SYMPOSIUM ADDRESS Rhythmic Marching: Rational Method Stuart Rice There is a correct way to march. This paper is for marching instructors may wish to incorporate within their own instruction the principles and approaches to Functional Style Marching and the Upright Method of marching training (introduced in 1989 to the Rocky Mountain Magic Drum and Bugle Corps of Thornton, Colorado) sampled in this paper in their own instruction. Individuals who march will find that the knowledge and application of these principles will not only make any style easier to march, but also more enjoyable. Introduction. The process of walking is often described in literature and studies as "the act of falling from one base of support (foot) to another," or some variation of this process. It need not be. Locomotion can be controlled throughout the whole process, and it should, insofar as it becomes an easier, more productive, and more pleasant experience as such. A "step" is commonly said to begin with heel strike and end with heel strike. However, studies involving posture, perception, coordination, and balance have recently called into question the way body and mind organize a stride. Scientific literature is no longer clear about where a "step" or stride begins and ends, and emerging studies from different fields of study are beginning to challenge conventional views of how we walk. The field of biomechanics is calling for reconsideration of the conventional "heel first" definition of a "stride." Studies have found that there may be other ways to measure rhythmic locomotion, even other means of defining a natural, rhythmic stride. Factors such as posture, balance, and perception (visual and aural) all come into play and have a great impact on the rhythmic stability of walking (and thus marching) - a factor which in turn reinforces balance, posture, perception, etc. It may come as a surprise to some that I have found little scientific support for the idea than these characteristics of good marching can be improved by "placing the heel on the beat." Nevertheless, several studies have challenged our notions about "rhythmic heel strike" - even defied them. They raise questions about how we should teach (and learn) marching, questions like What kind of exercises and principles contribute to rhythmic, coordinated, balanced, and upright marching? I would like to offer a few of the answers I have found to those questions in this paper, including some very explicit instructions on where to begin. Does it make that much difference how a stride is defined? Perhaps not. There was a time when the demands of marching and the straightforward, rhythmic music which accompanied it were easily kept in line rhythmically. For some organizations, those days remain. For others, however, those days are gone. A thoroughly serious and challenging musical repertoire, combined with drill demands which far outstrip the ability of even the best trained keep upright and their feet. Where the development of the art is concerned, we can no longer afford to presume to teach what we have not studied - the human body. Allow me to point to a few examples of research from other fields of study which bring into question our methods. New research from allied fields. PERCEPTUAL. In 1993, Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport (64(1) reported a study done at the University of the State of Sao Paulo, Rio Claro, SP, Brazil, where subjects were given a 92 b.p.m. metronome to cadence their locomotion, and found to be able to adapt to and maintain temporal stability with uniform limb biomechanics and stable patterns. The subjects "naturally coupled beat at the support phase," matching the external sound of the metronome to their internal mechanics. Individuals who were instructed to couple or match the occurrence of each beat with the toe-off and mid-swing phases of walking required "radical biomechanical changes" to achieve poor results of disrupted self-organization with alterations in limb biomechanics (Eliane Mauerberg, Temporal Coupling Between External Auditory Information and the Phases of Walking). Not all methods of locomotion are created equal. COGNITIVE. A very complimentary study published in the Journal of Motor Behavior (1988, 20(1) found that when subjects were given only intermittent flashes of light to help illuminate the goal toward which they were to navigate in a dark room with a designated number of steps, locomotion was "smoothly regulated" when the foot designated to be placed on the target was on the ground at each "visual snapshot," whereas "where snapshots are delivered when the pointing [target-designated] foot in the swing phase, regulation becomes clumsy and ill-coordinated." This model infers that not all phases of the locomotion cycle are treated equal by our cognitive processes (Laurent and Thomson, The Role of Visual Information in Control of a Constrained Locomotor Task). NEUROLOGICAL. A study on "The Role of Sensory Feedback During Cyclic Locomotor Activities" at the Exercise and Sport Research Institute, Arizona State University, Tempe (Gerritsen and Nagano) determined that "cyclic movements may be largely controlled by afferent feedback." Afferent (as opposed to efferent) feedback are signals carried along afferent neural pathways - pathways which lead to the brain. It is commonly known in physiology that some of these signals can stray from the path and, without influence from the brain, stimulate muscles. However, these researchers were surprised to find 78 percent of one muscle near the pelvis (vastus) was stimulated by these signals. This suggests that cyclic movements like locomotion are "largely" involuntary - insofar as they are rhythmic. The researchers found this idea "an appealing one, both from an efficiency and from a stability point of view," illustrating all the more clearly that the critical role rhythmic marching plays in coordinating space, time, and sound is not so much a factor that we can control as much as it is a phenomenon that we must understand - so that we don't "screw it up," if nothing else. PHYSIOLOGICAL. Recent studies have contributed increasing evidence to the emerging phenomenon of coupling. Particularly, they have supported not only the idea that the coupling of internal processes and external perception can be disrupted by the application of unnatural technical instructions for locomotion - they have also discovered that not all voluntary and involuntary body rhythms are created equal. Finger tapping was found to match its '78 percent involuntary' (as the previous study suggested) rhythm to the involuntary rhythm of heart rate, as did breathing cycles. The tendency for our body to subjugate its rhythms to locomotion is so strong, it even generates a "persuasive, but not dominant" input to the vital processes of our central breathing pattern while walking on a treadmill, according to one of the few studies less supportive of its coupling evidence. For whatever other type of rhythmic behavior we choose to demonstrate while marching, we had better learn to accommodate the dominate influence of this most precise metronome. Heart rate was found to couple itself to locomotion in a thesis by Jane Donville at Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia (The Effect of Induced Cardiac-Locomotor Coupling on Metabolic Efficiency as Measured on a Bicycle Ergometer). Their study found "functional significance" in pedaling rates which coupled with heart rates at ratios of 1:1, 2:3, 3:4, and 5:4, as was found in hopping, running, and walking in other studies. The Donville study notes that these findings are supported by studies such as Kirby et al (1989, 1988) and McDermott et al (1982), who noted that increased intramuscular pressures within each gait cycle "often exceeded systolic blood pressure," thus, even "during repetitive moderate intensity exercise, oxygenated blood may only flow while the muscle is relaxed or contracting minimally." In other words, the single most convincing reason for why rhythmic locomotion is so commanding a rhythmic presence lies in the fact that, physiology aside, it is literally a "second heart," an operable pump which squeezes blood up to the heart in an irresistible and largely involuntary rhythmic pattern. When we walk, we coordinate our most vital body rhythms. MECHANICAL. "Epidemiological data from the United States show that 23 percent of all the compensated injuries to the back are related to manual materials handling (MMH)" (The Influence of Dynamic Factors on Triaxial Net Muscular Moments at the L5/S1 Joint During Asymmetrical Lifting and Lowering, Gagnon and Gagnon, Journal of Biomechanics 25(8). So what? Person suffering from low back pain log an estimated 20 million sick days annually in the Unites States, with a price tag of 50 to 100 billion dollars annually in direct and indirect costs (Chronic Low Back Pain: New Perspectives and Treatment Guidelines for Primary Care, Rauck et al, Managed Care Interface 11(2/3). What is causing these injuries? While it is true that "the rate of loading the spine may lead to an accelerated onset of degenerative changes of the lumbar structures," injury is not just a product of quick and thoughtless lifting - it is also a question of load distribution, and particularly load balance. "More compression is observed for symmetrical lifting while more shearing is present for asymmetrical lifting." The relative symmetry of our instrumentation leaves us confronting only the danger of compression, from a postural standpoint. However posture is dynamic where turns and slides are involved, and suddenly the dangers of shear stress are very real. These dangers are not to be underestimated. "The tasks involving asymmetrical body motions are predominant in the workplace" (Gagnon and Gagnon). Another study from the University of Michigan by Mehler, et al published in 1996 in the Journal of the American Podiatric Medical Association (86(9) demonstrated particular cause for our concern. Over a third of the season's 179 injuries in the university's marching band were knee and foot injuries (second and third most common). Another third were ankle injuries - the most common type. Only 9 were back injuries - the fourth most common type. Nevertheless, what each of these type of injuries have in common is that they are all structural, prone to compression and shear stress, represent 129 of the season's 179 injury types ... and are virtually the only types of injuries reported which are effected by compression and shear stress. What is most revealing about this study is the fact that the most dangerous instrument was not the one which inflicted the greatest compression stress (sousaphone - 0.95 injuries per section member), but rather the instrument which inflicted the *least* compression stress ... and the most relative shear stress - the piccolo, with 1.2 injuries per section member. Perhaps the reconsideration of our own contributions (or potential contributions) to "injuries in the workplace" is in order. BEHAVIORAL. "A significant entry into the literature on nonverbal communication was Scheflen's (1964) contention that people in a group often mirror one another's posture and that those who share a posture usually share a viewpoint as well. There has, however, been little empirical work supporting the validity of Scheflen's suggestion," aside from a few studies noted in "Nonverbal Synchrony and Rapport: Analysis by the Cross-Lag Panel Technique," a study by Marianne LaFrance of Boston College published in 1979 (Social Psychology Quarterly 42(1). LaFrance's more systematic study indeed found that "posture sharing may be influential in establishing rapport," and that they are "positively related and that this relation is significant across time." Imagine the significance of this in marching organizations whose sole functions are to cultivate the handling of equipment posturally and spatially. If posture sharing is instinctive, perhaps we should be concerned less with uniformity and more with technique. DEVELOPMENTAL. "There seems to be evidence of a walking like motion being present in the newborn infant from as young as two weeks old" (Thelen and Fisher, 1982). This is not kicking. This is motion with 'distinct phases ... comparable to mature walking,' such as 'a flexion phase followed by a pause before an extension phase, of the legs.' Thelen and Fisher suggest this is 'in close parallel to the mature swing phase seen where the leg is off the ground and moving forward. They also found that the pause between the infant's phases decreased as their kicking rates increased, while the analogous swing phase remained constant ....' Perhaps the only other fundamental difference, next to the functionality of "newborn gait," is that 'the timing of the infant's kicking motions are more variable than the mature walker's patterns,' and a 'high level of activation of agonists and antagonists muscles.' This raises an interesting question: did we begin learning how to walk when we began standing, or when we began kicking? If we began "walking" before we learned to stand, then our mastery of the act is certainly not untouched by other behaviors - even those we perform while laying flat on our backs. Interestingly, even running falls into this category of behaviors which precede mature walking: 'usually children are seen to run before they achieve a mature walking pattern' (Gallahue, 1989). While gait may be instinctive in human beings, upright gait is an acquired skill and form of physical expression. SUMMARY. A host of factors affect our efforts at "Keeping Together in Time (William McNeill, 1991). Genetic and social predisposition, pedagogical and perceptual error, inconsistent performing conditions, congenital deformity, motor and cognitive impairment, sensory/kinaesthetic distractions, stress, strain, fatigue, injury, habits, health. Some factors are built in to the body and its natural behavior, such as posture tremor, heart rate/heart beat irregularities, or (when making music) the lack of independent operation of the fingers due to naturally coupled (fused) tendon origins. Each factor that inhibits rhythm is a study in and of itself, and a challenge which affects our performance to some degree. Choreographed marching (drill or "design") becomes disorganized when performers are not in step, not on the correct foot, not on the correct count, or not in rhythm. All performances - from the greatest to the worst - stand or fall on rhythmic marching, and a serious threat to our craft. It isn't too much to say that nearly any ensemble, regardless of staff and membership talent, can out-perform any other in any given competition depending on how rhythmically their choreography is marched. Although Planar Analysis (www.geocities.com/paris/metro/8226) has measurably and objectively demonstrated the importance and power of demanding and meaningful drill, the rhythmic coordination of that drill is the active ingredient to success - an ingredient that can be undermined by developmentally inappropriate choreography (drill). This is why it is important for us to carefully "put the body together" before we require it to perform "two-dimensional dance." We must strip down the requirements of marching and learn to perform each one of them anew. In so doing, we can hope to see marching technique which can respond to today's demanding drill with upright posture, unshakable balance, constant control, ease, grace, and beauty. THE SIX TASKS. There are six tasks in band and drum corps marching: standing, moving, altering direction, altering momentum, lifting an instrument, and sliding. If they are done correctly, they create correct marching. Let's address each one. Standing. Slowly roll or shift to crawling, kneeling, then standing positions resting at each plateau to adjust for comfort. Always maintain three points of contact with floor until standing. Furniture or walls are helpful, if available. Lifting Instrument. Lift SLOWLY, the instrument resting against the front or side of body to begin. Maintain vertical upright position throughout by rotating only at the ankles (slightly - a little rotation at the bottom makes a big difference at the other end). Moving. Start in informal settings at comfortable paces and speeds. As season progresses, practice faster (up to one step equals 190 bpm), making sure to master slower frequencies and shorter strides first (step equals 32nd notes at 120 bpm.). Starting/Stopping. There is a trick to starting and stopping which I keep to myself, but I will go as far as to say it is possible to release upright, instantaneous forward and backward movement (with good foot strength) - in other words, without leaning. If you can figure out the secret, more power to you - if you can't, fly me out for a weekend and I'll show you how. Changing Direction. Pivoting is unhealthy and unnecessary, and can be avoided with proper training. Slides. As with all of the aforementioned tasks, the body must stay upright throughout. Conduct playing exercises while turning the horn 60 degrees, back to center, other side, back to center, etc. Don't do the whole 90 degree - the spine wasn't built for it. The remaining 30 degrees, when needed, come by rotating the shoulders/bending the elbows (not the hips - never compromise your sense of direction). STANDING EXERCISE. We began walking unassisted around the time of our first birthday. We arrive at this level of skill by first learning how to roll over, tuck the knees, crawl, stand/walk with adult assistance, stand/walk with furniture assistance, unidirectional walking, and independent walking (multiple direction-variable). To march correctly, we must first learn to move from the position of laying on one's back to standing. The physical process we use to overcome gravity develops our bodies. If we develop bad movement habits (wasteful movement, chronic tension) about bringing our bodies to the standing position, it will reflect in our marching. If we conquer gravity correctly, we improve our chances of being able to stand and lift an instrument with good posture (enabling rhythmic marching - and playing). Rules: 1. The smaller and slower the movement, the more effective the result (keep the group together, though - slower students can do this as homework, too). 2. Pain is bad. If it hurts, use smaller, slower movements. If it still hurts, stop and use metal imagery, while "imagining your way around the pain." 3. Periodically remind students to breathe and use small, slow, enjoyable movements - if it doesn't feel good, you aren't doing it right. 4. No talking. 5. Keep your eyes open for excess tension. 6. Sometimes part of the exercise needs to be practiced or even dissected before students can proceed. A. Lay on your back palms down with your instrument about two feet from your lifting hand (this is critical - the instrument must be within easy reach when laying on that side of the body); bring the lower back closer to the ground; sliding the feet to a relaxed placement beyond the buttocks with knees in the air, first one, then the other, then both (should look like a frog until feet are flat on the ground), adjust until spacing and position can be maintained without effort (moving knee up, down, back, and forth can make small adjustments if the effortless position is not quite set). B. Laying on your back with feet flat on the ground, knees in the air at a spacing which can be maintained without effort; push one knee at a time in the direction which brings it over the foot without pushing foot into ground while tilting pelvis (drawing tummy in and lower back out) and then back in the direction bringing it over abdomen, etc.; pull knees to chest, first one, then both, then just one; bring one knee up (the knee furthest from instrument), push bottom of foot into ground, tilting pelvis until bent leg rests on opposite leg and hand nearest instrument is against the back. Slowly slide arm behind body over to front of body until it rests on ground palm down. Slowly draw straight leg underneath bent leg until slightly bent (adjust to comfort). Slowly rock body slightly back and forth by pressing palm into ground, adjusting to comfort - repeat by pressing lower knee into ground, relaxing other limbs. Observe sliding movement of hand. Relax knee, slide hand in the direction in which it was just moving, observe knee movement - repeat, slide hand away from body, observe knee movement, compare knee movement in both directions of hand slides. Straighten top leg until straight, turn until body rolls onto the back (slide bent foot down to rest, or up to repeat entire exercise for other side of body). C. After other side is completed, slide foot furthest from instrument up frog-style until bottom of foot is flat on ground (palms facing down), adjust until position can be maintained without effort; push foot of bent leg into ground, tucking pelvis, until body rolls and bent leg touches straight leg, adjust to comfort; slide arm which is behind over body until in front of body, palm on ground, adjust to comfort; slide opposite (bottom) hand out to touch instrument; CAREFULLY slide instrument onto bottom hand (palm up, loose playing position grip), raise instrument slightly off ground with wrist and slide both arms (one holding instrument) to chest, adjust to comfort; slide top hand over instrument to playing position, draw instrument to chest with both hands and knees, adjust to comfort; while holding instrument to chest, slide only the legs down, allowing both legs to straighten and top leg to slide behind, until instrument rests on chest with hands in playing position. Repeat section A. D. Slide the instrument to the side of the body with the supporting arm (the arm that bears the better part of the weight and control of the instrument) until the elbow reaches the ground. Continue sliding the opposite hand (still holding the instrument with both hands) until the instrument is relatively balanced by the supporting hand; slide the instrument onto the chest; tilt the pelvis and notice the arms raise the instrument - allow this movement to continue until the instrument rests on the body again, arms extended (relax pelvis); tilt pelvis again, and watch the hands raise the instrument, arms bent, above the body and toward the head, rest instrument in a comfortable position below the head; repeat, and watch to see if the tilt of the pelvis can maintain the arms relatively straight throughout the entire process until the instrument is held above the head when it returns; once this level of skill is reached repeat to see how straight the arms can be; tilt the hips and raise the instrument once again until above the body, arms as straight as possible and wait at least one minute to create balance; repeat A, finishing with two knees in the air; practice leaning instrument very slightly to one side and knees to the opposite; other exercises can be explored as long as there is no strain. E. Extend instrument down and rest on body; raise knee opposite supporting hand, foot flat on ground, adjust to comfort; slide supporting arm down side of body until elbow touches ground, allowing raised knee to lean opposite the supporting hand and press foot into ground until body rolls to side. Allow non-supporting hand (resting on side) to assist supporting hand in sliding out from under instrument; when hands are free, allow raised knee to lead back to laying on back position by extending, sliding arms and rolling body. F. Draw supporting hand across the body, raise knee on supporting hand-side (foot flat on ground), adjust to comfort; slide out non-supporting forearm, palm down, and roll onto forearm; draw knees toward chest; slide supporting hand away from chest and non-supporting forearm; roll onto both forearms while drawing knees to chest until resting on forearms and knees, adjust to comfort; lean onto either forearm and slide opposite hand out until arm is straight and resting on palm; lean onto out hand and slide hand of opposite forearm out until arm is straight and resting on palm; shift weight from hand to hand while sliding them together, one at a time, then toward body. Place either hand behind body, palm on ground; shift weight onto hand until body rolls onto lower leg of that side of the body; slide opposite hand over and away from body. The most important point I would like to get across, however, is the most radical: natural marching features a pulse that is centered in the middle of the supporting foot when the body is directly over this foot and the other foot is midway through swing phase. It is best cultivated by ignoring it and concentrating on balance, coordination, posture, etc. This approach, which some imagine would be impractical, I have been using in my marching instruction ever since I first implemented the Upright Method of Functional Marching as a rookie staff member of the 1989 Rocky Mountain Magic Drum and Bugle Corps of Thornton, Colorado (folded). I have never had rhythm problems, and judges seem to enjoy the clarity and control of the upright style. With the pulse centered in the foot on the beat, pulse is experienced not only in the body's most stable position of the supporting foot, but also in the most balanced position of the foot in swing phase. This reinforces one's awareness and control of rhythmic marching. It is that point in one's stride where a person has the least reason to be concerned about falling. It is also, coincidentally, the position from which the upright body begins to walk (except that weight is centered in two feet instead of one). The key to rhythmic marching lies in treating each leg as an interdependent pendulum. The most efficient (and most rhythmic) way for a limb to move is to swing. Our legs are a little more complex than a regular pendulum, because they consist of a pendulum swinging at the end of a pendulum (for a clear example, see http://www.cs.mu.oz.au/~mkwan/pendulum/pendulum.html and click above the furthest potential arc). This does not mean, however, that they are any less rhythmic. This is a natural, precise rhythmic instrument which, in a frictionless environment (burdened only by gravity), sets its own very consistent patterns if we "get out of its way." Chronic muscle tension, involuntary contraction, clothes, and other factors provide resistance to this pendulum, so "leg swing" may need a little help. Where this help comes from is critical - it cannot be allowed to create more resistance to rhythmic swing. I merely suggest that it should come from a very responsive set of ankles which articulate interaction with friction, rather than the hips, which are the hub - much more difficult to control. For questions, details, or references, feel free to contact me at serice@juno.com or feel free to drop by my website at www.geocities.com./paris/metro/8226