Cadets Announce 2008 Program
The Cadets have released details to their 2008 program that will take fans on an amazing, beautiful and powerful journey into the pursuit of happiness.
In separate presentations last weekend to members, donor and friends, Cadets Director and Program Coordinator George Hopkins and Eric Kitchenman, Staff Coordinator and Assistant Program Coordinator, presented a working title, concept and music selections for the corps’ newest and innovative endeavor on the field.
“In Pursuit of Happiness” will use the music of Frank Ticheli as an 11-minute examination of movement, music and the “secret to life.”
Picking up where the 2007 "This I Believe" program left off, the theme of the show will be the examination of life from adolescence to the late years one has on earth. Adolescence, courtship and marriage, life at work, and the later years – all provide a framework for a personal examination in the quest to discover happiness.
Hopkins presented the concept to the corps members on Saturday, Dec. 8th during the Cadets Audition Camp held at Penns Grove High School in Carneys Point, N.J. More than 60 returning Cadets joined another 170 auditionees during the weekend camp.
Kitchenman gave supporters and friends a glimpse into the concept on Sunday, Dec. 9th during a Private Reception held for donors and staff prior to the 2007 Cadets Banquet held in Philadelphia, Pa.
The show will open to the mysterious strains of AN AMERICAN ELEGY. The brass is featured, the guard is in dance movement mode, and the battery waits in anticipation as the early effects are based on the grand sound of the brass section, and the movement of a 40-person color guard.
NITRO, opening to the bugle calls of the alto section, introduces the percussion section as the arrangement by Cadets Arranger Jay Bocook (adjusted to 172 beats per minute) allows for sectional features, drill effect, and a powerful and effective ending.
Original material by Jay Bocook will bridge the corps’ examination of VESUVIUS, a three-minute adaptation that provides the framework for a lively look at courtship, marriage, and relationship. Many different meters, voicing and treatments will be at the crux of this very unique presentation, according to Hopkins.
Finally, APOLLO UNLEASHED will close the program as the musicians are challenged to the highest degree. Some adaptations are sure to be a part of the package, said Hopkins, but for now, what we can be sure of it’s fast!
“We have a long way to go, but the basics are in place, the first few minutes have been learned, and now, well, now is the time we go to work on creating the unusual, the different and the unique,” Hopkins said.
The Cadets Audition Camp was the first welcoming back returning members and musicians and performers with prior experience. Sixty veterans were a part of the nearly 250 musicians and performers that attended the camp. The corps learned nearly three-minutes of the opening arrangement, AN AMERICAN ELEGY and NITRO, with both the hornline and percussion section piecing the arrangement together during ensemble rehearsal on Saturday night.
The Audition Camp followed the Cadets Experience Camp held one week prior when another 150 high school and college musicians and performers came out to see if the Nine-Time World Champion Cadets was the corps for them.
The Cadets will return to Penns Grove High School on Jan. 4-6, the first of two January camps in 2008. Auditions are continuing for all sections, including the recently announced online and video submissions being accepted from Dec. 11 until 11:59 p.m. on Dec. 27.
For more information on the Cadets camps and auditions, go to www.yea.org/cadets
