frachel

I did some timings many years back (will have to find the message) and some top shows nowadays the brass plays for 4-5 minutes, vs a show like 87 where it was ~10 minutes.

I've linked to the lead sop sheet music for this show many times over the years - there was not a lot of rests. Maybe 80% instead of 90%, not sure.. but it was pretty much playing the whole show.

'87 Garfield, and I bet there are plenty of others.

I'll probably get hate for this, but if you watch some headcam videos or transcriptions and you'll find that a lot of the brass books aren't as challenging as you think they are. Great and clever arranging makes a lot of things sound challenging that for the individual player really aren't.

How many years until we just have an orchestra sitting on the field with guard doing work behind them? I don't care about original instrumentation of the music. If I wanted to hear that I'd go hear the original, played in in the right setting with the right instrumentation.

My mom and grandmother were parent chaperones back in the late 80's for a week around mid-season. Unfortunately for me, they yanked me from the corps based on what they discovered going on in the buses!

I brought a drum corps newbie to Allentown Saturday - the only drum corps she's ever seen was a video I made her watch of the 2016 Bridgemen Alumni since I was in that one. Here are some observations that I found interesting. We didn't have a program, so all we had to go on was the announcer telling us the name of the corps and the title of the show - Pretty much no shows conveyed any story or theme to her (or me either). The closest were the Mandarins "If I Must Fall" because there was a lot of falling and getting up. Aside from that, the titles were meaningless and at the end of each show I asked "any idea what that show was about?" and she had no idea - probably because they rely on too much "inside baseball" knowledge. For example, Academy "London Fog" - so they carried lanterns at the start which conveys foggy weather, but other than that nothing about the show conveyed the theme of London Fog. Maybe the music was by composers from London? Maybe the song titles had something to do with London or fog? No idea, but just knowing the title and watching the show didn't convey any type of story or theme where we'd say "oh yeah, that was about foggy london landscape". - Her favorite "marching" was the Cavaliers - said it just looked the most "together" and "smooth". - She had no idea where to look or what to focus on. Missed many "wow/big" moments due to looking somewhere else on the field. To her there were not a lot of cues to focus your eyes to a particular region of the field. - Her favorite was Crown - she felt they really started off by setting a dark and ominous tone with the colors/props/intro sounds and music, and she thought they were the most "musical" - which to her meant it felt like "music" and not (her words) "blats, silence, and then long loud chords" - Her - "why do the horn players gyrate so much" - Favorite props of the night were BAC's - was amazed at how versatile they were. Came out as big things that looked like solar systems.. then broke up into glowing balls on sticks, with the middle big ball also used independenty, and then the glowing balls come off the sticks which were both used on their own.. she was very impressed with those and how from how they came on the field she had no idea they'd be broken down into lots of little props. - The only music she recognized was the short blurb of Britney Spears' Toxic. - SCV was the least enjoyable for her - weird, unrecognizable and dissonant music, and thinking that the one person reminded her of the "wacky waving inflatable arm-flailing tubeman" from Family Guy.. and once that's in your head it doesn't go away. And the guard looked like "Highlighters". - She thought the DM's take their salutes way too seriously. - Thought the ambient electronic noises and voiceovers were weird, especially the one in the Crossmen's show (do they say 'wait' or something all throughout the show, I forget?) Now in the end - she did enjoy it and it was a fun evening - she thought the performers were great and was amazed at what the guards were doing out there. Not being from marching band or corps, nor a musician, she doesn't get why a high note gets applause, or why after a trumpet player plays a high note they look so serious and convey "yeah, Im a ######" with their post-high-note actions and celebrations (I play trumpet so I had to explain that one to her lol) And she wants to go again next year (though next time will bring seat cushions!) This year I didn't watch any shows before Allentown, I haven't been on here much and really didn't know anything about the shows either, and came away with the same conclusion - if you don't actively research and follow the activity and just go to a show or two, the shows really aren't going to have any meaning nor tell a story that a layperson is going to understand or figure out.. hence the "inside baseball" phrase used earlier. My 3 favorites in order (was only there Saturday) - Crown, BAC, Mandarins/Cavaliers (tie).

Was there last night and pretty sure it got stepped on (at least I thought so since I mentioned it as it happened to the person with me). It stretched a little and then snapped out from under the persons foot (I think a tuba paler? can't recall).

Saw a post on the DCP FB group just about 30 mins ago someone selling 2 for tomorrow.

I'll be going Saturday - just noticing there isn't a single "Blue*" corps - that seems almost statistically impossible, lol!

Bump with a change - just looking for 2 tickets for Saturday night Allentown.

Title says it all, LF 2 tickets for each night.

I don't get this reasoning. We have 150+ kids, in costumes, marching and dancing on a football field with brass instruments, 20 drums, synths, multiple mallet/keyboards, etc. - there is nothing "musically appropriate" about any of that for most of the music they're playing. That used to be, for me at least, the "draw" of drum corps - to hear and see the music in a setting with instrumentation it was in no way created for. Brass playing brass, string, and woodwind parts. Arrangers working magic to make that music fit into the instrumentation of this activity. If the original has a soprano sax solo, I want to hear it done on brass. Personally, I don't care what instruments the source music was written for, I want to see what they can do with Brass and percussion with it. If I wanted to hear the original instrumentation, I'd go to the proper venue for that. The football field isn't it.

I couldn't agree more. I didn't think it would be as impactful to me as it ended up being (back in 2016 w/Bridgemen Alumni) - I'd recommend it to anyone that has the chance! Not an alumni corps, but the most "moved" I've ever been (outside of familial things) was being a part of the Free Players when they performed in Indy in 2018. The audience reaction for those kids was something to behold. I'm so glad they kept the focus on the kids and not us adults playing the music (though we did have 2 or 3 of the kids in the brass section!)