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Showing content with the highest reputation on 05/20/2020 in all areas

  1. Mod hat here... Please refrain from making comments on other posters. Feel free to discuss the topic, but not the posters themselves.
    5 points
  2. Sounds like you could be a consultant for better swordplay in guard work...grin. I was part of an ASL interpreting/translating team for a production of Macbeth once that had hired a professional sword choreographer for fight scenes. It was amazing to see them at work. They used a variety of modified options too to enhance visibility and motion action for the production rather that what would be used in actual sporting situations. For the most part, we'd leave our seats below front stage left and take two seats in the front row as the combat scenes had no dialogue and 'spoke for themselves.' But there was one set of scenes where some important dialogue was inserted. Director called the interpreting team in for blocking rehearsal the week before the two interpreted performances as he was worried about something with that fight scene. Turns out, there's a moment where a shield was thrown from back stage right to front stage left (where we sat) he was worried about. The guy doing the choreographer was playing the role of the one who tossed the shield and he was a complete PRO. Ran that scene with just the chairs in place, then with us sitting, then with us doing the interpreting. He threw that thing perfectly every time so it would come flying across the stage, take a dip then slide the last two feet or so and 'tap' the back of the chair gently. It was so reliable the tap became my cue that dialogue was about to begin. It was super fun on show nights watching the audience visually track that thing which seemingly was coming for my head and having it dip, slide, and tap instead. I had total confidence in him so I just played it straight and watched the audience freak out.
    2 points
  3. Haha! I am a fan of the football team. But I generally cheer for all college football teams. I just cheer harder when UT is on the field.
    2 points
  4. Whether you agree or not with the OP, he does have a right to his opinion. It's challenging to have a meaningful exchange of ideas when the insults start. Some on this site (with the strongest opinions) are the first to hurl insults when they don't agree with others. This site would probably get more participants if we didn't have to deal with insults about your views and/or opinions. OK...back to isolation!
    2 points
  5. Yep, shocker you get insulted every time someone has a different opinion than you. I will fully admit he knows marimba better than I ever will, but you make my point for me again and don't even realize it. What a surprise.....šŸ˜Ž
    2 points
  6. Bells have always been part of Drum and Bugle Corps. Some of the top corps today started off as Drum and Bell Corps. Blue Devils are an example and I think SCV too. They belong in the activity and compliment the overall sound. But somethingā€™s gone wrong. Really wrong. Pits have become way-WAY too large and are too dominant in the mix. Cut their size down to 6 or less, or move them all to the back sideline so we canā€™t hear them. Less is more.
    1 point
  7. What you say about PBS with drum corps is true with PBS overall. Up until the Ken Burns Civil War series, PBS was serious about the quality of the shows they presented content wise but not quality in filming. It was partly budgetary. I think PBS learned the importance of quality when they first started using specials such as Yanni, the Three Tenors, and Blast! to lure donors. Since that time think of the great acts weā€™ve seen on PBS. Of course many of us would love to see PBS return to broadcasting DCI butPBS has discovered that it is far less expensive to broadcast arts content made by others than produce itā€™s own. Not to mention more than a few DCP folks will point out that PBS felt burned when drum corps fans did not support PBS in fundraising drives.
    1 point
  8. 1 point
  9. Yes, at least as far back as 1956 (probably earlier too) and as recently as 2019, but mostly in DCA. Colts played some in 2009. (DCX lists a couple dozen corps playing it.)
    1 point
  10. Heh....the other fights were pretty good as well. These were set in the South post Civil War, as there was a dueling culture down there at the time. None of the wounds would've been survivable in the era anyway. I still have the prop laudanum bottle I made. It was a 3 hr drive home (and the muttonchops came off as soon as I got in the door!), and to keep myself awake, I talked to myself and had an entire backstory for the character I played!
    1 point
  11. A little '87 sheet music for you to enjoy..
    1 point
  12. Well hope that last person realizes some dcpā€™ers help buy their toilet paper.
    1 point
  13. Featuring Bransford Marsalis! Great flick and great score that really fits the movie.
    1 point
  14. I donā€™t know - I marched Blue Devils 1977 and could show you my fencing scar even then - epeĆ© for me....
    1 point
  15. I remember liking the Robert Redford movie Sneakers when it came out in 1993 but for some reason the score by James Horner made no impression. Listening to it right now, there's a lot to like. Reminiscent of some stuff Blue Knights have played over the past five years or so.
    1 point
  16. There's someone else on this board (CrownBariDad) who's a fencer as well (an epeeist, but we all have our faults)
    1 point
  17. Amazing example of tasteful pit.
    1 point
  18. šŸ» Here's to all the MMs in the pit who put everything they have into their performances. Your contributions and dedication are much appreciated by many, and drum corps just wouldn't be the same without you. Your efforts are too often overlooked and under-appreciated, and the existence of this thread is proof of that. Keep being amazing and adding to the wonderful productions that you help enrich.
    1 point
  19. Well, predictably, this "discussion" has devolved into the argumentative pit. Name calling is immature, absurd and grounds for closure of this thread. I will continue to hope that somehow, someday, somewhere there will be grown-up dialog on DCP.
    1 point
  20. Dino here (drum corps since 1963)...IMO pits are as integral to modern drum corps as brass and battery. I love their contribution to the totality of the music being performed, especially since A&E have been implemented. My guess is the term ā€œpitā€ was coined as back when they started they were in the same location as pit orchestras for musicals.
    1 point
  21. It's so nice today that, despite the problems we encounter with Flo (and before that with Fan Network and DCI Live), that we not only get to watch LIVE shows from our computers (or even a TV) but we often get the choice of watching hi-cam. The PBS footage from the old days used to drive me nuts. Even then I wanted to complain to DCI that if you're trying to market the activity you need to show the full picture of what was taking place. Some of the close-up shots at the worst moments irritated DCI fans. I used to get so mad about the side shots from the 10 to 20 yard line that, in many cases, were not so flattering to the corps nor did they show the visuals the way they were meant to be seen. Of course, they wanted you to buy the DCI videos, but it was the wrong way to market the activity and was less than impressive when trying to showcase the best marching units in the world.
    1 point
  22. I believe your problem is more with current writing trends than the number of mallet instruments in the front ensemble. For better or for worse, the mallets in the front ensemble currently shoulder a majority of the weight of beginning and ending musical phrases, something I assume your long-listened ears were once used to hearing the brass do. Cutting the number of mallets won't change modern drum corps writing style, it'll only make it sound thinner. It is what it is, and I'm not saying it's good or bad, merely pointing out that gathering from your posts, your problems might be more with a current writing trend itself rather than with the number of mallet instruments present.
    1 point
  23. What a great post! Thanks for putting it together. I've been following posts on DCP for years but until now haven't posted. In 1987 I was on the visual, and color guard staff for the Velvet Knights. I worked closely with Bobby Hoffman on the visual staff and Roxanne Narachi on the color guard staff. I designed and constructed all the silks, designed/built all the props (the California license plate at the end of the show was a major undertaking!) and made most of the costumes that were used throughout the show. (Interesting coincidence - the two corps that tied, VK and Star, probably had more stuff on the field than all the other finalists combined. 1987 is the most important year in the history of the Velvet Knights IMO. To understand it's helpful to have some background information. The Velvet Knights as most of you know them were originally a product of the early 80's Velvet Knights Winter Guard design team - Gregg Clarke, Mike McCool, Roxanne Narachi, and Sandi Turner - Mercadante. After a 33rd place finish at DCI in 81, this team was hired to take over the drum corps proper. They decided to throw away the book and go a new route, loosely based on the comedic style of the Bridgemen but with a Southern California beach vibe (Gregg Clarke marched Bayonne a couple of years before.) The cadet style uniforms were replaced with Hawaiian print shirts, khaki pants, straw hats and of course the now famous red Vans. This was 1982, quite a radical move for the time. On a side note, I feel like the 1981 VK Winter Guard season was the impetus for this new design team's approach to the drum corps proper for the 82 season. In 1981 the Velvet Knights Winter Guard caused quite a stir with their innovation and quirkiness. A lot of those ideas and concepts were used throughout the next few years in the Drum Corps programming. Along with the drum corps, the VK Winter Guard rose through the WGI rankings from 1982 to 1984, with a high of 7th place at WGI 1984. After the new corps concept was adopted in 1981 the VK drum corps began its own quick rise over the next 3 years. In 1981 the corps had finished in 33rd place. The 1982 season saw the highest placement in the corps history, 21st place. The staff knew they had a great idea and doubled down for 1983 and again reached a new high, this time 17th place. By 1984 the concept was refined to such a point the corps made finals for the first time in its history - 12th place. And then almost all of the design staff was let go... There is a bit of Downton Abbey backstory here. What I do remember is surely biased as I was a marching member at the time and emotionally tied to the staff that had taken us this far. Whatever the details, the new staff was headed by Dave and Dean Elder with Ron Dettman, Dale Stephens, and Meg Elder heading the color guard caption. 1985 saw another milestone reaching 11th place with a continuation of the NBC Chimes/Shark/Feel good beach vibe. 1986 was a big departure for the VK, going all female color guard (I couldn't march my age out year), and a darker more serious James Bond theme. The corps fell to 12th place in 1986. And then the entire design staff changed...again. Now on to 1987. In the winter of 1986 Roxanne Narachi and I were sitting in the apartment we shared in Long Beach, CA brainstorming show ideas for the 1987 season. We had just been hired for the next summer and the first staff meeting was coming up. After many hours and lots of laughs we ended up with the "Magical Mystery Tour." The Velvet Knights would take a tour around the world and bring the audience along for all the fun and drama. We had detailed drawings of costumes, every country the guard would change to represent the new location. We had silk designs and even the musical selections that ending up in the show. Beatles fanfare, Chinatown, Brazil, African drum solo, and ending up back in Southern California for the Beach Boys medley. We presented our plan and the staff liked the idea, we moved forward with the planning stages. By Memorial Day camp 1987 we had most of the show on the field. Then, design staff changes...again! Long story short - show designer leaves and enter Bobby Hoffman to save the day. What at the time seemed like a disaster, losing a top staff person at this stage of the game turned out to be a blessing. After 5 years of building the new corps persona, by 1987 we were in a perfect position to allow Bobby to take us to the next level. Bobby is deservedly given lots of credit for his design talent but he was also the heartbeat of our corps that year and in my opinion the main reason we able to go so far with the concept and the execution of Magical Mystery Tour. He was very inspirational, setting high goals and helping the corps achieve them. Roxanne's vision was also key to the overall impact of the show as we used the color guard to a great extent in the story telling. Bobby's experience with The Bridgemen was obviously a perfect fit for where we were at the time with the identity of the Velvet Knights. He was instrumental in keeping the energy high, constantly motivating us, and providing the talent and hard work to take VK to its highest point in the history of the corps. Once Bobby arrived he re-wrote most, if not all of the drill in the beginning of June and then we headed to our first show in Riverside, CA later that month. Riverside is traditionally the first show of the year for Southern California so there was a lot of excitement as we took the field that night. The show was a huge success. She wasn't pretty LOL (the video of that show is on YouTube) but is was obvious we had an amazing program to develop. As we were putting our show on the field for the first time Star was already in the high 70's and had a few shows under their belt. We barely managed a 70 in Riverside and proceeded to loose points the next two shows scoring in the high 60's. But after a few weeks we never looked back. We traded places a few times with Suncoast throughout the season, never beating or even tying Star. By finals we were tied for 7th with Star at 90.0 with Madison in 6th at 90.4. Our total GE placement was 5th, over Phantom in 6th and Star in 7th. Percussion was 3rd in GE. And it was all at Camp Randall, one of the best venues in drum corps history. Getting to that moment at finals when our name was called in 7th place with Star of Indiana involved a lot of difficulty, hard work and patience. Anyone involved with drum corps would not be surprised. However, 1987 is one of the most cherished times of my life because of the accomplishments we achieved over those summer months. Cheers! Brent
    1 point
  24. I'm fortunate. The only show I went to in 1987 is available online. Even the retreat. Make sure you stick around for the SCV Russian Christmas encore. Link is to a playlist of 5 videos combined for the entire broadcast. August 6, 1987 Bloomington IN 1 Santa Clara Vanguard 94.900 2 Star of Indiana 88.800 3 Velvet Knights 88.400 4 Dutch Boy 78.200 4 Troopers 78.200 6 Boston Crusaders 74.000 7 Colts 73.700
    1 point
  25. But it's not too late!
    1 point
  26. Her reaction at 13:30 is priceless, captures everything this show made me feel that season (and even now after watching it again). A truly incredible show! Do it up DEVILS!!!
    1 point
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