DCA Mini-Corps Competition NO BS review.

[C.Holland]

This review being brought to you by Genesee, and Rolling Rock. Both of which are available in 24oz cans here in the great white north. There's a special at 7-11 on them. yeah yeah yeah... shameless plug, "just quit rambling and review something you drunk."

fine.

Here's my review of Rochester. The city needs some love... And a good pressure washing. Frankly, it goes from ok and almost quaint, to WTF Where's My Sidearm really fast here. Thanks 'Mericuh for letting the industry leave. This is why we can't have nice things.

Genessee, is ok when REALLY cold. Once it gets a little warm though. Ugh. Time to switch to the Rolling Rock can.

Dinosaur BBQ is mighty tasty. i saw a couple old Canadian dudes there in corps shirts. grabbed a seat with them in the bar. They were old Toronto Optimists. And after a few beers got really funny and hard to understand. eh? exactly.

BTW, if you sat through the ENTIRE mini-corps event, you deserve a medal, or at least a hug or something. Please ship mine to NJ. thanks. Or just buy me a beer tomorrow night. Preferably not a moderately cold Genny.

ok.

Here's some mini corps love.

High Country Brass. Played ok. Had a bunch of split brass attacks, and a show that was REALLY hard to tell what was going on. It was just too much all at once. Simplify it down for us y'know. Play, march, drum, toss (and catch). Do those things well first, then add all that other gobbledy gook. I think what it boiled down to for me here, was, it needed less story attempt, better staging, and cleaner playing.

Cincy Tradition. They played ok. They didn't move though. I think playing ok has more leniency when you move, and if you don't playing needs to be amazing. But they had some intonation issues tonight. Sadly, I don't remember what they played. They had lots of missed horns ups/downs so I'm not sure entrances were together.

Good luck tomorrow at Finals. Break legs... not your own.

Thunder Brigade. From where i USED to live. Montgomery County, MD. right near DC. Thanks for starting a corps the year I move away. bah!

First timers to the mini corps scene. And they came out gunning. full drill, actually ALOT of drill, maybe too much, a couple guard members, mini battery... wow. lots of stuff going on at once. i think that was a mistake in programming. There seems to be a fine line of how much to do at once to succeed in mini corps. Above all, playing trumps everything else. But their intonation was generally pretty good, and their movement was pretty good. I think the guard was distracting. They had some nice hits, and honestly, for first timers i think this was an AWESOME start. Gold star for them. Come back next year now that you've got some experience and i'm sure you'll jump miles from this. But this is a good base to start with.

Impact of Orlando. They played earth wind and fire... pretty darned well. they don't move much. so file this under (less movement needs more amazement of playing) They had a few balance issues between low and high brass. They did manage to rock some wigs and props. but alas, props don't substitute for intonation or movement.

Erie Thunderbirds. Had the unfortunate spot of going first. So side note... i'm not sure who bought their shirts first. IMPACT or ERIE. But they shopped at the same store. bwahahaahh. Now you'll never laugh at your wife when she brings a second dress to the party again. The move a little. They played really well. A few flubbed notes, a few intonation concerns in the mids. Solos were pretty spot on, and they just had some fun. So they made you smile and its ok.

Rocketeers. Played the first chart really well. But had a tuba that was always sticking out of the ensemble. yes, always. he also twerked onstage. which got a hoot or three. They move a bit, mostly ok, sometimes awkwardly. They have a good upper brass section. Their set drummer was tight. But i think he got caught in between two different sets of time and was fighting them a bit. When it all lines up, they have a really mature sound, that is almost as good as Ghost Riders. The problem is that its not a high percentage of everything lining up 100%. Its more of a "65% of the time, it works every time." They are fun to watch because you can tell this is old hat and they perform well, with a good stage presence. One of the best of the night actually. Just not clean.

Sacramento Freelancers. Man I miss this corps. Yeah, I'm an older dude in a mid 30's dude. whatever don't judge me. They move a little. well very little. Its more like move to a spot for a tune, and park. But man... do they every play well. Seriously. Malaga, was (as they say in Cali...) Hella cool. in tune, in time, and just balls out. lots of air moved through the horns and the drums set player was awesome. Some of their players did have TINY charts in their hands, which tells me they were last minute adds. But they still sound awesome enough to be able to park and blow the whole time.

Keep coming back y'all.

Minne-Brass. played an original piece about... take a guess? NO not Charles f'n Schultz! Minnesohtah you hoser! It was a nice piece. A little too hip for the room. But it was good. And played well. The trumpet soloist they have is the musical equivalent to Adrian Peterson's rushes. They had a great balanced sound. Little movement. y'know solid, but not over the top and not really flashy. Just good.

Opus 7 (and a ham sammich) presented by the Renegades. yeah thats right, we've got to sub titles in mini corps. we've reached an all time new low for art. They sound like a bunch of amazing studio musicians on a stage in a ballroom. Seriously, that's what they were. They played Bill Chase, Buddy Rich, and some other narcotic induced jazz stuff. And they NAILED IT. they didn't need to move. they played everything perfectly. like it was their job or something. It was nice to see that the renegades brought something, and that something was this awesome. keep it up dudes/ladies/cali-hippies. and bring the renegades back to DCA. We need someone to not only fill the void left by the Statesmen, but to take the void and stick it in the ear of all the people who helped make that void. And honestly, we need another corps with some ego. We've got two, we could use a third that goes balls out all the time.

Ghost Riders. tough break here. They played EVERY famous western movie piece. (it was like a Through the Years of The Troopers tonight) And they played it beautifully. They moved more this year. And they did ok with it. There were some stumbles that happened, but honestly, the score is incorrect. yeah i know i say "I'm not a numbers person" but they were scored a little too far apart from Star. Though I thought some parts of their performance were just great and not always amazing... THIS is what set them apart from Star. They had a few moments of great instead of all amazing. But they got the standing o, and they deserved it. I think between them and Star U i have a new favorite other music sport. But they played 99.9% perfectly in tune. seriously. They had a couple spots of less excitement than the people above them. But it wasn't many.

Star U. the champs. They could do no wrong tonight. They played everything perfectly. They were always exciting to watch, they moved well. they didn't constantly move, but they moved just enough to give it all variety. And they moved strategically so that it supported phrasing. BOOYAH. They deserved many a fist pump that I gave, as well as the rest of the audience. its like they've done this before as a full corps or something. They played it immaculately. Perfect. no split notes, in tune, in time, all the crap I bust everyone else's balls for they didn't do. They were musical in execution. THEY MARCH IN SAMBAS! yeah... shoe thing. shuddup. They were f'n LOUD. The only way to create the wall of sound we love and miss from old school drum corps is to play a large bore POS bugle IN TUNE with the ensemble. They killed that task. The only thing I DONT LIKE is that they are in Indiana, and I live in NJ, so therefore I can't audition. Because I would. its not because of this being given a little metal thing that just happened, its because they perform at a level that I consider elite. And at my age, i'm too old to put up with bush-league stuff. But maybe next year you'll see me in a uniform. If my back heals up. bah!

So there's your review and here's my $0.02. This mini corps thing is the greatest thing to happen to drum corps since the third valve and z-pull hooked up and had a few hundred ill-legitimate dumpster babies.

you wanna know why?

Here's my reasons:

1. It needs nothing other than empty space. And not much empty space to perform. (no specific space, ground covering, field, lines, hashes, power, etc. the corps need to provide everything other than the empty space themselves)

2. It maxes your needs out and FORCES the groups to simplify. (meaning to perform and do it well, what do you REALLY need? NOT props, NOT weird costumes, NOT bajillions of dollars of electronix, NOT german techno DJs, NOT a spare recording studio and editing suite. Do you REALLY need the 2nd cowbell guy, or can it be a flag/rifle/tuba? And no, you don't need wall to wall dance moves or drill, you just need movement and dancey crap appropriate for the music)

3. Its intimate. You can see everything as a viewer. There's no hiding anything. Even on the youtube vids. feet, hands placement, movement, body posture, non-movement (slackers), breathing, sweat in people eyes, FEAR in peoples eyes, marching technique, recovery... the list goes on an on an on an on...

4. It feels like a return to old school drum corps performance. Its play well, move well when needed, and throw some machismo into the audience when appropriate. think Caddyshack for all you old farts out there. (Ty Webb talking about golf "Ball, club, swing.. the rest is just walking around wearing funny pants") Thats it. Simple, entertaining. Hell, when done right its downright addicting to watch. (yes, i have youtube open in my other screen) And who doesn't love funny pants?

5. Its quick to set up and tear down. most groups had their stage up and ready in under a minute. The really elaborate, used two minutes.

6. arrangement styles seem to define the groups more in the small ensembles. So the ghost riders sound like them. Star sounds like star. Whatever Renegade sponsored sounds like... well, something presented by Renegade on heroin. And you can tell who is who by the sound.

7. this one to me is really important. You can move the entire corps and house them via travelocity and hotwire simply, cheaply, and easily.

Seriously, this is something that is frankly REALLY entertaining, and cheap to operate. Hell, I want to make this happen in NJ I like it this much after my first take seeing it. And if you keep it all ages, you can sell BEER at events. Which made the crowd a little annoying after the 6th corps when peoples volume went to drunk levels of speech. but meh. its ok. move the bar 5 feet further next time.

This should be soundsport. Hell, I'll even organize it for a living if they want.

see you all tomorrow at the alumni spooktacular, and DCA finals.

Cheers,

CHolland.

Edited August 31, 2014 by C.Holland

[pbeau]

You get it Man! Make it happen in NJ!

[mchromik]

I will second you on your after points here. Nail on the head. Minicorps is addictive. The simplicity, the intimacy, the exposure, the individuality. I hope we can get more folks involved and hopefully get some more units going. It's affordable, it's fun, and it can be anything you want. Park and bark some Maynard, or Copland with 50 sets of drill. Seems others agree as we now have SoundSport and WGI Winds, both very 'inspired' by Minicorps. More groups, more performance opportunities. It sure seems that the Mini world could get a little bigger.

Thanks for the review and the appreciative words. It was a blast to perform on the stage in Rochester once again.

[Donny Drum Corps]

Great review, I like mini corps as well. I am a little sorry that we beat Star by the judges last year, because they must not have liked that much the way they performed at this years show...YIKES!!!

My team is the Ghost Riders we have a look and that leads us into a musical concept, I suppose. I will say that these guys and ladies maxed out what they were capable of with no doubt. I am glad you caught that. The energy in that room absolutely destroys Annapolis and the outside venue, IMHO.

I was also glad to see Erie, Minne Brass and Renegades back in the mix with the new additions.

Thanks for the review

[JoeDz]

There are buglers hall of fame shows on the east coast that have mini corps performing. Boston and Skyliners each hold one. I've seen ensemble performances by Mass Brass, Sky, CT Alumni, St. Rita, Selden, St. Kevin, ets..... most available on youtube.

[ajlisko]

This review being brought to you by Genesee, and Rolling Rock. Both of which are available in 24oz cans here in the great white north. There's a special at 7-11 on them. yeah yeah yeah... shameless plug, "just quit rambling and review something you drunk."

fine.

Here's my review of Rochester. The city needs some love... And a good pressure washing. Frankly, it goes from ok and almost quaint, to WTF Where's My Sidearm really fast here. Thanks 'Mericuh for letting the industry leave. This is why we can't have nice things.

Genessee, is ok when REALLY cold. Once it gets a little warm though. Ugh. Time to switch to the Rolling Rock can.

Dinosaur BBQ is mighty tasty. i saw a couple old Canadian dudes there in corps shirts. grabbed a seat with them in the bar. They were old Toronto Optimists. And after a few beers got really funny and hard to understand. eh? exactly.

BTW, if you sat through the ENTIRE mini-corps event, you deserve a medal, or at least a hug or something. Please ship mine to NJ. thanks. Or just buy me a beer tomorrow night. Preferably not a moderately cold Genny.

ok.

Here's some mini corps love.

High Country Brass. Played ok. Had a bunch of split brass attacks, and a show that was REALLY hard to tell what was going on. It was just too much all at once. Simplify it down for us y'know. Play, march, drum, toss (and catch). Do those things well first, then add all that other gobbledy gook. I think what it boiled down to for me here, was, it needed less story attempt, better staging, and cleaner playing.

Cincy Tradition. They played ok. They didn't move though. I think playing ok has more leniency when you move, and if you don't playing needs to be amazing. But they had some intonation issues tonight. Sadly, I don't remember what they played. They had lots of missed horns ups/downs so I'm not sure entrances were together.

Good luck tomorrow at Finals. Break legs... not your own.

Thunder Brigade. From where i USED to live. Montgomery County, MD. right near DC. Thanks for starting a corps the year I move away. bah!

First timers to the mini corps scene. And they came out gunning. full drill, actually ALOT of drill, maybe too much, a couple guard members, mini battery... wow. lots of stuff going on at once. i think that was a mistake in programming. There seems to be a fine line of how much to do at once to succeed in mini corps. Above all, playing trumps everything else. But their intonation was generally pretty good, and their movement was pretty good. I think the guard was distracting. They had some nice hits, and honestly, for first timers i think this was an AWESOME start. Gold star for them. Come back next year now that you've got some experience and i'm sure you'll jump miles from this. But this is a good base to start with.

Impact of Orlando. They played earth wind and fire... pretty darned well. they don't move much. so file this under (less movement needs more amazement of playing) They had a few balance issues between low and high brass. They did manage to rock some wigs and props. but alas, props don't substitute for intonation or movement.

Erie Thunderbirds. Had the unfortunate spot of going first. So side note... i'm not sure who bought their shirts first. IMPACT or ERIE. But they shopped at the same store. bwahahaahh. Now you'll never laugh at your wife when she brings a second dress to the party again. The move a little. They played really well. A few flubbed notes, a few intonation concerns in the mids. Solos were pretty spot on, and they just had some fun. So they made you smile and its ok.

Rocketeers. Played the first chart really well. But had a tuba that was always sticking out of the ensemble. yes, always. he also twerked onstage. which got a hoot or three. They move a bit, mostly ok, sometimes awkwardly. They have a good upper brass section. Their set drummer was tight. But i think he got caught in between two different sets of time and was fighting them a bit. When it all lines up, they have a really mature sound, that is almost as good as Ghost Riders. The problem is that its not a high percentage of everything lining up 100%. Its more of a "65% of the time, it works every time." They are fun to watch because you can tell this is old hat and they perform well, with a good stage presence. One of the best of the night actually. Just not clean.

Sacramento Freelancers. Man I miss this corps. Yeah, I'm an older dude in a mid 30's dude. whatever don't judge me. They move a little. well very little. Its more like move to a spot for a tune, and park. But man... do they every play well. Seriously. Malaga, was (as they say in Cali...) Hella cool. in tune, in time, and just balls out. lots of air moved through the horns and the drums set player was awesome. Some of their players did have TINY charts in their hands, which tells me they were last minute adds. But they still sound awesome enough to be able to park and blow the whole time.

Keep coming back y'all.

Minne-Brass. played an original piece about... take a guess? NO not Charles f'n Schultz! Minnesohtah you hoser! It was a nice piece. A little too hip for the room. But it was good. And played well. The trumpet soloist they have is the musical equivalent to Adrian Peterson's rushes. They had a great balanced sound. Little movement. y'know solid, but not over the top and not really flashy. Just good.

Opus 7 (and a ham sammich) presented by the Renegades. yeah thats right, we've got to sub titles in mini corps. we've reached an all time new low for art. They sound like a bunch of amazing studio musicians on a stage in a ballroom. Seriously, that's what they were. They played Bill Chase, Buddy Rich, and some other narcotic induced jazz stuff. And they NAILED IT. they didn't need to move. they played everything perfectly. like it was their job or something. It was nice to see that the renegades brought something, and that something was this awesome. keep it up dudes/ladies/cali-hippies. and bring the renegades back to DCA. We need someone to not only fill the void left by the Statesmen, but to take the void and stick it in the ear of all the people who helped make that void. And honestly, we need another corps with some ego. We've got two, we could use a third that goes balls out all the time.

Ghost Riders. tough break here. They played EVERY famous western movie piece. (it was like a Through the Years of The Troopers tonight) And they played it beautifully. They moved more this year. And they did ok with it. There were some stumbles that happened, but honestly, the score is incorrect. yeah i know i say "I'm not a numbers person" but they were scored a little too far apart from Star. Though I thought some parts of their performance were just great and not always amazing... THIS is what set them apart from Star. They had a few moments of great instead of all amazing. But they got the standing o, and they deserved it. I think between them and Star U i have a new favorite other music sport. But they played 99.9% perfectly in tune. seriously. They had a couple spots of less excitement than the people above them. But it wasn't many.

Star U. the champs. They could do no wrong tonight. They played everything perfectly. They were always exciting to watch, they moved well. they didn't constantly move, but they moved just enough to give it all variety. And they moved strategically so that it supported phrasing. BOOYAH. They deserved many a fist pump that I gave, as well as the rest of the audience. its like they've done this before as a full corps or something. They played it immaculately. Perfect. no split notes, in tune, in time, all the crap I bust everyone else's balls for they didn't do. They were musical in execution. THEY MARCH IN SAMBAS! yeah... shoe thing. shuddup. They were f'n LOUD. The only way to create the wall of sound we love and miss from old school drum corps is to play a large bore POS bugle IN TUNE with the ensemble. They killed that task. The only thing I DONT LIKE is that they are in Indiana, and I live in NJ, so therefore I can't audition. Because I would. its not because of this being given a little metal thing that just happened, its because they perform at a level that I consider elite. And at my age, i'm too old to put up with bush-league stuff. But maybe next year you'll see me in a uniform. If my back heals up. bah!

So there's your review and here's my $0.02. This mini corps thing is the greatest thing to happen to drum corps since the third valve and z-pull hooked up and had a few hundred ill-legitimate dumpster babies.

you wanna know why?

Here's my reasons:

1. It needs nothing other than empty space. And not much empty space to perform. (no specific space, ground covering, field, lines, hashes, power, etc. the corps need to provide everything other than the empty space themselves)

2. It maxes your needs out and FORCES the groups to simplify. (meaning to perform and do it well, what do you REALLY need? NOT props, NOT weird costumes, NOT bajillions of dollars of electronix, NOT german techno DJs, NOT a spare recording studio and editing suite. Do you REALLY need the 2nd cowbell guy, or can it be a flag/rifle/tuba? And no, you don't need wall to wall dance moves or drill, you just need movement and dancey crap appropriate for the music)

3. Its intimate. You can see everything as a viewer. There's no hiding anything. Even on the youtube vids. feet, hands placement, movement, body posture, non-movement (slackers), breathing, sweat in people eyes, FEAR in peoples eyes, marching technique, recovery... the list goes on an on an on an on...

4. It feels like a return to old school drum corps performance. Its play well, move well when needed, and throw some machismo into the audience when appropriate. think Caddyshack for all you old farts out there. (Ty Webb talking about golf "Ball, club, swing.. the rest is just walking around wearing funny pants") Thats it. Simple, entertaining. Hell, when done right its downright addicting to watch. (yes, i have youtube open in my other screen) And who doesn't love funny pants?

5. Its quick to set up and tear down. most groups had their stage up and ready in under a minute. The really elaborate, used two minutes.

6. arrangement styles seem to define the groups more in the small ensembles. So the ghost riders sound like them. Star sounds like star. Whatever Renegade sponsored sounds like... well, something presented by Renegade on heroin. And you can tell who is who by the sound.

7. this one to me is really important. You can move the entire corps and house them via travelocity and hotwire simply, cheaply, and easily.

Seriously, this is something that is frankly REALLY entertaining, and cheap to operate. Hell, I want to make this happen in NJ I like it this much after my first take seeing it. And if you keep it all ages, you can sell BEER at events. Which made the crowd a little annoying after the 6th corps when peoples volume went to drunk levels of speech. but meh. its ok. move the bar 5 feet further next time.

This should be soundsport. Hell, I'll even organize it for a living if they want.

see you all tomorrow at the alumni spooktacular, and DCA finals.

Cheers,

CHolland.

Chris ... You must stop in on the Buglers Hall of Fame I&E shows over the winter ...PM me and I'll explain

[Florida Sun]

To bad Sunrisers alium didn't hold together for one of theses shows ,lots of great names there .They did the Bugles Hall of Fame in Brigdeport a few years back and brought the house down .

[rayfallon]

I can only speak for myself on that one, but I don't think we would have wanted to go into a DCA competition.

A) That group - the Reunion Ensemble - was made up of talented, competitive people. They practiced their ##### off to be in exhibition. If it were competition Murphy would have driven that group like Sasso used to, and no one would have questioned it.

B) These mini--corps MOVE now. We needed extra time to get set up in a semi-circle.

Again, I'm not speaking for the ensemble - I made ZERO ensemble rehearsals in Brooklyn as I was living in Boston.

Maybe those guys would have liked to compete at DCA Mini-corps.

My guess is that they'd be more comfortable in the Alumni Classic.

Man, that would be a hoot, if we could come up with 50 or so of those Sunriser horn players and the old charts.

Well worth the time.

Murph, you listening out there? One more shot?

[C.Holland]

just thinking, it doesnt need to be tons of drill. i dont think star and ghost moved all the time, but they did move for each piece and sometimes during the full piece, sometimes not. i think the real key was that they both play near perfectly in tune, had great articulations and clean releases, and then added movement for each piece. sometimes a bunch, sometimes just a restaging to keep it interesting so you're not stairing at the same picture the whole time. so I dont think it needs much, but man. both played so well that's what really drove it home.

[Fran Haring]

What the others have said, particularly Donny and Michael.

Mini-corps is a competition... but, to me, it is all about FUN.... mini-corps of all shapes and sizes (from the minimum corps size to the maximum) performing a wide variety of show styles in an atmosphere that is more relaxed than that of the field-corps competitions.

And Donny's right... the Empire Hall venue is great. Except for the echo-chamber PA system. LOL. I'm convinced I could announce that show next year speaking German, and no one would notice.