Amy

[amyflute-blog1]

Progress Blog #10: The final touch ups

Hello! I finished my final paper!!! Now im just adding all the necessary things i need at the end of it, but i just realized that I lost my notes from my phone interview with joshua!! :( i remember everything that i wrote down, but i really want them to be the original notes from the conversation. At least i have my field notes from the commerce invitational and grand nationals. I also still need to complete my presentation for Wednesday, and im hoping that my professor likes it 🤞🏼 im actually pretty happy with all of the work ive done on this research paper!! Plus, i need to give credit to the pride marching band for taking me to all the competitions i observed haha. All of my informal notes were also taken on my phone so i will be copying them down in a better way to understand it because some of it is random thoughts that would pop into my head during the day LOL.

[amyflute-blog1]

Progress Blog #9: Final Paper

Hi there! Im currently working on my final paper, and SCHOOL IS ALMOST OVER! Im ready to have a month of vacation 😁 I had trouble starting my essay, but once i got it started, its like everything started flowing out easier. I started with a little bit of a backstory of my history with marching band, and then comparing and contrasting my own high school differences with my present college shows. After using my own experiences, i put in how i began to compare bands, which is when i started watching competitions; including the DCI Mesquite competition, which tbh is where i learned the most of the differences. To get more insight of the drum corps scene, i put in my interview with a friend of mine, Joshua Kile (marched blue devils and scv). I also got a lot of insight from him, and even talked about the comparisons between his high school marching and drum corps marching. Thats as far as ive gone, and im thinking about next putting in my own differences, including some of my own tumblr posts where i compared the 1980 cadets and 2019 cadets.

[amyflute-blog1]

Progress Blog #8: Finals at Grand Nationals

Hello everyone! WE DID IT!! We performed in Lucas Oil Stadium, and it was amazing!! Not only that, but ALL 6 of the Texas bands there made finals!!!! #TeamTexas. Anyways, I got to watch the finals, and it was absolutely mind blowing. I did notice the increase in speakers to use tech noises, and i really enjoyed all of it, although i will say that sometimes i did think it was too much. Im assuming that the use of effects will be an issue later on since there has been such an increase in use, and people may argue that it isnt fair. If it does start to become more speaker effects compared to actual playing, that will be an issue. But for now, i think the effects work very well in the shows, to create sounds that the band would not be able to do! I also noticed a trend visually. Laying down! Almost 4 to 5 of the 12 bands in finals layed down either at the beginning of their performance, or somewhere in between.

[amyflute-blog1]

Progress Blog #7: Grand Nationals in Indianapolis

Hello there!! Im currently on my way to Indiana, Indianapolis for Grand Nationals (aka, a national marching band competition for high school bands!!). The Pride Marching Band is doing an exhibition and we can all tell that everyone is excited to see us perform 😁 i am even more excited to see the best high school bands in the nation compete in finals. Its a perfect opportunity to get a few more details for my final paper in english. Ive already started it on the bus (since its such a long ride from texas to indy), and its been going well :) i want to add pictures also, but thats gonna have to be once i get wifi. There will be a few hs texas bands there, so im ready to go cheer them on. From what ive seen from a live stream so far, some bands are being SUPER heavy on electronic sounds. Specifically a band from texas. I was watching and thinking “well, this is a little much for my personal taste”. I guess we’ll see how it goes 🤷🏽‍♀️

[amyflute-blog1]

Progress Blog #6: High School vs Drum Corps... Which do i choose?

Hello there! I am currently making my fourth writing assignment for english 1302, and a thought popped into my head. As you know, I am making my research paper about the growth of marching band, and i am using the time period of 1980-present. I have been using both high school and drum corps for examples of improvements in each, but i sometimes find myself doing more drum corps growing rather than high school. I think its because its easier to find a timeline with when everything started in drum corps since it is recorded by DCI, but then it brings up the question; should i just do drum corps growth or continue to use both? I’ve been enjoying using both because i can also show how drum corps reflects onto high school marching programs, which goes along with proving how the recent changes have been changing the activity all together. But in the end, i feel like i am only showing the changes from drum corps marching band. 🤷🏽‍♀️

[amyflute-blog1]

Progress Blog #5: Compare 1990 Cadets vs 2019 Cadets

Hello there! As promised, I found some videos for you to see the differences in the beginning of DCI marching and today’s marching. I won’t have you watch the whole video, but just watch the first and last 30 seconds of each video. First difference that stands out to me is the choreography. In the 1990’s Cadets, there is not as much choreography compared to the 2019 Cadets. In fact, the 2019 Cadets band is doing more than the color guard from the 1990’s Cadets! Another difference is the technology. Notice how in the 2019 video there are speakers up front, but the 1990’s video does not? It’s because even in marching band there were technological advances to improve the theatrical side of performances. It helped to create the sound effects that regular instruments would not be able to do! The last difference that I will point out is the physical activity happening all over the field. Along with marching and playing, the 2019 Cadets are doing choreo, running, and remembering the smallest details about every step. The 1990’z band is also doing the same amount of work, but there isn’t as much going on as the 2019 video. If you want a fun way to work out, join marching band! 😜

[amyflute-blog1]

Progress Blog #4: Observations from a competition

Hi there! It’s been a while since ive posted on here! Ive officially decided what I want to do for my research paper. I’ll be researching about the changes of marching band, meaning that i will be showing all the different advances that has happened between the beginning of drum corps and now. Along with this, i will be looking up old drum corps videos and observing competitions in order to see the differences from the 1980’s to 2014 to now! I think it would be an amazing paper and im excited to see what it becomes. Im also thinking about posting two videos so that you all can see what differences are visible! This weekend, I went to watch the finals of a marching competition here on campus. It was a small competition, but there was a lot of talent present with the kids! I noticed the increase in technology up front with sound effects in shows. Thats a new thing that is appearing in marching shows! Back in 2014, there were no tech sounds or big speakers. It was definitely cool to see that spread throughout these small programs.

[amyflute-blog1]

Progress Blog #3: A different direction

Hello theree :) I’ve been constantly thinking about which direction of music i want to do, and tbh i just keep going in circles!!! I cannot decide on what to do. I made a playlist of popular rock bands (Queen, The Beatles, The Beach Boys, Led Zeppelin, and Pink Floyd) and i really liked to listen to it! But I wasn't sure how I would be able to incorporate it into the writing assignments. So I decided to do something I like to watch, Drum Corps! I definitely saw more potential there than researching about rock bands and their literacies, but then I thought “how would i put together drum corps and literacy?” I can see how some parts of drum corps fits in, with rehearsals (the need to read music), the use of technology (UDB app, new tech sound effects), so it could work! And just to add a little more spice, I thought “why not add the history of drum corps, and how much has changed because of these different literacies!” I think it would work better :) lets hope so!!

[amyflute-blog1]

Progress Blog #2: A different genre

Since I’m wanting to look into other genres of music, I decided to share some info on here to see how much i can get :)

The big genres of music that I can think of right now is classical, rock, country, and pop. I know a decent amount about pop, because thats what i listen to daily. I’m currently studying classical because its required to take a music history class as a music major. Yet, to be honest, classical is boring 😂 so im not wanting to write a paper about that. I can listen to a few country songs, not gonna lie, but its not a favorite. I guess that would make a slightly good topic on my paper?? I would actually LOVE to look into more rock music and history. There’s so much backstory and amazing bands/players in the rock history. There’s Queen (which is what im listening to right now actually lol), The Beatles, AC/DC, The Beach Boys, Green Day, and so many others. Well, i may as well do that now! I just think it would keep me more interested in the project, and im going to want to write and research more.

[amyflute-blog1]

Progress Blog 1: Choosing my topic

Hi there :) I started to think about what I wanted my essay to be about, and naturally i want it to be music. But music is such a big general topic and i dont know where to go from there! I could do band/marching band, which is what i did my WA1 over, but i would also want to go into pop music, and the history of some musical legends (like one of my favorites, freddie mercury). My passion for music has always been inside of me growing up because, naturally, I wanted to be a pop star like Hannah Montana 😂 Even then, a slight part of myself wants to branch out and look into different genres of music that i am not too familiar with. There’s just always something to discover! It’s just going to have to be more thinking about what will help me be more successful in the end.