We wanted to give a quick tour of the new Color Guard Educators Website to let you know all the features and time-saving resources available to you. We hope this helps get you started!
I believe that sometimes we are provided with clarity, with hope, with lessons, amidst the fabric of our daily lives – just exactly when we need them most. Sometimes these messages present themselves in a subtle way… perhaps an instinct, a nagging feeling, a conversation overheard, a new acquaintance. And other times [...]
This week it’s all about the finishing touches. The kids are spinning… it’s relatively together…they’re starting to express and use their showmanship skills… Now it’s all about details. These two articles from the archives have some ideas that might help. A Movement Moment #8: Put on Your Audience Eyes by Cheryl Myers (2/17/2010) Everyone’s favorite [...]
BLENDING FORM AND FUNCTION . . . is the primary role of every designer. Have you ever heard the term “seamless” design on an EA tape and wondered what they meant? I’ll tell you. It means that there is a constant flow of events that lead from one to the next without any awkward breaks [...]
This week it’s all about showmanship! How do you get your performers past the technical and really expressing the “meaning” of the show up and out there to the audience. How do you get them to a point where they are able to draw the audience in and engage? Here are two of our past [...]
During Field Season, the Auxiliary judge looks at everything that goes into your show, namely vocabulary (both body and equipment), costumes, equipment, props, staging of performers, color choices, etc.. If it is on the field and not playing an instrument, the Auxiliary judge will most likely talk about it. When we move into Winter Guard, [...]
As we hit the mid-point of our seasons sometimes challenges set in… if you’re facing some stressful challenges this week here are two articles that might provide some insight. When Teaching Guard Gets Hard by Darcie Gudger (11/03/2009) When You Hit the Proverbial Block by Chris Casteel (9/25/2009) If you’ve hit a rough patch we [...]
Production Value is a term that instructors will often hear from GE judges. It is the aggregate value of music/sound, floor/set design, costumes, color and props all working together to create an overall production value in a show. The key to production value is to marry all of the above elements together in a way [...]
We hope your winter seasons are off to a fabulous start. Whether you’ve just completed your first competitions or are looking forward to them this weekend, we hope that the growing community here on the CGE FB page or the archived articles here on CGE will help make your season just a little less stressful. [...]
This is one of those rare months where we have more than 4 Mondays in a month – so – we have a week break before our next adjudicator post (looking forward to our next installment from Cheryl Myers next Monday!). For many of our readers this may have been your first competitive weekend of [...]
Winter Seasons have officially begun across the world – last weekend marked the start in many circuits – while over the next few weeks most units will venture out to their first competitive performances. Here are a few articles we’re featuring this week from our archives. We hope that you find something useful to make [...]
Often times, as I am sitting in the stands during a break in a contest, I get many questions from the spectators seated around me. They vary from “what are you doing?” and “how do you sit that long?” to “do you really have to talk through the entire performance?” Undoubtedly, at some point in [...]
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This has got to be the simplest Fun Friday craft project yet! It’ll only take you minutes (beyond gathering the supplies) but you’re sure to put smiles on the faces of your performers! ‘Flag’ Candy Canes Materials needed: Craft Felt Glue gun Sheet of paper Candy cane Instructions: Using the sheet of paper, cut a [...]
Remember in kindergarten everyone would gather around the teacher for story time? Everyone loves listening to stories, even high school kids! In our guard, we have ‘story time’ and it is connected to the development of our team core values. One of our values is to ‘Be good people’ and treat each other with respect. [...]
Materials needed: 20” x 50” fabric 2 x 80” pieces of cording Puffy paints, buttons, ribbon, bows, etc for decorating Cut 20” x 50” piece of fabric (you can alter the size to meet your needs). Fold in ½, right sides together. From top edge, mark 2” down. (Fig. 1) Using ½” seams, sew below [...]
This is a fun activity the entire band participates in! During marching season students create spirit bags for their own sections, for every performance. Spirit bags contain a few treats and some fun baubles from the dollar store (a glow stick, mardi gras beads, lip gloss, etc). Coaches and directors sometimes add a little note [...]
September is typically a tough month for kids since they have so many responsibilities, homework, the social scene of high school, and it can take some time to figure out the balance between life and marching band. It’s always the toughest time for my kids, even when they know the expectations of the guard. Once [...]
This has got to be the simplest Fun Friday craft project yet! It’ll only take you minutes (beyond gathering the supplies) but you’re sure to put smiles on the faces of your performers! ‘Flag’ Candy Canes Materials needed: Craft Felt Glue gun Sheet of paper Candy cane Instructions: Using the sheet of paper, cut a [...]
ON THE WEB: Band Saves Lives and Fundraises at the Same Time
We thought this was an interesting/unique approach to both service and fundraising – check out this New Jersey marching band that saves lives while also earning some money for their program. Win/Win!
ON THE WEB: Podcast about starting a brand new WG program
Episode 47 of the Marching Roundtable podcast series (posted December 12, 2011) is an interview with Tim LeBlanc – a guard instructor from TX who has also been a participant in the CGE community on Facebook – about his experience starting a brand new winter guard at a new school. Check it out! Episode 47: [...]
Remember in kindergarten everyone would gather around the teacher for story time? Everyone loves listening to stories, even high school kids! In our guard, we have ‘story time’ and it is connected to the development of our team core values. One of our values is to ‘Be good people’ and treat each other with respect. [...]
Budget-Conscious Costume Transformation
Being involved in the color guard world, we all know what it is like to be on a budget. Some of you are probably thinking, “What budget? I wish I had money to budget!” This year I needed to allocate more money for flag fabric since we purchased 2 shaded-silk swing flags for each member [...]
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