Hrothgar15

I liked the Cadets 2004 show better than the Cadets 2005 show because in the 2004 show, there were no amplified vocals. Funny thing is though, I'm going to get a bunch of people describing how this opinion is not valid. I'm waiting.

Loooove that dome recording. Where was that, anyway? Either way, it was performed better there than it was at finals. Still the best show ever, though.

Right, because not liking singing and talking in a drum corps show means that we don't ever want to see any new ideas or creativity in drum corps ever agian. You hit the nail on the head. <**>

Cadets 2000, Blue Devils 1992, and SCV 1989 are sure to do the same.

Santa Clara Vanguard 1989 Blue Devils 1989 Phantom Regiment 1991 Cadets 1992 Cadets 2000

Biggest. Excuse. Ever. In the '90s, "entertaining" was a complete understatement when it came to DCI. We are concerned for the future of the activity. The audience is an integral part to DCI; without them, there would be no corps. Besides, all of what the kids get out of drum corps is magnified ten-fold when they perform entertaining, crowd-loved shows.

Haha, I've been bringing this up for years. Now there's a show that could be sold solely by the music, yet would still obviously have a theme. I can see it now...Gandalf as the opener, with its opening fanfare and majestic chords, leading into the fast-paced, frantic main theme, the haunting slow melody, and the glorious repreise...then a short interlude using Lothlorien featuring a mellophone soloist, onto the slow section from the Hobbits as a beautiful ballad, segue into a low-brass-heavy Journey in the Dark featuring a percussion feature, than finish it off the rest of Hobbits leading into a huge, glorious company front with the chorale, and the show ends with quaint, dissipating notes of the original to represent the end of the novel. No amplification. No sound board. No voice. No actors. No characters. No set, just creative guard outfits with appropriate props (swords anyone?). Just straight drum corps.

My favorite part of this show is definitely the ballad though. My God...just beautiful. Saucedo has outdone himself, I'm usually not a big Saucedo fan but this year definitely changed that after last year's less than satisfactory musical choice. Melody, melody, more melody...chords, chords, and more chords. It's beautiful and haunting, and the climax is toward the end right where it should be :P. Change the ending and this will probably my favorite Cavies show this decade besides Four Corners.

Cavies' is just so...laid back and cool. It's great. Very Brubeck-ish.

Interestingly, in this year's shows, four corps coincidentally have a jazz-oriented piece as the second movement of their show: Bluecoats' "The Tihai," Blue Devils' "The Godfather Waltz," Cavaliers' "Wired," and SCV's "Newton's Cradle." They share so many similarities that sometimes they all start to run together. :P I'm going to have to go with Bluecoats, especially after seeing the Indy stream and seeing what is going on with this piece. Wow! Cavies for a close second...love that piece.

To answer the original poster's question...to me, at least, their 2005 show was the best drum corps show I had ever seen, and their 2006 show is by far the worst. I'm sure not many other people feel as strongly about it as that, but it's close for some, and I think that's why. To many people, the Cadets could have a much better, more entertaining show than they do, and that's why they're complaining.

I can GUARANTEE that the Cadets will not win the 2006 World Championships. If they do, the day after finals I will close my account. If it did, it would be by far the least well-received championship show in DCI history.

"We love corps. We play, we move, we drum, and we toss. And we tell stories, we sing, we jump, we fly, we talk .... all in an attempt to make it better, more interesting and not the same." (Yes, I just bashed the Cadets. Yes, I reserve every right to do so, in this very topic.)

Are you kidding me? This has nothing to do with the Cadets. No one has biases against corps, only shows. I can guarantee you that if Phantom Regiment or Blue Devils featured this same character, the outrage would be exactly the same.

Well I'm talking about drum corps ballads, not a "ballad" in the conventional sense of the worlds. And hey, that's how I feel things should be. What prevents me from wanting things a certain way? If I want to get my money's worth and feel that ballads are much better portrayed when they climax at the end, not the beginning, and therefore will entertain me personally to a greater degree, what's the harm in that?

Jay Bocook has also written a wonderful original piece called "The Garden."

DCP is a public forum, and as long as it falls under the Terms of Service, people can post whatever they want. I can go ahead and say that the Cadets are the worst drum corps in the world and that their performers have no talent and that their staff has no idea what their doing. It wouldn't be true, but I can say it. Don't like it? Don't read it. You can very easily put any Cadets "basher" under your Ignore User list if you so choose. But don't tell us what we can and can't do. When we feel cheated out of hard-earned cash because certain corps are not, in our opinions, living up their potential, we reserve the right to make any negative comment we choose about the show, the organization, and its staff.

Opinions, etc. The reason I love the Cadets 2000 show is because it follows ALL of the musical standards of drum corps. The opener has an introduction that builds and builds and leads up to probably the most amazing, glorious, awe-inspiring chord ever performed in DCI. There is a ballad that ends with a chordal climax. There is one heck of a percussion feature. There is glorious maestoso chorale in the closer. And there is a high-powered, fast ending and ends the show with an eight-count crescendo. Am I saying that every show should be exactly like this and have these same features? Of course not. But I think every show put on the field should follow some kind of standards. Heck even Star 1993's controversial show had a climax in the opener, a percussion feature, a ballad, a loud chordal ending (though I love quiet endings like SCV 1989 and 2000). I also fail to see what musical standards Cadets 2000 broke. It seems like it adhered them all, and magnificently.

Hopkins states it was because he misses his family. Yeah right.

OK, I think there should be a "should be." I believe there should be standards set musically because when corps break away from these standards, their shows are not as good as they could possibly be. Why would you want that? Not having a ballad in your show is just stupid, because after the show is over, people will say, "Hey, where was the ballad?" Same with a percussion feature. And plus, each show should feature all aspects of drum corps, that they can also play beautiful, slow music, and that the percussion seciton can throw it down. Why you wouldn't include these elements is beyond me. I'm sorry, if the climax of SCV's Adagio had been at the very beginning, it would have been terrible. The two/three minutes that lead up to this climax at the end are what it's all about. The ballad would not make musical sense the other way...the arranger was intelligent about this and did an excellent job. What else "should" there be? There should be some kind of push or big chordal moment toward the beginning of the opener. Always. This is just good musical design. The majority of corps are doing this today (and have been for years and years), and that's good. There's a lot more that "should be" in every drum corps show...more as I think of it.

Well yeah, you're right, I think corps should do shows in a variety of formats, but I'm just saying they should usually contai elements like a ballad or slow section, percussion feature...stuff like that. Without them, there's not enough variety to the show in my opinion.

No...

Yup. But they had a sure-as-FFFF climax about a minute before that, right where it should be. Perfect ballad. Hmmm...examples? Can't think of any off of the top of my head (it's more of the lower-place corps that do this), but I've been hearing plenty of this.

Many drum corps shows of today are starting to have more and more characteristics in common. Some of this is good, as there is always a standard structural "mold" shows should follow music-wise, and it's good to see some abiding by standards. But there are some that are just plain annoying and, in my opinion, need to go. Which of these have you personally found? I'll start. 1. Ballads that have the climax (full ensemble fermata) at the beginning of the ballad instead of the end. Structurally nonsensical. The entire ballad is supposed to lead up to this point, the audience is supposed to wait for it. Just giving it to them at the beginning is stupid. Classic ballads like Cadets' Make our Garden Grow, On My Own, Letter from Home, On a Hymnsong of Philip Bliss, Born on the Fourth of July, the Promise of Living, Year of the Dragon, Canterbury Chorale, City of Angels, Vide Cor Meum, and other's like SCV's Barber Symphony, Phantom's Lord's Prayer, Cavies' Harmony, etc. all do this correctly. Either have it at the end, or don't have it at all (Star's ballads).

Yes. People have know idea how well Broadway lends itself to drum corps...it's perfect. Petition to Mr. Salas, perhaps?