Clifton Review

[Kyle B]

Hi everyone, sorry for the late review. I wanted to get this done by Monday, but I just got too busy and I still have a lot more summer work to do for my job.

First off, this is always my favorite show site of the year. I remember performing here twice during high school for the North Jersey Marching Band Festival and it will always be a very special place to me. Hearing the entire stands go crazy for my marching band, especially since Clifton and Bergenfield always had a rivalry with the marching bands, it was nice to get a good response on their turf. I wasn’t too happy with the move of this show site for 3 years over to Wayne and was glad that I could march on it at least 1 more time last year.

I was sitting on the 46 yard line, side 1 about halfway up the stadium. This time I brought a pen and a notepad to jot some notes down, and while I did end up getting about a page worth of notes per corps, I also think I missed a lot while writing. Not sure yet if I will take a notepad to the next show I go to.

For the corps that I haven’t seen yet, or that looked bigger than last time, I will include the numbers. Others like Cabs and Bucs, they are about the same size, so I figure why waste the ink. The field looked very beat up as it is a grass field. I really don’t understand why DCA allows corps to rehearse on the field during the rain when it is a grass field.

Sunrisers

24 Brass/16 Drums/17 Guard/8-9 Pit

I’m very glad to say that the Sunrisers are back in town. Right off the bat, they have to get rid of the very loud DUTTING before a single note is played. This does come up quite a few times in their show, and I’m while necessary on the field, we the audience heard it loud and clear. The hornline starts right away with a really nice blend and balance, and their mellos have a great horn book to play and boy do they play! Some visual things I notice is that while the feet technique is OK for medium-large size steps, they stomp around the field while taking smaller steps. The guard is integrated well and has some really nice moments in the corps big hit with multi-colored flags spread throughout the field getting lighter as you follow the line of guard. I think the solo painter should have more of a visual command of the field during the first 2 songs, maybe adding some color guard near here, or moving the rest of the corps away from her as it did appear a little cluttered.

In the 3rd song, the low brass have a very lush sound in their ballad, and with the slower tempos, their was a tear between pit and brass. Horn facing issues weren’t good with some members with a flat bell to the audience and others directed to the box. Later on in the 3rd piece, energy started to wane and the lack of focus made a horn entrance almost make you forget how good they played up to this point. They started losing their blend with their fatigue of the show, and again, with small step sizes, their feet really suffered and was a visual distraction, which is a shame because I really enjoyed their flagline. More loud DUTS continue throughout the show.

They do ask some very hard things from their members like being spread throughout the field and having separate entrances spread throughout the hornline and they did a very nice job of that. I do have to say that throughout their show, I was very disappointed in their weapon line. Too many drops from various members, and need to step up and be just as good as they are on flag. At the end of one of their songs, the hornline does a very nice job getting louder in separate chords to the release of the final note, however at this point, their was a mellophone who really started trying to save the day and was sticking out majorly from the rest of the line. Then it is followed by only hearing about 1 trumpet playing. 45 seconds from the end of their show, it took too long to get a nice blend from the brass as fatigue really set in. Most trumpets are now not playing.

With these issues at the end aside, I enjoyed their show, as well as their programming. Their drumline appears to be the anchor holding them together, and while the energy did drop from the horns, they are definitely capable of putting out a nice blend, they just need to really work on pushing through fatigue so that people stop playing, or play really loud for 4 beats, breathe and come back in at full volume. Their low brass definitely is the strongest section of the brassline.

Up next…Fusion

[Kyle B]

Fusion Corps was up next. This is my second read on them as I missed them at Bridgeport and look to be about the same size from when I saw them at Wildwood.

To start the show, the drumline wasn’t together. The hornline comes in very strong with “When a Men Loves a Woman” and performs spectacularly. The guard is noticeably not together. When they start moving again, there is bad phasing in the feet. I do notice that the trumpets become very timid while playing soft and almost get a tinny sound. Small soapbox, but I think it was a little distracting having 2 guard not in a uniform, but I do understand that if they know the show, why not put them out there.

They have a really great brass feature in their show, and in my notes I wrote down in all caps “SOPRANOS,” and yes, I know they play on trumpets but WOW! They then started losing their marching technique and during the large step sizes, body carriage and foot technique started to suffer.

At this point, I will say that although I enjoy their show musically, programming I do not. I know they added more to get their program understood like having the name of the show on the podium, having 2 younger people dressed in white at the end, but I still don’t like the cheesiness factor of the 2 older folks dying on the field, with most of the time being spent trying to undo the balloons tied to the bench. Many of the audience members were laughing at it rather then commenting on how well it works in the show. The brass playing during this is great, but I just think it takes away from the show itself. There was a bit of a prop snafu with the heaven gates display being backwards with the black side to the audience, but the 2 prop people had a nice recovery with turning it around and almost concealing the older folks.

Also, at times in their show, they also seem to be affected by having their horns face different directions. When the hornline starts dancing/visuals, their moves aren’t together and come off looking very lazy.

During the really smoking drum feature, I think a lot of visuals can be added to the hornline. Although they move, I think more can be done from them. Coming up to the end of the show, the hornline still has some really nice blend and balance moments while playing loud, and this is one of the great characteristics of Fusion’s hornline this year, although I did hear a tuba stick out very noticeably close to the end. With the ending drill, the hornline’s visual package suffered greatly and looked very frantic while moving fast and with more demand.

The last time I saw them, their guard knew maybe 40 counts of work, and while they know a lot more, they are definitely behind the other corps, and even still didn’t know almost an entire song. The guard will be their Achilles heel since even a month into the season they are still playing catchup and trying to write work to fit into the show and not even in the cleaning phase.

I have to go into work for a bit, I hope to get the next few corps up either there or when I come back home.

Edited July 18, 2013 by Kyle B

[Jeff Ream]

good stuff so far!

[Kyle B]

Next on the field were the Buccaneers

The Buccaneers had what appeared to be an off night tonight. Although I wouldn’t classify it as a bad show by any means, it just wasn’t as good as it could have been. That being said, from the very first visual moment of the show, I knew they were going to win. With the cascading rifle tosses, not one person missed and it commanded your attention. I know they color guard did not win guard this night, but WOW they were good! Several times they grabbed my attention, and I’m not a person who normally looks at the guard in the first place. I even wrote in my notes that I have no clue where to look, the guard is so awesome!

One of the first notes of the show, the low brass has this very soft but lush blend that just constantly is moving and building to this big hit as only the Bucs can do (Bias hat on, I know.) As I said about 2 weeks ago, I love the mello licks in the first major impact of the show and I’ve grown to wait in anticipation for it. Afterwards, there is a series of pyramid entrances from the hornline and they were timid. There was a musical tear in the first number, or at least it appeared from where I was sitting. A comment that I heard from a nearby audience member is that at the end of the first song, it just looks like they won by their body carriage, which is saying something because their first song is the hardest in their book drill wise. I do think that later on, this caused them to be fatigued, not to the point of it being bad, but it was noticeable.

They have a section of a lot of decresenco/crescendo dynamics and they did a very nice job and each was balanced in it’s effect, although right after, the brass did have entrances that were not together.

In the second song, they have a trumpet lick where half the line plays something while the other drop their trumpets, and then they switch and only slightly did it sound like they were trading off, but that’s if you were really focusing in and scrutinizing the details. The next big hit they had, they had 4 separate dynamic increases and each one everyone was well within the prescribed limits of what Paul and the rest of the brass staff have told them.

The 208 BPM wasn’t frantic for some members in the feet, but for others they have to catch up and make it look smooth. After the drum feature, the guard has this great entrance with their flags and for a moment, the field is awash with green.

If I recall correctly, I liked having the hornline/guard picking up their members while they ran in slow-mo, although one of the groups didn’t have luck on their side and the person dropped down before being picked back up again. During the moment where the hornline is accompanying the guard with the ladders, the closing of the ladders, while abrupt drew your attention there and even the sound of them closing was almost together. I really love the drum parts in the ballad, not too over powering, blended in really nicely with the horn book. I think the big hit at the end could use about 20% more, however the blend is still there.

Afterwards, another great cascading effect with the rifle line that grabbed my attention. When it came time for the mellos to get on the ladders and play the Bacchanal melody, it was noticeably off, especially being 6 feet taller and on ladders. When the rest of the hornline comes in back off in the corner, I wrote in my notes #### tubas!!!! The sound just knocked me down, and while some would say it was too much, the hardcore brass person would say they rose to the occasion and punched the first few rows of audience members in the gut with their sound.

By the end of their show, fatigue was getting noticeable, but stuck in there and had a strong ending. When they all gathered at the front sideline and were destroying (in a good way) the last note, I didn’t hear any stickouts, even from the 12 or so people who were on top of the ladders.

I expected them to win, but I knew they wouldn’t be as far away from the Cabs as they would like, however I do think with a solid show, they will open up spread. My only concern is that this is a very high demanding show and that if they don’t clean it up, they may have left room for someone to come in. However, I haven’t seen anyone yet who can.

After this…the Hurcs

Edited July 18, 2013 by Kyle B

[Kyle B]

Next up were the Hurricanes.

24 Horns/11 Guard/19 Drums forgot to count pit.

Before I start, I have to say the Hurricanes get my award for the most improved since Bridgeport! Following the defending World Champion, especially when having a smaller corps than they want, they impressed me with the amount of work they have put in.

Although they have 24 horns, 2 of them didn’t march most of the show, which I found a little odd, because it seems they stepped in at the same moment 2 weeks ago, so I just found myself thinking that they really need to work more to get these 2 people knowing their spots.

They start the show spread pretty far throughout the field. Think last years Bucs opening. As an ensemble, it wasn’t together. Each group had their own version of tempo. I also think that they are listening to each other too much rather than depending on their talented drum major. For the upper brass, I can only hear 1 mello and 1 trumpet player, and throughout the show, I hate to be too critical, but the mellophone player became way to distracting. This person absolutely must play softer. I counted in my notes 6 times I mentioned that it has to be fixed.

Drill wise, with the holes it is hard to tell the shapes and forms sometimes, which isn’t their fault but they started off marching with great technique and doing their best to keep the holes from closing.

In the loud moments of the show, because of the size of the hornline and not having enough people to cover your part while you breathe, breathing is very noticeable and the re-entrance comes back in at full dynamics rather than sneaking in. As a group, the blend and balance has improved, but the upper brass still have to work together to create the blend that the low brass have.

I’ll take a moment and say that the colorguard has come a long way and at various points of the show, I was watching them and they were doing a really fine job!

They have a very strong drumline feature, and as I said in Bridgeport, the drumline is the strongest section in the corps.

In the ballad, when playing soft, the trumpet section sounds very afraid playing soft and has a very tinny sound. The low brass have a great blend, but they seem to taper off the end of their phrases making it sound incorrect. I’m not sure if it’s by design, but I think if it is, more dynamic contrast will make it appear that that is the effect in which they are trying to achieve.

The tubas sounded really great in their “Mag 7 Lite” feature, however, prior to that, I heard a few wrong notes from them. I loved the jam session, I just wish there was more of a low brass sound, because they are capable of sounding really well! Throughout the show, the drumline simply overpowers the hornline, and I believe that they even had more in the line this week than 2 weeks ago.

After the jam session, in the fast tempo sections, I lost definition of the feet technique from the hornline, and after a hold section, there were some early and late step-offs. Things like this are a very easy fix and can go along way in improving score.

Towards the end, they got very winded and lost gas. Players who are playing loud are doing so, but only play for about 2 beats before breathing, so working on stamina is something that will greatly help the corps. At the end of the show, the drumline’s volume has to be cut in half because the brass are working as hard as possible, but the drumline practically covered them up completely.

Next up….The Cadets (2)

Edited July 18, 2013 by Kyle B

[Kyle B]

On the field, from 5 different places in PA and NJ, the Cadets (2)

I’ll be up front with my thoughts about the Cadets. I hated the idea of having another Cadets corps last year. I thought that it would take away numbers from area corps and I didn’t want to see any corps fold. This at the present time, seems to have been unfounded since Fusion is doing well, Cabs have good numbers, Bush is growing, Sunrisers are back and Bucs haven’t lost a step. While I wasn’t a fan of last years show, I love every part of their show this year. They do a lot of the little things really well, and the big things they do are great!

Starting off the show, the hornline is in 2 or 3 circles facing inward and they expand the circle while holding their horns to the side so not only does the form expand, it looks like they themselves get bigger and it’s a very nice effect. When the brass comes in….WOW. They pummel you with sound, and the sound they are doing it with is just fantastic! The guard adds a huge visual impact with the music and it’s one of the best moments in DCA this year.

They still have about 7-8 holes and at times it is noticeable. They seem to have written for 8 tubas, and they have 4..so if I say I want more low brass, this is a contributing factor.

They have much better feet timing than 2 weeks ago at the beginning of the show, and they have a very strong sense of upper body. I’m sure they would be very proud to hear this, but they carry them selves like Cadets.

The first trumpet solo was a little too soft and during “Work Song” the trumpets sound to tinny. I think this is more of a comfortable factor.

During the extended loud hornline hit, they have a great solid sound with barely any dips in the sound, however needs more low brass to provide a better foundation.

In the ballad, they have some iffy tempo changes in the feet which translated into the music. In the big hit, you find yourself longing and hoping that they get those 4 people in a spot because it’s another great moment. Here is where 1 tuba player started to play the superhero role and at various points in the show later on, does stick out.

Afterwards, a bad step off leading into some fast tempo changes gave the impression that they are starting to get tired, as well as sounding frantic at the fast tempos.

One thing that I think drives every horn player and instructor is having sloppy horn moves and even when executing a slower horn up as the Cadets do, some of them move at different speeds and other and it doesn’t look as sharp.

At the trumpet solo, you can start hearing some stick outs in the low brass and the mellos when they come in are afraid of their entrances and aren’t together.

For Bring Him Home, I wish I heard more baritones and while in the ballad they had great feet, hear during the slow tempos feet timing starts fluctuation and fatigue has now set in from not performing the full show as much as their competitors. While they lost some of their gas, they kept on trying with a lot and closed out the show really well, complete with a Z pull at the end that will have Cadets fans going crazy. It hurt a little that the 4 tuba holes were just on the right side the vertical rotation line, but still a fantastic show overall! I definitely think that this show has a lot of potential, and I think that they can have a 3rd of 2nd place finish in them. Along with Reading, they have the best programmed show from what I’ve seen!

When I get home, I will try to finish up with the Cabs.

Edited July 18, 2013 by Kyle B

[LegalEagle50]

Next up….The Cadets (2)

Looking forward to this part of the review the most and very sorry that I missed seeing the finished version (from what I was told) of the show.

[BigW]

I'm time pressed as well, Kyle. Understandable.

I think I know why Sun dutted like crazy this week, hopefully they'll get it out of their system. At Bucknell, sometimes they got uneasy with pulse.

From experience, the threat of intense doses of Dr. Beat usually cures people.

[Jeff Ream]

great review kyle

[Kyle B]

Finally was the host corps, the Caballeros.

The corps has a good vehicle that makes them be a top of the line corps this year. They have a really nice sound to them, and aren’t too top heavy. They have a very exposed accelerando and they are locked into the drumline. I’m not a fan of the half high leg lifts. It just looks lazy and sloppy with too many variations. I think if you are going to do that, which they do 2 times in the show, they need to go all the way.

In the second song, they had some mello issues staying together. Feet are starting to suffer in regards to phasing, but I will say that they carry themselves better than previously. I know it will never be changed, but having the altered kick-pleats that always stay open rather than what the alumni have, makes the situation worse.

The guard is a top notch guard this year, and I know they won guard this show, somehow I just wasn’t as captivated as I was in Wildwood. They had a really nice moment with the purple flags while the brass are playing quite well.

In the ballad, the hornline had some issues with phasing in the feet during the slow tempo. Mellos sound weak and timid when the trumpets are playing with them and detracts from when you are thinking back to how good overall the corps is. In the ballad, either fatigue was setting in, or maybe they just got way to comfortable but they started losing that great body carriage they started with.

I’ll get hate mail for this next comment, but having the DM go absolutely crazy jumping up and down during the slow ballad was extremely distracting. Not taking away from the abilities, but I don’t want to pay attention to a DM in a show all that much, and if I do, it would be for a good reason.

After the ballad, the comfort factor was still an issue and there was more bad feet and there was a tear within the bass drums. The trumpets have a really nice moment, but there was some pretty loud DUTS directly afterwards.

In Paint it Black, there were a few baritone stickouts, and even before the hit, some stickouts throughout the line. In the big hit, the corps sound prenominal, but the small things continue to hurt the corps with a baritone holding over. Towards the end of the show, the trumpets sound afraid and weak. They put in a new soft ending that fits the show theme, however those around us thought was anti-climatic to what was a strong ending. But again, it fits the show. Not a fan of the type of mute used, sounds very muddled and unclear.

The corps started out well but the fatigue settled in during the ballad and I don’t think they ever got back to the kind of sound they started the show with. This is a much more demanding show than what the Cabs are used to, and I know that it will improve throughout the season and look forward to seeing them again!

Overall, the show was good, but I wouldn’t say all the corps impressed me. The Bucs were flat but still had a lot of technique that impressed me, Hurcs had a great improvement from 2 weeks ago but have a ways to go, I loved the strong Sunrisers corps, Cabs were good to start but didn’t end as well. The only corps that I loved almost every moment was Cadets 2.

Thanks for reading. I’m sorry if sometimes I’m all over the place, but that’s my ADD kicking in during the show as well as writing it down.