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Music

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music iconArticles in this section focus on the musical aspects of Marching Band.  Simply select the category below or check out the most recent articles listed below!

If you would like to see a topic covered in this section please e-mail: jeff@dynamicmarching.com

Recent Features

  What to Listen For in Music... Ensemble
Apr 14, 2010
listen-to-musicEvery music educator has a drum that they beat day in and day out. Not the literal drum, as many of us are simply not gifted in the percussive arts. (If you're like me, hopefully you've avoided having your inadequacies caught on tape - pray you keep it that way). The ceaseless campaigning I am talking about boils down to our central mission as a teacher - the undercurrent that guides, nuances, and directs our efforts in what we do. For some it might be musicianship, others it might be precision, others still might champion facility and technical prowess. All of these are hugely valid, as they are all essential aspects of music-making and should be expected of every student on whatever level they personally can achieve.
  Chord Exercise "A" by Richard Saucedo
Jul 6, 2009
Chord Exericse "A" is a challenging chord progression written by Ricahrd Saucedo and featured on DYnamic Music:  Volume 2.  This chord exercise will take a long time to master, but really will help your players to learn to listen to intonation and balance in consonant and dissonant chords.
  IT
Jun 26, 2009
Michael McIntosh explains what "IT" is - pertaining to General Effect(GE) and the pageantry arts.
  Mellophones – French Horn or Mello Mouthpiece?
May 15, 2009
French Horn MouthpieceObviously, the French horn is extremely difficult to play while moving so most marching bands will use the marching French horn, mellophone, or the alto horn as the marching equivalent to the horn.  Which one you should choose is itself an entirely separate story so I will focus on the mellophone here since that is what most Drum Corps have been converting over to as of late.  The biggest challenge is what to do about the mouthpiece.  If you are lucky enough to have spare trumpet players that will be converting to mellophone for the marching season this is less of a problem but if you are like most bands (and myself included back in the day) you will have several horn players playing this instrument during the marching season while still trying to develop as a horn player during concert band.  So do you use a standard mellophone mouthpiece, alto horn mouthpiece, or go with the horn mouthpiece with an adaptor to fit the leadpipe?  There is a huge variety of opinion on this just as a disclaimer and there are pros and cons to each choice.
  The Importance of Breathing While NOT Playing
Apr 16, 2009
breathing exercise marchingEvery band director preaches over and over again about taking a good breath to play your instrument. It always seems that the answer to any sound production problem is "Use more air!" and sure enough, it is great to remind your students of how to breath properly. A large breath can indeed help groups when they play, but how often do you talk to them about breathing when they don't have to play? How often to you assign breathing routines in a fundamentals block? Most likely the answer is not often, if even at all.
  On Setting Attainable Goals in Rehearsals
Apr 2, 2009
tuba playersAim Small, Miss Small, Move On!  Every year we, being students, staff, clinicians, etc, have plans on what we want the upcoming marching band season to be. Regardless of the past year's accomplishments, we want to play the best, look the best, march the best, and in some cases, sing the best. We want to create the most ingenious product of the year and want to be apart of the best product of the year. If that was not the case, why even bother spending hours upon hours planning and rehearsing, right?
 
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