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tommytimp

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Posts posted by tommytimp

  1. although Florida Wave only has 2 years in the top 17 it is a little misleading since both of those years were back to back 13th place finishes if I remember correctly

    In 88 they finished 16th. That 87 corps was really good, though. Maybe not the most demanding show in the world, but they just kept getting cleaner and cleaner all summer. "Coconut Champagne" was a lot of fun OTL.

    As to the topic, the stats say Southwind. But I marched Geneseo 83 and you will never convince me we shouldn't have made Finals. I'd imagine SWind and Squires and all the others feel that way too. (About us, I mean. Not them.)

  2. If you really want to make this comparison, please make sure you also listen to the original Kenton version before going on to the others.

    The greatest compliment we got that summer was Sandra Opie telling us how great we sounded playing Fanfare.

    I think a key word here is arrangements. I was excited to learn that BD was playing Fanfare in 87, but was somewhat disappointed when I actually heard it. They played a piece based on Fanfare. They played their arrangement very well, but when we played it in 79, it was what was originally written. I have a score to the original, and we played it in Guardsmen very closely to how it appeared.

    It is something that has been gradually changing over the last 30 years, going from playing a piece as close to how it originally sounded, to playing something based on a piece, to now playing things that use maybe the first 4 bars of a melody and then say they are playing the piece. As an arranger, I do get creative, but at what point (and this is a completely gray area) are you playing a piece, or playing a piece based on, or playing a piece inspired by? The level of creativity of todays arrangers is amazing, but please don't tell me you are playing _________ and then I don't actually hear _________ when I see the corps.

    I'd love to hear a corps do Fanfare again, but I want to actually hear Fanfare, not something kind of like it. If you want to write an original, then go for it! And I'll have fun figuring out that it's kind of based on Fanfare, and those of us who know the original piece can share in your little inside joke.

    I said nothing about a comparison. I was mostly speaking to the progression of the sounds of the instruments themselves. Argonne's horn sound is much rawer, because, as I have stated before, the bugles at the time were made out of Scotch tape and old National Geographics, with one valve made from the fingernail of a witch. Despite that, those cats could really blow. The percussion is also interesting, with basic loose and low-tuned battery sounds for Argonne, the creeping pit influence on Guardsmen's arrangement with its wind chimes, sideline timps and tube chimes, to BD's late-80's Yamaha setup with a huge pit and swingin' toms.

    As far as a comparison, why bother? I've never heard the original, but I like all three of these versions. That's why I suggested that one listen to all three of these versions.

  3. I spent quite some time trying to decide between the concert clip that ran of the opener clip of "Fanfare." It too was incredible.

    Listen to Argonne's version of Fanfare from 73, then Guardsmen's from 79, then Blue Devils 87 version and it's a great sort of physical timeline as to how horn sounds and arrangements progressed in the earlier years of DCI. (Although some would say Sandra Opie's hornlines were light years ahead of their time, so maybe the timeline gets screwed up.)

  4. It sort of reminds me of what someone recently told us... " if you like your current health care plan (uniform ),you'll get to keep it".

    But like you said,... " time will tell ".

    Fell out of the bad analogy tree and hit every bad analogy branch on the way down to the hard, cold, bad analogy ground.

    • Like 2
  5. Yeah, I'm not really sure what year the "pit" area was actually defined by rule; more of a comment on how the front ensemble has evolved since those early days.

    1982. Check it:

    Untitled-Scanned-37.jpg

    That's our friends the Saginaires, keeping their junk out of the pit so you can see the clearly-defined 20 yard box painted down front of the sideline.

  6. I'm sure they ticked, because even machines can tick. Anybody really think Garfield was perfect at Finals in 1987? That said, the 1977 Oakland prelim performance is unbelievable. Should have gotten them an exhibition slot on Saturday night. Or just let them warm up on the field for 15 minutes, then march off.

  7. I'm not sure what Lee means by "legally," but he's a lawyer and I'm not, so I'm not going to argue with him. Boston used that there synthesizer at DCI in 1985, and were penalized but not D/Qd for it. In 86 we took the penalty for using a board, mikes and Simmons pads at the first two weekends of DCM competitions (remember DCM? I didn't think so.). We were informally told by DCI that when we got on tour we might be DQd at the whim of the contest director, so we dropped them. I'm assuming by "legally" that Lee means not penalized. LET'S FIND OUT...

  8. 1983, y'all!

    Us'n, with commentary from my cat.

    lolcat149297.jpg

    SCV.

    Slide108.jpg

    Garfield. Rocky Point Holiday.

    Slide112.jpg

    My family's acumen at getting seats gets better with the passing years, yes? Great year to be that close to the 50.

    Lazy Clips, with one of the first sophisticated pit setups.

    Slide113.jpg

    Skajerk's boyz, Valley Fever:

    Slide124.jpg

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