ADDRESS:
Navigating the Uncharted Waters of Choreographed Marching:
A Two-Dimensional Object
Mr. Stuart E. Rice
CONTENTS:
Foreword
Introduction
The Weather
The Map
PART II: The Continents
1. Anthropology
2. Demographics
3. Sociology
4. Behavioral Science
5. Etymology
6. Geography
7. Political Science
PART III: The Ship
Sports
Dance
The Marching Arts
Marching and Education
Marching Theory
PART IV: The Destination.
Conclusion
Appendix 1
Acknowledgments
References
FOREWORD.
What a pleasure it is to finally reach the end of another challenging year in the marching arts.
To relax and compare notes on the bitter-sweet toil of progress within that field for the art and
activity of drum corps. To come at last to an oasis of information, this sanctuary of exchange
and support where research and opinions of any sort can co-exist without interference or shame.
Here we have established a refuge of freedom, a tradition of accountability and information
where dust kicked up by petty squabbles and minor differences settles, and the minds of this
activity, young and old, gain access to the knowledge they need to establish marching arts such
as drum corps. This friendly environment is where trends for the activity are determined. This
is where its course is set. And in the exchange of our gifts of research to each other, we also
teach those who may read in years to come about what we felt was most important.
I know of no forum such as this - RAMD Virtual Symposium may be the first of its kind. It is
now my privilege to briefly enjoy your company on this flat medium with no agenda beyond the
continuance of the medium itself; a society where consideration due every idea is given based on
its merit and source, rather than on wealth, social/political influence or even perspective, all of
which have proven our downfall. How fortunate we are to have an academic forum where the
value of one's opinion is limited only by the information behind it and our ability to express it, a
place to sift, measure, and organize, for the greater good, the information that determines the
past, present, and future of the activity and art. This is the blessing of RAMD Virtual
Symposium, and should we ever prove unable to establish it, we will deserve no better anywhere
else.
PART I: Introduction.
I would like to invite you on a journey.
This voyage is not a journey of time or space, but of perspective. Its safety depends on the
quality, quantity, and significance of our facts (as well as our wisdom in managing them).
Unfortunately, drum corps information is largely either unrecorded, lost, or buried beneath
decades of ambiguous ratings, trivia, and neglect. Meanwhile, our puzzled history and heritage
walked out the door long ago, and we can only search among its many allied fields for the
pieces.
Because of this state of affairs, the map for our journey must be outlined by the larger historical
and scientific consensus, rather than the varied perspectives of drum corps' ideologically
disparate camps. Drum corps history, research and consensus is too weak to guide us as yet.
Drum corps' would be academic authorities have left us no such maps save a few scraps of
relevant information (Popp, Ross-Robertson).
In finding our place in the world as an art or science, nothing validates our creative heritage,
least of all the identity crisis which engulfs the activity. We stand alone in calling the activity to
leave harbor and explore the world which created it, and we have only scarcely begun to
recognize. We are much like a ship captain in the 15th century trying to persuade sailors to
cross a flat sea to face the fear which precedes not the end of our world, but the beginning.
Only then do we find we are not left entirely alone with this task, due to the research of
authorities in the arts and sciences who have, in their own ways, studied what we do in allied
fields which will be addressed in this paper. We can fit together these pieces of their experience
with "two-dimensional dance," proxemic dialogue, and collective behavior. Once we have these
"continents" of our allied arts and sciences on the map, we can more easily find our place in the
world by fitting the last piece in place - the place where it (and we) MUST unmistakably go.
Plotting a safe course to this destination is our only hope to avoid wasted decades and decades
spent wandering in the dangerous waters of our own unstudied self-assertions.
This is our great secret. Through research, we can indeed open the horizons of the art and
activity. We can, contrary to popular belief, force the agenda of the future of this activity by
holding its leaders accountable to what the world knows about this art, regardless of the personal
resources of our social, political or economic situation.
Some leaders in drum corps are considered authorities because of what they know of one aspect
of the activity, regardless of whether or not they understand it. Others are thought to be
authorities because they know a piece of the puzzle of the art so well that they mistake it for the
map. Generally, both have been so busy racing to make these pieces fit together in this activity
that they have lost the ability to see the bigger picture.
Through research, we take responsibility for map-making out of the hands of those who do not
have all the pieces of our past, present and future. Working together we can overcome
perspectives of careless self-interest, assembling educational maps that can navigate coming
generations to destinations of truth and dignity. Building a society which enriches lives of all
ages in drum corps and inspiring the world it touches - a world it has touched through
choreographed marching for so many millennia.
THE WEATHER. I have a box of Crackerjacks at home ("carmel corn" with peanuts, for those
who haven't tried it) which is nearly a foot tall and several times the weight of the more common
small size. I recalled the exciting prizes in the small ones - puzzles, wiener whistles, those kind
of things. Crackerjacks was an empire devoted to youth when I was a boy, and that was not so
long ago. Out of this enormous box, however, came a maze measuring about one inch by
three-quarters of an inch. A maze set in a barely discernable cemetery with glow in the dark
ghosts not much bigger than the head of a pin. How easily our cultural monuments to youth are
sacrificed in the name of "commerce".
Central to the issue of drum corps economics is the question of its market. There is a subtle
debate over whether drum corps is a marching art or a musical art, which is addressed in
Appendix 1. To be sure, those who feel marching cannot be considered an art would do well to
consider the even humbler beginnings of ice skating, which began when residents of Northern
Europe fastened strips of bone to the bottom of their shoes in order to use the less-resistant paths
of frozen rivers for travel in Winter. Forms of travel can indeed evolve into "art".
Is marching sport or art? It is some of both. However, in the previous 15 years, there is entirely
too much talk about sport and "games." While it is obvious that the pendulum has swung away
from the State of the "Art" of the 70's to the Summer Music "Games" of the past decade, we need
not fear that knowledge of this fact will cause it to swing back to the other extreme. On the
contrary, it is through understanding the times that we are able to navigate a balanced, straight
course toward the future. It is not the proactive solutions of the searching we should be
concerned about, but the thoughtless reaction of mentally sloth.
Generally, the performance of sport is an improvisational act created in an environment of rules.
Generally, the performance of art is an organization of instructions created in an environment of
improvisation. It speaks poorly of an activities' education when it believes its own repetitive
performances constitute improvisational sports. Is it possible that we have become so desperate
to grasp the brass ring of the lucrative sports market image that we are blinded to the possibility
that we may be doing something worthy of been seen again and again?
What concerns me more, however, is not games, but gamesmanship - how much of this activity
we conceded to the social, political, and economic discrimination of games. How much we rely
on games which sell low grade amusement to subsidize a youth activity. What are we teaching
youth when we place them under the responsibility of instructors whose knowledge of their craft
is measured chiefly by the salary they receive through bingo?
It concerns me that we might become comfortable allowing the beauty of this art to slide into the
mire of the lowest common denominator of entertainment - the losing proposition of games.
According to the law of averages and the temptations of greed, only one player can win in
gambling - the host. If DCI hasn't higher aspirations for youth than to dealing another losing
hand to them, then no wonder corps in North America has only 10% of the corps it boasted 25
years ago.
Perhaps the assertions of this "promotional, educational and service arm of the drum and bugle
corps activity" (DCI Mission Statement, 1992) was part of the game itself. Research suggests
this is not the case however. Drum corps are, in fact, being rewarded for the quality of their
marching (although this process is largely an intuitive one). The art of choreographed marching
which fills the sails of drum corps has been and will always become art, regardless of the
concessions it makes for competitive interest.
THE MAP. Like all journeys, the journey of the drum and bugle corps as a marching art has a
point of departure, a point of destination, and a map - a guide orienting ourselves for a
self-directed, purposeful passage. Planar Analysis* (discussed later) is that map.
Our point of departure will be a thorough but brief sampling of research in the many arts and
sciences which, directly or indirectly, contribute to the study of the marching art - research
which has largely been unknown until now. We will look at Political, Social, and Behavioral
Science, Dance, Anthropology, Geography, Etymology, Sports, The Marching Arts, and touch
upon related aspects of History. We will look at field after field until we have a very precise
estimate of where our destination may be found. We can then gain an appreciation of how
Planar Analysis (PA)* can guide us there.
In spite of our map, one question remains unanswered: how will we orient ourselves on the
journey which lies ahead? One bit of skewed information, about where we came from or where
we're going, could sink a ship at sea. Corporations operate no differently - they sink or swim
according to an understanding of their market, their product, and their companies. The process
of acquiring such information and progressing in their journey is called "market research," and
calls for an inventory of the history, theory and context of the act of marching.
We must review every assumption. Our activity has been buried beneath an avalanche of
opinions many of which do not share the interests of our 2-dimensional art. Our most basic
concepts, if outdated, are especially dangerous and must be reconsidered if we are to reach our
destination. For instance, the word "design" (which used to mean a series of pictures drawn to
assist us in visualizing and executing marching) has for 15 years now been increasingly obsolete.
Our destination and the last leg of the journey is nothing less than the edification and
enlightenment of the human race, and for this cause the marching arts are uniquely qualified.
We will recognize this last puzzle piece of the map because it will "fit" with common and
specialized knowledge alike. No form of expression is recognized as universally or been
practiced as long as the marching arts, with the possible exception of music and language. It is
more than just marching. It is human planar movement, which is the essence of choreographed
marching.
The act of moving the human body through two dimensional space from one location to another
is what our body was specifically designed for by nature. It is our most ancient and fundamental
form of dance. It is our most common form of cooperative and individual physical expression.
Specifically, marching is:
1. Any personal and interpersonal creative expression generated by the human body in
translatory movement.
2. Practiced by bagpipes, bands, color guard ensembles, drill teams, drum and bell corps, drum
and bugle corps, drum and fife corps, social, political and religious organizations in tribute,
captivity, protest or demonstration, and soldiers.
3. A ritual demonstrated in child's play, ceremonies, collective behavior, dance, expulsions,
explorations, funerals, migrations, parades, politics, procession, proxemics, recreation, reviews,
travel, weddings, "walks," and in the tactics of territorial activities, sports and games.
4. A form of creative expression generated by the naturally synchronizing human efforts to
change, define, regulate, explore, govern or subsist upon the human environment.
5. An ritual and instinct in method, technique and choreography.
6. The result of any ideological, literary, mathematical, pictorial or social construct used in the
organization or expression of naturally synchronous locomotion, and any formal or informal
influence on the above systems
7. A linear and planar expression of the ideals and management of social space, and requires a
path of travel, a means of departure, arrival or any circumscribed route.
8. An aesthetic language executed for the sake of beauty within a limited horizontal space.
9. May be developed more rapidly by the study of its history, theory, interpretation and
technique.
In addition, we must always remember to search carefully for the profoundly important yet
elusive obvious points of our art which are self-evident in manifestations of nature and human
behavior. In doing so, we may gain insights of unmeasured value.
There are those who have accepted the idea (most without realizing it) that the art form drum
corps has championed is unartistic and transient. Because they do not see a self-directed future
in the behavioral science and proxemic language of choreographed marching, they have
accepted that it will continue to feed off the high school gymnasiums, college football stadiums,
band music and hype which accompanies its "necessarily" hand-to-mouth existence. There are
those that believe that marching is an activity without a country, and that therefore we need not
take responsibility for the development of the art. Perhaps there are even those too afraid to
journey toward the marching arts and sciences at all for fear of falling off the edge of a flat
world. To all I say the same thing: take the next step.
PART II: The Continents.
1. ANTHROPOLOGY. The most significant event of the twentieth century was a human
behavior which took place on the moon. This accomplishment took place on the moon as it did
on earth, and as it does for each of us by the end of our first year of life. This act, which
signifies our ascendency over nature, is our first step. Evidence of this behavior exists as far
back as 117,000 years ago, when recently discovered footprints were made in South Africa**.
Morphological evidence, however, suggests an earlier point of origin. Until recently, there were
a wide variety of theories to suggest why an erect posture was first assumed by Australopithecus
Afarensis, our small-brained, bipedal ancestor "Lucy," (named after a Beatles tune playing at the
time of her first exam in 1974). Most of these theories tried to explain our motivation for
standing erect 4 m.y.a. (to reap such benefits as fruit picking, cooler breezes, and a more
hydrodynamic swimming) (Morgan). "Increased intelligence is largely a response to the
enormous potential in free hands for manufacture," which further insured survival (Gould).
However, "what makes us unique is not standing erect," according to Morgan, "but bipedal
locomotion".
"Only once, and that very early in life, is walking a conscious, supreme achievement, when ...
babies ... take their first tottering steps. Before the child or anyone else realizes it, he is not
walking but running, skipping, climbing. Soon enough he is pedaling his three-wheeler, his two
wheeler, rolling on roller skated and skate boards, getting ready to go on wheels for the rest of
his life. Thereafter, whenever he is not on wheels he is in a chair. Walking from then on is
something he has to do to get from his chair to his car, a minor inconvenience" (Sussman and
Goode).
New and increasingly creative applications of physical force also freed our hands to make tools
for cutting, piercing and pounding. In turn, these skills challenged and developed the mind. The
result brought humanity back full circle to its defining origins in travel when the wheel was
invented in Mesopotamia around 5,000 B.C. And in a general sense, with many notable
exceptions, we have never returned to our feet since. We are beset by technology tasks and
surrounded by conveniences of travel which have estranged us from the one act for which the
body was specifically built - locomotion.
To a few people, an accident or an illness may make walking significant again by threatening to
take it away. When this happens, they and their doctors, as well as hospitals, philanthropic
organizations and even governments invest energies, skills, treasure and endless effort to restore
their ability to walk. It is an ironic fact that people never miss walking unless they are deprived
of it. They cheerfully spend all their waking hours in chairs or on wheels. But their will move
heaven and earth to avoid the chair and the wheels combined: the wheelchair" (Sussman and
Goode).
Locomotion is a ritual which has become as indispensable to culture as it has to life. "People
have moved together from one point in space to another in search of food and water, to escape
persecution, to go to battle, to worship, and to celebrate the status transitions of marriage and
death" (McPhail and Wohlstein).
Locomotion, according to Morgan, is what made us human. It freed our hands and made travel
efficient, whereby humanity survived more level terrain and mastered environmental challenges.
Walking enabled human travelers to travel by path to temperate zone climates and widespread
travel as weather improved and stabilized between 10,000 and 8,000 B.C. (Lay). There has been
recent evidence that human beings actually devolved when environmental conditions fluctuated
greatly. By the time the weather restabilized, they climbed back down from the trees to find
themselves alone atop the evolutionary scale. Neanderthal man had missed the boat
(Independent).
Australian aborigines still use their feet to secure the basic necessities of life. One group stalks a
kangaroo mile after mile for days, until the kangaroo is too exhausted to go any further. Then
they kill it for food and carry the carcass back .... Surprisingly, once through the critical period
of childhood infectious diseases, the aborigines live as long as the average American, without
the help of medical technology." The Australian National University recently found such a tribe
in New Guinea in which heart disease is extremely rare ... of 777 natives studied, only two had
any sign of heart disease (Sussman and Goode). Locomotion, our most precise rhythmic
instrument, may also have been "one of the first forces of natural selection," according to dance
anthropologist Judith Hanna.
2. DEMOGRAPHICS. Human planar movement is a freedom we take for granted. Due to
physical, developmental, geographical, and political reasons, not everyone is able to enjoy it.
Regardless, only a very small fraction of the population cannot walk or at least move about their
environment to some extent. Whether we're hunting or sitting on the deck of the Queen Mary
sipping a mint julep, our opportunities for travel are the result of the advantage of walking with
both hands free. Our more prosperous circumstances bring the added privilege of human planar
movement for leisure - tourism and migration.
Conversely, our most impoverished circumstances demand human planar movement - transiency
and/or migration. The difference between tourism and transiency, of course, is usually wealth
(and its attendant physical and psychological benefits); a difference that can multiply in a
capitalistic society with a trend toward economic segregation. Ironically, a third of involuntary
transients in America are war veterans, 71% honorably discharged. Citizens representing a
heritage of marching which has for ages renewed our opportunities for leisure travel, among
more important freedoms. Citizens who invented the drum and bugle corps.
Migration - forced or voluntary, temporary or permanent - is linear. In other words, the
experience comes not all at once, but one step at a time. It is a recurring rite of passage, an
essential ritual that thrusts us "irreversibly down life's path" toward discovery, a "re-creation,
which is supposed to renew us for the workaday world." "The food and drink might be identical
to that normally eaten indoors, but the magic comes from the movement" and its 2-dimensional
effect (Grayburn).
It is true that touring is part of the drum and bugle corps experience currently. Like migrants,
touring drum corps act as "the agents of contact between cultures and, directly or indirectly, the
cause of change particularly in the less developed regions of the world" - or less developed
markets of the activity - for that matter (Nash). But this is the most superficial aspect of
2-dimensional expression.
Within that macro-cultural transaction of tourism is a more profound, "microsocial" version of
the same 2-dimensional act - an art which drum corps uniquely excels in. The real substance of
drum corps culture is not communicated by superficial touring, but by the more powerful symbol
of touring embodied in the art of choreographed marching. When we march before an audience,
we bring to light the symbol of exploratory behavior on a smaller scale. We show that we as
human beings explore "the social meaning of space" as much as we do the objects and places
within space.
Touring demonstrates "human exploratory behavior" in its highest form; it is prompted by a
desire for truth and beauty. Touring includes, at one level or another, expressive culture such as
ceremonials, the arts, sports and folklore" (Graburn). With or without an audience, each contain
an element of that most sublime form of explorative expression, choreographed marching. For
the demographer, modern day choreographed marching is nothing more or less than a
concentrated symbol of what we express through travel.
3. SOCIOLOGY. Within the field of sociology is a recently emerging subfield of "fluid
proxemics:" collective behavior, chief of which is locomotion. Laying claim to a heritage of
functional and ceremonial expression, the field of collective locomotion studies human planar
movement not as static proxemics, but as a fluid ritual limited mostly to 2-dimensional
movement. It is the most established field of science yet with direct bearing on the marching
arts, as well as most intriguing. For instance, in comparing protest marchers to a parade
marching band, they came up with some interesting results suggesting that the protesters in some
ways marched better than the band.
There are many excuses that band could offer for a less than scientifically exemplary
performance. Particularly in a modern society where its much easier to sit in a convertible,
smile and wave. We are bombarded with technology and conveniences which threaten to
confine us to the seated position for life. The temptations to abandon the craft of locomotion are
real. "Cars last a hundred thousand miles or so. Just try to take anybody that far on foot"
(O'Rourke).
It is easy to neglect our instincts for spatial relations. Tony Buzan (Chairman of the Brain Trust,
originator of Mind Maps, past editor of the International Journal of MENSA or ‘high IQ
society') in conversation with fellow co-founder of the World Memory Championships Raymond
Keene (author on chess and Mind Sports specialist) discussed the mathematical implications of
our genius for physical acts such as football (soccer) and even crossing the street (Buzan and
Keene):
TB: "The computer can't even move, and it can't even begin to calculate [making a goal]."
RK: "The first computer that gets across a road, or the man or woman designs that program, will
get a Nobel Prize."
TB: "Precisely. In fact, coming back to the numerical intelligence, all of these people who say
‘oh, well I'd never be able to get a degree in mathematics' [90% informally surveyed]: virtually
every single one of them has jay-walked. In other words, crossed a busy street (not at the traffic
lights, but in the middle of it, where they weren't supposed to do it), and what they've actually
done in intelligence terms, mathematical terms, is turned to the right and observed perhaps a
hundred or two hundred ‘lever and pulley objects' (we call them human beings [and physicists
call them "driven harmonic oscillators"], but in this mathematical formula they're levers and
pulleys moving in different directions). They've also observed giant objects weighing between
half a ton and ten to 25 tons moving at different velocities in different directions.
In a second, they take in all of that, and they calculate the probably way in which all of
that will progress. As they turn to the left and take in all those lever and pulley objects, and all
those giant masses of stuff coming and going away and towards them, they predict the probably
outcome of all that behavior. They then check that their calculations, permutations and
combinations on the right were correct, and then they run across the street, dancing in between
bicycles, motorcycles, cars, lorries, everything ... human beings.
And they get to the other side of this plane and say: "I can't do math." Having just
completed a post-Newtonian, post-Euclidean, post-Einsteinian, post-doctoral Thesis in
geometry, vectors, space, movement, mass, weight, volume, prediction, computation - the whole
lot. So every day, every single brain is doing post-doctoral mathematics. And if they think they
can't, they're wrong. Its simply that at some early stage they got a wrong formula, and then
began to think for the rest of their lives that they couldn't do it."
RK: "Very interesting. And what you're saying, in fact, is that so much teaching, so much formal
teaching, is that its formalistic. Its abstract principles, whereas in fact the real life situation, the
daily challenges of the planet, of just living, are what constitutes intelligence."
TB: "Precisely. In fact my formulation on that is that all the I.Q. tests are nothing as compared
to the ultimate I.Q. test, and the ultimate I.Q. test is planet earth. Every second of every day
everyo one of us is given staggering questions that we have to answer at infinitely fast speeds.
And we do it all the time. Walking across the street. Solving a little problem. Keeping the
heart and blood system going. Walking through the woods. Considering what kind of foods to
eat. Conversing. Unbelievable acts of intelligence: verbal, numerical, spatial ... everything you
can think of. Everyone ... is inherently qualified as a genius. Its just that they've got to realize
it."
RK: "Yes, I mean life is a second by second challenge, and as you solve each new challenge
successfully, you're improving you're own intelligence."
TB: "...So this Bodily Intelligence [#8] is a very superior intelligence, and there is no such thing
as a "thick jock". That is an oxy-moron, a contradiction in terms. The Greeks were correct, the
Romans correct, when they said: "....in a healthy body there will be a healthy mind. With a
healthy mind, there will be a healthy body". So bodily intelligence is intelligent. All of those
soccer players you see are really, really bright. And its interesting; [there is] a little survey of
where the word "genius"crops up most commonly at this moment of time on the planet, and its
in relations to athletics, to sports. They're actually beginning to realize that physical intelligence
is a major intelligence and it helps the other [9 intelligences]".
For drum corps, it is interesting to note that Bodily-Kinaesthetic-Rhythmic" is reduced to
"Bodily-Kinaesthetic" intelligence by Howard Gardner. Further, Buzan's 10 intelligences do not
discriminate musical intelligence (one of Gardner's 7) beyond the category of "creative"
intelligence.
Brown also finds our most fundamental act something of a wonder: "Think of how pedestrians
on a crowded street will sort themselves out. Hundreds, thousands of us can navigate our way,
through what might seem an anarchic situation, maintaining a steady pace, and usually without
incident". Marching musicians may object that they have to make music at the same time (as if
they were the only interdisciplinary artists ever required to "chew gum and walk at the same
time"). Regardless of our interests or standards, however, someone is watching. How well we
inspire or entertain them with quality choreographed marching is up to us.
4. BEHAVIORAL SCIENCE. Travel and migration have also been transformed into cultural
forces. Ritual performance of migration histories (as depicted by the 16th century codices of the
Aztec migration from Aztlan to Tenochtitlan**) can represent "great social and ideological
significance," as these pre-Columbian illustrations did for the Mexica, and later the Aztec world.
The kind of ritual enacted here is a rite of passage, by which the Mexicas undergo "a profound
change in social and ideological status, from a small nomadic band to a people appropriate as
rulers of Mesoamerica.
The whole manner in which the migration is presented shows it to have great importance in
validating Mexica rule" (Carrasco). Yet at the same time, these functional, cultural behaviors
remain survival instincts.
Such demonstrations fulfilled the same role in battlefield encounters and their reinactments. At
least until cumbersome technology and violence shattered the beauty of upright posture,
synchronous rhythm and planar eloquence.
As migration histories came to find their niche in parades, another type of performance of
locomotion exhibition: processions. "Processions ... are recurring forms of social behavior
throughout recorded history. ... Processions have also figured prominently in state coronations,
inaugurations, weddings, funerals, and in homage to visiting dignitaries," and as a result, their
images became popular to kings and rulers, regardless of military background. Like other forms
of social behavior, processions ... were eventually taken over as means of political protest," at
which time they became demonstration or protest marches.
Formerly church processions** were limited to potentially ostentatious pageantry, of which we
have record of from 3,000 B.C. to present day. However, due to the extensive political influence
of the Catholic church from the middle of the first millennium to the middle of the second, the
territorial exercise of these processions was assumed by local clergy. When the church was the
dominant political influence, territories were marked or "marched" by communities. As
populations grew, disputes obliged the church to accommodate these gangs of boys in their
"stewardship" over the practice of "ganging."
"Now, as then, people assemble at one location and move to another. At the outset, en route,
and/or at their destination, participants may state their claims on persons, places, or resources,
advocating or resisting change in the society of which they are a part" (McPhail and Wohlstein).
This became especially evident in the first half of the second millenium A.D., when gangs were
hired to maintain local boundaries. After this point, processioning took on a dual meaning. On
the one hand, it affirmed the sociopolitical existence of a community in a cultural context. On
the other, it condoned violent gang confrontation which were eventually mastered by those able
to ritually perambulate outposts along these "marches" (noun) unmolested.
5. ETYMOLOGY. Eventually, nations rose which took more seriously to "marking" these
disputed areas. These areas are more appropriately called "marches," from the noun "march" (a
patrolled border of disputed territory, recorded as far back as the 13th century) and its antecedent
"demarcate" (verb). It is interesting to note that circumnavigating the boundaries of a county,
town or parish was in Greek and Roman times a seasonal event, and that there is scarcely an
etymological or historical shred of evidence indicating that the month of March was named after
the Greek god Mars (as commonly assumed). It is in fact more likely that the ever-warring
borderland "Marches" named after the act which regularly occurred during that season (OED).
The act of marching boundaries around territories of all sizes impressed upon populations (and
in most cases, upon the turf itself) the "marches" or marks of the asserted space - the boundaries.
In Scotland, "marching" was also known as "beating the bounds" and even "drumming". Thus
marching, "the original source of geographic information," more than discovered space through
travel - it identified, defined and maintained it.
The value of non-confrontational, non-territorial marching was first appreciated as an indicator
of battle-readiness. Marching was, to the leader's eye, the litmus test of the preparation of a unit
for combat. They also became a haven for the appreciation of the art in Europe by way of the
parade - a new national pastime. The word "parade", from the French, designated "a place for
the exercise of troops," and from the Latin (paro - "pare"), meaning to "prepare" (OED). Like
most creative acts, choreographed marching reaffirmed our cultural and political values.
As "geographical agents," we accomplished a great deal in bringing our values into direct
dialogue with other nations through marching. Marching is more than an expression of raw
territorial activities. Unfortunately, its political abuses have pre-empted its potential for silent,
proxemic diplomacy. The influence of marching is all too sorely needed to unify peoples ("Can
two walk together except they be agreed?" suggested the prophet Amos). It is a fledgling form
of symbolic expression, and a "cement and solvent of human relations," as noted by one observer
during the crusades. These points are frequently ignored amidst the exploited pride and
spectacle of glorified and horrified violence.
It has been said that the greatest barrier to peace is language. Nowhere is this more evident than
with our first language - the 2-dimensional dance of choreographed marching. "Since the body,
as a component of the physical world, always occupies a position in space, the spatial dimension
acquires considerable importance as the starting point for constituting meanings in and of the
social world" (Werlen).
Nevertheless, after so many bloody centuries of raising this expression to greater heights of
symbolism and beauty, we have now begun to crack the code of our primal language through
Planar Analysis*. It is yet one more bit of evidence that we are transcending our economic and
geomorphic "fate," and rising to the challenge of explaining "the social meaning of space" as
self-directed social agents.
6. GEOGRAPHY. As a natural facet of child development, marching affords more useful and
accurate "mental maps" for orienting themselves in the social world. "On this they mark out the
positions and paths by which they can achieve their goals in the social world" (Werlen).
Berstein's pre-eminent studies on locomotion found that "walking and running in children
demonstrate the rather surprising fact that precise cerebral control of the forces arising from
movement is achieved on a time scale of decades comparable with the learning of language and
‘skills of culture'" (Trevarthen). However, this comes not so much as a surprise to those who
recognize human planar movement as language.
The most fundamental manifestation of the "mental map" guiding these skills, upon which all
others depend, is physical orientation: left, right, front, back, as well as the "zero point" of the
agent's own physical body. Unfortunately, the more fundamental two-dimensional development
of the mental map is left to the institution of sports - an affair of increasingly non-functional skill
and spectatorship. Under the guise of so-called "physical education," mastery of the
two-dimensional element is lost amidst the scuffle of mastering three-dimensional skills which
have far less use in everyday life.
In 1994, National Geography Standards in American public schools called for building more
solid foundations of spatial literacy. There was no mention of how this facet of geographical
aptitude was to be developed. Perhaps this oversight was the consequence of the all too
common mind-body dichotomy ("geography is not for the body") which renders most education
all but impotent. Or perhaps it was a result of our failure to provide a two-dimensional model
for developing geographical aptitude. Whatever the case, there is a solution, and one which is
right under our noses, if we would but develop it.
7. POLITICAL SCIENCE. Marching is the first language of politics. Territorial boundaries
were established by perambulatory and exploratory marches before they were established by
maps. The territorial containers which resulted offered survival to communities lacking in
diplomacy skills - at least until other needs and interests in travel arose. Then the foot, for better
or worse, dictated more direct spatial discourse.
Politics have been the only human means available to keep civilization from falling into chaos,
self-destruction and extinction. Contrary to popular belief (and in spite of its abuse), marching
has played a fundamental role in this self-preservation from as early as the Neolithic Period***.
Anthropologist and retired soldier William McNeill suggests marching was so central to survival
that it probably became a genetic physical characteristic (a theory supported by the physiology,
biomechanics and morphology of the body itself), and thus a factor in natural selection itself
(Keeping Together in Time, Harvard University Press 1995):
"I concluded that modern superiority of European armies over others was largely due to
the psychological effect of the sort of close-order drill I had experienced. Maurice of
Orange had introduced incessant drill to the Dutch army in the 1590's, and it spread
across Europe like wildfire in the ensuing half century. I concluded that rigorous
selection in favor of groups that kept together in time had led to genetic transmission of
this capability, which then was inadvertently tapped by Maurice of Orange and
innumerable drill sergeants ever since."
We have many ways of expressing ourselves in 2-dimensional social space. Diminishing
distance can be an expression of intimacy or threat (with varying degrees of closeness in
between), and in some places in the world, establishment or defiance of social class. "The
organization of space by human beings is said to have originated in and can be accounted for by
a universal biologically determined impulse in individuals to claim and defend a clearly marked
territory." This nearly defines the noun version of marching, or "marking" territory, in its
original meaning.
This is also illustrated by the Periodic category of planar (2-dimensional) movement, wherein 3
of the Nine Movement Types (1, 5, and 6)* demarcate space - by Circuitous, Rotational, or
Revolving movement*.
We have through marching now developed a language by which we more articulately negotiate
and express ourselves in space. Our "vowels" consist of Nine Movement Types, each with their
own grammatical context*. Marching personifies the act of organizing space. In early
civilization, the task of resolving territorial disputes was a matter of "marking" territory. In
latter civilization, the matter became a more cultural, political, and cartographic issue. In the
20th century, however, we are becoming aware that choreographed marching is 2-dimensional
dance, and capable of expressing a 2-dimensional language accordingly.
Territorial marching can express as well as impress. Take the act of demonstration marching,
for example. While processioning became the geographical product of "marking," protest and
demonstration marches became the political product, taking upon them the name of "march"
itself. The efficacy of this form of expression has taken on great power since the turn of the
century in examples such as the Salvation Army Band, Women's Suffrage, Martin Luther King
Jr.'s March on Washington, and the Million Man March.
Marching in the streets of Belfast has become something of an annual test of the most basic
rights of free expression in Ireland. In the U.S., the Supreme Court in 1995 confirmed the
protection of both the "speech maker" and the content of the speech itself in the more creative
manifestations of cultural marching - parades - blurring the distinction between geographical
"processional" and demonstration marches.
Contrary to assumptions, post-1960's demonstration marching is alive and well. It is not
necessary to circumambulate space to claim the right of occupancy. One need only penetrate it
through Linear, Anti-Linear or Canonic movement (all of which comprise the Translatory or
"verb" Category of 2-dimensional "grammar"*) and enter the body politic. Yet how well do we
understand the context of these movements in our choreographed marching?
I am reminded of a well-meaning corps in the 1980's who undertook a show which included
strong social commentary, including goose-stepping protest marchers carrying picket signs. It is
apparent we have very little idea of the context of our art within the marching arts, let alone the
arts in general. Pure, functional marching which formerly articulated and defined corps style
marching, may be lost to us.
However, it remains in the spatial, political dialogue of everyday life, and is the only means
whereby the world may know the fundamental value of some expressive aspects of marching
better than we.
Popular street marching needn't have a political message to have a legal effect (as demonstrated
in Drumcree, Ireland in 1997-1998). In fact, it needn't have an agenda at all. It's power to unite
and mobilize has in and of itself brought about legal consequences among even the most
innocuous of circumstances. In 1829, for instance, England enacted at law prohibiting civilian
drilling. It seems drill had become so popular that law enforcers were beginning to feel
inhibited. It had become so common a mode of travel that a gang of turnip stealers reportedly
used it for their "getaway".
This gives us pause to reflect on the power of marching once again. Only choreographed
marching has managed to develop peaceful dialogue from humanity's most brutal environment.
And only Planar Analysis can further develop the art and language of 2-dimensional dance.
The struggle for freedom to walk down the street unmolested, as the struggle for effective
demonstration marching, continues. The good news is that choreographed marching, nearly
vanquished from the intolerably violent 20th century battlefield, also continues to inspire more
creative expression in the streets, every bit as meaningful (and much less dangerous).
PART III: The Ship.
SPORTS. Sport gives movement purpose. Without purpose, movement becomes ugly. It also
wastes time and energy. Sport is a key ingredient to dance.
Thus, sports and dance share something important in common: an appreciation for elegance
("dignified gracefulness," "precision," and "simplicity," according to Webster's). Deep down
inside we all know this: to win is not enough for player or spectator. We want see how it was
won. "For the higher purposes of expressiveness in the dance or of the maximal tension in
competitive sports [grace] is usually considered of only secondary interest. Like the virtuosity of
a musical performer, however, that sport technique is the best which is noticed the least."
Obviously this doesn't speak highly of some "players" stumbling through the game of drum
corps.
Of Tony Buzan's 10 Intelligences, "#8: Bodily-Kinesthetic-Rhythmical: poise, posture, balance,
awareness of your body in space... is a very superior intelligence, and there is no such thing as a
"thick jock". That is an oxymoron, a contradiction in terms. The Greeks were correct, the
Romans correct, when they said: "In a healthy body there will be a healthy mind/With a healthy
mind, there will be a healthy body". So bodily intelligence is intelligent. All of those soccer
players you see are really, really bright. And its interesting; [there is] a little survey of where the
word "genius"crops up most commonly at this moment of time on the planet, and its in relations
to athletics, to sports. They're actually beginning to realize that physical intelligence is a major
intelligence and it helps the other [9 intelligences]".
Once again, we find ourselves the least appreciative of our art. Bernstein, pre-eminent among
researchers on planar locomotion biomechanics, found that walking developed over time on a
scale similar to that of skills of culture." Yet "having learned to walk to achieve our ends of
living, we may begin to play with our motor responses. Here...the activity itself may be changed
from means to end" and "walking for a distinctive style may develop what traditional
aestheticians have always called "grace" (Kaelin).
Unfortunately, the more an activity departs from its function, the more nonsensical and
ineffective it becomes. Consider when a child, given no martial arts training, kicks and
karate-chops his playmates. It's cute (until someone gets their eye poked out) but not artful. As
the child is taught the function of the act, however, it becomes artful and useful as a means of
self-defense.
The instant a martial artist ceases concentrating on the purpose of the craft, he also becomes
ungraceful, as well as unable to defend himself (true martial artists placidly refer to these painful
and embarrassing circumstances as "learning opportunities"). Technical excellence is the only
means of cultivating beauty. Even with "everyday" human locomotion we all profess mastery of.
But this quality of movement is common, not artistic. As this "grace" encompasses "everyday
human locomotion," fraught with distraction, obstacle, and unnatural demands, then the pursuit
of style, without function and method in mind, can be as much a punishment for technique as
physical reward.
It is not grace or style but technique which constitutes the most concrete criteria of
competition. Had we judges on the field in a position to evaluate it, there would be more than
enough work to be identified to individually challenge and ennoble drum corps youth. Balance,
coordination, control, ease and poise are among a few of the principles of technique which are
supported by a vast reservoir of knowledge within the sciences of physics and biomechanics to
challenge mind as well as body.
There is more than enough room for competition in art. "The desire to win is never
aesthetically irrelevant," and the tug of war between choreography and technique is more than a
match for any individual. But once again, the only thing standing between us and this higher
contest is the knowledge of its ... "rules", if you prefer.
DANCE. If "spatial behavior is dependent on such cognitive processes as thinking, figuring out
and deciding," then dance requires as much genius as sports - an idea supported by one of
Howard Gardner's seven types ("Bodily-Kinesthetic") and one of Tony Buzan's ten types
("Bodily-Kinesthetic-Rhythmic") intelligences.
Where does dance come from? From the foundations of three dimensional space -
2-dimensional space and time. Three dimensional expression is conveniently served by of our
most fundamental 2-dimensional form of dance - locomotion. How? By instilling rhythm. The
rhythmic counterbalancing pendulums of locomotion provide our most basic experience and
perception of rhythm.
The reality of physical limitations (such as the coupling of finger tendons) which limit rhythm
runs counter to the ambitions of most musicians, who are obliged to spend inordinant amounts
of time developing rhythm through these less rhythmically precise muscle systems - fingers,
hands, and tongues. 2-dimensional locomotion not only introduces us to space and life - it is
also our master teacher of rhythm.
Can ordinary walking become "dance"? Time and again, the answer is a resounding "yes." The
cakewalk was a form of dance developed by African American slaves to mimic the haughty walk
of the well-to-do. When combined with "ragged" or syncopated classical rhythms and military
music of the day, it generated a new form of music - "jazz". A polonaise of Polish origin is
called the walking dance ("choznody"). As with marching, "it has become a poetic
transformation of [walking]...it becomes art. In this ‘danced walk', the steps are designed not to
carry the body to a particular spot, but in such a way as to supply the performer with the
sensation of being carried'" (Lange).
We have all felt this sensation in marching and walking alike. When we march correctly, we are
experiencing the grace of 2-dimensional dance. The effect is that of beauty. Roger Moore was
said to have been given the role of James Bond in agent 007's next film because, according to the
casting director, he "walked like a tiger" when he left the room.
Leonardo da Vinci enjoyed a similar state of movement 500 years earlier. "He was so poised
that people would line up along the streets simply to watch him walk to work. I mean this
beautiful grace in his movement ... and his physical beauty was actually described by Visari, a
contemporary of his, and it was as follows: ‘Leonardo's personal beauty could not be
exaggerated. His every movement was grace itself ..... He possessed great physical strength,
combined with dexterity, and a spirit and courage invariable, royal, and magnanimous" (Buzan
and Keene).
Small wonder, then, that locomotion would have an aesthetic following of its own, such as that
of the inhabitants of Nazca, South America hundreds of years ago**. The Aztec migration from
Aztlan to Tenochtitlan was also elevated to aesthetic significance through its ritual performance,
"a rite of passage, by which the Mexicas undergo a profound change in social and ideological
status, from a small nomadic band to a people appropriate as rulers of Mesoamerica" (Boone) as
depicted in 16th century codices. As other illustrations from "Art and Artifacts" of the Flatland
Press world wide web indicate*, these traditions are as important to those cultures as the Aztec
migration ceremony is of "great importance in validating Mexica rule." If we have not validated
our own rule' among the marching arts as yet, perhaps it is because we are still a ‘small
nomadic band' which has not yet reached its destination.
Or perhaps it is because we are "out of step with the march of surrounding things" (Dewey) and
have yet to recover unison with the locomotory identity which drives both.
THE MARCHING ARTS. Even amidst the confusion and carnage of war, it was inevitable that
the more concentrated form of planar dance perfected in bloody tactical dialogues, should
survive even the nuclear bomb to gain an audience. "Marking," originally a means of "drawing
the line" of one's territory by foot, had "grown up," and from war society brought home a new
appreciation for the only art that could survive such an environment - marching. "Wonderful is
the magic of drill!" Said 19th century industrialist Samuel Smiles, "Drill means discipline,
training and education." The many enthusiasts of the craft were ennobled by it - "their gait is
firm and martial, their figures are erect, and they march along to the sound of music, with a tread
that makes the earth shake" (Briggs).
Einstein begged to differ, suggesting that such individuals were ‘given a brain by mistake'. Of
course, there is a question as to how many parades and football halftime shows he witnessed.
Unfortunately, what was before vulnerable to spatial exploitation on the battlefield became
vulnerable to political exploitation in the streets of an economically depressed, frustrated, and
desperate Germany. Through marching, Hitler's Nazi Party not only seized the reigns of the
government, but also turned German streets into the veins of a powerful visual propaganda and
tool of intimidation before even becoming a German citizen. Goerring would later admit
unabashedly that one of their primary objectives was to conquer the streets.
"Marching, said one writer in the propaganda ministry's publication Unser Wille und Weg, is a
symbol and an expression of participation of the individual in the being and becoming of the
whole. To take part in the whole means to be its servant...'" Bosmajian). Unfortunately, this
otherwise worthy tool of expression was used to manipulate both individual and whole. These
images of Nazi Youth marchers still haunt those who believe that marching, a language of
dignity, cooperation and harmony, was part of the problem rather than the salve which made the
problem bearable for beleaguered nations.
Regardless, William H. McNeill draws little distinction between the social bonding resulting
from dance and that resulting from well-mastered drill. He sees marching as an anthropological
question of utmost importance. "To what, and with whom do we belong? Dance, drill, and
other rhythmic muscular exercises have always played a part in answering those questions. They
will continue to do so as long as the gestural, muscular level of communication continues to bind
human beings together into emotionally vibrant groups that give meaning and purpose to human
existence."
As this process of binding humanity continues, the only task remaining for us is to insure that we
express ourselves meaningfully. Yet this requires knowledge of a language only recently
revealed through Planar Analysis*. For the past three decades, the drum and bugle corps has set
the standard for two-dimensional dance as inherited from its founders, confounded by other
creative applications such as the fine arts, and presently held in low regard as a performing art.
It should come as little surprise that we are now feeling disassociated from society, lacking even
a sense of our own identity and purpose.
As if his remarks weren't relevant enough, McNeill continues to address us directly: "Our
contemporary disregard of this aspect of human sociality is unwise and probably also
unsustainable over the long haul. Time will tell. In the meanwhile it is something to mull over,
wonder about, and - for bolder spirits - to experiment with".
Whether it continues to do so will depend largely on drum corps' recognition and development
of this, its most traditional, fundamental, and creative element.
MARCHING AND EDUCATION. It took a few millennia, but someone finally figured out what
correct technique of marching boiled down to: "(1) You must get there. (2) You must get there
on time. (3) And you must get there in good condition" (Garey and Ellis). This elusive obvious
method was a gift from the military heritage directly to drum corps and public schools, where it
remained until images of Hitler's youth and evaporating military training for band directors
obliterated this refined, functional style of military marching by the 1950's.
Marching was enthroned in physical education by the Federal Land Grant Act of 1862, and a
continual barrage of war brought a continual flow of willing instructors as the programs sprouted
up all over the world. By this point, unfortunately, the bruises of battle had begun to show. In
1918, H.J. Koehler went on record at the Boston Physical Education Society against the medium:
"It affords little training in the use of one's own judgement." It fails to "develop the power of
self-direction. Talent, genius and natural gifts are ignored." By 1943, the strain of modern
combat had risen to such a high pitch that the U.S. War Department, for the sake of the war
effort, was forced to disenfranchise marching as physical education, though many programs
resumed after the war.
A new demand for fitness and sports moved in and those WWII instructors of marching which
had not dropped out of P.E. moved over to instruct bands. When that generation of instructors
passed on, there remained only their students - future band directors - who would pass along
their knowledge second-hand. Band director's memories of functional, military technique faded,
and the disenfranchisement of the marching band by upstart "music educators" followed.
Marching, the source of rhythmic training and experience, was soon openly denounced as
"non-educational" by, ironically, music educators.
As Vietnam War training through the ranks of drum and bugle corps' sponsoring veterans, music
educators were the only population with remotely relevant, non-military credentials needed to
assert themselves in the otherwise unregulated field of musically accompanied marching.
By the 1990's, the art was lost. P.E. through sports (or proxy, if you prefer) has taken on a life of
its own, to be sure. Military veterans, who until a few decades ago who administered "physical
education" to America's youth, were replaced by gym teachers and coaches who were, in
retrospect, wiping their brow over the close call they had experienced. Said Robert Barney with
a shudder, "No system of physical education in 19th century America, however, came as close to
being universally adopted in the nation's public schools as did the controversial but ardently
argued and defended practice of military drill." Ignorance about the art and heritage of marching
had seemingly triumphed.
What have we learned from these events about choreographed marching?
Hopefully that it is ours, and that it is the only art we have. That it is no longer an inheritance
which will be beaten into us by military values, now muted by time and relative peace. That it is
now a heritage to be earned no longer through the blood of sacrifice, but through the sweat of
creative effort. That it is not a prize to be won by games or clever tricks, but a service worthy of
the devotion of mind, body and soul.
MARCHING THEORY. As we reach our two-dimensional destination, the language which has
shaped our world, our perception and our society begins to take shape in the form of nine types
of movement. Each of these nine falls into three categories of grammar: movements which
displace (Translatory), reorient (Periodic) and transform (Structural).
Like the periodic table of elements, the nine planar movement "taxonomy" were not identified
all at once. In 1986, for instance, three were identified (Formal, Circuitous, and Anti-Linear) by
the author. Nor were all nine identified entirely within the military. For example, Simmel in
1903 identified two categories (Periodic and Polar) from a purely sociological perspective. Nor
where they discovered entirely by the author " (though they were classified in their entirety in
1995 by the author). In 1631 John Bingham cited Aelians' discovery of "Foure kinds of Motions
whereby upon any occasion the battaile may be somewhat changed".
A mastery or even knowledge of all nine movement types was not necessarily required in
military history, although there seems to be trends of development giving emphasis to some
throughout time (see "A Bird's Eye View," RAMD Virtual Symposium 1995). In terms of a
concerted effort, however, it took the author three years to identify a single movement type
within each of the three categories. The remaining six were discovered nine years later, when all
nine were classified.
There are many ways of discovering Planar Analysis for oneself which are less than reliable, and
which do not involve the concrete realities of our existence - our bodies and the meanings of
their behavior. Social theories of space are less than reliable, but can "show that it is possible in
principle to construct a syntax model" such as that of Planar Analysis. "The anthropological
evidence does, however, allow us to specify certain requirements of a theory of space" (Hilier
and Hanson).
Measuring planar movement can have broad and lucrative implications for fields outside of the
arts, not the least of which is sports (its most recent applications having taken place in the NBA).
Among suggested research proposals of Werlen's Alternative Human Geography is "the
investigation of the significance of action spaces in the physical world for regional disparities in
individual career opportunities." However, the work of developing and applying this or any
other model of analysis like PA to any activity does not take care of itself. We must do it.
Otherwise, our efforts setting and re-setting forms on hot football fields for thousands of
man-hours each day all Summer will disappear to the general public like the high camera
videotapes of DCI since 1995.
I have examined each and every move in the shows of the 1995 and 1996 Drum Corps
International Top 6 (and then some) and classified each. There is sufficient information to
suggest trends for each corps, as well as trends for DCI's Top 6*. This information suggests that
drum corps marching is becoming more meaningful. "Music became an art when sounds were
controlled to produce meaningful sequences" (Kaelin), and so can choreographed marching.
The data also suggests technical demand is increasing - not necessarily in terms of speed and
strength, but also in control. It suggests there are ways we can improve our marching by our
choreography, and ways we can improve our choreography by prudent marching considerations.
However, we are still speaking in broken sentences crowded with adjectives which run on and
on. Meanwhile, those corps who have a sense of this (such as the Scouts and Vanguard in 1996)
are turning the crowds on and persuading them through mesmerizing intuitive choreography
which others can't duplicate for their audiences because nobody can explain how they work.
We have a fleeting opportunity to set our activity on a firm foundation by researching, as other
corporations do, its unknown assets - the art of choreographed marching, which is our military
heritage (corps were commissioned solders - bands had to pass the hat to officers largely). But
this can only be done if DCI is contacted and brought to recognize its importance before the
increasingly misplaced high camera recordings (11 in 1995, 7 in 1996) of Finals disappear.
When this happens, only retroactive analysis is an option, and this will not generate the kinds of
educational changes this activity needs until many decades from now.
PART IV: The Destination.
CONCLUSION. "America is walking more," stated a local headline in 1995. In fact, fitness
walking has grown by 22 percent (to 16 million) in the last three years. Meanwhile, drum corps
are falling down more, and the remaining corps which comprise the activity, shrinking at only
half that rate, are making drum corps "more exciting than ever". They race full tilt across the
field as if hoping to reduce this two dimensional art into a one dimensional art, without
responsibility for the simple dignity of arriving on our feet. "Poor walking habits, if allowed to
persist, can place undue amounts of strain on certain body parts that in turn may contribute to
lack of proficiency in body movement." It is a game which is destroying the art, activity and the
youth these serve.
If we are a little less than enthusiastic about exploring our planar art, it may be because what we
execute is so unskilled and unappealing. We give no instruction on how to lift an instrument
properly - unthinkable in any other job with comparable physical stress. Instead, we choose to
invest the time (and futures) of youth cleaning up messes which could have been more easily
prevented. In 1990 $50 billion in productivity, medical costs and diagnostic tests was lost to
lower back pain. If a tiny fraction of that cost was a result of the hundreds of thousands of youth
trained in drum corps, it wouldn't begin to reflect the damage inflicted on the activity itself.
Our problems are before us, and only a recognition of the fact that the art which drives our
activity is two-dimensional can open us to the solutions. There are many roles to be played in
moving the world with the art which we have he priviledge of moving ourselves with. There are
many needs to be met before these journeys can take place. "Pioneer cartographers, map printers
and dealers brought the discoveries of Columbus and Vespucci, Balboa and Magellan, to the
people, whose lives their discoveries would transform.
From the first 16th century 2 foot by 2 foot atlas to the microsized versions of the earth, these
pioneers of planar movement brought the world out of darkness and into the pocket of people.
Doesn't it stand to reason that we could take the next step and bring the discoveries of the
functional frontier of walking to the discoveries of the expressive frontier of marching?
Particularly since this priviledge all generations of time fought and died for, most while in the
very act itself?
I have no shame of my military heritage, nor that of the art it bequeathed to me. I can assure
anyone that there is no reason to be. We are most fortunate to be their progeny by heritage, if
not by blood.
According to DCI, they left us marching to remind America how the freedoms of the Stars and
Stripes were won. According to Michael Cahill, they are the individuals who instructed us to
"execute a squads-right maneuver ‘off the line'" and onto the plane of this 2-dimensional art.
Drum corps is not an art of borrowed music. It is an art which has through the ages been handed
down, progressively mastered through the expressions of people and the contributions of artists -
contributions which have been virtually original works every season, and which will remain so.
* "Planar Analysis" - See Flatland Press (www.geocities.com/Paris/Metro/8226)
** "Art and Artifacts" - See Flatland Press (www.geocities.com/Paris/Metro/8226)
*** "Petroglyphs" - See Flatland Press (www.geocities.com/Paris/Metro/8226)
APPENDIX 1.
The following was posted on RAMD December 19, 1994, and is adapted for this paper.
Marching is:
1. Marching is an emerging art form with its own audience,
history and development, theory, forms of application and practice,
and allied fields of research.
2. The value of marching and its choreography has, over the
millenia, increased in expressive power and aesthetic refinement
independent of any other creative endeavor or medium of
influence.
3. Marching is practiced in a wide variety of settings and for a
wide variety of purposes, some more aesthetic and expressive than
others. Marching is usually executed cooperatively and in concert
with more than one form of creative expression.
4. Marching is one of the world's rare art forms derived from both
ritual and function.
5. Marching is one of the most widely practiced endeavors
(aesthetically, socially, and politically) of mankind.
6. Drum and bugle corps today are the leading choreographers of
marching in the world.
7. Original planar choreography (marching "design") is usually
created annually for drum and bugle corps, whereas original drum
and bugle corps music is usually not.
a. Drum and bugle corps are not the leading producers of
original music in the world today.
b. Non-original music has been employed in drum and
bugle corps (in accordance with its original function) to
accompany original marching.
I. Drum and bugle corps music has generally
accompanied drum corps marching throughout history and has
generally reflected the developmental history of drum and bugle
corps marching.
c. The musical repertoire of the drum and bugle corps is
usually adapted from other media, and is usually not composed for
the medium of the drum and bugle corps.
I. The musical repertoire of compositions for band
is generally superior to the musical repertoire of the drum and
bugle corps, and consists mainly of compositions created for
bands.
A. The band as a marching art has been
driven, historically, by the interests of musicians who have
popularized music written for and formally derived from the
accompaniment of marching in that medium.
B. Drum and bugle corps frequently
"borrow" band music for the accompaniment of drum and bugle
corps marching.
8. The individual generally responsible for "creating" a drum and
bugle corps show is a "show designer," drill designer or
choreographer of marching. A "show designer" usually does not
arrange or compose music for the accompaniment of their work of
choreographed marching or provide for the same, though they is
usually assisted by the musical arrangements (and sometimes
compositions) of others who usually create music for
choreographed marching without a knowledge of the
choreographer's intentions. This material is usually provided
before the creation of a work of choreographed marching, and
usually acceptably enough serves the needs of a performance of
choreographed marching, though with little or no regard for the
content of the choreography itself.
9. The history of marching with musical accompaniment is of
more ancient date than the history of music with marching
accompaniment.
a. The demand for performances of marching with musical
accompaniment is greater today than the demand for performances
of music with marching accompaniment.
10. Most of mankind's enlightened and refined arts consist of
creative inspiration (1) received by a single individual and (2)
transmuted to physical or temporal form as a work of creative
expression (usually called "art").
11. Creative inspiration:
a. Is necessary for creation, creativity, and aesthetic
experience.
b. Can be received by only one person in the pure and
complete form for the creation of a single, original, inspired work.
c. May be disseminated to others by visual, oral or written
instructions (who may also contribute to or disseminate it).
d. Is evidenced usually in (1) original creative material
appearing (2) in a given form, setting, or arrangement (3) for the
first time.
I. Drum and bugle corps marching usually contains
more original creative material than drum and bugle corps music.
A. Drum and bugle corps marching is
usually a creation more inspired for drum and bugle corps than is
drum and bugle corps music.
I. Drum and bugle corps or "drum
corps" is generally a marching art.
II. The choreographer ("show designer") generally
contributes more original material to a drum and bugle corps
"show" than any other single individual.
III. Creative works which contain "borrowed"
material are less pure than original material from a creative
standpoint.
A. Choreographers of drum and bugle corps
marching cannot serve the medium by "borrowing" material as
well as they can by creating original material.
I. Arrangers and composers of
music cannot serve the drum and bugle corps by "borrowing"
material as well as they can by creating original material for the
accompaniment of drum and bugle corps marching.
ii. Arrangers and composers of
music cannot serve the drum and bugle corps by composing and
arranging music as well as they can by composing and arranging
music for the accompaniment of drum and bugle corps marching.
d. Cannot be generated through cooperative experience,
though it may be received in this situation.
I. Cooperative inspiration is an oxymoron.
II. Inspired art is not created by the cooperation of
more than one individual artist or more than one creative medium,
though it may be recieved or disseminated through other
individuals or creative media in this situation.
III. Creative inspiration is usually generated in a
creative medium of two or more elements principally through the
element with the greatest historical seniority.
A. Drum and bugle corps marching is the
creative element with the greatest historical seniority in the drum
and bugle corps medium.
I. Arrangers and composers of
music which accompanies drum and bugle corps marching cannot
serve the medium by composing and arranging music
cooperatively for the accompaniment of marching as well as they
can by individual arranging and composition.
12. Choreographed marching today, as well as other performing
arts, is generally dependent on contributions of original and
adapted musical works for its appreciation, as are other
interdisciplinary arts such as ballet.
For anyone wishing to debate these arguments, I will be happy to
do so provided that (1) they CC: their comments to
serice@juno.com, and (2) they abide by the following rules:
Please contend the above statements AFTER THE SYMPOSIUM
VOTE IS CONCLUDED.
- When contending for or against the above arguments (if against,
please explain), please argue the statements themselves and not
inferences taken from them.
- Be sure to base contentions with specific supporting points with
their source propositions.
- For convenience, organization and efficiency in disseminating
your views (and in order to minimize fragmentation), please
address the above list of arguments in its entirety. In this way, you
may be assured I will respond to any comments directed against
these statements.
- Please feel free to start, AFTER THE SYMPOSIUM VOTE IS
CONCLUDED, other "threads" on personal views regarding any of
the ideas listed above, but please do not plagiarize.
- I move principles one through twelve, insofar as they are correct,
be addressed and adopted for structural and instructional
implementation by individuals and organizations professing to
serve the art of marching.
Copyright ( C ) 1994 by Stuart Rice
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. I would like to express my thanks to
God for His tolerance and mercy, to my loving wife, to the many
individuals who have supported this research, to Clint Lord whose
technical ability prepared the Flatland Press website in time for the
Symposium, to Emerson Nakkai for selected petroglyph
reproductions used by permission, main index illustration by Ellen
Tommerup. And for Dr. Vince Lamb, for keeping the flame of
progress lighted for one more fine year.
Copyright ( C ) 1998 by Stuart Rice
REFERENCES.
American Sociological Review 512(Aug) (1986)
"Collective Locomotion as Collective Behavior," McPhail and Wohlstein
Annals of the Association of American Geographers 22 (1932)
"Bureau and the Princeton Community," Dodge
Argyle, Bodily Communication (1975 and 1988)
"Spatial Behavior"
Bingham, The Art of Embattailing an Army, or the Second Part of Aelians Tacticks (1631)
Blacking, The Anthropology of the Body (1977)
"Some Notes on the Anthropology of Dance," Lange
"The Body as a Social Symbol Among the Rom," Sutherland
Bosmajian, The Rhetoric of Nonverbal Communication (1971)
"The Persuasiveness of Nazi Marching and Der Kampf un Strasse"
Briggs, Victorian People: A reassessment of persons and themes, 1851-67 (1972)
"Samuel Smiles and the Gospel of Work"
Brown, When Strangers Cooperate (1995)
"How Footpaths Get Started"
Buttimer and Seamon, The Human Experience of Space and Place (1980)
"Body-Subject, Time-Space Routines, and Place-Ballets," Seamons
Buzan and Keene, The Genius Formula (1994)
Carrasco, To Change Place: Aztec Ceremonial Landscapes (1991)
"Migration Histories as Ritual Performance," Boone
Curtis and Aguirre, Collective and Social Movements (1993)
"The Field of Collective Behavior," Turner and Killian
The Deseret News
(1997) Artificial Superstars,' Evans 147(307)
(1997) A Third of Homeless Men are Vets, Study Says, AP 148(148)
Dewey, Art as Experience (1934)
Garey and Ellis, The Junior Plattsburg Manual (1917)
"Marching and Camping"
Geography Education Standards Project, Geography for Life... (1994)
"Geography Standard 2: How to Use Mental Maps..."
Gerber, Sport and the Body: A Philosophical Symposium (1972)
"The Well-Played Game: Notes Toward and Aesthetics or Sport," Kaelin
Gould, The Monthly Review: An Independent Socialist Magazine 47(6)
Hanna, The Anthropology of the Body (1977)
Hartwell et al., American Physical Education Review 1(1-2) (1917)
"Report of Committee of the Boston Physical Education Society...," p. 43.
Hillier and Hanson, The Social Logic of Space (1984)
"Introduction"
"The Logic of Space"
Independent on Sunday, no. 440
The Instrumentalist 36(11) (1982)
"A Capsule History of the Drum and Bugle Corps," Cahill
Lay, Ways of the World, 1992
McNeill, Keeping Together in Time: Dance and Drill in Human History (1995)
"Muscular Bonding"
McPhail and Wohlstein, American Sociological Review 51
Metcalf et al., Canadian Journal of History of Sport 18(2) (1987)
"To Breast A Storm: ... the Demise of Military Drill...," Barney
Morgan, The New Statesman and Society 7
National Geographic Society, National Geographic Magazine 192(3) (1997)
"The Dawn of Humans: Tracking the First of Our Kind," Gore and Garrett
O'Rourke, Give War a Chance (1992)
"An Argument in Favor of Automobiles vs. Pedestrians"
Popp, Competitive Drum Corps (1979)
Ross-Robertson, The Encyclopedia of Drum and Bugle Corps (1966)
Rice, "The Beat of a Different Drum:" Rhythm & Marching in Music Ed. (1994)
Rice, The Medium is the Message: Developing Choreographed Marching (1995)
The Salt Lake Tribune
(1994) Time Called the Best Cure for Back Pain, Cimons 249(56)
(1995) America is Walking More, 250(48)
(1996) Thousand March to Protests Resumption of IRA Violence, CNS 251(135)
Simpson, Oxford English Dictionary (1989)
Smith, Hosts and Guests: The Anthropology of Tourism (1977)
"Tourism: The Sacred Journey," Graburn
"Tourism as a Form of Imperialism," Nash
Social Psychology Quarterly 42(1) (1979)
"Judging the Presence and Extent of Collective Behavior," McPhail and Wohlstein
Sussman and Goode, The Magic of Walking, 1967
Trevarthen, Human Motor Actions (1984)
USA Today
(1995) Court Oks Excluding Gays: Boston Parade May Have Wider Impact, Mauro
13(195)
Werlen, Society, Action and Space: An Alternative to Human Geography (1993)
"Geographical Space and Society"
"The Space of Social Action"
"The Space of Social Theory"
"Appendix: Risky Concrete Research Proposals"