I&E Results?

[N.E. Brigand]

I meant to sample some of the other I&E performances before the mini corps competition began, but it didn't work out. First I wanted some dinner. Several tasty-looking options in the booths near the convention center, but all meat-only, it seemed, and as I'd had some very heavy greasy pizza for a late lunch at the stadium, I wanted at least one serving of vegetables in my day. There was a Subway just across the bridge, so I ducked in there around 7 p.m. Unfortunately, there was just one person working the store, though he said that management had been warned there would be a crowd last night. (I said he should tell them to plan now for next year.) I was in line for more than a half hour, although some of that time was amiably spent chatting with some members of AtlantaCV, also in line. Moment when I felt very old: they got to discussing the movie Grease, and referred to Olivia Newton-John not by her name but as "the woman who played Sandy". Finally returning to the street where the percussion ensembles were performing, I learned that other groups had run fast and the next one wasn't scheduled until 8 p.m., which was almost twenty more minutes. I ate on the bridge and then wandered into the convention center. Here DCA could do just a little better with some signage, of which there was none. One master schedule printed large and put on an easel by the entrance would be so much more helpful. Several of the rooms downstairs did have little signs with very short descriptions, prepared I suspect by the convention center, but they were all identical, so there was no way to tell whether a given room had low brass, or high brass, or ensembles. In any case, the doors were closed, and not wanting to burst into the middle of someone's performance, I meandered back out onto the street. However, eight o'clock came and went with no percussion ensemble (I see that High Country Brass was scheduled for that slot ... unless they also played early?) so I went back in and up to the hall where the mini corps were scheduled. Those doors were open and a guard/dance ensemble was performing on stage. The schedule lists them as Blast from the Past. They were all in zombie make-up and performing to a recording of Michael Jackson's "Thriller". The audience seemed to be enjoying it very much. I found a seat to watch the final ensemble in the category perform, AtlantaCV's guard, dressed in colorful street clothes to as the performed to a recorded pop song, unknown to me, whose subject seemed to be teen life at the mall.

Edited to fix typo.

Edited August 24, 2016 by N.E. Brigand

[N.E. Brigand]

C.Holland already managed to write up a full review of the Mini Corps competition last night, which is well worth reading. My own thoughts being nowhere so well organized, I'll just post them here.

The competition took place in a very large banquet / exhibition hall, notably wider than deep. A stage, about four-feet high and perhaps 30x20 feet in size, was set up at the center of the long wall opposite the doors from lobby. A great number of seats were set up in the floor, theatre-style. I couldn't say how many. (It was never full, but the crowd was large.) A smaller raised platform of the same height was set up in front of those doors, behind the center section of seats, for the judges (and apparently for corps to video-record their shows, if they chose). Off to the side there was a bar and, I think, also an ice cream vendor. My own seat was great: center section, in fact just a few feet off center, and fourteen rows back, so slightly closer to the judges than to the performers.

The announcer was Fran Haring, who had to repeat many times the number to which fans could text a code to vote for their favorite. As he noted about halfway through the evening, the corps efficiently ran well ahead of schedule. There only small lag occurred before Freelancers, and even they started about fifteen minutes before they were scheduled. There was a longer delay before scores were announced, but nothing so frustrating as the long wait at Prelims in the morning. The announcement of scores was loose, without the drum majors lining up or any other ceremony. Throughout the evening, Fran maintained an engaging tone to occupy the audience during transitions. He also read a little history of each group and provided their show titles and/or repertoire. I managed to write down most of this.

The first mini corps to perform was Erie Thunderbirds (7th place, 77.167), who in my opinion were slightly underscored, perhaps due to going on first. At this point, I hadn't decided to take notes, so I didn't write down how large they were, but there were probably 20 or more members. They had a pit in the back, I believe, including a drum set and marimba, and the members did some limited marching. Their repertoire was announced as "In the Stone", "Hallelujah" and "The Magnificent Seven", but the last number started as a different Western theme, "Hang 'Em High", I think.

Performing second was Rocketeers (6th place, 80.333), a much smaller group, with just 10 horns and a drum set. They had no drum major. They performed "The Jetsons" and "Age of Aquarius". Both numbers were playfully performed. The first included a quotes of "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" and a classical piece whose title I can't recall. One of their tubas (who generally had too much edge in their tone, even when playing relatively softly) offered a dance break. There was also some nice movement by a trumpet, who came forward with two other players apparently to perform a trio which turned out to be a duo as he produced a small flag from nowhere (the audience was delighted!) and danced charmingly back into the arc. There was a fine trumpet solo in there somewhere, but also a bit of muddiness in one late run. They were musically tighter than Thunderbirds but moved less, and at one point, a tubist clearly was not sure which way to go.

Anyone who was at last year's DCA Finals in Annapolis will probably remember finding a flyer tucked under the windshield wipers for the newly-announced Thunder Brigade. They came out this year as a mini corps and played third (9th place, 76.333). Their show, titled "Medieval Kingdom", whose repertoire I didn't recognize but whose mood fit the theme, played less as a mini corps show to me and more as an audition piece, meant to demonstrate to a knowledgeable audience that they have the talent and intelligence to do drum corps right, and just need the members. It was a full show, drill and all, albeit compressed in both time and space. (There were even yard markers at the front of the stage--a 50 and two 40s--but much closer together than they would be in reality.) In my view, they succeeded admirably in their apparent goal, as they got the warmest reception of the first four corps, with an immediate standing ovation from much of the house. They had ten horns, four in the battery, four in the pit, which was set up down front and to the right, and a guard with two members, who were dressed in grey hooded outfits meant to suggest chain mail. One of them wore a crown as well. Their brass certainly had some weaknesses, and the sound overall was meant for a much larger venue, but this was a great beginning.

I think the fourth performer, Cincinnati Tradition (10th place, 71.667) could have learned from Thunder about presenting a show in this kind of space. With a contingent of nineteen horns and six battery (one snare, one tenor, four bass) from their field ensemble, they presented what seemed like excerpts from their field show, entirely in an arc with no marching. I was puzzled as to their motivation. Were they testing the waters for a move to mini corps in the future? Were they looking for a read from another set of judges on their show, albeit with a reduced number of performers, so as to better tweak their performance in Finals? Was this a chance to give some of their members one last performance opportunity for the year if the field corps didn't make Finals? Whatever the thinking, I hope it worked out from their perspective, but for the audience, I think it felt like "Cincinnati Reduced", easily to be skipped in favor of the real thing. When all the performances were done, I was confident they'd place tenth (of eleven), and indeed they did. That said, while the scoring gap from the corps above them felt about right, the gap from the corps below probably should have been greater.

As mentioned earlier, before the next performers appeared, there was a minute of awkward silence as a tombstone was set up on the front of the stage. It didn't remain for the actual performance by the fifth ensemble, which was "Opus 7, presented by the San Francisco Renegades" (3rd place, 95.000). Fran Haring quoted Mark Twain's famous line about prematurely-reported passings. The show, entitled "Legends", featured amazing jazz performances of two tunes by Bill Chase and Maynard Ferguson. Pardon my ignorance; I recognized the songs, particularly the second, but didn't catch the titles. Playing on borrowed instruments (Fran expressed their thanks to a local supplier), the eighteen horns, drum set and bandleader, all in black jackets and sunglasses (except for one of the two main trumpet soloists, who wore a black tee shirt), brought down the house. The show flowed from a brief warm-up exercise into a bit of possibly improvisation by one of the soloists into a full out swinging, grooving musical extravaganza. There was no marching, but there was an unholy amount of stratospheric solos over a tight, tight ensemble. Fantastic.

Well, I'm off to Finals, so I'll pick up with the rest later.

[N.E. Brigand]

The full I&E results are up, by the way.

[Fran Haring]

Those doors were open and a guard/dance ensemble was performing on stage. The schedule lists them as Blast from the Past. They were all in zombie make-up and performing to a recording of Michael Jackson's "Thriller". The audience seemed to be enjoying it very much. I found a seat to watch the final ensemble in the category perform, AtlantaCV's guard, dressed in colorful street clothes to as the performed to a recorded pop song, unknown to me, whose subject seemed to be teen life at the mall.

That group is comprised of members of the Reilly Raiders alumni corps' color guard, ranging in age up to 81 years old. They did a great job Saturday... brought the house down.

And the CV guard ensemble... wow. Fantastic performance, and major kudos to them for their support of the Reilly folks!!!!

[ajlisko]

The full I&E results are up, by the way.

Congrats to all my buddies in Sky Alumni's Drum Ensemble for taking home 1st ...

:-)

[N.E. Brigand]

It explains something Fran kept referring to Saturday night, but I never turned around in time to see.

(Also personally amused to see that for the first time, I was the first person to watch a particular Youtube video. Timing!)

Edited September 2, 2014 by N.E. Brigand

[camel lips]

I don't know about the rest of I&E, but these were the mini corps results:

1. 99.500 -- Star United

2. 97.833 -- Ghost Riders

3. 95.000 -- Opus 7 presented by the San Francisco Renegades

4. 93.667 -- Minne-Brass

5. 93.500 -- Sacramento Freelancers

6. 80.333 -- Rocketeers

7. 77.167 -- Erie Thunderbirds

8. 76.833 -- Impact of Orlando

9. 76.333 -- Thunder Brigade

10. 71.667 -- Cincinnati Tradition

11. 68.167 -- High Country Brass

Did they increase the Min numbers on membership of mini corps from 21??

[Spandy]

Did they increase the Min numbers on membership of mini corps from 21??

I believe I heard it is 25 now? Not 100% positive on that

[JimF-LowBari]

Counted Star United at Finals and know they were over 21 members, maybe they were at 25.....

[Fran Haring]

It is 25 members, not including a conductor/drum major. Or honor guard, I believe.

And... not totally sure about this one... the minimum number is something like 11 performers, not including DM/honor guard.

Edited September 4, 2014 by Fran Haring