what is the fastest tempo your band or a band you have heard had to march?

[MadisonBandMan1]

Im curious about this because a large portion of our show is at about 180, with a higher tempo bump to around 196 or so.

[meursault]

Wakeland hit upper 190s, lower 200s for a pretty sizable chunk of their 2015 show, with some of the more difficult drill I've ever seen from a high school.

[takigan]

I've always dubbed 180 BPM "Battle Speed".  It's kind of the de facto "fast tempo" that you see a lot in BOA.  It's not very practical to go much faster than this since it becomes more difficult to keep your cross counts uniform.

There are generally a couple instances every year of bands going "Ramming Speed" though (190 or faster).  Homestead (IN) 1994's closer is a good example.  Their tempo is kind of all over the place in the recording but it floats between 195 and 210, and right in the last moments kicks it up to 215.

starting at 6:12

[AvonDad]

Avon in 2013 ran their opener at 180, dropped to around 60 for the 2nd song without any percussion on the field, then followed with their next song at 180.  Fun show.

[LKendrick]

  On 9/14/2017 at 12:41 AM, AvonDad said:

Avon in 2013 ran their opener at 180, dropped to around 60 for the 2nd song without any percussion on the field, then followed with their next song at 180. Fun show.

That's one of my personal favorites, absolutely beautiful show.

[natertater21000]

Leander's opener in 2014 was 180 and in the last two weeks we kicked the last 30 second or so reprise up to 192.

[MadisonBandMan1]

Actually we may bump the tempo to even 204,but we haven't put that part to the field just yet, so we don't know.

[snares]

The Cadets “Power of 10” show (sorry to bring in DCI) is the bestest I’ve ever seen. The end of the accel was if I remember correctly 215-225 in that range.

[Nny14]

  On 10/2/2017 at 5:18 PM, SnareSnare13 said:

 

The Cadets “Power of 10” show (sorry to bring in DCI) is the bestest I’ve ever seen. The end of the accel was if I remember correctly 215-225 in that range.

It was 226. 2+2+6=10.

[justabandkid94]

Avon 2008 has gotta be up there. They fly across the field the majority of the time. This show is so underrated IMO.. I know it won, but I hardly ever see it get talked about. 

[takigan]

  On 10/5/2017 at 7:16 PM, justabandkid94 said:

Avon 2008 has gotta be up there. They fly across the field the majority of the time. This show is so underrated IMO.. I know it won, but I hardly ever see it get talked about. 

 

185 - 190 in the fast sections before the Ave Maria, At least a solid 190 in the closer (I would guess 192 was the rehearsed tempo).

[justabandkid94]

  On 10/5/2017 at 7:38 PM, takigan said:

 

185 - 190 in the fast sections before the Ave Maria, At least a solid 190 in the closer (I would guess 192 was the rehearsed tempo).

Nice. That opener is wild

 

I wanna say I remember hearing Woodlands 2011 went 200+ at Grand Nats that year?

[takigan]

  On 10/5/2017 at 8:44 PM, justabandkid94 said:

Nice. That opener is wild

 

I wanna say I remember hearing Woodlands 2011 went 200+ at Grand Nats that year?

 

That 1 minute long section right after that bridge after the vocal opening?  Yup. Just listened to it again. It's right around 200-204.

[CTipton]

In BD's 2009 show, I know that they had a tempo in I've got rhythm that was around 250-255.

[Happymeal]

At Lake Travis, we had the full opener in 2010 at 176, and the full closer in 2011 at 170.

 

We never did quite hit the 200 range like some of you (darn, that’s basically running), but man... 6 to 5 at 170 is pretty brutal if I remember correctly.

[takigan]

  On 10/6/2017 at 1:34 AM, CTipton said:

In BD's 2009 show, I know that they had a tempo in I've got rhythm that was around 250-255.

 

 

Wow.  I hadn't seen that show before.  That IS fast! But......250 is a bit of a stretch.....or at least they didn't do 250 during finals.  I can't quite pinpoint it exactly but it's faster than 230, though anything above about 242 gets ahead of what I hear. I would say 235-240.

 

I will say though, I was listening to sections of their show that I was clocking at 181, and it sticks right to 181 for a solid length of time...no more no less....It's actually probably 180 or 182 and is just taking a second to desync from my tempo, but that's more than I can say for a lot of these HS groups that are marching that fast...The tempo starts drifting quite a bit once you get up above 180 for most HS groups.

[LeanderMomma]

  On 10/6/2017 at 3:55 AM, takigan said:

 

I will say though, I was listening to sections of their show that I was clocking at 181, and it sticks right to 181 for a solid length of time...no more no less....It's actually probably 180 or 182 and is just taking a second to desync from my tempo, but that's more than I can say for a lot of these HS groups that are marching that fast...The tempo starts drifting quite a bit once you get up above 180 for most HS groups.

You must have one of those fancy clocko-marchometer thingies the BOA judges use. You're such a nerd.

 

Love it!!

[CTipton]

This is the video I calculated the tempo from as the met is clicking.

[zururoua]

I'd imagine the tempo would waver/drop a little with no met, though.

[tstrom01]

This year at Oak Ridge, our opener gradually accelerates from 152-196ish. We have pushed over 200 in a few extremely high energy runs. When it hits full speed, the brass has a half-time company front and the woodwinds have a double time snake around idea going through the brass and across the field. The end of our how has a technical section written at 184 where the full band has constant runs, we're about 8 beats under tempo for now but it's getting there.

[ChristopherRoden]

  On 10/23/2017 at 9:01 AM, tstrom01 said:

 

This year at Oak Ridge, our opener gradually accelerates from 152-196ish. We have pushed over 200 in a few extremely high energy runs. When it hits full speed, the brass has a half-time company front and the woodwinds have a double time snake around idea going through the brass and across the field. The end of our how has a technical section written at 184 where the full band has constant runs, we're about 8 beats under tempo for now but it's getting there.

Have to say, I loved Oak Ridges show this year, reminds me a bit of what Clements did my freshmen year, 2015

[Band_dad_of_2]

From the 5A State live feed...

  Quote

 

Richland HS - SMOKIN' HOT!!!!!! At points in the show, they are marching close to 200 beats per minute with is actually a Misdemeanor Traffic Violation in the State of Texas!!!

 

:lol:

[8to5brass]

Tomball Memorial this year in their fast parts went roughly 180