year1buick

It's more about endurance and technique than rehearsal. I've never seen a show featuring lip slurs or Clark studies, but that doesn't mean they're meritless as practice exercises.

I was just goofing one night (got bored...) and pulled the equation out of an old textbook--looked up "Bernoulli" in the index and quickly copied it over. I'd remembered the name (and association with the concept of air "lift") but, obviously, not the equation itself (it was just one of many that were used, and subsequently forgotten, while taking the class two years ago....) If I missed a plus sign--or, apparently, two--well, so be it. :) I'll probably just change to something else (boredom, yet again) rather than spend time fiddling with the equation.

Oh, okay--my bad. I'd had it explained to me that way when I first started learning many, many years ago... (Wasn't a music major and music theory, even the most basic, obviously held little interest for me. Just give me the music and my set coordinates... B) )

Let's hope not. (Now the sackbut, on the other hand...)

Heh--that's exactly what I had to deal with. I'd never played a valved instrument prior to auditioning for Sky Ryders. (I played trombone too...) I just wrote the valve combinations on the sheet music and tried to figure it out as fast as possible. Switching to 3 valves (at Regiment) wasn't too bad, but it did occasionally cause me more confusion. I never really (completely) got used to the switch from playing a bass clef, Bb instrument to those treble clef, G bugles. It was like trying to learn a different language-- whenever the staff would ask for a particular a note (during arc) I still, instinctively, first thought of it terms of slide positions, etc. I always had to make a quick mental recalculation of what it was they were asking for. It was never, really, second nature for me, as it had been the trombone. [Edit:corrected technical goof--thanks, monoemono]

One of Jim Wren's arrangements had "con scrot" B)

If the switch from G to Bb was enough to bring about the demise of terms like "soprano" and "contra," would it not follow suit that the addition of electronics and (gasp)woodwinds would eventually render "Drum and Bugle Corps" just as obsolete? I know this subject has been the butt of many a rant/flame etc, but I honestlly don't know what the difference from marching bands would be ... (Not that I'm dissing the latter-- more that I just wouldn't understand the difference)

Ha! I'll definitely take your word for it! I'd just remembered, from my physics class of two years prior, that his equation could be applied to air flow and lift. It was pretty late (and I was supposed to be studying for an endocrinology test)--I must have grabbed the wrong equation...oops. (I'll look back through and see if I can find one that works!)

I think the center snare from 91 Sky (Garrick?--It's been way too long...) was featured in Blast.

There was a segment on the 89 or 90 broadcast (or somewhere around then) featuring VK, where one of the staff members basically said as much--that they took their performance level very seriously, but the theme or content of their shows not so much. (It's been a while, but I think he said something to the effect that some of the other corps did take themselves and the activity a little too seriously) With me, it's all about variety-- I don't want a full swing one way or the other, but like to see many different styles (from "serious" to "silly") on any given night. However, I do think that corps that perform on the lighter side probably have to fight an up-stream battle for judge recognition. (Going against the flow, you know...)

Here's one for ya. My guard partner during Clair de Lune (who's name escapes me...) told me during Finals week that she knew someone on the TV crew, and could get us a close-up during the sideline shenanigans (thankfully, there was no artsy fartsy dancing for me--just stood there and played while she stole my helmet...) I was like, "uh...yeah, sure." Wouldn't you know, first thing Dr. Greg (my housing parent) tells me, back to Rockford, is he saw a closeup of me during Clair de Lune! In the exact spot she said they would. (cue music from The Zone...)

Hey man, what's up?! That's a derivation of the Bernoulli equation (that I pulled out of an old physics textbook.) Just got bored one night while studying... If you click it, it takes you to an applicable site. :)

Thanks! Yeah, that was pretty cool from our perspective too... (Although my ADD also happened to kick in and I caught myself thinking," Cool... I can see us on the Jumbotron...") Also, during one of the regionals, the crowd was so quiet at the end that we could actually hear a phone ringing up in the press box.

In 91, Sky Ryders had a half day off in S.F. A group of us decided, after lunch at the pier (31?), to try and find Lombard Street, aka "the crookedest street in the world." We only had a pocket map and the vaguest of notions where it was (none of us knew the city at all...) Several hours later, we were completely lost in China town and starving. We picked a restraunt at random-- no English to be found on the menus. We had no idea what we were eating, but it was pretty tasty. Eventually, we stumbled onto the location, but only had enough time to take a few pictures and start high tailing it back to the the buses. Naturally, we had no idea which way to go... Somehow, we barely made it by the 10:00 pick up time. It's the goof-ball stuff like that that make up my favorite drum corps memories.

If only... ("Simple" and drum corps don't usually mix, in my experience. Perfection--or pretty #### close to it-- isn't bought by the yard, rather the mile... )

Dan Farrell (cool as hell and a great instructor too...)

A Mighty Wind

underwear run-thru!

Even if it's a 1-9 blowout, I never leave a ball game before the last out is played, 'cause ya never know what's going to happen-- I #### sure wouldn't leave a drum corps show before it's finished... (Barring some kind of catastrophe, personal or otherwise...) Also, more importantly, it's a courtesy and respect issue.

I like SPL (Sound Pressure Level) as much as the next guy, but I hardly think it's the end-all-be-all of drum corps. Far from it. I would put more emphasis on dynamic range, with control. Similar idea for fast and furious notes-- sprinkled in just the right places, they can add excitement and spice to a show. However, I don't want to hear 11 minutes of Clark studies either... Just as with a good book or movie, I want highs and lows, exciting moments, moving moments-- the whole bag. However, there's no secret formula and it's all easier said than done (which is why I have such admiration, year in and out, for the top performing corps that seem to pull this off time and again).

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Yep, just got an email too. Pretty cool...

I sent in another suggestion: a modern, Cadets-style look at The Wizard of Oz. They could keep it similar in feel to the last couple of years, and include modern Oz references such as Elton John's Yellow Brick Road (ballad?) and Pink Floyd's Dark side of the moon. There would be tons of room for creative costumes and staging (including, of course, a yellow brick road on the field). Basically, a Cadets take on it--NOT a traditional re-tread. I also suggested that they place it in a modern setting (sorry--no animal outfits!) with modern archetypes used for the main characters, etc.

I sent one in, just for the fun of it. I kept mine to just a title/treatment: "Unfinished Business," exploring the idea of unfished works, what makes a piece (be it music or another form of art) "complete" and how the corps could play around with this idea over the course of a season. (Examples of some famous unfinished creative works: Mozart's Requiem or Dickens' The Mystery of Edwin Drood) They could start with what's known and then play around with different ideas for endings to the unfinished works, but with change itself being the original intent, and not just an afterthought. I figured most corps just simply consider this part of the process (and a frequently frustraiting one, at that) so why not go ahead and make it intentiional, an obvious part of the show design--front and center. Keep the audience guessing. How will it finally end? Will it the show itself be "finished?" I thought of this when reading about Orson Wells, and how so many of his films took years to finish, or were never finished at all, because he continuously tweaked and changed them... Kinda reminded me of drum corps.

Yeah, I started the show near the backfield one, manned by the bass drummers. They had me cracking up on every run-through, putting words to the four count start.