flashofthunder

I've contacted several musicians and composers whom I've come into contact with throughout my band/corps career to ask their advice. DCP isn't my only thoroughfare. To clarify, I'm not planning on being a full time composer. I'm planning on being a teacher. I plan on teaching HS for a while, and if I choose to leave after a few years, trying to find a teaching job at the collegiate level. I would want to major in composition to fully understand the music I'm teaching, as well as compose/arrange for where ever I end up teaching. I've just finished my second year in my high school's music theory program, and I think that it is fascinating. My church choir director, who is a retired composer(although I don't believe he ever wrote any major works), has helped me out tremendously. I've written several small compositions, and I think that composing is something I would enjoy. Again, I do not want to be a full time composer. Music ed would be my primary goal. So would majoring in music ed and minoring in composition, or taking composition lessons on the side, be something worth looking into? I just figure that I would have to take many of the same classes for both majors, so a double major may be something I would want to do, at least to have the degree on my resume.

Socks are great. There's nothing like putting on a brand new pair of socks halfway through tour. Also, powdered gatorade is usually a nice gift. Sometimes corps stay at school where the water is less than tasty(sometimes it's even milky). Gatorade helps to mask the taste. Something I personally enjoy is the most recent issue of Newsweek or Times, or something similar. I really enjoyed reading those every now and then after shows last summer, when we were traveling on the bus. It was nice to find out what was going on in "the world."

Next year I'll be a senior in high school, and I need to be looking at different colleges. I am planning on double majoring in music education and in composition. The problem is, I don't know where to look to find out if a school has a good composition program! I would think that there are some schools out that that have well established music programs, but not necessarily a great composition program. So far, I've been looking at James Madison University and University of Texas. University of Iowa looks good, but the $30,000 non-resident tuition and boarding puts it out of my range. I'm trying to keep tuition and room & board under $20,000 for out of state residents, or in state for North Carolina. Any suggestions for colleges I may want to check out?

I found this interesting:

I was too tired to read most of last summer. However, I did pick up "Memoirs of a Geisha" at a food stop at one point in July. I would read a chapter or two when I had some downtime that didn't turn into sleep time. It was a really good book. I won't read the new Harry Potter this summer, because I want to have plenty of time to read it in one sitting. I'll probably buy it in the airport on my way home from finals so I'll have something to do. I'm terrified of someone spoiling the book before I read it, though, which I know will probably happen.

I am a saxophonist, and learned baritone so I could march. I'm about to enter my second summer in drum corps, and when I come back I'll be marching in my fifth and final year of high school marching band. I love both, and I think that each has a lot to offer. I would like woodwinds to have a summer marching band circuit just like drum corps, so that woodwind players can experience a summer without having to spend a ton of time learning a new instrument. But would a separate circuit be feasible? A marching band consists of woodwind's, brass, percussion, guard, and occasionally electronic and/or stringed instruments. I think that the circuit would have a tremendously difficult time attracting a good number of talented brass players, percussionists, and guard members. Why? Because nearly all of the good ones will be in a well established and highly competitive drum corps. I would dare to assume that the above reason is one of the largest reasons for why a separate marching band circuit would not work. I do not want woodwind's in drum corps. I love the raw power of a brass line, and the blended sound that only comes from a choir of brass instruments. The thing is, there is NOWHERE else where the "drum corps sound" can be found. I hate to use the "I dunnit so you can do it too" approach for woodwind players who want to march drum corps, but, yeah. If, however, dwindling interest in the marching arts forces drum corps to allow woodwinds to avoid folding from low membership numbers, I will gladly support the inclusion of woodwinds, but only to keep the summer marching activity from going away forever.

All of the airlines I've ever flown with allow two personal carry on items. If you're nice to the stewardess, she may let you put your horn with the crew's personal items, which I saw happen with a guitarist a few months ago. Most airline employee's I've met seem to be flexible when dealing with musical instruments. Of course, I've also heard a story of a major symphony that canceled a concert because the airline would not let the musicians travel with their instruments. Your best bet is to call the airline you're flying with beforehand and see what their policy is. Kindly explain that you would much prefer to take your several thousand dollar instrument onto the plane with you, rather than risk checking it in.

Sports scores are much more objective than drum corps shows throughout the season. Though there may be biased or unfair calls made by referees in sports games, the rankings are much more accurate than any drum corps rankings could be. Unless all of the corps met every week and went head to head, there wouldn't be an accurate way to rank them. Differences in judges, differences in fields, and differences in overall climates make it very difficult to compare one corps score to another, especially if the shows they're competing in on the same night are 1,000 miles apart. You pretty much have to wait for major regionals and finals to get an accurate indication of how the corps compete against each other.

I find that Wright's usually works very well for lacquered horns. You don't need a thick coat, just rub it in with a bit of elbow grease, and then rinse it off. For the black tarnish that appears from time to time, I use Brasso. HOWEVER, you must be very careful when using it. Apply it ONLY to the black area and rub it until the black spot is gone. It should take only a few rubs. Then make sure you wash the area as soon as possible so it does not eat away the lacquer. I'm always open to better ideas for removing the black tarnish, which may be safer for the horn and more convenient. But so far that's the best way that I've found.

Going to see your kid at a show is one of the best things you can do. My parents can't afford to fly out and volunteer, but they and my grandparents drove over 250 miles last summer to see a show I was in. They brought me some socks, white t-shirts, sunscreen, and my grandmother made a big box of home made chocolate chip cookies! I was one of the most popular kids on my bus that night! It meant the world to me to be able to spend some time with them after being away for a full month with totally new people. On another note...your kid may call up a few days into everydays and complain about how hard it is, how tired they are, and how they're not having any fun. Listen, be supportive, then hang up and forget about it. Whatever you do, don't just let them come home because it's hard and they're not having any fun(yet!). Their new friends will be going through the exact same things, and they'll have to learn to help each other through it. It's a cruel trick that the worst part of drum corps is right at the beginning of the summer, but in retrospect having gone through everydays is something that I wouldn't trade for anything. I was pushed harder than I had ever been pushed before, physically, mentally, and emotionally. But in the process I made some of the best friends I've ever had, and I accomplished more than I had ever thought possible. Once I got on tour, I had an absolute blast traveling around the country performing.

If a corps I marched with did that, I would definitely buy one. That's a really cool idea.

Generally, I try to take a vitamin every day of the summer, and eat a balanced diet while on tour. I eat foods that are high in protein and in calcium during the summer, and attempt to take care of my muscles well by stretching well before and after rehearsal. I'm planning on marching for the the next 5 years, so I want to make sure that my body can keep up.

Smaller numbers allow for more personal rehearsals, with a higher staff-to-marcher ratio. Since that's the case, there are a smaller number of people who can screw up. Large corps, for that exact reason, are not always the best choice, especially for Div II/III and lower tier Div I corps. Top Div I corps can have a full and clean corps simply because they generally have huge numbers who audition, and they can have their pick of the best talent. Smaller corps rarely get the audition numbers that top corps get, so often they have to march smaller numbers.

Watching my Div II/III DVD's from '06, the final move for Memphis Sound has a few contras literally sprinting from about 10 steps behind the sideline to about 5 steps in front of the sideline in 8 counts at around 190ish bpm. They almost plow a judge over, too. I had to rewind that a couple of times to watch it.

During a rehearsal on a particularly hot and humid day, the staff told us to set up for a full run at the end of rehearsal. The next thing I knew, I was standing in the gym in front of a huge fan. I had about a 20 minute period when I just blacked out, and I don't remember a thing about what happened. From what my corpsmates told me, I marched the entire show, and walked back to the gym on my own. I guess that when I got in front of that cool fan, it kind of woke me back up. After that experience, I made sure to drink plenty of water and eat lots of fruit all the time.

I don't particularly enjoy 70's era shows as much as I enjoy current shows, but I still like to watch them and find them to be pretty #### entertaining. I would never disrespect a corps from any era, but it sadly seems to be the case that, as mentioned numerous times in this thread, some old timers don't see anything wrong with bashing current corps.

The worst day is the third day of everydays. The first and second day, you're ready to rehearse. Around the third day, you realize that you'll be doing this for another couple of weeks, and that you won't be going home for 2 1/2 months. After a couple days, the shock wears off and you settle into a routine. The last 3 weeks of everydays are a blur to me now, even though at the time it seemed like a year.

I call the period of rehearsal before shows "everydays." I always refer to the beginning of everydays as "movein." But then again, it doesn't matter. In general, no matter what term you use, people can usually figure out what you're talking about. I vote that we call it "pre-tour delight."

Hmmm... Blue Stars(Div I), Capital Sound(Div III), Pioneer(Div I), and Madison Scouts(Div I) are in Wisconsin. Bluecoats(Div I) and Glassmen(Div I) are in Ohio. Cavaliers and Phantom Regiment are in Illinois. Colts(Div I) are in Iowa. Cadets(Div I) are in Pennsylvania. If you would like to march in 2007, you could probably still find a spot filling a hole. There are many Div III, II, and lower Div I corps that still need members in their hornlines. Since most corps only have one more camp, you could call around and see which ones need holes filled. You would only have to buy a plane ticket to the last camp and then to movein.

This is true. I predict that within the next 15-20 years, if not sooner, marijuana in small amounts will be legalized.

I really hope this is true, but right now I'm doubting it.

I give up.

I believe that the cavaliers are the only ones who have a "no cell phone" policy. I may be mistaken, of course. From what I understand, the logic behind the ban is to grow closer to your corpsmates, rather than spending all of your time talking to your friends and family back home. That's not to say that talking with friends and family back home is a bad thing, but that there are some people who always seem to have a phone stuck to their ear. For me, some of my best memories occurred when we had free time, such as after shows and travel days. If I had spent that time talking on my cell phone(as some people did), I have no doubt that I would have missed out on some of my favorite memories. What I am curious about is if the members are allowed to have cell phones with them, in case of emergencies. I assume that they would.

The problem with that is that it would be obviously geared towards more recent shows. It's obvious that the shows that would be selected would be ones that I and most others have already seen 2 million times, such as '89 and '99 SCV, '02 and '95 cavies, '89 Phantom, etc. All great shows, but I know them all almost note by note. Of course put some of them in there, but I wouldn't want the countdown to turn into "Greatest hits of the past decade." I don't get many chances to see classic shows from the 70's and 80's, and as much as I love newer shows, I like to see the favorite shows from previous decades that fans who have seen them love. This way we get to see the best shows from all the decades. Otherwise, I may never see them. I would like for a corps to appear more than once, however. But a limit on the number of appearances, so that each corps can only be shown maybe 2 or 3 times. Otherwise the countdown would be more along the lines of "greatest cavaliers shows" or some other popular corps.

Not really a pet, but it involved an animal. During everydays, a parrot that had apparently escaped from a nearby house came and landed on the shoulder of our visual caption head as we were heading to lunch. He let the bird fly around inside the cafeteria, so we were all having a good time watching it while we were eating. Well, the parrot perched on one side of the cafeteria. It was obvious that it was getting a little nervous. After staying there for a while, it dove full speed across the room, shooting for freedom. Unfortunately, a large glass window got in the way. I watched it hit the window, where it made a very sickening "thud." Then it dropped about 15 feet to the floor. The entire cafeteria got dead silent, while the bird lay on the ground. After a minute or so, it regained conciousness. Apparently the bird had only been knocked out. We took it back outside, and it flew around. It didn't give any sign at all that it had flown full speed into a window. I don't know what happened to it after that.