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ironlips

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Everything posted by ironlips

  1. Were there not also the Seymour (CT) Vanguards?
  2. This will be a real challenge for the staff, particularly if they are dealing with less experienced performers than those they are accustomed to teaching. Smart writing will be key.
  3. "From your lips...etc." I'll buy you lunch if any corps does that.
  4. For the record, I very much wish for SCV to return, and return strong. After all, I am a former staff member and still feel a deep connection to the folks I worked with and great affection for my former students.
  5. Just for context: The State of CA announced a huge (as in many billions) budget deficit a couple of days ago. Connect the dots.
  6. In 1979, Tim Salzman and yours truly designed this horn. https://imgur.com/trAYe2Z SCV, 27th, Madison, BD and the San Jose Raiders all had a section of tromboniums. If you scored and played it like a trombone, it sounded like a trombone. If you played it like a baritone, it sounded like a constricted baritone. Hornlines were a lot smaller then and most arrangers simply wanted the darker bari sound, so these fell out of favor except for solos.
  7. Trombones are ok, though I am waiting for arrangers to wean themselves away from that one cliched sectional portamento effect that seems like the equivalent of a "required figure" in Olympic skating. The horn really is capable of some other cool sounds. The other ho-hum for me comes when tuba sections play a (usually) sloppy jumble of upper and mid-register rhythms, followed, inexorably, by a flaccid pedal tone. Time to call in the Anti-Derivative Squad, I think
  8. And, by the way, "hats off" to Frank Williams and the much-missed Robert W. Smith for nuturing Mike's talents. Many moons ago, I asked the great Dr. Bernard Baggs for his advice on becoming a good music teacher. After all, he had taught Donald Angelica, a Julliard graduate and the finest bugle soloist of his time. Bernie's answer: "Be on the lookout for Mozart, and when he shows up, know what to do and when to send him on." Robert and Frank must have consulted with B.B. as well.
  9. This is great! The legendary Arnold Jacobs of the Chicago Symphony also referenced playing the bugle in the book "Song and Wind", written by one of his students. Here's a sample of his playing:
  10. The late trumpet master began his career with a valveless G bugle in the Thomas Powell Drum Corps which later became the greatest among all the notable African-American corps, The Spirit of St. Louis. In 2008, Clark was inducted into the Buglers Hall of Fame, recognizing his drum corps roots, his springboard to evolving into one of the finest jazz artists and educators who ever lived. https://clarkterry.com/biography/
  11. Note for note. The very charts Pepe wrote for St. Agatha's and Our Lady of Most Precious Bingo. A real drum corps classic. Those were the days! ($1 to Norman Lear)
  12. Start by going old school by training yourself to recognize intervals through melodic material with which you are already familiar. E.g., octave...first 2 notes of Over the Rainbow dominant 7th...first 2 notes of Somewhere (West Side Story) Major triad (inverted arpeggio)...first 3 notes of the Star Spangled Banner You get the idea.
  13. Personally, I hope they get on the field and don't care if they play "The Muffin Man-meets-Come to Jesus in Whole Notes".
  14. Hi and welcome. There are lots of folks here with extensive musical experience, rudimental drummers, set drummers, orchestral and world percussionists, not to mention other instrumentalists of all types. Best advice: Listen to and study all types of drumming and percussion from marching to classical to African, Brazilian, Indian, Middle Eastern, Rock, Jazz, R&B, ...all of it. Music is a shared language as everyone knows, but all drummers can speak it almost instantly. Cast a wide net if you really are serious about learning to "play really well". Join a drum corps, or a band (or start one). Find an instructor and/or private teacher. Oh yes, and play...every day, even if only on a drum pad or book cover. Start with a rudiment, like a paradiddle. Slow and accurate beats fast and sloppy. Speed will follow. Ok, go for it.
  15. Welcome to the circus. There are lots of topics to explore and a wide range of experience here. Jump in.
  16. Yeah, I wonder who'll have the best Off the Line this summer.
  17. Just wrapping my head around the notion that these beautiful young people are now in their late '60s and early '70s, I can't help but wonder whether their grandchildren are experiencing this level of passion and dedication about any activity, musical or otherwise.
  18. "DCI...it sought to destroy local corps..." I recognize that this perception exists, but personally I don't think that was anybody's intent. DCI was formed to place the elite corps in their own category. Local corps who attempted to emulate that model often failed to thrive, for a variety of reasons, in my opinion. But, to stay on topic, you will find no small amount of criticism for DCI in the books mentioned above, and folks are entitled to their interpretation of this activity's history.
  19. The new "Wynn Center Toppers" book is available on Amazon, too. To me, the most interesting aspect is the opportunity to read the personal histories of so many members of this unique corps in their own words. Toppers alumni became college professors, attorneys, psychologists, fine arts coordinators, community activists, religious leaders and the like. Within their orbit came great Drum Corps personalities like Bill Hightower, J. Frank "Fast Frankie" Nash, Carroll "Tiny" Dorrell, Alfred "Uncle Nick" Nichols, and even some more widely recognizable names like singer/songwriters Richie Havens, and Otis Blackwell whose compositions include "Don't be Cruel", "Return to Sender" and "Fever". Like Harlem before it, Bedford-Stuyvesant had its own Renaissance, and the Wynn Center Toppers were right in the middle of it.
  20. As a member of Bugles Across America, I regularly sound Taps at military services in the SF Bay Area and beyond. I look at it as an extension of my Drum Corps and military service backgrounds and a way to honor my late father, a WWII Infantryman, and his comrades who, when they returned, devoted so much of their energy to promoting this activity we cherish.
  21. A priest, a rabbi and a Timing and Penalty judge walk into a bar. The priest asks, "Is it time to discuss the latest Drum Corps scandal?" "Oy vey", says the rabbi, "not again! Please! Does anybody really know what time it is?" The T&P judge replies, "Yeah. It's time to get back on topic before some conscientious moderator closes this thread". (Ka-boom)
  22. I wouldn't think that very likely. Given the hour and a half commute between the two sites and the demographics of most Bingo players, it seems there would not be much incentive to make that trip. There are quite a few more games running much closer by.
  23. An insightful look at one of the most important inner-city drum corps in history and its ongoing impact in the lives of its former members: Wynn Center Toppers - Precious Memories of an African American Drum and Bugle Corps I received a copy from Amazon today and can't put it down. FD
  24. This is a positive step towards serving community youth, irrespective of all the other issues facing the organization. I applaud this initiative.
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