Gentleman Marcher

As a perennial volunteer with a mid-lower tier corps, I think your idea of going to a camp and talking to folks is the best thing you can do to get a sense of the "corps culture." In my experience, staff, members and volunteers alike (many of whom will be parents like you) are eager to talk about their own experiences, and the experiences of their members with the corps.

Good things are coming out of Iowa! Got to see the show a couple of weeks ago, and I have to say, it's got all the Colts hallmarks--lots of melody, a powerful ballad, and great entertainment value. The biggest difference from last year is the hornline sound. Much more rich than last year (and much louder as a result!). It's going to be put to good use, as the horn book is a step up from last year, especially Pollock. Percussion's got a lot of vets and is a ton of fun to watch and listen to--and personally, I'm crazy about the six-person cymbal line! Can't speak much to the color guard or the visual program. Guard seemed full and well-prepared, they were layering in work but I just don't know how to talk about what I saw. As for visual, couldn't get a good angle from it just because of shallow high school stands. I can't say where anyone will wind up come August, especially since every corps seems to step up their game season after season. I've seen with my own eyes that the Colts have stepped up theirs. Go Red Team!

Colts are marching six plates, and they're shaping up to be one heck of a line already! Go Red Team!

Surprised no one has mentioned 2002 Cavaliers yet--Frameworks. That show has a whole mess of jaw-dropping drill. Cavies doing what they do best: fast, fast, fast.

I have no clue what to think about this. On one hand, I don't think I'd ever record a drum corps performance. On the other hand, I've watched and listened to drum corps bootlegs (I have never paid for a bootleg), and I feel I can say with certainty that I would not be as big a drum corps fan if I hadn't had those to fuel my love of the activity. I have bought hundreds of dollars of DVDs and CDs from DCI. I've attended as many shows as I can, and I'm planning on attending many this upcoming season--even if I have to drive hours to see the show. I will probably purchase a Fan Network subscription to view the webcasts. I spend money regularly at souvenir booths. I plan on volunteering with a corps this summer. I consider myself a lifelong fan of the activity. I don't seek out bootlegs any more. Would I have told the guy off? I truly don't know. Should I feel ashamed about seeking out drum corps bootlegs? I'd like to hear some opinions on that.

Except Phantom's Dynasty lines have sounded nothing like BD's Dynasty lines. So...tuning has to come into it somewhere!

Hey, I wrote that article! Yeah, Viv Whittaker--he's been doing Glassmen souvies for a number of years now. Here's the article. I actually beat Dan Potter to the interview by about a week, as I recall...no hard feelings, I hope. And then the next summer I got to set up souvies alongside the man...he's the real deal. Dyed-in-the-wool drum corps nut and a pleasure to see on tour.

Go get 'em, Red Team. I can't wait to see it.

Voted SCV '04--top notch storytelling. BD '00 gets an honorable mention from me (but sadly, lackluster visual writing) as does Cadets '02 (delicious cheese) and '03 (delicious performance difficulty, GE scores be darned).

Worked with a guy this past summer at the Colts who had a t-shirt pretty much everyone loved--Renegades mello section shirt from a couple of years ago, showing a triangle drill form, with one of the triangle's top corner guys (the easiest point to dress) clearly out of formation. Caption: "Nailed my dot."

Awesome! Well done, drum corps community.

That's the guy. Cadets '06, BD '07-'08.

Other corps have section shorts. They have full-body section tattoos.

The tenor player (he marched Cadets and then BD) is Matt Bauer (sp?). I remember the interview they had with him on the DCI broadcast--apparently his biggest worry wasn't his chops, or his ability to march, but his ability to read the music because, well, he couldn't. So he learned to memorize music very, very quickly. I know a guy who marched with him at Cadets, who said Bauer could look at a page of music once and play it from memory. Yow.

And don't forget the supremely ###### "On the Road" DVD for 2009. That is one awesome documentary.

If Crown played "The Lick," I would probably die right then and there.

Pearl percussion, though. Their relevant page is here.

Colts are a Yamaha corps for brass and percussion, and use Sabian cymbals. Everything else (chimes, uniforms, etc.) are listed here.

I doubt I'm alone in saying that I love the new uniforms. They make the Blue Stars look absolutely huge on the field, something that I don't think the old uniforms ever accomplished--it's just one of those things, that white makes you look bigger than dark tones do. I'd be curious to see how a red plume looks with the current uni--perhaps they could pull it off but I have reservations about dark colored plumes (again, I like corps that look larger than life and a plume adds another foot to the score). Now, bringing out the old uniforms in the honor guard at retreat? That's a move I think should stick around. And keeping one of the old helmets on the podium is a nice touch too.

Most of these I can agree with. Much of the rest I think is an okay fit. But Crown '08 as Speed Racer? That show deserves a better analogy!

From a competitive standpoint, things keep getting more and more intense every year. The battle for medalist positions is driving some really outstanding program quality from the big dogs, and the fight for 12th place the last few seasons has looked like it could go to three to five corps up until the very end of the season. Expect to see shows that you may have looked at in 2004 and said, "oh, that's a shoe-in for finals"--then consult the program and see that most of the field has yet to perform. I say, it's a great time to be a drum corps fan, especially if you like close-run races.

This is why committees suck.

It's never too early for a Trumpet Christmas!

For those of us who've never seen it--what have we been missing? Was it a company front entrance that "dropped off" the members on their dots for the opening set?

Voted Troll option.