trombones and french horns

[BRASSO]

Brasso are you funnin with us? I do like banjos, though.

I do have fun on here.. well, most of the time anyway. I like the sound of the banjo too.... well sorta. Keith Urban's not bad on it, imo, when he uses it in some songs over that of his guitar.

[Bone-Tone Lord]

This thread has enough salt to open a McDonald's. You people need to calm down. Drum corps has always been just band.

[corpsband]

hey man i just wanted another hitler video i could laugh at and though this would be easy topic. obviously it is :-)

[HockeyDad]

This thread has enough salt to open a McDonald's. You people need to calm down. Drum corps has always been just band.

That's some revisionist history there. I would agree it's been band for a couple decades but it was once quite different from band.

[Cappybara]

That's some revisionist history there. I would agree it's been band for a couple decades but it was once quite different from band.

From the Oxford Dictionary:

Band: "A group of musicians who play brass, wind, or percussion instruments"

Please tell me more about this revisionist history, HockeyDad.

[JoshClements403]

I still contend that there are significant differences between the addition of trombones & french horns and the possibility of woodwinds (or heck, even strings). People object to trombones and french horns as an attack on tradition - "they're not bugles!" But musically, they offer much the same in power, tone and strength (for the most part) as the traditional drum corps brass. It's still a brass ensemble, which provides the same musical sense to the audience, with or without trombones/horns.

But woodwinds are not just an attack on tradition - they're also a fundamental aural change in the impression made by the outdoor music group, and a huge reduction in the group's volume and impact. Ask yourselves - would you be willing to reduce the impact of your brass line by one player to add one woodwind? Why in the world would anyone want to reduce the impact of their sound, just to get that additional timbre in the mix, whose sound would probably not carry over the brass in any event? Are you going to slap a wireless microphone on every woodwind player to make them heard? Or are the rules going to increase the 150 player limit to 180 so directors can add 30 woodwinds? If so, and you were a director, would you add those 30 woodwinds, or 30 more brass?

Yes, it can certainly happen, and some director would probably experiment with it to see if it works. I just don't see it actually working, and not from a "tradition" sense, but just from common sense. They march in high school because high schools have never thought to prohibit them - the entire indoor band is welcome to march outdoors. But even so, band directors are always happy when a woodwind wants to pick up brass for the outside season. I've never ever seen a band director ask a brass player to put down his horn and pick up a woodwind, though.

(PS - I'm not a woodwind player, but I've heard that the maintenance expense due to using them outdoors can also be extremely costly)

As a saxophonist, it's impractical to march woodwinds. Weather affects the pads and reeds and maintenance is crazy when you change climates when taking a trip across the country for example

[flammaster]

Not all of us are "dead" or "no longer follow DCI" B, but when the directors eventually allow woodwinds, that's when my DCP interests ( and watching the demise of Drum and Bugle Corps.) come home to roost, and I'll wish all an adieu.

They are allowed in I&E already. See Ya!

(I love an online suicide note)

[Cappybara]

As a saxophonist, it's impractical to march woodwinds. Weather affects the pads and reeds and maintenance is crazy when you change climates when taking a trip across the country for example

Yep there's no way corps would ever march a line of woodwinds, ever. I could maybe see soloists but woodwind instruments are affected quite a bit by simple humidity, not just rain. I had a marching piccolo in high school and used a separate concert piccolo provided by the school. My marching piccolo would often need its pads replaced midseason even without any rain whatsoever. It's just impractical to use woodwind instruments outdoors.

[jjeffeory]

Yep there's no way corps would ever march a line of woodwinds, ever. I could maybe see soloists but woodwind instruments are affected quite a bit by simple humidity, not just rain. I had a marching piccolo in high school and used a separate concert piccolo provided by the school. My marching piccolo would often need its pads replaced midseason even without any rain whatsoever. It's just impractical to use woodwind instruments outdoors.

You say that now, but I could see a Sax line being marched, and maybe Oboe or Bassoon soloist.

Honestly, I remember watching RCC MB playing Channel One Suite one year. They had a sax line, but are more brass oriented than most marching bands. In comparison to Blue Devils arrangements of Channel One Suite, which was arranged by the same guy, I believe ( I believed at the time), I didn't care for the sound that the saxes add to the sound.

That's just me though....

[Bone-Tone Lord]

While I don't want to see DCI in its present state add woodwinds overall, it would be interesting to see what would happen if they established a regular marching band instrumentation division (or two, to go with the two brass-only divisions) with woodwinds alongside the existing brass-only divisions. However, I just don't see there being enough support and interest to run both. It would probably be better for BOA to bring back its summer program (they had that in the 70s and 80s- my high school band performed in it), but allow independent groups in addition to scholastic groups rather like WGI. Unlike DCI, they could possibly require woodwinds alongside brass, percussion, and guard to avoid being in as much competition with DCI itself. I doubt it would ever be as popular as DCI, but it could possibly do some combined events with DCI, rather like what DCI currently does by having a few DCA corps performing at its events. It could be described there as the "all-instrument class," rather like the "all-age class" they currently use when DCA corps perform at DCI events.

Perhaps DCI could even add a drum and fife corps division for woodwind-only groups.