Leaderboard

Windmills were professionally built in California after thoughtful engineering by the design team. The design of the show included the Windmills and is incorporated into the animation (yes you can actually watch the drill to music on the computer). They were driven cross country and delivered to last winter camp in Florida and yes they were out on the field as the corps played and marched though the first 2 1/2 minutes of the show. They will be in every day during move ins and all details will be worked out as the rest of the show is put our on the field. The show information that was outlined on the Annual Fund and shipped out to all supporters as mentioned here.

Boom https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8T095mFdW8

Send it to me, I'll evaluate and let you know,

OMG, same people bickering as before.... I like trombones. They sound good. They're prettier when they're silver. I see they will be used in 2016. Can't wait to see when a corps decides to actually march them in a show. I better they'll be ok.

Developing a show and searching for an ending? These tips from improvisational theater guru Viola Spolin may help. Spolin is the mother of theatrical improv, and a great source for developing a through line and ending for your production. Don't settle for the ending of climbing on top of your prop. Instead, develop a through line of continually heightening action, and the ending will appear. If you can't come up with an ending, that means you haven't decided on a through line yet. Endings come from the heightening of the action you've already set up. Write a brief storyboard of what happens in your show. (e.g., characters pop out of storybooks, they interact in new interpretations, and at the end, a child appears, gathers all the characters and reminds the audience to listen.) Think of an elevator speech for your show, 30 seconds or less. What happens. Define the action. "Geometric shapes evolve into abstract patterns, and back again, just like the 60's political landscape." Check out these types of endings. A “hook”, a final repeating of an action or movement (SCV Fog City Sketches) An unwelcome relapse of an incident indicating a predicament continues (Madison Band of Brothers) A final absurd instance of an escalated action (VK Shark eats the Valkyrie) A switching of temperament where one group takes on the other's attitude A surprise emotion or temperament (SCV Bottle Dance) Contamination, where all parties take on the same characteristic that they've been resisting (Cavaliers Machine) An unlikely agreement between two forces (Angels and Demons) An unexpected reversal of attitude or emotion (Spartacus)

Whatever does or does not happen . . . the short answer is laws and lawyers. -Larry Harper, Jr. Executive Director Carolina Gold

Also, one can research wave augmentation, phase and cancellation in acoustics, A set of instruments playing the same pitch but out of tune degrades the total resultant wave strength, due to interference. At the extreme you can create the pitch completely out of phase and cancel the sound (this is how noise-cancelling headphones work). When all the instruments are completely in tune the resultant wave is stronger and perceived as louder and clearer. Bear in mind that "loudness" is also partially perceived as greater when there are additional pitches and waveforms in a sound (noise), which can contribute to the historical perception that BITD G bugle lines were louder, even though most would agree they were not as clear or as "in-tune". It goes to the quality versus (perceived) quantity of sound argument, aka clarity versus sheer perceived volume. A jet engine, with its accompanying "noise", will always be perceived as louder than a pure (think a simple sine wave) sound wave played at the same sound pressure (Decibel) level.

Considering the people Jesus spoke of were not the same as lawyers of today, and considering Shakespeare's statement was actually a compliment in the context it was made, I'd say it's two swings and two misses.

Crown BD SCV Cadets Bluecoats Blue Knights Phantom Madison Cavaliers Troopers Crossmen Boston

Warm and cool? Methinks you've never actually BEEN there. Surface of the sun in the day/arctic winter at night are FAR more accurate....ask any alum.

I'm taking advance donations for my son's 2017-2021 marching seasons ...

And yet, Jesus and Shakespeare are both dead, while we lawyers are still around. Poets & Prophets 0 - Barristers and Solicitors 1

And will there also not be any video for sale? Meaning basically, if you don't live a reasonable driving distance from a DCA show, it may as well not exist? That's no way to encourage growth.

This succeeds their wonderful efforts as far back as the Sabach days when they partnered their contests with the breast cancer efforts. Remember the pink plumes, gloves, etc. Kudos to Crown and to other corps (e.g. Jersey Surf, Colts, Blue Stars) who link their performances and practices with food drives for local food pantries for the needy. Part of our activity's educational efforts to form our young adults and counter the narcissism of our times by doing for others. Kudos to all.

Received some news this morning and so ask all of you to say a prayer for one of our own. Peter Crawford is at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, FL and was given some news none of us would want to hear. Please send some prayers and positive vibes his way. I am going to try to get up there tomorrow after school to make him laugh! He's one heck of a fighter and we need to be in his corner. Thank you in advance!

Scenario: You have to pick one clip that you will use to sell drum corps to a friend who has never seen nor heard of it. You have to be confident enough in your choice that your friend would, at the very least, agree to check out a show with you. For me, it would be the Bluecoats' closer from Tilt.

Cool guard uniforms. The corps proper...ehh..it's nice, but I think they should change the cummerbund and sash to match that crossbelt.

Only during Lent.

If I recall, the live streaming was supplied through and/or in conjunction and/or cooperation with the DCI Fan Network. so............it could be deemed a system wide issue within the whole activity itself, not simply DCA. A domino effect, of sorts.

nah, percussion is heavily college students. Difference is many of them "marched" WGI indoor season and didn't take the same courses the horn line members chose as the percussionists were busy every weekend with three days of indoor practices and camps as well as performances. As you know, only so many percussionists in symphony and wind ensembles that horn line members entail; some colleges and universities not in New England or Northwest have also begun semester final exams and graduations ceremonies for which horn line attendance is mandatory to get the full credit for the course. Foreign members of the hornline were not required to be present for this camp so as to ease their costs of travels before Spring Training which begins in two weeks. Other corps use different scheduling models. This one has worked for Cadets for several seasons.

Brass line is full. I think they're marching 12 tubas. Late April/early May commitments for college students.

You are correct.

Yup. It's what killed the Hershey show. Acheson even testified by phone at the trial. You'd think they'd learn

Great responses!!!

Looking at 2018

Oh, is that why you named him "Owing" ??? ha, ha... (He's making a great Cadet, an appellation one earns traditionally upon the completion of marching one's first contest in uniform for them {whatever it might be.])

I'm biased but 89 was ok

Because DCI & its member corps do not own those types of rights: they'd maybe be liable if they weren't proactively submitting YouTube takedowns. Besides, ANY business wants to be in control of information & product release, no industry more so that entertainment. I get why DCI wouldn't want lowish quality bootleg video as a representation of their product

The facts behind this are "Resonance" and "Harmonics". Resonance: Resonance happens when an object sounds a note, another object tuned to the same note starts vibrating and giving sound of the same note. So we get a louder tone when there are resonating objects around. Harmonics: When a note is played the base frequency and its multiples are also sounded (eg. a vibrating 440Hz A string gives sounds in 880, 1320, 1760Hz...etc frequencies as well). Base note is the first harmonic that we perceive as the name of the note. It's following harmonics are also sounded with less and less magnitude (octave, octave + perfect fifth, second octave, second octave + major third...etc.). So, if you play a note you can make resonate and sound everything around you tuned to the same note, its octave, perfect fifth, major third, minor third, seventh, ninth...etc. resulting in a very strong sound. Harmonics and acoustic resonance is very effective on instrument boards, well tuned open strings, sounding instruments with good intonation, vocal cords, and naturally on acoustic ensembles like drum corps brass lines. This effect multiplies a lot in ensembles (especially large ones), making every instrument resonate, from bottom to top. If every player has a very good intonation, chords and crossing notes will sound not only louder but better in quality. Good intonation is also very helpful in playing quality quiet tones and chords with little effort. This is one of the reasons why good players and ensembles can make the same instruments sound different and better than average players. I'll give you a classic example of this effect, and I'll even do it with a 2-valve G bugle brass line....1985 Suncoast Sound. That line was so in tune, and the resonance of the line played so well with the harmonics being generated that the resulting overtones were audible on the recording itself...notes *not* written in the original music. You can hear it in the final push of Simple Song at Sunrise, where a very loud mello-type sound comes out of the ensemble. I'd tell you what the note was but I'm not near my phone/mp3 player at the moment. I more modern example you can hear for yourself live at any show. Go check out Devils or Crown in the lot when they tune. They have tuning methods that demonstrate the volume rising as the line gets more and more in in tune (there are a couple of clips floating around YouTube of Crown doing this)...and they are instructed *not* to play louder (and it would be noticeable if individuals did).

If Corps wanted Mfg, of brass instruments to make for them brass instruments in the key of G, todays technology would not only allow these Mfg's to do so, the quality of the G's would naturally be of far better quality than that of earlier generations of the production of the G's. The tubing could absolutely be provided to accommodate the music corps play today, imo. Don't take my word for it.... ask any of the Mfg's themselves if the current technology is now available to do so. They will tell us...... " yes ". However, lets bear in mind what has driven these decisions. DCI corps increasingly utilize conventional marching band instrumentation because it allows these Corps better access to that scholastic marching band community's personnel. Since the adoption of DCI in the 70's, it has been the indisputable stated objective of DCI to align itself with the scholastic marching band community. For all intents and purposes, that 40 year quest has been successfully attained. Thus, the fact that these DCI musical units have the increasing appearance of scholastic marching bands, with the conventional marching band instrumentation utilization, is of little to no surprise to most anyone anymore, Rocketman.

Especially their finals run; that corps seemed to be hungry and 'went for it' to unseat the semifinal winners. People can take the side of "crown had a flat show" or whatnot, but BD really seemed to be on fire finals night (from what I heard/saw online)

The Hit Men Brass Band are auditioning tuba players to fill a opening later this summer. This paid position requires a commitment of 30 to 35 performances yearly. Applicants must live in the Western New York area, be able read music and perform at a advanced level on the move. Transportation and everything needed to perform is provided. Interested candidates please reply to hitmenbrassband@yahoo.com.

Apparently they'd be the first drum corps group to think of this if so. Mike

Agreed. I've paid a few grand so far for tuitions this winter for Cadets MMs. I do every year.

Well, there is also the desired sound and teaching approaches to factor in for each era. Plus, there is also rose-colored memory of how much different/better it was in the past, true or not. In addition, there is a perceived volume of brass when compared to percussion sections with far fewer people and instruments, esp going waaaay back. And gong back the brass charts were a lot more vertical in nature as opposed to horizontal, given the tick era of lining up attacks and releases to avoid ticks. IMO your assertion is just not true.

If ticket sales are dwindling, there's no reason to put up a live feed. That just discourages people from actually attending. I can understand blacking out the broadcast for the first 150 miles, but that's a cost I'm certain DCA can't afford. Heck they could barely afford an OK feed last year. Now there is potential to think that perhaps, they're saving their pennies by cutting the live feed and its music fees, in return to put that towards a finals DVD instead. That might be a longshot, but its possible. Just because they aren't selling 2015 dvds, doesn't mean they aren't trying for a 2016 dvd.

When you hear the announcement the clue will make sense. They have a real uphill battle this year. Pulling off a 3 peat is no easy task. (just ask the Cadets and the Cavaliers). All I can say is I have not seen them so determined in recent years. Hornline is doing stuff I never heard from them in a way that I think pays homage to the gang who has been up ending them recently. Drumline is punch you in the mouth aggressive and the pit is playing super fast. Dave Gibbs told them that they have to decide now if they want it. Not during finals week but NOW. Best speech I ever heard him say.

DCI can go after videos taken from productions they have made, but they do not need to go after videos they did not produce.

Glad to see the predictions are having the desired effect! It's an awesome juxtaposition. And...DCP has been taking itself seriously WAY too much lately.

2001 Madison. A much undervalued corps.

Another one for me is 1991 SCV. That entire show is, IMO, maybe the best example of marching percussion arranging in modern DCI (still), with the inventive use of sound effects, staging, and really utilizing the common timbres of the battery (especially upper) to marvelous effect. And the way the corps started the show, with (IIRC) the entire brass, guard, and drum line off the field and the sprinting onto the field as the drums were mimicking the sound of helicopters (not only an integral sound effect to the musical, but awesome foreshadowing of "The Fall Of Saigon"). Seeing that show, to me, was integral. That show was my first live DCI show, and seeing that in person almost knocked me off my seat in awe, and that excitement built right from the get go with that opening moment

I'm on a boat m........looks interesting. :)

Yea, I'm sure the stadium officials looked something like this: $8 for a beer is about the average for a major conference college stadium.

http://www.usbankstadium.com/faq/ "The MSFA will maximize the use of the stadium by attracting events that create economical, fiscal and social benefits to the State and local communities, including NCAA competitions, a Super Bowl, college bowl games, concerts, civic, community and not-for-profit events." It's owned/operated by the MFSA, not the Vikings. They are way more open to hosting events like this than you would think. Also: http://www.youthinmusic.org/

Well, it is a field built and designed for U of M activities. So in this particular case the U of M Football coach likely has priority over the scheduling of the field; especially if both the DCI event and football camp were scheduled on top of each other. The coach or admin could yield; and might if it were an event that featured the U of M Athletic Bands, or if it were a major commercial revenue event like U2 or the Rolling Stones. But DCI, while it may bring in some revenue, is likely in their eyes just a marching band event that is flat irrelevant for the recruitment of students to attend U of M; whereas the football camp is a good recruitment tool for students to potentially choose attending U of M for their education.

It's a beautiful thing. April camp.

I'm also not buying the U of M's story about the two events being double-booked. Jerry Kill was the coach when the DCI event would have been added to the calendar. He stepped down last fall and the new coach would have added this football camp sometime late last year or this winter. I'm calling shenanigans on the U. But also a bit on DCI for not getting a signed contract in place. Especially since they were burned last year.

You can see BD B rehearsing on mars in google maps!