COLOR GUARD AUDITIONS

by Scott Kurtzweil
Kurtzweil Designs


When it comes to selecting color guard members for any group (drum corps / winter guard / marching band), I have always found it important to select the best performers . . . not necessarily the best spinners or dancers. Crazy you say? Well hear me out.

We all know a great guard elevates any average show and a bad guard will kill it no matter how well the book is designed or the horns and percs perform. It then stands to reason that you want kids in your guard that are good communicators and really want to be on stage. Here is my process for auditioning.

Each prospective member is judged in 4 areas:

1. A short essay in which they explain why they wish to be in the color guard. A kid who cannot string thoughts together into a coherent paragraph will never be able to drive a show concept for up to 11 & 1/2 minutes. I have actually cut kids based on their essays without ever seeing them pick up a flag).
2. Pre-taught equipment fundamentals.
3. Pre-taught movement fundamentals.
4. A 2 minute performance of any medium they choose. This may seem a bit odd to many directors but it was something I picked up from my days in the 1980s with the Madison Scouts. By allowing the auditioner to choose his performance tool, you really get to see his desire to perform and his comfort level being in front of others. These are traits that usually aren’t as apparent when first learning how to spin and dance.

My breakdown for weighting the evaluations on the day of the audition are 25% equipment / 25 % dance / 50 % personal performance. Some have asked why so high on the performance. The best response I have is as follows: “I can teach the skills needed to be a good guard member (spinning, dancing, reading forms, etc . . .) but the true love of performing has to come from the individual.

- Scott Kurtzweil