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Drum Corps Announcers & Entrances


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I personally am tired of the standard script before shows. Even still, i'd be ok with it if each corps had a representative from their corps do the introduction.

Another thing I couldn't stand (with my relatively limited experience of actually watching live shows) while sitting in the audience was the awkward silence while the corps enter/exit the field...and when they are set in their opening drill form...standing there....and the crowd is quiet...for like 5 minutes....then finally the announcer comes in with the standard script. BORING! I remember people in the crowd even shushing others that were talking. The corps hadn't even been introduced yet! WTHell are you watching....the trumpets marking off their first set? Listening to the guard puting down their equipment?

The audience is never ready for the performance with an intro like that, unless thats how the show is written (to just start out of nowhere), which is one reason I like how the corps out there are performing before they are judged. Its awesome! They get the crowd ready for whats about to happen. Its like walking in to the Cirque's "Love" show in Vegas....as soon as you walk in to the lobby there is Beatles music playing, and the staff is dressed in costume, with the whole place wrapped up in the theme. I wanted to go in so bad! ...but I couldn't.... (no tix that night)

We need something to get the audience AND performers pumped up! Yes, its a judged competition...but its also a SHOW!

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Beavs brings up ANOTHER GREAT point. It was precisely because of that "uncomfortable silence" that I would start with "And now, entering the field, our next corps in competition...from the city of....please welcome...blah blah blah..." and then, I would read their show description as printed in the program or on their show info sheet. That is, my friends, called "filler". Then the corps would warm up. Or not. My job was to keep an eye on that. And then, at show time, I would do the formal, "On the field, from ____________, ".

Anyway...there you go...I think I've beaten the crap out of this topic.

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"Let's get ready to rummmmmmbbbbbbllllllllEEEEEEE!"

Bluecoats are already doing that :tongue:

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video in the op was a horrendous example of good announcing.

if i were fedor, i would have gnp'ed that lady before she was halfway done.

I guess you could say whats she is doing in the world of announcing is what The Cadets may be doing in the world of drum corps. Just sirring things up a bit. Adding a little variety...

I've seen mixed reviews of her style. Seems people either hate it, or they love it. ...like The Cadets.

What interested me the most was the likeness in color and shape that announcer has to The Mars Volta vocalist Cedric Bixler Zavala. (minus the rrrrrrrrrrrrrrr)

Back on topic though, I would like to see these new themed enterances and exits that corps seem to be using more often become a standard drum corps practice. I find that I pay much more attention to the whole show when I am instantly captured in the theme of it before the judged starting point. Keep in mind, I am talking generally here. Plenty of drum corps have very effective show beginnings when they don't let the audience know whats happening 'til the first judged downbeat.

I do remember having some crazy announcers go totally off script and get the audience really pumped. I think it may have been back in DCM days though... I don't think I'll ever forget the "....Stiiiill Uuundefeateeed...." at one or two shows. I didn't even think about it until the announcer said it that night. I think it was the first time in a while I got real nervous before performing the show. Thats the kinda stuff I wanna hear though! It brings out the competitive aspect, AND the showy (is that a word?) aspect of the event. Think about corps members on the jumbotron getting interviewed right after their performance, maybe doing a bit of trash talking too. Ok, maybe thats a little to far. :tongue:

...so I'm guessing no one is down with lights displays and recorded or performed music as the corps enters the field? Sounds like most responding don't even like the pre-show shows...

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Nothing other that "the field is yours"

Maybe less is more...

For corps that need no introduction this may be very effective. Almost as if the announcer doesn't want to ruin the production with their inferior intro.

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Cadets will do it next year.

I like "taking the field". There is a difference between being on the field and taking it for competition. In one you are just there, it the other its yours for your show.

It could be a figurative "take the field," as you say. Taking the field could mean doing your thing, or show. You own it for that next few minutes.

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