RDMA General Topics School Band Selection

Evaluation: You are being evaluated as a candidate for Drum Major the first day of being in the band. If you are in High School, this means your first day of band class as a Freshman. Your director and band leadership will be noticing how you conduct yourself both in and out of rehearsal, at performances, and how you interact with the band. If you cause trouble, are unreliable, or have a poor attitude, you will not likely be successful in becoming Drum Major.

Leadership: Aside from being proficient at your instrument, you will need to start developing a presence as a leader in the band. You can do this by being section leader if you are first chair for your instrument. You may volunteer to learn an instrument that is needed by the band, but isn't your principal instrument (clarinet to bass clarinet, trumpet to French horn or baritone, etc.) This will give you much more exposure to your director. Volunteer for other positions in the band. If your band has a Quartermaster (tracking and issuing of uniforms and equipment) or a Librarian (tracking, storing, and issuing of music), these are excellent positions to have you start working with your director. This will show your director that you are serious about the band. Make sure that you perform this job at a very high standard. If you do not perform well, this will also reflect on you and your chances for being selected as Drum Major.

Skills: To learn how to use the baton or mace you will need to find an instructor. Seek your current or past Drum Major from your school to coach you. You may also seek the best Drum Major in your area for tutoring. There may be an experienced instructor in your area that gives lessons. Most Drum Majors are very supportive and will be willing to assist you. There are several summer camps that specialize in Drum Major classes. See whether your band will sponsor you (i.e. pay for the class.) There are many classes offered throughout the USA. You will need to start working on your baton/mace work as soon as possible and not a few months before the audition. Marching technique, baton/mace signals, and flourishing are the areas that you will need to develop. To be successful, you will need to be expert at all three.

If your band Drum Major is a field conductor, you will need to work on conducting skills. Start with conducting band tunes and learning the basic conducting patterns. After you have mastered this, increase the complexity of the music you are conducting by practicing with recordings of orchestral music. Symphonies by Richard Strauss, Rimsky-Korsakov, Copland, Tchaikovsky are good pieces with which to work on your conducting. These pieces will also allow you to work on advanced conducting skills: instrument cues, dynamics, phrasing, etc. Be sure to let your director know you are working on conducting. Your Director will be able to give you lessons on the basics. If you are having a difficult time with a particular technique or passage, get your director's advice. Once you are proficient at conducting, you may ask your director whether you could conduct a tune at rehearsal.

Advise of your Intentions: Let your director know that you are interested in auditioning for Drum Major. Ask your director for any advise they may be willing to share. Chances are many of their suggestions will be noted above. As has been alluded to, you need to start working with your Director and develop a rapport. The more you trust each other, know how the other thinks, and know what is expected, the more valuable a leader you will be to the band.

Timing: Start your training the minute you are thinking of auditioning for Drum Major. Do not wait until a few months before the audition to start. Baton/mace work and conducting takes a lot of practice. The more practice you have the more confident you are. Ideally, you will have started before High School. However, most Drum Majors start training their Freshman or Sophomore year with the goal of becoming Drum Major no later than their senior year. If you wait to train until your senior year, it is not impossible, but it will require a lot of intense training and others that are better trained will have a definite advantage over you.

The Audition:

Audition: One of the most common selection processes is the drum major audition. If your school uses a corps style Drum Major then you will be asked to demonstrate your conducting skill as well as your vocal commands. You may have to go through a drill down to display your marching skill.

If your school DM uses a military baton or a mace, then in addition to the above you may be asked to demonstrate your skill with the baton or mace in a parade pattern (the competition "L" or other pattern) and/or a short field show routine. You may be asked to conduct a tune or two.

Interview: Very often you will be interviewed by the incumbent Drum Major, the band council, section leaders and/or the Band Director. You will be asked several open ended questions as well as given one or several scenarios. Typical questions may include:

Why do you think you are qualified to be drum major?
Describe a situation where you have demonstrated leadership
Describe a tense or crisis situation and how you dealt with it. Would you have done anything differently?
In what areas do you think you could improve?
What is your assessment of the band and what improvements do you think should be made? How would you implement those improvements?

Scenarios are things that could possibly go wrong in a rehearsal or performance setting:

During field rehearsal, a trumpet player faints [substitute any illness or injury]. The director is in his office. What do you do?
You have just started a tune and half the band gets distracted. Now half of the band is three beats off from the other half. What do you do?
You are in a parade and, against parade rules, the group in front of you has turned around and is heading right for the band with no intentions of stopping. What do you do?
While spinning your mace or baton you knock your hat/shako clean off your head. What do you do?

Attributes band directors seek:

Command of the group: How well can you get the band to perform? Will they follow you?

Command of the room: How well can you control the environment outside of the band members? Can you answer any question, react to any situation that may occur in or out of a rehearsal or performance setting?

Conducting: How easy is your conducting to follow? Does your conducting have a distinct beat. Is your tempo consistent? Are your section, phrase, volume cues accurate and easy to follow.

Crowd response: How well can you work the audience? A successful drum major develops a rapport with the crowd once they take the podium. They can get the crowd to become active participants in the band’s performance. This causes a synergistic effect on the band. Ask yourself this: would you rather play to an audience that is very subdued and quiet, or one that is going wild over your band’s performance?

What criteria would eliminate you from consideration?

Being unreliable: The drum major needs to be the most reliable person in the band. Remember, you are the example the rest of the band must follow. Your attendance, your marching skill, your uniform must always be impeccable. You should embody everything that you want your band to project. You should be early to every rehearsal. You should be able to answer any question or be able to direct that person to someone who knows the answer. You should know your venue. If you aren’t familiar with a parade route, do a reconnaissance mission before the parade starts, preferable the day before. Find out the layout of the facilities of the field show venue as soon as practicable so that you can direct your band to changing rooms, rest rooms, etc.

Dealing with problems with a negative attitude: You are the leader of your peers. For your band to be competitive, you must remain positive in every situation both on and off the field. Even in the most dire of circumstances, look for a positive aspect. Remember that a problem is merely an opportunity for improvement!

Being a Prima Donna: There is a very fine line between exuding confidence and thinking you are better than everyone else. Confidence inspires others. Being a Prima Donna will turn the band against you. Remember, you are there to make the BAND look good not the other way around.

I have been selected as Drum Major!

Congratulations! But now your work has just begun. You will need to meet with your Director to discuss your and the band's plans and goals for the coming year as well as your specific duties. Start building your rapport as Drum Major with the band. Meet with the various sections to discuss the plans and goal of the band and where they fit in. See whether they have ideas that will assist the band. You will find that many great ideas will come from those in the ranks. Keep all lines of communication open - you are now the band's eyes and ears.

I was not selected as Drum Major.

Do not despair. Remember that there is an element of luck that goes into being selected as Drum Major. Some years you will be auditioning against many candidates and other years just a few. Over the years, many talented candidates have been passed over. If you want to be a Drum Major there are other groups that you can work with. Drum Corps, Pipe Bands, Fife Corps, military bands, city bands are searching for good, well trained Drum Majors. Note that many DCI Drum Majors were never Drum Major of their High School band. Seek these groups out! Also, many Scottish Games have Drum Major competitions. There are no age restrictions and you do not need to be affiliated with a band.

For much more information on High School and College Drum Majors please click www.onlinedrummajor.com.