Frequently Asked Questions

The initials “dm” stand for dynamic marching, but started as a vision that Chris Mader and Jeff Young had while driving to teach a clinic on marching & movement in 2005. Both Jeff and Chris were drum majors (dm) in high school band and had a dream of providing a resource for band directors from all over the world to improve their visual and music instruction. Our first goal was to produce a one-of-a-kind instructional video on how to teach marching fundamentals. Since then we have produced five instructional videos on the various aspects of the marching activity including music, visual, percussion, color guard, and show coordination! We have also “taken the show on the road” and have established a comprehensive network of Dynamic Marching certified clinicians around the country that are available to come to your program and help you reach your goals.

Instructional DVDs are just a small portion of what Dynamic Marching is all about. Our clinicians and consultants travel all over the country putting on one-day, two-day, or week-long camps on how to improve your fundamentals program! We have Marching Instructors and Music Instructors with many years of experience with some of the top BOA and DCI groups in the country who will help you reach a new level of success. Our specialty is the teaching methods behind the style choices and how to plan out a successful visual and musical fundamentals program. In fact, in 2009 Dynamic Marching will be coordinating all curriculum and instruction for the Band of America Summer Symposium Marching Band Track!

The Dynamic Marching instructional DVDs help you teach the fundamentals of a successful marching program and also the fundamentals behind a great sounding band. We understand that bringing in a big-time clinician can be too expensive, especially for smaller bands. The DVDs bring some of the best clinicians in the marching and music arena into your band room to help directors learn how to teach proven concepts in marching and music at a fraction of the cost of bringing in a clinician.

Dynamic Marching’s instructional DVDs are designed for the director or instructor. However, they can also be useful to show to your student leaders so that all are “on the same page”. They are a great value!

To really take your band to the next level, it is often helpful to have an expert clinician work with your group directly. Dynamic Marching has over 50 trained and DM certified clinicians around the country available to come in and work with your group for a variety of durations. While the DVDs are very helpful to getting your band started down the path to excellence, a DM clinician can help work with individual members of the band as well as yoru staff during a custom clinic built just for your band. Each clinician is trained in the fundamentals of the Dynamic Marching curriculum and will assist you and your staff in learning a wide variety of drills and exercises that will help your band well beyond the duration of your clinic.

Yes.

Yes.

The success of the written show starts with the fundamentals that the students have learned. A consulting package with Dynamic Marching can help ensure that you start the season off with a widely acclaimed and time-proven fundamentals program.

Dynamic Marching consultants also have close contact to many of the designers of MSC/Center X Shows and are well versed in the artistic and technical aspects of each show. By adding a consulting package to your MSC/CenterX experience you can be sure that both you and your group will have the best opportunity to create a performance that matches both your group’s skill level and vision and the drill designer’s ideas and background. Plus, having a clinician on hand during the early drill teaching portions of the season allows you to have a direct pipeline to ask any questions about the show design, concept, and technical challenges.

Yes, Dynamic Marching consultants are well versed in teaching drill and many of our consultants actually write drill (some for MSC).

Absolutely! This is the Dynamic Marching clinician’s specialty. DM professionals can help run fundamentals drills and will teach you and your staff all you need to know to continue a strong fundamentals program well beyond your clinic.

Yes! In fact many of our music consultants have specialty areas, such as brass, woodwinds, and/or percussion. Be sure to mention that you would like a music consultant when setting up your clinic. In addition, we can set your group up with a PRO Certified music educator to help teach your group. Most of these clinicians are leaders in their field and so these clinician rates will be at slightly higher.

Dynamic Marching is an independent contractor of Marching Show Concepts. Dynamic Marching specializes in teaching marching and music fundamentals and has developed an award winning curriculum for instruction of the marching activity. MSC has partnered with Dynamic Marching to provide you with even more resources to launch a successful marching season. Clinicians are also independently contracted. Clinicians are not employees of MSC or DM.

Dynamic Marching clinicians are selected from a handful of qualified applicants from across the country. The successful Dynamic Marching clinician is typically a motivated college or post-graduate music major with a strong background in competitive marching band and/or drum corps. Each clinician must go through an interview and training program to help facilitate their skills in teaching the Dynamic Marching Fundamentals Program. In addition to our coast-to-coast pool of clinicians, we also have “PRO Certified ” clinicians available to take your group to an elite level. These clinicians are all certified music educators and have had national acclaim and success in the marching activity. A few of our “dm PRO” Clinicians include, Jeff Young, Richard Saucedo, Mike McIntosh, Andrew Cook, Nick Smith, Chris Kreke, WL Whaley, and more…

Travel is arranged between you and the individual clinician. Usually, depending on demand and your location, a clinician can be located nearby eliminating the need for air travel and saving you money.

• The consultant will invoice the band director.
• The band director will give the consultant a check for the agreed upon amount on the last day of service at that location before he or she leaves.
• The band director will directly book and pay for flights and hotel rooms if applicable.
• The consultant will invoice the director regarding any expenses.
• The band director will send a separate check for expenses to the consultant.

These arrangements are made prior to your clinic between you and the individual clinician.

No problem. However, you may not pass on the video to others or market the information shared as your own.

Yes! We encourage you to contact your scheduled clinician ahead of time to work out what you would like to cover during your clinic. This allows the clinician time to prepare for your particular show and also to work out which drills and exercises are most appropriate for your group. You and your clinician will be able to work together to create an effective educational experience for your members!

The packages are set up so that we can schedule clinics for you as efficiently as possible. We can certainly try to accommodate any special requests for duration and time. All arrangements must go through Dynamic Marching scheduling.

Yes! For Mini-Camp package you may select one DVD to be included with your package. Full Camp packages may select a series of either the entire Dynamic Marching Series of DVDs or the Dynamic Music Series of DVDs.

Absolutely! If you have purchased a clinic from us before you will not be subject to any changes in consulting fees that might occur the next season. In addition, you may be eligible for discounted DVDs and merchandise.

We will do our best to make sure that the clinician we send you is qualified, prepared, and professional. We cannot guarantee that travel arrangements will work out, nor can we offer a money-back guarantee if you are unhappy with the service the consultant provides, as it is very difficult to imagine all of the problems that could possibly come up. But, we promise to work with you to hopefully resolve any problems that might come up through your experience with DM. This includes possibly finding a different clinician for you to work with at a discounted rate.