flashofthunder

dut...dut...dut dut dut goose

I usually show my friends who don't know anything about drum corps some cavaliers shows from the '00's, particularly Niagara Falls or Machine. I think that they're both very accessible and entertaining shows, and really show a lot about the physical demands and precision of drum corps.

I find that using a travel agency site usually works well. It lists a bunch of flights from different airlines. Try travelocity or priceline. I personally use travelocity most of the time, but check around; you may be able to find flights that are cheaper. I've heard of people having bad experiences with Orbitz, though. Any airline is probably going to charge you $100 for a flight that you have to change. I've never heard of any airline that doesn't. Of course, I think that some companies offer some sort of insurance for changes for about $15, but be sure to check the terms and conditions.

My favorite meal was pasta salad. When it was really hot out, a nice cool plateful of pasta with chicken was always great to have. I also really liked beef stroganoff we would have sometimes. We had a dish once that I really enjoyed, and I don't really know what was in it. It looked disgusting, but was actually my favorite meal from the summer. I think it had tomato sauce, beef, corn, and a bunch of other things in it; it was the concoction of one of the food volunteers.

After finishing my second season of corps and coming back to band again for my senior year, I've learned to just keep my mouth shut about corps during rehearsal. The worst possible thing that you can do is say "well, at MY corps we did ____ like this." If there's something that you can't stand about rehearsal, talk privately to your director during a break or after rehearsal about it, and do not be condescending. If you can't think of a way to say it without coming off as a jack***, maybe you just shouldn't say it. You say that your friends are distancing themselves from you. Personally, I don't blame them if you behave the way you described yourself. But what's more important to you: keeping your friends, or whipping your band in to shape? You'll have plenty of seasons to be in a competitive drum corps. But high school band is about having fun. There will be very few people in your band that will have the work ethic and drive that you do, and even fewer who will have the experience that you do. By all means, don't inhibit your band from being better, but don't take it upon yourself to turn your band around; that's not your job. If that's what you want to do, go to college and get a music ed degree. My band is not very good. Even though I tend to be a very competitive person, I have an absolute blast because I take my high school band for what it is. It's NOT a drum corps, and we'll never be as good as the corps I was in. But I enjoy spending time with my friends. For me, that's much more important than winning grand champion at a competition.

Sadly, I believe that this may be rather difficult when championships are moved to Indiana. While Div I championships will be in Indianapolis, Div II/III finals will be two hours away in Michigan City. I believe that the Div II/III winners from this past season were scheduled to exhibition at the Rose Bowl, but there were some scheduling conflicts which led to it being called off a few hours before.

During a show over the summer, I missed a visual. We had just pt it in that day, and I remember thinking the set before "Here comes the visual..." And then I just...missed it. I was thinking about it, but I just didn't do it.

It depends on where you want to go. For example, I marched in a Div II corps in '06, and tried out for Crown in '07. It was a corps that I was really bent on marching ever since I heard about drum corps and began learning a brass instrument. I think I had a pretty good chance of making it, but I decided not to go back, and ended up having another incredible summer with the corps I marched with first. There are tons of things that I love about Crown: A great brass program, excellent design, and a very clean visual program to name a few. However, I just didn't feel at home there, and I didn't enjoy my experience at the camp I attended. In short, I never once regretted going back to march a different corps, and if given the chance again I would make the exact same choice. Don't get me wrong, I know many people who have had great experiences with Crown and I still really enjoy their shows, but it just wasn't for me. I'm very happy where I am now, and I plan on spending my remaining four years with the corps I'm with. Will I ever march Div I finals with my corps? Probably not(but we're sure going to try!), but it's exciting to think that 15 or 20 years from now, my corps may be a top 12 finalist, and I'll be able to say that I helped to get it there. Like the people who marched Blue Devils or Cavaliers in the 70's, or Crown in the early 90's. Just remember, it's not where you march, it's who you march with.

Well, most people around where I live that are not locals are fairly well educated, and pronunciation can vary. Many just don't like Copland, and so don't even bother with it. However, many of the true locals(you can always tell who they are by the last name, webbed feet, and incorrect number and color of teeth), tend to enjoy Copland right until they realize that there's no lonesome melodies about ford trucks and basset hounds. So to actually answer your question....No idea.

I live in NC too, and the only way I've ever heard it pronounced in "app-ah-latch-ee-en" or "app-ah-latch-en." http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/appalachian Check the pronunciation, and listen to both audio pronunciations. The only people who say "app-ah-layshun" are them darn ig'nant yankees.

There's an interesting condition called synaesthesia, which means that senses are crossed. For example, a person with synaesthesia may be able to "smell" a sight, or "see" a specific sound. Although everyone with synaesthesia experiences the crossing of their senses differently, several people have been able to associate colors with different notes. For example, when they would hear an A, they may see a light shade of lavender, or a Gb may be a shade of brown. Of course, the colors associated with different notes would be different between each person. I remember hearing somewhere that Rimsky-Korsakov and Scriabin, who both possessed this ability, would sometimes have arguments about the "colors" of different keys. From what I understand, both of them could pick out notes with no other sounds by associating the notes with the colors. I have very good relative pitch. However, that comes from remembering little tricks such as different songs, as well as other little tricks. For example, I can hear an A and then sing the F below it by thinking of Beethoven's 5th symphony, which begins with a descending major 3rd. Also, I sing in a choir, and am a pretty good sightsinger. But I'm not going to pretend that I have prefect pitch. I do believe that there are people with perfect pitch, however. From what I understand, most can not explain why it is that they can identify a given note any more than you or I would be able to explain what vision is like to a species with no eyes.

What I like about my Loud I use for baritone is the weight and overall comfort of the piece. It's stainless steel, so it's heavy and VERY smooth. I've had the piece for nearly a year and a half of constant use, including two seasons of drum corps, and I still have not found a scratch on it. I use an LM 47. It's a pretty big mouthpiece, and is very deep. However, my sound in the low range is great and my tone in the upper register is very rich. Sometimes I play on a 6 1/2 AL, or a 12C, or a yamaha 48. Out of those, the yamaha is the best, but it still doesn't compare to the Loud. For me, I don't have much trouble playing in the upper register of the horn on my Loud, and the thing's basically a bucket.

I would imagine that it depends on what college you apply for. After all, some professors don't have very much respect for DCI. Some still think that it teaches poor technique, and ruins classically trained musicians. However, I would imagine that the chance that it can help is pretty large. It's definitely something that I'll put on my college applications this coming year.

I would like to at least see a snippet from the Div II/III champion's shows.

North Korea invading South Korea. ...oh, you mean something that actually happened...and that pertains to DC... The "hash dispute."

Also, if you turn 22 within two weeks before June 1, you can petition DCI to allow you to march one more year. I'm not sure exactly how someone would go about doing this, or under what circumstances DCI would grant the extra year, but that's what I've heard. Can anyone elaborate on this any further?

I'm fairly certain that DCI sees no profit from the sale of APD's, but that all proceeds go to the corps itself. I could be mistaken, but that was my impression. I would just like a higher quality recording than the APD's. APD's are unedited, and have some balance problems due to microphone placement. In order to hear the correct balance, the recordings have to be balanced by a person who knows what he's doing. Quite honestly, I'm not looking forward to the DVD, either. The audio from the 2006 Div II/III DVD's was subpar, and the camera editing is terrible. Personally, I, as well as many other members from my corps whom I've spoken with, would prefer the high cam option as opposed to the multicam. The multicam's not a bad option, but for Div II/III it seems as though it's just thrown together randomly. For example, during our show the camera focused on guard members who were moving off the field to change equipment during the percussion feature. The camera was trained on the guard, who weren't performing any work, for a good 4 or 5 seconds, while the percussion was playing their feature and the horns were performing their drill. There are many drill moves from last year which I will most likely never see, simply because the camera cut to something happening which, quite frankly, was not at all what was meant to be focused on. I would be very content if there was the option to download the highcam video's directly from DCI.

Your voice was much more pleasant than the announcer from 2006. I kept expecting him to ask if we were ready to ruuuumbllllllle...or at least make a car commercial. On topic, I've marched the past two summers in div II/III. I have four more years, and as of now I plan on aging out with the same corps. I could go Division I, but anyone can join a group that's already top 3. I truly believe that my corps is going to go somewhere, and fast, and I want to be there when it happens. 20 years from now, I'll hopefully be able to turn to someone while we're watching Div I finals and say how I marched with that corps for 6 years, and was there in the beginning of the rise, just like people who marched BD in the mid 70's, or those who have marched Bluecoats over the past decade.

As a saxophonist turned baritonist, I've found that almost all saxophone literature can be used. The normal range for a saxophone is very similar to the normal range of a baritone. Although saxophone music is in treble, you can read it as though it's in bass clef. Just add 3 flats/take away 3 sharps from the key signature, and it will read as though it's in bass clef. Of course, some of the accidentals will be different, but that doesn't take much getting used to.

Dutch Boy, Memphis Sound, and Spokane Thunder all stayed at the Good Nite Inn in Sylmar. The place was a bit sketchy...

22 seconds to spare, actually. Cutting it close.

Kanstul 5/4 contras. I can still hear the screams...

Actually, it was the highest placement by a new corps until Memphis Blues Brass Band came around in 1980, where MB3 finished 20th in their first year. MB3 was very promising, but they unfortunately folded midsummer in 1983. I've heard the stories of the staff coming into the gym during July and basically telling the corps that their season was over and they all had to go home.

Is that what you used it for?