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And you are right, it was encouraging news (for us) yesterday when the news was breaking. In any case, we got our swab test results back. We are both negative for the virus! Hope’s antibody test was a false positive, though the testing site put a weird spin on it saying she was negative for the virus but had some protection in case she got it. Regardless, there is much merriment in the house right now! 😀

Most butts are in the stands listening to the whole, not camped out in the warm-ups. That said, WGI does pretty well on the percussion side if we want to look at if people want to hear pits or not. I also want to combat a tone that was woven into this thread. Members in the top groups choose and work hard to be in those pits. Not settle for being in them. As far as them not taking breaks in playing as opposed to the battery or brass - that's because they're not marching around the field. Of course they're going to play more. Their voice is able to tie those moments together to help move the show along. In modern ensembles, which the members and audience seems to like, the pit is an equally important voice that plays many parts. Sometimes it's accompaniment for the brass, sometimes accompaniment for the battery, sometimes accompaniment for both. Sometimes it's a co-voice that carries through equally important melodic lines, and yes, sometimes it's the melodic focus as well. I can't help but think of how less-exciting Bluecoats would've been last year without their pit, or how Phantom 2010 would've been without that glorious front ensemble writing. Crown from 2006 -2009, with sweeping pit moments. Blue Knights the past few years have been super tasty in their percussion writing (to my preference, to be fair), and the entire ensemble fits so well for their style. The pit helps tie that together just as the brass or battery does. It is equally important to be heard in the ensemble as a whole.

pit equipment is considered percussion. your argument is moot

I was born and raised in Han(g)over. My first experience seeing a Corps was the Lancers in the parades downtown. The first DCI competition I ever attended was in Hanover at Shepherd and Myers field.

oh this will make heads explode

The Trooper Alumni Corps color guard is reaching out to ALL past and present color guard members to join in the fun for a virtual spin fest! It doesn’t matter if you were a Trooper, a Blue Devil, a Cadet, Buccaneer or Scout; DCI, DCA, WGI, DCUK or DCJ. We want you to join us […] View the full article

I very much look forward to our arguments on DCP in 2040. And of course, you'll love it, but there will be people telling you that what people loved in 2019 was garbage.

Aaaaaannndddd...she just did 08 Regiment!

I hope I will be watching drum corps 20 years from now, when I am 86+. 😎 Since I saw my first show in 1963, and my most recent in 2019...and have loved every era I have witnessed, I have a feeling that I will love it then too.

My first reaction was, “What have I done now?” But then I remembered you weren’t my wife and relaxed again. 😂

And the difference from before is?? 😜

Linked to timestamp

Thanks goodness! (One reason for the many false positives, so I have read, is that a number of the tests aren't specific enough, and come back positive for many different kinds of coronavirus, not just the one that causes COVID-19.)

So what you're telling us is "the results were positive on the negative side"?

Try adding a tiny bit of cranberry juice to the mimosas...delicious!

This is cool to watch. Madison marching onto the field in 1997 at one of the regional shows in Madison, WI. Talk about an attention "getter" before the show begins. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhvnDseijrs

how's the commerical volume?

awesome!

Resume breathing... thanks for letting us know

Mimosas are in the works! 🍾

Awesome news! This calls for a drink.

There is fresh news from the CDC, warning about the inaccuracy of antibody testing. False positives are a specific possibility. This would not ordinarily be encouraging news, but now it is.

Let it come. Nothing gets me riled up like a nice marching band sound preference debate.

so a kid does the pit all through high school....and you think "ah #### it kid, grab a baritone"? yeah great way to attract kids. kids today know the pit, love the pit and have little issue with it. so we have it. it's that simple.

a corps repertoire lists the music ALL OF THE MUSICIANS are responsible for. Not just the brass.quite honestly you get more melodic content from the pit during the block chord fest that is a lot of current brass arranging

Dentures (senior corps for Ventures)

What were the most miraculous jumps up in placement by any corps from one year to the next in DCI History? As far as I know, the Racine Kilts hold the record......28th place in 1976, up to 10th place finalist in 1977....a jump of 18 places Honorable mention to the 27th Lancers.....20th place finishers in 1974, 4th place finalist in 1975. It is very unlikely that we will see any upward surges like this in the course of a single season ever again..............I never say never, though.........

This one features current and former members of Spirit of Atlanta. And yes, someone (one of the drum majors, I think) played a clarinet for this, so get over it. 🙂 https://www.facebook.com/SpiritofAtlanta/videos/238536980541079/

And he wouldn't use it throughout. In recent years, there are stretches when the brass is silent, and stretches when the battery is silent, but it's much more rare for the pit to be silent.

There is much more to music than the melody. The arrangement of a musical work is the sum total of all of the voices. Everything written is important to the music being performed.

Yes, in today's DCI, "music ensemble is the brass, battery and pit". But, if there was only the pit or percussion by themselves, you wouldn't have too many butts in the seats. A corps repertoire lists music that the brass section is mainly responsible for, but occasionally the pit will "support" the melody.

If it gave them a place to march yes. With the growth of indoor percussion the number of kids trying out for the FE in drum corps has grown quite a bit. but why let facts get in the way of a “in my day” thread

Next episode is finding material daily

We should be getting results back from the swab test in the next couple of days. We are hoping that the antibody test was a false positive for Hope. Everyone else whom we has been in contact have been negative.

hoping for good things

I would be containing my excitement for the upcoming season..... 😕 I am still really bummed.

27th Landers (safely getting planes to the ground singing Danny Boy) Star of Indians (Bollywood Actors) Suncoast Mound (Where pitchers stand at Tropicana Field) Blur Knights (lack of clarity in the ensemble) Flue Devils (Cuban Fireplace suite) Bluecoals (at the bottom of that fireplace) Madison Snouts (play like pigs) Blue Stare (people in La Crosse WI look at you too long) Carets (14K gold cummerbunds) Caroling Crown (they go around the neighborhood singing Deck The Hall) Spit it of Atlanta (idk)

That’s what we called them when I competed against them with Westshoremen. Irony is 30 years later I joined the Han(g)over parade and standstill corps. (Hate the term alumni corps as most members not alumni)

Be well...Both of you

100% with you. The people who say the front ensemble is supposed to be the accompaniment are honestly funny to me. It's like insulting but also just hilariously ignorant.

Yep, a shocker that a guy who actually plays marimba, composes original music, and pores over modern percussion literature has a better idea of musicality in modern pits than you do

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 “pit” was coined as back when they started they were in the same location as pit orchestras for musicals.

Too much but adds to little? What? I think the FRONT ENSEMBLE adds a great deal to today's drum corp sound. They are not the :pit. They are the front ensemble of very talented musicians.

You are free to have an opinion. You are not free from criticism from said opinion.

i'm saying cut nothing. i ws throwing out a stupid example to match your stupid example

i say cut the tubas since a synth can go lower in octave and be louder and cost a lot less than 20 tubas. 2 can play the stupid analogy game, tho mine actually is far more cost effective for corps....i just happen to want neither to happen.

But nobody is complaining except you. Sorry.

Yes, that's right. Cut that pit number in half because a little goes a long way especially where they're situated. They've multiplied like rabbits and they're WAY too prominent in the overall sound. 7-11 parking lot at 11:00 p.m. Friday night. I'm in the 1996 Corolla with spray-painted grey doors.

so 80 brass isn't enough, but 14 in the pit is. i'll gladly fight on the non mobile percussion ensembe's behalf.