Marking Time: Playing with your Feet

As I said previously the marching activity brings an important new part to music: moving. Moving ones feet with the music is as important as playing the notes. The classical view of marching is one where the feet move to the beat (often the quarter-note) and the hands play the music. The feet are essentially the metronome, once the metronome is turned off!

Note: More recently in the Indoor Marching Percussion world the body has become an extension of the music but we'll discuss that later.

It's initially taught that we mark time because when we're in marching band or drumline we move and we have to get used to moving our feet and playing.  On a very basic level this is the absolute truth. Coordinating the body to do two things at once that are not in sync with each other (or appear to not be in sync) is hard at first.  What we learn during this process is to play with our feet. 

We're told to put our feet with the beat. We're told to play with the beat. What we are doing subconsciously is we are lining up our hands with our feet so that our feet control the tempo. When I first started marching band and winter drumline, it was never explicitly stated that by having my feet in time and being able to play with my feet that I'd play in time.  This concept makes sense though.  With all the things that young drummers have to worry about it's important to state that fact from the beginning so I'll say it again. Being able to play your music with your feet, and having your feet in time with the metronome means you are playing in time.  For those of you familiar with Mathematics it can be stated as follows: If A = B and B = C, then A = C, where A = Feet, B = Metronome, and C = Hands.

As we progress in the marching activity we will come across complex sticking and rhythm patterns that will require more attention than others but because of this basic understanding of playing with our feet the activity as a whole becomes easier!

Two sample exercises to workout feet/hand coordination are Sanford and Triplet Grid (just accents).  Start with those two and work yourself up to sprees and more complicated grid patterns.  Post any ideas below in the comments!