JamMan

1. Star 1993 2. BD 2000 3. Cadets 2005 4. Cadets 2000 5. Phantom 2003 6. BD 2004 7. SCV 2004 8. Cadets 1987 9. Bluecoats 2014 10. Cavaliers 2004 And some close ones... 11. Cavaliers 1995 12. Cavaliers 2000 13. Madison 1999 14. Cadets 2003 15. Crown 2007

You'll have to watch videos from the past and ask a lot of alumni to find out stuff like what sticks were used or cymbals. Good luck.

But did you SEE BD this year? They were just on a whole other level! But if you subtract BD from the season, look at the corps left and which corps won which caption. They're pretty spread out. Now put BD ahead of everyone (but SCV in drums) and you see 0.1 here, 0.1 there, and it adds up.

This points more towards needing a better music designer. The pit gets almost no time to carry a melody or even play some riffs. Their "big moments" this year was playing 8 beats of triplets in the opener and then the "Jupiter" intro. They pretty much sat out the muffler feature (except for some synth chords and bowed vibes, if I recall). I don't know how those decisions were made, but I think we can agree they weren't the right ones. Exactly. They through too many small features when they should have just had the percussion ensemble continue the song in a less-challenging way. They seem to think that "Oh the brass isn't playing...RAM NOTES!" (Which a lot of other corps do as well). So we're still left with a pit that rarely carries the musical responsibility and a drumline that plays only decently (compared to the other top lines). So their shows have been coming to grinding halts when the brass cuts out. For a good example of what I think a good mix of features and such is, just listen to their 2007 show! The pit gets their fair share of sharing the melody, playing fast runs, playing the intro of songs, etc. The drumline gets some good fills, some features, etc. It's a wonderful blend! Now their pit is too focused on stuff that works for WGI (ramming notes, creating effects) and forgetting that they have to support a top hornline.

Sadly, no. And then if a corps plays a whole tune, nobody will talk about it; they'll only talk about who they hate.

Chuck those mufflers away, too. Or paint them to look cosmic. SOMETHING to tie them into the show rather than just the name of the piece ("Shadow Behind the Iron Sun"). And the only other people playing on the field is...a synth. Really? All the cool interweaving of songs and melodies in the opener and closer and then they just put a muffler song pretty much note-for-note on the field? I'd say ADD some playing. Almost a minute of diddle on a muffler is BORING. And another thing to subtract: The 30+-second synth solo. I get it: Space is mostly nothing. That doesn't mean your show should be. The synth is being played by a member hidden behind a gong. But nothing else is happening, so my eyes wander the field. "Are those two synth players up front playing? They look like they are, but they aren't really moving. What's the hornling doing? Nothing. Guard? Nothing." Does their GE plummet because of this? Is their show next year going to be "Zero" and they walk onto the field and do nothing, but get points? The echo brass feature: AWESOME. The echo synth feature: NO. I just think they missed a lot of easy opportunities and made some wrong decisions. I get that they wanted to be different than all the other space shows, but then we're left with this.

If somebody told me years ago that fans would demand Phantom get away from classical music, I'd have called them a nut. But do you people who believe this mean "orchestral", rather than "classical"? 2010's show had music composed in the last 50 or so years, and 2007 had some even newer stuff. Do people what Phantom to branch out to stuff like tango (2004)? As long as they stay away from modern wind band material, I'm ok with them. There are too many corps out there playing wind band stuff note-for-note on the field. That's not what I want to see, but I'm in the minority. I want DRUM CORPS arrangements, not re-orchestrations.

A lot of it comes down to variety, too. Crown's opener, features, and closer have a TON of runs and triple-tonguing that's extremely impressive. How many sections of the show are they playing long, swelling tones that blend and interweave with the percussion and other brass members? Or play an extended passage that grows, slowly, from piano to triple fortissimo? Couple that with the sheer amount of space (pun!) in their book, and the lack of visual demand while playing (except for the opener), and you can see why they're losing to other corps.

I think a lot of us just went "Ugh...really? Moving on..."

And jazz! We've got several corps bringing jazz back into the mix! Some corps don't even HAVE xylos this year! But then they compensate by overplaying in the top register of the marimba.

It's not just drum corps but the FANS. Oh my God they've become INSUFFERABLE in the past 7 years or so. Where we used to get fans who would cheer every show and cheer even harder for their favorites, we get fans who only cheer for their favorites. It's depressing. We've got shows that blow a lot of old ones away, but you can't get a standing ovation because...I don't even know. Did we get too fat? Add to all that the toxicity of DCP and Facebook. It's impossible to discuss anything and heaven forbid you critique the flavor-of-the-month corps. Then there's the blatant hypocrisy showcased this year: Narration bad! Electronics bad! Ugly uniforms bad! Stupid props bad! Weird show concepts bad! GE plays too big a role! BUT IT'S ONLY BAD WHEN IT'S CADETS OR BD I HATE THEM SO MUCH CAROLINA CROWN 2013 WOOOOOOO! Seriously, it's awful. We get it, you play saxophone in high school/played tuba in 1960. Don't attack me when I happen to like a different show, or point out how one section of your favorite corps that you didn't even march in is significantly lower quality than the other sections. Anyway, I just suggest that you stop going on here or any other website. Interact with real people and pick your own favorite shows and sections. People are stupid and will rail against the G7 all day, but then only discuss their shows and buy their merchandise.

Just get one of us to ship it to you :P

Star 1986.

It's really just the brass alums who whine. They want to hear brass and nothing but brass. They even get crabby when a drum feature doesn't feature the brass or the brassline only plays for 85% of the show (remember that Cavaliers "controversy" from 2007?). Sarcasm? "Let's just return to that gorgeous all acoustic sound of yesteryear." It wasn't gorgeous at all. "Nothing rinky dink about it." False. "The use of amps ruined the enjoyment of brass in the number one show this year." Implying the brass is the only thing that matters? "Let them play I say and save your talking for your printed program." Amen.

No kidding! Crown had a seventh place percussion section and was STILL in first in Music GE? WHAT?

Congrats to Crown. Hold it together and it's in the bag!

Congrats to Crown. Hold it together and it's in the bag!

Cadets are more from the wrist and they play into the drum. Blue Devils play off the head and float a lot. Cadets' tenors play a lot of rolls into rimshots into more rolls, BD plays rolls into unisons and double-stops. Cadets' pit plays more harmonically, BD plays more unison riffs.

Yes, I have marched in a champ-calibre line. Which made me baffled that you couldn't tell the difference between a West Coast and East Coast style. I'll chalk it up to you being away from the game for a little.

"Nobody seems to have their own distinct sound or style -- I`ll argue that you could switch Devils line with the Cadets or Cadets line with the Crown etc and you wouldn`t notice much of a difference" Um...no. You must not be a drummer.

How about the general weakness of the pit's book? That stuff is miles behind groups like BD, Cadets, SCV, Bluecoats and Cavaliers.

Ugh, this "Back in my day..." Post again. Look, if you didn't follow drum corps for a period of time, why are you confused that you're lost? Also, since when has drum corps ever been about fans first? Also, if some of you out there are so bent out of shape about corps not being old school enough, how come Boston isn't your favorite corps? Why is Boston constantly forgotten about when they're the best at splitting old and new school? EDIT: Add SCV to corps that stay pretty old school

No. You'll get shows that will bore you to tears because that corps feels like winning.

Got the full shpeel from Mr. Float this spring. Their new drums are AMAZING. Any lower-level corps (I.e. not top 6) that just need equipment will jump at this and grow the brand.

People march BD to end their careers. They want to just relax and use their high talent level to kick ###, judges and fans be ######.