Your last performance is behind you, and right now you remember every spot in the show that never got clean. In a month you won’t. That’s why the best planning for next season happens in the next two or three weeks, before the banquet, concert season and the holidays push the details out of your head.
A season debrief doesn’t have to be a big production. One hour with your staff, the right paperwork on the table and a handful of honest questions will tell you more about next year’s show than anything you’ll hear at a convention. Here’s how I’d run it.
When to hold your season debrief
Within a few weeks of your last performance. Any sooner and everyone is still tired and protective of the show. Any later and you’re working from memory, which is kind to the parts that went well and vague about the parts that didn’t.
Put it on the calendar now, the same way you’d schedule a sectional. If it isn’t on the calendar, concert season will take the hour.
Who should be in the room
Your directors, your percussion and guard staff, and anyone else who taught the show every week. If your drill writer or arranger can join by phone for part of it, even better. Keep the group small enough that people will say what they actually think.
Your students get their own step, which I’ll get to below. They see things from inside the block that you can’t see from the tower.
What to bring
- Every judge’s sheet and recorded commentary from the season
- Your rehearsal notes, or whatever you used to track what you worked on
- A recording of your last performance, ideally from the press box
- Your season calendar, with the dates the music, drill and props actually arrived
Go through the show one movement at a time
Play the recording and stop after each movement. For each one, ask the same four questions:
- What landed with the audience and the judges?
- What did we rehearse all season and never get clean?
- Was the music too hard, too easy or about right for each section?
- Did we change anything mid-season, and why?
Be specific about sections. “The opener was hard” doesn’t help you next year. “The opener’s trumpet feature was too high for the players we had in October” does. That second sentence is the kind of thing you’ll want to hand your arranger in the spring.
Read the judges’ comments for patterns
Lay all the sheets out together and look for what comes up more than once. One judge mentioning thin trumpets is an opinion. Four judges mentioning it across three contests is a planning note for next year.
Write down only the repeats. The one-off comments were part of that day. The patterns are part of your band.
Look at how the season got built
This is the part most debriefs skip, and it’s often where next year gets won or lost. Ask:
- When did the music arrive, and when did we really need it?
- Did licensing, purchase orders or the drill hold anything up?
- What would we have told our writer in the spring if we’d known then what we know now?
If licensing slowed you down, start that process earlier next year. I wrote a director’s guide to getting every song approved that walks through the timeline. If the music didn’t fit your band as well as you hoped, a good arranger can fix most of that before the first rehearsal, as long as you tell them what you learned. Here’s how I adapt music to a band and how to ask for changes.
Ask your students
Your section leaders and seniors know things you don’t, like which parts they practiced at home and which ones they quietly gave up on. You don’t need a long survey. Three questions are enough:
- Which part of the show did you practice the most on your own?
- Which part never felt secure, even at the last performance?
- What would you change about how we learned the show?
A short conversation with your section leaders works too. Either way, ask before the seniors graduate and the answers leave with them.
Turn it into a keep and change list
End the hour with two columns: what you’ll keep doing next year and what you’ll change. Keep it short and concrete. “Get music by May 1” is a change you can act on. “Be more organized” isn’t.
That list becomes the starting point for next season’s planning: your roster, your show concept, your budget and your conversation with your arranger. Save it somewhere you’ll find it in February.
Get the free debrief worksheet
I turned this whole process into a fillable worksheet: the show movement by movement, the judges’ patterns, how the season got built, and your keep and change list, all on a few pages you can fill in on screen or print for your staff. It’s the first chapter of my planning workbook for directors, and it’s free.
Download the free debrief worksheet
What’s next
Once your debrief is done, the next step is looking ahead at the band you’ll actually have next fall: who’s graduating, who’s moving up, and what each section can play well by October. That’s where next season’s show starts. If you’d like help with that part, let’s talk, or listen through my library and save the pieces that fit your band.
Plan a show that fits the band you’ll actually have in October.
A 54-page fillable workbook for band directors, from the season debrief to a plan you can hand to any arranger. Start with the free sample.
Frequently asked questions
How long should a marching band season debrief take?
About an hour with your staff, plus a few minutes to collect answers from your students. If it runs much longer, you’re probably solving next year’s problems instead of naming them. Write them down and solve them in the spring.
Should students be part of the debrief?
Yes, but separately. A short survey or a conversation with your section leaders gets you honest answers without putting students in a staff meeting. Ask before your seniors graduate.
What should I do with the results?
Turn them into a short keep and change list and bring it to every planning conversation for next season, especially the first one with your arranger. The more specific you are about what didn’t fit your band, the better next year’s music will fit.
About the author
Evan VanDoren spent nine years as a band director at Cedar Park High School in Texas, where the band won three UIL State Marching Championships. He is the brass composer and arranger for the Santa Clara Vanguard and writes marching band music for programs across the country.
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