Straight Lines

[Aegis Fang]

I just watched a few shows, like Reagan 2005 and the "show of the week" show from LD Bell, and I'm wondering how they get their lines so straight. I swear to god, we have people 2.5 yards away from where they're supposed to be... so when everyone else is on a yardline, and you're in between two lines... it's kinda obvious...

 

... away from the rambling, what do you guys do to help keep lines straight?

[BlinK Day 41]

Make sure the person next to you is blocking the rest of the line from view. then you know that your line is straight. dress the line.

[sax5warrior]

Only thing I can say is team effort and good eye skills. Its not physical, its a mental thing. That my friend, is the key.

[mnkyman]

practice

 

dressing the diagnol (if more than one line)

 

dressing down the line

 

 

 

if u really have ppl 2.5 yards from the line..then that person must have mental issues..cause i could understand like .5 but 2.5...like the must not be thinking

[TRtrumpet]

I've seen people in other schools like 2.5 yards from the line.... its crazy. Unless its supposed to look like that but I doubt it if everyone else in the line is lined up.

[whitewing09]

wow. that far apart... umm omg that was our warm up every friggen day for marching season. just playing and marching in str8 lines then in diagonals then all this other stuff. so ya we got kinda used to str8 lines

[Aegis Fang]

Well one of our problems is that, even though we did fundamentals every single day, our directors never told us what to look for OR what to get out of them. So basically, it was like everyone was just wasting 15 minutes of their time every morning.

[BlinK Day 41]

Maybe your SL's should schedule sectionals and try to work on some of this stuff. Alot of things can be fixed at sectionals, especially if you have good leaders who know what they're doing.

[bariphonium]

For lines that go right/left (usually called horizontal):

 

1) Get a group in a straight line. If you're a section-leader, or even just the front of a line in basic block, get your line together and get them straight. Make sure you have someone who's not in the line, to get you in it too, and get it straight.

 

2) Get everyone to look directly ahead, and memorize where the person next to you is in your peripheral vision. Do NOT let them move from that position.

 

3) Practice marching the line across the field. Again, don't let anyone move from your peripheral vision.

 

 

 

For lines forward and backward (usually called vertical) or diagonals:

 

1) Get your group/line/whoever in the needs-to-be-dressed line, and have everyone look at the person in front of them.

 

2) As Blink Day 41 said, make sure you can't see anyone in front of you, besides the first person. If you're 6'8" and the next person is a 5'3" fish, then obviously you'll see some people, but you get the idea.

 

3) If needed, have an outside viewer straighten the line, and just have everyone memorize the position of the person they're dressing to, and everyone else. In rare cases (twice in my high-school career) you'll come across a set where the line appears straight to the pressbox, but not to the students. If this is the case, go with the pressbox; that's where the judges are.

 

It's as simple as that.

[whitewing09]

yea our director was strict with that... like if we werent marching in straight lines we'd have to do it again and again till we do. and if we were out of step he'd make us do it again. and after a few hundred calve raises you start to feel it