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The Three Levels of Visual Awareness
publication date: Feb 18, 2009
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author/source: Brandon Cochenour
You may be familiar with the
musical concept of "levels of listening" with regards to balance and blend within
the music ensemble. For example...the first level is listening to your
self. "What is the sound coming out of
my horn?" Level 2 involves listening to
the people immediately around you. "How
does my sound fit with the person on my left and right? Are we matching pitch? Is there good balance and blend?" Finally, level 3 deals with how you fit into
the ensemble. "If I'm a trumpet, what do
I sound like compared to the rest of the trumpets? The rest of the brass? The entire ensemble?"
Likewise, we can make visual analogies and talk about 3 levels of marching awareness. Level 1 - Your individual marching responsibilities: Am I using the correct technique? Do I have good posture/horn carriage? Am I taking the correct step size/pathway? Do I know my coordinates? This is all about individual responsibility and accountability. Level 2 - How you relate to the people around you: Do I maintain space between the people immediately to my left and right? Do I understand how my interval relationships change for each phrase? Level 3 - Extra responsibilities related to the form: For example, in a company front, is there a dress/reference point I should be looking for? How are my recovery skills? If the flutes all miss their dot, how quickly can we use each other to recover as a group? The order of importance here is crucial. Let's go back to our musical analogy. At the end of the day, every band director wants a band with a great sound and sonority (i.e. - great Level 3 awareness). However...you don't just hand a student a trumpet on the first day of band camp and expect him to know what it means to balance, blend, and play in tune. First, we need to learn how to set, take a breath, and make a sound (Level 1) For some reason, this logic doesn't always make it into the visual domain. Everyone wants to jump right into learning this year's cool new drill move, but then we scratch our heads in October when it still doesn't quite look right. Or, we wonder why Susie Freshman just seems to wander around the field instead of performing direction changes with confidence. Why is this? Well...sometimes we forget how essential basic individual training is to our marching program. Visually speaking, we forget to teach which end of the horn to blow into! We can't talk about the finer points of a French Curve (level 3) if you do not know the proper interval (Level 2). And we can't talk about any of that until we know how to stand up straight...move in time...and do it all with good technique. So, how can you integrate the Three Levels of VISUAL Awareness into your marching program? A good recipe is to focus on Level 1 for a good portion of the beginning of your season. Even when you start learning drill...don't jump right to Level 2 and 3...it is tempting...but be patient! Continue to reinforce individual responsibility and accountability. How is your technique? How is the student's timing? Is the student hitting his or her dot? Is the student taking the right pathway/step size? As camp ends and you head to September, start to add the Level 2 responsibilities. Allow the students to see the relationships between them and the people around them. What does a 2 step interval look like? A 4 step? A 2.5? Eventually, this leads to Level 3 concepts. Understanding how a complex curvilinear changes from one phrase to another...becoming aware of how a form reshapes...and how to make quick recoveries. By the end of the season...your rehearsals are focusing on any or all of the Levels at any time...but only because you've laid a great foundation. Now...about which end of that horn to blow into....
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