PIT. is it where the 'un-talented' kids go?

[Malletguy22]

and begin. lol

[txsweetheart183]

i completely disagree with that

 

like our pit has a really hard book and definately needed lots of talent to play it

 

pit and battery are two completely(well not completely) but two different things that require talent in different areas of percussion

[urkadrums]

  txsweetheart183 said:

i completely disagree with that

 

like our pit has a really hard book and definately needed lots of talent to play it

 

pit and battery are two completely(well not completely) but two different things that require talent in different areas of percussion

 

I agree with you.

I am in the pit at georgetown, and our book is extremely hard. It's written by our pit director, who also wrote the battery parts.

Talent is definitely needed to play complicated rhythms, runs with different patterns, four mallet permutations/lateral/double lateral strokes, and a lot more.

Our pit also includes body phrasing and actual performance moves. We move up and down as we vary in volume, we jump, float our hands, etc. and we just show with our bodies what we are playing.

 

It is one of my pet peeves when people bash the pit. They say we do nothing, because we don't march and just get to stand there,which is a complete lie. Many people don't even call the pit part of the drumline; they just call the battery drumline. Pit is a percussion section, just as the battery is, and although they are different, they have equal amounts of difficulty.

It is definitely not the place where the so called "untalented" kids go.

[MaverickBand15]

I am in the PIT at McNeil, and i am PIT Captain. I hope to one day be Drum Major. I am extremly offended by statements like this. I think the reason so many people in the band don't have much respect for the PIT is because we dont march, and yes we may not march, but what we do requires just as much talent as every other instrument. I know some of the Drumline kids who cant play our book. The PIT and the Colorguard are also a lot of what general effect falls on. We have an award we give out every Friday night called "Marcher of the Week" and our band gets so mad when PIT kids win it, but the PIT is as much part of the marching band as any other instrument. I honestly would never want to be anywhere else but the PIT (except Drum Major) I think every PIT at every school goes through discrimination. My advice and how me and my PIT deals with it. Is juts to ignore them, and to know the truth about what you do. Choose a good mallet solo to impress them by in concert season.

Edited November 8, 2007 by MaverickBand15

[Malletguy22]

Just to clarify, i myself am in pit, and know that we are sometimes the hardest working section... I will elaborate on this tomorrow (i need to finish my english project)

[SerialSleeper90]

one of our most talented band members EVER was in pit... make that two or three.

[Lustra.exe]

Absolutely not. It's a shame to see programs where the kids feel that way. I, myself, was never in pit. Some just don't like drumline. Some excel in mallets. Sometimes it's because battery people can't play mallets as well.

 

Absolutely not the case.

[Band Of Champions]

I'm not in pit, but I would assume they wouldn't put the most talented kids on the rack lol.

[bsv_1337]

i was in the pit at poteet high school. and i was also in the honors band that won the UIL Honor Band title this year.

 

it really didnt bother me when people saw me playing timpani and thought i wasnt good. cause i knew that i was pit captain and i was better than most people on the field.

[MaverickBand15]

I am curious to know, those of you that have that attitude of, "The Pit doesn't work as hard as the rest of the band" Why you do think that. Enlighten me

[Lustra.exe]

  MaverickBand15 said:

I am curious to know, those of you that have that attitude of, "The Pit doesn't work as hard as the rest of the band" Why you do think that. Enlighten me

 

Because you don't march. Physically, you have to admit, it's less demanding.

 

The transportation of the instruments can get rigorous though.

[Lustra.exe]

  Gracelyd33 said:

But they are part of the band!

 

Everyone in band works hard...

everyone.

I didn't say they didn't work hard. I simply said that you have to admit that it IS physically less demanding.

 

I should have made it more clear that I don't personally believe that the front ensemble works any less than the rest of the band NOR are any less apart of the band because they don't march.

[MaverickBand15]

Each insturment has their own demands during marching season. For wind players its the marching. For PIT its all the chops it takes to play and the emotion that has to come from the music. The PIT is just as much part of the band.

[Lustra.exe]

  Lustra.exe said:

I didn't say they didn't work hard. I simply said that you have to admit that it IS physically less demanding.

 

I should have made it more clear that I don't personally believe that the front ensemble works any less than the rest of the band NOR are any less apart of the band because they don't march.

 

again, I should have made that more clear that I don't think that.

[MaverickBand15]

u dont have to apologize. I understand what ur saying. I was just curious of why people thought that. Different people have different reasons.

[Malletguy22]

yes i admit that it is physically demanding, but think about this...

the pit stays (for the most part) in one spot. they are in the front, and MUST look good.

 

the band has visuals, but the pit is in the same spot the entire show. Usually, (excluding the colorguard) we have the most connection with the crowd.

 

i hope i didn't word this wrong.....

[SerialSleeper90]

plus they are constantly loading and unloading... atleast for us.

[Malletguy22]

  Gracelyd33 said:

Yeah but I mean..

They may do less..

But it doesn't mean that they are less talented..

 

They are as talented in their section

as we are in ours..

I mean..

Maybe it is a little less physical,

but that doesn't mean that they are untalented.

 

And no hun you didn't word that wrong.

 

lol, i had to read it over like 5 times, just to make sure.....

 

but what do u mean "they may do less.." ??

 

just curious.

[Malletguy22]

well ive been told (by directors, and even mirrors (or whatever your school calls em)) that how much we play, and how fast we play, and how many mallets we "stick in our hands" makes up for not marching loll

 

and i dunno y, but it didn't make since to me..... lol

[urkadrums]

hm actually pit members shouldn't just be standing in one spot.

you have to move so you dont hit nodes, and it's hard to not move when you're doing runs up and down the keyboard.

and as MaverickBand15 said, the emotion.

thats another thing that pit does. those are the members of the band that you actually see their faces. they aren't covered by shakos, and the expressions show the music's emotion they are portraying.

it's kind of like acting.

 

 

and yes, moving the equipment is streneous. im only 5'3'' and don't have a lot of strength, but the strength i do have has been built from chops and moving my marimba.

the worst experience i have moving my marimba is at Westlake Marching Fest.

there is one large hill to get down to the warm up area, and then a different one that is extremely steep when you get off the field.

when you are exhausted from performing a show, and then you have to push a heavy board up a steep hill, its tough.

[Malletguy22]

  urkadrums said:

hm actually pit members shouldn't just be standing in one spot.

you have to move so you dont hit nodes, and it's hard to not move when you're doing runs up and down the keyboard.

and as MaverickBand15 said, the emotion.

thats another thing that pit does. those are the members of the band that you actually see their faces. they aren't covered by shakos, and the expressions show the music's emotion they are portraying.

it's kind of like acting.

and yes, moving the equipment is streneous. im only 5'3'' and don't have a lot of strength, but the strength i do have has been built from chops and moving my marimba.

the worst experience i have moving my marimba is at Westlake Marching Fest.

there is one large hill to get down to the warm up area, and then a different one that is extremely steep when you get off the field.

when you are exhausted from performing a show, and then you have to push a heavy board up a steep hill, its tough.

 

-first paragraph: guh! exactly!! i was thinking that, but just couldn't rite it downn!

 

-second paragraph: oh geez..... that brings up some fun stories..... lol

quick one: we just performed pre-lims at the lonestar contest (the woodlands hs) and if anyone knows about the "hill" that you have to get up, then you'll know just how hard it is. and our trailer was in the farthest away parking area anyone ever could've dreamed up. when i finally got there, i locked the brakes on my marimba and almost fell over. lol.....

 

now back to topic... lol

[Keyboard_Countessa]

I was in pit for 4 years, and I always hated the notion that people in pit were somewhow "less" than other band members. I will note, however, that in my band there were three kinds of people that were usually in the pit: those who were REALLY good at mallets, double reed players willing to join the pit, and those who tried out for the battery but didn't make it.

 

Personally, I never thought that pit was easy; my philosophy was that if we don't march, it means we should work twice as hard on our music. What really annoys me, however, is when pit members think that "not marching = pit should be easy," because it is those kinds of attitudes that keep the pit as a whole from achieving its full potential, as well as maintaining this (false) notion that the pit is not at talented as the rest of the band.

[G'townPIT]

I do have to admit that being indoors for summer band is definitley perk. Also, being the timpani player was nice since I was the only person in the entire band who got to sit down during rehearsals.

 

But, I had to pull the timpani cart which was loaded with other pit equipment ex.(amps, wind gongs, break drums...) which was quite heavy and it was a loong walk all the way to the practice field. So that part sucked, a lot.

Edited November 10, 2007 by G'townPIT

[Hawkeye]

Obviously it is going to depend on how the band program is ran, which the way you saw this posted on another website, the program may have been ran like that.

 

For most band programs, pit will end up doing a similar amount of work, but in a different way.

[urkadrums]

  G said:

I do have to admit that being indoors for summer band is definitley perk. Also, being the timpani player was nice since I was the only person in the entire band who got to sit down during rehearsals.

 

But, I had to pull the timpani cart which was loaded with other pit equipment ex.(amps, wind gongs, break drums...) which was quite heavy and it was a loong walk all the way to the practice field. So that part sucked, a lot.

 

 

And if they had only fixed the golf cart to pull the timpani like they said they would last year Kyle, we wouldnt have that problem lol

 

But yeah, pit does do an equal or more amount of work as the rest of the band. Even though we do have a difficult book and we do have to move heavy equipment around, Id much rather be doing that than marching.