Logan313

As little as Sal and I saw eye to eye in 2002 I really started to appreciate his influence in the corps in 2003. Honestly, staff changes have hurt the corps. Trying to develop an identity with developing ideas in teaching, and how the corps should sound is very difficult. In 2002 we were all really green and didn't know that success wasn't really any option. In 2003 we were too full of ourselves to realize that we actually had to work hard to be successful again; and only realized it too late into the season to change our positions. In 2004 Seattle tried to go a different direction with its show and go with something that reflected the PNW: nature. It didn't quite jive with the audience too well but was a better complete package than in 2003. I would say that Seattle's success is 50% staff and design and 50% member expectations. Members are focusing more on the placement and getting back into finals than actually cleaning the show and having fun while performing it. It takes maturity to learn that aspect of things most of the time, but it's also taken 3 years now without the right effect.

Scades show isn't complete right now. There are still a lot of general effect things that the design staff would like to put into the program, but that they can't even attempt until the members can fully grasp what they currently have. Also, they're suffering another same-ole, same-ole with a caption head leaving right before the beginning of tour. In 2002, before auditions John Lack left as the visual caption head, and the corps got John Freeman. In 2003, before auditions John Freeman left as the visual caption head, and the corps got Preston. In 2004, mid-way through camps the corps lost Dan Pham as their caption head and got Jeff something... In 2004, after 2 weeks of tour, Jeff left the corps and Travis was moved from brass tech to caption head. Last year, they had a complete staff for once. Now, John Lack again leaves the corps but this time right before all-days = no brass caption head. If only my favorite design team with Cascades could have gotten along well-enough in 2002 to stay together in 2003.

Last time I checked, a VOTING member on the BOD was the director of a corps that had place in the top 12 for the past 3 consecutive years. All directors are on the board, but not all are allowed a vote.

A View From the Center or Mt. Angel 2005 This evening I showed up early to watch the members pile into the buses and finish up shining those horns and taping those flags together. It was probably still in the upper 70's at 6pm and the members were definitely feeling the sweat dripping down their faces. Most of them were very excited to be getting out of Mt. Angel and onto the road, but a few of them were less than pleased with their seating situations. Oh, they liked their seat partner, but some of the personalities around them were not going to allow them to sleep as much as they would have liked this summer. I said my hellos to the program and support staff and made my way over to the visual warmup area. I talked with Brett Harbur who started a new tradition with Seattle Cascades by making bracelets/anklets for the rifle-line in the color of the guard uniforms (which BTW are absolutely the best uniforms DCI has seen in a LONG time--similar to Cavaliers '02). The staff also got some of these but in green and silver. I watched the cookshack semi back into the cookshack but not latch in so it pushed the cookshack itself about 3 feet and then watched as some staff frantically tried to evaluate damage to it. I also watched how the hornline seemed unaffected and had great concentration on Jeremy Kelly during the entire fiasco. For those of you who are wondering about the staff bus: it appears that it's sick and isn't allowed to leave the hospital for a couple of days, so the staff is making the trek to California in the airporter. Sad for them. No DVD. No A/C even. If you see any of the staff buy them a beverage of some sort that Sal would approve of. A good amount of Alumni showed up to support the Cascades tonight and there was a very large support group from area local McNary High School. Kurt Jull explained to the packed stands about what the activity is and where it will take the members this year. He talked briefly about the show concept and explained that it wouldn't be as deep as last year's concept and thus much more received by the audience hopefully. Then the festivities began. The members took the field to much applause and did their usual warmup process. The judges were ready, the fans were ready, the staff was ready, and after about a 20 second delay, the corps was ready as well (it takes a long time to set those props). The narration adds a lot to the production and leads very well into the first impact where the visual design locked in for just a moment to give us a taste of what August will be like. The pacing of the show was amazing and the audience definitely could tell where certain things would take place. The changes from Friday were great additions and got the sort of GE reaction the staff was looking for. I would say that Airborne Symphony into Aerodynamics was the strongest part of the show with Redline experiencing a front-to-back phase in the trumpet section. All-in-all this was a good test audience for the members as it let them get some jitters out, and let the members know where they really have to work to get an audience response. What we liked we cheered and yelled for, what we didn't like we stayed quiet for. I even found myself jumping up and yelling in celebration when a rotation just locked in right away and I felt chills go down my back. When the show ended the members arced it up and played Ave Maria many of us were hoping for Imagine but it hadn't been worked enough to be performance ready.

Wrights is alright, but nothing works like Blue Magic. You can find it in most Wal-mart and Auto stores. It's basically a chrome polish, but it works on silver horns. It'll give it a much darker glow than Wrights will. After you use it 3-4 times, it'll begin to develop a coating on the horn and pretty much a simple wipe-down will be all you need to get the shine back.

Wow, seeing an old thread come alive is weird. I was like, wow, JJ is marching timp again for scades? He aged out with me. Then, I checked the date. Let's um.... start new threads if something dies for 6 months aight?

Okay, when Cascades were on Bugles (switching to Bb for 2004) the Contra part was written in bass clef, all other parts were written in treble... you just learned how to read treble cleff. Now, I imagine all the parts will be in their normal clefs.

Never.... ever... ever use a trumpet mouthpiece on a mellophone. The design of the trumpet cup and shank is for Bb instruments and for getting a soprano sound. The design of the mellophone mouthpiece is obviously for a mellophone. I wouldn't recommend a cornet mouthpiece either. Track down a Mello 6, or a Mello 6V. I started with a 6V on a Dynasty mello in 1998 and totally loved that mouthpiece. It made it much easier to control the pitches throughout the horn. I now use a Mello 6 because in the ensembles I play in I need to switch between whom I blend with. The mello 6 is much better if you can control the horn. Adapters are only there so you don't have to switch mouthpieces and adjust your embouchure. However, I don't recommend using one unless you absoultely have to. The intonation gets a little screwy, and it becomes much easier to overblow the horn--blowing right through the phat dynamic and into the take-it-down-a-notch dynamic.

My friend owns a King mello (not the new ones on Phantom's line). What I've noticed with it is this: - air flow is poor - intonation is great, once it's tuned - you can't "rape" the horn in the upper tessitura

It should have the same tendancies as the Yamaha YMP models. As long as it's a recent Bach at least. It has issues with the high F, for sure, which sucks because it's the concert Bb. If you get the F in tune, your tuning C is sharp. Since I find it easier to lower pitches I always tune myself to the high F and then just adjust in ensembles. The horn responds well to going flat, horribly to trying to raise the pitch. If you have tendency questions feel free to e-mail me. jreno@gladstone.uoregon.edu J-rad Cascades 2004 Mellophone Tech Cascades 2002 Alto Soloist Cascades 2003 Age-out