Jofus

I think SCV uses dynasty horns, but they still march Pearl/Adams percussion.

I didn't march last summer due to money problems. I got back from the 2006 tour broke and without a job, and my transmission soon went out on my car. Last spring I replaced my transmission (by hand), sold the car, bought something else, and got a job. I worked my butt off all summer and now I've got the money to march another summer.

I think he was talking about Bush's baked beans. That seems like it would be a little more likely to cause some catastrophic winds.

*edit*

Oh you've gone and done it now. Prepare for flames. And just my 2 cents: a lot of great corps never win. Madison HAS won before.

Looks like nobody from Alabama fought in the first World War.. I think a lot of the lack of drum and bugle corps in the South might have to do with education. At least in Alabama, the state does not have a whole lot of money to provide for the schools. Our state government is all about low taxes, which I'm all for, but of course we shun the idea of a state lottery. Thus, low revenue. There are just a few truly urban areas in the state, so that makes for a pretty low number of very well funded public schools. Let's face it, the LAST thing a school on a low budget wants to spend money on is the arts. As expected and from experience, I would say most of the band programs in this state are "in the building process." LUCKILY, there are some amazing teachers around here, and somehow or another we are still able to create a good number of extremely talented musicians. However, I'm sure that number is scarce compared to other states that have more money to provide for their public school systems. That being said, and from personal experience teaching band camps and going to competitions around the state, most students in Alabama have never even heard of drum corps. I would say that the lack of exposure is a consequence of the lack of quality band programs. Less exposure means less interest. I would say that is the modern explaination for the lack of drum corps around here.

Dropping your hat/aussie... always a bad thing. and then as mentioned, the dreaded "M" word.

From Sun Prairie Wisconsin, The Scouts!

I want another corps in the South. The only thing I can really drive to is Spirit. That's about 3 or 4 hours away. Crusaders auditions are in Florida, which well over 10 hours away depending on where in Florida they are. Texas is way further away than you'd think. Took me 13 hours to drive to Madison once (bad idea). The next closest corps besides Spirit would be Blue Coats and Crown, which are both still quite a long distance away from where I am. In this area, unless you have money, your only option is Spirit. Nothing against them, I just think there should be more options. I am jealous of those around northern Illinois. Madison, Cavaliers, Regiment..take your pick. Lucky SOBs.

Being a tenor player, IT SUCKS TO NOT WEAR SUNGLASSES. The days I forgot mine (like my avatar) were miserable. The Remo pinstripes make very good vertical sun reflectors, so even with my hat on, I have 5 quasi-mirrors reflecting the light straight up into my eyes. I don't really look forward to having cataracts when I'm older. Do they have "sun contacts?" That would be cool.

Colin never mentioned shades when I was under him at Madison. I wore my sunglasses every moment we were outside. I'm halfway to being deaf, I might as well save my eyesight. I know where I'm (hopefully) going this summer I won't be able to wear sunglasses. Looks like I'll just pull my hat down to my nose.

Not sure about that, but I'm sure Nitro is for "youth."

I'm not going to be charged with a hate crime am I? I have lots of friends that are stairs...

We need to ban stairs. I scraped my shin on some the other day.

I don't even like the bluecoats, I just think what you're saying is dumb. IMHO

Because boxing is a cool sport. No normal person is stupid enough to go knock out their friends after watching the Bluecoats play a show about boxing. Getting away from drum corps, I don't see why people think that human beings are supposed to be above violence. It's not like we're the only animals that fight each other. I mean, crazy stuff like murder and torture is one thing, but fighting? Give me break.

Niteblaze I take it you haven't marched before, (correct me if I'm wrong) but I don't think you know what it's like coming BACK from drum corps. I returned from the 2006 season with absolutely NO money and no job. Missing an entire summer's worth of work is like paying an extra $2000 or $3000 on top of what I had already spent. As soon as I returned, as luck would have it, I had a lot of car trouble. I had to replace my transmission and later had to replace a lot of rear suspension parts due to an accident that happened ON THE WAY TO A JOB INTERVIEW. Luckily I know a thing or two about cars and saved a ton of money by doing all the work myself. However, not having a car for a few months means no job. The only way I could pay for my parts was with a credit card, which I'm still paying off. I was planning on returning to Madison until all this car stuff happened, and I realized there was absolutely no way I could get the money without going into even more debt. So I stayed home and finally got a job. Best decision I could have made. I worked about 35 hours a week all this summer and made enough to sell my car and buy one that works, move into a new apartment, and save for half of my tour fees this summer. I'll still have a job when I get back, so it's all good. It's not that drum corps is not worth the money, because it totally is. However, sometimes NOT marching is worth the money. I think it would have been totally stupid and irresponsible for me to have marched last year. You sacrifice enough in one summer to march drum corps, but don't sacrifice your future for it.

Like you said, it's happening already. One of the first things I was asked in my audition was, "what's your money situation?" That's not a bad thing to ask, obviously, but it's sad that it has to be asked. Yesterday I made a budget for myself for the rest of the year until everydays. It is only for plane tickets, tuition, and camp fees too. I looked up all my flights to every camp for the rest of the year. My total cost is roughly $4,200, without the extra money needed for tour supplies, gas to drive 2 hours to the airport, and other expenses. It's going to total before $4,600 and $5,000 depending if air fares increase. Mind you, I'm paying for this without any help.

I don't think anyone deserves to take crap for moving to another corps, or even deciding not to march. I don't want to march with someone whose only reason for staying is because he was begged to stay, or made to feel bad for wanting to go somewhere else. People march for various reasons. Some people are loyal to the corps. Some want more because they think they can get better elsewhere. Some people want to (Gasp) place well. Whatever it is, nobody should be put down for making decisions for themselves.

18, 20, 22 or 24, 26, 30

I love lamp. Seriously, though, I love the parking lot after shows: The smell of the buses, cook trucks, mingling with other corps members, seeing your friends, the atmosphere of finally getting to relax and pretend like you're a civilian for an hour or so.

check out your technique. Maybe there is something that you are/aren't doing that is hindering you from doing specific things. I know for one, for a while no matter how much I practiced, my flam drags never got better. I realized that the pressure I put on my fulcrum was preventing my diddles from being even, so I started focusing on that. Since then I've never had a problem with them.

General effect is exactly what it sounds like. VAGUE. I think it needs to be reduced as well. Execution, then GE.

I'll agree DieseFume here. I don't think it will be too long before the smaller corps leave DCI and go do their own thing because DCI will no longer be the place for them. Maybe they will create their own circuit? Who knows?