Marching Band "game film"?

9

95HAWKI

Member
I have a debate going with a friend at work. He claims the Hawkeye Marching Band watches film of their halftime performances to "get better". I say there is no way they watch "game film". Does anyone know if the band does or does not watch film of their performances in an effort to improve their marching at half time?

I for one enjoy the band at football games but just don't see how it would be feasible for that many people to watch film, learn from it, and get critiqued on it.
 
I wouldn't be surprised if they do watch some film, and it's not stupid to do so. Things have to be just right for what they do to turn out right. Your stride has to be precise, or it can throw off the whole thing. And with as many people as they have, the only way to see when something wasn't right is to watch film, so that they can fix it before the next game.
 
I don't think they watch much, if any, film. They change the show every home game (and change the formations), so what would be the point.

I think it is amazing what they do and the quality of the music, considering most of them are NOT music majors and the formations change each week. It is really a big math puzzle to get it right.

The band does not get enough credit, IMO. They aren't the best in the Big Ten, but they are very good.
 
I don't know about Iowa marching band but I waetched film in high school marching hand as well as the drum Corp I was in briefly.
 
it wouldn't surprise me if they did. good way to figure out how you look, and improve is to take a look. seems like a good way to do it to me.
 
I'm going back a few years, but my experience tells me the band as a whole wouldn't be likely to watch it, but the directors and Grad assistants may. It would have limited benefit though for a couple reasons.

1-You wouldn't have real good audio, which is argueably a more important part of the performance than the formations.
2-The halftime show changes from game to game, so there wouldn't be a lot of benefit to looking at it in retrospect.

But, the pregame is consistent, so they probably look at that. There are usually a few staff in the press box and on the sideline. They assess overall impact and take note of any major problems. And like assistant coaches in football, each section has it's own position coaches (Grad assistants) who work with them.

A lot of folks would be surprised to know how much time and work goes into it. Being in the drumline for a Rose Bowl was quite an experience...that's for sure. Right Billso?
 
I agree with hawkdrummer1. Its very likely that the directors and drum majors watch film, both for formation quality and sound quality. I would be surprised if the band members watched much film.
 
hawkdrummer1 said:
I'm going back a few years, but my experience tells me the band as a whole wouldn't be likely to watch it, but the directors and Grad assistants may. It would have limited benefit though for a couple reasons.

1-You wouldn't have real good audio, which is argueably a more important part of the performance than the formations.
2-The halftime show changes from game to game, so there wouldn't be a lot of benefit to looking at it in retrospect.

But, the pregame is consistent, so they probably look at that. There are usually a few staff in the press box and on the sideline. They assess overall impact and take note of any major problems. And like assistant coaches in football, each section has it's own position coaches (Grad assistants) who work with them.

A lot of folks would be surprised to know how much time and work goes into it. Being in the drumline for a Rose Bowl was quite an experience...that's for sure. Right Billso?
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Yup. Did it twice - as a grad asst, had to sub on snare for Scott Glover in '86 due to his emergency appendectomy. No other bowl compares to the Granddaddy.

In the 80's staff watched the pregame video mostly, but also halftimes just to see what worked/didn't work and to note any trends, like individuals struggling with particular moves. The audio was also (just) good enough to evaluate.

In the mid-80's the best overall band was probably MSU, and Michigan had the best musicians on brass. Top 3 drumlines were MSU, Illinois and Iowa (not necessarily in that order) - with a pretty good drop to #4. Best overall Iowa band show I've ever seen personally was the 1812 Overture at the '91 Rose Bowl. Because most people are socializing and don't watch halftime shows, marching bands NEVER get standing O's - but they did.
 
I was in the marching band a couple of years ago and we actually did watch film of each week's performance. We had an indoor music practice every week, and at the beginning of the practice they would play our performance as taped from the press box. When they did that though, it was mostly just for our entertainment..maybe the grad assistants and director looked at it more closely later. But we'd just see the forms on our gridcharts when we practiced during the week so it was always cool to actually see how all the formations looked on the field from up high on game day. They would point something out usually in pregame during watching the video if something was really wrong since pregame is something we'd do every week, but it was mostly for fun.
 
I was part of that band Billso! Amazing show to be a part of and, yes, the best bowl to experience. Side note, I also got to ride up an elevator with MC Hammer that trip as he stayed at the same hotel as us. He was HUGE at that time...well, he is relatively small but his bodyguards were huge.

As for tape, I agree with a few others that it is doubtful the members themselves watch tape for the reasons they stated. Staff probably does. As for my band, we watch tape of our performances because we improve on our one show all season long.

And from this band guy, thanks for those who complimented the band in this post and recognized their hard work! I have 1 former student currently marching in the HMB and 4 currently in ISU (still trying to figure out what I am doing wrong there), and 1 in UNI's band, and we are happy to invite them back tonight for our Homecoming festivities.
 
The band is a big part of the game day experience. I know first hand how much work they put in it. Yes, it is fun for the band members, but it is a lot of work too.

The Iowa band has a great tradition and overall does an excellent job, no doubt about it.

A final thought: No band, and I mean no band, does a better job of playing our National Anthem. It is simply a beautiful rendition and I get chills up my spine every time they play it.
 
how about recruiting? band recruiting scandles? band tatoos? "did you hear about the trumpet player in Sioux City, major lungs"
 
I think Hayden was ahead of the curve when using game film in for the marching band. I think the staff had a special vhs archiving system that could get any film for any game by formation and personnel grouping. It was ahead of its time for the Big Ten, but also for the NFL, in its time. May have made a difference on the field too.
 
The Iowa Marching Band should watch film of Wisconsin, Michigan State, Ohio State, and some of the other Big 10 marching bands so they can see what a real marching band looks like. Definitely time for a change of the head man...
 
Mid to late 90s we watched - usually pregame since that is the same every game. That was also when we marched the tiger hawk down the field playing the Hey song which was tricky to not collapse the logo as we moved. The halftime performances were watched simply to see how you were doing and make fun of those that messed up. Peer pressure can be a wonderful motivator sometimes :)
 
They do watch the films afterwards, but more for entertainment. It would be hard for halftime analysis because the show is changed every game. it's also a lot harder to analyze 250 players marching on the field, and all from the press box for the band's use, when they are all really indistinguishable. Outside of telling what there instrument is because changes happen all of the time with who marches and where they march. If there are ever a group out of line or consistently screwing up, it is definitely the Tenor Saxophones.
 
This may be the most meaningless post ever. Who cares?

As others have mentioned, if they want to be a premiere marching band they are failing horribly. I don't care about band geeks.

If they can play our fight song and "In Heaven there is no Beer" they've done their job.
 
gohawkz said:
This may be the most meaningless post ever. Who cares?

As others have mentioned, if they want to be a premiere marching band they are failing horribly. I don't care about band geeks.

If they can play our fight song and "In Heaven there is no Beer" they've done their job.
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Let me guess...can't carry a tune in a bucket, two left feet, a real charming "Mr Personality" kind of guy who treats the server at a retaurant like crap... Pretty close?
 
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