This article could easily be subtitled, "Things Drill Designers Can Do To Keep the Visual Staff from Going Crazy in October."  In other words, what looks "cool" on paper sometimes simply isn't "user friendly".  How many times have you spent your season trying to clean a drill move that was destined for bad news from jump street?

Here are some easy, simple requests for your designer to help make your band look cleaner.

1.  Use a coordinate system:  Designers use a coordinate system to write, but sometimes this doesn't translate well to the performers.  Ask your freshman tuba player to check that he is 3 ½ steps inside the 45 yard line in October, and he's likely to look at you like you're a jigsaw puzzle.  Don't just ‘use' coordinates to initially learn the drill, but take the time to actually help the students understand it, and reinforce it every day.  Make sure that everybody knows the directional "lingo" (inside, outside, in front, behind, etc.).  Use drill books.  Are you unsure on how to implement a "dot system"?  Ask the good folks at Dynamic Marching!

2. Be Realistic:  Always remember who you're writing for... a certain drill move may look cool and appear to generate a lot of effect on paper, but it ultimately becomes a giant "science fair" when the bass drums are playing split rolls while doing a 4 to 5 backwards...all while passing through the flags.

3. When Possible, Use Straight Line Paths:  Write your drill so that the transitions between sets require everyone to take a straight line path.  This takes some weight off the performers backs in that all they have to do is concentrate on making a straight line from where they are now, to where they are going.  By taking the time to assure this during the design phase, the teaching staff doesn't have to take rehearsal time figuring out how to get folks from place to place without collisions.  There are designers who find allowing performers take curved paths opens up more options for greater creativity...and this can be true!  If it works for you, great!  On the other hand, there are designers who are just as creative by using the "straight line path" method.  (A certain Drum and Bugle Corps in green comes to mind...).

4.  Use the field to your advantage:  If you're going to put the entire ensemble in a big vertical line, throw them a bone!  Why force 100 people to cover down 2 ¼ steps from the 50 when you could just put them on the big white line?  Likewise, you can tailor your design to your practice field (and vice versa)...like if you use "cheater dots" spaced every 4 steps on your yardlines.  Why stage a long horizontal line 5 ¼ steps in front of a hash when you could put it 4 steps in front of a hash (i.e. - on your cheater dot)?

5.  When possible, favor even step intervals in your forms, especially the linear ones:  As a teacher...there was nothing that drove me crazy more than teaching the big company front at the end of a show for the first time...only to find that it was written at a 2 ¾ step interval.  Blech!  A 2 step or 3 step is infinitely more cleanable.  Of course, from a design standpoint, this isn't always practical or desirable...however for those big moments with lots of transparency; a little thought goes a long way.  (A judge is more likely to say, "Hey, your intervals at this big moment in your show aren't good," before they're likely to say, "Hmmm...is this a 2 ¾ step interval?").

6. Don't be afraid to write halfway points or subsets as actual pages:  Some directors dread having lots of drill pages in their show.  For example, say you have a 16 count phrase where the trumpets pass through the baritones on count 8.  Instead of writing it as a 16 count phrase and having to work on a pass through all season, write it as two sets of 8, where the pass through moment is an actual co-ordinate.  Is it one more set you'll have to teach?  Yes.  But in the end, you'll spend less time cleaning the easier "two sets of 8" than the harder "one set of 16".

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