DrillMaster explains “luck” and how it doesn’t enter in to the equation.
What is “Audience Engagement”?
What is it that makes a routine grab the audience by the eyeballs and yell at them, “Don’t miss this or you’ll regret it!” Audience engagement, my friends, audience engagement. What is it and how do you get some? Read on: You can look up the term “audience engagement” and get all kinds of results for performing arts groups (I’m …
How to Switch Sides During a Column Movement
This will be for XD (Exhibition Drill) and is fairly easy. We need to number each of the elements/squads as usual: the far left squad is number 1 and the far right squad is number 3 (or 4). The movement is called as two consecutive right steps are taken. On the first left, the first squad leader executes a right …
Hard Work, Discipline, Desire and…
I was introduced to a speech by Eric Thomas, “The Hip-Hop Preacher” (more motivational speaker than preacher) yesterday. I appreciate where he has come from, the struggles he has overcome and most of the message that he preaches. Much of what he says is inspiring and one of my friends made a great motivational video and placed it on his …
Why do we Practice the way we do?
Sometimes students have a hard time understanding why it is we spend so much time working on individual skills, when it’s easy to see that most of the team can do the skills. I tell them it’s a lot like a sports team. Every experienced baseball player has skills – they already know how to run, how to hit, and …
Becoming a Professional Driller
Q: How can I become a professional Driller? A: What you are talking about is becoming an Independent (Indie) Driller which very few people have done successfully. Why very few? Most likely because the military drill world is relatively small and there hasn’t been anything offered to anyone who would like to drill after high school or even college. Within …
How to Become a Certified Visual Judge
The World Drill Association and DrillMaster now offer a training and certification program for judges for the military drill world. All aspects of military drill come under the visual category and should be judged as such. That is where the program comes in. There are four visual captions: 1. Overall Effect 2. Composition Analysis 3. Movement 4. Equipment Also a …
Tulane 2012 Solo Commentaries
The Mardis Gras Drill Meet at Tulane University 2012 was a great success! I was there judging solos. There were 12 competitors and all did a great job. The cadets from West Point, University of South Carolina NROTC and Norwich all pulled away from the others with great routines. I forgot my digital voice recorder, but used my Android phone’s …