Bored50345

Just wondering if anyone knew where the corps would be housed for the show in Carmel on 7-13. The show website doesn't have a listing and I couldn't find it on the corps' sites.

Does anybody know where Phantom is going to be? Their website just says they are in Indy Wed.

The MENC music standards are more guidelines than anything, not binding laws that govern the universe. They're essentially objectives for teachers and things that all students should be able to do in the classroom setting. They're a big deal when your in school but often less so when you actually get out in real world. After listening to the field pass it seems like the two organizations are trying to develop a set of guidelines for educators when it comes to the marching activity. It's a essentially a list of things every student should be able to achieve after being in a marching program. I don't think they are looking to regulate every level of the activity.

Agreed, if they are going to win a title, which I think will happen in the next 5 years, they are going to have to take more risks, especially on the visual side of the ball. There last two shows have been great but they will have to get a little more edge to beat the Devils or Cavies on finals night. Regiment took a chance this year and look what happened. They seem to be following the Star formula, which is not surprise considering they have a lot of Star connections. If that is the case I would imagine they will start the a serious push towards the title soon.

Surf would probably take the PC-Academy rout and be a regional touring corps at first but I think they have a bright future in World. I'm not against the regional touring corps if it helps build the world class. Hopefully Southwind and Cascades can return and be as good as they were before. Southwind looked to be getting better so it was a shame when they went inactive. Only problem for Cascades is that in their time away the other two open corps in the area had solid years. I'm still a little baffled by CR's return. They've been gone so long and they didn't leave on the best of terms with some of their members and staff. I doubt they will have any vets come back which essentially means they will be starting over. Troopers did it but they had a rich tradition and strong leadership.

The Cadets take a lot of crap on this board, but between 04-08 they've had one really good show (05) and some really bad choices. I think the worst part of the 06 show wasn't the singing but the cheap rabbit costume. The Crown singing in in 04. I'm not totally against singing but please get some people who can actually sing. Cavies using Billy Joel but not utilizing any of his notable melodies. The opening of the Glassman's Beethoven show where they just stood and played Beethoven's 5th. Just bad design. But I think the biggest mistake of the decade...YOWZA!

So the idea here is to fire another brass staff because they didn't do as well as last year by a few tenths, creating more instability and causing the returning members to learn another new system? The logic here is flawless. Consistency is the key or so I've been told.

Just move it up to Purdue. There stadium is similiar to IU and it's only an hour from Indy. Parking might be a problem up there.

Cadets 07 was at least inspired by a Kennesaw Mountain HS show a couple of years ago.

Oh geez... Jim Prime has to be at the top of the list. The stuff he wrote for Cadets was always incredible and the Star books were too. I always feel like Bocook and Klesch are underrated. Even if your not a big fan of the Cadets programing choices, Bocook has written a lot of great brass books for them. Klesch did a great job with Crown's book. Jim Wren is definately up there as well. Phantom wouldn't be what they are today without the stuff he did. J.D. Shaw has done a great job of keeping that tradition going I'd probably have Downey just a little farther down on the list for the simple fact that for all the great books he's written there some real clunckers (I'm looking at you 2000). I'm not sure anyone is a better instructor. Scott Boerma would round out my list. That trademark Scouts sound we all know and love from the 90s was a byproduct of the way he writes. I hope he ends up working with another group that could really use a good arranger.

Phantom Regiment taking home a gold medal.

Funny thing is, most of his comments were dead on accurate.

05 Phantom

They might not be as loud as pre Bb lines, but they're much better in tune, which in turn leads to cleaner and louder sound. I think the switch to Bb is one of the reasons you've seen such a growth in the lower placing corps.

Somewhere in the middle probably. 04 was my favorite BD show of this decade and sadly it didn't win. Actually a lot of really great BD shows didn't win.

It's definately not meant for the hard core fans. They want to pack as much info in as they can because it is a recruiting tool. That's why they send free copies of it to a lot of schools. I know many of the kids I have worked with really enjoy seeing it, especially because they don't have $100 sitting around to buy the DVDs.

Just about anything Vangaurd did. They had a really great drill package this year.

You would think that pants are pants, but there is reason a lot of groups wear dark pants and why virtually no one still has the stripe down the leg of their pants. I think BD and Cadets might be the only ones. I don't think the uniform itself was the problem. It was the way the uniforms were utilized was the problem. Really all I remember from their show was a good brass line and their constant use of certain motions to show off the uniform design. It was at times for me a little distracting. As other people have mentioned their guard and drill were pulling the corps back, especially from a design standpoint. It probably would have been a better use of time to create drill and guard staging that sold the power and grace theme instead of having to deal with how will the pants look from the box. They've come a long way in two years and they were 14th in one of the most competitive seasons ever. They have nothing to be ashamed of.

The show is there they just have to clean it and get a decent guard score. Finishing 7th in that caption is killing them right now. I could definately see Bloooooo passing Cavies. Cadets or BD might be a stretch but I'm gonna root for the underdog.

Do you horns or would we need our own?

Sorry about that. I meant the visual book is challenging enough, they just aren't handling it well enough yet, hence the hole they are in now.

I know this review is kind of late. I was on vacation and just didn't have the time to post after the show. I just had some thoughts and conclusions after watching all 8 of these corps. It was an awesome evening of drum corps with 8 really great performances and all the excitement around this show being it was the first time all these top corps were in one place. I had a great viewpoint from the north 40 about two thirds of the way up. As a warning these are the opinions of a somewhat educated and hopefully unbiased fan. Please take them with a grain of salt. Blue Knights- 8th (78.975): I really enjoyed this show a lot, I think because I'm a pretty big fan of Shostakovich. There are a lot of similarities in the music book between this and the 2002 Phantom show. I thought the corps played really well and was surprised to see the brass line so far behind Vanguard in brass after seeing the recap. You can tell they are struggling visually and it looked like technique was still an issue at times. This corps has a lot of talent on the field. What concerns me is the design, or in my opinion lack there of. You get the connection with the dark dances theme from the fact they use dance as a prominent part of the visual package. Other than that I just didn't feel like there was much else. I can see GE possibly being a problem for this corps down the line against Boston and perhaps even the Colts which is a shame because I think they're a good corps, maybe even top 6 in an average year, but I feel like they are hindered by their vehicle. Carolina Crown- 7th(83.35): This is another really enjoyable show. Crown is quickly becoming the corps it seems like everyone enjoys watching. I think they do a really great job of selling the horse racing concept through their visual package, their music book and even just the look of the corps. I was pleasantly surprised with the control the brass line showed throughout the performance. This brass line has come so far in the last few years and the percussion section has really turned it around as well. My one concern with this show as I watched it was is it difficult enough, especially from a visual aspect, to carry them through to the top 6 at the end of the season. Maybe it was just that they were reaching a high level of achievement and making things look easier than they were or perhaps I missed something. I myself didn’t see a whole lot of difficult visual moments. It just seemed like this was the big weakness of this group. I think they and Vanguard are going to be slugging it out the rest of the season for that 6th spot. Santa Clara Vanguard- 6th(84.70): The first thing I thought when this program was over was that this show was definitely vintage Vanguard, which I guess is good since this is their 40th anniversary show. I thought this show was well designed and has a ton of room for them to grow as the execution improves. You gotta love that cymbal line. I really liked the way the used the cymbals to pass off the spin as it went through the group in the opener. If you’re going to have a cymbal line, make them a prominent part of the show. There were some nice moments in the brass, I thought especially in the trumpets. I like the use of the mutes. Much like last year and many years with Vanguard if they can clean up some of the stuff they are doing, especially in the brass line, they could make a late push. I think in most years this could be a top 4 show, but I'm not so sure this year. I’m excited to see what extra Eureka moments they have planned. Bluecoats- 5th(84.75): The big story of the year has to be this corps, especially after the Centerville show. I caught myself rooting for the underdog after that show so I had to try really hard to be objective with this group. This big question is can this show win? I think it can. The difficulty level is there as is the design. The talent I think could be there. With that said they are in a hole visually right now and I think a lot of it has to do with the difficulty of the visual package. The kids have a lot of work to do if they are going to stay in the hunt on the visual end. Now on to the positives. This corps has the look, sound and feel of mid 90s Blue Devils. I hope that is the continued direction for this corps because it serves them well. The brass score was well deserved. Holy tuba line! It's rare to see a contra line get one great lick let alone a good portion of the show designed around them. The whole horn line is playing very well, especially considering the demand in the visual book. The concept works and the narration serves a purpose and isn't overused. If the visual execution of this group can catch up with the music, finals will certainly be interesting for the underdog. Phantom Regiment- 4th(86.325): I have to admit something here. '96 Regiment was the first drum corps show I ever saw and '03 is probably one of my favorite shows ever so they've always been a favorite of mine. With that said I just felt like something was missing here from the show. I just can't put my finger on it either. I hate to use the "Phantom's visual" card but I think that is where something is missing for me. They're executing well, better than the last couple of years at this time, so I guess it would have to be in the design. I was kind of shocked by the guard ranking because I saw several drops in the show, especially early. Of course when it comes to color guard I'll be the first to admit I don't know much. The percussion is just wow. Does the pit stop playing? Great stuff from the mello section. The brass line playing Firebird is just a classic Phantom moment. I think the ballad could be great and I like the duet feature, it's just not there yet. I'd love to see them up at the top come the end of the season and the show is definitely built with championship moments, I just hope whatever it is that is seemingly missing gets added. Cavaliers- 3rd(87.55): This is definitely the most athletic of the corps on the field, which is saying a lot consider all the performers out there are doing incredible things. For some reason I never got that "Wow" moment visually from the corps that I usually get during a Cavies show. Maybe it is just because we've seen them do so much incredible stuff this decade. I mean it's almost like where do they go from here? Gives added meaning to the pressure section of the show, which I really enjoyed. I like the music and it is an interesting use of Billy Joel material, I'm just wondering if the source material is deep enough. I think musically they are behind a little, not so much because they are bad but because everyone else is so good. The guard is great and I think that uniform fits the music and tone of the show. The percussion section has improved with some really good percussion writing. If you closed your eyes and listened to them they sounded very much like Vanguard, which of course makes sense the Cavies staff is the old Vanguard staff. The ending is incredibly flat but I've heard there is a new ending waiting in the wings which I will be interested to see. Right now I just was left with the question "Is there enough" at the end of the show. I have no doubt they will be right up there until the end. Cadets- 2th(87.575): Whether you love them or hate them, you have to agree with one thing, they're good. I'm sure it is difficult for some to like this show because on one hand this show is classic Cadets. They march fast and they play hard music and they don't look back. On the other hand they're pushing the envelope with a hotly debated new aspect of drum corps, narration. Normally I'm not a big fan of narration but I think a lot of it works in this show. Some of it could be cut, like when the narration tells us something we could obviously figure out on our own, but the show is design very well around it and it tells a story a lot of us have lived through. It is very similar to a Kennesaw Mountain HS show from a couple of years ago in tone and structure. This is a very balanced corps. The drums are solid despite the staff changes. The brass line is doing a lot of difficult stuff very well. If this corps has one weakness right now its the guard. I guess in a way watching them it was as if everyone else has raised the bar and they've stood still. They've definitely got a better than average shot to take home the gold in California. Blue Devils- 1st(87.675): This is another very solid corps all around. I like how this show is very much a tribute to the Blue Devils in their 50th year, but not a straight up "tribute" show. I like the theme of the show. The opener might be the most exciting piece of music on the field this year. Sadly that intensity and excitement seems to disappear in the 2nd and 3rd sections but comes back slightly at the end of the closer. The ballad just seems really flat. I've kind of felt like the last two years the brass line has been a little down from the early 00 decade lines but they're definitely back in full force this year. Percussion and guard are strong of course. I think the worrisome part for this group right now is that they are winning based on their execution scores. In the end when everyone is clean this might be a problem for them. I feel like that is kind of what happened with them last year because they were winning around this time last year only to be passed up by Regiment and Cavies at the end. I think they can definitely win but a few tweaks might be necessary to achieve winged victory. Well there you have it. I tried to mix the things that I noticed going well for all these corps with the potential problems I see with each of these corps when everyone rolls into Pasadena in a little less than a month. I agreed with the judging placements except I had Bluecoats and Regiment flip flopped. I also had my scores much tighter across the board. It is certainly going to be interesting the rest of the summer as everyone seems to have a weakness but there are several groups with the potential to walk away with it all.

So sad to see such a great corps in turmoil. Scouts were the first corps I ever saw live. Indy regional in 2001. They literally knocked me off my seat and gave me headache. And it was awesome! I'll always remember that. I always remember the crowd giving them a standing O with 30 seconds of show left. Yeah they finished 11th that year, but they were one of my favorite shows that year. I think the thing we all have to remember is that things change. Love affairs end. Scouts don't get the same reaction any more, for whatever reason. Yeah they don't have the "bugle" sound. Even so 2006 was an incredibly soild show that was close to being top 4 or 5. So the real thing we need to be asking is 1) was this the right decision for the organization and all who support it and 2) now that it has happened will the get someone who can hold it all together and field a corps that can remain true to tradition and be a contender. Or is that even possible at all?

Only if they can get the WMU facility back. The temp site was horrible just because of it's size. DCI and the school did the best they could considering, but the facility (and the heat) made the show less than enjoyable.

That's wierd about Capital. From everything I had heard previously they were fairly well run on the adminstration end. It was always seemingly staff problems in the past.