“What Do I Do With My Color Guard?”
How To Make Your Color Guard Work For You
By: Jason Myers
We have all attended our various music schools around the country. We have tried to stay awake in theory class early in the morning
and endured the pains of learning the piano. We all had to perform in various ensembles and attend instrumental classes to learn
every instrument in the band. We sat through woodwind, brass, percussion, string, and voice classes. When I was attending these
courses, I was quick to observe one section of the band was being left out of the school’s curriculum. That section was the color guard.
The color guard was discussed for a very short time in my college courses, but not much information was given. The common
response was to hire an instructor, have them write the choreography, and then “you should be just fine.” Being a color guard
instructor at the time, I realized there was so much more than just hiring an instructor. Many band directors have admitted to me that
they know nothing about color guard but would like to know more. A band director does not have to know how to spin a flag or write
choreography to help their guard program. There are many things a band director can do behind the scenes to help make their color
guard incredible. I am a color director and a band director and I have been teaching guard for nine years. Being a band director who is
also a color guard instructor is very rare, however, this has enabled me see the point of views from both the band director and the color
guard instructor.
In the next several paragraphs I will explain what you as a band director can do to help create an exceptional and superior color guard
program. In no way am I saying that mine is the correct way, nor am I the all-knowing expert. There are many incredible and talented
guard instructors out there who have various opinions on how to teach guard and do teach differently than myself. The only way to
learn is to learn from the best, and the information I give is a collection of ideas I have obtained from many successful guard
instructors through many years of teaching guard. I have done it and it has worked for me. I want to reach out to those out there who do
not know much about our sport. Hopefully the information that I give will be helpful. This article can be for the band director who wants
learn more about color guard, or to learn new ways of developing and improving their program. I also intend to help the band director
who is forced to teach the guard because he doesn’t have an instructor. If you find yourself in one of these situations, hopefully you will
find this article beneficial. I will discuss many issues, including: finding an instructor, recruiting for your color guard, purchasing the
right equipment, effectively using your guard in a marching show, and the benefits of winter guard.
Finding an Instructor
The first thing you need to do, if you have not done so already, is find a guard instructor. Many band directors have asked me where
can they post their openings so that all guard instructors will see it. If you want a quick response, then post the position on every job
board for every winter guard circuit in the state of Texas. Word of mouth is another way. Guard instructors know who may be looking for
a job. Contact some guard directors in your area and let them know you have a position available. Some guard instructors will give you
names and numbers of people who might be interested.
There are three circuits in the state of Texas.
• Texas Color Guard Circuit (TCGC) - The Houston and Austin color guards, and some San Antonio programs belong to this circuit.
www.texascolorguardcircuit.org
• North Texas Color Guard Association (NTCA) - They are based out of Dallas and Forth Worth and serve many of the color guard
programs in that area. www.ntca-wgi.org
• Texas Educational Color Guard Association (TECA) - They are based out of the San Antonio area. Color Guards out of San
Antonio and south Texas near the Valley belong to this organization. www.go-teca.org
Each of these circuits has job boards on their websites. If you would like to look outside of Texas, than visit the Winter Guard
International web site at www.wgi.org They have listings of every circuit in the country. Most circuits will have job boards where guard
directors can search for current openings. If a color guard instructor is looking for a job, circuit websites are the first places she will
look.
Another common question that I get from many band directors is “How much do I pay for a quality guard instructor” This is a very hard
question to answer. My answer is always the same. The more money you can offer, the more experienced instructor you will receive
and the more time they will be able to devote to your program. There are exceptions to that; sometimes you can score big on a really
good and experienced instructor for a cheap price, however most of them will cost you money. The amount of pay is based upon
experience. The more experience the instructor, the more money he may demand. It also depends on what type of program you want.
This is the first thing you must decide.
The first question you must answer before you look for an instructor is what kind of color guard do you want. Do you want a color guard
that is small, doesn’t cost a lot of money, and will only perform with the marching band? Or do you want a top quality program that is
large, competitive with other top guard programs, and participates in winter guard season? If you want a small program that only
performs on Friday nights, then you can hire a good instructor to come write your show, teach your girls, and come in a few times a
week. That can run you anywhere from $1500 to $5000. You must take into consideration travel time, cost of gas, and how many hours
they will be working. Some bands will pay their instructors by the hour and some will pay a flat fee. It is up to the band director and the
guard instructor to sit down and come up with a solution that works best for both.
If you want a quality program that will be competitive, and someone who will be there 100 percent of the time, then that can run you
around $10,000 to $20,000. Not to say that a small program with a part time instructor wont be competitive, however the more time an
instructor can devote to training your guard and developing the program, the better and more competitive your color guard will be. If you
can provide them the money they will need to live, they certainly will be able to devote 100 percent of their time to your program.
However, if all you have is $5000, don’t be surprised if they also are doing other schools as well. Please remember many instructors
are teaching guard for a main source of income and some have to teach several schools to earn a living.
If you hire that incredible guard instructor with 10+ years of experience, you must remember that building a color guard program takes
time. You cannot have the awesome and incredible award winning guard in just one year. It takes time to build a program. It takes an
average of two to four years to build a large competitive quality color guard. This is with hard work, dedication, and a large amount of
money. If you want the scholastic world-class color guard, you will need a staff of high-quality guard instructors (2 or more), you will
need the financial support from your district, the support of the boosters, high-quality equipment, and a top notch recruiting program.
When selecting your guard instructor, make sure you are very careful. Don’t just hand over your guard program to any guard person
that has a resume filled with top quality drum corps and winter guards. Look at the resume carefully and see where they have taught
and how long. We all know that a great musician doesn’t always make a great teacher. The same goes for color guard. Be careful of
the guard instructor that has taught in many schools and have jumped from one band program to the next every two years. Check
references and make sure he is great with kids. Did he show up on time? Did he come to every practice? Did he teach a routine in an
appropriate time frame? Were the students successful (Not necessarily in awards, but successful in what they were taught)? Did he
treat the students with respect (Some instructors can be real tyrants)? These are some of the questions you need to ask former
employers. Finally, ask what type of color guard program do they want to build and make sure you communicate your expectations.
Communication is key in making sure everyone is on the same page. I strongly advise you to write out a contract. Make sure you
include when you want him to be there and your expectations throughout the year.
Recruiting For Your Color Guard
Many guard directors and band directors have asked me “How did you get your color guard so big” My color guard has 60 members.
The program had 14 members when I started and in two years we have grown to 60 members. Building the guard program was very
easy, but the work behind it was a long, painstaking process. I cannot guarantee that my methods will work in every school. However,
the more aggressive you are in recruiting, the more successful you will be.
The main goal should be to get as many students into your tryouts as possible. To do this, you will need a lot of manpower. Your goal
is to educate the student body on what color guard is. Most students know what the drill team is and what the cheerleaders are all
about. Many do not tryout because they have no idea what guard is all about. The following are the 10 steps I use to recruit for my color
guard.
10 Steps In Recruiting For Your Color Guard
1. Pick A Tryout Date – The common mistake of many programs is they have their tryouts in May. DON’T DO IT! Your cheerleaders,
drill team, volleyball, and other sports have most likely recruited before you, and the students have probably selected their classes as
well. Have your tryouts in January. Do them before they select classes, tryout for the cheerleaders, or audition for the drill team. It may
not be the ideal time, but you will get more students at your auditions.
2. Mail Letters To Every 8th Grade Student – Mail a letter to every 8th grade girl in the district. I mail this in the form of a flier with
many pictures of color guards, talk about how many friends they will make, the cool trips they will take, what color guard is all about,
and many key words like dancing, theatre, performing, fun, friends, etc… I mail the flier along with a letter to the parents explaining the
educational values of color guard. I mail these only to the girls, because most males in my district are not interested, however my
auditions are opened to everyone. Most of the students that audition are 8th graders. Do not waist much time on the high school
population. Go after the 8th graders before they have picked an organization in high school. You will get more girls to tryout this way.
3. Hang Posters In All Schools – Do this in middle schools and in the high school. Make them big and colorful. Fliers with pictures
work great too. Make sure they are big bold lettering and they are neat. You don’t want a bad impression of your guard program with
ugly posters. So if you have students do this, make sure they are making them nice.
4. Make Many Announcements – Don’t make one or two announcements. Ask the middle school/junior high and high school to
make announcements every day or every other day two weeks before the tryouts. Most students don’t listen to announcements, so one
or two wont make a difference. Give a short description in the announcement as well. Remember, most students don’t know what
color guard is.
5. Hang A Sign Up Sheet In The Front Office – Be sure you have a sign up sheet. Make sure that you also put a place for their
phone number. If you don’t have students show up, at least you can call them. Don’t place this next to the band hall. Place it in the front
office where it will be monitored. Boys love to write other boys names on the list as a joke.
6. Show WGI and DCI Videos During Lunch – During the lunches at the middle school you or your guard director take several of
your guard students to the lunches at the middle school. Set-up a table with fliers, pamphlets, parent letters, and a sign up sheet. If
there is televisions set up in the cafeteria, put on WGI or DCI videos to play continuously. (I use WGI mostly) You don’t have to use
sound. Just let the students see it while their eating. If no televisions are set up, then bring one in. It is important they see what color
guard is all about. Have flags, rifles, and sabers at your table and have your guard students walk around the cafeteria talking to 8th
grade students. Again, target the girls only. If boys really want to be on it, then they will come to you.
7. Attend Elective Fairs and Have A Solo Performance – If your school has an elective fair then do it, and make it as big and
extravagant as you can. Our elective fair for 8th grade students is in January. It is a perfect time right before tryouts. The 8th graders will
sit in the auditorium to watch various videos and see some performances. I selected my best soloist in the guard and had her come
up with a short 3-minute routine with flags, rifle, saber, and dance to a popular dance song. I had one girl this year change her mind
about joining the drill team and auditioned for guard instead because she was so impressed by my soloist on stage. During the fair in
the commons, we brought out every award, trophy, and show flag, and made up our space as big and extravagant as we could. We
also showed WGI videos on a TV screen, handed out fliers, and got students to sign up for tryouts.
8. Build A Web Site for your Color Guard – Nowadays it is easy to set-up a free web page. On our website we have all the
information anyone would need about the guard, how to join, when the tryouts are, and the benefits to joining the program. Put as
many pictures as possible on the site. We also have a video on the site.
9. Create A Video For Your Guard Program – This is actually not hard at all. Most new computers will come with Microsoft Movie
Maker. If you don’t have it, you can download it on the net. The program is very easy. Find a bunch of guard pictures (You can find them
all over the net. Be sure to get permission though) Use pictures of your guard, but you could also use others. Remember the goal is to
educate the students. Use Movie Maker to put the pictures in a time sequence that coincides with a popular piece of music of today.
You can save it as a small file to put on your website or on a CD to play in your DVD player. I have also done this for the band, and it
has really helped in 8th grade retention.
10. Schedule A Performance – This is VERY important. Since most students do not have a clue of what color guard is about, they
have to see it in action to fully understand what color guard is. Schedule a time for your winter guard to perform at the middle school.
We usually do this one week before the tryout in January. It is also a great run through performance before we compete in the winter
guard competitions. I have the administration release the 8th grade girls only. In the past I had performed for all 8th graders. The boys
in the crowd would be very immature, and the girls would hear the boys make fun of the guard. The girls would be turned off by guard
because of what the boys thought and said. With only girls, I get cheers, wows, and many questions. In the end, it seems like every girl
in the crowd has a question. We have the sign up sheets available after our performance and as soon as we are done we practically
have half the 8th grade girls sign up for tryouts. I know there are some school districts that will not allow this. I have heard this because
it is not fair to other organizations, or maybe the administration does not want to take kids out of class. My advice is fight for this. Do
everything you can to make this happen. The performance we have at the junior highs is the reason why we get so many kids to
audition.
These are the steps that I have used in the past and they have worked. In no way am I saying this is the correct way. You must find
what works for your school district. This works for me in my school district and in just two years our color guard has become the
popular group to join on campus. We routinely have 60 to 80 students audition for the color guard every year. It only works if we do all of
the steps above. You want to have as many girls show up for auditions as possible. You may be thinking, “I don’t want a big guard; I
only want 20” That is fine. No matter how many students you want in your program the more students that show for auditions, the more
selective you can be on who you choose for your program.
There are also many programs that will only select members from the band program. I have heard the reasoning is that band
members have a better concept of time, coordination, and musical structure. This is a myth. We open our tryouts to the entire student
population and my best and most well-behaved guard members are non-band members. Many non-band members understand the
concept of timing better than some of my instrumentalist! There are many girls in the school that understand timing, coordination,
balance, weight, space, and musical concepts better than some band members. If you haven’t done so already, open your tryouts to
the entire school.
I have seen many programs that will select anyone who shows through the door on the day of tryouts. I have done this myself, but by
spending this much time and effort in recruiting, I am able to select the absolute best girls. You don’t have to spend two weeks training
students for auditions. We train all the students in 3 days. We teach them as much as we can in that time. They must demonstrate an
understanding of flag and dance. We select only those who can accomplish all the skills we give them. It shows us several things.
1) They are quick learners. Something you need in guard.
2) They have very good hand and eye coordination skills. If you can learn a drop spin on the right and left, a peggy spin on the right
and left, and spin all of them in time in only 3 days, that is really good.
3) They have a good concept of time. If they can move in step and in time, and learn several dance moves all in three days, then
they will be great on guard.
4) They are hard-workers. If a student is willing to go home and work extremely hard in only three days to learn all the information
we have taught them, then they are perfect for our program. We only want students who are willing to work hard in practice and at
home. With many girls you can be very selective no matter how large your color guard will be. Great recruiting will only turn into a great
color guard.