With the cancellation of the Drum Major and Drumline Academy this summer (hosted by Washington Marching Band Camps), we are holding a modified virtual camp for those of you who are interested in summer instruction. Please continue down the page to read more about the sessions we will be holding the week of July 6th. If you’re interested in participating, you can complete the free registration below. We are asking that if you do plan to participate that you register by this Friday, July 3rd.
Once you pre-register, the link to the sessions will be emailed out by Sunday, July 5th. The email will go to the email that you provide on the registration form below.
UW DRUM MAJOR ACADEMY
Since BOA/Yamaha and Smith Walbridge already created virtual instructional opportunities for Drum Majors in the areas of CONDUCTING and LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT, our UW ACADEMY will be focusing all of our efforts on virtual instruction regarding skill development on SIGNAL BATON.
Starting on Monday, July 6th, instructional videos will be available in the following areas:
- Beginning Signal Baton Technique
- Medium/Advanced Signal Baton Technique
- Coordination of Signal Baton and Whistles as applied to Parade Management
- Choreography Tips as applied to the Signal Baton
On July 7th, we will host a live zoom meeting at 7PM PST where you can ask our instructional staff questions. Throughout the rest of the summer, you will be given the opportunity submit videos in which our staff will critique and provide helpful tips for additional skill development. If you have also started learning how to twirl the smaller Gray Baton (that was also offered at the Washington Marching Band Camps Drum Major Academy), you are welcome to submit videos throughout the summer for critiquing (although no instructional videos will be produced this summer specific to that baton).
UW DRUMLINE ACADEMY
On July 6th, in addition to the instructional Drum Major videos, we will also be offering live zoom master classes for all battery instruments, as well as an instructional video on battery tuning. Here is the schedule for the master classes:
Battery Master Classes (Live via zoom)
- Snare (9:00AM-10:30AM)
- Tenors (11:00AM-12:30PM)
- Basses (1:30PM-3:00PM)
- Cymbals (3:30PM-5:00PM)
*The first hour of each class will focus on technique with the last half hour being a live Q&A
DRUM MAJOR/DRUMLINE “Live” DAY CAMP
To be of further help to all of you, particularly those of you who will be diving into a Drum Major or Drumline leadership experience for the first time, our plan is to host a day camp at the UW to provide in-person critiquing for all drum majors and drumline section leaders or sub-section leaders. For Drum Majors, we will be limiting the instruction to the areas of 1) conducting and 2) signal baton. For drumline students, instruction will be limited to battery technique and reinforcing the effective running of sectionals (including warm-ups). This Day-Camp is intended as a final “touch-up” prior to the start of your band camp or football season. Time will not be dedicated to introducing techniques, but rather reinforce and cleaning the techniques presented to you through the video resources mentioned above. The date of this Day-Camp is tentatively planned for the first week of August with our ability to host it being contingent upon the virus related phase that our state is in at that time. We’ll keep you updated as to what date we will be focusing on.
