[Triple Forte]

GeneralTsoChicken, on 02 May 2012 - 02:27 PM, said:

Spirit is very young this year. Quite a few kids in the hornline with ZERO background on a brass instrument.

I know they have a good brass staff, but I really wish they would focus on making good, individual sounds, before opening up to a dynamic volume that only allows each player to play one or two counts. When you have a corps that young, you need to stick to the basics, because many of the kids have never been exposed to them before.

I wish them the best, but I don't like many of the things I've seen/heard going on down there. Especially in the mello section.

On a positive note, Bob Smith is spending time with them! If you are a member, expect some HILARIOUS stuff from the box.

Interesting.....because in a vid clip of their first camp (camp update 1) the brass caption head said 'this is the most talent we have seen in last four years'

Guess we will have to wait and see....long way before season starts and looonngg way til dci champ week...


Oh...and yeah..they better, 'BETTER' turn down (turn off would be best) the sound system....ruined and covered up an amazing hornline....terrible....i really wish the staffs of corps with over the top sound systems realized how awful that sounds....

[GeneralTsoChicken]

Triple Forte, on 02 May 2012 - 10:13 PM, said:

Interesting.....because in a vid clip of their first camp (camp update 1) the brass caption head said 'this is the most talent we have seen in last four years'

Guess we will have to wait and see....long way before season starts and looonngg way til dci champ week...

Well, for sure, two of the mello players are sax players that have never really touched a brass instrument before. Six other non-brass players with no brass background that I know of as well. All rookies.

That's 8 rookies with no brass experience, that I know of, so I'd imagine that there may be a few more. If that's the most talent they've had in four years, wowza.

[derbydawg]

GeneralTsoChicken, on 02 May 2012 - 10:27 PM, said:

Well, for sure, two of the mello players are sax players that have never really touched a brass instrument before. Six other non-brass players with no brass background that I know of as well. All rookies.

That's 8 rookies with no brass experience, that I know of, so I'd imagine that there may be a few more. If that's the most talent they've had in four years, wowza.

WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!
This information is NOT true. Who are you and what are your trying to pull here? Unless you are on staff, there is not way would have this information.
Yes, there are some brass players that play woodwind instruments, but they all have extensive brass experience, college band and drum corps, and play extremely well. And, they beat out over 300 brass
players for their spots. Vets are not guaranteed spots at SOA.

Put on your karma cap buddy and hope for the best.

[GeneralTsoChicken]

derbydawg, on 02 May 2012 - 10:36 PM, said:

WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!
This information is NOT true. Who are you and what are your trying to pull here? Unless you are on staff, there is not way would have this information.
Yes, there are some brass players that play woodwind instruments, but they all have extensive brass experience, college band and drum corps, and play extremely well. And, they beat out over 300 brass
players for their spots. Vets are not guaranteed spots at SOA.

Put on your karma cap buddy and hope for the best.

This information is VERY MUCH true. And, if it wasn't bad form, I would list these individuals by name. But I'm not about to fall in that trap. Call me out all you want. Get to know your hornline members, you'll find out I'm right.

[WPendergrass]

My cousin and at least one other player I know of, are new to the brass realm and made the Spirit hornline.

They aren't very experienced, but have been working very hard to be the best they can be in the ensemble.

I wouldn't be surprised if GeneralTso is right, there may actually be 8 woodwinders without much brass background. Drum Corps is a marathon, not a race, and if they are working like my cousin---it should be a nonfactor.

[phan771]

GeneralTsoChicken, on 02 May 2012 - 10:42 PM, said:

This information is VERY MUCH true. And, if it wasn't bad form, I would list these individuals by name. But I'm not about to fall in that trap. Call me out all you want. Get to know your hornline members, you'll find out I'm right.

What is the point of all of this unless you are digging for supposed flaws? They were great last year and I suspect they haven't looked back. I never understand how these types of subjects seem so important to some people. I am sure the brass will be taught well and that if there are wood wind players playing brass instruments, the staff feels the choices for who got spots is right. I do know of at least one good brass player who did not get a spot due to his playing, or so he was told. But as I stated earlier, all of that does not matters unless I am looking for negatives.

Anyhow, Spirit's show seems to fit them perfectly. Based on the composer line up, I am willing to bet (no pun intended) we hear "Luck be a Lady? (Frank Loesser). That will be fun.

Best of Luck Spirit, excited to see the group!

[DrumManTx]

I'm guessing it will be "Luck be a Lady", "Poker Face", and "Harvest". Just a guess though.

[hardlyworking]

GeneralTsoChicken, on 02 May 2012 - 10:42 PM, said:

This information is VERY MUCH true. And, if it wasn't bad form, I would list these individuals by name. But I'm not about to fall in that trap. Call me out all you want. Get to know your hornline members, you'll find out I'm right.

They're still gonna sound good...what's your point? Heaven forbid somebody becomes proficient at more than one instrument.

[SpiritVet]

Butthurt Homer alert incoming:

I've made it a point to meet this hornline, especially the mellophone section. Compared to last year (four ageouts, including me), they are younger (two ageouts), but half the section is vets and several, regardless of drum corps experience, are very talented horn/mello players at the university level. Additionally, this year is the first time in a long time that SoA has had a mellophone instructor that actually has experience playing mellophone (nothing against our excellent trumpet playing techs of the years past). Sectional time has provided me several opportunities to hear individual players as part of instruction, and I can vouch that all have done immense amounts of work across camps to become very strong players. This book has some very exposed mellophone parts (opener alone has a section high C and B natural tritone sustains), and this section is not only confident enough to go for them, but think about little things like intonation and simultaneous releases.

As for woodwind players with no brass experience in the hornline, so what? In my opinion, these are the hardest workers, and from this pool of people, you'll find several unexpected pleasant surprises. Future drum majors, section leaders, or in the post ageout arena, instructors for other drum corps, accomplished performers, or people who just plain love their corps and give back so much. Technically I was one of these, so I'll go ahead and take personal offense. :P

Speaking of Bob Smith, he was in for two separate weeks last year. He certainly was interesting, and I love how well he did attempting to learn some of our names.
(- What's your name?
- Swindle!
- Swinger?
- Sure.
- Okay, Spinner, on this set...)

Anyway, I'm probably way too excited about this corps and show, but I can still probably say for all you drum corps fans out there that Spirit of Atlanta will find some way to engage you. 2012's gonna be a great year for drum corps.

[perc2100]

ibexpercussion, on 02 May 2012 - 10:52 AM, said:

And what happens in a show Spirit is at, stays in the show Spirit was at!

I prefer:

"what happens on the tour bus stays on the tour bus"