davidp

I wonder if the brand "Schill" might be a play on words.

It's that time & money thing, ya know? Seriously, I could do a mini corps, but my commitments would make being in a full-fledged field corps very difficult. But I would consider being a member of either Alliance or Corpsvets a distinct honor; they're both awesome.

Yep; gives new meaning to the term "Chinese Junk," and I ain't talkin' about a boat. I may be wrong, but I think Jin Yin is about the only Chinese brand worth even look at currently.

It's called the Chattahoochee Vanguard, currently based in Marietta, GA (HQ is my apartment ) It's an offshoot of the brass section in a community band I play in (Westside Winds). At the present time, though, it's just an idea (we've been talking about it for a while, though ); we're gonna start off small, with a brass "whoevershowsup" (hopefully a quintet/sextet), and go from there. We're going to start the Monday after Labor Day (9/8, 7:00-7:30 (before band practice)). It'll probably be an MCA mini corps to begin with, unless some DCA vets join up with us.

It's a hammered dulcimer. Somebody's probably already ID'd it, I'm sure; I just haven't gotten there yet.

If/when my group gets off the ground, and we're ever able to compete in DCA, that's really all I'd want. The community band I'm in is purposely at around 40 people (field band size), and if my group ever competes on the field, the most I'd ever want would be 40-50 (more manageable, IMO, but there are those who know way more than me about this who might disagree). Heck, if Govies can do it, why couldn't we? I thought Austin Stars were really good tonight, even with about 20 or so on the field. I agree with the rule, though; I have seen some really small corps (both DCI and DCA) on the field. Nothing wrong with the sound, mind you (Austin Stars had a great sound, I thought), but there's only so much a "teeny-tiny" corps can do with drill.

Alliance kicked butt right off the bat tonight. Their drumline was really tight. I was surprised (and pleased) that they beat an open class corps (although MCL's show is really good; I liked it a lot--good tunes); it looks good for them to be a contender for the Class A title. CV was good too. Heck, everybody did well. I was glad to see Austin Stars there, and to see Shenandoah Sound marching again. It was a good night.

All I have to say is that DCA will be seeing a lot more of my money in the future than DCI will. The only change I was ever really "for" was going to Bb/F (for the record, I was against having G bugles with three valves, way back in 1990). My thinking was that it might begin a resurgence in the number of corps around the country. Sadly, the other changes and the incurred expense negated it. It used to be that we bandos wanted to be like drum corps. We marched "corps style," we looked on with admiration, and sometimes envy, at those in our ranks who were also marching corps. But now, it seems to be the other way around; corps are doing band stuff! So the question is, why spend a ton of money and time on the road all summer doing corps, when your band kicks back in in July, and you can do the same thing for a fraction of the cost, and still spend the summer out by the pool, on a mission trip somewhere, or doing gigs that pay? I think that in he long run, all of Hoppy's changes are going to kill DCI, as it will be absorbed into MBA, and be their summer band season. I just pray that Hoppy never takes the reins at Bucs, Bush, Empire, Cru, Sun, or Sky . If I want to see a band comp, I'll go out to Hiram, or up to Sprayberry, if they still have one.

I just watched the video as well. The hangover, by whoever it was, was stupid.

I know this is probably laughable, but instead of PBS, I'd rather see it on A&E.

They already did. Ever see "One Night in August?" And there was one even before that about SCV.

I had friends in Spirit from '78-'80. 1980 was probably the most powerful show for me, but my favorite was the '88 Petrushka show. It was just so "out of the box" for Spirit. I still wish I could have heard/seen the '77 show, but nobody I know has a copy of it (I probably did hear bits and pieces of it, as they practiced right up the street from me at South Cobb HS). It's one of the few I haven't heard.

And the really funny thing is that the OP thinks drum corps is a sport (he said so himself). It isn't; never has been, never will be, no matter how far DCI goes to try to wear people down into believing it.

Oh, hey, the door is never really "closed." Like I said, our community band "died" before some people contacted me about it, and we re-started it. We're in year number four of performing now (I think I said year 3 in a previous post--I can count, really! ). This mini corps was primarily an outgrowth of the band, but since I'm in Marietta now, I'm not exactly tied to the that area being the base of the corps. I knew we wouldn't have 20 players all at once; the original plan was (and still is) to start small and grow into a corps. I'd be tickled pink to have a brass quintet and a trap set drummer. I had even thought about getting a baritone or euph off of eBay, and just seeing if I could get somebody to play it. I think I may just start again from scratch, and call it the "Marietta Mini Corps Project." Oh, and thanks for all the feedback. I needed an encouragement shot.

Yes, one and the same. I was afraid to contact you because I didn't want you to come all the way down here for just a few people, and it not be worth your while. All I really need is some people who would want to do it, and can (and will). I could crank it back up in a second. I haven't taken the Yahoo group down yet, so it's not "dead" dead yet. I'm pretty sure we could get a place to practice. If I could get a committed core (corps? ) group, I think we could grow it pretty well. Right now, though, it's a Catch-22.

We could use a steady bari/euph player as well. We have a tenor sax playing the bari solo in 2nd Suite in F at the moment. It sounds good, but it ain't the same.

This group would have been based in the south Cobb/Douglas County area (I currently live just south of the Marietta Square). It was/is an outgrowth of the Westside Winds Community Band that rehearses as Lithia Springs First Baptist Church (we need trumpets, btw ). I got the idea for a mini corps from going to the DCA mini corps contests (I'm the guy who ask about doing DCA mini corps with a group that had no official DCA ties). There were four or five of us who were trying to do this, but to date we've not been able to get it moving. We never went so far as to incorporate or anything; just far enough to have a name, and a uniform idea. I did have plans to try to get it going and possibly enter the MCA comps. There has never been anything secret about it; I put a few shameless plugs on here in various places, but I imagine that the people who saw them either live elsewhere, or are already attached to an existing corps. I am not against trying this again at some point; the Westside Winds officially "died" for about three weeks before it resurrected, and we're now in our third performing season. I have two marching french horns (1 F, 1 Bb) sitting in my apartment doing nothing, and it would be fun to actually pull this off, and anyone who plays trumpet would be set. My position is that I got tired of posting stuff on this board, claiming to be putting together a group, and then ending up with a case of eggs on my face when nothing happened. But like I said, I'm still open to getting it going.

The Chattahoochee Vanguard mini corps has died on the vine. Not enough people, and life situations (work, new babies , school) are getting in the way. We are going to concentrate on getting a brass group together to perform concerts, etc. We may try the mini corps route later on. I'll be taking down our Yahoo group this week.

Has anyone done Bartok's "Six Dances in Bulgarian Rhythm?" The London Brass played it, and it's cool.

Not trying to be a snot, but why is that? "Back in my day," we marched as many as 8 marching tubas. In fact, most, if not all, high schools in my area used shoulder carry tubas at that time.

Update.... I found an "old" (late '75-early '76) Reynolds Contempora on eBay, and hopefully it will arrive tomorrow or Friday. It may not be as big as an 8D, but I think it will suffice. From looking at pictures side by side, they look pretty close.

You may think it's funny, but mini corps was the main reason I made my first trip to DCA finals in Scranton in 2004, and also my second trip in 2005. The 2005 comp was great because it was in the stadium, and there were a ton of people in the stands. It was electric!

I went back to the Holton MC this weekend, and it seems to have helped. I don't feel like my throat is about to explode (I have allergies, and sometimes playing high makes my throat seem like it's trying to close up), and I am more solid in the high register. I'm still going to consider a bigger horn, something like the Yamaha 668II, Conn 8D, Holton H188, or King Eroica. It's that money thing, ya know?

Try going from 4 or 5 to 11 for a frickin' minicorps. I've been banging my head against the wall so much I think I have a concussion.

Electronic drums? Will drum corps turn into a marching Kraftwerk concert ?