Marching Band
Drill Design
What advantage is there to custom written marching band drill?
Custom written drill and staging provide many advantages over stock, adaptable drill designs. First and foremost, custom drill fits your band’s numbers precisely. This saves a considerable amount of time and headache in the teaching process. We tailor to your bands specific needs regarding demand, length of phrase, staging, integration and step-sizes. Drill is far easier to clean and quite frankly, may be written to give your production much more excitement and effect. In general, ensembles who use customized drill find that they are much more successful in the competitive arena. It isn’t even close….
How is drill pricing determined?
The price of drill design is determined on a case-by-case basis. Factors include overall size, integration requests, specific needs and total length of each production. Typically our fee averages around $20.00 per performer. For example, a marching band that fields 100 performers would cost around $2,000. We prefer to speak with you directly before determining an exact cost.
I don’t have a full rehearsal field. Can you write to fit my rehearsal space?
Yes! We do this quite often. Just communicate with us your needs and we’ll be happy to tailor to your rehearsal space, write around obstacles, etc.
Can you integrate props in the drill?
Of course! Just give us the size and preferred placement of the object(s) and we will write them into our design. We are also able to move the props during performance if you find that this is needed.
How soon do you need materials to begin writing?
The sooner we can receive your materials, the faster we are able to turn your show back around to you. We don’t want to keep you waiting!
How long does drill take to be written?
Our timeline varies depending on volume. Typical turnaround time for an entire show is about 2 weeks. However, you will almost always receive your design in smaller movements, allowing you to teach while we are still writing. In April or May, the turnaround time will be less but starting in July, expect the first movement of your show to take about a week to complete once we receive the necessary materials to get started. We will communicate this to you prior to starting. We have NEVER kept a director waiting to teach drill.
I have many specific drill requests. Can you customize the show to meet them?
Yes. Our job is ultimately to give you exactly what you want. We will do our best to cater to your specific design requests.
Can adjustments be made to the drill?
Yes. We will make adjustments as needed throughout your entire competitive season. However, we typically charge for complete rewrites. Drill is complete once a movement is finished, delivered, and agreed upon by the director. It is then considered a rewrite if any changes need to be made per the director’s request after its completion. We typically handle drill rewrites on a case-by-case basis. We understand that some situations are out of the director’s control and we will definitely do whatever we can to work with you. It is important that any ideas, requests, or change in numbers are communicated to the writer as soon as possible to avoid the need for any unnecessary rewrites.