5-Minute Read: Subsets Will Clean Your Drill
Visual. Marching and Maneuvering. Whatever the contest sheet calls it, we all want a better score in how our marching band's drill looks on the field. But this is always a difficult task, because marching in a straight line with even-sized steps doesn't come naturally to any human being! But using the process of cleaning subsets can vastly improve the look of your band on the move, creating a pleasing visual product for you and other discerning eyes!
Drill Sets are a Fraction of Your Show
Our students can often fixate on "dots." Do they hit their spot or not. Are they in the form or not? And those things are very important! However, this fixation on hitting a certain spot can sometimes overshadow how they look while they are on the move to that spot! For example, in a 24-count maneuver from set 1 to 2, there is one count of standing in a form and 23 counts of movement! That makes how your performers look during the maneuver about 95% of what the judge just saw. Communicating to your students that it's not just whether they hit the dot but how they look while they do it is tremendously important!
Determine Subsets and Clean Them
Cue the subset! A subset is the form resulting in the midst of a transition from one drill set to another. For example, take a look at the following progression of forms. On the left is form 1. On the right is form 2. And in the middle, call it 1a, is the subset that exists on the halfway count between those two drill sets.
The key to cleaning this transition from set 1 to set 2 is to determine this subset position for all members and to repeatedly march and clean set 1a. If your students can hit that set with their correct foot at the correct count, we know that they are taking the appropriate straight-line path and step size.
Use Technology to Help
The images above came from a great mobile app called DrillBookNext that runs on Android and iOS devices. All you have to do is feed DrillBookNext your show's coordinate sheets from PyWare, and it will generate animated, count-by-count, images of your show. You can see what a form looks like at any sub-count between drill pages.
Another great technology is the online Midset Calculator. This free site allows your students to input their coordinates on two drill sets, and the calculator will spit out the subset at every count in between! This can be perfect for assigning dot books or for assigning isolated drill segments that are giving you some trouble.
Even if you don't want to fiddle with these technological advances, you can always simply use the ubiquitous cameras on our smartphones to clean your subsets. Simply video your troublesome drill segments, and afterwards you can pause and capture the frames where the subsets occur. These screen grabs can be posted to FaceBook for your performers to reflect on for visual improvement!
If you dedicate significant drill cleaning time to your subsets, you'll find that the visual clarity of your ensemble improves by leaps and bounds. Try these techniques and technologies this week and see what they can do for your marching band!