The Dotbook Checklist
Do your students have a dot book? What do they put in them? Just coordinates? Read on...
The most helpful dots books are well organized complete, thorough, and used as a quick reference and study tool. Besides an instrument or flag, it is the most important piece of equipment that the marcher has on the field. It is a detailed roadmap of the field and is essential for a self-cleaning band member. The following is a list of everything that could be and should be written in a dot book. Every time you start or stop a set, the members can examine the dot book and precisely check what they just did or get ready for all that must be remembered for the next chunk.
- Coordinates, exactly to the quarter of a step
- MIDSETS!!! (the dot you are on half way into the move)
- Horn moves (up and down, and how long)
- Form responsibilities, reference points in view while on the move
- Body movements with counts
- Music, tricky notes or rhythms
- Breathing counts for each set
- Vectors to the next dot, such as up 4 and over 7 ½ steps. (aids in find midsets)
- Musical reminders like dynamics, balance concerns, articulations
- Duck tape the outside of the dot book, so it lasts longer
- Attach to your waist with an old shoe string, it WILL stay on
- Make 2 COMPLETE and UP TO DATE dot books! (in case you lose one...)
 | Evan Cooper frequently writes articles and teaches clinics on marching, movement, and brass instruction. For a more complete bio please visit our consultants and clnicians page here. |