Help, first day of marching band camp!

[emsilytheflutie]

I'm the flute section leader for this year and we're supposed to teach the freshman how to march. I need tips! I've been marching since i was a freshman but i was just wondering if anybody had any good ideas on how to teach it since I've been doing it for so long. thanks!

[fluttietuttie]

I went through this EXACT same thing. Hahah.
1) Be nice. Don't treat your freshman like soldiers. They're your equals, and you're not their superior. Always approach them nicely and introduce yourself. Always use their name when talking to them. It gets their attention right away.
2) Start feet first and work your way up. Make sure once you go through something, you keep going through it so you don't go "Oh, and make sure you remember what I told you ten minutes ago!"
3) PNP. Positive, negative, positive. If you have to fix something, give a positive comment, fix the problem in a NICE way, then say another positive thing.
4) You have to be the example. If you're not a good marcher, it'll reflect when you show them. If you have trouble with some part of marching, have a vet demonstrate.
5) Never show disappointment. It'll KILL them and they'll want to quit.

Umm, that's all I can think of right now. I'll probably remember more another time.

[~*Not~a~Stalker~*]

The biggest thing is fake it till you make it. Don't let them know you're nervous. Don't let them see that you're unsure about how to teach.
I must say, I do disagree with something that Tuttie said...if your band does chain of command any way mine does, you ARE their superior. That's not to say that you need to be mean or anything, you just need to make sure that they know they need to listen to you.
Also, ease into the hardcore disciplinary stuff. Make sure they know from the get go how things are run, but take it easy for the first few rounds. Learning to march is certainly overwhelming - as is teaching.

Good luck!

[290Piika]

I agree with Not a Stalker. Though I haven't taught before, I have learned from my SLs. Freshman year, flutes were the hardcore section (seriously disciplined), but we all got along well in the section. You have to know what you're doing, and the freshmen (and your section) should listen to you.

Be strict, but be cool. I know we had warnings for things like keeping the flutes parallel, but after a while, if we drooped, we got like 10 push-ups. If we screwed around during rehearsals after being warned, running/push-ups. Keep your section disciplined and make sure they know what they're doing, but you should also keep yourself likable so that they will listen to you. I guess you should act like a friend outside the field, but their leader on it. I'm not sure how my SLs did it! O:

But don't become lax. That happened with my SL this year; in her defense, she was very busy and the ASL was like...never on the field. However, we didn't have discipline or a firm attitude from either, which I think contributed to some of the unruly-ness of the section (and freshmen thinking they owned the place!).

Hope all goes well.