Posted by Kim on April 07, 2008 at 11:44:54:
In Reply to: FIRST PARADE- Thanks to all- we made it! posted by Brian on April 06, 2008 at 21:15:54:
Congrats! It sounds like it was a success! Did the kids have fun with it?
: Thanks to everyone who posted comments to help me out on my m.s. band's first parade! It was a great success!
: I know everyone suggested playing just one song, but I wanted to emphasize the music, as I knew the visual would not be so amazing... also, the parade was for the opening of the Inwood Little League season, so a lot of the audience actually followed along with the teams rather than just watching from one place on the street. We played 9 different songs and here's how I worked it out (based on a synthesis of all your excellent advice):
: I signaled drum cadences with a half note-qtr-rest whistle and whistle count-off. The drums improvised the cadences based on the groove of the song that the band would be playing next. Then I played the roll-off (1and rest 3and rest half-note 3and rest) on the whistle over the top of the drum cadence and the band would start the song. The songs were in a predetermined order, but I also had an assistant hold up signs before each roll-off just to make sure there was no confusion. It worked like a charm every time! We ended up playing all 9 and repeating the first four again. The two biggest drummers, one on bass and one on snare made it the whole way, but the other snare and quads switched out a couple of times with the two subs I had playing cowbell and guira.
: As for looks, we were a bit like a rag-tag New Orleans brass band, but same colored T-shirts looked festive, the kids stayed in line pretty well and I didn't worry at all about them being in or out-of step (I'll leave that- and snazzy uniforms- for the future!)
: Thanks again for everyone's help, support and encouragement!