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Hi guys, someone sent me this link and I'm happy to see the discussion of my horns here👍 I'm the owner of Andalucia... So hello to everyone here!!!. Just a quick over view of the Bb Soprano. The original King K20 is a very light horn, without the third valve, the horn is extremely powerful, but the sound do spread when reaching its limit. Listen to some 1980's recordings and you will hear that. When DCI allowed three valve G bugle, the spreading issue were mostly contained but the horns can be very stuffy to play. The nature of G Soprano bugle requires turnings slide to be pushed in on certain notes, so it can be handful to use. When DCI switched to Bb, several companies tried the bugle bell on the Bb body and they couldn't get the horn to play in tune. I personally believe the reason behind it is due to the fact that big companies will only make horns they think will sell; a trumpet with soprano bell may not be desirable for regular use, so they stop researching after few failed attempted due to potential lack in financial incentive. There is a trick to make the bell work, but I will plead the fifth for now since the market is fairly cut throat and I don't want to see my horn being copied by another manufacture. The patent and trade mark is pending so I will keep the "soprano" spec low key until I'm protected. However, I will tell you that the power of the sound comes from the lead pipe, longer the lead pipe, more power you will get. On the trumpet body, simulation is required. I'll leave it at that. The shepherds crook is vital on this Bb soprano. The byproduct is added warmth to the sound but the functionality is important; again, I'll explain that after my patent and trademark is approved. My Bb soprano is substantially louder than all other horns listed on the previous thread, and it is extremely free, even through out the register. Due to the nature of Bb body, this horn is actually more superior than the G bugle in many ways - it is easier to play and the intonation is much more stable. Believe it or not, prior to Raiders, all of my sales were conducted with lead players around Southern California. The Phase II version with Bach 37-flare bell is used by several lead players at Disneyland. As for the Powerbore, there are two features on the Kanstul soprano that is different than the traditional model. The flare of the bell is narrower and it has a heavy receiver. I only utilized the bell, not the receiver. I don't believe in heavy bracing. Finally, Ayala HS of California will be using this soprano for the up coming Fall season, including their final performance at Bands of America Grand National. I personally believe many open class corps will look into my products. World class corps mostly locked in by big manufactures through multi-year contracts, so it may take a few years before one of them give my horn a try... Plus my marching tuba will not be ready till late fall.

The assistant band director of Ayala HS Jim Rogers was the Baritone soloist (93/94 BD), and Soprano soloist (96BD). They want that Soprano sound and the kids are being conditioned to play on the large bore - Not to mention they'll have 20 plus trumpet players, which will make a huge impact in the Lucas Oil Field during BoA finals. It will give drum corps an idea regarding the performance capability of my horn! The horn is very easy to play. Several Raiders's kids have contacted me via FB praising the horn. I expect a full report from the next weekend!!! My marketing strategy is actually not drum corps but large high schools and universities, as many of those directors used to March G bugles. It will be a reversed drum corps approach... While DCI is sounding more like marching band, I like to see high school band becoming like old drum corps.

Those are some good numbers. However, this isn't just a numbers game. The difference in tone and projection also comes from the shape of the bore and bell. Trumpets have cylindrical bores. This gives a trumpet a more piercing, "brassy" sound. A cornet has a conical bore, which means the bore gradually increases in size down its length. A conical bore instrument will produce a warmer, darker sound. A bugle, including Andalucia's has a conical bore like a cornet, but it has a much larger bore size and bell size, which allows the instrument to sound louder and project further than a cornet, but with a different timbre than a trumpet.

I went to rehearsals today and saw the first 4 minutes. Starts slow and beautiful with Ecstasy of Gold then becomes loud and intense when Medea is mixed in. Brass on side 1, battery on side 2 for a good chunk. A lot of electronic patches, replacing brake drum and vibraslap. Also have other awesome sound patches like eagle screams and coyote howls. Didn't see any timpani either. Can't wait to see the rest and how it all comes together.

With all the talk of the new staff and the new visual style that will unfold with Cadets (and most of it in a positive way), I wanted to also give a shout-out to the past drill writer, Jeff Sacktig. Jeff's drill writing, IMO, was masterful and beautiful to watch. I really felt the all-black uniform hurt the overall look and feel to Jeff's drill from last season. I also don't buy this "we all need to move in the direction of BD or Crown, etc." Those corps are great, fantastic! They each have a unique style and do it well. If you ask me, what has hurt Cadets is not the drill, but the way the show theme was incorporated with the music and integration of guard. Playing around with gimmicks like the number 10 and X's on the field while playing serious Shostakovich music didn't seem to connect. Regardless of the symphony number, Shostakovich's music needed a deeper theme, or perhaps no theme. I have no doubt they will be good. They always are. Let's face it, here's a corps that received a lot of criticism over their shows of the last 4 years while placing 4th, 3rd, 3rd, and 4th in that span. Most other corps would take that. In 2014 they only lost ONE show to corps not named Blue Devils during the regular season (Crown on 6-22-2014). It was only at Finals that Bluecoats nabbed them on the final night by a little, pushing them to 3rd place. One of the great things about them in the last 4 years has been some pretty awesome music, minus about 1 minute of the 2014 show. I loved the Christmas arrangements of 2012. The 2014 show had excellent Aaron Copland music, and their brass and percussion lines of 2013 and 2015 are some of the finest I have ever heard from the Cadets. Musically they have been excellent. At any rate, I look forward to seeing the new style, and I do hope we still see some classic Cadets in there. Win, place, or show...it's always nice when a corps can retain their unique identity.

2010 Regiment for me. From the opening passage played out of sight in the tunnel to the 1st impact. Oh, and that pit...

For us old farts.... 1990 Star of Indiana 1979-1981 27th Lancers (any of the three) 1973 Troopers

Definitions from the Webster’s Dictionary: Post: An object fixed in an erect position. Channel: A tubular passageway. 3: Something that has three Members or units. Ya see ole C3... word symbolism at it’s finest!

Well, Spring Training is just a few weeks away, so why not just one more of your favorites type topic to keep us sane before then? Tried to pick a topic I haven't seen before on here. So, what are your favorite opening moments of drum corps? I'm not talking the first three minutes, full opener, move onto the next piece part. I'm talking those opening seconds that grab your attention and have you fully invested in the show. Whether it be an intriguing quiet, ambiance setting preshow, or a corps coming in full blazing in your face right off of the line. These are three of mine, off the top of my head. Star of Indiana 1990 - Belshazzars Feast This is just pure brass bliss. That's pretty much about all I can say about it. Love it when a corps will just smack you across the face with power right off the bat. Carolina Crown 2008 - Finis A show starting off with the end of the Overture to Candide was very intriguing the first time I watched this, which was VERY early on in my exposure to drum corps. So I didn't really have any idea what was going to happen when they reached the poignant, dainty last no........OH MY GOSH. That huge impact right after that right on the catch of the rifles had me hooked on Crown for sure. A show that could have been INCREDIBLY choppy taking little bits and pieces from endings actually managed to be incredibly organic and sown together masterfully courtesy of the arrangers. This was an incredibly abrupt, but PERFECTLY placed change in just about everything that preceded that knocked my socks off. Bluecoats 2015 - Kinetic Noise The opening seconds of this show are absolutely chaotic. White noise, seemingly senseless chatter and voice bites, contras adding onto it, then you have the sopranos come at you from all directions in an all our ear assault and then BOOM. That first hit just emerges out of all that in a HUGE and pure way. The drill developed in those opening moments in much of the same fashion, and the guard with their shimmering metal equipment just made for the perfect visual/aural marriage. The instant change of the audio landscape from the sound bites, speakers, and music coming from all directions to just pure brass bliss had me wide eyed the first time I saw this show, and is still one of my favorite moments in recent memory to play out again and again, over and over.

My (somewhat) uneducated lineup with a little wishful thinking mixed in: 1st: Carolina Crown 2nd: Blue Devils 3rd: Cadets 4th: Bluecoats 5th: Blue Knights 6th: Santa Clara Vanguard 7th: Cavaliers 8th: Phantom Regiment 9th: Madison Scouts 10th: Boston Crusaders 11th: Blue Stars 12th: Spirit of Atlanta 13th: Crossmen 14th: Troopers 15th: Academy 16th: Oregon Crusaders 17th: Colts 18th: Mandarins 19th: Vanguard Cadets 20th: Pacific Crest 21st: Blue Devils B 22nd: Seattle Cascades 23rd: Genesis 24th: Spartans 25th: Legends

I was at last night's ensemble rehearsal. I saw someone say on snapchat the show was "colorwheel" and I stopped to think about it. I thought about it a lot, and decided, if I squint real hard, I could see how that might be the theme, but it made my brain hurt. I think based on the first 2 minutes of the show, it probably isn't "colorwheel." Even after seeing the first 2 Minutes, I am intrigued as to what it is, though.

Did I say you asked Cadets to stop marching whiplash drill? I offered MY opinion on why I think their style isn't overrated. Take a chill pill.

Some thoughts on the drill discussion. Shifting to a more staging oriented approach does not mean velocity/whiplash type stuff goes out the window. I'm switching a band over from UIL centric drill to GE/BOA centric stuff this fall. The main things that were discussed with the director were more integration and intelligent staging with the color guard, more musicality in the drill, more variety, and utilizing more guard type staging/body visual type stuff in the winds. None of that means traditional drill goes away, it's just used more intelligently and sporadically to highlight the right people, things, and events at the right time. The majority of the Pines of Rome stuff looked pretty standard Cadets type stuff to me, at least from the angle showed. Even at the low angle, could see a ton of huge step sizes, jarring direction changes, meshing/morphing linear and block stuff, and other little things. All that indicated fast, high velocity, "whiplash" type stuff if that's what you want to call it. The only thing I'd say that seemed different from last year was the guard was a lot more front and center and staged more effectively. I think his name was Curtis in the interviews, talked a lot about Turning, which is where I think we will see a lot more of the evolution of the visual approach to this show. He talked about dance company type approach and no drill at all in the front half of it, just telling people where they were needed to go. I think at that point in the show we will see the shift that has been talked about time and time again. So honestly, to anyone worried that they're going to not look like the Cadets anymore in terms of visual presentation, I don't think you have anything to worry about. To me, it seems like in the POR stuff we're going to still see classic Cadets high velocity stuff with some more guard integration and more effective staging. Then it sounds like in Turning, we're going to see a more BD type non charted, staged type piece. And I suspect there will probably be bits of that throughout the rest of the show. Like I've said before, Daryl's stuff in the high school world is some of the hardest, most effective, and ridiculous (in a good way) I see attempted at BOA events. Should be great. He's definitely the type of writer a young one like me aspires to be. I think in short we're just going to see a more intelligent updated approach to their visual design this year. Not a complete change in style and approach.

Jolly Jesters................. https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/da/fd/cb/dafdcbdb275c11571e7ec04326c02a8e.jpg Come to think of it---these may come full circle back into vogue and be the new "in" uniforms.

You do realize that you can't audition until you take Channel3's course on the how/why of all things show related, don't you? Then, after the prerequisite 12 step program that follows, you will be able to know what corps to audition for. Until then...

So in an attempt to return to some actual meaningful discussion....... In the what is spring training video they posted on the 23rd, there are some very small clips of some drill, looks very fast. If I'm being honest they didn't do a lot for me the past two years in terms of drill design, so I'm hopeful they'll do something with the intensity of 2012 with the effectiveness of 2013. I know Leon can write good stuff, so I'm interested to see the visual program. That guard deserves the best staging.

The Good Bad and the Ugly is not rocket science........LOL. Crown has been incredibly straight forward the past two years. There was pretty much nothing you had to do to understand their last two shows. It'd probably take about 20 seconds to find a summary of that movie and understand it.........

I am not about to analyze your psyche the way you tried on me, but I can state unequivocally that the way you convey messages holds no respect, honor, nor integrity toward anyone who disagrees with you. Jabs of humor to break the tension has it's place, but belittling others with condescenion is born in the depths of self-righteous arrogance. And unfortunately the life-view which is based on the belief that most others are beneath you is becoming more and more prevalent within many who have attempted, and are currently attempting, to influence the direction of DCI.

!!!!! We have our first finish people! https://www.facebook.com/TheAcademyDBC/posts/10154219657524579 A lovely white to black fade on Mapex drums from The Academy.

the trainer this year (not sure if already shared) - taking great care of our Cadets! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjvCCHfORlw

I had not heard anything in recent years that has me this excited from what I heard on the alumni feed!!!

I concur. While I wouldn't trade my vintage 88H for anything in the world, the closed wrap has way more back pressure versus open wrap. I also rarely use the F-wrap.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zePSh1L7xYo The new pitch bend...

I disagree. It's been my experience the open wrap F-attachment plays a bit less stuffy than the closed wrap, but I personally like the extra bit of resistance. But that's just me.

If you live in the south, Spirit might be a good place to start. Just a thought

At one time, if I recall, many corps from Canada were on Bb, Scout House for sure. Maybe the manufacturer was Walley (sp?) Royce?

I've read the inferno and purgatorio, never got around to reading paradiso. BUT you failed to answer my question, although I suppose I know the answer.

Emphasis mine.

whoa -- that got dark fast. now feel compelled to post this (which has absolutely nothing to do with Crown) but is dark as hell. hmmm. here's a crown tie-in: commitment to the performance. i noticed this maturity in the performer now appears with the very first performance. very cool to see crown all grown up.

See, we have different opinions yet can respect as well as learn from each other. But Channel3 tends to cross the condescending line by making statements such as "Depth of Concept is the catalyst for DCI's transformation from its 30 year larval stage into a legitimate performance art.” That is flat out claiming those like George Zingali, Bobby Hoffman, Ralph Pace, Steve Brubaker, and John Brazale were grub maggots who did not produce legitimate show designs. Moreover, when other views are presented Channel3 resorts to haughty statements like, “This is an example of the black and white binary thinking that prevails on here.” And it is that kind of elitism which produces the the ‘I am all-authoritative’ threads like Designer Toolbox, and in turn lends credence to those in the outside world who giggle at the self-importance which has infected many aspects within DCI (see G7).

A trumpet is one of my shirts....a bugle is one of YOURS!

I had some at a German restaurant last night......delicious!

From a layman's point of view I think one is louder than the other. Just a guess. Being a percussionist I know nothing about those blowy trumpety things...

What the 27th Lancers Reunion Corps did in '94 with it wasn't too shabby either, MikeD. Finals crowd seemed to really get into it. I was in the Reunion Corps, and Man it was a thrill playing this, and the rest of the routine.

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and when there was lightning, they stopped the show, as they should have. when they saw no more lightning, they resumed

That's like asking what the difference between a trumpet and cornet is. The difference lies in the shape of the tubing. A trumpet is cylindrical, while cornets and bugles are conical. This gives the instruments a different timbre, and also influences how they blow (free, open, stuffy, etc.) The bell on bugle is much wider than on the trumpet, which allows it to project more. edit: I'm not trying to be condescending, just trying to highlight that bugles are different from trumpets, just like cornets are.

OK... at the risk of reopening a can of worms here, and this is probably a hopelessly dumb question....LOL... If the key is the same, what is the difference between the two B-flat instruments?

Amarillo Texas, Cinemark (I think) 16.

My all-time favorite opening is the 27th Lancers "Crown Imperial"...here is 1975... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80h5F4q_HV4 Also love the 2012 Blue Knights opening to "Avian" with the hornline flocking like birds all over the field to the music of the pit. Lots of great openings throughout my time. 1969 St Lucy's opening "El Conquistador", with Manny's soprano opening bugle call followed by this huge hit by the whole corps. Cadets 1997...a great opening. 1976 Bridgemen's "William Tell" in the banana unis signaled a radical shift in drum corps...plus it was an amazing tune.2002 Blue Devil's "Ragtime", as much because it is one of my all time favorite Broadway musicals as anything else, I guess.

On Saturday May 22, 2016...... The Kilties were DONE!! The corps completed the remaining final visual piece to complete the corps' entire 2016 production titled, "The Gael". On Sunday the corps reviewed sets and segments of the show from "top to bottom", both visually and musically. The Kilties will now take the Memorial Day Weekend off so the membership of the organization can enjoy time with family and friends over the upcoming extended holiday. Arriving from Japan, the corps also welcomed their international membership this weekend! The Kilties next full corps camp will be on June 4th and 5th at Gilmore Middle School in Racine, Wisconsin. Yes, there are several performance opportunities that presently exist in each section; brass, color guard and percussion. Visit The Kilties website to inquire about existing opportunities. http://www.kilties.com "We Winna Be Dauntit!" ~Since 1934~

I also remember that night in Brick, and those lights exploding during Westshore's performance. Lightning, thunder, and rain everywhere. We (Sun) gathered after our show in the school gym, all of us soaking wet but thankful no one, from our corps or any other, was hurt or worse. It was dangerous out there. No exaggeration. To this day, I have no idea why that show was not called off.

Maybe not weird, but memorable and fun- the Chicago Connection's unis, especially their Main Guard with the violin case and tommy guns. I know there have to be pics out there..

JOBE at Soundsport

Sounds like an F above double C (on a G bugle, so a D above double C on a Bb trumpet).. the 7th staff line above the normal 5. Wonder if they wrote is as-is (all those lines), a double F with an 8va, or a top-line F with a 15ma notation... that's one high note..

You make a good point too about the difference between hearing a Corps live, and hearing it on tape. We all agree that seeing and hearing a Corps on tape is nothing like seeing and hearing a DCI Corps perform live. No matter the year, THAT reality never changes. Live is so much better than hearing from a tape. Crown's brass line opener heard live in 2010 is SO much better than if we only heard it on a tape. Spirit of 78 ( and '79 ) on those crappy sound reproducing systems is nothing... nothing... like hearing that wall of sound live either. The experience can not be remotely replicated by any tape of it. I might consider lying down in the middle of a busy interstate hwy, if I could be promised before I do so, to hear either A) Crown's 80 Brass line play a complete musical show in the G's or B) Spirit of Atlanta in '78, '79, play what they did these 2 years with an 80 member brass line. Not gonna happen... but a guy can dream, no ?

When I was in High School in the summer of 1978 our town hosted an early season DCI show. I had seen old black and white reel to reel tapes of the 1976 finals from the PBS broadcast, but never a live show. I was excited that the Blue Stars and the Kilts were at the Fort Wayne competition as I'd seen them on the recordings. So that night in Northrop's Spuller Stadium I sat near the 50 yard like anxiously awaiting the Kilts and Blue Stars, but the first group off was one I'd never heard of. Whatever. They started off playing softly, and there was a simple soprano soloist, and I'm thinking...when do the Blue Stars come on? Then this corp I'd never heard of....the 1978 SPIRIT OF ATLANTA...unleashed a horn impact so massive that to this day I don't think I've heard anything to compare. It was a defining moment for me.

27th Lancers 1979-80Garfield Cadets 1984 Crown 2009, 10, 13.

I can still remember sitting in the old Manning Bowl in Lynn and being blown from here to Kingdom Come by Madison in 1999 when the performed "Jesus Christ, Superstar." I was caught so off guard and it's one of my all time favorite shows. I also love 27th's version of Vaughn Wiliams (in this arrangement with a touch of Holst) "English Folk Song Suite" and often see something new when I watch the DVD. In 2011, 2012, and especially 2013 were years Crown owned me from the beginning. My favorite Respighi arrangement for drum corps is 2012 BAC (yes even over Star in 1991, I know that's blasphemy), and I love their version of "Pines along the Appian Way." For all my griping about trombones, SCV's "Scheherezade" opening in 2014 has to be on my visual and music list.

Lots of moments from which to choose!!! One is... 1975 Madison Scouts. A huge sound from a mile away on the back sideline to open "Slaughter on Tenth Avenue." Wow.