xtreme0204

Did Bobby Knight really take his players to a drum corps rehearsal? Thats awesome if so.....

The Marine Corps? Im gonna side with them improving because........ well..... they have guns...........

I personally enjoyed this past years PASIC performance videos for SCV where 1 lone woman does the "Vanguard!" yell and you could hear members of the crowd mumbling afterwards. Just look around online and you'll find it.... its priceless.

Wouldn't they have to do that without wearing underwear? That may get them higher scores...............

Are we talkin Cheech and Chong iguanas? If so, that corps must be from the west coast ;)

I believe the issue is that a decent amount instructors are still teaching the technique they used pre-amp era. But listening to groups like PR this past season, there is no possible way that I can conceed to the idea that they are ALL beating up the keys, especially when they can get that sort of musicality out of a glockenspiel, which is by far one of the easiest instrument to overplay. I do agree that not every corps has hopped on this wagon and they definately need to, but like anything else it takes a while for the technique to evolve. Once again, I agree that these boards are discussion boards, and that implies that these are opinions, and I always respect that everyone is entitled to theirs. After all, the thing that makes us different to every other animal is free will. I have some OPINIONS that it seems that I should keep to myself reguarding this activity, but I will just leave it at this- if drum corps is supposed to be an educational (which IMO, it is) activity, there should be a place for every route of music education within that activity, this includes mallets (and whatever you would like to take from that vague statement). Again, my opinion and not that of anyone but me.

Not being snide at all, but I don't think that we are oblivious to what it sounds like. All I'm saying is that it saves our hands (and instruments) from undue amounts of strain. A baritone can overblow, a set of tenors can sound awful if played improperly, and mallet instruments can lose their warm tone quality when hit too hard and improperly. IMO (and most percussionists I know), the amplification has allowed for that warm tone quality to be utilized in the proper manner (most of the time). I realize that there are always technical issues with electronics, but for the sake of the proper sound quality from the instruments it's worth it. My perspective is that DCI should hire 1 person to go from corps to corps to suggest the proper mics to use, PA equipment, and settings so as not to incur problems such as SCV had this past year (which after listening I believe is large amounts of leakage from the drumline into mics that obviously were not made or EQed for that sound, thus creating a peak (pop) sound).

Being an ex-music business major (I hated it mainly because of some of the things related to "bubble gum pop", that and I love teaching), you'd be surprised how the teenage age group still dominates music sales in amost every music category to this date (including classical, experimental, a-capella, etc.). But as most people said, appearance and "cool factors" really come into play a lot. Here's an example- American Idol's first cut is mainly based off the person's looks (they get to sing something like 30 seconds of music a piece). Statistically speaking, the teenage crown spends more money on music than any other age range (and this includes live venues- which DCI would be lumped under). As much as we hate to admit it, DCI is pretty much a business, and thrives off of making money. Although they are probably semi-worried about keeping the older fan base, catching this ever spending younger population is what it is about (and keeping the audition #s higher by catching this crowd). This is just my guess here- but i'd imagine that they are also thinking about keeping the marching members entertained throughout an entire season also. Last guess tonight is that as the coordinating staffs seem to get younger and younger- this "bubbe gum drum corps" may tend to be the new trend. on the other part that this topic seemed to grow into- it seems as though some people are forgetting that not every corps used narration. and when it comes to amps- if you're not in a front ensemble or do not understand that it needed to happen to maintain good sound quality while playing (and a better technique that is not harmful to the player), then you probably will never understand

Right when they ask if the corps is ready I'd tackle the drum major, then proceed to stand in "salute" position for as long as I could until security drags me off the podium. I'd do this all while wearing nothing but a tuxed T-shirt and speedo shorts I had hidden under my uni. I might possibly be holding a small rabid animal under one arm that I would releas on the security guards, but that may be a little over the top, dontcha think?

Im confused, a hornline doing cool drill (with their horns at carry) while the pit plays something really cool is a bad thing (aka the box move in cavies 06)? We all have to remember that the HORNLINE is not the only part of an ensemble that can portray musical demand. IMO, GE was awesome for that too because while the pit played some very demanding parts, the rest of the corps utilized that time period to execute a very cool visual move.

Is holyoke the parade where Bush was announced as "The Cadets" and we all stood there with the look like "should we say something or just let that one fly?" lol. good times.

what corps is this for?

I thought the Cavies have something to do with the Bear's drumline? That had me thoroughly confused. I saw a "bears" drumline presented by the Rosemont Cavaliers DB&C on youtube performing on some TV station. Is this the same drumline that was at the superbowl? Sure didn't seem like it.

The masses wont respond to just "some marching band like thing", so you would have to do some sort of cameo with another group. Maybe something with "Ants Marching" (In cool DCI fashion) and halfway through DMB shows up? Or maybe Billy Joel for Halftime (instead of pregame, which in my opinion was better than the whole darn halftime show) with the Cavies this upcoming year. mmmmmmmmmmmm......... makes me happy just thinkin about it.

I live 5 minutes away, so yeah I'll miss it. Then again who wouldn't miss driving 5 minutes home from championships :P

BLOOOOO! Hey, it's similar. But seriously, booing is disrespectful to an association linked with education. If they were being paid for it and were considered "professionally educated musicians" then I might boo, but otherwise, these are technically "ametuers" who are being educated in the process. And I WOULD CLAP also, because I think it would stink just as much to get no reaction out of a crowd as booing, especially after working my butt off all summer.

I dunno..... the cavies and bluecoats seemed to have some fun parts in their show this past season. Yes the music was a little "dark" but they seemed to be enjoying themselves on the field for sure. Heck, I can't even count how many times the cavies do the robot.

Sounds like a good poll topic to me! Im horrible with computers, but hopefully one of you guys that are better with it will do. My personal opinion is any interference that incurs for longer than 1 minute should incur 1 placement drop. From that point on, every minute incurs 1 placement drop. However, it must be CONSTANT interference, not a little mic pop every 59 seconds.

who cares if it is a conspiracy? I think its freaking awesome.

OK, I'm thoroughly confused. Didn't SCV drop 1 spot from semifinals to finals? Have we all heard every tapes? Even if there are no comments on them about the amp problems......... what about such thing as loss of morale? I know someone said it earlier, but don't you think that their drop in placement speaks for the fact that there was an effect to their performance because of the amp problems? Or even if a judge didn't comment it on tape (I know technically this shouldn't happen), who's to say that their score didn't somehow reflect the amp problems? If I were a judge (which I'm not) I would probably see if there was an effect on the performers due to the problems that insued during the performance. If there were, I would probably drop the score due to the "lack of confidence caused by the technical issues", and never make a direct "Amp" comment. However, if there seemed to be no effect on the performer other than the amp issues, I may make a direct "amp" comment and possibly drop score (but even then, thats a tough call since it is out of most MM hands). I personally think their placement drop directly correlates to morale loss due to the amp issues. Just my $0.00 (broke college student) Edit: Lack of CapiTaliZatiOn. Man im a horribly typer.

sort of OT but has enyone ever used that piece of music in a DCI show? I LOOOOOVVVEEEE The Tower and always thought it would be awesome in a DCI show. thanx.

I especially like the one where the cheerleader tries twice unsuccessfully to do a cartwheel.

and on the 7th day he created tacit brilliant..... sheerly brilliant. That definately got a laugh out of me.

I love Billy Joel I love DCI I love the Cavies. I can't wait :)

I right with you there tempotantrum. Also, we have to take demand into focus. Maybe the Cavie's show was much more demanding than others, thus the dropping and recovering (at least in this judges eyes) was outweighed by how exposed the guard was and how demanding the show was. I'm not sure this was the case, but it is a possibility. I've watched the 2002 dvd's a lot, and I definately think that the Cavies guard was the best (I'm not a guard person, thats just my OPINION) and deserved the win. The perfect score though? I think the judge could easily justify it (somehow).