The Green Cymbal

OK. looks like the Berry Center will stay dry. Storm will move well to the South.

And now at 5:10 a strong line of thunderstorms has formed on the East side of Houston and moving to the West and South. Lets hope it misses the Berry Center which is on the other side of town. (Northwest by about 40 miles) Texas would like to thank the East coast group for bringing the rain with them. LOL This has been our 2nd driest July on record.

Gary Sousa is not related to John Phillip Sousa in any way, they just have the same last name. (Gary Sousa was my college band director and actually made that statement)

How do you know she is a cross over judge? Maybe, just maybe, she decided that she wanted to broaden her judging experience and become certified in the Music GE caption. How do you know that she has not gone through all of the training required to do this? Or are you saying, once you are assigned to a caption, you may never judge anything else? If more of the great judges that we all respect did this then DCI would have much more flexibility in the way is assigns judges. The only pitfall to that would be that you would have the same few great judges doing everything and no new blood coming into the judging pool.

The truly sad thing about all of this (which also applies to Drum Corps) is that with all of the great things that being in a high school band does for a kid, this is what the news media reports on. When is the last time you saw prime time news do a truly meaningful report on a drum corps or marching band that was about something good? I am sure that local stations will run a very short blurb if a local group wins, but that is about it. Now, if something bad happens, it will be national news. The two most recent topics have involved a somewhat controversial theme for a band show and a percussion cart left in an endzone that injures a football player during a college football game. Imagine if ,Lord forbid, there is ever a bad accident involving a tour bus while a corps is doing its summer tour and a fatality of a member or members is involved. No matter what the cause, the media will paint a picture that all drum corps touring is unsafe and should be banned forever. Not to say that the "band controversy" is on par with what I just described, but I am sure there have been years and years of great educational things done by the Churchill band, yet this is what the news chooses to report. We live is sad times.

You are referring to Westfield HS 1992, which is located in the Spring Independent School District in Houston. They played "Ballet Sacre", "On A Hymnsong of Philip Bliss", and "In the Spring When Kings Go Off to War", all of which were used by Cadets in their 1993 show. The common link was that Marc Sylvester wrote Westfield's drill that year. One other test idea, which was in the same school district as Westfield, Spring HS 1993 did the rotating DNA Helix that was again used in Cavaliers 1995 production of the Planets. Common link was Greg Poklaki the drill designer.

I was not trying to take anything away from the Spirit brass lines of the late 70's early 80's. They were incredibly loud, and you are correct to an extent, probably one of the better in tune lines of their era. But compared to today's standards, the intonation problems would be an issue. Most of this was not due to the players, but due to the horns of the time. I can just imagine what those lines would sound like with today's instruments (minus the 3rd valve) and approaches to listening and pedagogy. They could be a "Memorex" commercial.

Suncoast 1985 was extremely loud several times. The brass hit in the thunderstorm and again during the closer right after the bass drum cadenza. Star 90 - the opening statement. But my #1 personal experience was Phantom 1989. Listening to their encore at DCI South hurt my ears. (And my ears can take a lot) I have never heard a horn line with that volume and sheer intensity and so in tune at the same time. While Spirit 80 was loud, it was also very out of tune.

I COMPLETELY argree with this post. This is also one of the big reasons that the word "demand" is not its own caption or mentioned on the sheets. It must be designed to be clean otherwise it is not the best design. If I remember correctly, back in the mid 80's (I think 84-85) demand was on the sheets and many corps were trying to march and play things that were way beyond their capabilities. Some very cool but very dirty shows those seasons. (Even at the top) That is where derived achievement came into being. I think Pete Weber is extremely creative and young. He will quickly figure out what his corps can and cannot clean and this season for Vanguard will be a major stepping stone in his development. Keep up the amazing work.

CONGRATULATIONS PHANTOM!!!! That was some amazing drum corps that you brought to the field this season and your performance last night will go down in history as one of the all time crowd favorites and most listened to on the CD's for years. This should also put to rest the idea that music plays second to visual when determining a champion. BRAVO!!!! Your musical performance was the most passionate and emotional performance in over 24 years in the activity and the quality was truly at a tribute to your extremely hard work. CONGRATULATIONS to all of the corps as this will go down as one of the best seasons of DCI in history. I see many new and exciting ideas presented this season that will just get better and better in the coming years.

That must have been a mistake on the DCI description. In all the captions, the first number is WHAT thay are being asked to do and the second number is HOW well they are doing it. Hope that helped clear things up.

YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!!! Not this arguement AGAIN!!! If you don't like the violence that is implied and not real, then don't watch the show.

I forget what the phrase means exactly. It is from "The Bible" and those words appeared on a wall in the ancient city of Babylon after the king (don't ask me how to spell his name, it is long and begins with an "N") drank from the sacred vessels and was condemed by God. It is the source of todays common phrase "Read the writing on the wall". Anyone else have an answer?

Vanguard 2004 had a tremendous ovation at the end of the Scheherazade show. It began at the rippling company front and lasted well past the end of the show. But what I remember even more was the response when they entered the field. The entire middle deck where I was sitting was on its feet and stomping while yelling "VANGUARD!!! VANGUARD!!!" One of my best memories from this decade.

At 1990 Quarterfinals in Buffalo: Star of Indana opens the prop with "Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin" written on it. (I hope I spelled this correctly) Little girl to her mother: "Look Mommy, Chinese!" 1990 Mid America Regional in Bloomington with "Mr. Know It All" sitting behind me. Troopers enter the field: "This corps is all male and began as a boy scout organization" Madison enters the field: "This corps is known as the Green Machine" Bluecoats enter the field: "This corps is know as the Blue Crew" It was everything I could do to not turn around and correct him. LOL 1995 Semi Finals in Buffalo Madison during the guard box stomping section Person down the row yells "YOU GO GIRL!!!" 2004 Finals in Denver During Crowns narration segment Person a few seats in front of me: "That boy would put a lisp in the word cracker!"