MarimbasaurusRex

I started with RCA/DCA senior corps at age 14 and then joined a DCI junior at 18. For me the biggest difference was responsibility. In senior corps, being young was no excuse. No one was going to hold your hand to make sure that you practiced during the week. You had to keep up and step up on your own. You also had to play next to a guy who was 40, who knew the ropes inside out and could play circles around you. Senior corps offered seasoned wisdom, and by seasoning I mean beer, but you get the point. In junior corps every minute of your drum corps life is planned out and watched over. The guy playing next to you is 19 and maybe still learning the instrument. They say that if you want to get good at something, surround yourself with people who are better and more experienced than you. I think that's easy to do in senior corps and one of the great upsides of the activity. It really is time for a name change. I like the title Semi-Pro Drumcorps. I think that's more accurate and descriptive than senior or all age.

When someone pays $125 for the ticket, they may want to express pleasure or displeasure with the show. That's the risk of public performance. I personally would not boo a performance and never have. But, I don't blame people for expressing themselves if they have strong feelings. We have the right to say that the emperor has no clothes if that's the way we see it. I put it on the staff and administration of a corps to produce a show that doesn't make people want to boo.

I'm agree with whystarwhy. Why show that stuff? It's great that the performers got a reward and went to Disneywhatever. I'll bet they had a blast. But, it really does scream "unprepared" and reflects, IMO, on the leadership rather than the participants. You know these kids can play. They deserve a better chance to play well. It doesn't matter if the folks in the crowd can't tell the difference. Good performance is about rising above that mentality toward a higher goal. WE can tell the difference and that matters. Seriously, add a few clarinets and it's right in line with a low end high school band. I think most fans and members expect more. These kids are better than that and deserve to be presented in the best possible light. In my opinion DCI dropped the ball on this one.

Classic

Check out the marching bass marimba on the far left. (not really a bass marimba, but 1 oct lower than a regular marching marimba)

Drum corps is additive. The innovation of this year is an extention or improvement of last year, with a few exceptions that change the game. The tricky part is the C word, creativity. Hard to measure. The first drill team that made something other than a box was probably regarded as highly creative, breaking the mold, blasphemy! Until everyone copied it and another revolutionary move came along. Is there more creative thought involved in the production process today? I think the answer is certainly yes. There are more creative minds (in number) contributing to the result (good or bad) and they build on the accomplishments of their predecessors. There are things being conceived in drill today that were unthinkable 20 years ago. But, I also think the music suffers for it sometimes. Maybe visual is where the big push needs to be right now, but I think a more balanced or even music dominated slate would be a good thing. As long as they are judging music majors, they might as well judge them on music!

Is that humor? Was expecting a winky smiley or something. There are several online discount places that carry everything. Seems to me the make and model really isn't a big issue as long as players are comfortable with their sticks. While it may not apply to all players, generally it helps to avoid extremes of length or weight.

I second that Regal Tip suggestion. Quantums are good sticks, but a little harder to find in a music store and harder to find at a discount (depends where you are). Calato = good stuff by good people.

Hardimon is a good weight, but IMO a little long for younger players. Chop an inch off the end with a hack saw and it's better balanced for smaller hands.

You are correct, sir! (in my best Ed McMahon voice)

SCV 80 broke some new ground and included music which would stand the time test. But, from what I saw people weren't so excited that it was revolutionary as they were upset that SCV 80 couldn't get a score because of the chances they were taking. They were surely among the most talented of the year and that showed in 81 when they went traditional and won the whole ball of wax. I think their 7th place finish gave fuel to the changes in judging which were to come. It was also among the first shows to play a piece of music the way it actually goes. The end of Jupiter, for instance, had no added 2 minute power chords or overblown ending, just Holst. This was less than gratifying for some fans. Still one of my top three favorite shows.

Exactly why I edited that part out! LOL

They were separated because they didn't work well together. A straight bugle (no valves) can't play most traditional fife music and a fife sounds a bit silly doing bugle calls. They also weren't in the same key. As I understand it, the fifes would do their thing and then the bugles would do theirs. It was a parade format and they would take turns playing with the drums. This was all before the field era was even imagined. Perhaps the separation even forced the bugles to include more musical content, add valves, etc. Without the fifes, the only content was basically a major triad. As for the de-militarization of drum corps, look at SCVSopAaron's avatar and tell me drum corps is de-militarized. Not picking on Aaron, he's a fine example of esprit de corps.

All the arguing in the world won't change most people's minds on this issue. The score is 168 to 30. A referee would stop the fight. TKO. This game is over. IMHO

Kevlar reeds! B) (patent pending)

Evelyn Glennie is deaf (since birth?). Not the world's greatest marimbist, but... definitely worth the hype. Doesn't say much for marimbists does it? Could a deaf person play horn? shhhhhhhh :sshh:

WUSSY! :P

It really IS a shame that the rules don't allow for at least some of this kind of flexibility. It's never made all that much sense to me that every corps has to have the same instrumentation. For instance, if you don't have tympani in the pit you can't get a score, whether the music is enhanced by tympani or not. Maybe the music doesn't call for snare drums, but you've got a bunch of them so they've got to play. There must be some way to make this more flexible. But, if you really want it to sound good and do Mahler right, then the horn line should probably sit in chairs, there should be a full string section and a woodwind section and it should be called a symphony because that's what Mahler wrote. That's what a "pit" is for, right?

Another one that sticks in my head like glue... Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me - Bucs 77, was it a Tony Yaklich chart? One of the great arrangements of all time, IMO. Not really a ballad either and still beautiful! I can listen to that over and over even on those raw piston/rotor horns. (but, I always thought it was funny that Bucs played it instead of Sunrisers.) On Ave Maria... I liked both the Kelsey and Teleki versions. But who is the original composer? It's not the traditional Ave Maria, at least not the one I'm used to hearing. There are a bazillion different Ave Maria's out there.

Shirat Hayam (I *THINK* that's what it's called, correct me please) It's the ballad from Jewish Trilogy (Jødisk Trilogi) Blue Stars 77-78 (the part right before Hava Nagila). Scored by Danish composer Asger Hamerik, a student of Belioz. Finlandia Madison did it in the 60's but only a few have since, Spartans 75 among others, thanks corps reps. One of the greats by Sibelius. (the composer, not the program!) Well, not really by Sibelius either, but it's a nice song. Gotta say Renegades Ave Maria is right up there too. Who's the composer?

I wonder what's behind door number two? - Monty Hall (sorry, can't help it )

Wow... JIM OTT (in the top rows, it took me a while to see it... duh) Never noticed that before and I was there!!

Actually, that's Jim Reiss on vibes. What is it about Cavies vibe players? Jim was my next door neighbor and RA in college and I marched next to Z in 79. Both lasting friends and great guys.

Reading an article by Stuart Rice on marchingresearch.com... http://www.geocities.com/marchingresearch/ricsym95.txt He states: "Drum corps do not make music in the true sense. They borrow it. In fact, there is are not many things that drum corps do not borrow. The uniform comes from the military, and changes to them have come by way of borrowing as well. "Flag swinging," as it was known fifty years ago, came from signalling, a practice imported from Europe. Rifles and sabres, of course, were not originally invented for aesthetic effect. Without football fields (most of them compliments of schools and colleges), there would be nowhere to perform. Given these facts, one may conclude that there is nothing drum corps truly own. Just various adaptations of the creative contributions of others." It's an interesting, although academic read, and it may help to at least skim the article before responding. Trying to think of things that drum corps has really created or caused to be created. There is a kind of crafty creativity in the flower arranging sense of musical arrangement and drill. But, nothing has been created at all. It's just reorganized. True creativity runs deeper, making something new exist where there was nothing before. Arrangement of existing elements may still be regarded as creative, but only when the result is so much greater than the sum of it's parts that the original elements tend to disappear and the greater whole shines through as something distinctly new. This is what attracted me to drum corps in the 70's. Although an arrangement of borrowed elements, drum corps was greater than the sum of it's parts, and in sound and style became something that had never existed before. Let's try putting some elements of drum corps to the creativity test. Creative or not creative? --- Drill Content - I can think of a few moves within designs that would probably pass as creative, but it's very rare. It's quite a feat to create a series of moves that really becomes "something else" for a moment. I think Cavies more recent box drills might pass the test (of all things, a BOX). The motion becomes something greater than 64 guys in a box. Retinal retention or whatever, it's really never been seen before. Music - There have been a few original compositions and as such a powerful medium it's surprising there haven't been more. I'd really like to see a drum corps reach out to a composer of stature and commission a piece. No band guys, I mean REAL composers. Schifrin or Glass or Reich or Adams or somebody, even Jay Chattaway would be a breath of fresh air. All those guys have their price and they all have phone numbers. Any takers? BD? Cadets? Y'all think you're so progressive, let's see the goods! :) Musical Arrangements - Arrangers are working in a more compositional style these days, weaving lines together like variations on a theme. It's fancy flower arranging, but still flower arranging. Are there any arrangements that create something obviously greater than the sum of their parts? Or are they all a process of distillation? Of the arrangements that seem to pass the creativity test, they sometimes don't pass the boring test. Performance - Mostly not creative. Performers do what they are choreographed to do (or try at least). Rarely is a performer asked to improvise or contribute much of substance creatively. Exceptions? Fortunately, performers still bring a creative spirit to the field and "create" their show every night, but I'd like to see something more. Color Guard design - Drum corps led the way for a while but it seems to be all about WGI. In hindsight, the curved flag pole might qualify as creative, but maybe that happened somewhere else first. I don't know guard very well, help me out here! Uniforms - This is a hard one. While they borrow military or other elements, some designs combine things in such a way that they are really distinctive. SCV comes to mind. Maybe a few of the recent BD uni's (minus the shako)? G horns - If not creative, unique. Not created by but maybe created for drum corps. Did the military use G bugles in ensemble? If not, G brass might pass the creativity test (if not the slotting test). Bb horns - not. Mellophones - ?? It's a distinct color all it's own that didn't exist outside of drum corps. Mylar heads - Invented for marching. Who had them first? Kevlar - Gotta say yes. Kevlar heads were made for drum set first (I had one of the original mesh prototypes), but nobody used them. Pretty sure corps had them before bands. Marching keyboards - Maybe. Xylophones were carried horizontally during the black plague along with that whole "bring out your dead" thing, and they are sometimes carried that way in Africa. But, did drum corps people know that? They just took keyboards and harnessed them up. It might pass the test. Marching Tympani - Maybe yes. Even the Huns never carried them with straps around their necks, and the divided parts were a new way to play tympani. Pit percussion - not. Woodwinds - not. Amplification - not. Electronics - not. :) Was there anything creative about SCV's show last year? (I liked it either way) Was Cadets show creative? BD? The things I think about on a Sunday morning. I'm ready for some football!

I'm one of that 5% that didn't start in marching band, so I guess it's harder to relate to those who see drum corps as an extension of band. For me, band came later and was always something I HAD to do rather than wanted to do. My HS band took 7th at the very first (M)BOA in 76, so it wasn't a weak program. It just wasn't what I knew field music could be. Drum corps in my community at the time (western PA) wasn't like hot spots in New Jersey or other areas where drum corps and band traditionally co-mingled staff and members. Over the broader scope, leading show bands like Bergenfield were the exception rather than the rule (props to MikeD). For the longest time, there was about a two or three year delay in repertoire and techniques. A good corps would do something and then the bands would be doing it two years later. It seems like now it's the other way around. Now bands start doing something and then we see drum corps do it two years later. Agreeing with an earlier post, high schools drive the musical instrument market. That has had profound effects on the direction of corps over the years and there is no way around it. But, I would like to see a return to drum corps leading the way on content and style. Lately, I see more leadership from the DCA corps (go Renegades), trying new things that maybe haven't been done before in any genre.