ironlips Posted August 20, 2014 Share Posted August 20, 2014 How a kid learns to become a drum corps soloist, c. 1960s: 1. Get all of Harry Hazelwood's* recordings 2. Spend hours a day trying to sound like that, even though you will fail. *substitute Martin, Hightower, D'Amico, Angelica, Swan, Petersen, Sasso (both), Simpson...etc., and repeat the process endlessly. You will still fail, but you will be moving inexorably in the right direction. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rayfallon Posted August 20, 2014 Share Posted August 20, 2014 How a kid learns to become a drum corps soloist, c. 1960s: 1. Get all of Harry Hazelwood's* recordings 2. Spend hours a day trying to sound like that, even though you will fail. *substitute Martin, Hightower, D'Amico, Angelica, Swan, Petersen, Sasso (both), Simpson...etc., and repeat the process endlessly. You will still fail, but you will be moving inexorably in the right direction. I always thought it was funny that we had so many good players in drum corps when all the kids in band had private lessons. The rest of us sat there playing along with Fleetwood Records. Later on when I was taking trombone lessons, one of the first things my guy told me was "find a sound you like and try to imitate it - your body will do the work to get your air right" Who woulda thought? We coulda had the Fleetwood Academy of Music! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rayfallon Posted August 20, 2014 Share Posted August 20, 2014 Ray, I can't believe that I said, "Get them to play better". I don't remember ever being that astute with my comments.......lol. At least I didn't say, "Get them to play MORE better". Yeah, you wouldn't have - you heard them. "More better" was beyond our grasp. We had one truly amazing player, John "Cookie" Kamerdin, who left to do the "American In Paris" solo with Sun in 1967 (?68?) Then a bunch of hackers like me. My younger brother was a strong bari, but he blossomed after I went in the USAF. Most of the kids (including him) joined the Brassmen in 1971 or so, while I was overseas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry H Posted August 20, 2014 Share Posted August 20, 2014 Frank, thanks for the compliment. I can still remember when I, at the age of 10 or 11, I listened to the most noteable trumpet player of that time, Harry James. I tried my best to emulate his style of playing, plus I liked his first name.....lol. In my later years, my idols were Rafael Mendez, Doc Severinsen and Maynard Ferguson. Needless to say, I never reached the talent level of any of these wonderful players, but I certainly set my goals high. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gsksun4 Posted August 20, 2014 Share Posted August 20, 2014 (edited) We had one truly amazing player, John "Cookie" Kamerdin, who left to do the "American In Paris" solo with Sun in 1967 (?68?) Cookie was in my 3 man squad, both 67 and 68 and he was just that, amazing. We were two leads and both years had a 1st. sop sandwiched in between us. Cookie made us both better players. Am. In Paris was 68 and he brought sweetness to that solo. Aside from me, we had a pretty talented 12 man lead line then and I believe there was only one other that could have put that kind of stamp on that solo and I think most here know who that is. John Sasso made a good choice on that one. Edited August 20, 2014 by gsksun4 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rayfallon Posted August 21, 2014 Share Posted August 21, 2014 Cookie was in my 3 man squad, both 67 and 68 and he was just that, amazing. We were two leads and both years had a 1st. sop sandwiched in between us. Cookie made us both better players. Am. In Paris was 68 and he brought sweetness to that solo. Aside from me, we had a pretty talented 12 man lead line then and I believe there was only one other that could have put that kind of stamp on that solo and I think most here know who that is. John Sasso made a good choice on that one. It WAS an interesting choice by John, as that solo had Frank's name written all over it, but certainly Cookie more than did it justice. Long Island had some really really good players, and Sun got many of them, as did Sky. I love the activity now, and the kids are just off the charts talent and achievement wise, but how many of these kids learned to play on a 1958 straight slip slide G-D Baritone (or soprano) by listening to their favorite players and trying to sound like them? In the immortal words of Stephen Sondheim, "###### Few" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rayfallon Posted August 21, 2014 Share Posted August 21, 2014 Seriously? You can't say "######" on here without it becoming ###### ? Geez guys... take a deep breath. This isn't the Children's Television Workshop for Crap sakes! Can I say Crap? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fran Haring Posted August 21, 2014 Share Posted August 21, 2014 Man... first Gene Bennett, now Mike Corso. What the heck is going on this summer? Too many gone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gsksun4 Posted August 21, 2014 Share Posted August 21, 2014 On a lighter note, Happy Birthday to Tony White! Tony hasn't been around here lately. Hope he's doing well. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donincardona Posted August 21, 2014 Share Posted August 21, 2014 On a lighter note, Happy Birthday to Tony White! Tony hasn't been around here lately. Hope he's doing well. he's fine. he's all over FB. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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