Create Your Own Marching Shows

Q&A with pedazos

pedazos, aka Jared Emmons, joined MML when it first launched in 2007, and he quickly become famous within the community for his originality and sense of design.

He was kind enough to answer a few questions about himself and his approach to making shows.

Pedazos (pronounced PAY-DAH-ZOHS) means 'pieces' in Spanish. There is really no reason as to why I choose this word to be my username other than that I heard it in a song by Shakira and found the word to be aesthetically pleasing.

The name is kind of indicative of what I do for a profession -- a Spanish teacher at Avon High School in Avon, Indiana where I also work with the band.

I grew up in Dayton, Ohio around some really great marching bands. Back in the late '90s (when I was in high school), we were a decent band. We did jazz every year, just like the Centerville Jazz Band, and produced some memorable shows.

It wasn't until my sophomore year of high school that I started to take an active interest in marching band. I remember sitting in English 10 and dividing a piece of notebook paper into 8 equal sections and then writing drill formations in each section, as if they were consecutive drill sets. I'm pretty sure I even made a flipbook with the corners of a book to see drill 'animate'.

I've attended every Bands of America Grand National Finals since 1996, and I plan to keep doing so.

I have written drill for three groups: Lone Oak HS (KY) in 2007, Jackson Memorial HS (NJ) in 2008, and Pendleton Heights HS (IN) in 2009.

A past student of mine who marched in Carolina Crown told me about the website the day it came out, and I immediately checked it out and started writing shows.

Designing a show for an actual group is absolutely nothing like writing drill in MML. The mechanics of Pyware and MML are similar in functionality, but the actual design process is very different.

When writing for an actual band, you have to constantly think about what music is being played, and, even more importantly, which part of the band is playing it. It's hard to get the appropriate voices in the appropriate staging, and it's equally difficult to get to the impact sets if you don't plan ahead.

In MML, you just start writing without really thinking about where you're going, but with real drill you have to have the end in mind, otherwise you'll have some awkward visual moments when seen with the music.

Inspiration comes to me in various forms. Sometimes it'll come from something I see at school, home, on TV, sometimes it'll come from a show I've seen done live, or an idea will come from a show I see on MML.

I definitely have to be in the 'design zone' to start writing. I've tried to write shows on MML without having a specific theme or idea I want to convey, and the end product wasn't as good as it could have been were it thematic or story-based.

I like to write drill that resembles a mixture of Myron Rosander and Jeff Sacktig. Their drill has great flow, and that's something I keep in mind when writing drill. I'm also a fan of Mitch Rogers, Leon May, and Michael Gaines.

There are numerous fantastic designers on this site, and I'm constantly impressed with what they're able to create. I've always been a fan of Adrian Caswell's kaleidoscopic drill, and VinnyE always brings some class to his designs. If I had to choose someone to look out for, I'd say Tellesus is definitely at the top of my "talented" list. His shows are exceptionally creative and well done, and I find myself in awe at what he can come up with.

My favorite show that I've made is probably Beware the Swine Flutes. In case you didn't know, I happen to enjoy making all-flute shows. There's no real reason for that other than I just think they look really cool.

That specific show wasn't meant to be anything serious, but just something fun. It was well-received by the MML community, probably because it was something humorous when the panic of Swine Flu came about. And who wouldn't like a show that ends with the rump of a pig???

The biggest piece of advice I can give to those just getting started with design is to watch how your show is developing. Not every set you design has to be something impactive and incredible. Shows should have a few impactive sets with transitional sets in between. I struggled with that idea when I started because I wanted each set to be picture perfect, but that's not practical.

Watch the flow of your show, as it should feel like watching water contort around the field. Again, think of the end in mind and how you want to transition your sets into that impact set. Watch some of the top shows from each month and get some ideas from them.

And lastly, practice, practice, practice!

My favorite part about MML is all the options we have to express our creativity. The color palette option has brought about so many possibilities, and the addition of spinning flags/rifles with tosses just makes things even better. We all need some form of creative outlet, and thankfully, MML can provide that for a lot of us.

I honestly don't have anything that I don't like about MML other than when I occasionally get stuck in a creative standstill.

Guitar Hero, Grand Theft Auto, Scrabble, Boggle, and I'm currently investing too many hours in Final Fantasy XIII.

This is a difficult question! When I was younger I wanted to be able to fly. Or manipulate fire. Or summon various buckets of sour cream. I think now, however, I would prefer to teleport. That way I could travel the world in a flash. I could live in México and yet still work in Indiana. That'd be perfect!