woodster

thanks B)

hmmm.... This is kinda frustrating, just from an alum who makes has no affect on the corps decisions. I feel like in 2004 we tried to through malaga in everyone's face and it flopped big time (i marched the show). So then we go a different route and it flops big. I guess I am still hoping they can go through this massive growth process and come out playing exciting music that is innovative etc. I feel like the scouts easily have the personal available to put out a show that could place sixth, and the staff could've been able to do this. Perhaps they wanted to pull some teeth to raise the bar. I'll take them making finals (10-12) this year if that means beating some top groups and regaining crowd favorite for the future when this group continues to mature. Hopefully they won't have too many ageouts to make a necessity for crazy recruiting (ie 2003).

I feel the exact same way about Paul's writing. It is definetely a perfect fit for Phantom on top of that. I always enjoy different aspects of his writing, such as full ensemble voices, tempo changes, etc. Very musical. He is also well known for not putting a solo in just for the sake of it. I guess that is why the average fan will have more trouble hyping the phantom drum book over the cadets book. I have two students of mine marching in phantom's line this year (1 snare and 1 tenor), so i definetely respect what they do. Coming from the North Texas Area in highschool and playing Paul's arrangements every year, I guess I am a little burnt out on Paul's style. So when I see West coast and East coast writing it definetely strikes a fresher note with me, perhaps incorrectly appearing more difficult. I still wished they played on Yamaha quads though :)

agreed

evening show was the first time i saw the scouts. They were definetely a step up from the bottom two groups, and i was sitting there thinking "great drumline, good brass, ok show." I comfirmed with everyone around me that the drill had a ton of individual problems. When deciding where they would place, i figured it was a toss up between BK, Madison, and Boston. I knew Madison had the dirtiest drill, but I guess I was hoping it would have a higher GE value since it was more exciting than the other two groups. But it appeared that dirty drill affected GE and Visual. Overall the score was much too close to Glassmen and too far from BK. BK was good, but they had other weaknesses that Madison didn't. I guess you can't look at where you think a corp should score, because the scoring breakdown gives little emphasis to the individual sections musical performance. I do wish more weight was to music. Madison definetly deserved 10th (or 8th for that matter), but the score was a little obscene. And there drumline was too low for that matter, but I suppose since they were the best section of the corp, we can't complain. Overall, I think this year will be a good experience for my brothers, though not a succesful one for the ranks. Atleast 10th has more respect to it now than when I marched.

yeah, i would definetely agree with regards to boston. I was surprised with crown's sloppiness as the caption head was our battery tech at madison and marched star '93. He is a complete jerk, but one thing i recall is that he was meticulous about playing clean (even if that meant making 21 yr olds cry :P ). I have to assume it will just take time for him to get the right talent out there as he is virtually a no name in the business right now. As far as Glassmen, i was surprised since last year i liked what was happening. Their book appears a lot harder this year, but much dirtier. I wonder if their staff has changed since '05.

I just missed those guys as my first year was '03. Mike Howard was around as the bass tech that summer though. Very cool guy. Unfortunetely haven't spoken to any of those guys since the staff change.

my fault man, i thought it was you who yelled those things. I don't necessarily have a problem with what you were discussing, but the words that were yelled in front of her parents. I will have to assume he didn't know those were her parents. oh, i didn't mean for it to come across that i was ashamed to be a scout. I just didn't like be affiliated with him at that point in time. i felt it was a little unclassy, however passionate yes.

i thought your review was tasteful. however, the way you acted at the show was very distasteful. you and your friend managed to trash the cadets through the entire show, distracting those around you. Then when they were leaving you managed to yell, "you suck." Well, it was either you or the '81 scouts alum you were with. you both acted like children, especially when you offended everyone around you and argued with the singers moms on your right to share your opinion. then when you made more distateful comments about the girl after her interview was more class. You were the only one in the stands i saw react that way. most of us show nonsupport by staying seated. I was very disapointed to have marched in the same corp as the gentleman you were with, and i have never said that about a madison alum.

spirt drumline was small and thus sorta hard to get excited about. they did play some cool stuff though. The corp was fun to see being that it was my first to see of the year. However, the show was extremely boring. The music went nowhere and left me very flat at the end. There are somethings they could do to fix this. glassmen overall a more exciting show than spirit. a clear step up. Drumline wasn't very clean, but it was ok. I didn't particularly like the show, but i loved the 10 seconds of silence that they had. overall i thought this show was a easy step up from spirit and a big step below madison madison dirty drill. exciting drill. I guess i am enjoyed it, but it did remind me of June drum corp as far as execution. Drumline was the first drumline to see that came out with cool parts that took my attention. That sorta drum exposure is nice to see from madison. overall the corp had an alright show, but my grandmother can see those visual mistakes. i would've scored them at the level they did, though the drums should've been more like sixth, not seventh. BK This show seemed very conservative and clean. They appeared to cover their basses, though nothing made me close to excited except a few horn hits. Overall this show doesn't appear to have much more potential, but it doesn't look like anyone below them will catch. Boston Drumline was not very well written for my taste. There were a couple of out of the blue snare solos that were so out of place i could even focus on how well executed they were. Overall I thougth this corp was good, but no change from any of the past three years. I think Madison and BK should pass them. I was surprised they beat BK, though it is a complete toss up. Madison, BK, and Boston all have some glaring problems and different strengths. Hard to rate, though madison drumiline was better than three (since this is from a drummers perspective). Crown This show was better than any before it. Drumline was extremely weak at times, but then very strong at other times. They did pop a couple of triplet rolls that were by far the cleanest thing I heard all night. guard was good and horns were solid. drill was solid. Never wowed at any time, but this show appears to carry more quality (highest combination of demand and execution) than those before it. SCV eh. it was alright. cool drill. drumline was very dirty, but I expected that considering staff changes etc. I think crown could pass them, but i think SCV has the individual talent that will pull it out. Cadets I loved the drumline, atleast when they played. The drums couldn't be heard most of the first half. I below the snaredrummer who caught the stick missed a rim shot, which was dissapointing but fun too watch. The drumline should be clean come finals, as i give them the benefit of the doubt. I didn't get the show design, but honestly I never get anyone's show design. I just like to be entertained. The guard was non existant in my opinion. They might've been out there, but I never saw them. On a side note I got to listen to people trash the corp behind me. Geez, it was like reading the DCP. Then they got into an argument with the parents of the singer. Classy. Atleast it gave my gf something to watch. Phantom good horns and drums. not so jammin guard. didn't care for the bondage stuff. the drum book was not the hardest thing i saw out there, but it was perhaps the cleanest. Didn't like the tuning of the quads. I couldn't tell what was clean in the dome as the tones take over each other and sound like mud. I am sure it is better outside. overall this show is the most boring of the top five so far, but their horn line did blow me away with that sound. Their drill production was....typical phantom drill. their drill wasn't dirty, but it didn't anything to my excitement. Not bad, but not up to par with the surrounding competition. Bluecoats For the first half of their show i would give them easy third place and perhaps high drums. But ever since a quad drummer fell down the show took a serious drop in quality. It was like a different corp. The snare line went from slammin to very crappy at times. All of a suddent individuals stuck out and parts were blown left and right. I will assume it was a bad performance. I also saw dropped sticks. The corp seemed to have the same performance. Great for half a show, then just good. Guard was the first guard that made my jaw drop with their ability. CAvies ok, this show concept i actually got. very cool. I always disliked their recent shows, but this was a lot of fun to watch. I actually watched the guard most of the time. I believe that is some of the coolest ideas i have ever seen put into action. drumline was dirty most of the time (despite a high score ?), but i didn't even notice them over the cool show design. This was the best show i saw of the night BD This drumline was the only one i didn't see crap the bed at one point or another (as is expected for SA). The show was boring and I spent the whole time waiting for the repeat of the god father theme, while looking at my watch. very solid package from every angle, though. I was thinking it would beat cavies tonight on the basis of execution, but cavies show would pass them once it was cleaned another layer. I guess it happened ealier than i thought BD did crap the bed when they played their cadence though. Overall it was interesting to look at the drum recaps and disagree with them. Of course, standing in front of the line is much better than my fourth row perspective. All of the groups were where i expected them to be by SA. I know finals will be much better. I know my comments were a little blunt and probably not thoughtful of the big picture. like i said, this was from my perspective.

tonight was my first time to see the show, via internet, and i certainly had mixed feelings. Couldn't see the guard. I liked the drums and horns alot. Of course, it is hard to hear dirt from drums with the sound i was getting. My biggest negative notice was, as everyone as said, the drill. While cooler than when I marched scouts, i was surprised at the errors on the easy stuff, ie. people not in on straight lines. It sorta ruins great drill when somebody is not in line, you know? Overall it certainly was dirty than the surrounding competition, but I suppose the positive is that the next step is glaring the staff in the face, versus other corps.

Not to say I agree or disagree (as I personally don't focus on pits despite being a percussionist), but when I marched BD's pit members spoke to me about how they compared to a "great pit" like SCV's. Mind you this was 03/04, so maybe its dated now. But just to add to the conversation, BD's pit member recognized themselves as the weakest of the battery. They were very complimentary of SCV. However, I don't think this is interpreted as "BD has a bad pit" but rather a great battery and very very good pit (Not to say BD always has a great battery, the program is definetely cyclical). I am excited to see what they got!

my experience...seven usually meant you lost snaredrummers either due to knees or other issues (though it could be lack of talent). It always seemed harder to keep a snareline together and healthy than a quad line. I theorized it was always us fatties on the quadline whose knees could take anything compared to the skinnies on the snareline who all had knee braces by the end of the summer. But remember, just cause they march a small number doesn't usually mean they wanted it that way.

I think the scouts are well on there way to becoming a consistend contender. They aren't there yet, but they're doing the right things. Slowly but surely they are gathering all of their ammunition, building every section up, slowly progressing the program. I think BYBO might come back when the scouts have the total package from every aspect. When you have the talent and experience, you can sell almost any product. Personally, from seeing the show last year, I feel like the scouts have taught everyone to think. It appeared like the members thought about every step, note, etc. This was great for their execution. Now hopefully they can take this execution and present it in a manner that appears like...they aren't thinking. As far as bringing back madison classics, that won't do. For one thing, I know the corp has moved in a direction of creating more space and putting emphasis on groups other than just the hornline. I know when I marched I used to be so jealous of how much exposure other drumlines were getting compared to us. I would say 2005 scouts was a nice change for percussion. I wouldn't get down on them. It takes more than "three years" to do what they're trying to do.

I am more excited about seeing the scouts in their current position than the past two years. I feel like (from what i've heard) that there is room for massive improvement (in a positive way). We tended to come out of the gate really strong(03-04), but looking back I feel like it hurt us to not reconstruct more of our show late July. Hopefully they can finish stronger and pass some people at finals versus the other way, like when I marched. go scouts ps. Are the scouts getting fed by Piggly Wiggly on the fourth? That was by far the best part of tour