This year’s DIY project was a color changing belt. Our theme is “True Colors,” so we wanted the guard uniform change in some way to reflect the color song that was being played. We figured bigger costume changes require more time off the field during the show, so we went minimalistic and decided that belts were a subtle, effective, and quick change. Not being able to find something to fit our needs (not surprising), the decision was made to make them ourselves. And by ourselves, I mean have a wonderful, dedicated, willing band parent assemble them (THANK YOU!).

The belts needed to be one piece, three colors.

The belt needed to have three colors (blue, green, red), be changeable in approximately 10 seconds, and NOT be multiple pieces to be left all over the field. The photo to the right shows what we came up with.

Basically, each ribbon end had a clasp on it that attached to a ring. There was a “hinge” sewn in the middle of the belt that allows for the guard to unclip a ribbon from the right, swing it behind their back, and clip it on the left side. Since we started with blue and went to green, half the blue ribbon stood alone (top right of the photo) and half the blue ribbon was sewn to the green (bottom right). Green went red, so the other half of the green was sewn to the red (bottom left), and the other half of red was alone (top left). Some of each previous color shows after each change, but the effect is still there.  Since it’s hard to explain what the belt does, here’s a video of how it works:

Materials for this project: (based on 11 belts)

• 65 yards of 3-inch ribbon in red, blue, and green – $110 (1066 Trimmings)
• 13 1.25″ nickel rings (1 per belt) – $21 (buckleguy.com)
• 50 Swivel clip clasps (each belt has 4) -$23 (eBay)
• Total Cost: $154 (or $14 per student)

And there you have it! This wasn’t exactly a step-by-step, so please post any questions you may have in the comments regarding the actual construction.

“The one common thread in every success story is perseverance, and that it was achieved by seeing every attempt as a step forward—as practice. “

It got me thinking about ways to motivate our guard – even though they already practice in homeroom each day, after school Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, have football games Friday, and competitions each Saturday. Here are some things that seem to work for us:

Change their definition of the word “practice.” It’s not just running the same work over and over again – it is performing the show so as to make the nuances of the work more natural, habitual.

Set some goals. One of our guard’s goals this year is to win a Best Guard award at the state or national level. Being able to remind the group of their goals can be motivating when focus is waning. Any goals – for that practice, that week, or the whole season – can be motivating if the whole group is on board. (I should mention that our ultimate goal for the guard is to have them perform the show to the best of their abilities – not to win. We just want them to feel great when they get off the field!)

Put a little fun into practice. If your practice is going downhill, take a fun break. You’d be surprised how a game of Red Rover or letting the girls do their runway walks down the practice floor can quickly turn things around.

Record practice runs, football games, and competitions and listen to judge’s tapes. What more could be more motivating than watching yourself out of time with the rest of the guard or getting called out on a judge’s tape? That alone will prompt many to correct lingering errors.

If all else fails, some good ol’ fashion “Let’s Make a Deal.” This week I’ve asked our guard to watch Monday’s run through and make a list of 10 spots they need to work on. In exchange, I’ll let them out 30 minutes early from their last practice of the season. I also told them I’d throw a party at my new house if they brought home a Best Color Guard trophy from States or Nationals. Who doesn’t like free food?

Lots o' makeup

The night before our first competition is a long one. Why? Because I’m packing anything and everything I might need for the following day’s festivities. As you can see to the right, there’s a lot. That’s because as guard instructors we’ve got to be prepared for any makeup, hair, uniform, and minor medical issues that inevitably arise on competition day. Because it’s so easy to be caught unprepared, I thought I’d share my color guard kit must-haves. Hope it helps you as you’re preparing for your own competition days!

MUST HAVES

• Guard tape (black, white, etc.)
• Extra pair of guard gloves (if your guard wears them)
• Bobby pins
• Hair ties
• Makeup (for guard – and yourself if you can find time to do it!)

- Primer
- Actual makeup
- Sealer
- Brushes
- Remover

• Q-tips
• Tissues
• Band-Aids
• Bottle of water

OPTIONAL (BUT USEFUL!)

• Mini-sewing kit (many times, safety pins are easier and quicker)
• Bra strap clips (if you have sleeveless uniforms, these come in handy)
• Hair spray
• Double-sided fashion tape
• Nail file

What’s in yours?

Our theme this year is colors — officially “True Colors.” Here are our 5 songs and their flags:

Somewhere Over The Rainbow
I originally purchased this fantastic rainbow flag for SOTR, but ended up liking them better in Rainbow Connection. So instead I’ll be using solid color ultra lame flags in this song. They offer a lot of punch at a low cost.

Blue Skies
For this song I obviously wanted flags with blue, so I did just that. What I like about this flag is that it reminds me of clouds! Bonus: Stock flag!

Green Sleeves and Take 5 hybrid
This was a flag I was afraid of because I customized the colors blindly (who needs swatches?). Luckily they look great on the field. The coloring is perfect for the look and feel of the song.

Rainbow Connection
As soon as I saw these flags, I knew I had to use them somewhere in our show. I originally chose them for Somewhere Over The Rainbow, but in a moment of curiosity I used them for Rainbow Connection. One word: Love!

Malaguena
We originally wanted to use flags we had the guard closet (trying to save money). They were bright red with a gold stripe down the bottom. Unfortunately when we found them in the closet they were in terrible condition. So instead I decided to go with a stock flag. These are a nice flag for the last song because they bring in the color red, but also an orangey yellow and black for contrast. Also the orange/yellow carries over from the previous song’s flags.

There you have it… can’t wait to see these all going the same direction on the field

Let’s see your flags!

Makeup I ordered came in, though I haven’t tried it out on anyone yet — any takers? It’s professional face paint so I expect it to be just what I’m looking for. And if not, my zombie makeuping friend Nickki will be getting some freebies.

Flags and uniforms are ordered. Made a basic outline of things to do with the guard over the summer to jack their endurance and performance abilities.

Progress is being made. Look out!

Now back to your regularly schedule color guard blog…

Man, it feels good to let that out! I’ve been waiting for over 2 months to blab, but had to wait until the director made an official announcement.

If you know me, you know I LOVE color. And though I’m partial to black and bold color combinations, I can very much appreciate ANY color scheme. Designing this show could be either a blessing or a curse depending on how I approach it: Pigeon-holed into using particular colors OR easier because my color options are somewhat limited. Though I think it’ll be a combination of the two because of one color:

GREEN

Green is one of my favorites, but is really hard to pull off on a football field. Needless to say I was a little disappointed when the director chose to do green over great field colors like yellow or orange. I personally feel that there should be contrast among colors of flags, uniforms, venue, etc. and it’s tough to do that with green. So I anticipate a challenge.

The other colors (in no particular order) are:

BLUE, RED, & RAINBOW!

One thing I’m really looking forward to is incorporating the rainbow in several ways. I’m not someone who likes literal show flags (flowers for a spring song, clock for time theme) but sometimes you’ve got to go with it. This is one of those rare times for me. Here’s a look at a few ways I plan on presenting the rainbow:

- One flag with several rainbow colors
- Several solid color flags
- Oversized solid color lamé flags for big impact

How would you go about choosing equipment for a color theme?

We’ve had several new ladies come to our workshop, which is very exciting! We’ll fall somewhere between 12 and 14 members which is normal/large for our program size. What we’ve seen so far is a broad range of competency, but a noticeable dedication to improvement.

That being said, let’s see what has/has not been accomplished from my original plan.

Week One’s goals were as follows:
- Introductions, explanation of color guard, viewing of last year’s show (30 minutes)
- Warm-ups (10 minutes)
- Right shoulder arms, posture, commands, marking time (15 minutes)
- Drop spins – Goal is 8 counts (20 minutes)
- Wrist Extensions (10 minutes) – left and right arms
- Begin teaching routine (heavy dance focus) (30 minutes)

Notes: The only thing we couldn’t accomplish was both arms for the wrist extensions, so we did one.

Week Two’s goals were:
- Warm-ups (10 minutes)
- Review right shoulder, drop spins, marking time, wrist extensions all at varying counts/speeds (30 minutes)
- Double fast – Goal is 8 counts (20 minutes)
- Pull hits – Goal is 8 counts (15 minutes)
- Review dance (15 minutes)
- Finish teaching dance and/or begin flag portion of routine (30 minutes)

Note: Went well. I was able to teach the other arm of wrist extensions.

Week Three‘s goals:
- Warm-ups (10 minutes)
- Review drop spins, wrist extensions, double fast, marking time, pull hits all at varying counts/speeds (45 minutes)
- Marching – Goal is 16 counts forward at right shoulder; MAYBE drop spins (20 minutes)
- Review dance/flag from W1,W2 (20 minutes)
- Begin/continue flag portion of routine (25 minutes)

Notes: We did not do varying speeds of the basics because I felt it was too much. I decided to skip marching all together as they’ll be working that all summer with the band. I did find that because we were not spending as much time on basics as in previous years, the quantity and quality of basics they can do are lower. On the other hand, we are challenging them earlier with the routine and thus giving them a truer look at what they’ll do during the season.

Week four’s goals were
- Warm-ups (10 minutes)
- Review drop spins, wrist extensions, double fast, marking time, pull hits all at varying counts/speeds & marching (45 minutes)
- Jazz running (15)
- Review dance/flag from W1,W2,W3 (20 minutes)
- Continue flag portion of routine (30 minutes)

Notes: Again, I skipped the varying tempos (and jazz running) as I felt we had to spend some more time on technique.

The plus to teaching a routine in conjunction with the fundamentals is that as the members get more comfortable doing the work, they’ll start to perform it. This is good for me to see because as I’ve said before, the workshop gives me a chance to see the skill levels I’ll be writing for in the coming months. Some years I can write difficult work right off the bat, while others I have to keep the work simple and build upon it as the season progresses. We shall see what this season brings.

A workshop wrap-up will follow after our June 1 tryouts… and my wedding on June 4

What’s the format of your workshop? I’d be interested in discussing the pros and cons with other instructors!

For our “Time” show last year, I decided to design flags for our version of “I’m Late”. I mean, I literally took out a piece of paper, sketched ideas, put them into Photoshop, and sent them to be made by Band Shoppe. The final product:

Our little Ashley (Photo by Jolesch Photography)

So, imagine my surprise last night when our band director showed me this in the Band Shoppe catalog for 2011-12:

The director marked the page with a post-it that said "Look who stole your design!!"

I had no idea that custom designed/ordered flags we submit to be made could be put in the catalog for all to use. So they didn’t “steal” the design at all, they just liked it enough to add to their lineup. That is why I’m famous (sort of).

And just for good measure, I’m also famous on the internets:

If it's on the internet, it's true (Click the photo to go to Band Shoppe's site)

All right, Band Shoppe — you got like 4 links to your site in the post, now where’s my share of the profits? (KIDDING!)