hrnguy500

Crossmen's show design is much stronger than last year's. They did change brass staff this season. They also a young corps. Not that younger members can't achieve greatness, but there is something to be said for groups that have members with 2 or 3 seasons of experience.

Yea! I was pleasantly surprised by Colt Cadets at the Ankeny show. The group sounded good and it was an enjoyable show.

I hope the hornline is better. They had some pretty crass moments at Ankeny. Kids overblowing and sticking out. I appreciated that they are trying to get the sizzle back but some kids need to reign it in. Also, the slide-trumpet is quirky and I am not sure if really does much for me because of the harsh tone quality it inherently has. I also hope drums can clean up. They also struggled (imo) at Ankeny. I am concerned that the voice-over tabla speak, with the drums playing, is just going to be a problem all season. I get that it could be really effective but it is really just an annoyance at this point. The show has potential to break top 12. There needs to be a few design re-writes with the props. A little more coaching in the brass arcs to really shore up the Madison sound.

I think this (late starts) is a trend we will just have to accept. The logistics of rehearsal space alone are enough to force corps into shorter tours. I should also add that there is just an increased amount of apathy/frustration towards hosting shows. You really need a whole community to come together to host a drum corps show and when those communities encounter roadblocks, it discourages them from continuing in the future.

mmmm Pears. lol I think Rennick wrote the percussion book. Yes, their drums were goooood last night. Best of the night by far. I also agree on the Scouts props. I think the corkscrews are supposed to represent the DNA strands?? They definitely clutter the field right.

I was at the show. Blazing hot day but when the sun went down it was rather pleasant. I'd say 95% of the stands were full. Sky Ryders sounded good - better than I expected. I would describe the sound as leaning more towards that of a college marching band but with the brass punching like a traditional corps. They do march woodwinds but considering it was Soudsport I didn't get too grumpy about it. Unfortunately they had major technical difficulties before the show even started. Probably about 5 minutes of dead time while staff were trying to get electronics to work. (I wonder if their iPad overheated and couldn't load). The corps had to modify their start to compensate. I heard their director tell them to start in set 3. Overall, good for them for trying to restart the corps. Hope they can keep it going My fav shows were Crossmen and Troopers. Based on the hype of previous seasons for Troopers, their bar is set high. I think they are doing well to meet expectations. Cavies have a MUCH better show than last season. I appreciated the power of the hornlines, top to bottom. Even Colt Cadets had a good solid brass sound. That being said, Madison Scouts have a several moments of crassness in an attempt to bring back the sizzle of old. Lots of work to be done with that hornline and making sure balance and blend occur.

Lol...I have seen a couple bands do wooden shoes for parades. Pretty impressive to move like that in that kind of footwear.

Hi all, Looking for recommendations on marching shoes (for performances not rehearsal). The last thread on this was in 2013 or so and I think there may be some new shoes on the market and new opinions. I have personally marched in drill masters, MTX and even Chuck Taylors 🙂. Of those, I have liked the MTZ the most due to durability and comfort. Background: I work with a semi-competitive marching band in Nebraska. That is to say we compete locally but we are not BOA level. We do mostly halftime shows and Saturday competitions, with a parade from time-to-time. We also use a basic roll-step/modified straight leg technique. We wear black shoes and no spats. We have been incorporating more dance based techniques into our rep but we are still a long way out from being in the realm of Drum Corps and BOA movement techniques. For a few decades we have used Style Plus Pinnacle marching shoes but we are also curious about other options. The best case scenario is that our kids can use them for 4 years without them totally falling apart. Vipers advertise a great flex in the arch...two separate soles if you will. My concern with those, and other dance inspired shoes, is that the arch support/stability won't be enough? I myself have really high arches and I prefer to have some solid support in the arch area but it looks like the Vipers would not. Maybe I am wrong that. Also what makes Super Drill Masters better than the original? What shoes "fit big" vs "fit to traditional shoe size"? What say you all on this subject of best marching shoe?

I think the OP should be more specific on what shows they are referring to. Most of the top 12-15 were pretty 'hit-you-over-the-head' obvious with show themes. 1) Bloo - I would argue had the most "out there" theme but the title is from source music. In the end it all fit together pretty logically and they performed the hell out of it. 2) BAC - very obvious 3) BD - somewhat obvious though the Pokemon music seems out of place. 4) Phantom - very obvious 5) Crown - pretty obvious from a visual standpoint 6) SCV - pretty obvious. They really hammer the Kendrick Lamar lick throughout. 7) Mandarins - very obvious 8 ) Blue Stars - somewhat obvious 9) Colts - pretty obvious if you look at the props and the guard 10) Troopers - the most obvious show 11) Cavies - a bit obvious but ooof that show design was rough! 12) Madison - somewhat obvious via the uniforms and props. 13) Pac Crest - obvious 14) BK - somewhat obvious. The poles were ---- an interesting design choice 15) Xmen - obvious based on the source music 16) Spirit - pretty obvious with the props and all. I would argue that the music left a lot to be desired. 17) Music City - obvious but I think the prop layout/integration could have used a few more tweaks 18) The Academy - obvious with the props, even though the props were the main focus. There could have used a few less prop moves and work the drill around them rather than what we were given. Now, some will argue - most shows rely on props to make sense of a pretentious design. Yes, I will admit that is the case in almost every one of these shows this season. But props are part of the activity now.

If flo marching is hiring average joe interns, which I am suspecting, for the summer that don't know DCI/marching band then those interns need to be trained at what to look for. If those same interns travel the whole summer they should be taking detailed notes on what parts of the show should be focused on (via multi-cam). Yes, it is tedious work but it is what the job entails. A good film director should be able to coordinate with the cameramen on what should be shot specifically at all points of the show -- especially for finals shows. If flo marching is just hiring out local cameramen at every show, then that is a shame because they probably don't know marching arts. HOWEVER, the program director should still have the knowledge of directing the cameras throughout the evening. The "artistic liberties" that were taken during finals last night were just bad. Unfortunately it is not new. All season, year after year, there are shoddy camera angles focusing on the wrong part of the show at the wrong point. Flo Marching, while I appreciate their existence and providing us our drum corps "fix", needs to have better film directing/cinematography/what-have-you.

Has anyone on the design team considered painting a red pentagram on the giant lawn ornament? Maybe it has been suggested. Could be a cool last second addition

Guardians need some intervention from DCI. Members are not having a positive experience based on deleted social media posts. Posts that are deleted by moderators (admin of corps).

this was the first year that front ensembles could be amplified. I'm sure they did not have the mics out though.

Bluecoats live...wow Phantom live...wow The chord voicing in Crown's closer. There is a moment where the music just morphs into this gorgeous high tessitura while the hornline is doing a follow-the-leader snake drill. BD has a similar brass moment in their show in their opener. After about 2 1/2 minutes into the show. To me, those little nuances in voicings just really pop

Blue Stars - thank you for adjusting the drum majors uniform. SOOOOO much better than the original version.