Nex

Firstly, as an alum, I am much happier having my corps stay in existence with a different name and/or location than not have my corps at all. Secondly, a move to a new location does not mean a loss of tradition, and I will personally do anything I can to ensure that. In addition, in 2007, we had access to the internet occasionally during everydays, and what every one of our members got from the Memphis-area folks here on DCP made us feel like we weren't wanted. We got pretty much the same response from the Memphis area contacts the members had in real life. That being said, everyone wanted us to fit into their own plans for the corps, but no one was willing to do anything but put us down. No one wanted to do anything to help us, the members. No matter how you wanted to spin it, that just came off to us as a slap in our faces. Don't feel bad (if you really would have at that) though, we pretty much just worked harder out of spite. In all honesty, the 2007 hornline was pretty spiteful that summer, but we channeled that into a championship and high brass, so it worked out in the end. Lastly, and maybe I'm just an odd-ball here, but it's just a name. You could call them the Booger Men for all I care, and they'd still be my corps. It's not the name I love, it's the family I gained, the experiences I had. Heck, most of tour is not even in TN, so it's not like the area is losing the corps for more than a couple of weekends and a few weeks of everydays anyway. Now, don't get me wrong, I understand some people have a problem, but I just don't see why having a corps fold instead of staying around is a bad thing. And yes, he's right about that. I never knew why the name didn't change, but I was there for all the discussions and the decision that landed on "The Sound."

So did you not catch the fact that they were poking fun at how seriously people seem to take the while pre-season? 'Cause if you really think they were vamping on not knowing what the show was about . . . well, I guess you took it a little too seriously.

Did anyone ever stop to think that storylines are kind of helpful with the current judging system? That being said, if you come up with a show of good, non-related music you want to do, or even loosely-related music, and then sort of BS a storyline to fit those, what would you end up with? Probably a show with great music, great crowd appeal, and with a story that would leave the folks who like that kind of thing either disappointed or oblivious to the fact that there is indeed a storyline. It seems to me like Crown's just trying to come up with a way to walk the line between scoring well and still keeping the fans happy. I personally hope they continue, as I'm more inclined to be interested in their musical selections and not really a storyline. I've loved their stuff for the past several years because it's great music and an entertaining visual program, and I didn't really pay as much attention to the story. Some people aren't going to like that because they seem to want more "meaning" to their drum corps shows. For me, it's drum corps. It's a big thing to me, but not one to be taken so seriously that I need for each show to have some sort of insight into the meaning of life. It's just not that serious.

Heh . . . I know who you are too :-p

Umm, what pianists have you spoken with? Every one I've talked to about this from the Freshman piano major to the Doctors teaching and giving recitals will tell you quite clearly and simply that it's a percussion instrument.

Not sure why Mempho's not listed. We're here, and I can't possibly imagine letting the other Open Class corps off that easily

People have a mindset that a big program is a healthy program. Building a program is just as much about having quality as having quantity in membership. A large corps that sounds like poo won't be nearly as attractive to prospective members as a slightly smaller group with an amazing sound. That's just my $.02 though.

Yeesh, it's "Dallas Sound," get it right! You know Mempho's going to bring it this season.

When I marched with Memphis, we tried to do things in the city itself, but the schools' policies and many of the schools' faculty members were not so open to helping us out in any way, and we tried to get out there. We got lucky a couple of times for camps, but other than that, we got nothing in the way of help from the city, and when we heard anything at all, it was from people telling us how shameful it was that we weren't representing ourselves in Memphis proper when those same people wouldn't even bother to show up and volunteer for a weekend. A lot of the time, it just made us as members feel like the city in general didn't really care. But that's fine, we were in it for the experience, the family, and the activity. Memphis is just a city; Memphis Sound is something much more. They could move to Alaska for all I care. As long as the experience remains the same, I'll still be shouting "901!" at the top of my lungs.

If there were 20 corps built entirely from Texas stock, that would make only 3000 people. The state has 23,000,000. I couldn't find the age break-down of Texas' population or any data on music students, but I think it's safe to assume the drum corps activity can get a decent number of members for years to come without "over-fishing." Now if you're just not happy that Memphis is trying something they think will help increase the numbers in the corps, that's fine, but say so plainly. However, I doubt that's the case. I'm not really sure what your problem with it is. The membership and homebase have been Memphis TN since the corps inception, but the past two seasons it hasn't been a particularly large group in comparison. Why not branch out to flesh out the ranks? Assume you'll get the same number of kids as always from Tennessee, and then get more from elsewhere. Makes sense to me.

Queen - The Show Must Go On

How do you survive in this world? The majority of the writing I see in advertising, internet posts, and almost anywhere else is less coherent than the OP. While I wouldn't say the writing's spectacular by any means, it's fairly easy to understand if you can sit through your average sitcom without flinching from the way English is butchered. That being said, why is the actual topic being ignored for the sake of crucifying the fellow's writing? It's an interesting proposal, and I almost wish someone (or several someones) would make such an offer to some Open Class corps. They'd jump on it in a minute.

So either there was poorly managed sarcasm I missed in the original posts, or you've forgotten a chief usage of the word "here." Care to elaborate past the picture?

"I can't believe this is here." Wouldn't "here" be a noun in this case?

Indeed they are.

You're dodging his question, just like you dodged all the valid arguments and opinions earlier in the thread. Give the example and let him at least try to look it up. And he never said they aren't common place. It's not a matter of how often they're used, but how well.

I don't know, I kind of like that they don't kill the music by throwing it into something that sounds the same as every other arrangement they've done. I also like that it doesn't bastardize the music by trying to make it more artsy, or less so, or any number of the other "techniques" that drum corps arrangers use that just kill music that I love. But maybe it's just me.

Exactly. I know we'd be glad to have you at Memphis. Depending on where you are in AL, you might even be able to hitch a ride up.

Is it just me, or does it almost sound like there's distortion (almost like clipping in the high brass) in the brass-only recording on their loudest impacts (notably Toccata and the Hallelujah Chorus, but a couple other places as well)?

Of course . . . but it's about finding the perfect ending to a piece of music, not necessarily the perfect ending to an opera, or even an opus.

1991 Star Of Indiana

Except for the end to the Candide overture they started with, and the end to the William Tell Overture in the opener. So, not quite the only endings in the show.

Wow, you just made quite a big assumption, and the wrong one to boot. I think that the move to the Open Class formula was a great move. It makes a lot of sense, and it is certainly helping. However, the discussion here is about DCI's Fan Network, which is severely weighted toward World Class. And as for the corps you listed, they also had the pull of location (with the possible exception of PC, as I'm not entirely sure exactly where they're based other than, well, the Pacific :-p). They also had (to my knowledge) very little staff turn-around every year. They had more than just solid administration. And I'm doing everything within my power to make sure that Open Class continues to grow in popularity and quality. So I'd thank you not to assume things, or speak in absolutes that infer I'm hindering Open Class from gaining any press. But that's not the topic at hand. Like I was discussin on topic, the FAN NETWORK is not at all reflective of the Open Class presence in the activity. Plus, I was simply flipping the phrase around from the post prior to mine. Care to turn that sharpness on them? Or are you of the opinion that the Open Class corps aren't getting any Fan Network presence because they don't do enough to deserve it?

Well, I marched a non-feeder Open Class corps, and I'd say that that's the attitude difference between the "feeder" Open corps and the rest of the Open Class corps. Those who are their own separate entity with no WC "big brother" corps will never get a chance to reach World Class quality or quantity unless they are extremely lucky, even with solid administration because of the lack of coverage and merchandise available through DCI. They don't have the draw of "march here and you'll have the in-track to the A corps" line to bring kids in, and lack of coverage from the parent organization (DCI) stunts the ability to recruit just as much. World Class is what keeps DCI alive because they won't give Open Class a fighting chance, not the other way around.

So far, Phantom has won drums in every face-off with Crown, however, seeing as Crown was .5 ahead of PR and only one of the many meetings between the two has seen Phantom come out with more than a .7 lead in drums over Crown, I doubt there would have been any overall place changes. While the 1.2 PR had one time was the most recent match-up (SA), can you safely say this sets the trend and rule out the possibility of Phantom being on fire that night and Crown having a bad one?