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OAWB - At Step Off with Rob Jett from Diamond Bar High School
153 Plays1 year ago
Join us with our new Bonus Content. On A Water Break At Step Off. Host Jack Groudreau dives into all things parades from coast to coast and around the world. This episode Jack’s guest is the amazing Rob Jett from Diamond Bar High School.
Guests:
Rob Jett - @dbhscolorguard
Listen to the main episode to keep up on everything going on in the marching arts with our hosts:
Jackie Brown - @spintronixguard
Stephen McCarrick - @stephenmccarick
Cindy Barry - @leandermomma
Nicole Younger - @o2bnpjs & @thecookoutcg
Trevor Bailey - @t_pain151
Trish O’Shea - @trishdish1002
Beth Beccone - @bether7189
Chris Rutt - @wildhornbrass1
Cynthia Bernard - @cynthiabern
Ashlee Amos - @famousamossss_
Theo Harrison - @harrisontheo07
Stephanie Click - @stephanieclick
Whitney Stone - @dancerwhit
Justin Surface - @J_dex07
Ashley Tran - @itsashleytran
Jack Goudreau - @goudreau_
Ricardo Robinson-Shinall - @ricardorrobinson
Music provided by leydamusic.com Follow him @josh.leyda
Avatars provided by @tch.makes.art
#marchingband #colorguard #dci #podcast #onawaterbreak #parade #drummajor
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Rob Jett's Journey
00:00:01
Speaker
and we're back on a water break at Step Off. I'm Jack Caddrow. As usual, let's get in rank and file, then we'll step off by the center, quick. All right, so today I have the privilege of talking to one of the true Parade Bend Color Guard gurus on the West Coast, Rob Jett. We'll be talking all things Parade Guard, his life journey in the Color Guard realm, and his hopes for the future of the Color Guard activity. So Rob,
00:00:31
Speaker
We sort of have a tradition on this podcast. We're going to give you 32 counts on a metronome with eight metronome counts of prep to explain your life story in the world of color guard or anything else, right? Anything you want to say. So let's give you eight counts on the Met and then away we'll go. You ready? Let's do it. All right. Hi, my name's Rob Jett. I grew up outside of Nashville, Tennessee in a little town called Madison, Tennessee.
00:00:58
Speaker
I got into Color Guard because my fifth grade teacher helped out with the marching band and we used to make little shakers and stuff for their contests. After that I went to Florida and then to Northern California to march and ended up in Southern California working with my friend Carlo at Riverside City College and then down in San Diego at Rancho Bernardo High School.
00:01:21
Speaker
and had no idea what was prayed was when I got there. So that's about where I was. That was a perfect 32 count.
Color Guard as a Career
00:01:28
Speaker
Let's get a round of applause. Here we go. All right, so given the schools that you've worked with, I had a difficult time trying to figure out which questions I should ask you, but I wanted to start with this one. So giving your upbringing and the marching arts, when did you know that you wanted to stick around with the activity for the rest of your life?
00:01:49
Speaker
While I was marching towards the end of my marching career, uh, back in the day before, before winter guard had an age out rule and you had to age out. Like my last year, it was like, I'm excited to not do this part of it and to move on into the teaching realm of it. Uh, and back then it was the next question after you said, Oh, I teach color guard was always, Oh, that's cool. What's your real job? Right. And it was like, well,
00:02:17
Speaker
Color Guard is my real job and it's been really great to, um, to watch that change over the years to where people, you know, now do whatever aspect or combinations of aspect of our activity and, and can do it as their real job. So I'm really have been thrilled to see that over the years. Okay.
00:02:42
Speaker
Yeah. So let's talk about your experience in Florida. So you marched in Florida and then moved into Northern California. What was, what were you doing during that time? And what was that transition like? Cause I mean, that's like East coast to West coast marching band scene. So, I mean, it must've been an interesting sort of time in your life to be playing around with the marching arts activity, right? Yeah. Well, I went to, uh, Florida to march drum corps. Uh, I went and marched, uh, Sunco sound, uh, in Tampa area of Florida.
00:03:11
Speaker
And that's where I met Carl Lowe and then went back. We had our banquet in December for Drum Corps and a bunch of people that marched the color guard in Sunco Sound were like, hey, we're marching in this winter guard in Miami and we have rehearsal tomorrow.
Innovative Styles in Color Guard
00:03:32
Speaker
You want to come by?
00:03:33
Speaker
And you know, being 18, what's another four hour drive, right? So went down to Miami and just so happened that there was an empty rifle spot. And so I kind of auditioned on the spot and then drove back a couple of weeks later. And all of a sudden I lived in Miami and was marching winter guard. So that's how I got to Florida, got to my age out year of winter guard and.
00:04:00
Speaker
We were at WGI and the San Jose Raiders were on the floor and they were doing this ridiculous, amazingly ridiculous show called Patty Hearst. And I had never seen people dance like that before. And I knew that I wanted to dance like that. And I didn't know what it took or what had to happen, but I knew I wanted to do that. And then, you know, started talking and asking
00:04:28
Speaker
people about what it was and they were saying, Oh, you know, you need to contact Jay Murphy. You need to contact Scott Chandler. The movement person is ended up being one of the basic founders of WGI Stanley Knob. And I just thought to myself, you know, before I age out, I want to be in the room with these people and see what this is all about. I want them to kick my butt, my age out here.
00:04:54
Speaker
So, packed up the car and did the three and a half day drive across the country to San Jose.
00:04:59
Speaker
Wow. And so at that time in the world of color guard, motion was not as, how do you describe it, as innovative as it is now. I mean, like, I mean, the art forms kind of leaps and bounds over the years, right? So how was being in that atmosphere where people were beginning to experiment with combining these two spheres of dance and motion with the winter guard scene besides just equipment work? How was that type of environment? It was, it was very,
00:05:28
Speaker
Interesting to go through being on the floor. You didn't always necessarily understand what people like Jay Murphy and, and Scott Chandler were trying inside. But I was very fortunate to be in the room as they were doing it. And then continued to be able to be in the room. Cause I started teaching the San Jose Raiders the year after I aged out. But literally there would be times when Jay Murphy would just go, okay, just move around the floor.
Challenges in Routine Construction
00:05:54
Speaker
Just move around the floor and stop when I say stop. And.
00:05:59
Speaker
There used to always be a joke, me and John Escalante, we would always just naturally head to the front into the 50. So it always turned into, okay, move around wherever you want to, Rob and John, please don't move to the front in the 50. It was like, okay, fine. But it was really interesting. In fact, the night before I flew out to San Jose,
00:06:28
Speaker
I had a dream that I showed up and it was the night of the first show. And I literally showed up to the door as they were about to walk in. And I just was like, I don't know what I'm doing. I don't know where to go. And Jay Murphy handed me a rifle and just went, oh, just walk around. We don't really do drill. And I remember in my dream walking onto the floor and just going, okay, I guess this is what we do. So it was definitely
00:06:57
Speaker
I think it's more of a learning curve for the audience way back then than it was performing on the floor. Cause you know, performing is performing. It was a challenge to do it just to spoken word dialogue. That was kind of one of the new innovations back then, but it was, it was really great. It was, it was fun to be a part of that both on the marching side and on the teaching side.
Regional Differences in Parade Bands
00:07:20
Speaker
So it's interesting because you kind of have two worlds at your side. You have the winter guard.
00:07:26
Speaker
scene. And then you also have the parade guard scene. So there's some, I mean, obviously things, some things translate, some things don't. And so that sort of leads to the next concept that I wanted to touch upon from parade perspective. So what, when you're constructing routines, what are some of the difficulties that you face in parades that aren't as a parent on the winter floor? Besides the fact that you have a 200 person band coming at you from the back, right? Yeah.
00:07:56
Speaker
You know, one of the first things I always tell the kids when we're doing this is, you know, parade guard, parade band goes that way. Go down the street. We got to go down the street. And you know, it's, especially with modern day color guard, sometimes the vocabulary can be a little limiting. I can't go in and out of the ground. You can, but you know, it's not necessarily the most encouraged thing to do. Right. Plus we wear white. So, you know, I don't want to roll around on asphalt. Right.
00:08:25
Speaker
There are some limitations to it, but you try and, uh, sneak in some things like spinning vocabulary wise that you might see in a winter guard show that you feel will still work with the precision and musicality of parade. Um, I think that's one of the things that, that hit me the most is, is, you know, it's, it's, it's a precision based activity, right?
00:08:52
Speaker
just as much as it is a pageantry-based activity. At least the way I look at it. Oh, absolutely. And you know, it's kind of an interesting perspective from my point of view. So I'm mostly in Northern California and we have a completely different vibe of parade band from North Cal to SoCal and people.
00:09:09
Speaker
Some of the biggest lessons that I've learned from taking students down to Southern California is the focus, steadfast focus on execution and being able to bridge that gap between execution and innovation was sort of like, I mean, it's always sort of like a thin veil for me because it's hard to find that perfect in between. But if you find that perfect in between, that's where I feel like
00:09:29
Speaker
having that one thing as opposed to five things in the routine that truly make that difference, that's what makes that one thing so much more special. So I mean, it's been it's been interesting playing that game and seeing just the larger landscape, a parade band from from my lens, drum major mostly. But I still look at guard as well,
Synergy Between Parade and Winter Guards
00:09:46
Speaker
too. And I think obviously it's a major aspect of our of our showmanship score. Right. So I think I think there's lessons to be learned no matter what part of the unit you look at in regards to the different regions that the groups come from. Right.
00:09:59
Speaker
so given those northern california guards work hard i couldn't imagine if we had to go around the band and keep performing oh yeah a second time i was like when i saw those i was like oh my goodness y'all are doing double duty we get out of the way you know i've actually talked to people about this because i always think you know
00:10:22
Speaker
I want to think about exposure to error, the amount of time of exposure to error in front of the actual judges that you have when you go behind the band, too. I mean, it's double, right? And you're expected to close a show, so the closer better be nail in the coffin, right? So I think strategically,
00:10:42
Speaker
I personally prefer a Southern California approach because you can have that like, okay, we're going to go away now. We're going to disappear in front of the band. So I think, I think it's smart. So talking about, talking about what's being done with parade guards in the fall specifically. So do you see the parade season as a training ground for winter guard or vice versa? I think it's sick. I think it's a circular.
00:11:11
Speaker
I think that one, they both teach different aspects, but you can use the different aspects to enhance the other. Should you give me an example? Yeah. Like for parade, parade, you have to really articulate because of the way that most parade marches are constructed and they're played.
00:11:32
Speaker
Um, you know, you've got some really distinct rhythms in there. And, um, a number of times at the end of a phrase, you'll have a bump, bump, and you really want to, you really want to articulate that and hit it. Right. And that once you get to winter, that gets turned into, uh, an expressive and dynamic change, which also helps not only your, your equipment score, but it also helps upstairs and all those great things. And, you know, we've.
00:12:01
Speaker
Before in the past, we've tried a couple things. Like if there's a special flag toss that we want to try and work on for winter, maybe we'll put it in the parade routine or a version of it in the parade routine that takes the first steps to lead us to it for winter. But then for winter, you know, we're also now for us working on rifles and possibly sabers, even with our younger members, getting them started and trained.
00:12:31
Speaker
so that the next fall, they could be, if they want to be considered to be on the weapon line for parade season, they can be.
Advice for New Instructors
00:12:41
Speaker
Right. And so given your pedagogy, what you've set up in regards to your fall season to winter season transition and back again, what do you see in new instructors from a design perspective that can be easily fixed to really strengthen
00:13:00
Speaker
to strengthen guard programs. What are those common errors that you could just easily fix in four or five rehearsals based on the structure of the teaching going on at that school? Contrast. Sometimes we all get stuck in fast is fast and more is more and fast and more are better, which a lot of times, especially for parade, you can have your fast moments
00:13:27
Speaker
But then if you stop them and you slow them down or you finish it with a really strong hit at the end or something like that, it brings a lot of clarity to things. Because a parade march is so structured, you got your first strain, you got your second strain. It's a mathematical equation. So if you can finish each section and take the judge along that musical journey with you,
00:13:55
Speaker
And, you know, sometimes, sometimes just hitting a nice angle and connecting with the audience is, is enough to do that. And I think, uh, sometimes because of winter, we're asked to do so much, you know, because you get credit for the more things you do and how well you do them that sometimes if you restrain a little bit, you, you end up getting clarity as well.
00:14:18
Speaker
And not only from the Color Guard judge, but from maybe somebody who's not quite as familiar with Color Guard and is judging showmanship, that clarity comes a long way with precision and also it could go a long way in terms of musicality to somebody who doesn't know Color Guard that well.
00:14:53
Speaker
Hey everyone, it's Jeremy, and here are your announcements coming from the box. You wanna drink up on a water break lost in translation with Cynthia Bernard, uncover the glitz and glamour of twirlers with on a water break in rhinestones hosted by Lexi Duda, get the insider scoop from the stands with on a water break from the stands with Cindy Berry, aka Leander Mama, and join the band family in on a water break family style with Stephanie Klik, plus much, much more to come.
00:15:23
Speaker
Make sure to follow us on social media at onawaterbreak for all the latest updates and bonus content. Got something to share or a burning question? Email us at onawaterbreakpodcastatgmail.com. So don't be the person that doesn't tell their friends about a water break. Make sure everyone stays hydrated. Okay field staff, take it away.
00:15:54
Speaker
So when you're looking at the groups that are around you, what are some of the groups from a parade band perspective that you admire specifically from a color guard standpoint, from just not only a teaching perspective, but just from the group success as well as their level of execution? What are some names that stand out to you? Well, through the years, back in the day, you had to love what
00:16:23
Speaker
Amy Mack was doing with Bonita Vista back in the day and... At 90s? Yeah. 90s, right? Yeah. Yeah. Like when I first started teaching, they were just, they were great. And then what Gregory Sare was doing at Vista High School in Southern California, El Dorado back in, this is back in, El Dorado is good now. Don't get me wrong. But parade guard wise, back in the late 90s, early 2000s,
00:16:53
Speaker
El Dorado was doing some really great stuff, especially performance-wise. Those kids were always on fire performance-wise. Mount Carmel, you know, has always been gangbusters with that. Arcadia, always... I always admire how they take tradition and modernize it and push it forward. So it's still...
00:17:19
Speaker
It might be something that's 50, 60 years old, but it still feels new and it still feels fresh. And so to be able to do that through so many years, I think is really, really brilliant. Oh, and I can totally relate to that. So from a drum major perspective, when we started running upstate again in 2015, and we finally got that crossover of NorCal drum majors to SoCal drum majors, like it was a completely different game. And I remember sitting with my students and sitting down to watch those videos post competition and seeing
00:17:49
Speaker
That is what we need to do.
Teaching Experiences and Reflections
00:17:51
Speaker
We do have a different look, we have a different style, but we need to take a bit of that and meld that somehow into something else. And by doing so, that pushed us to change music on the L, right? So we're no longer just one straightforward piece. It was a story that was being told.
00:18:07
Speaker
Really, one of my favorite memories in the past, like, I'd say five to six years in the world of drum majoring has been that crossover and that intermingling because we begin to learn from each other, and then we raise each other up and so specifically, I think it was a 2020.
00:18:23
Speaker
2022 drum major, Caden Cho, amazing spinner, absolutely outstanding, right? I mean, he was throwing like sixes nonstop, just casually, right? And so like, level of execution, that's what we, that's what we began to lean toward. And I mean, obviously it made us, it made us have a better unit of
00:18:41
Speaker
of drum majors and it made me a better instructor by analyzing what exactly they were doing. So it's funny that you said the same exact thing about Arcadia. So I just kind of want to get a vibe of like, so how was it going from Rancho Bernardo and then stepping into Diamond Bar? I mean, like those are like two different eras of sweepstakes band, like history for Parade Band. What was that like for you?
00:19:09
Speaker
Some things were really, really different. Some things were really, you know, everybody runs their organization a little bit different. At least when I walked into Diamond Bar, I already had years of experience. Right. When I went to Rancho Bernardo, the year before I was at Atawanda. And we wanted to perform in Citrus College because it was one of the biggest venues that you could perform in. So back in the day, you could only do the night show if you did the band review.
00:19:39
Speaker
So Edwanda actually did the Arcadia Band Review one year. And I had no clue what I was doing. You know, we wore our field show costumes. We did, you know, we did all the basic like Disney parade stuff. But it, you know, I've got an idea of it. Walking into Rancho Bernardo, I didn't know, you know, especially Poway Unified School District. Holy crap. You know, I was walking into like,
00:20:07
Speaker
I didn't know I was walking into the belly of the beast, but I was, but I knew that it was something that was really important to Tom Cole. So, and the kids just love doing it. So I had a huge learning curve going into that first year at, at Rancho Bernardo, but somehow we made it through it. Then I got to diamond bar and they already had years and years and years, you know, of performing at, at, at band reviews across SoCal.
00:20:37
Speaker
So it was just me getting used to them, them getting used to me and a different style, a different way to perform things. You know, the musicians at both places were just ridiculous. So it was always great because I always had great music to write to, but it, hmm, you know, they were really similar in certain ways.
00:21:07
Speaker
that there was a culture already established, but my approach was different one to another because I found plenty of ways to mess up at Rancho Bernardo. So hopefully I didn't quite mess up quite as much as at Diamond Bar when I first started, but you know, what was interesting is one of my first rehearsals at Diamond Bar, Tom Cole was there working with the horn line. So it was like, wait a minute.
00:21:37
Speaker
I've seen you before.
Parade Performance Strategies
00:21:40
Speaker
Well, and one of the things that I, I mean, I, I, I always watch the old, like the 2000 to 2005 videos of Rancho Bernardo. I mean, it was just a machine, right? And so the later years, when did you feel like your job was complete at Rancho Bernardo? Like, what was that moment for you? Like when they, I mean, cause I mean, they, they won consecutively for like, I wasn't five, six years straight, right? Something like that.
00:22:04
Speaker
The band and the band the color guard I'd be like, I mean it was it was a dynasty for sure. Wasn't it? Yeah Yeah, the band won like a ridiculous amount of years in a row the color guard man. We had a lot of great competition. So We always did well, but we didn't always win and that's okay You know it is what it is so
00:22:27
Speaker
I just kind of want to get your vibe in regards to advice for the general band director, color guard person or drummer out there looking to amp up their parade program, no matter where they're at, whether it's competitive or not, what some advice that you'd give for them. I probably am over prepared, but understand what the rules are because rules for band review are very specific. Right. So understand what that is, understand the space that you're working with.
00:22:56
Speaker
and the requirements within that space, like what's the 250 mark? What do you have to do there? Understand where the band is during each section of the march so that you don't ever have to, my biggest nightmare material, the band, the color guard slowing down so much that we run into the band in the drum major. Nightmare is right there.
00:23:26
Speaker
But just the biggest thing I think is to like, if you were going into winter guard or you're going into marching band, you would know the rules of winter guard. You would know the rules of marching band, you know, I, you have to do that a little bit more with, with band reviews, especially in SoCal, cause there, there, you know, there are things that are expected and there are timing things and there are space things. So just knowing.
00:23:55
Speaker
especially the geography of the layout, like, you know, how far in should you start? And where's the 250 mark? And how far is it to the, to, to your out of competition zone? Things like that. That would be my biggest thing is just know the rule book so that you can set yourself up better for success.
Favorite Music and Equipment
00:24:17
Speaker
Absolutely. I completely agree. And so I just kind of want to get some, some bullet questions in. Okay. So what's your favorite March?
00:24:25
Speaker
It's probably between Library of Congress and Shrewsbury. What's funny is I didn't know Shrewsbury until the first time Diamond Bar played it. You didn't know that one? Wow. It's interesting. I can probably sing to you any parade march better than I can tell you what the names of them are.
00:24:47
Speaker
It's sort of a great like I get you where you hear it and you're like, Oh, I know that one, right? But yeah, the name on it, right? But I can I can sing the whole thing for you. There you go. Okay. Favorite piece of equipment. Flag. Flag. Why? Yes. I love. I've always loved flag. Flag can change expression so quickly, you can move it fast, you can move it slow. It can it
00:25:14
Speaker
It works really, really well with parade. We use a shorter flag for parade than I do for winter guard because, you know, basically I have two choices of tempo. I have 120 beats a minute or have 240 beats a minute. Right. And if I've got to go double time or if I want to play with rhythm, I want something a little bit smaller so I can go faster.
00:25:36
Speaker
Okay, so something that I caught too, I always watch Diamond Bar. Okay, so the tape at the end of the flags too, so that it doesn't make a drop sound, that's pretty smart too. That's so competitive, that's brilliant, dude. What do you mean a drop? We don't drop.
00:25:55
Speaker
Anyway, anyway, I just just wanted to point that one out. I caught that one. Yeah, right. Okay. What was your favorite year at Arcadia for Rancho Bernardo? And what was your favorite year at Arcadia for Diamond Bar? Oh goodness. Uh, they blur together a little bit, uh, back in the day. It was around like, I think it was Oh six. It was either Oh five or Oh six for Rancho Bernardo. Those kids were just monsters. Holy crap. That flag line. They were crazy.
00:26:24
Speaker
How so? We would do stuff and I'd be like, can you put a turn under that? Okay, sure. Can we do this on the move and do this instead? Okay, sure. Can we throw a flag exchange to each other in a circle? Okay, sure. Just stuff that you would think of and go, oh, maybe we can do a version of this. They were always up for the challenge and walking into the competition zone,
00:26:53
Speaker
you knew that they knew they were going to have a great performance. Right. There was, there was never a question about that. It was just like for a couple of those groups, it got to be like, okay, how good is this going to be? They were just, they had a brilliant mindset for diamond bar. It was probably honestly, it might have been, it might've been the very first year that I was at diamond bar. Yeah. Because the, the,
00:27:21
Speaker
It was a drastic change for them from the year before. I had actually gone in the year before once just to go, hey, why don't we do this drill formation instead of this one? And, you know, if the flags went up on five and then the rifles went up on seven, that might read a little bit more clearly. So I went in once and then what I asked them to do the next year, it wasn't, you know, it wasn't world-class winter guard work, but it was definitely a style change for them and definitely more
00:27:51
Speaker
interactive drill that passed through and worked around each other in close proximity. Right. And I was really, really proud of how they hung on to that and how they, they, they fought to, uh, do the style change. They, uh, our very first contest that year was Dorte. Okay. And, uh, Dorte is, is for parade season, Dorte is pretty early. I think it's in, it might be in like into September.
00:28:20
Speaker
Okay. You know, is, is early and they had an okay run and you know, we're talking about it after it. How are you doing? What'd you think? And like, they were just beaming from ear to ear and it was like, Oh, that's great. You know, wonderful, wonderful. We got something to go with. And they actually ended up scoring higher at that first contest than they did the year before at Arcadia. Oh, okay. Yeah. So that's why they were smiling so big.
00:28:49
Speaker
But it was great to see them put together that, you know, their embrace of a new way to do it was being recognized. So it was great to see that mindset.
00:29:04
Speaker
change in that evolution into a new style. Absolutely. And yeah, with the turn of a page, there's always that opportunity to set a new standard and just keep that upward trajectory
Evolving Complexity and Continuous Learning
00:29:13
Speaker
going. And that's obviously exactly what happened there. So some of our final questions we have here today. So based on your entire experience that you've had in the parade band world and in the winter guard world, where do you see the color guard art form going as a whole? Where do you see that going? Well, over the last, you know,
00:29:34
Speaker
10 years or so, you've really seen because independent world class has no age out anymore, the range of skills that those performers can do is huge because when you could age out, you only had a performer for about four years. Now, you've got people that come in and march for a decade or more, and so their skills just keep getting crazier and crazier. It's amazing.
00:30:04
Speaker
You know, some of the stuff level, you know, it rivals Cirque du Soleil stuff. Right. So it's been really interesting to see that. And of course, whatever they do, high school kids look at it and go, I want to do that too. You know, and you've got 16 year olds doing ridiculous things, which I think is absolutely amazing. And, and, you know, we'll serve them well as they go forward in their lives to, to take on new challenges. It's been interesting to watch.
00:30:34
Speaker
with the addition of like digital floors and things like that, digitally printed floors to see like the graphic content of shows, like the set designs and the prop designs and things like that just take off. And it's amazing what people do, especially inside a gym or even on a football field. You know, you see some of these groups of bands of America and you're like, Oh my God, this is like professional set.
00:31:04
Speaker
quality props. So it's so thrilling to see that. Just the amount of money that you see poured in to those sets. I mean, it's, it's mind boggling, right? And it's so funny because like people watching don't realize like how much is being put monetarily and also from like a family support perspective into that five minute show or into that three minute run. So I think, you know, a lot of people are, are, are being smart about things like that.
00:31:32
Speaker
They'll get like the bases like if it's like say a stage or something like that They'll use the same base of it and recycle those props for like five years in a row so they can cover The the cost they can spread out the cost for those props like over a number of years. I think that's really really smart Designing so you don't have to spend you know the whole bank every year
00:31:57
Speaker
And so this is totally not a question that we've set beforehand, but I'm really interested in asking you this. So from just a general marching arts instructor perspective, based on the wisdom and knowledge that you've accumulated through your time in the art form, what's like one gem that you found along the way that you could give to younger instructors to be an impactful individual, not only in the life of the students, but also to be able to create an outstanding product?
00:32:27
Speaker
Watch and go ask questions and learn. Don't be afraid to go up to anybody and ask a question. There is no stupid question. Be, never stop being inquisitive. Um, yeah, go out and go out and learn as much as you can and keep learning as much as you can. And, and you know, for people not so young, keep your, keep your eyes open and keep your mind open and, and, and, um, enjoy the evolution.
00:32:57
Speaker
of our pageantry arts and embrace it and encourage it. But for the new people, I would say, you know, yeah, go ask questions. Go, go. I have people that, that'll send me questions on Facebook messenger and just say, Hey, can you look at this? Can you give me an opinion on this? If you have time, absolutely a hundred percent, you know, I might not can do it today, but I can do it hopefully within the next week. And as you put things together.
00:33:26
Speaker
and you get input from other people, like from judges and things like that. Trust your gut first and then take what you need from others. But yeah, if you've got a good vision, if you know what you want to see out of your program, put that show out there and then listen to others about how to maybe manipulate it to better show what you had intended.
00:33:54
Speaker
I think when people get that first critique, that first set of tapes, they want to change everything right away. And, you know, when I go judge, I tell people, listen, I've looked at your program for five minutes. You've been living with your program for six months now. So I'm just giving you a, my gut reaction real quick, based on a criteria, set yourself up your process and stick
Conclusion and Invitation to Connect
00:34:22
Speaker
with it.
00:34:22
Speaker
and then get input to mold it to be a little bit better, but don't forget what your, you know, stay on your original road. That might be the best way to say it.
00:34:33
Speaker
Well, thank you for that wisdom and that wisdom is heard on my end and hopefully by all our listeners as well, too. I'd like to thank you, Rob, for taking the time to sit down, speak about your story, speak about the knowledge that you've acquired along the way, because it really is meaningful to new instructors who want to get their feet on the ground and who want to build those successful programs. So, Rob, where can people find you? Facebook, Instagram, is there anything, any plug there? I think
00:35:02
Speaker
I think I have an Instagram. I couldn't even tell you what my what it is on there. I am on Facebook. That's I'm old. I'm on Facebook. And so that's probably the easiest place to find me. OK, but yeah. OK, perfect. All right. So if you're interested in reaching out to Rob, just look him up on Facebook. So don't forget that we have our YouTube channel now that has many of our interviews coming out as full video edition. So go and subscribe to on a water break on YouTube.
00:35:31
Speaker
And before we go, I of course have to call the band to dismissal. So band dismissed. All right, peace out.