kevingamin Posted April 13, 2008 Share Posted April 13, 2008 Last night, I had the pleasure of attending my first ever Serenade in Brass concert in Harrisburg, PA. I also had the pleasure of covering the concert for Drum Corps World. The final article will appear in an upcoming edition of DCW but, until then, please enjoy these "stream of consciousness" notes I took during the performance. Reading Alumni - Very strong sound. Dressed in "old-school" unis. Ended show with tribute to competitive corps, "Beyond the Sea".St. Joe's - Snares playing on indoor drums. Corps opens with “Irish Washerwoman” from Pioneer '98. Donny Allen conducting, soloing, and whipping the crowd into a frenzy. Excellent sound from the hornline during the ballad, especially from the low brass and soprano soloists. Crowd is very into the performance. Percussion really grooving during Latin portion of the show, complete with "Rumps". Horns turn "backfield" to start Georgia, then face front and come to the lip of the stage to rip face. First standing O of the night. Reilly Raiders - First row of corps sits in chairs to keep from blocking sound from behind them. Contras put out a lot of sound for just 5 horns. Very balanced sound from the hornline. Excellent soprano duet during "Knights in White Satin". Change of mood to swing with "April in Paris". A very old school drum solo, reminiscent of the 70's, complete with plenty of stick visuals. Wall of sound during "Riverdance", but the quality does not suffer. An Irish themed color presentation, first of the night. "I'll Be Home for Christmas" closes out the performance. Westshoremen Alumni - The drumline played the cleanest cadence of the night to bring the corps on. Large ensemble takes up most of the stage. Opener is "America the Beautiful", a beautiful chorale arrangement. This is a well polished performance by the entire corps. A raunchy blues intro to "Big Noise from Winnetka" gets the crowd prepped for the full out Bridgemen 1980 version. The drumline is competition quality, both in book arrangement and performance. Expressive soprano and mellophone soloists during the ballad. An extended mellophone solo led into "Blues in the Night". Soprano trio made a member of the pit very excited to the point of testifying. Ritchee Price blew the house down with his incredible range and ability. Mass Brass - This mini-corps showed why they won the afternoon competition. Horns were very tight and well balanced with a lot of energy performing "Malaga", "Concerto de Aranjuez" and "Legend of the One-Eyed Sailor". The drum set player was also worth watching as well as listening to, playing with gusto. Sopranos were able to scream, while the 3 contras played intricate split parts. The 20 member ensemble easily filled the auditorium. US Naval Academy - As a military unit, you expect precision. The Navy did not disappoint. Opening with "Battle Cry of Freedom", the corps switched moods with "Hymnsong to Philip Bliss". A medley of music from the Indiana Jones featured the contras doing a Piston Brothers routine during "The Raiders March", with another mood change moving into the love theme. The drum solo brought the pace back up and featured flashy cross sticking between the snares and tenors. "Adagio for Strings" brought a somber tone to the performance. Before the corps finished their show, each graduating member of the Naval Academy was announced and received a standing ovation by the appreciative crowd. Evoking the Cavaliers of 1995, the corps then performed "Mars, Bringer of War". The corps finished their performance with a medley of "Anchors Aweigh" and "The Marine Hymn". Hip Pickles - This is my first viewing of the Hip Pickles. Three man performing group, got their start at DCA I&E. All percussion with some flashing lights and vocals to add to the energy. Performers never stayed still, bouncing all over the stage as they played. Very exciting, thunderous performance. Bridgemen Alumni - Due to the time it took for the pit to set up, the corps started whistling the Jeopardy theme. Once the corps got going, they really got going, opening with the theme from "Shaft", originally from 1982 and just as exciting. The Dennis DeLucia drum book is very meaty and the drumline was up to the challenge. The energy remained high with "Big Noise from Winnetka", performed in 1980. One of the drum majors invoked his AARP membership and took a seat in the crowd while the corps performed this year's tribute to a corps from the past with their ballad, which served as the Sky Ryders closer in 1982, including "Over the Rainbow", the Sky Ryders' corps song. "My Favorite Things" from the St. Andrews days of the corps, makes a return this year. The drum solo portion of the piece, however, is expanded and intensified. The corps finished with the 2nd half of "In the Stone". With cries of "one more!!!" from the crowd, however, the corps encored with the final tag of "William Tell". Park City Pride - This corps had a small brass ensemble and the percussion line play the rest of the corps on. The rest of the hornline joined and added their impressive volume once they were on the stage. "Night and Day" was the first full corps piece. After a brief drum intro, "Anything Goes" continued the Cole Porter theme. The line of snare and single tom drum played impressively throughout the show. "Ecstasy of Gold" featured a soprano duet and evoked memories of the Troopers from years past. The drum solo featured old school rudiments, stick visuals, and lots of high powered drumming which was also very clean. "I'll Be Seeing You" showed the corps' softer side as well as excellent soprano soloists. The color presentation of "God Bless America" began as a ballad with soprano, but became a full out patriotic march once the main melody began and finished the show with great energy. Hawthorne Caballeros Alumni - The Cabs Alumni honor guard came up through one of the audience tunnels as opposed to the stage, which allowed the corps to enter the stage quickly. A soprano soloist played "The Call to the Bull", followed by the drumline playing the corps on. A line of single valve French horns sat at the front of the stage, waiting to be played. Larry Kerschner led the corps in a warm-up which reached deafening levels of sound, then passed the baton to Jimmy Russo. The corps began with the opener of the ‘74 Muchachos, with Frank Ponzo filling the role of Jeff Kievet admirably. The drum solo thundered thanks to the old school drumming and a drumline with killer chops, and then led into various brass duets and ensembles playing with corps accompaniment. A fast paced blast from the Caballeros past allowed a soprano duet to blow the crowd away and also featured excellent baritone and soprano soloists. Frank Ponzo switched to flugelhorn for the next piece, a laid back but still energetic piece which saw the mellophones switch to the French horns and just wail. The horns moved out of the way and let the drums have center stage for their solo, and they did not disappoint, featuring many stick visuals. The corps closed with another Cabs classic with even more screaming soprano soloists and, of course the Rumps. The Caballeros and Bridgemen hornlines combined to perform Larry Kerschner's arrangement of "Taps for Maynard", a reprise of last year's tribute to the passing of Maynard Ferguson. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimbalaya Posted April 13, 2008 Share Posted April 13, 2008 Thanks fir the review Kevin. For those of us unable to be there it made good reading. Musta been another incredible indoor entertainment extravaganza. Thanks to Five Star and all performers J Last night, I had the pleasure of attending my first ever Serenade in Brass concert in Harrisburg, PA. I also had the pleasure of covering the concert for Drum Corps World. The final article will appear in an upcoming edition of DCW but, until then, please enjoy these "stream of consciousness" notes I took during the performance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eploskunyak Posted April 13, 2008 Share Posted April 13, 2008 Last night, I had the pleasure of attending my first ever Serenade in Brass concert in Harrisburg, PA. I also had the pleasure of covering the concert for Drum Corps World. The final article will appear in an upcoming edition of DCW but, until then, please enjoy these "stream of consciousness" notes I took during the performance. I think you confused The Park City Pride's "How The West Was Won" with "Ecstasy of Gold"? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeinGreen Posted April 13, 2008 Share Posted April 13, 2008 (edited) Reilly closed with... "Ill Be Home for Christmas"? hahaha, yep, thats our signature tune alright, I suspect a prankster? edit: oh wait "When Irish Eyes Are Smiling" does sound similar melodically... kinda Edited April 14, 2008 by BeinGreen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaminbenb Posted April 13, 2008 Share Posted April 13, 2008 Not a bad read at all! (as good as Westshore was, imagine if they did this ALL the time instead of 3-4 practices each year!...God I wish!) I realized last night that 30 years ago I did my first Serenade with the Hershey Chocolatiers! (then a whole bunch with Westshore and Reading after that) This was my second year back to see it as a spectator and it never fails to please! (Best $16.00 I ever spent!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cabhorn Posted April 13, 2008 Share Posted April 13, 2008 " Deafening Levels of Sound" Boy, I've never heard it put that way before!!!! Yeah It's loud, but it's great to play it.. Maybe it will preceed the Pictures of Spain piece on the field... What a lead in. Great show this year.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donny Drum Corps Posted April 13, 2008 Share Posted April 13, 2008 Larry H. and crew from 5 Star Brass pull off another great weekend of early season drum corps. Thanks for the review Kevin! Donny Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ironlips Posted April 13, 2008 Share Posted April 13, 2008 (edited) I think you confused The Park City Pride's "How The West Was Won" with "Ecstasy of Gold"?No doubt Kevin appreciates Ernie's clarification of Park City's repertoire. It was indeed Alfred Newman's "How the West Was Won" that the corps played last night, arranged by the late Joe Genero, originally for St. Raphael's Golden Buccaneers. It was conducted with great panache on stage at Harrisburg by Skip Gallant, reprising his performance with St. Raphael's back in the day, standing before some of the very same players. That is the essence of the pride in Park City. ("Ecstasy of Gold" is by Ennio Morricone, from the film "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly", one of the classic spaghetti westerns of the '60s.) Edited April 15, 2008 by ironlips Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boomboom Posted April 14, 2008 Share Posted April 14, 2008 I think the audience response said it all last night. WONDERFUL performances by everyone last night. Incredible talent ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Ream Posted April 14, 2008 Share Posted April 14, 2008 great write up Kevin, and good to see you. BTW, blame me for Richie playing Rocky. I joked with him after the Am session to throw some in there, and he did. btw the ballad was All The Things You Are on behalf of Westshore, thanks to Five Star, Susquehanna Twp HS, Southwestern HS, Carlisle HS, The Reading Bucanneers, Red Land HS and huge thanks to Rudy at Pearl and Zildjian. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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