Atlantic Indoor Association

Jim Ancona is an Assistant Professor of Music at the University of Delaware, staying busy as the Assistant Director of the Blue Hen Marching Band, Director of the Basketball Pep Band and Co-Director of the Symphonic Band. With over 20 years of experience as an arranger and instructor for world class drum and bugle corps including The Cavaliers, Star of Indiana, Santa Clara Vanguard, The Glassmen, The Crossmen and Carolina Crown, Mr. Ancona will be teaching the pit of the Madison Scouts in the summer of 2010.

 

 

MK: Jeff Lee has joined you and arguably the most highly anticipated staff in DCI this summer as "electronic composer". What do you look forward to working with him, but moreover, What do you take to be the role(s) of electronics in the front ensemble? How is this element present in your mind as you arrange outdoors and indoors?

JA: I’m very excited and feel privileged to work with Jeff Lee. I always enjoyed his Blue Devil pits and finally we’re on the same team! Electronics in DCI are tricky because you never know how they will be evaluated. The field percussion judge won’t evaluate anything that comes through the speakers, the ensemble judge usually only notices them when they are too loud, so it’s up to the GE judge. We’re lucky that we have Jeff and he is the best. My job is to give him the space and freedom he needs to create his magic. It should be a fun collaboration. 

 

MK: Can you tell us a bit about a distinction you make in Up Front: A Complete Resource for Today’s Pit Ensemble (Tapspace, 2003) between the common "focus more on hitting the right bar, not on how we're hitting it"? This seems to be of huge importance when we go indoors with regard to touch and achieving the right projection from the keyboards given the facts of life when drums are inside.

JA: I have had a lot of discussion with people my age about this. When I was a young percussionist we ALL started as drummers. Then we applied that technique to playing keyboards. We knew how to move our hands we just had to learn which slats to hit. Nowadays we have young players starting on keyboards and struggling to master basic concepts such as downstrokes and upstrokes because their main concern is HIT THE RIGHT NOTE. I certainly think it is fantastic that players are exposed to keyboard percussion at a younger age, but we need to strike a bit of a balance. It all comes down to basic drumming skills that are applied to a variety of instruments. I think it’s important for every percussion program to have time during the year that is not performance based, time when fundamentals and technique can be broken down and built back up. 

So, yes, great technique will improve your projection and sound quality, but I think MOST balance problems indoors are a result of orchestration. 

MK: Do you judge indoor drumlines? What are you seeing from today's indoor drumlines that you like or don't like?

 

JA: I don’t judge indoor, on occasion I will judge marching bands, but that’s about it. I usually enjoy shows (in any marching activity) that are driven by a solid marriage of music and visual. I prefer music that has some substance to it. I’m less impressed by licks and tricks and more impressed by hearing what people can do with thematic material and how they develop that material. Licks and tricks are good, but they have to serve a musical purpose. 

MK: As a college professor, what do you say to band directors and even percussion instructors who remain skeptical of the benefits to players participating in drumlines, be it in the fall, winter, or summer with drum corps? Do or Will college programs see and/or credit those involvements, in virtue of skill sets or other abilities?

JA: There is no easy answer to this as you have to take each student and situation as a separate case.  Speaking specifically to music education majors, I think it is important to have some experience in DCI, DCA or WGI if you want to be a high school band director. Not every situation, however, is ideal. Would I want a music ed major who is struggling to play keyboard instrument take every weekend to play snare in a WGI group. Probably not. Again, there has to be a balance. Speaking just for my situation, I’m trying to produce well-balanced percussionists who have a diverse musical background. That includes playing ALL concert instrument at what I would consider a national level for college, understanding how to play in wind bands, orchestras, chamber groups, as a soloist, in a jazz combo and YES marching percussion. 

Most percussion instructors and directors are skeptical due to the time commitment of these groups. If a student wants to get involved in the marching activity, they have to make sure that the rest of their responsibilities are taken care of. So my message to the instructor/director – YES there is tremendous merit and reward to getting involved with these groups and your players will mature as musicians and people. My message to the student – take care of business and budget your time.