The Production Designer position for the Stampede '23 Leadership Team is created with the intent to allow a platform for students who are interested in honing their music arrangement and/or visual design skills. The production designer can be one person or multiple people, and the candidate will be chosen both by the popularity of their arrangements or visual designs and coaching from an expert panel to ensure the arrangement or visual design will work for the timeframe and scope of the Maverick Stampede.
Ultimatley, chosen production designer(s) will see their music arrangements or visual designs performed with the Maverick Stampede.
Production Designer
Essential Responsibilities:
- Evaluates show execution and works with director to determine weekly goals
- Assists in the design concept and execution of the "Stampede Student" show
- Works with instructional faculty to select and edit student-arranged music
- Audits and edits student-created drill
- Arranges stands tunes at the whim of the director
Submission Media
For arrangements: a sound file of your arrangement and a PDF of your score.
For drill designs: a screen recording of your drill and a PDF of the drill pages.
Send your finished work to Mr. Bajorek via a link to a folder of this media - Google Drive, Sharepoint, Dropbox - all fine. ([email protected]). All submissions due April 7 by noon. No late submissions can be accepted.
Use whatever notation or drill software you find most comfortable to use. Note: no software download or sharing packages are available from the Maverick Stampede for this use at this time. The Music Computer lab may have notation software, but use whatever you wish - as long as it produces a score or drill chart.
Music Criteria:
With this being the 10th anniversary of the Maverick Stampede, there is a theme: a tribute to the shows of our first decade. Think of this as a sort of 7-minute mashup of a selection of the tunes from below. Listen to the shows on YouTube, review the scores - see what worked really well. Or, talk to Dr. Hinkle and ask him what moments he thought worked really well. Start by making those the focus moments and arrange around those.
2013: Steps to Malaga: One More Time Chuck Corea, Speak-Up Mambo, Malaga
2014: Earth, Wind, and FUNK!: In The Stone, Soul Roof and Shake [Medley of Soul With a Capital S, Tear the Roof of the Sucker, and Shake], September
2015: Queen: Crazy Little Thing Called Love, Bohemian Rhapsody
2016: Mavagueña
2017: Rocky Point Holiday
2018: Stampede Rocks: Rock and Roll All Night, Sweet Child O' Mine, Livin on a Prayer, Freebird
2019: Styx Hits: Mr. Roboto, Too Much Time On My Hands, The Best of Times, Blue Collar Man
2020: COVID Show: How Far I'll Go (Moana), No, Soul With a Capital S
2021: Grunge: The Pretender, No Leaf Clover, Come Out and Play, Smells Like Teen Spirit
2022: This Is The Way (Music of Star Wars Saga): Mandalorian Theme, Star Wars Main Titles, Cantina Band, Imperial March/Duel of the Fates
Note: I would only briefly quote 2021 or 2022, if at all. Alumni will be invited to return for this show so most of the show should be samples from when they would have been part of the band. Think of it like this: a freshman in 2013 would have played music through 2016, and a freshman in 2016 would have played music through 2019. A bulk of the show - if not all of the show - should be from those years.
Music Arrangements
- Between 1:30-2:30 in length
- Remember how much rehearsal time we'll have - generally less than you think. Simple harmonies and rhythms played more cleanly communicate more effectively than super hard and muddy. Avoid super crazy jazz chords - 9ths that resolve once in awhile is interesting, but full extensions will just sound muddy. Open fifths are safe. Thirds are safe....as long as the third is voiced with appropriate ratios to the root and third (AKA: most voices should be on the root and fifth).
- The Stampede has a wide differentiation of player skill set (as does any college band) and it's essential that everyone has an opprotunity to perform with success.
- Swing charts will not be considered. Sorry, this isn't Concord, CA. :)
Further detail: it is extremely hard to swing with convincing style. It is even harder to do this with a group of people. Generally, marching bands that swing usually do so inappropriately - with the wrong "kind" of swing, and the impression comes off more sing-songy and as a characterture of the tune. - Rhythms: Stick to easy-to-read time signature based rhythms. In other words, check your beaming and note capsules...show it to a friend to see if they can read the rhythms easily. Look at the scores linked below and notice how the rhythmic capsules are grouped.
- Must be arranged for this instrumentation:
1 Piccolo part
1 Clarinet part
2 Alto Saxophone parts
1 Tenor Saxophone part
1 Bari Saxophone part
2 Trumpet parts
1 Mellophone part
1 Baritone part
2 tenor trombone parts
1 bass trombone part
1 tuba part
Snare
Tenor
6 basses
Pit ensemble parts will be required but created after the pieces are chosen. - The best key centers for the Maverick Stampede are: F Major, d minor, B-flat Major, g minor, or any related modes to those keys.
- Reccomended Ranges: Column 1 and 2 from this chart are safe with some notes:
Some general notes/takeaways:
Remember to allow for places for people to breathe.
Doubling parts is fine but remember that octaves are hard to tune.
Visit ranges appropriately - see what I mean below.
Baritone is far better and more interesting acting as a bass mellophone rather than a soprano tuba.
Piccolo - remember that the sounding pitch is up one octave. In the staff will be heard, above the staff will cut through.
Clarinet - stick to throat tones and clarino registers.
Alto/Tenor/Bari: Here is a really helpful guide: https://www.pekkasiponen.fi/materiaalit/saxophone_orchestration/
Trumpet: First part can "visit" written As, B-flats, Cs, but should not sustain these pitches more than 3 beats (depending on tempo). Remember that the relatively small embouchure can fatigue far more quickly than larger embouchures - and students will be performing this during a football game in variable weather circumstances.
Second part should generally not go above a written G, and only once in awhile - I prefer to keep this written (in the staff) C or D and below as much as possible.
Mellophone: Stick to written G-G. Above that can be visited but it's super hard to keep in tune.
Baritone: I actually think of baritone more of mellophone 2 than an octave with tuba. However, it can play both roles. In the staff F-above the staff F is the money range for marching baritone. Do not write this instrument below the staff. The pitch will sag and it will not sound characteristic in tone - particualrly with King baritones. Other brands can go below the staff but it's still not the best sound ever.
Trombone: First part can "visit" written Gs, As, and B-flats above F above the staff, but same rules apply to some extent as trumpet 1.
Second part should be far more conservative. I'd stick to B-flat in the staff to D above the staff and keep in mind you're dealing with a slide. Crazy fast passages will sound muddy.
Bass Trombone: F below the staff to B-flat below the staff is money. Our bass bone players can seemingly play this stuff forever but they should breathe at some point. See how Old Town Road handles this....
Tuba: B-flat below the staff to B-flat in the staff is a good range. With the size of our line, it's not really apporpriate to split the line into octaves all the time - I would reserve this for the occasional sustain or impact moment and then specify "2 only" on the upper note. Most of the time I just use bass bone to cover this octave difference - the color is super fun anyway.
Drumline: If you've never written for drumline, get help from someone who has or who at least plays in a drumline. Better yet, find grooves you like and figure out how they come together. Emulate and simplify.
Generally: snare = soprano, tenors = alto, basses = bass. Think (generally) - snare matches melodic, Tenors match mid voicings, and basses reinforce...you guesed it...tuba.
Include stickings!! If you are not sure, ask a drummer. This is especially important for Tenors.
Stick to rudiments that are not super complicated. Again. Remember: our rehearsal time is limited.
Drill Design
Submitted drill design portfolios are to demonstrate design ideas, not exact drill that the Maverick Stampede will march. The selected drill designer(s) will write drill specific to the arrangements.
Design for these numbers for example drill idea purposes only:
64 winds except sousaphones.
12 sousaphones
8 Snares
4 Tenors
6 Basses
4 Cymbals
16 Colorguard
1 Twirler
General guidelines:
- Staging is far more important than effect.
- Like voices should move together. In most cases, this means sections stay together.
- The Stampede visual look is geometric in most cases. Avoid too many curvelinears and remember - the audience will be seeing this from a relativley low angle. Spell outs and show specific shapes or animations (like Ohio State) will simply not read very well no matter how clean the pages.
Spacing:
- Weapons / Dancers – 4 to 8 Step
- Silks – 4 to 12 Step
- 8 to 5: Comfortable for all sections.
- 6 to 5: More velocity. Only slightly larger than the step size of the average person.
- 5 to 5: Larger than average step size. Should only be used for short periods and at moments that are not musically challenging.
- 4 to 5: This is a standard “jazz run” step. Use only for short periods and moments that are not musically challenging. Avoid using this step size with tubas, bass drums and tenor drums.
Link to example scores and drill: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1W6jE5Oh16dRWv1D1CVzSCsPiwOgVUAAM?usp=share_link
Note: You will have to request access the first time.