Free Resources for Band Directors

Top 10 Tips for Cleaning Your Marching Band Drill

Bob Chreste, UDB Education Team members and owner of BC Band Solutions, shares simple and practical approaches to the drill learning and cleaning process that you can start right away with your band.

Watch the video here!

Download the free resource guide.

Marching Band Drill Made Easy

Josh Gall, co-founder of Ultimate Drill Book, presents “Marching Band Drill Made Easy” at the All-Virgina Band & Orchestra Clinic.

Watch the video here!

2021 UDB Tour Fee Giveaway

Ultimate Drill Book is awarding over $4,000 in prizes to help students march drum corps in 2022.

Details for the 2021 UDB Tour Fee Giveaway will be announced on Friday, July 16, on FloMarching’s new show “The Upstage”

Watch Episode 1 here.

Free Lunge Exercise

The UDB Moves Me Virtual Curriculum is a collection of the foundational elements of marching, movement, and choreography for today’s contemporary marching ensemble. Through collaboration with some of the world’s finest movement instructors, this 12 module, 50+lesson curriculum is the first-of-its-kind and is tailored for directors and students to learn using their UDBapp subscription.

Michael Rosales of The Breakdown Camp teaches a lunge exercise that covers lunges in multiple positions.

The Breakdown Camp

Michael Rosales and his incredible team from The Breakdown Camp are offering awesome classes for only $10 each!

These are amazing opportunities for your students to stay engaged during the summer and training with the industry’s best.

Get the deal here.

Incredible Brass and Percussion features!

With the summer upon us and the promise of a drum corps season comes the chance to hear crowd reactions like this.

Recently, Drum Corps International shared this highlight of the 2000 Cadets percussion and brass features. Sit back and enjoy one of the best to ever hit the field!

Watch the video here!

The Secret to Marching Backwards

Leg shape and proper balance, especially during backwards marching, is one of the most challenging things we have to teach our students. Zach and Chris Carrasco of the Blue Devils Drum and Bugle Corps teach their signature backwards march technique and share exercises that you can begin doing with your students right away!

This video is part of the Be Band Ready campaign, a 50+ video lesson
series released in coordination with Drum Corps International

Pyware Night School

Each Wednesday, our great friends at Pyware hold a free night school session that focuses developing drill writing skills.

Even if you have never written a page of drill, these sessions are a great launch pad for learning basic skills that can help your band.

Sign up for Pyware Night School

Production Sheet Process

Jason Robb of the Madison Scouts and J•Robb Designs walks us through how he produces his visual production sheets as a program coordinator to set up your visual designer for success.

J Robb Designs – UDB Production Note Template – 2021

Epic Percussion Videos

This winter, drumlines and winter guards created a new way to experience WGI with technology, epic locations, and even drones! We are proud to feature some of our #UDBfamily and their creative contributions to the 2021 season.

Rhythmic Force Percussion
Monarch Independent Percussion
Avon High School Indoor Percussion Feature

Pyware Night School

Each Wednesday, our great friends at Pyware hold a free night school session that focuses developing drill writing skills.

Even if you have never written a page of drill, these sessions are a great launch pad for learning basic skills that can help your band.

Sign up for Pyware Night School

1,200+ musicians on the field

In honor of sharing music together, we wanted to highlight a special experience with the Michigan State Spartan Marching Band and the Spartan Alumni Band.

Over 1,200 musicians joined together on one field to celebrate their 150th anniversary by performing 1812 Overture!

Check out the rehearsal above and the performance here!

Free Visual Exercise

The UDB Moves Me Virtual Curriculum is a collection of the foundational elements of marching, movement, and choreography for today’s contemporary marching ensemble. Through collaboration with some of the world’s finest movement instructors, this 12 module, 50+lesson curriculum is the first-of-its-kind and is tailored for directors and students to learn using their UDBapp subscription.

 Jennifer Hanford, Band Director at James Bowie High School, teaches a hybrid exercise that combines marching, lunges, and forced arch into one phrase.

Pyware Night School

Each Wednesday, our great friends at Pyware hold a free night school session that focuses developing drill writing skills.

Even if you have never written a page of drill, these sessions are a great launch pad for learning basic skills that can help your band.

Sign up for Pyware Night School

DCI & UDB partner up to help you #BeBandReady

Be Band Ready is an engaging 10-week, participatory and fun campaign that will be completely free for everyone.  Launching this Thursday March 4th, #bebandready includes lessons for brass, woodwinds, percussion, colorguard, conducting, leadership, and more.

Free Visual Exercise

The UDB Moves Me Virtual Curriculum is a collection of the foundational elements of marching, movement, and choreography for today’s contemporary marching ensemble. Through collaboration with some of the world’s finest movement instructors, this 12 module, 50+lesson curriculum is the first-of-its-kind and is tailored for directors and students to learn using their UDBapp subscription.

First, second, third, fourth, parallel first, and parallel second positions are explained and reviewed in this video. 

Pyware Night School

Each Wednesday, our great friends at Pyware hold a free night school session that focuses developing drill writing skills.

Even if you have never written a page of drill, these sessions are a great launch pad for learning basic skills that can help your band.

Sign up for Pyware Night School

Bluecoats sideline cam

Every summer, we’re fortunate to be around some of the world’s best performers.  

This clip shows what it’s like to be on the sideline, sharing the energy with everyone as The Bluecoats end their incredible 2019 production!

Free Slides Exercise

The UDB Moves Me Virtual Curriculum is a collection of the foundational elements of marching, movement, and choreography for today’s contemporary marching ensemble. Through collaboration with some of the world’s finest movement instructors, this 12 module, 50+lesson curriculum is the first-of-its-kind and is tailored for directors and students to learn using their UDBapp subscription.

This exercise from Module 2 covers the mechanics needed to successfully achieve slides for wind players.

UDB + Pyware Spring Deal

Get a head start on training your band this spring.

Grab UDBapp and the UDB Virtual Curriculum for $5, licenses good until July 1, 2021.

Even better: You can get a copy of Pyware for a cool $75.

Get offer

Japanese Elementary School Marching Band

Each year, over 100 bands compete at the JMBA National Championships in Saitama, Japan. In coordination with the launch of the Japanese version of UDBapp, we are fortunate to visit with many schools and observe their rehearsals.

We hope you enjoy these scenes from rehearsal with the Asukano Kawai Daisan Heguri Minami Combined Elemantary School Marching Band in Nara, Japan.

Free Visual Exercise

The UDB Moves Me Virtual Curriculum is a collection of the foundational elements of marching, movement, and choreography for today’s contemporary marching ensemble. Through collaboration with some of the world’s finest movement instructors, this 12 module, 50+lesson curriculum is the first-of-its-kind and is tailored for directors and students to learn using their UDBapp subscription.

This hybrid exercise from Module 2 combines marching, tendu, and passé.

Learn how to write drill

Each Wednesday, our great friends at Pyware hold a free night school session that focuses developing drill writing skills.

Even if you have never written a page of drill, these sessions are a great launch pad for learning basic skills that can help your band.

Sign up for Pyware Night School

Free UDBapp Demo Accounts

How to get your free account

  • Download UDBapp from the app store.
  • Click on “Don’t have an account? Sign-up”
  • Enter Ensemble Code (case sensitive) – udbappdemo
  • Enter Ensemble Password (case sensitive) – udbappdemo
  • Create a new personal account to use with UDBapp

Want to test UDBapp with your full band? Contact us for a free trial.

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