[bluecoats88]

I marched in two 6 man lines (87 & 88) and we had 6 in 1982 and 1986 as well.

I also marched in a 6 man line in Bushwackers 1995.

Not really that big a deal, although I did prefer playing in a 5 man line.

Now when the Offensive lions marched an 11 man bass line - that's something to get excited about.

You can never have too many basses in a drum corps.

[bluecoats88]

oops - double post

This post has been edited by bluecoats88: 03 May 2012 - 09:47 AM

[vhsmbdm]

Remember, at one point during the Cavaliers' 1992 show, there were 8 basses. They proceeded to win a drum title and their first championship. So yes, they can pull it off.

[perc2100]

CaDevil, on 03 May 2012 - 08:05 AM, said:

It would seem to be a bit of a blow to the identity of the guy who had been carrying the house. I guess now he is just part of a duplex with the 6th bass guy.

Just had to let you know that I literally laughed out loud reading this

[Michael Boo]

bluecoats88, on 03 May 2012 - 09:44 AM, said:

I marched in two 6 man lines (87 & 88) and we had 6 in 1982 and 1986 as well.

I also marched in a 6 man line in Bushwackers 1995.

Not really that big a deal, although I did prefer playing in a 5 man line.

Now when the Offensive lions marched an 11 man bass line - that's something to get excited about.

You can never have too many basses in a drum corps.

Trivia fact: The same person I mentioned who gave us the 6-man bass drum line in 1976, (before one left the early season with mono), and the same person who did all that wacky stuff with Spirit of Atlanta in 1977, is the same person who did the 11-person bass drum line for Offensive Lions in 1979...Dan Spalding.

[KeithHall]

North Star had 6 or 7 in 1982.

[perc2100]

5thbassman, on 03 May 2012 - 01:40 AM, said:

https://www.facebook...397681130260114

This exercise is written for, and played by 6 basses.

Cadets used 6 last year because of the half and half thing... did it just work so well it's catching on?

Thoughts?

A few things:

1) I think your poll is a little flawed, because my answer would be Yes Cavaliers can pull it off but who gives a frosty donut how many basses they march.

2) marching 6 basses wasn't new when Cadets did it last summer. Madison had six a few times in the 90's, I think and as many have posted other corps have as well. It worked visually for Cadets "ketchup and mustard" thing, but musically it also works well for any good writer.

3) my rookie year of drum corps, we had a ton of members trying out for the bass line that were all accomplished players. The staff didn't want to cut anyone who was either a vet of the corps or who was an extremely talented rookie, so they decided to march 8 basses. The first chart a core group of 5 marched with standard writing, while the other three marched timbales. The first half of the second tune the battery didn't play much, so the timbales went to the front and picked up their bass drums. The 2nd half of the second tune was the percussion feature, where each bass member had a measure or two of solo, then they combined and formed a Voltron-esque super bass line that played a pretty incredible solo. For the back half of the show, the bass line was often split up and played "mirror" type parts (kind of like four basses on one end, then snares and tenors, then the other four basses on the other end). It was pretty cool I thought, though I am biased (I played snare, so I wasn't in the gianormous bass line).
Cavaliers, Crossmen, and others have all had huge bass lines for drum solos in the last few decades, so even six IMO seems kind of like, "different, but not super cool/different." Of course, I'm looking forward to seeing what Cavaliers do with six, and as usual I'm sure they will be well trained accomplished members who play an awesome book.

[BanditKir]

Most corps end up filling one or two of the bass spots with cuts from the snareline. But if you have some monster talent coming out for the bassline early there is no reason not to go for six. It dilutes the individual parts just a tiny bit but adds one more level of musicality to the book.

Spirit pulled off six really well in 2005, in my humble opinion, if you want an example in recent years.

Also, you may see more than one line out there with six this year if you head up to Michigan City, just sayin'...

This post has been edited by BanditKir: 03 May 2012 - 10:34 AM

[MikeN]

ibexpercussion, on 03 May 2012 - 09:00 AM, said:

It is always a fun effect when you put more drums on the field than most people are used to seeing/hearing.

Madison '96 (8 tenors)
Crossmen '95 (10 bass drums in feature at the end)
Madison '98 (All snares and tenors started on snare, if I remember correctly)

Just to name a few.

What he said. It's always neat to see an unconventional lineup. And let's face it (8/9)/(4/5)/5 has been the "conventional" lineup for many, many years. I'm just glad corps got away from the 7/3/5 experiments in the mid to late 90's.

Mike

[boxingfred]

Offensive Lions had something like 20 basses in the late 70's -80's

This post has been edited by boxingfred: 03 May 2012 - 11:48 AM