Making the Most of Equipment- Part 2

When choosing a piece of equipment, there are many things to take into consideration, including the music, skill level of the performers, the size of the program, and training needs. The two guiding questions through the process that you need to be asking constantly…. 

Will this grow my students? Is it a musical decision? If you can answer yes to these two questions throughout the design of the show, then you are doing right by your program. 

Before we get started, note that in Part 1 I described in detail the different types of equipment and their common uses, as well as other things to consider before using them. 

In Part 2, I will talk more in depth about the considerations that go into actually deciding and designing these choices as well as putting it into context with a few different scenarios. 

Consideration 1- Musicality 

Musicality, when it comes to color guard, is threefold. It often starts with deliberately picking equipment, then choreography that is designed to highlight the music, then performer expression of the musical style. Today, we are focusing on the picking equipment part, but the rest will come later. Now, the music never gives notes like “crescendo to picking up flags at measure 40” so these kinds of decisions do come down to your design team’s intuition and communication. Remember, more often than not, your color guard director’s intuition on this topic is built on a foundation of dedicated watching/experiencing/teaching/performing throughout their career. 

Consideration 2: Student Experience

Student experience is an all-encompassing way of asking- are your students learning and is it enjoyable? As you are making equipment choices (and eventually training and choreography choices), it’s important to be thinking of whether or not it will push your color guard towards long term improvement. It might be time to think, is this the year we really push our movement skills and dance in the ballad? Or maybe, is this the year we add rifle to our program? Not every program is at the same point in the process, but it’s something to keep in mind with your long-term planning. 

Consideration 3: Staffing

While your staff aren’t the ones performing, take into consideration the limitations of your staff (in either skill or numbers) before biting off more than you can chew. It might look really cool to have flag, rifle, and sabre spinning at the exact same time in three different parts of the field, but if you have only one staff member dedicated to the color guard it might be too much to rehearse and maintain throughout the season. Also consider the potential limitations of your staff in their own skill set. For my own coaching, I have significant amounts of flag, rifle, and dance training/performing, which makes me feel comfortable teaching that to my students; I don’t have much experience on sabre, and I know I wouldn’t teach that well. In my situation that would lead down one of two routes- no sabre in my program OR bring on another staff member that can train/choreograph for sabre. 

Let’s get started on our scenarios- in each of these scenarios I will combine thoughts from both Part 1 and 2 of “Making the Most of Equipment” into two different hypothetical shows with two different hypothetical programs. In each show I will “pick” equipment and share my thought process of what I would choose. Remember, no two shows, programs, or brains are alike, so my decisions might be different than yours. As long as you can support your reasoning for the type of equipment, it’s a good choice. 

Show 1:

Emotions Show- arranged by Michael Krueger

Show Description- Color-inspired show going through a series of strong emotions. The Opener music is “Rite of Spring”, the Ballad is “Hide and Seek”, and the closer is a modern take on “Ode to Joy”.

Band A- This guard has approximately 40 members of the color guard, over half of the program is well trained on both rifle and sabre and all members have training on flag. There are 3 color guard staff members working with Band A. 

Band B- This guard has approximately 20 members of the colorguard. 8 members have begun rifle training, but no sabre. This group has 2 color guard staff members. 

Opener- Rite of Spring

• Band A- For the first half of the opener I would have a split guard- weapons on rifle, and the rest of the guard is movement. During the first part of Rite of Spring I feel like a split guard can create a lot of variety in showing the chaotic vibe of the music. I chose rifle over sabre in this movement because Rite of Spring is rhythmic and strong and rifle would be a good way to show that. About halfway through the performers doing movement would switch to flags (probably red-themed) for the rest of the movement. These performers would transition to flag to help show changes in the music as well as have a bigger visual strength than just bodies.
• Band B- Split rifle/flag- They would keep this through the whole opener. Like with Band A, rifle can be helpful in demonstrating the rhythmic energy in Rite of Spring. This group is choosing to do all flags because they don’t have the ability to switch equipment as easily in the middle of the movement- flag can be used to mirror the strength in the weapons. 

Ballad- Hide and Seek

• Band A- The weapons will switch over to sabre and the flags will transition to swing-flags. Sabre will be used in this movement because I think it can really reflect the delicate nature of the music of “Hide and Seek”. The swing flags will be able to show the strong emotional moments in the second portion of the show. 
• Band B-The full group will switch over to all-movement and large blue skirts to mimic swing flags. This gives the opportunity for them to demonstrate movement training as well as using the large skirts for color-effects.

Closer- Ode to Joy

• Band A & B- This entire movement gives off “flag” energy because it’s big, energetic music that calls for full-ensemble spinning.
  Other effects can include bringing out giant flags (like, 10’ flags) or t-poles for a streamer-like effect.

Show 2: 

Around the World- Arranged by Michael Krueger

Show Description- Following a journey around the world in 4 parts. Part 1 uses the Olympic Theme/American Music, Part 2 uses Water is Wide, Part 3 is desert-inspired music, and Part 4 is a recap and return to America.

Band A- This guard has approximately 20 members and the whole team has begun rifle training. Some members have been starting sabre training. This program has one instructor. 

Band B- This guard has 12 members and 6 members spin rifle. This program has one instructor. 

Part 1- Olympic Theme/American Themes

• Band A- The color guard all starts on rifle- the group and choreography can be split into different pairings to highlight different themes in the music. This music offers some opportunities for soloistic moments. Having the full group on rifle can allow the single instructor to give lots of attention to a growing rifle program. 
• Band B-The color guard will start split rifle and movement- Partnered choreography as well as separate choreography can make impactful moments and the rifle can be a strong base for the music.

Part 2- Water is Wide

• Band A- The guard switches to full ensemble flags- the music is open and flag can be useful in presenting choreography that fills the field with color while also being very emotional.
• Band B- Everyone on swing-flags- swing flags can show the strong flowing emotions of the music while also being impactful. Swing flags can also be extremely effective for a small guard because it doubles the amount of color on the field. 

Part 3- Desert-inspired music

• Band A- Students training on sabre switch to sabre, the rest of the ensemble switches to ‘desert’ themed flags. The flags have a significant opportunity to help paint the picture of the music and the sabres can add some of the delicate mystery that can be associated with desert-inspired music.
• Band B-Rifles and flags- students with rifle training will switch back and flags will pick up ‘desert’ themed flags. The rifle could be a useful visual texture and add some intrigue to the movement. 

Part 4- Recap and return to America

• Band A- Return to full-ensemble flag- The silks here can maybe be split 3 ways to show the journey or be a coordinated set with a bunch of different ‘scenes’ or designs. There are lots of opportunities for creativity in silk choice, depending on what your show is really designed towards. 
• Band B- Return to all ensemble on flags- The way that flags are incorporated here can be different. Maybe the final silk is a blend of the other parts of the show or everyone is on the same silk. Having the same silk could help it look more unified with the smaller number of people. 

These shows and bands are just examples of ways you could block equipment in the show. For some people this process is more intuitive and for others it takes more time and effort. All of the decisions that need to be made should keep musicality, the student experience, and staffing in mind. Good luck as you move forward in your design process and know that the staff here at Music Effect Design are more than willing to help if you ask.

Do you have another way you would have blocked out these shows? Do you have a question about a decision that was made? Do you have a question about your own show? Put it in the comments!