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1st position - when your heels touch and your feet are in turnout

2nd position - when your feet are shoulder-width apart and in turnout

3rd quarter - the quarter after half-time where the band and guard usually get to congregate underneath the stands to eat, talk, and in the guard's case, undress; sometimes this "privilege" is taken away as punishment for something the band did wrong

adjudicator - a judge at a competition

adjudication tapes - the tape that a judge records his or her comments on at competition

age-out - a person who is too old to compete in winterguard anymore; the age limit is 22, so anyone older than that would be an "age-out"

age-out year - the last year that someone is eligible to compete in winterguard; for anyone who is 22 during the winterguard season, this is their age-out year

air flag - when you do your work without equipment, and just move your hands and body around and pretend to have equipment; a director may have you air-flag on purpose to get footwork or body movement understood; however, a guard member may have to air-flag unexpectedly if they get to a set and realize that they don't have a flag!

astroturf (or just "turf") - the fake grass stuff that covers some football fields; nice because it doesn't get muddy, but it can be deadly in jazz shoes (especially when it is wet... very dangerous!)

attention - standing absolutely still; can be used as a form of punishment by the band directors, or as a form of entertainment by the drum majors; a time when you must talk in whispers so that no captains or section leaders can hear you

augmented - when the number of counts it takes to do work is increased; augmented drop spins would take 4 counts for a full rotation, instead of 2

auxiliary - an extension of the band; sometimes used to refer to the colorguard or drumline

ball (of your foot) - on the bottom of your foot, it's the kind of pad thing below your toes; will often be sore after practice!

band camp - the several days of band practice held during the summer months; where the freshman get their first taste of marching and mean band directors

band director - the disorganized, dictator-like person or people in charge of the band; not to be confused with the guard director, who actually has a heart (buried, but it's there); this person thinks that band members should be tortured and forced to suffer, often forgets important dates until the morning of, and always forgets the guard and then acts like it's our fault

band geek- the little nerds who have no life outside of band; they show up early to practice, literally live in the band hall, and actually like to wear their uniform

band hall - the band geeks' meeting place before school, after school, during lunch, and between classes; often reeks of sunscreen, sweat, and spit; usually the guard's back-up practice area

barrel - from the neck of a rifle to the tip

basics - the first things you will learn to do with a piece of equipment; for flags, these include drop spins, windmills, butterflies, carves, and flashes

battery - the drumline

body roll - any move where you release the flag and it rolls around some part of your body (down your back, around your neck, etc.)

bolt - on a flag, literally the metal bolts in the top and bottom of the pole; on a rifle, the silver shiny part

bus - where you will spend your entire 4 years of high school while involved in band or guard; can be highly entertaining or highly annoying (especially when guard has to share with percussion and we get in trouble when they start acting stupid)

bus driver - those people who can make or break a trip for the band and guard; either they're really nice, or they're just dumb - like when they won't let the guard put on makeup (we've done this before!) or they freak out because you're not sitting up or something

butt - the wide, bottom end of a rifle

cadence - a short piece of music that is used as a filler during parades; often only the drumline plays

captain - the guard member that is in charge of making the guard work; will fill in for the director when they are absent; does the most work, and in turn is blamed for everything that goes wrong

car wash - when none of the flags are together; when you look at it, it resembles the spinning things in a car wash

carves - basic flag technique where you make a kind of figure 8 with the flag; first you circle up, then you circle down; other names include "horizontal stirs", "figure 8s", "coffee stirrers", and "hooptie do's"

chaîné turn (pronounced SHEH-NAY) - while you turn, your feet stay touching and in releve'; a very small, tight turn

chasse' (pronounced SHAW-SAY) - a three step move; first you hop with one foot, then you use the other foot to kick the first foot out of the way, and last, you step again with the first foot 

cheat tape - the tape in between the bottom stopper and the silk; used to "cheat" so you know where your hands go

chunk it - when you do a toss, but don't do it right and just "chunk" your equipment in the air

circuit - all the competing winterguards in one area; as in the "Texas Color Guard Circuit", whose members are winterguards from all over Texas

color guard - the group of gifted young people who distract the audience's attention from the band; makes the band seem better with their amazing visual performance; commended when they "accidentally" hit a band member

competition - a gathering of many groups of band geeks to prove that one is better than the other

consecutives - basic rifle technique that can be done with the left or right hand; it is where the rifle spins exactly one time and you catch it in the same place; generally you do several in row, "consecutively"

cop-a-squat - sit down

cradle - to have your equipment sitting in the crease of one elbow with that hand underneath and the other hand on top

director - for poor schools (or for rich schools that are cheap or have a band program with no money), the director is usually the same as the instructor; however, in some cases, the director doesn't ever actually teach the guard - instead they just oversee the program, maybe make major $$$ decisions, etc; in general, it's just a name to make someone feel special (NOTE: a guard director is not to be confused with BAND DIRECTOR... they are two very different things!)

double time - when you do drop spins in half the counts that you usually do; like down and up in 2 counts instead of 4

drama (prounounced with an a like "yam"... DRAM-UH) - what a guard should create during their performance; after all, we are performing groups, so it's up to us to be dramatic and expressive

drama (alternate definition) - what guards are notorious for having; one or more guard members are always having some problem that is blown way out of proportion; although these problems should not be brought up during practice, they ALWAYS are!

drill - the foot work of a show; the spots that you move to and the paths that you take to get there; work and no drill would mean that you do the equipment work standing still, while no work and just drill would mean you don't do the equipment work and just move around to your different spots on the field

drill down - when you perform your show and anyone who messes up drops out to the sidelines; the last person left standing is the best marcher

drop spins - basic flag technique where you spin the flag; used to help people spin together

drum corps - a marching band that does not have woodwinds; it only has brass, drumline, and colorguard

drum majors - the student leaders of the band that stand on the platforms and direct during the half-time show; HAVE ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO WITH DRUMS (common misconception)

drumline - people who play those loud, obnoxious instruments that have the power and ability to throw the whole band off (happens often!); guard often gets lumped in with them as "auxiliaries" of the band

ego - the fuel supply for the trumpets; never ending supply

euphonium - marching baritone

exhibition guard - a guard that performs (even at competitions, sometimes), but does not compete; basically they do it just to get themselves "out there" and have fun; lots of college guards are exhibition guards

fake it - pretend like you know what you're doing when you really don't

fish - freshman

flag feature - the main flag part of a show; usually all performing members will have flags and no other equipment

flag stealing - when you have brought your flag a performance, but someone else didn't, and when you get out on the field or floor, they steal your flag without you knowing and you have to air-flag

flashes - basic flag technique where you pull the flag around exactly one time, but you let go while it's going around; can be caught vertically, horizontally, or at an angle

flex - when you pull your foot towards you so that it almost makes a 90 degree angle with your leg; this is the opposite of "point"

floor - the large, heavy tarp that the winterguard performs on

floor crew - the people who go with the winterguard to pull out the floor and carry props and equipment

flutter - when you run or walk as fast as you can on the field without being in step; must remember to make it pretty (i.e. pointed toes)

football team - usually the reason why the band cannot practice on the field

free hand - during one-handed work, this is the hand that is not doing anything; during a rifle toss, this is the hand that lets go first (usually your right hand); in any kind of 2 hand toss (rifle or flag), this hand controls rotation

fundamentals - the same thing as basics; things like drop spins and windmills that are stuff that you have to know before you can learn more advanced flag work

ghetto - something that is cheaply done or fixed; like using duct tape to keep your props together

guard room - the dumping ground for all guard equipment, including extra silks, last year's flags, the winterguard floor tarp, and for anything that the band director doesn't have a place for in the band hall; as a result, it is often messy and full of crap that hasn't been used in years

half time - when do drop spins in double the counts that you usually do; like down and up in 4 counts instead of 2

hash marks - the short lines perpendicular to the yard lines on a football field; there are front hashes and back hashes

hilt - the handle of a sabre

instructor - the person or people who teach the guard their show work; tend to have another job on the side, are always poor, and a lot of the time they are taking college classes; they are usually stressed out, always insane, very demanding and sometimes can be insulting, but they only do it because they love the guard (and because they're afraid of getting shown up by their other instructor buddies); if they haven't aged out, then they might be on an independent guard

jazz hands - instead of having your fingers together, they are spread apart

jazz running - the correct way to go long distances on the football field; it involves pointing your toes and ankles, while in plie', and generally makes you feel very stupid looking

jazz shoes - colorguard footwear that fits very close on your foot, sort of like a "booty" thing; it is made out of flexible leather and has very small foam pads on the heels and balls of your feet; they have a stretchy elastic part so that they just slip on your feet

judge - the person or people who watch your performance, score it, and rank you against the other guards at competition

judges' tapes - same as "adjudication tapes"; they are the tapes that the judges record their comments on

laps - famous punishment for any infraction; generally it means running in a circle around something... the field, gym, track, band hall, etc; gives section leaders and officers great pleasure to see their sections doing them

left flat - the hand position on a rifle where your right hand is on top at the butt and your left hand is underneath next to the swivel

line (as in "flag line", "weapons line", etc.) - a way to refer to the specific group of people who are spinning that piece of equipment; (for example, all the people spinning flag make up the "flag line"); you can be on more than one "line"

lyrical sandals - dance and colorguard footwear that is a sort of half-shoe thing; it has a sole thing for the ball of your foot, but your heel is exposed; a few straps connect the sole to your ankle; designed to give the appearance of being barefoot

mark time - when you stand still and just bend your knees back and forth to keep up with the counts of the music; as if you were walking in place

mark your sets - when you use chalk or some other kind of marker to put out on the practice field so that you know where your spots are in the drill

mello - nickname for a "mellophone", which is a marching French horn

metronome - a little machine-thing (smaller than a hand-held calculator) that keeps a beat; you can set the beats per minute and it will beep on every beat; used by the drum major to keep the band marching in time

military marching - "old school" marching where the band drags their toes and then places their heels with no rolling involved; the band usually stays in some kind of a block and does different formations; often this is used as a novelty half-time show once in the football season; very boring for the guard, because all we get to do is stay at right shoulder

money hand - when your hand is palm up, usually with your flag inbetween your thumb and pointer finger; it's like, "Gimme the money!"

moocher - a person who never seems to have their stuff and always asks to borrow yours; (i.e. they always ask for water, tape, your rifle, etc.)

movement - one section of the band's music

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