After swearing that last year would be our last "box show", the percussion staff at the high school I work at have decided to do our own arranging for this year's indoor drumline season. We decided on doing a Van Halen show and want to do something that is fitting and does the music justice, but very fun for the kids, being that we are relatively new to the indoor scene.

What I'm wondering is how do you go about knowing what to choose and what not to choose when arranging parts? Obviously I know you don't want to do the whole original song part for part, but where is a good place to start as far as picking and choosing what parts and sections of the original songs to incorporate? Thanks!

Most important thing... secure permissions. More and more circuits are getting on top of this.

every thing what cadet said.

That is a awsome show idea. That is my favorite rock band.

Thanks for the input! I appreciate it. After that gets taken care of, how do you go about deciding what parts of the song to incorporate and what parts to leave out? Obviously, you can march the whole 3-4 minute song note for note, so what's the strategy here? Where do you start?

There are tons of variables that go into selecting sections of music:

1) How many songs are you planning on using? -- obviously, that effects the amount of time you can spend on each song. Also, the tempo of each song plays a roll considering your time limit (which is the next part)

2) What level is your group? This is referring to 'A', Open, etc. If you are an 'A' group, (which I am assuming) you only have around 4 minutes total of music.

3) Consider your source material. Van Halen stuff usually consists of an opening hook, a verse section, a chorus, and maybe an outro (give or take a section depending on song). The feel stays the same throughout each song and marching 4 minutes of the same feel would probably get a little boring. The chorus is probably the most recognizable part of a song, so playing it would be a must. Also, if a song has a very recognized hook, then including it would be a good idea (possibly as a lead into a solo) Example: I remember a few years back that Escambia HS did the "lay down and boogie" part of Play that Funky Music that lead right into a killer tenor solo (that solo was awesome).

4) Personally, I don't see the point in playing more than one "verse" section of each song. It is repetitive and does not really further the show. Instead, use that time to incorporate solos for each section or individual solos (depending on capabilities and your imagination).

Also, is there a "theme" to the show or are you just saying "kids, drums, music" (credit Neil Landini with that one). I am sure there are ways to tie Van Halen songs together into a central theme, but that all depends on which songs you are using and again, your imagination.

Good luck, and hope some of that helps. I will be glad to give you any help I can, and hopefully some of the other indoor guys will give you some advice.

Drumholio nice post.

Thanks Drumholio, I can't thank you enough. This helps a lot and gives me a lot to think about once we start with it. Thanks again and I'll be sure to let you know if any more help is needed.

Phantom,

You need to think about two things when making cuts:

1. Horizontal or Linear Orchestration - how does what you are using fitting into the narrative or line that you are creating (that is both musical and story line)? Are you grooving, building, diminishing, introducing, closing, tying together two sections or ideas? Each moment needs to be crafted.

2. Vertical Orchestration - Who does what at each of the above scenarios; Pit groove, snare solo, full ensemble, quads and pit, etc.? Who is the lead voice, who is accompanying, who is coloring the event?

Drumholio, thanks for the credit. Some of most delightful winter seasons have been music, kids, drums shows with no story. Of course the opposite has been true as well.

For clarification ALL classes have a MINIMUM performance time of 4 minutes. The MAXIMUM performance time for the three classes is as follows:

A - 6 min.
Open - 7 min.
World - 8 min.

Read this: http://wgi.org/2009/percrules.pdf

I do not recommend a 5:45 A class show personally, but that gives you the leeway to have a 5:15 show and be very successful.