When the Covid-19 pandemic forced the quarantine to be declared in almost everyone, all the shows with the presence of the public had to be canceled. ANDThis not only included massive recitals by popular artists but also other genres that, without having the same repercussion, also have their audience. I'm talking about marching band competitions.
But, as our grandmothers would say, God closes a door for you and opens a subreddit for you.
A group of percussion lovers chatting on this social network, decided to get together virtually to continue playing. And, most importantly, share your resources and content under open licenses.
This is how the Open Resource Drum and Bugle Corps (OSDBC) was born. an organization built under the principles of openness, collaboration and inclusion.
A project for percussion fans
Launched in April 2020, the project immediately gathered 100 people on Discord and currently exceeds 400 enthusiastic members of the brass and drums. They have already made two virtual presentations and there will be a third soon.
It is estimated that one fifth of the members participated in each of the first three projects.
All content produced by OSDBC members, including guides, documentation, scores, click tracks, and virtual performances, are available under Creative Commons licenses. so that they can be used by other similar groups.
How the actions are carried out
Given that the pandemic and geographic distribution make it impossible for members to meet, andThe first problem they had to solve was how to play together. They opted for the following procedure:
The repertoire is chosen by vote It can be composed of either a public domain piece of music or an original composition by the members. On this last case, The chosen one distributes scores, click tracks and tips for performing the piece, and the audio and video editors share submission guidelines on how to record and present videos for inclusion in the project.
Once the submission deadline has passed and all the proceedings have been collected, the design team begins mixing individual videos to produce a coherent ensemble performance.
This is a complex job that requires a lot of specific knowledge so it is assigned to the different session leaders (trumpets, bass brass, percussion, etc.).
Although the project recommends the use of open source tools, for editing they have no objection to using those with which editors are familiar or have access.
The members of the project
Not all the members of the group are professional musicians; there are also composers, sound engineers and high school and university students in addition to other fans. To avoid any type of internal problems (there are not so many who are dedicated to percussion) OSDBC musicians work anonymously, hiding their identity with hats and sunglasses in their acting videos, and many also use pseudonyms within the group. They are probably not very effective means without the willingness of the members to pretend to be ignorant if they coincide with the best friend who left with the girlfriend.
Still, the requirement of anonymity levels the playing field between musicians of varying skill levels, encourages collaboration, and makes it easy to ask for help without fear of embarrassment or judgment.
The project plans to move forward when the pandemic passes and is still looking for musicians, composers, arrangers, sound engineers and other related specialties.
Are you good at brass or percussion instruments? Are you a composer of music for bands? Are you good at audio editing? It doesn't matter if you are not a professional. Take a look at the bio of the moderators of the project. No one is a professional musician, there are students and college graduates for whom music is a hobby. In fact, there is even one who is still trying to get into a band.
If you want to know more about the project or hear how they play, visit this site