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Favorite Opening Moments of Drum Corps


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Well, Spring Training is just a few weeks away, so why not just one more of your favorites type topic to keep us sane before then? Tried to pick a topic I haven't seen before on here. So, what are your favorite opening moments of drum corps? I'm not talking the first three minutes, full opener, move onto the next piece part. I'm talking those opening seconds that grab your attention and have you fully invested in the show. Whether it be an intriguing quiet, ambiance setting preshow, or a corps coming in full blazing in your face right off of the line. These are three of mine, off the top of my head.

Star of Indiana 1990 - Belshazzars Feast

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This is just pure brass bliss. That's pretty much about all I can say about it. Love it when a corps will just smack you across the face with power right off the bat.

Carolina Crown 2008 - Finis

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A show starting off with the end of the Overture to Candide was very intriguing the first time I watched this, which was VERY early on in my exposure to drum corps. So I didn't really have any idea what was going to happen when they reached the poignant, dainty last no........OH MY GOSH. That huge impact right after that right on the catch of the rifles had me hooked on Crown for sure. A show that could have been INCREDIBLY choppy taking little bits and pieces from endings actually managed to be incredibly organic and sown together masterfully courtesy of the arrangers. This was an incredibly abrupt, but PERFECTLY placed change in just about everything that preceded that knocked my socks off.

Bluecoats 2015 - Kinetic Noise

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The opening seconds of this show are absolutely chaotic. White noise, seemingly senseless chatter and voice bites, contras adding onto it, then you have the sopranos come at you from all directions in an all our ear assault and then BOOM. That first hit just emerges out of all that in a HUGE and pure way. The drill developed in those opening moments in much of the same fashion, and the guard with their shimmering metal equipment just made for the perfect visual/aural marriage. The instant change of the audio landscape from the sound bites, speakers, and music coming from all directions to just pure brass bliss had me wide eyed the first time I saw this show, and is still one of my favorite moments in recent memory to play out again and again, over and over.

Edited by DrumManTx
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1978 Spirit Of Atlanta.

1979 Spirit Of Atlanta

Edited by HockeyDad
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Lots of moments from which to choose!!!

One is... 1975 Madison Scouts.

A huge sound from a mile away on the back sideline to open "Slaughter on Tenth Avenue." Wow.

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BD opening moment with their show in 2014..... with the sopranos lined up, up front, and the flawless triple tongueing by them ? Good Lord, THAT sure got my attention right off the bat.

Crown almost always gets my attention most yrears with their opening " statement " from their brass line.

Star of Indiana, '92 American Variations theme show opener by the Brass line, got my attention with their opening.

For the old timers on here, the St. Kevin's Emerald Knights ( Dorchester, Ma. ) sure got most everyone's attention with their opening " statement " from their brass lines in '60- 63. Bridgemen, 27th later. Madison usually does as well, most years ( the company front march onto the field to the Fleur De Lis, is an iconic visual move that gets most people's attention too) There's not enough time and space to cover so many others that are richly deserving of great opening moment " statements ".

Ok, ok... if pushed,.. to list my all time favorite, I'd probably have to go with 2011 Bluecoats... with " Creep " as their opener killer moment... for the reason that it combined, brass, drums, MM's visuals in a real cool opener, imo ( now, if you ask me tomorrow, I'll probably select another to be my most favorite ( haha!) but thats my story for today, and I'm sssstickin' to it .)

Edited by BRASSO
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BD opening moment with their show in 2014..... with the sopranos lined up, up front, and the flawless triple tongueing by them ? Good Lord, THAT sure got my attention right off the bat.

Crown almost always gets my attention most yrears with their opening " statement " from their brass line.

Star of Indiana, '92 American Variations theme show opener by the Brass line, got my attention with their opening.

For the old timers on here, the St. Kevin's Emerald Knights ( Dorchester, Ma. ) sure got most everyone's attention with their opening " statement " from their brass lines in '60- 63. Bridgemen, 27th later. Madison usually does as well, most years ( the company front march onto the field to the Fleur De Lis, is an iconic visual move that gets most people's attention too) There's not enough time and space to cover so many others that are richly deserving of great opening moment " statements ".

Ok, ok... if pushed,.. to list my all time favorite, I'd probably have to go with 2011 Bluecoats... with " Creep " as their opener killer moment... for the reason that it combined, brass, drums, MM's visuals in a real cool opener, imo ( now, if you ask me tomorrow, I'll probably select another to be my most favorite ( haha!) but thats my story for today, and I'm sssstickin' to it .)

Blue Devils 2014 is pretty up there with me too. Finals night you knew it was lights out in terms of brass with that. Perfection.

And DOH. Bluecoats 2011 is definitely near the top too. Can't believe that slipped that mind. The whole build to that moment is just as good as the moment itself. The overall tone and mood is just perfectly stated. Shame the rest of the show lacked that magic or the whole thing would have been an all time favorite and not just that opening.

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