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On A Water Break Season 3 Finale: Favorite Moments + Season 4 Announcements image

On A Water Break Season 3 Finale: Favorite Moments + Season 4 Announcements

S3 E52 · On A Water Break
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Nicole Younger closes out Season 3 with the OG crew — Jackie Brown and Stephen McCarrick — for a finale hang that hits favorite moments, big laughs, and a full preview of the new Season 4 flow.

Highlights

  • The crew shares their favorite Season 3 moments — from NFL drumline conversations to Finley’s “Toddler of the Year” marching band obsession, and the Matt Harloff interview right after WGI and Coachella.
  • Season 4 preview: team-format weeklies, rotating main hosts, more regular faces, and expanded associate producer support.
  • 60 Second Tech Block: Stephen breaks down how to design video assignments so the work itself makes students better.
  • Water We Doing?! drum corps audition camp logistics + why color guard isn’t showing up more in pop productions.
  • Gush & Go: new jobs, focused creative seasons, holiday wins, and meeting baby Leilani.

This week’s panel

  • Nicole Younger (@o2binpjs)
  • Jackie Brown (@spintronixguard)
  • Stephen McCarrick (@stephenmccarrick)

Sponsors

Peak Group Travel (@peak.group.travel) • Guard Closet (@guardcloset)

Find the show

Website: onawaterbreak.com • Linktree: linktr.ee/onawaterbreak • Be a guest: forms.gle/7GcpYZLfY8Uo54pp9 • Email: onawaterbreakpodcast@gmail.com

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Transcript

Season Three Recap & Host Reflections

00:00:00
Speaker
Hi everyone and welcome to On a Water Break, the podcast where we talk about everything you and your friends are talking about at rehearsal on a water break. This week we're wrapping up season three with the OGs.
00:00:12
Speaker
We'll find out what made Jackie say. i just was thinking about the Super Bowl, like the Super Bowl halftime show when she performed and they had the color guard in there. Like, i I feel like there's a connection there. We

Music & Performance Discussions

00:00:22
Speaker
can do it. And why Stephen said...
00:00:24
Speaker
They'll use their drumline and then bring in like but a bunch of big bands from the 90s or all types of stuff and then feature their drummer as like a live halftime performance. but then All this and more on this week's episode of On a Water Break.
00:00:41
Speaker
Adolph the Met and go. Welcome to On a Water Break. The podcast where we talk everything marching arts.
00:00:53
Speaker
Everyone, bring it in. It's time for a water break. hi everyone it's nicole and it's season three finale wrap up mega announcements fun things happening for season four good time chat with my hosting besties before we go see who's on the sideline this week go and subscribe on your favorite listening app write us a review and share this with a friend Got a question or a good topic that you want to talk about for

Community Engagement & Season Transition

00:01:20
Speaker
next season? Email us at onawaterbreakpodcast at gmail.com or you can just find us on social media and DM us if you want to be on the show. We even have a form you can fill out if you want to be a guest.
00:01:32
Speaker
Check out the link in our bio. And who's on the Suds Lens this week? ah We have Jackie. Hi, Jackie. Hi, Nicole. Happy end of season three. Can you believe we've been going for three seasons now? Three seasons. it's ah it's It's kind of a... I don't believe it, but at the same time, I believe it, you know?
00:01:55
Speaker
and So, yes, I can get it. like Yeah, I can... I can do it. we have Steven on with us this week, too. Hey, Steven. Yes, absolutely. After a little while, it's crazy. I've been doing this call for so long. It's going to be like it's after not long. It'll be most of my adult life.
00:02:14
Speaker
I've just been out here. of most of my adult lifetime. So it's fun. I'm really excited to see what we ah what we're getting into next year.
00:02:24
Speaker
Oh, yeah, absolutely. Okay, now that everyone on the sidelines is here, you can, you know, we're all in a ah consensus that we just can't believe that season three is wrapping up. So um just have to ask, what are your favorite moments of season three? Or do you have a favorite moment of season

Favorite Moments & Emotional Interviews

00:02:43
Speaker
three?
00:02:43
Speaker
Well, I know one that I really enjoyed. ah There's been a couple really fun percussion ones that I did, but there were some episodes I got to do already with some ah other NFL drumlines. And there's an episode out there I know we have. It's like one of our more viewed ones on YouTube. ah But it's with the dude that runs the Seahawks drumline. And then I think also the guy that runs the Steelers drumline and...
00:03:07
Speaker
Just like really cool conversations. The stuff that I think is super interesting about it is you get to hear about like our activity in other contexts that are way different than what probably like most of the listening audience, you know, gets to do because we're we're usually so stuck in competitive band.
00:03:25
Speaker
so Exactly. That one was super cool for me. That's like a big passion project of mine. I think you all should check it out. Nice. And it definitely will because, you know, more people than we know are football fans. So they'll be like, oh, it's the Seattle East Seahawks. They have a drum line. Yeah.
00:03:42
Speaker
I just want to see. And they do stuff. Yeah. Yeah. They, they like have a lot of concerts. They'll, uh, they'll use their drum line, then bring in like but a bunch of big bands from the nineties or all types of stuff and then feature their drummer as like a live halftime performance, but then work the NFL drum line, like into their big set. So I, they might be the most involved drum line that I know of out there in the entire NFL.
00:04:10
Speaker
Wow. Yeah. If I'm wrong, I would love to be wrong because that would mean I'd go find some more cool conversations to have with more cool people doing cool stuff. So if you listen and you're in an NFL drumline and you want to talk to us about what you do and and anything like that, we would love to have you on.
00:04:27
Speaker
Come hit us up. contact on a water break. Jackie, do you have a favorite moment? I do. i have to say that this was like my favorite. And it's also like the most surprising moment. I feel like of the whole season for me was talking to Finley's mom. If you guys remember, Finley was the, the little toddler who was going for toddler of the year. And we talked to his mom, um,
00:04:52
Speaker
about it. and And he is just in love with Ohio state marching band and just, just kind of getting to sort of not just that conversation, like that conversation was phenomenal, getting to talk to her, getting to meet and, and discuss everything. But, but like getting to kind of sort of become a part of their community of, of people who supported Finley and his race for toddler of the year was so, so cool. ah he like,
00:05:20
Speaker
He's so much like my son. you know and I'm a mom, and he's just a little bit younger than my son is, and my son is also obsessed with marching band. So it was kind of this neat sort of way to see the world through you know a toddler's eyes again and and see you know what he what opportunities were opening up for him and all the cool stuff that he got to be part of and just how many people like came out together to support him.
00:05:47
Speaker
Because how many of us would have absolutely just loved that as our childhood, you know, getting to grow up in the marching band world? There's not, I mean, there are, so there are people out there and we've talked to some of them on this pod who grew up in the marching band world, but I feel like it's, it's not as, ah I don't know, it's not as broached of a topic as it probably could be.
00:06:11
Speaker
Yeah. I get that. Yeah, I would have to say that my favorite episode was, and I think it was just because of like where we were in the season time, but like having that episode where ah Joey and I interviewed Matt Harloff, and it was right after wgi wins and right after Coachella, and it was just like, we're getting you right when everything is still fresh.
00:06:35
Speaker
So it was really cool to like talk to him about that and how FAMU and the Crown Hornline came together and he worked with his DJ and stuff like that. like ah yeah He was legit. And like honestly, very real by saying, I'm very tired. After I finish with you, I'm going for a nap. Yeah.
00:06:56
Speaker
Very cool. well and that was cool Yeah, that was That was such a good conversation.

Looking Forward: Season Four & New Hosts

00:07:01
Speaker
Like, man. But timem before we wrap up season three, we just want to give you a little quick preview of what's coming. Because season four of On a Water Break is getting a whole new flow in a really good way. So ah our weeklies are moving to a team format. So you're going to see rotating main hosts. more regular faces and ah lot more consistency week to week. So you'll be seeing Chris Rutt, who's been on before Whitney stone has been on Taylor pool has been on a couple of times, but now we're going to see a lot more of her and also more of Joey. So they're, they're going to be leading those weekly episodes with a growing group of other hosts, just jumping in more often.
00:07:44
Speaker
ah we're also bringing in some new and familiar voices. We've been asking, um for more of like Jeremy Denzer and Taylor Greatbatch and ah Taylor Greatbatch has a huge, I guess you could say following on TikTok right now. Very funny guy. um So they're going to be helping us break down the news on socials and even other um people that are definitely going to be, you're going to be hearing more from.
00:08:13
Speaker
Nice. yeah That's good. I can remember back in the day, it was just, you know, like me, Jackie, Nicole, i don't even know when, when was your first episode? You know, I don't remember. All I can remember is that I was a special guest.
00:08:26
Speaker
It's so true. i can remember there was one day I was a special guest and i was like, oh, this is so cool. And they were like, oh, why don't you come back? And I was like, well, why don't I? And I i don't remember. i mean, if we- I'm so excited to meet you. I remember your first episode because I was just like, oh my gosh, we get to have Nicole on the show. Like I've wanted to talk to her and I've i've wanted an excuse to talk to her for a long time. Yeah.
00:08:47
Speaker
Well, it's nice that we've got more faces around now because back in the day, that was a lot of calls for us and a lot of time spent editing. We weren't very, at least I was not a very efficient editor.
00:09:00
Speaker
Jeremy had shout out for that one, I guess. I was going to say, like back before I even got there, I don't know how it was for you all, but i I'm imagining with a smaller crew, yeah it had to be a lot more difficult than what it is right now. So I'm glad i was able to jump on and start that bandwagon of bringing people in That's good. Yeah, for sure. You've been a big help.
00:09:23
Speaker
Well, thank you. I've loved being here, honestly. it's It's probably one of the things that I look forward to. it's just like oh And once you get into the rhythm of it when you're recording, you know, it all comes together. Um, so, uh, I know that behind the scenes, we're expanding the production team too. So, uh, we're going to be bringing on Haley Harrington, Amari Lewis, and then Jeremy from drum core today. And then Emily Lee, Emily knee. They're going to be stepping into associate producer roles, which means that the shows are going to run a little bit smoother and we can stay focused on the conversation.
00:10:00
Speaker
We know, you know, we like to talk, um, ah You'll also see Trish in a new leading role with more quick sips. Steven, you and Ricardo and some other folks are going to be jumping in to talk with newsmakers. um You're going to be talking about viral moments um and see what everybody else is just talking about like right now.
00:10:24
Speaker
Jackie and I... are going to be doing more on a water break with. So more interviews, more stories, and then more time with people you actually want to hear from. Not that you don't want to hear from us all, but- What's this supposed to mean about- ah um I don't know. Okay. We all want to hear from Matt Harloff. Don't want to hear from Stephen McCary.
00:10:46
Speaker
Fine. was going to say, the people that they're requesting to hear us talk to that's what it is. I see. I see. We've read your comments and we're getting into that right now. ah So same show, same energy, just a smarter way to do it and a lot more room to grow. So season four is going to be starting um at the beginning of 2026. And we're really started for what's next. So ah who do we all want to ah talk to or something that we want to see happen next season?

Dream Guests & Light-hearted Segments

00:11:21
Speaker
little bit more percussion people. Lady Gaga. Oh, all those That's better. That's better. Actually. Mine was a nerd answer. Yeah. Lady Gaga. Yeah. everybody Personally, as a color guard person, though, like I will tell you. king That could be a move.
00:11:35
Speaker
It could be a move. Yeah, exactly. I just was thinking about the Super Bowl, like the Super Bowl halftime show when she performed and they had the color guard. And they're like, i I feel like there's a connection there. We could we could do it.
00:11:47
Speaker
Also, that was a question for our listeners too. What do you want to see? Who do you want to see us talk to? But think about it and we're going to go to a commercial.
00:12:07
Speaker
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00:12:23
Speaker
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00:12:37
Speaker
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00:12:49
Speaker
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00:13:01
Speaker
Have you listened to our podcast on a water break? Weekly episodes and bonus content keep you entertained and informed with what's going on in the marching arts. For over 25 years, Guard Closet has been here to help.
00:13:14
Speaker
Check us out at guardcloset.com or follow us on social media.
00:13:30
Speaker
Here are some other hosts talking about their favorite parts of the season. Hey, let's reset that chunk again.
00:13:42
Speaker
Bobby here from On A Water Break. I think one of my favorite moments from my favorite episode this season was hearing Latrice Royale, the famous drag queen, talk about how she has used her years of color guard experience when programming and staging her drag shows. You should definitely give that one a listen.
00:14:00
Speaker
my I love color art so much, and it's always, has been, and always will be a part of me. And so to be able to have those two intersect and my worlds collide and do the very two passions at the same time, a dream come true. And then after seeing what was possible, a theater stage with Blast, um I was like, ooh, what?
00:14:32
Speaker
Hi, my name's Amari Lewis. I'm excited to be coming into the family next season. And my favorite clip from last season was any What Are We Doing segment. Tony, or as I like to call you, Sugar Mama Daddy.
00:14:42
Speaker
ah There's a whole story behind that. All right, so here's my What Are We Doing. And i'm I'm coming after Color Guard for this one. Oh. um This is a world championship. First of all, in UD Arena, y'all coming out the wrong, you're coming down the, coming on the wrong side. That's the incorrect side. That's first of all. Second of all, yeah I feel like y'all are trolling the percussion because y'all come out there with your floor and you like...
00:15:12
Speaker
loof and you pull it out, you're like hugging each other and like it got secret handshakes and y'all just all relaxed. Meanwhile, in the percussion world, we're trying to make sure that our light show and our main stage is working and that all of this and and we just like. the I feel like y'all are trolling us by how relaxed you are coming onto the floor. So that's what do we do?
00:15:38
Speaker
It's a different vibe. Don't hit it.
00:15:45
Speaker
championships. Y'all, it is literally like being in war. When they pulled that, because I was there with Infinity World, they pulled that curtain back on side two, which number one is wrong.
00:15:59
Speaker
but And it's like, it's clear like, no! Everything goes to slow motion. And they gotta plug everything up. And everything's running, running. And it was like, do go, go, go, go!
00:16:10
Speaker
it's It's a lot. Yes. It's a lie. And we ain't trolling y'all because we too busy watching our own shows when it's World Class Finals.
00:16:23
Speaker
Those percussion kids are not big. Those percussion kids paid $100 to go to the World Class Finals. But where are they? In the parking lot. In the lot. In the parking lot.
00:16:35
Speaker
So now, it's a total. Oh, man. i I just got roasted.
00:16:47
Speaker
Hi, everybody. It's Trish. My favorite autumn water break moment of 2025 definitely had to be the Legacy Drum and Beagle Corps announcement. I'm a director of one of the DREAM performing arts programs, Envy Wintergard, and DREAM representatives Tommy Maiello and Eric Sabock, two really good friends of mine, we go way back, wanted come on the podcast and talk about the 34 Foundation.
00:17:08
Speaker
So I already knew that they were planning to make the legacy announcement that week. And I was just sitting on the edge of my seat the whole time, hoping, praying that we could just get it out of them because they were going to wait till the end of the week right before DCI East to make the announcement.
00:17:23
Speaker
We recorded the Tuesday, tab I believe, of DCI East week or during the week. And we got it out of them and they did it. And they were looked at each other and they said, should we just say it? And i'm like, just say it because I already know. I already know. So that was definitely one of my favorite moments of 2025 that Legacy Drama and Bugle Corps will be representing Dream at SoundSport. And another great year for On a Water Break. And I hope you all have an amazing holiday season.

Legacy Drum Corps & Travis Scott Collaboration

00:17:50
Speaker
On Wednesday, we will that have announced that Legacy Drama Bugle Corps We'll take the field in 2026 as a sound sport. And the idea the idea behind legacy, we will follow the ethos and principles of the cadets ah with a new generation of young performers, a very innovative staff. ah When you see the names on the staff, we'll save that for another day.
00:18:15
Speaker
When you see the names that wanna make this work along with Eric, myself and a fantastic board of directors, 2026 is blast. And, you know, hopefully everything goes according to plan. Legacy will be around for 90 years. And just to continue that tradition of excellence and just carry on the legacy of Holy Name into the future for the next generation of marching members.
00:18:45
Speaker
Christine, one of the producers of On A Water Break. And one of my favorite moments from this past season was when Ricardo talked about his husband coming along on tour. I had to explain to my husband this past year, like last year when I went back to teaching drum corps. It's like, well, you're just traipsing around the country going and living your best life and blah, blah, blah. I was like, I'm sleeping on a bus at a gym floor. So this summer, he tried to pull that crap. And you know what I did?
00:19:14
Speaker
I made him take his ass with me on the road. no. walked into the gym and the smell of the popcorn jam came out. I'm he goes, you're dying oh, you weren't just having fun. I was like, uh-huh. And you're going sit your ass out here in the sun with me all day today and watch me clap these hands and see how much fun I was having. Oh, I love it when people tell me how much fun I'm having at my job.
00:19:45
Speaker
Hi, it's Whitney. My favorite moment on On A Water Break this season or year, I guess, was when i got to do a 60 second tech block about makeup.
00:19:57
Speaker
Happy New Year. Okay, Whitney. So this is your moment. This is the time right now for all of America to hear how fantastic you are at makeup and you are going to school all of us in 60 seconds.
00:20:10
Speaker
Are you ready, the sister? I'm ready. All right, Ryan, let us know when to go. Ready, set, go. Yeah. Okay. So first you want to make sure you start with a clean face. You get all that sweat off your face. Make sure you're using SPF during marching band season. BB creams and CC creams are the way to go.
00:20:29
Speaker
Make sure you have a great powder, right? Cause you're going sweat. Okay. Make sure you do contour so you don't look like a thumb running around the field. Right. Make sure you use blush. Kids don't like to use blush. Put blush on. You've got have eyebrows so you don't look like I do right now. Make sure everything you do is waterproof. Waterproof mascara, right? Everything waterproof. Oh gosh, setting spray. You got to use setting spray. Stop using the makeup wipes, the the ones that you throw in the garbage. Those break you out. Stop using those. Get a makeup eraser. It's a pink cloth. Get that.
00:21:02
Speaker
Fake lashes. Use fake lashes. Black glue. You don't need to waste your eyeliner by putting on eyeliner and then fake lashes. Don't do bottom eyeliner and mascara. It's just going to run. um Have paper towel ready for after the show. Blot your sweat.
00:21:15
Speaker
Yes, ma'am.
00:21:19
Speaker
Yes, ma'am.
00:21:22
Speaker
I love sounds. That was epic. I can't wait to play this back and then slow it down so that I can write all these tips down. Exactly. yes but I'll just send you a sheet.
00:21:34
Speaker
I was ready. I appreciate that. Very nicely done. Very nicely done. didn't get to the last one, which was matte lipstick is the best for hair that is down. So you don't, you know,
00:21:46
Speaker
Oh. When your hair, like if you got sticky lip gloss on and then your hair is down, oh, it's the worst. Whitney, you could have saved me like 20 years worth of trouble. I know. Should have hired me.
00:22:03
Speaker
Hey, everybody. It's Jackie from On a Water Break. My favorite episode that we did this year was when we talked to Finley's mom about the toddler of the year competition and all of the incredible voting that went on for that. I love, love, love to see a love of the marching arts developing in the next generation. And it was wonderful to hear how, you know,
00:22:29
Speaker
Finley's parents are supporting him through his passion and just to get it out there that, you know, this activity is a family activity too. And we should be involving our kids in the stuff that we are passionate about so they can develop their own passions too. So I love it.
00:22:45
Speaker
Don't give it a listen if you haven't heard it yet. And, uh, Happy holidays from On a Water Break. And he heard, I came across a reel and on Facebook, and it was the Bluey intro song being played by Purdue on the marching field.
00:23:04
Speaker
This 30-second clip. 30 seconds is shorter than two minutes. So we watched it and watched it and watched it and I was tired. So oh I went looking for the full halftime show. It's a cartoon halftime show.
00:23:17
Speaker
And it's like 11 minutes. I get a little break and he would watch it over and over, start performing it more and more. He would look past the the cheerleaders in the foreground to watch the band.
00:23:30
Speaker
and recreate what the band was doing. It's my kind of kid. yes Yeah, I mean, ah it was it's it's pretty cool. It's easy for me to plug right into, because I have you know a history of marching band.
00:23:42
Speaker
So i I thought, let me look up some point of view videos from the field. And that's when we found Ohio State and from every angle imaginable. ah And so the rest is history.
00:24:01
Speaker
everyone, Nicole here. My favorite episode that we did was the bonus episode with Matt Harloff. Joey and I sat down with Matt and talked about Coachella, how he worked with Travis Scott and the FAMU band and the Crown horn line and just talked shop for a bit. It was really, really cool. So go and check that one out.
00:24:23
Speaker
Let's just start at the top. How did this opportunity with Travis Scott become a thing for you and for Crown Brass? 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, wins rehearsals, guard, drumline, rehear concert bands, all the stuff, and all the things.
00:24:47
Speaker
And um 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. It's like a lot of the emails when you wake up are kind of junk, right? So um there was this one email that I got. I knew i saw it.
00:25:09
Speaker
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 our band secretary said, hey, there's a voicemail from Alyssa. Here's her phone number. Give her a call, you know, whatever. And again, I'm like, no, don no, I'm not not doing that. This is not real. 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.
00:25:43
Speaker
We got winds and percussion and all the concert band stuff going on. Right. um Later that day, Nancy from Carolina Crown, one of the administrators, Nancy Coates, married to Jim Coates.
00:25:54
Speaker
She messaged me and said, Matt, I just got a phone with Alyssa and you need you need to look into this one. 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.
00:26:16
Speaker
And so so- thought it was fake at first too, actually, to take 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. And 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. And we need a conductor and we want you to be that conductor.
00:26:50
Speaker
And so then we worked it out from there and that's kind of how all of that started.
00:27:02
Speaker
Hey friends, it's Ricardo from On A Water Break. And I have to tell you that my favorite moment of this season is definitely a shameless plug, but it is the entire episode with Latrice Royale. So just a little background.
00:27:15
Speaker
It was a couple weeks of us back and forth trying to get Latrice onto the podcast and like a lot of like late night text messages and emails and stuff. um And when we finally were able to work it out, I was like, we were going to make this happen regardless. And I rushed home from work so that we could start the recording And i will tell you what you got on the recording and the episode is only like half of the fun because there was so much more stuff like laughter and chatter that happened behind the scenes with the trees as we were prepping and getting ready. And in between like the commercial breaks and stuff like that for the show. I mean, Latrice has just always been one of those like wonderful people and like personality is just amazing. And journey through Color Guard is wonderful. So that entire experience of being able to like bring that and show it back out to the Color Guard world was just awesome for me. So I hope that you enjoy that episode of On a Water Break.
00:28:17
Speaker
Here go. Jeremy Q, the metronome in... From Compton, California, I got into the arts in middle school, started doing color guard, got outed, moved to Wisconsin to march sundown as of the guards because I needed a safe haven, and that was my safe haven. and Then I marched there, Blue Stars, moved from there to Florida to be in the in Alliance of Miami, stayed there, was only supposed to be there for two years, started doing drag as I was aging out because I needed another outlet for performance. And then I got famous on Drag Race and still wanted to do color guard, and so I incorporated the two, and so here I am now. And I'm an international world-renowned superstar.
00:28:53
Speaker
Yeah!
00:28:58
Speaker
Did I do it? You did, girl. And you just hung over just like any good flag phrase would. Like, you I mean? Like, it just finishes out with the family. And an Emmy and I won. Uh-huh.
00:29:13
Speaker
Those were some great memories. I hope to make so many more in the next season. Thanks so much.
00:29:32
Speaker
Marching by Montez is a visual design business based out of Raleigh, North Carolina, but provides services to ensembles all across the country. Our services include custom drill and staging for marching bands, indoor winds, indoor percussion, and winter guards, as well as custom band and guard choreography for all three winter idioms and marching bands.
00:29:53
Speaker
We now offer program coordination for ensembles throughout the U.S. and custom graphic design for all of your uniform, props, flags, and floor needs.
00:30:06
Speaker
In-person and virtual program consultation options are now available through Marching by Montes, as well as custom sound design for your indoor winds backing tracks, winter guard soundtrack, and show soundscape needs.
00:30:19
Speaker
Visit us at marchingbymontez.com. Contact us at joey at marchingbymontez.com. And check us out on social media at marchingbymontez.
00:30:44
Speaker
Okay, everyone, we're back. Those are some great memories. I hope to make so many more in the next season. And it's time for our 60-second Tech Block.
00:31:00
Speaker
60-second Tech Block. I always love to get yelled at by Ricardo. This is the segment where we have one of our hosts or guest collect guest clinicians put on the spot to deliver a nonstop 60-second tech session. at the top that need some serious attention after that last run.
00:31:17
Speaker
Our special tech this week has come prepared with three topics they think that they can talk about for a full 60 seconds straight. No hesitation, no pauses, just pure technical

Educational Insights & Audition Planning

00:31:26
Speaker
gold. This week, Stephen's doing it for us because, well, we haven't made Stephen do a 60 second tech block in a very long time.
00:31:34
Speaker
Probably never. Probably never. Yeah, you haven't done this. So here we go. okay Stephen's topics are entertainment, entertainment band and playing to your audience, writing effective bass drum music, or and three, designing effective video assignments that make your students better.
00:31:55
Speaker
I like the third one. It's been heavy on my mind. Yeah. I've heard a lot of people talk about it too. Jackie, what do you think? I like the third one too, because hey yes, this is seriously like something that has definitely been weighing on me. And I've been hearing a lot about it on social media and much requested. So.
00:32:15
Speaker
Perfect. All right. So Steven, we're doing number three. And since I'm here with you, I'm going to do a Zed timer. Got it? Everybody ready?
00:32:26
Speaker
Okay, here we go. In three, two, one, go. All right. So for me, ah doing a video assignment, you need to make sure that you're not just turning this into like a pop quiz, like a homework. You just got to fill out the answers to the end. Do your rep of letter A to letter B and upload one video of it. If you do that, your students are going to practice for one to two minutes, record their video, and then they're gone.
00:32:52
Speaker
So what I've started to do over the last couple of years at United is I've started to make sure that the point of the video assignment is the work. So much so that even if I gave feedback is neither here nor there. Realistically, the point is more so that you spent the time doing the exercise, almost like I'm mandating rehearsal.
00:33:09
Speaker
And just by the process of you completing this assignment as though it's homework is what's going to get you good, not the feedback. So it's not about you as the educator watching the video and providing the feedback. You need to design your assignments in such a way that the process of your student doing all of that assignment is what's going to make them good.
00:33:27
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And we're done.
00:33:34
Speaker
Nice. Okay, Stephen, it's almost like you thought about that. I think about it a lot. I actually didn't think about it as how I condense it in a 60 second, but literally every weekend, I'm just like a broken record with my co-tech at UP bass, just figuring out what we're going to do. and One little pro tip that I'll give out to the drum techs out there. Maybe this even works in Color Guard too.
00:33:56
Speaker
is that we've started to design it out where it's like there's a portion of the video that they're supposed to do. It's more exercise oriented and might take like three or four minutes. And then at the end, there's a full rep of the part that we just worked on in the larger context.
00:34:13
Speaker
And then what you really want to get to is the spot where your students have a high ah standard for themselves and they're not going to submit that video at the end. If it's not good, they're going to redo that four or five minutes of actual work so that then they could try to get that better rep out of the pop quiz at the end of it.
00:34:32
Speaker
I love that. And that can translate to Color Guard, too. Yeah, I would bet that it could. It's really just like formatting of of how you do assignments. but Love it. are we doing?
00:34:51
Speaker
What are we doing? wow That's just such a good bass. Anyway, this is the part. That was a solid 60 second tech block. But now it's time to switch things up to our favorite, what are we doing? And this is the part of the show where we let loose a bit, maybe not a lot, but this is a chance to rant about something that's going in the marching arts that just doesn't make sense. So Maybe it's a tradition that needs to go. Maybe it's a habit that performers can't seem to break. Or maybe it's just something that makes you think, why are we even doing this? Or why haven't we started doing this yet? So whatever it is, we're just going to go ahead and get it off our chest and do it now. So Stephen, with that 60-second tech block, I think you have a good what are we doing.
00:35:34
Speaker
Yeah, I do. I just thought of it. But this one's a one I keep hearing from some of my students that are auditioning. a lot of drum corps are out here not really announcing with enough lead up time where and when their audition camps are.
00:35:47
Speaker
Or in like one instance that I don't want to like call out the core to specifically, I'm just not interested in being that guy. But the core pivoted across an entire state, like hundreds of miles, the location of the audition camp, I believe within days or maybe like a week or two of the event date.
00:36:05
Speaker
And it's just like you cannot put that logistic on someone. So. Please, for the love of all things, um I think that we should just try to have these things planned out more in advance, especially if you're expecting students to buy airplane tickets to go to these events.
00:36:21
Speaker
True story. Jackie, what are we doing? What are we doing? it definitely just had like a really good one and completely like blanked. I'm accusing brain of being a thing. But what are we doing? We're going back to Lady Gaga now. What are we doing? Not including Color Guard more often.
00:36:41
Speaker
like the background of things. Like, like we have background dancers, background dancers are great. But then a lot of times what they do is they just, if they have a prop, they need to have like thrown around in the background. They just hand it to a dancer.
00:36:53
Speaker
And then the dancer's like, woo, why don't we have a color guard in there? You know, let's say you're having a golf thing production, like get a color guard out there and have them spin into golf clubs instead of just handing them to dancers and having them dance around and Hold it up. I mean, it's, it's a little thing, little things like that. yeah
00:37:18
Speaker
no I get it. Well, my, what are we doing is why are we not subscribed to season to the next season of on a water break? So you can find out what else is going on and everything that is going on. And I don't know, part of the water break family, get your water jug out. Make sure you subscribe.
00:37:36
Speaker
What are we doing? Great job, everyone. Set your equipment down. Gush and go.
00:37:43
Speaker
All right. Now ah that we got that off our chest, we're on to

Personal Highlights & Season Conclusion

00:37:46
Speaker
gush and goes. This is a chance to shout out something awesome happening in your life, marching arts. It can be related or not. Just, you know, basically we're just bragging about something. Performance, students, um a big life event, just something cool you want to brag about. So we'll do the same round, Robin.
00:38:03
Speaker
Steven. Yeah. Yeah. Thanks for picking me first because I'm coming up on another call from work. That's maybe a quick one. I've got a new job this year. This has nothing to do with band at all, but my new job has been good. So that's great in life. And then yeah for me at band, I've been so locked in with United.
00:38:21
Speaker
Yeah. Thank you, Jackie. But I've been so locked in at United. We're about to have our holiday camp. of Going to be there for like five days and just really start to cook.
00:38:31
Speaker
You guys are going to be excited to see what we've got going on at United this year. so Very cool. Yes. Thanks, Stephen. Bye. Bye, Stephen.
00:38:43
Speaker
yeah All right, Jackie. You guys going about my clients this year, because I've severely, severely limited the number of clients that I am taking on for Winter Guard. And so my clients, my choreography and drill writing and staging for them is going to be super focused this year. I'm very excited about this. And yeah, it's kind of funny. I'm like, I always was looking forward to like, oh, I'm going to have more clients. I'm going to have more clients. I'm going have more And in the last couple of years, I've kind of like
00:39:14
Speaker
not done it that way. And, and I've limited myself to how many clients I can have. And, and I'm just excited about the idea that I can really focus in on the shows that I'm working on versus just trying to generally get everybody a good show.
00:39:28
Speaker
Right. So how many clients do you have this year? Two, two, which is like little bitty. Yeah, that is okay. I'm just excited, like I said, about to about to like really focus in and not be spread so thin. That's always a good thing, too. I mean, zero in on them, get what they want, and even a little bit more. Sprinkle some magic Jackie dust on it.
00:39:51
Speaker
Well, um I want to say my gush and go is... What are you gushing about today? Honestly, going home for Christmas. I have a new... well Let's see. My niece just had a baby, so i'd guess that would make her my grandniece.
00:40:09
Speaker
Okay, b that says yes. All right. So I'm excited to meet my grandniece. Her name is Leilani. And ah go home and see a lot of friends and, you know, just honestly hit the ground running because I have like maybe three weeks until my winter season starts once I get back home and, you know, after all of that. So yeah. And then, you know, new things happening through the year too. So it's an exciting year and I'm excited to get it started.
00:40:37
Speaker
Hey, it's called Gush and Go, not Gush and Stay. Let's go. Well, I want to say thanks for a great rehearsal. Jackie, it's always a great rehearsal with you and Steven, even though he had to go and leave early. i love hosting with you and Steven both. so I know. we're going to have Hopefully we have some more of these, but I know they're going to be a little bit few and far between. But I do want to say thank you to, like I said, Jackie, Steven, Christine, Trish, Alicia, Ricardo, Jeremy and all the other hosts and all the guests and everyone else who made season three so amazing. Love to my OGs, Jackie and Steven. And thank thank you to everyone who spent time with us today and all through the season.
00:41:22
Speaker
Now, again, if you want to be a guest or you have a question or a good topic that you want to um talk about, email us at onawaterbreakpodcast at gmail.com.
00:41:33
Speaker
Or you can find us on social media if you want to be on the show because we have that form. If you go and check out our link in the bio, um we love having people on the podcast. So check that out. And um it's going to be on social media.
00:41:46
Speaker
or you could just take out your phone and make a video and send it to us. And maybe you'll see yourself on the podcast next season. One more thing, just don't forget that we have a YouTube channel so you can see all of everything that you're hearing on YouTube. So go and subscribe um to us there. And then before you log out of your podcast listening app, subscribe, write us a review and share it with a friend.