Marching Band Ideas

[daftuprising]

Me and a friend, who are both in marching band, have been brainstorming ideas for a halftime show. He is very good at arranging, and we are thinking of arranging this show to present to our band director.

Hendrix Medley or Jackson 5 - I Want You Back
Medley would include Foxy Lady/Purple Haze/All Along the Watchtower. Probably two of those three.

Prince - Little Red Corvette or Purple Rain
Probably leaning towards the first one.

Rick James - Superfreak, Bustin' Out, and Give It To Me Baby


I play tuba, and am very good. Our best player is the other guy, who is a trombone, and we have a pretty damn good trumpet returning.

The first (Hendrix/Jackson 5) would just be a song, no features or solos.

The Prince song could or could not include a drum solo, but would probably feature color guard/majorette.

Superfreak would probably have a low brass jazz group at the beginning. ME, the trombone, another 1 or 2 trombones, a barry sax, and a tenor sax or 2.

Bustin' Out would be a Trombone/Trumpet duo with the intro.

Give It To Me Baby would be the tuba solo.


Thoughts?

[Rocket2Russia]

If you do it, record it. I want to see.

[Joey-Z]

Any The Who song.
ANY

It's better than any stereotypical half-time song.
Dun naaah nah-nuh-nah, HEY! Bah nah-nah-nuh.

[daftuprising]

I've never seen The Who in any show before, but it just wouldn't adapt well. We discussed that though. Who Are You oculd have a bad-ass drum feature and be decent, but none of their well known songs would work outside that.

And Rock and Roll Part II (the Hey Song) (originally by Gary Glitter) is never played on the field, it's a stand tune, along with classics like The Horse and Land of 1000 Dances

[Explosion2]

Pleasure (Pleasure) - Bang Camaro

(someone will pick up on this reference, right?)

[jonoo24]

Do your own original work, it will be much more pleasing if the director accepts it, and it will end up sounding cooler.

[Joey-Z]

Do your own original work, it will be much more pleasing if the director accepts it, and it will end up sounding cooler.

I agree.

I have so much more respect for people that compose music as well as play it.

[daftuprising]

We would Compose/Arrange it except for I Want You Back, we already have that.

[hawkofva]

I've never seen The Who in any show before, but it just wouldn't adapt well. We discussed that though. Who Are You oculd have a bad-ass drum feature and be decent, but none of their well known songs would work outside that.

And Rock and Roll Part II (the Hey Song) (originally by Gary Glitter) is never played on the field, it's a stand tune, along with classics like The Horse and Land of 1000 Dances

I saw a pretty good combo of Pinball Wizard and Baba O'Riley once. It's not impossible.

[daftuprising]

It would take a good composer like Ralph Ford or someone of the likes to do it. you know, the people that write all of Troy's stuff.

[Cubecubed]

Pleasure (Pleasure) - Bang Camaro

(someone will pick up on this reference, right?)

lol loading screen.and it would work really well too.

[jonoo24]

We would Compose/Arrange it except for I Want You Back, we already have that.

No, I am talking about writing your own music, NOT based of off a famous song.

[daftuprising]

Well, composing your OWN marching band arrangements takes a lot of time, and years of training. Especially for marching band, that has full band arrangements. Plus, unless you REALLY know what you're doing, you'd never be able to put good sets with with it, or keep a crowd interested. There's so much that goes into it other than just notes. Flow, phrasing, dynamic shifts, melodies, harmonies, your middle voices, etc etc.

[jonoo24]

Well, composing your OWN marching band arrangements takes a lot of time, and years of training. Especially for marching band, that has full band arrangements. Plus, unless you REALLY know what you're doing, you'd never be able to put good sets with with it, or keep a crowd interested. There's so much that goes into it other than just notes. Flow, phrasing, dynamic shifts, melodies, harmonies, your middle voices, etc etc.
This is why you should have thought about it earlier.

Really? We have our first National competition in two weeks and you haven't even decided on a show yet?

[daftuprising]

This is for NEXT year. Our show this year is Taboo, Sway, and Rhythm of the Night.

We made 1s at Troy's festival and we have a competition this weekend.

And I mean years of training, not something two high shcool kids could pull off, even if our band director helped, and he was Troy's drum major, so he's pretty damn talented.

There are some stuff we can't even do by ear.

[jonoo24]

This is for NEXT year. Our show this year is Taboo, Sway, and Rhythm of the Night.

We made 1s at Troy's festival and we have a competition this weekend.

And I mean years of training, not something two high shcool kids could pull off, even if our band director helped, and he was Troy's drum major, so he's pretty damn talented.

There are some stuff we can't even do by ear.

Ah, that makes much more sense. Well, get working. Give another group of people the general theme of the show and ask them to write the drill.

http://staband.com/2008marband.htm

Yeah, our drill is based off of a famous band/song but, still, write your own work.

[daftuprising]

Our band director writes our drill. But us composing 9 minutes of music in a theme that actually makes musical sense by next year is a LONG SHOT. Even though me and Stanley have band for 3 1/2 hours straight together next semester.

[jonoo24]

Our band director writes our drill. But us composing 9 minutes of music in a theme that actually makes musical sense by next year is a LONG SHOT. Even though me and Stanley have band for 3 1/2 hours straight together next semester.

Tell him the theme in mvmnts. How many do you plan on having?

[daftuprising]

Theme as in a distinct sound for the show. Like this year it's latin, last year was rock of the 70's, year before it was blockbuster movie hits. Developing 9-10 minutes of music with a central theme would be incredibly hard.

[jonoo24]

Theme as in a distinct sound for the show. Like this year it's latin, last year was rock of the 70's, year before it was blockbuster movie hits. Developing 9-10 minutes of music with a central theme would be incredibly hard.

Then suggest a pre-made show.

LikeDreams (http://staband.com/Video/Showcase%202005.wmv)

[tridentgum0]

Jump on it! Jump on it! Jump on it!

[JesusSilencio]

I've seen a Who show work pretty well, I've seen a Beatles show that was also really good. I've played Bohemian Rhapsody, Black Magic Woman, Wanted Dead or Alive, and The Impression That I Get, and they've all been pretty fun.

Looking at the songs you picked out, it seems like it would be a fun show, but I'm no arranger. I agree that the Prince song would probably be the best place for a battery solo.

You mention you and your friend are both horn players. Who's writing the percussion parts?


No, I am talking about writing your own music, NOT based of off a famous song.

I disagree. Arranging your own original piece would be too difficult for high school students. Hell, even arranging an existing song for marching band is pretty ballsy for two high school kids. As daft says, there's so much more to a marching tune than just notes.

That said, I don't believe you can have a show based on a copyrighted song without paying some sort of royalty. I'm not 100% sure, but I would check into it just to make sure.

[daftuprising]

Well, we play a couple songs arranged by ear in the stands, so it's never been a big problem. It's also illegal to copy the music to keep the originals safe, but everyone does it.

I want to do The Impression That I Get in the stands, but Stanley doesn't want to work on it.

And I'm sure our lead snare will do the drum, he wrote our cadence this year.

[Ehfahq]

We did Sgt Pepper when I was in highschool.

I played Tuba too.

Because Tuba f'n rules. Dont you hate it when flutists complain that they are tired?

[daftuprising]

My 8th grade year, before I was in marching band. They played Sgt Pepper, some other song, and Age of Aquarius/Let the Sun Shine In, which included a tuba solo.

and yes, i hate flutists that complain.

[jonoo24]

Well, we play a couple songs arranged by ear in the stands, so it's never been a big problem. It's also illegal to copy the music to keep the originals safe, but everyone does it.

I want to do The Impression That I Get in the stands, but Stanley doesn't want to work on it.

And I'm sure our lead snare will do the drum, he wrote our cadence this year.

This is a much more pressing issue than copying CD's. We had to go to evanescence's lawyers or whatever and get them to sign off on this before he even started writing it.

Jesus, I know it would be much harder, but I also said it would be more rewarding if they could pull it off.