Upon completion of this project, I feel like I have captured the spirit and goals of the assignment in a meaningful way. This was a field I have had interest in for a while, and I'm glad I used this opportunity to engage in learning, research, and creation. While I outlined some strengths and weaknesses in drill writing in my previous post, the most glaring area is simply a lack of experience. Moving forward from this project, I will continue to write drill to some of my arrangements and experiment with different styles. I have also spoken with Dr. Smedley, and he has expressed interest in providing feedback on any samples I send him. Should I want to make a future in drill writing, my next steps are to go back and edit this project with fresh eyes, and then to go about building a beginning portfolio of work to show to potential clients. Then, I would look for smaller programs or specific opportunities that would cater well to a beginning writer. One example of this is the football halftime show at one of the high schools I've worked with in Pittsburgh. At their program, they march a competitive style show for competitions, showcases, and at a handful of football games. At their remaining games, they march a much simpler, shorter collection of pop charts designed to cater to the football audience. This, as well as feature shows like the senior recognition show or senior night, would be good ways to balance learning the craft, working with a real program, and keeping things reasonable. Overall, this has been a largely positive experience, and I look forward to learning more and engaging in drill writing for marching bands.

Throughout my experience of writing my drill, I had a number of revelations and many problems to overcome. Here are some reflections on writing the Opener to Le Petit Prince:

• ​I haven't been able to find a way to use Pyware or Envision to write the drill for this project as I do not have a license for either, so I will be using Micro Marching League (MML) as a placeholder
• I've decided to use props to help frame the band and create an overarching (literally) soft background gesture for the opener
• Looking at the audio file volume tracker, the peaks and valleys roughly outline the development, energy level, and activity of the arrangement
• The production sheet method is definitely the way to go: great for keeping me organized and for balancing several priorities
• As I learn more keyboard shortcuts for MML, the quicker and more natural the process becomes
  • This was also true when I was learning to work with Musescore, and I imagine a similar learning curve would apply to Pyware 
• Even though MML is designed to be more of an online game than a legitimate drill design tool, it has some useful features to make the process more authentic
  • The "L" key highlights the longest path for a particular set, and this is a useful check on feasibility of drill
  • The ability to change facing and instrument carriage are also useful and makes the drill match closer to what I'd like to see on the field
  • The "Yardline Snap" function cleans blocks and lines, and in a real application, would make the dot charts much easier to read and march
  • Having an animation of marchers instead of just dots helps keep me visually organized and mindful of spacing for larger instruments
  • Animated transitions also help keep my focus on motion more than sets at times
    • This is an area where I definitely still need more development as a drill writer
• The farther I get into the drill, the more I find myself departing from some ideas I listed in my production sheet
  • This isn't necessarily a bad thing, rather, it just acts as commentary on the effectiveness of my production sheet
• The actual drill writing process is very time consuming
• Since MML is not designed to function as a practical drill writing software, it has several limitations
  • Paths and direction of travel are not editable, so I have several instances where I would write a follow the leader, but the animation shows unrealistic cross throughs
  • Tempo is not editable in the traditional sense, rather, the length of each set is determined by the time it takes for the longest path to complete
    • This has made it extra difficult to match some smoother, shorter motions to music
  • MML lacks the capability to show half time strides, so I've had to visualize these on my own
  • There is no option to stagger entrances without making more sets, so in places where subsets or simply written instructions would have been effective, I cannot view the results here
  • All sets are created sequentially in MML, so I only had the option to start at the beginning with set 1 and work to the end
• Drill writing is an extremely time consuming endeavor
  • The editing process was cut short due to my time constraints, but this part is almost equally as detail oriented and time consuming
• Combining a video of the final production with an audio recording was quite tedious and had to be manually completed with each set
  • This process was further complicated by the multiple tempi and time signatures in my arrangement
  • If I were to use purpose-built drill writing software, this would have been something to set up beforehand that would have helped with the writing process itself
• Overall Strengths:
  • I did a decent job catering to the many demands, both practical and artistic, I outlined in my preparation process
  • My preparation before writing was thorough enough that I rarely had to go back and rethink things as I was actually charting dots
  • I picked up on the keyboard shortcuts, strengths, and limitations of the MML medium rather quickly and used them to my benefit
  • I was able to incorporate some picture-based and motif-based ideas into the drill
    • Ex. Prince in scarf from book cover at Set 9, 0:43; rose fading during transition from Set 10 to Set 11, 0:58-1:06
  • I incorporated some extended techniques like body visuals, instrument carriage, and half time marching
    • Some of these are visible in the animation, some aren't due to MML's limitations
• Overall Weaknesses:
  • Transitioning between different staging schema was quite a bit more involved than I expected
  • I need to develop more finesse in matching visual speed with energy level of the music
  • I can still transition more towards motion-based thinking and away from set-based thinking
  • The winds, percussion, and guard largely remained as separate captions; I would have liked to integrate them a bit more
  • I did not effectively estimate the time it would take to complete this portion of the project, so I did not have enough time left to edit the drill to the level I would have liked to

Today, I conducted two of my interviews for this project with wind conducting AI Ben Alaniz and Prof. Eric Smedley. I chose these individuals to get a mix of perspectives on the topic at hand. Dr. Smedley arranges music and writes drill for at least one Marching Hundred halftime show each season, and has had some experiences writing for other high school and college bands. As the assistant director of the Marching Hundred, he also works with the finished products of drill writing in our rehearsals. On the other hand, Ben does not have the breadth or depth of experience with drill design that Dr. Smedley does. As a high school director, Ben ordered and worked with drill that worked well, and drill that didn't. Here at IU, he has just written his first full halftime show for the Marching Hundred, and I was interested in his experiences learning and writing for the Hundred. Below are some takeaways from each interview:

Interview with Ben Alaniz

• Based on his experiences directing in Texas, nearly everyone hires drill writing out. Even smaller schools with limited funding hire drill writers and show production companies.
• Per Ben's recommendation, don't write drill for your own school. It's a time consuming process that's typically paid for, but paying yourself is clearly a conflict of interests.
• During the orientation with a drill writer, make sure to cover topics like strengths of the program, specific unique identifiers to the group/school/community, and a healthy balance between abstraction and easily grasped concepts.
• When writing for a new school, always ask for videos of previous performances and specific things to avoid. 
• The only time he's fired a drill writer was due to a communication issue. Always set communication and due date expectations in a contract before the writing starts.
• When looking for inspiration, look at previous performances and try to identify common threads and things that may be missing. For the Hundred, a common thread was popular music, but women composers were missing.
• Choosing music that the students can get behind, appreciate, and connect to can make or break a show.
• Most production companies will handle obtaining rights, but always double-check this and get a copy of permissions for you to keep.
• Writing for a new school is similar to a director transition: don't change anything too drastically the first year; use previous productions as guides.
• Working within constraints can be super frustrating, and can limit creative outlet, but requires an ingenuity that is useful as a drill writer.
• If you can't explain your show in one sentence to a non-musician, it's too complex or abstract. This hit me and I expect it will stick with me. I've seen plenty of super abstracted shows that ended up confusing me, as a marching musician, so I can imagine how quickly they will lose an audience of parents and community members.
• Gear towards doing something simpler really, really well instead of doing something difficult at a mediocre level. If you have to ask yourself if it's too hard, it probably is.

Dr. Smedley

• At his first job out of undergrad, the percussion director was also the drill writer. This avoided a conflict of interests discussed above, and meant the staff got to work closely on the drill. I almost had a similar opportunity as a brass staff member of a high school band in Pittsburgh this summer, so it's exciting to see this as a realistic possibility.
• His favorite competitive show was Civil War-themed, and included band members battling each other, dying on field, and being replaced by headstone props. However, the actual drill for this show was rather simple and easy to clean to a high level of accuracy. This reinforces one of the sentiments Ben left me with towards the end of our interview.
• When I asked what were some hallmarks of inexperienced drill writers to avoid, he primarily addressed areas of disconnect with the music and the visual design. Just like I've read in several texts, staging instruments effectively is important. He also pointed out the necessity to match physical demand with musical demand. If a section has to play a fast technical passage, asking them to execute a difficult maneuver is not a good idea.
  • On a similar note, these can also be important indicators to check when hiring out drill. When evaluating drill for your band, always ask for an animation to watch while you watch a score to check for these two ideas.
• Dr. Smedley further underscored the concept that the movement is what makes up the show much more than just the sets. 
• Technique for visual inspiration: video yourself conducting the piece, and rewatch to look for areas of hard or soft motion, contrary ideas, and even shape ideas based on gestures.
• While most competitive drill is asymmetrical, forms can be symmetrical around other places than the 50 yard line. This is an interesting idea that I'll definitely want to explore.
• Having clear and firm due dates for all members of staff involved in production is a must. If arrangements get behind, drill will be behind, and choreography, prop design, guard work, and several other areas can be impacted by one person's overage.
• Fun Fact: Hundred camp is scheduled the way it is so the directors have time to write drill during our extended breaks during the day so nobody has to stay up late into the night writing.
• Save all of your work to add to a portfolio! This is how drill writers are hired. This website could be a good starting place for this to become something bigger if I'd like.
• Dr. Smedley echoed Ben's ideas that doing simpler drill at a higher level is the way to go. He said he has never met a judge who has disliked the simplicity of a show. Instead, they often lament programs that bite off more than they can chew.

Yesterday, I submitted my update of this project's development and received positive feedback. While I'm on track with my research, I am behind on the interview process due to some scheduling constraints and Prof. Woodley's health concerns. Even though he is excited about this project, I have started looking for another person to interview in the case that he remains unavailable. I've also had to cancel and reschedule interviews with my other two people here at IU due to Prof. Woodley's absences, but we are still far enough ahead of the due date for this project that I'm not worried on this front. I'm also still unsure how to best save the drill as I work on it as both trial versions of software lack the option to save files. I may end up purchasing drill writing software eventually, but I can't plan on it for this project. In the event that I have to hand-chart material, I will be more limited by time and my own abilities to visualize my work. However, I have learned enough at this point that I feel confident that I can start working on writing the portion of the show and be at least somewhat successful. I'm looking forward to writing a production sheet for my arrangement of themes from Hans Zimmer's soundtrack to Netflix's animated movie of The Little Prince!

I've also decided to change the order of events in my proposed schedule since I resubmitted yesterday. I'll be working on my drill first, then compile a Beginner's Guide to Drill Writing after the fact so that it accurately reflects my process.

While online research eventually came easily enough for this topic, there are very few print sources for current information on marching band drill writing. There are a grand total of about 30 print publications on the topic according to WorldCAT, and of those, most of them are available at our music library here at the Jacobs School. However, only three titles have been published since 2000. While there is still a lot to be learned from older methods and styles, the modern competitive band has shifted dramatically from the bands of 1970s, 1950s, and certainly the early military-style bands of the 1920s and 1930s. However, given the relatively recent advent of drill writing software, some of the more intensive "analog" writing methods may provide some useful guidance for a beginning writer.

The Complete Marching Band Resource Manual - Wayne Bailey, Cormac Cannon, and Brandt Payne 

• My first impression of this text is that is a nearly all-encompassing resource for teaching and managing marching bands. I will definitely return to this book after this project.
• Since this book is rather thorough, I will focus on Chapter 2: Making Drill Design Concepts Work and Chapter 3: Designing and Charting the Show.
• Chapter 2: Making Drill Design Concepts Work
  • ​​This chapter opens with a set of vocabulary used to describe forms. Designations like open vs. closed, hard vs. soft, and static vs. moving can be helpful in planning contrast/similarities and in discussing and describing drill to others.
  • This text also includes drill examples of each of the concepts described, which makes it much easier to understand and contextualize. 
  • ​The next section gives similar vocabulary to types of drill movements. Rotations, follow the leader motions, and flexes are some of the most impactful maneuvers, and I plan to incorporate them into my writing.
  • ​The visual speed of the drill is an important consideration in the big-picture development of the show. Contrasting motion is one of the easiest, most effective ways of increasing visual speed while unison block motion does the opposite.
  • Staging sections and musically important moments are crucial aspects of show design and should always cater to the music. Placing sections in the power zone, the area between the 40 yard lines on the front half of the field, makes them visually relevant to the audience, which enhances the musical presence this area also provides 
  • The paths of marchers always have a default assumption based on the program you write for. In the Marching Hundred, the assumption is body facing direction of travel, at an 8-to-5 stride. In most competitive bands, the default is adjusted step size with upper bodies facing front/podium. Specifying departures from the norm is essential.
  • Considering the audience's perspective when creating shapes and pictures is important to the efficacy. The views of a form from field level vs. 30 degrees above vs. the press box can vary dramatically, so whenever possible, write forms that cater to all options.
• Chapter 3: Designing and Charting the Show
  • Selecting the right music is the most important aspect of show design. If music doesn't suit a situation, then no matter how effective the drill is, the show on the whole will lack efficacy.
  • Effective shows have some kind of dramatic change every 15 to 30 seconds. In the industry, this is referred to as the 15/30 rule.
  • The author recommends making a line graph before arranging and writing drill to chart overall energy over time. This seems to be a useful big-picture approach to maintaining an effective development.
  • Most movements of productions fall into one of four categories: mountain, valley, hill, or slope. Each is a metaphor for where the show starts and where it ends in terms of energy and intensity.
  • Score Study
    • The author suggests starting by listening to a recording of the music with the score and marking obvious set change moments.
    • Next, choose one word to describe each section. This is an efficient way to justify visual choices, and this would be great information to include in a production sheet.
    • Finally, listen to the recording with a blank sketchpad. Sketch any shapes that come to mind and jot down the measure number or time marking. These can be helpful during the concrete design process.
  • Charting the Show
    • The author recommends charting the most important/climactic set first and working backwards and out from there. This seems to be an effective solution. I've never written anything this way before, but I'm willing to give it a try.
    • The text does not explicitly cover this part, but now seems like an opportune time to chart other important sets from the sketches. Building secondary formations between these and the roadmapped sets seems like it would be an effective method.
    • The author recommends generally maintaining an even interval between marchers. Changing this can lead to logistics issues, but can also be an effective visual tool.
    • The text also recommends placing the auxiliary sections at a multiple of the band spacing. While I had never considered this before, this seems like an effective way to maintain uniformity and rightness of fit across the ensemble.
    • Most software will identify issues in step sizes far before drill goes to print. This is good to know!
  • Maintaining a consistent format for set numbers, measure designation, and musical directions is crucial for communication. I have been on the receiving end of some of these issues before, and a small inconsistency can confuse an entire band. While I have my own understanding and preferences regarding labeling, in the event that I write for another school, I will make sure to ask the staff what system they use so I can be consistent and easy to understand for the students.

The Marching Band Handbook - Kim R. Holston

• ​This text provides a rather extensive list of resources and production companies for marching band show design. While there isn't any information on the methods or processes themselves, a modern edition of this text will be quite useful when I'm a band director. However, this edition from 1997 is less useful to this project's development now. 

Modern Marching Band Techniques - Jack Lee

• This text was published in 1955, but includes a more administrative approach to directing a marching band. From this perspective, drill writing takes on a different face. My focus will be on Chapter IX: Charting the Football Band.
• This text advocates similar use of a production sheet and flowchart in designing  productions. The presence of these techniques in nearly all of my sources indicate their importance and effectiveness across multiple genres and technical approaches to the craft.
• The style of drill during the 1950s was largely based around block techniques of the preceding era and the development of picture shows. While neither of these techniques dominate modern drill design, they can be used for special effect or as transition materials.
• There are several examples of block maneuvers included in this section. These could be useful for transitioning between drastically different forms in a modern production or as a stark contrast to smooth, open curvilinear forms. 
• There is a lot of discussion on appropriate charting of pictures. This is a time when it is especially important to consider audience perspective and maintain a closer horizontal spacing than vertical spacing.
• I may return to this text to use some specific block maneuvers if the situation arises in my show design.

I decided on a show concept! Of the three concepts I outlined earlier, I settled on Le Petit Prince.

While there was a lot of great material for the other concepts, I already had an arrangement of some themes from the animated movie soundtrack for Le Petit Prince from conducting class last year. While its current form isn't orchestrated for marching band, I will be able to relatively easily swap some parts out and fill harmonies to create a marching band edition. The piece is roughly two and a half minutes long, which is an ideal length for an opener of an 8-minute marching band show. Even though most drill writers don't arrange their own music (production companies often have an arranging staff and a separate drill design staff), this can be an opportunity to make a more authentic product and practice working on both ends of constraints. 

From the creative perspective, this theme allows for a story to guide the development of the show, and there are ample sources for inspiration of guard choreography, props, color palettes, and other concepts. It's also a family friendly story with a fun history, but it still tackles some deeper thematic ideas which can be reinforced by musical and drill choices. I must say, given the opportunity to write a full show from this material, I would make different musical decisions with this arrangement. However, due to my time constraints and the nature of this project, the current arrangement will allow me to experiment with several different types of marching maneuvers in a short amount of time. I will likely follow up with another post reflecting on the process of writing to this arrangement. 

This post is to update my plan based on some software options I've learned about since starting the project. 

Pyware Demo
Based on my online research and prior knowledge, Pyware is the industry standard software for drill writing. Its features are rather extensive, and all of the drill I've worked with has been written on this program. However, it is quite expensive. For an individual basic license of the current version, it doesn't get cheaper than $499. There are options to purchase the previous version for as low as $349, but this is still prohibitively expensive for me. However, the purchases are simply for ​licenses to use the software. The software itself can be downloaded free of charge from the company's website, and is just stuck in a demo mode until you purchase a license. The demo mode limits the number of dots, sets, and several other features, and it does not allow users to save files. While not being able to save files is a difficult hit, I may still be able to use Pyware's demo for some aspects of this project.

Micro Marching League
During some searches for free software alternatives to Pyware, I stumbled across a website called Micro Marching League. This is essentially drill design boiled down into an online game. An account is required to create and save shows, but accounts are free to create. It is rather limiting in terms of number of musicians, available animations, and setting. For example, there seems to be no way to edit the tempo or add music to accompany the animations. However, this will likely be a fun, free sandbox to play in when acquainting myself with formations and transitions. The controls are also quite intuitive unlike some aspects fo Pyware. 

EnVision
EnVision is an application designed in response to some of the user interface complaints about Pyware. It is priced similarly, but also has a demo version that I plan to download and learn with. It's website touts user friendliness and visual customization options. There also seem to be more options for integrating other types of files (audio, text, etc). However, this program is only on its third version and is less widely known. Its production files aren't compatible with Pyware, the leading software, so it may be difficult to use this professionally. Either way, another free demo to learn and play with is still good for my growth in this field.

For the next step on this project, I did more thorough online research. This included diving deeper into some commercial drill writers' websites and their associated materials, reading beginner boards on Pyware's forum, and researching publications like School Band and Orchestra. Here are some takeaways, questions, and observations from my online sources:

School Band and Orchestra: Techniques of Marching Band Show Design Review and Interview

• This article is an interview with the author of a book on this topic, so I'll try to get my hands on a copy of this resource for further research.
• The author emphasizes the niche nature of this activity: the best drill writers have a varied marching experience themselves, have a music education background, and experiences both learning and teaching drill. I'm lucky enough to have this set of characteristics, so this is reassuring to hear!
• The author recommends using a poster board-sized scaled football field and a set of beaded strings to physically experiment with forms and make shapes. This is an interesting method, and one I'm excited to try out some time!
• Similarly to my other sources, this author highlights the necessity of score study and a flow chart of events.
• Transitions between key forms are usually more important than the forms themselves, and they make up the actual meat and activity of the show. For this reason, this is where the author sees the most mistakes in young drill writers. 
• Similarly to an idea I had during the last article, this author mentions the importance of variety in guard staging. It's easy to fall in the trap of leaving the guard outside/behind/in front of the band for extended periods of time to avoid difficult transitions, but it makes for lacking/one dimensional drill and a lesser experience for the students. 

WWBW Custom Marching Program 101

• This article is a more goal-oriented, student-oriented approach to show design. These are generally aligned with my educational philosophies.
• While drill writing is often a very individual process, this article recommends starting everything with a staff meeting so multiple heads can work on tackling the same creative task. I also tend to be more creative when working with others, so this is definitely a step I'd start with.
• Related to the perspective of this article, it mentions how drill design should come from a staff discussion about the current strengths and weaknesses of the program, and what skills will be focused on that season.
• There is also considerable discussion on the importance of staging. Keeping instruments and parts in specific strategic places on the field during important parts of the arrangements can make or break a show. I have personally experienced drill with poor staging, and I can see how important this aspect is.
  • This may be another area that would be good to address with the whole staff in a subsequent meeting.
  • Staging of the color guard is another important decision that needs to include the color guard director so that the students' strengths can be showcased best. 

JJ Visual Design - Beginner's Guide to Drill Writing Part 1

• There are more audiences for a beginner's guide than I originally thought. The author points out that while he's mainly writing people like me who want to learn to write drill, some of these are also useful skills for band directors who don't write their own drill but may need to make edits, photographers of marching bands or other school groups on football fields, and other members of marching band staff. 
• The author points out needing a lot of information before you begin. He has a great all-encompassing list that I will include in my final product.
• Marking up the score before beginning to write anything seems to be a great way to develop familiarity with the music before accidentally writing something that doesn't fit in the big picture.
• I'm not sure I like the formatting of this author's production sheet, but the creation of a production sheet or map is crucial to creating an effective product that develops naturally over the course of the show.
• The author recommends saving all files twice: in their original format and in whatever format is needed for compatibility with other programs.

JJ Visual Design - Beginner's Guide to Drill Writing Part 2

• The author uses one template file no matter what program or piece he's arranging for to save time. It seems that Pyware can be a rather finicky program and that changing settings on it can be difficult. 
  • These templates are available for free on this website! Should I be able to get my hands on a copy of Pyware for my laptop, I'll make sure to look at these.
• This writer uses a color coding system for labeling dots, and I'm not sure how effective this is for the final products. Since drill sheets and packets are usually printed in black and white, you would have to go back and manually change colors at the end. 
• The author stresses the importance of developing a file naming procedure and learning keyboard shortcuts. I have run into file naming issues with some of my arrangements in the past, so I can understand the importance here. Overall, this is a system I need to better develop to be more organized. 
• On a related note, the author has a whole system for saving and backing up his work in several places. Since this is a program confined to running on one computer and not integrated into cloud services like so many of the things I'm used to working with, having a saving routine is crucial.
• Overall, this entry is largely about Pyware setup to begin writing a show. Getting a solid start will be important and save headaches later on. 

Pyware User Forum: New to Drill Writing

• This forum did not include much information itself; rather, it gave recommendations for further research
• Some of the above sites and one of the book sources I've identified were echoed as good resources here
• There was also a link to a set of instructional videos for using Pyware 3D version 7. While the current version has some changes and additions, the main operations are unchanged, so these videos may provide useful if I get a chance to work with Pyware. 

Here are my current leading show concept ideas:

1. Le Petit Prince
Le Petit Prince is a children's novella by French author Antoine de Saint-Exupéry that tells the story of a young prince who travels across planets and time to Earth and back to his love, a red rose. Despite its simplicity and fantasy, it makes for an elegant story with poignant themes of creativity, friendship, individuality, loneliness, loss, and human love. While originally written  in French, Le Petit Prince has been translated into English and several other languages. There have also been an opera, a ballet, a live stage production, and an animated movie, and other renditions of the original story. Not only do I personally like the story, but its simplicity and presence in our culture would make it easier for an audience to follow. The other renditions also include some musical material for arranging or inspiration. 

2. Out of the Blue
This concept comes out of one of my favorite devices for show design: color as theme. This allows several otherwise unrelated ideas to come together through subtle similarities and connections through a color. There are also several iconic musical works related to the color blue, including Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue," Strauss's "The Blue Danube," ELO's "Mr. Blue Sky," and the entire genre of the blues. This show would be more abstract in nature, and the development would occur through a journey through emotions and sound. Movements could be titled different shades of blue, like sky, royal, navy, etc.  

​3. Flickering
This concept was inspired by some of my favorite choral pieces: Ēriks Ešenvalds's "Stars," David Dickau's "I Am Not Yours," and Eric Whitacre's "Sleep." While these pieces aren't very related in their content or thematic material, each has a powerful lyric about flickering lights. From here, I remembered the story of Haydn's Farewell Symphony No. 45, in which the players each have a candle that they extinguish one by one as they say "farewell" during the final movement. I also remembered Owl City's song "Firefly," which is similarly tangentially related to the theme of flickering, and John Mackey's "Xerxes," an angry concert march about the Persian king with a tendency to burn conquered cities. From this conglomeration of music, I would construct an arc that mirrored the life of a flame: darkness, ignition, burning, flickering, and dying back to darkness. 

To begin this professional development project, I started by emailing my hopeful primary sources and beginning some cursory online research.

I sent emails this afternoon to Prof. Dave Woodley, the director of athletic bands here at IU, Dr. Eric Smedley, the assistant director of athletic bands and associate professor of music in the band department, and Ben Alaniz, a graduate student studying wind conducting and working with the Marching Hundred as an associate instructor. I chose these people specifically because of their availability here at IU, and because each has different experiences with writing drill for marching bands. Prof. Woodley writes the majority of the halftime shows for the Marching Hundred in addition to some experience designing competitive shows for some high school band programs; Dr. Smedley writes at least one show per season for the Marching Hundred and has worked as a judge for high school marching band competitions; and Ben Alaniz has almost no experience writing drill of his own, but he is writing a halftime show for the Marching Hundred this year, so his perspective and experiences may be similar to mine as I learn more about the field. 
​
I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of self-published sites and forum-based topics regarding marching band drill writing. There seem to be a handful of drill writers and show design companies that explain their processes, and even for those who don't, by perusing some contact forms and quote request forms, I can gain some insight into the beginning of their processes. While a creative endeavor like this can be difficult to put into form and structure sometimes, there are inherent needs for organization and consistency in the activity of marching band, so even though there are likely creative constraints with any organizational method, it seems that most publicly available drill writers and show designers have some aspect of a pattern or format to get things started.