Harrold De Raad is the Band Director of the Juliana DBC from Middelburg, the Nederlands.
Since several years he has occasion to frequent the Italy with his group, and also as clinician.
For this reason we proposed to him an interview. He accepted, and for this we are grateful.
Following you can find the 10 questions, and his answers
On behalf of marchingband.it and its passionate readers, thanks to Harrold for his valuable and competent availability.
- The first question, ritual, tell us about yourself (your background, what do you do, your family)?
My name is Harrold de Raad and I work at the Chamber of Commerce as a company advisor.
I am married and have two kids and live in Middelburg, The Netherlands.
- Which is the origin of your passion for the music and especially for the marching bands?
When I was 6, I started to play trumpet with Junior drumcorps Johan Friso (Feeder corps of Juliana) and I started Music School. My whole family was in Johan Friso and Juliana.
When I was 16 I went to Juliana
and marched trumpet from 1997-2007 and 2010.
I was Brass caption head from 2003-2007 and was on Brass staff from 2007to present. Last year I did Music Ensemble and Effect.
- You have marched in DCI, which are the differences between the top americans and the top europeans corps?
Well, the biggest difference, ofcourse, is time. In DCI they rehearse 10 hours a day for 3 months. Also, it is a activity where you go for result and perfection.
In Europe we also try to reach for perfection, but we all have to work the next day. It is a hobby.
- In your opinion which are the most important differences between Netherlands (Dutch) and Italians groups?
I think the main difference is the experience. Marching band and drumcorps is quite new in Italy and in the Netherland they already exist for decades now.
In my opinion there is a real potention for Italian groups to reach the same level as other bands in Europe. You not only have to think about this in a musical or visual way, but also in the way your organization is set up.
Make a plan. What do we really want and where do we want to be in 5 years.
- What do you think about the Italian marching movement?
I think it is great to see such a great development in Italy. In the last five years I came to Italy and worked with several groups and I really see a big change coming. Italian people want to learn, learn and learn. That is great! The Italian marching movement is really growing. The last couple years I have been coming to Italy and met a lot of persons. Every person I met wants the same thing: A great marching activity in Italy.
- What would you recommend to italian groups that recently have started a marching project?
Make a plan. What is our goal? What do we want and how are we going to do this? Do we have enough people on staff? Does the staff wants the same thing. It is very important “to be on the same page” with everyone.
Also: watch, learn and work together! It is easy to go to a clinic and then go back to your group and do this, but is more important that you know, why people or other instructors do certain things. Also, you don’t have to copy other bands or instructors. Try to learn from it and implementate it with your group on their level and keep your own identity.
And now some questions concerning Juliana.
- Which are the main difficulties you have usually to face up during the season?
Time is always a big issue. In comparison with other drumcorps, we do not rehearse a lot. So every hour we have, we try to use it as effective as possible. At the end we always want to change some things, but there is not always time.
- … and how usually to solve them?
Make a good plan before you start. On which rehearsal do we want to fix certain things. What is the goal of today and why do we work on things. A good preparation of your season and/or rehearsals is very important!
- Would you tell us what "happened" between preliminary and final at DCE 2013?
Haha ..... well. In prelims we came in 5th and on finals we came in 3rd.
The show in the night was much better, much more energy en crowd interaction. Therefore we really scored good on Visual and Music effect. The diiference between Juliana and for example Kidsgrove Scouts and Black Knight (n.d.r. in terms of points) we’re very small so everything could happen. This time we came in third, but it could be the other side around next year, we'll see.
- Finally a bit of gossip: for the readers of marchingband.it could you say in advance, something about Juliana programs for next years?
For now, I can not tell you the theme yet, but it will be announced shortly.
We have a great group for 2014 and the music will be very cool. There will be some very well known tunes in the show, that’s really all I can say for now ;-)
Ok Harrold, thank you very much for your kind availability.
Have a great 2014 marching season!
Bye
You are very welcome. I hope to be in Italy very soon again!
