Knuckle Down and Knock
Friday, September 16, 2011 at 1:54PM Most recent Ohio State Univeristy Marching Band post
When I come into the Band Center’s main rehearsal room each day, twice a day, I must first negotiate the Ohio State University Marching Band Obstacle Course.
The little corner where I sit—opposite and facing the students, behind the director’s podium, D-Row, and the usual thick curtain of terror that somebody is going to call me out for the hot constant mess that I am–-is very much the tailgate on this this monster truck of a marching band. Scattered on the floor are sousaphones, instrument cases, plugged-in iPhones, somebody’s sweatshirt, and a crammed tangle of chairs never in the same arrangement twice. And to get where I’m going, to find to a temporary place where I can work on this book, I must balance, often on my toes, listing desperately to avoid injuring myself or others or any innocent bystanding baritones. It is terrifying.
When the music starts, I listen, but I also watch-- their fingers on the valves, the exhausted dingy sneakers mostly flat on the floor but sometimes in a seated version of the toe point the marchers must execute on the field... for this is where the story is told. And making my way there through the brass forest and the uncertainty is always, always worth the trip; the runs in the pantyhose and the pounding fatigue, all of it.
I was introduced to the Band as a whole last week, and I emerged from my chair lair and stood before the podium with a microphone in my hand, at last face to face with this entity I'd prayed about, worried over, and listened for.
"I'm Mary Beth," I said, "and, with your permission, you are my second book."
Some of called out for a story--this is how guests of the Band are generally greeted-- and I rifled through what I'd seen of them and from them as a whole for days and weeks, and found that I could compellingly share none of it, because it was all tales of their own existence, natural moments assimilated into the high-functioning careens from rehearsal to marching drills to practice time to meetings to sectionals to rehearsal again. They'd already lived it, were living it. What could I have possibly said?
Do I mention the drummer who passed by a small child standing on a bench watching the marchers drag back from yet another two-a-day rehearsal on the baking side of some campus tennis courts--he was trying imitate the chair step, this little one, this baby, and the student stopped, bent down with his instrument, and put one of his own sticks in the waving little hand?
What about at the end of a Summer Sessions meeting, when Jason was late to his mark as the band swung into "Hang On Sloopy", so he made up the yardage and time in midair, roundoffing his way to where he needed to be?
Or the campus employee who stood with me at the top of a little rise during outdoor rehearsals, staring down at the Band as it practiced Script Ohio, a woman starving and saying, "I have been so sad about this season for months, but for the first time I am looking forward to it."
It is partly instinct and mostly defense mechanism for me to tick to the side of Bright 'n' Happy Talk when speaking before a crowd, so I said none of this, because really, these moments are wash-the-hands-before-eating automatic for this particular audience. There is a reason why people don't walk around with a mirror directly in front of their faces.
I could have stuck to facts, I guess ("I'm donating part of my royalties to Band" or "I used to sing and I can read music, just really really really really badly" or "I tend to get lost on go-kart tracks" ) but I looked at all of them and forgot all these and instead let them know how I got there to that room and where I hoped to go, and tried to be as unscary as humanly possible, and then I returned the mike to its proper place in director Dr. Jon Woods' hand. Then I backed slowly into my previously designated corner, pulse at a ferocious rate. After all these months, I had knocked on the heavy gates of the current Ohio State University Marching Band.
In this post, the first one I wrote about this band, we first met Josh Halter The Supposedly Subdued One's predecessor, Stewart Kitchen. It is the second video I'd ever watched, OSUMB-wise, having anything to do with anything. I had no idea what I was seeing, but it involved, I sensed, a great deal of noise and potential destruction, which as we all know are firmly established baselines for deep emotional relationships around here, and so I liked it immensely and on sight. "I have been struck against the wall," I wrote then, "but you see, that also means that I'm a knockin'."
That was several thousand miles, one Badass, and a borrowed air mattress ago, and I now know the tradition is called "The Three Knocks," explained in detail here in this profile of the mega-magnficient former DM Adam Prescott. And now at long last I've seen Jason The Ridiculously Awesome Drum Major add some dents of his own:
This ritual is an outgrowth of the Drum Majors baton-knocking on a wooden stadium door to announce the arrival of the Band. There is no practical need for it these days, which is precisely why it's done. It is at once wildy raucous and soothingly predictable. It yokes the students to those who have passed this way before and will pass this way once their own instruments and baton are laid down.
I'm watching the forging of those links, the steel bent by determination and effort and sheer tenacity, all the notes perfected past midnight in the Band Center when the lights in the offices go out and the outer doors are locked, sealing the marchers in, them and their metronomes and calloused hands. I will never truly know what that's like.
But I have my fingers cured around the heavy steel of the gates, and, having knocked, I have slipped into the stream of these tremendous sounds around me.
This post's Tasting Notes Title is sposored by Rick's:
Reader Comments (62)
so awesome, love seeing how you're dealing with it all MB and incredible vids
LOL... are those the dulcet tones of our webmistress behind the camera?
Beautifully done. Well worth the wait.
JASON that was SO COOL!!!!!!!!!!
You are overwhelmed Miss Tink but I see you filtering out what's really important. Keep it up.
Yeah, and... way to do some damage, Awesome One! I really enjoyed seeing this.
bahahahaha was that you Mary Beth with the "Do it, Jason"? klassy.
That trumpet player to the immediate left of Our Jason? He is beastly cool, I love his enthusiasm! "Here we goooooooooo...!" I watched this through twice, once to watch Jason and then to see this guy's reactions. So fun.
"are those the dulcet tones of our webmistress behind the camera?"
Yeah, about that.
I seriously did not even realize I was saying anything, let alone have it picked up by my crappy camera's crappy mike. I know I cheered at the end but really don't remember yelling stuff. So when I ran it back the first time after downloading I was all, "Who is that obnoxious woman right up against the camera?.... Oh."
Same thing happened with the video I took of the Toledo ramp entrance when Jason did the backbend-- 105,000 people screaming the concrete down and this one distinct voice right by the mike muttering, "Come on, Jason, do this." #pathetic
Those videos are STELLAR and I really enjoyed hearing how you're processing this all this, Mary Beth. Sure sounds like you're at no loss for material.
"trumpet player to the immediate left of Our Jason?"
+1, that guy stole the show
Congratulations TBDBITL! Nice to (start to) meet you!
What a fun tradition. Nice work Our Jason! So many backbends and you're not even on the field yet, poor guy lol
105,000 people screaming the concrete down and this one distinct voice right by the mike muttering, "Come on, Jason, do this." #pathetic
Well he's never rescued them from an ice-covered sidewalk while they were wearing flats, now has he?
That's not pathetic at all, Mary Beth. It's very sweet. They were cheering for the icon but you wanted Our Jason to do well :)
Ooooooooooh, I like how you're starting to link in the post title references at the end so that we can follow along, MB. You must have been checking the ol' suggestions box.
And... STEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
"the student stopped, bent down with his instrument, and put one of his own sticks in the waving little hand"
That. Is. So. Cute.
I'm sad to say I never saw this ritual while a student at THE Ohio State University, What else did I miss with this Band? : (
What a moment, you standing in front of not The Band To Be, but the actual band. I'm sure you were great, dear Belle.
Jason The Ridiculously Awesome-- well, awesome of course.
Wow, Stew really slammed the hell out of that thing. Nice shot.
Wow, Stew really slammed the hell out of that thing
Well, he is Kind of a Big Deal.
"so he made up the yardage and time in midair, roundoffing his way to where he needed to be?"
You say this as though surprised he would be this awesome.
Mary Beth, I so needed this after that game on Saturday. Happier Buckeye here thanks to you.
OSUMB FTW!
Pretty much the first time I've ever wanted to drop-kick a Boy Scout. Get outta the way, kid.
lolol I love how Jason and Stew runs up to the thing and just kind of tap it. Such teases ;)
sneakers mostly flat on the floor
Good playing posture!
"OSUMB FTW !"
WB!
They are having so much fun! Enjoy it guys :)
It's very sweet. They were cheering for the icon but you wanted Our Jason to do well :)
Agreed.
Still all kinds of hilarious though.
"DO IT JASOOOOOOOOOON!"
If I had the technological prowess to make this my ringtone, I so would. Fing hilarious.
LOVE THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!
One of the great under-appreciated moments from Casablanca.
...And as usual, Tasting Room culture is at its finest:
MB: (deep soulsearching beautiful post)
The Readers: She's screaming at Jason The Young in the side video!!!!!!!
What a moment.
When I was first coming to college it was before cell phone video/facebook/twitter etc. The three knocks was more of a secret tradition, something that people saw but didn't understand. Witnessed but couldn't disect. Whether secret tradition or youtube video, it is special.
Three final opportunities for the drum major to do a warm up backbend. Necessary for the DM? Not at all. If I need to practice a backbend I just do it, I don't need all the rah rah. So who is it for... the fans? No. the parents? No. the alumni? No. Its for the band.
While the gesture of the DM knocking on the stadium to let the everyone know the band is there is no longer necessary or in many cases remembered there is a need for the band to hold onto traditions especially mostly harmless traditions (see matt bally for an explanation on the "mostly"). It really all boils down to the band. My wife told me that while she and I were a couple and she was squad leader of C-Row and I was the DM that the three knocks let her know she didn't have to worry about the DM. That is true across the board. The band worries silently about everything. Will ramp work... will the show look good... will the I dotter have a good day... and of course, will everything go well for the DM. Truly for all the hype that the three knocks shows in the videos, at its heart it has now morphed into another place for members of the band to have one care lifted off their shoulders.
B-Row takes its role of protecting the DM during the knocks very serious and the band lining the ramp and cheering is a moment in time that lives forever in a DM's heart.
So... three knocks for tradition... three backbends for the band... a chance to take a worry off of their shoulders and be reminded that as much as you are THE drum major... more importantly you are THEIR drum major. It's humbling to be cared for in that way, to know that others have ownership on the job you do. The band's ownership of the drum major is more real than the university or average fan's ownership. It's the people you see everyday. It is in that time that you truly embrace the truth. The 225 people in the OSUMB are the ones that you want to do your best for, the 100,000 are spectators that just happen to be there when you do it.
Knock loud, its your moment!
What a moment!
54
Look sharp, kids, He Who Talks Real Pretty is in the house
Terrific addition to MB's post, 54. Thank you so much for sharing your experiences.
O-H-I-O
We are so lucky to have you around, Alex. THANK YOU for giving your "side" of this tradition!
Mr. Neffenger, always excellent to have you here.
Your thoughts are very interesting on their own but even moreso when taken in context with the discussion we were having upthread about Mary Beth being set apart from the cheering of the crowd for "THE DRUM MAJOR" because she was concentrating on encouraging and hoping for a good performance for Our Jason. While she is not a member of the band obviously, it's also obvious that the difference is the relationship they have built and the care she has for not only him, but the Band as a whole.
Again it's PEOPLE who make the difference, not the action itself. (I hope all that makes sense.)
Wait, He Who Talks Real Pretty among us?
And me without any make up.
Kickass, all of it.
It's always a big f'ing deal when you drop in here, 54, because you can give a different perspective from Belle's, and indeed one very few can give, Thank you so much for sharing this part of your life with her, and with us.
CONGRATS :)
All of them, all smiles all the time, as I'm sure you were in your day, Alex. Nice.
I'm really glad you re-linked Stewart Kitchen's video here, MB. I watched them back to back and it was cool to see the carrying on of the tradition.
Everything about this post is terrific, and the perspective from He Who Talks Real Pretty is much appreciated.
Our Jason, way to get work done! And Stew is tremendous!
Well now I want to see Alex and The Supposedly Subdued One doing this!
again it's PEOPLE who make the difference, not the action itself.
That's an excellent point. +1
Having been reading about this since January I have to say it's a little bit weird to see Our Jason doing stuff like this as Jason The Ridiculously Young Awesome Drum Major. I mean there were the twirling vids but that was not formal. I feel proud of him even though I've never met him. I can't even imagine what this might be like for Mary Beth, who has been getting to know him and gets to see this unfold in person.
"Well now I want to see Alex and The Supposedly Subdued One doing this!"
As far as I know, there is a video of me doing the 3 knocks before the Texas game at home in 2005. Where that video currently resides and whether or not it could be put online are questions to be directed at the person or persons who are currently borrowing it.
cough Jason
cough Mary-Beth
Seriously though, I don't look nearly as cool as those two doing it.
54
PSA since The Fair Webmistress ain't home:
ATTENTION LANGRISH, GO BUCKS! AND LAURA THE READER: email me. I have my part of the FAQ edited and don't have your contact info.
Oh and yeah, nice work Jason, all hail Alex, etc etc etc.
Carry on.
bahahahaha 54 callin MB and the Awesome One ooooouuuuuuuuuut