Posted by Brendan on November 04, 2002 at 02:14:14:
In Reply to: does marching band messup your sound? posted by James Tony Rivera on November 03, 2002 at 20:16:56:
The reason many drum corps have a bad brass sound is because the staff has only a short period of time (less than a year) to make the ensemble sound "good". This causes them to cut corners in order to bring players of a low skill level up to a point where they can at least play loud and together.
In my experience it is completely possible to march and still play with a beautiful, controlled, in tune sound. This is only possible if you as a musician are able to isolate the movement of your lower and upper bodies. In my experience playing in and teaching various marching music ensembles, the main cause of poor playing is poor lower body marching technique. If you march properly, you can keep your upper body isolated and relaxed even at tempos over 200 bpm while taking 6 to 5 steps backwards or forwards. Simply put, you cannot expect to play well while marching unless you have excellent marching technique.
As far as the quality of instruments is concerned, its obvious that I would rather play on my Hirsbrunner euphonium than a yamaha bellfront marching baritone. However, I can still pick up one of these marching horns and play with a good sound in tune. A good musician can make any decently-constructed instrument sound good, and marching brass are not bad instruments. I was teaching a superior high school marching band at camp this summer and I had no trouble picking up a student's marching baritone and still playing it well.
My opinion overall is that with proper and thorough instruction in BOTH playing and marching technique, drum corps or marching band is not detrimental. Marching band doesnt make you sound bad, you do. There is never any reason to blast on a baritone or sousaphone and it is never acceptable.