whatnot, because honestly, i will tell you, i was just like, i know exactly who this person is, but what are they doing with Travis Scott? And you just like opened our whole world to it. And I really appreciate that.
00:37:22
Speaker
I am going to jump down though. We have a next set. Our next segment is called, ah what are we doing? what are we doing
00:37:39
Speaker
What are we doing? All right. So now it's time for this. What are we doing? Basically, this is the part of the show where we call out something in the marching arts that we'd like to see happen or something that we just don't see enough of.
00:37:52
Speaker
I'm pretty sure that Susie has probably filled you in on most of this or this in a general. So Matt, do you have a water we doing? i don't I don't know if I have a good one. i don't know if I have any one really.
00:38:07
Speaker
just be I don't know. I guess just because my mind doesn't really, and maybe it should, you know, my mind just doesn't think like that. You know, you know, if you you think about, you know, what are we not doing or what do we need to do? You know, that's, I'm always on to the next thing. You know, I'm always on like right now it's like, all right, WGI is over. This crazy Coachella thing is over.
00:38:33
Speaker
You know, now it's time for concert band and, you know, our orchestra orchestra was going to contests and um crowns just around the corner. And, you know, it's like, you know, I don't know if I have time to think about, you know, stuff like, you know,
00:38:47
Speaker
What do we, you know, so I'm not, I think I'm going to fail at this segment of what are we doing? when i When I hear that, I just think about my dad, to be honest with you. Because when my dad, when we when he would bring, I would bring him up to help with Avon.
00:39:01
Speaker
And anytime there was a water break, my dad was like, what are we doing? When I see that, when I hear this segment, I just, and I was not going to lie, just, I think of my dad. So So I'm sorry if I'm not going to answer. I think, I think your, what are we doing is what are we doing? Not living in the moment. You know, i mean, that's, that's beautiful.
00:39:21
Speaker
I think, I think it's, it's important. I guess we should, I should say this. If we're going to go there and thanks for helping me, but I, and I will preface it by saying, I don't do this is stop and smell the roses.
00:39:38
Speaker
You know, sometimes, you know, when and i'm I'm always on to the next thing. So, you know, now I haven't certainly have enjoyed this this Coachella experience um with with my family.
00:39:50
Speaker
that's That's probably one that's been one of the best parts about this whole thing. To seeing them, you know, proud that I was that I got to do something like that. that That to me is, you know,
00:40:05
Speaker
I could say that in everything though, not only about this Travis Scott situation, but crown, you know, Avon, whatever. That means having your family proud of you is the most is what is most important to me.
00:40:19
Speaker
um But, um you know, stop and smell the roses sometimes, you know, if you, if you can, and I fail at it all the time, I'm the worst person because we're always on to the next thing.
00:40:31
Speaker
You know, here comes the drum corps season. Here comes the marching band season. And, you know, try to stop and smell the roses as it's happening. Not when you're retired walking around Disney world, which is where Susie is right now, by the way, i will say that.
00:40:48
Speaker
I did see the pictures. i thought we were going to get, I didn't see you in the pictures. So I thought it was like, maybe he'll be back home, but I was really hoping that it was going to be Mickey ears and the castle behind you. I was really excited for that.
00:40:59
Speaker
She's celebrating her sister's 50th birthday. So they're doing a sister trip, which is great. But anyway, you know, try to stop and smell the roses while it's happening. I guess that would be my thing.
00:41:13
Speaker
Thanks for helping me answer the question because I had no idea. That's so fair. That's so fair. I'll have to say my what are we doing is why are we not mixing more medias or, you know, different kinds of ways of entertainment?
Merging Entertainment Forms
00:41:26
Speaker
Like just seeing that it's not the first time that I've heard of anyone being on stage, like from the marching arts with, you know, a very well-known audience.
00:41:34
Speaker
artists I mean, know, Color Guard, the people from Cypress Independent with Lady Gaga. There were some some drum folks that I knew who was, you know, did Halftime, you know, before too. And I love that genre and that mix. And honestly, it just adds to the cake that like there were different kinds of, I don't want to say just for media is like,
00:41:54
Speaker
you know, concert to marching arts, but also like, you know, HSBC, you know, HBCUs with core style. Like I have been, that's something that's been in my brain for years now.
00:42:07
Speaker
And I love that that, that happened, you know, I'd love to see more of it. So why aren't we mixing more of these things? Why does it have to be just one way? Why can't we put them all together? Yeah. I think opportunities like this kind of shed those lights and and and maybe, I don't know if blur the line is is the right thing, but maybe get closer together is a better way to say it is, you know, there are walls that are kind of up that are, I feel imaginary.
00:42:32
Speaker
And it just takes something like this where we get to collaborate that we realize like we do the same thing. You know, you call it this, I call it that, but it's music and it's entertainment. That's, you know, that, that, that's being, being from a musical family and having the mariachis and stuff.
00:42:48
Speaker
You know, my, a lot of my family would have bands and they would go play. It was all about creating music and they would play pop music, like things that were on the radio in English, but now they're playing it in Spanish in a cumbia form. You know, it's, it's, it's really cool. And yeah, I think that's awesome.
00:43:06
Speaker
I don't know that I have a what are we doing. I've been on a couple, like like the last three days of this week. So my what are we doing is once again, giving Joey more rest time and time with his puppy.
00:43:19
Speaker
I'm going to that after this.
00:43:25
Speaker
That's very fair. All right. We're going to go into our gush and goes next. Great job, everyone. Set your equipment down.
Excitement for Upcoming Seasons
00:43:32
Speaker
Gush and go. Okay, so we're going to end this on a high note, and this is where you can be super braggadocious about anything that you want to about. So it can be something that's in the marching arts community. It could be something that's not in the marching arts community. We don't care. just want you to brag.
00:43:47
Speaker
So Matt, since you're guest, what are you gushing and going about?
00:43:55
Speaker
Well, I'm probably more excited about anything. Excited the indoor wind season was successful.
00:44:06
Speaker
And I don't just say that for Avon. I say that for the activity. i think that continues to grow. And there's a lot of people that are involved helping that grow.
00:44:18
Speaker
Glenn Fugate was part of it. Obviously, Wayne Dillon stepped up as as the director. ah So many incredible people are a part of that activity. And I think there was another great step forward for that. So I'm pretty excited about that.
00:44:35
Speaker
Other than that, you know, I'm excited. I mean, you know our school is ending, so I'm excited about our orchestra and wind symphony coming up. So the end of school, beginning of the marching season.
00:44:47
Speaker
And then obviously I'm excited that now we're it's starting to get warm outside. And that means drum corps season is around the corner. And I'm super excited about Carolina Crown this season.
00:44:59
Speaker
So yeah, were really excited about that. So I guess that's my gush is more exciting than anything. We actually have a, ah one of our newest, I guess you could say members of Honor Water Break is a contra player in your horn line, Amari.
00:45:17
Speaker
Okay. Yes. Yeah. Amari. Great. Yes. He is so fun. Smart kid. Like, wow. Wow. So but I'm excited to see his little gush and goes and things like that. looking forward to spending another summer with that guy.
00:45:32
Speaker
He's a 10. Oh, good.
00:45:36
Speaker
Hey, it's called gush and go, not gush and stay. Let's go. Matt. Oh, go ahead, Joey. I was just going to say, I want that sound bit just so I can play in rehearsal.
00:45:47
Speaker
You know, like that's the end of the water break. I think we can figure it out. We'll make it happen. All right. I do want to thank you so much for joining us today ah and for sharing your heart and your work and your story of all of Coachella and everything else with us.
00:46:03
Speaker
but Where can the people follow you or Crown just to keep up with you and what you're doing this summer? Most people go do Instagram now, right? So um I have an Instagram account.
00:46:14
Speaker
So does Carolina Crown. In fact, I think I thought I saw some things where the guard and percussion and brass, which I think they have their own accounts as well. I could be wrong with that, but they were doing a takeover because they have camp this weekend.
00:46:29
Speaker
um i wish I was there. So, so I, like I said, I was also have an Instagram account, Facebook as well. What's your handle? Just Matt Harloff.
00:46:41
Speaker
I try to do TikTok. i i'm sorry yeah I tried. i Susie does that. She helps me out. You know. um You guys are such a good team. i have a Twitter. No, it's not a team. It's Susie 100%. And that's we all know it.
00:47:00
Speaker
It's all Susie. I'm on Twitter as well. That's kind of a more of an Avon thing. Okay. You know, so, but. terms of crown and stuff and pictures and things like that. and Instagram and Facebook is... I didn't do... I call it Stoop Chat. What is it?
00:47:20
Speaker
Snapchat. Snapchat. ah i I would subscribe to a B-reel of Matt Harloff. Have you heard of this one? No. I think I actually... Actually, am I might have a Snapchat account, I think.
00:47:33
Speaker
But I was so lost on how to work that. I was just like, all right, I'm done. This is too much for me. I can't have 16 different things. So I know I'm old. ah So just give me Instagram, Facebook. Let me just do that and see if I can do that well.
00:47:48
Speaker
So and then Crown is all on that as well. So. Oh, there's the Harloff Hub. Susie does a lot of stuff on YouTube. So most of our watches are what Susie did over COVID. She put together some videos for elementary school music teachers.
00:48:06
Speaker
I was like, Susie, do more of that because, you know, that's where lot of people watch those. So she put together some really cool videos there. So so again, Susie does it. It's called the Harloff Hub.
00:48:19
Speaker
Also fair. Also fair. So he just gave you the plethora of the different ways you can follow him, Crown, um, or the Harloff Hub. If you have a question or a good topic to talk about, go ahead and email us at onawaterbreakpodcast at Gmail, or you can find us on social media and DM us if you want to be on the show.
00:48:39
Speaker
We even have a form you can fill out if you want to be a guest. So you just check it out. Our link is in the bio. Or if you just take out your phone and make a video and you send it to us, maybe you'll see yourself on the podcast soon. Never know.
00:48:50
Speaker
Joey, thank you so much. I appreciate you. And we need to do more episodes together. I'm just realizing that we just like, this is one in like, we're a good vibe.
00:49:02
Speaker
We are good vibe. Yeah. We got to keep this going. One more thing. Don't forget, we have a YouTube channel now, so go and subscribe and then you'll see all of our lovely faces and shenanigans on YouTube.
00:49:15
Speaker
And before you close out of your favorite podcast listening app, subscribe, leave us a review and share it with a friend. You can follow us on social media at On A Water Break and we'll see you at rehearsal on the next Water Break.
00:49:31
Speaker
The On a Water Break podcast was produced by Jeremy Williams and Christine Ream. The intro and outro music was produced by Josh Lida. To learn more, visit LidaMusic.com.
00:49:42
Speaker
And until next time, thanks for tuning
00:49:49
Speaker
she okay