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Spraying or painting forms on practice field

Posted by first year HS on 10/20/2025, 10:57 am

I'll preface by saying that I have no drum corps or marching band experience outside of HS and college. I started a HS gig this year and have felt pretty comfortable teaching fundamentals from what I've learned from clinics, director friends etc but I just do not know how to clean drill very well other than the blanket statement "take a straight line path, even sized steps" which kids will tune me out on unless I call them out by name.

My question is I've heard of some drum corps or schools that will tape down or spray down an exposed form/set in the show (like a diagonal or curve in a big hold set) in practice. I want to ask my head director to buy spray chalk (we rehearse on a concrete parking lot) but don't know how to explain the advantages of painting forms. Last time I talked about this he said its a crutch because the paint is not there in performance. I think he is just as misinformed as me...

Just trying to get our show a bit cleaner before our final contest. Thanks for any advice!

Re: Spraying or painting forms on practice field

Posted by Alternative on 10/22/2025, 5:10 am, in reply to "Spraying or painting forms on practice field"

What we did this year is just make a grid on the field, and that worked really well, especially front-to-back spacing. You could do a 2 or 4-step grid and then maybe get those curves in a different color.

Also, instead of painting those curves, you could get them in the correct form and put down some poker chips. We have little aprons that my kids keep three colors of poker chips.

Re: Spraying or painting forms on practice field

Posted by Get on your dot on 10/20/2025, 3:47 pm, in reply to "Spraying or painting forms on practice field"

YES you can/should paint. You need to train the muscle memory!!!

Re: Spraying or painting forms on practice field

Posted by And... on 10/21/2025, 12:03 pm, in reply to "Re: Spraying or painting forms on practice field"

...getting on the dots will allow:

1. Cleaner drill quicker,

2. Students will be able to see and learn what 2/4/8 steps from a hash/yardline/sideline looks like...and will be able to visualize that in the stadium.

People make mistakes (read: "guiding to the form"), but the field markings stay consistent (they don't move).

Re: Spraying or painting forms on practice field

Posted by In the Sticks on 10/20/2025, 2:48 pm, in reply to "Spraying or painting forms on practice field"

As a former HS Band director with multiple trips to the UIL SMC here's what I did:

I would mark the opening form with an orange "X." I don't know why an X and orange- it just worked. Then moving forward, each set would be marked with a paint that would fade in sunlight over time and with rain. The sets would be marked with every other marcher and the set number would be small but readable. If the show had three movements, there were three different colors. By the time the season came to UIL Region the marked sets were largely gone and we spent more time in the stadium. For the situations I was in, it saved tons of time and it helped clean the drill quickly. But this was before the newer apps that students now use. If I were teaching HS Band now, Im not so sure I'd do that again, but I might depending on the situation I was in.

Your head director is wrong- it's not a crutch. Especially if you've taught them well enough to not look down but rather look for their neighbors in the form, or guide to yards lines, hashmarks, etc..

Re: Spraying or painting forms on practice field

Posted by Respectfully on 10/20/2025, 2:38 pm, in reply to "Spraying or painting forms on practice field"

You need to teach them how to guide, not how to find a line on the ground. Yes, it's a crutch, and this close to UIL, it's time to have the crutches retired and training wheels off.

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