wdlover

Haha well I guess this makes you a real expert then doesn't it?!?!? HAHAHAHAHAHAHA Keep dreaming

wow... all I have to say is wow. In particular... "One hint ....... first destroy .... second heal .... 3rd refine. That's old school, and few do it anymore." Maybe one of the most hilarious approaches to music I've ever heard. It's playing an instrument, not a fat kid attacking a bag of Doritos. Seriously though thanks, it's been a long week, I needed the laugh. You're pretty much saying, a baby should run... sorry, not run, sprint first, then walk, then stand, then sit. Just a generic note, I hope too many of you aren't band directors. I feel bad for the poor kids learning how to play their instruments from you. ;)

Not to mention that comment by bullethead is ridiculous. If you taught near Eddie Green and that's what you took out of the concept he developed, you clearly missed the boat, train, plane and any other form of transportation you could've gotten on. That, in no way what so ever, is the concept he developed.

actually the Cavaliers don't tell the hornline members to play softer, they just tell them to never play beyond the best quality of sound one can make on the horn. Which in the case of marching instruments is rather limited. Also the point about the Symphony Orchestra brass sections playing with edge is absolutely correct. Only objection to that is the people playing in the top symphony orchestras in the world are also the best brass players in the world. If Joe Alessi and Malcolm McNabb were playing in drum corps they would be able to achieve that. However, drum corps are made up of kids 15-22. No one in that age group has the experience or ability of a professional. So defending edgy drum corps by referencing the professionals is not entirely applicable.

Everyone can think what they want but chances are you just don't understand how the technique is done unless you've marched it. Everyone's gonna teach what they want and that's okay. I happen to know a lot of successful high school programs that use the Cavaliers marching technique or at least some elements of it. When it comes down to it, you have to do what ever makes the most sense... That's an argument that could last forever. Not saying there's a correct or incorrect answer to that it just depends on what you know, how well you know it, and how good of a teacher you are. I'm not campaigning for one technique over another, in fact, I'm pretty indifferent as I've seen groups have success (not just competitive but in consistency in establishing a technique) with both techniques. I really do get amused by the amount of ignorant accusations made by people with zero dependable experience and an opinion that is formed by uninformed observations. Besides, wasn't the original point of this topic for someone who marches or marched in the Cavaliers could explain the mechanics of the technique?

I have a hard time associating the word "creative" with shows by corps that are: A) being done for the third time in the corps' history. B) based on recently done winter drumline shows. C) rely completely on past ideas (Visually and musically) of past drum corps shows that were creative and innovative. Just sayin'.

Remember also 2004? The first show Cavaliers beat BD at was quarterfinals. THAT was a close year and I see this years placements being more like that in terms of how close everything finished scorewise with the top 3.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA... 8 out 10 people that hold a music ed degree are barely qualified to teach music, let alone judge music effect. :tongue:

Crown will not place in the top 4

Keep in mind in 2006 Regiment only won Visual GE on finals night... and the Atlanta regional. Same judge both nights (Mike Anderson) and he's no longer judging.... for a reason.

Ah yes the experts on everything that is drum corps.

I also enjoy that by "half of the ideas have been done in the last 7 years by the corps" essentially means oh they made a triangle. Oh they made a square. Gaines drill is very geometric so when he makes a shape (of which there aren't an endless number of) people think it's the same thing. I personally would rather see that then a bunch of squiggles that serve no purpose in regard to staging or visual effect. I actually think that's one of BD's stronger points of their visual program this year is they explore more visual options and it's effective. Next time you watch Cavaliers look at the brilliant transitions and INNOVATIVE level of integration applied though all sections in the corps. I can also watch most corps shows one time and get the idea. Cavaliers need to be watched 3 or 4 times just to begin to pick up everything going on in their show. That's innovation, and until corps other than Cavaliers, SCV, and BD start picking up on that, I'm going to have a hard time thinking anything else.

That's the dumbest statement of the year. One of the most well known forms of Japanese music is the taiko drumming. Most of the other music is based on The Last Samurai. Would you really want to hear an entire show based on the minor pentatonic scale?

The Cavaliers do what I wish everyone in DCI would do.... Put the education of the kids in the hornline ahead of all other priorities. Why would you want to teach a non-professional player (which is anyone old enough to still be marching drum corps) to play so loud that it hurts them physically. Also why would you want to tell a kid to play so loud that they have no awareness of the sounds coming out of their instruments, good or bad. The best ensembles I've ever heard have their kids play their horns characteristically and then match the other characteristic sounds in the ensemble. It's also a fact that the only reason you hear loud playing as "quality sound" is because it's noise. The noise covers tuning and tone issues because all it is is noise. Now listen to the Cavaliers and you don't hear noise but you hear clarity. Once that clarity is refined the sound is unmatched. If you ask some of the other top drum corps out there... Blue Devils, Vanguard, Bluecoats, Madison, they're aspiring towards a more educational experience for the members of their hornlines. I use those examples because the fine people teaching those hornlines all have connections with the Cavaliers approach to playing and the idea that teaching a kid how to play their horn correctly is the most efficient method of teaching brass. And for all of you talking about orchestral players playing that loud... NEWS FLASH: It took those professionals 30 years of correct, characteristic playing to understand how to achieve volume like that while maintaining a quality of sound. For the record: I do hear quite a significant difference between Crown and Cavaliers. But then again I have very trained ears.

Agreed... Top 3: 1. BD/Cadets 2. Cavaliers 3. BD/Cadets

As far as the Mona Shores thing, yes I can promise that's true... I know the other designers and directors for that school. They were the ones that came up with the concept and choices for the show. He wrote the drill. I do consider using the same music and concept ripping off if you are the drill writer.

Simple question... not meant to be a big slam on this corps, just seems like there is something wrong with this picture. Why is it whenever the Cadets rip off a marching band show, they are either on top or very very close to it? 2005, ripped off Mona Shores High School... Marc Sylvester wrote their drill that year and took the program idea and did almost the exact same show (including music) with the "innovative" Cadets show in 2005. 2007, exact same show concept done by Kennesaw Mountain 2 or 3 years ago. They did it to a marching band season, Cadets are doing it to a drum corps season. Now, believe me, this is not sour grapes against the Cadets or anything, I have no reason to have sour grapes with them. I just think it's a little odd that everytime they rip off a marching band show, they either win or are in the running for the title and get credit for being "innovative" to the marching activity. ....aaaaaaaaand discuss.

I honestly think SCV has a shot at the top 3 or 4 again this year. I would love to see it happen. After what I've heard from the Madison camps, it sounds like Madison may have a hard time making finals this year. I could be and hope I'm wrong but it may happen.

If the fracks are a result of switching from the high register to the middle register only then it sounds like you may be changing your embouchure in one way or another to accomodate your higher playing. 98% of the time, a fracked note is caused by a lack of balance of the air and articulation. You may just not be getting your air to match the strength of the articulation you are producing. Experiment in a couple ways including getting rid of the tongue all together and simply using air starts. Start the air slow and your pitch will most likely start flat then as your air speed increases wait to get in the center of the pitch you are going for. Evaluate that speed that just allowed you to have the pitch be in the center. Do this repeatedly till you're comfortable with it. Then try an air start again with making your air the speed it needs to be to get in the center of the note immediately. Once you can do that well, add the tongue. Also, you may be putting to much pressure on your lips in the high range with your horn and mouthpiece which won't allow you to return to a lower range with less pressure as easily. Hope this helps!

What the #### are you talking about?!?! On finals night, the Cavaliers won the following captions: Music GE Visual Performance Visual Ensemble Brass Music Ensemble Lost: Visual GE - that's obviously a joke Colorguard Percussion I'd say winning 5 of 8, obviously should have been 6 of 8, is pretty dominating. The only reason they lost the overall music caption finals night was because PR destroyed everyone in percussion.

I, for the life of me, still don't understand the dominance debate! Sure the score was .35 overall but again I point out that was because of one judge (Visual GE) the odd judge out of the entire judging community in that caption and the percussion scores because they weren't even close. In the way of visual, musical and, minus finals, GE, the cavaliers won every caption. I'd say that's rather dominating! Oh and BD won guard but with how amazing that guard was this year there was no question there. So to recap, guard and drums went to other corps by a long shot. The rest, in my opinion was Cavalier dominance.

I hate to go back to the recap again but Slow Adam has a very good point. Paul also put at spread of .2 on finals night which when it comes to finals is saying "there's no way". And Friday night the judge was Steve Calhoun... obviously he was impressed by the Cavaliers in one way or another because that was the first time the entire season that he put the Cavaliers about Phantom in brass! I don't know much about him but I believe that says a lot!

yep I just checked... same judge. Mike Anderson.

I know, I thought the same thing till I saw the recap after finals.

.35 is a league of their own when the only captions Phantom beat Cavies in was percussion 1/2 and Visual GE. And that visual GE judge was the only judge all season to do that, so I'd find that hard to entirely buy.