A Year of Flag Technique

A sample guide of what techniques to roll out and when-

One of the things I like to think about (pretty often) is “what am I doing to push my students to the next level”. It could be about their performance quality, the cleanliness of the choreography, but I’m really thinking about the technique skills we are working on. In this post, I’m going to share my map of when I roll out different flag techniques and when I start to advance them. 

The thing I find to be the most interesting is that while each group has their own technique regimen, no two groups have the exact same one! Even when it’s the same instructor, the technique expectations and demands from one group to the next is different. 

One of my favorite adventures in teaching is planning what’s next on our technique list. What you will see today is just a skeleton of a plan that will morph to fit the needs of the group.

Obviously, at the time of writing this, the world feels like it’s been turned upside down and marching band is no exception. For this post, I’m going to share a sample of what I try to roll out in a normal season and a modified version I’m likely going to follow this season. 

Here is Version A- a schedule I would follow in a season with a group that competes in Scholastic A or Scholastic Open. 

Below is Version B- an extremely modified schedule reflective of the goals of the program I’m currently working with. 

These schedules are just a possible breakdown of when I would begin to teach certain exercises, but in no way are they a strict guideline. The chances of the plan changing through the season are certain! I encourage you to try building your own version of an ideal technique rollout. Then, at the end of the season, reflect on what did happen, what didn’t happen, and what you will try differently the next season to make it your new ideal. 

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