Steve709

In finding a balance, there is a difference between taking out unclean music, and taking out a mess, its the staffs job to determine if its a mess, or if they took it out, they'd be missing out on a musical moment that is just maybe not squeeky clean. Personally, I go for musicality first, and only take it out if it's dirt takes away from the musical moment, other than that, I'd say spend the season cleaning it up, we rehrearse up to 12 hours a day most of the time, I figure an elite hornline can perform at a pretty high level, just have to teach them how.

I think this is great for the Glassmen, no offense to Mr. Smith, but his arrangements didn't work out for them. I think Don Hill is going to do very well for this drum corps. I'm really excited for them this season with Mark there in his 2nd year, Don Hill arrangements, maybe a more interesting show design and Glassmen can really compete this year.

Basketball, all they got is some big, VERY white ginger guy who likes to play jazz.

'Coats marched well, and will march well again I'm assuming. Good luck to them

Wow, i just think its cool that Ron posted at 7:09 in the morning...neet

Actually, in 2005, we got 4th in visual performance with a 19.1 ahead of the Blue Devils 19.0. Maybe after '05, BD should have gotten a new visual staff. Between years, I believe the 2007 corps marched just as good or better than my 2005 corps. That even goes against my bias for my age out year.

I believe that just a simple look back on the scores is nowhere near enough evidence to determine the corps ability to stand up straight and march in time. The visual performance category is much more than how well the corps marches/stands up straight. There are several other factors that need to be taken into account to find the end resulting number at the end of a performance. I strongly believe that Bluecoats feet and posture were at the highest level of the activity, some other visual performance aspects may have not been as consistent as the hornline and not to mention, every corps has different drill that demand different techniques from their membership, once the DVD's are out many will be able to see and appreciate the visual performance that was achieved from the brass performers. Basically, you can't assume how well a brass section marches by one score, the best way is watch and judge for yourself, as there is no category in the DCI system that simply judges Brass Marching Performance. It's a common error that I myself have made, but watching the DVD's should clear up any misconception as to the ability of the 2007 Bluecoats Brass sections' marching abilities. Also, you'd have a hard time convincing me that a brass section that can win with a 19.8, marches poorly, or even average for that matter, but I digress, the DVD will clear up any misconceptions.

Southwind Uni's are awesome, great job, kind of reminds me of Seguin HS's old uni's a little which is very cool. I really dig them, in a unique cool southwind way. Well, i'm flying out to Baltimore tomarrow to be on tour for the rest of the summer, you guys take it easy, enjoy the shows this summer, and well...enjoy the controversy. Be back August 12th Steve

I was there for some if their evening rehersal, and I seemed to get there at the slowest part of the rehearsal so I left and came back just as they were doing their run, music arrangments are great. The mix of hindemith and old crossmen hits are very well done, one in particular has the brass playin backfield spread from endzone to endzone and the front ensemble plays a beautiful quote from Birdland. Some very cool stuff, some fast movin drill, and some very fun looking/cool soundin percussion moments. After the run, the hornline played some, while the high brass was a bit under balanced, the tone quality was more mature than I remember from past years. Some good things happening at Crossmen.

Haha, thanks, that needed to be done. But on that note, Cascades and Cavaliers also look the same as well as Madison. The Academy and Boston, can't tell the difference between the two, #### them for their lack of originality.

Yes, they did finish 6th in Vis Performance in '06, not contesting that one, but just so everybody knows, there were in 4th/3rd all season long in '06, including '05 into which they finished 4th in vis performance, ahead of the Blue Devils.

Wow, VERY impressive, without a doubt a step in the right diection. As an alumni, I'm so proud to see my corps take this direction, it certainly fits where they are going, and what they have been doing the last couple of years.

Kind of hard to see the new uni, but from what I can see, they look very cool, better fitting than their old cream unis, and the gold additions look very nice.

Gotta be Bluecoats 2005, quite the year to age out. (HM goes to Glassmen 2001 and 1999) Edited to include HM

...What?

While I personally haven't heard any of Billy Joel's classical stuff, but I do know that it got pretty great reviews from classical music critics. I have no idea if it's good for Drum Corps or not.

Most likely, I'd assume they'll have a crowd watching them most of the time. I plan on stopping by and checking them out before I fly out for the summer. DC is big here, I'm guessing many will make the most of having a local Div I around, can't lie though, they're going to be having incredibly hot rehearsals, should have big crowds for the evening rehearsals though.

I got stock cheers when I was in HS and College band, appreciation at the drum corps level has always been in the form of Bloo...for me, when I hear that, I know I've really accomplished something. Nothing beats a good blooing! For those who Boo....well, they go home and watch TV all summer long.

Looks very well made, check it out

Agreed, but it is fun to see others discovering old greats and having the same reaction I had when I realized it was awesome. That whole early 90's Phantom was really something else, good embodiment of that era of drum corps I love so much.

If only Harry Carey was still alive, he'd be perfect for the job.

I agree that keeping to the original is a key aspect of musicality that an arranger holds responsibility of, BUT, to call yourself an arranger over a transcriber, you have to actually arrange it in a different mean that it was originally in, (i.e. Bocock, Jim Wren). I can take Phantoms opener from '03 and "arrange" that like a pro, but my composition professors might just call that transcribing. No disrespect to anybody, if I'm transcribing for a top 3 group for two years in a row, I might just stick to my system as well, just might not call myself an arranger. J.D. Shaw is a very smart man, and will continue to have success with his groups that he works with, but I'm just saying, it's one thing to take a score and copy it with Brass, and it's another to do what Bocock(sp?) and other do, not that one is right or wrong, but maybe they should be in different categories.

Does J.D. Shaw arrange? A lot of the time sounds like he's taking the brass parts off the original score, changing the soprano parts to Trumpet. He might win best Drum Corps Transcriber.

I think DCI's path to creativity is a careful one, but when dealing with such talent, and when so much is at stake (this isn't just a semester of 8 hours a week of rehearsal) being careful is the best way to go. A corps cannot afford to destroy a summer and their Reputation by going out and performing a show like Kennesaw Mountain, or Broken Arrow, ect....(all great programs) I Do think that DCI should move into a more creative route, utilizing more electronics and other such ideas, BUT in this activity we can't just throw it all out there. I'm glad the Cadets are doing it, somebody has to, and I think in 05 they did it VERY well, slow and steady. I'm just glad that whole dancing/body movement/cheap tricks phase is kind of dwindling away. Cheap Tricks should be left to BOA, DCI needs to maintain its integrity with challenging it's members with sheer intensity, skill, and mature artistry. I see electronics fitting into that quite nicely, enhancing concepts and ideas to new levels without lowering ourselves to cheap tricks.

Ok, this may go on my list of favorite posts