MaestroBen

The first minute of this (Spirit of Atlanta, 1980). Such a great hornline (pretty much, from what I understand, the 'kids' that had started when the corps started were all aging out that year), and such emotion.

If you're looking for someone to cue every single cymbal crash in the pit, you have to go with Al Go, Blue Devils 1992. If you've never watched that show and watched him, do it. Now. It's amazing.

New visual team announced at Madison (Jay Fuentes, new Visual Caption Head). Those of you who have wanted the next generation to get their shot, here you go. Jay aged out of Blue Devils in 2012.

I remember visiting the SHS band room after finals in '95. Gary Markham, as Music Coordinator for Cobb County Schools (newly hired at the time) was visiting that day. I walked in, and immediately thought, and might have said "What in the world is the judge who took our brass trophy away doing here?" (Madison won brass in quarters and semis that year, but BD passed us, with Gary on the field, at finals.). He probably wondered what in the world this college kid was doing giving him the evil eye...

You forgot the two original "amazing marching bands" from the Atlanta area: South Cobb (in the '70s, when Freddy Martin, Spirit of Atlanta founder, was their band director), and Sprayberry, especially in the early 90s, when Freddy was the brass instructor, we had tons of future corps members in the hornline, and were basically playing mid-to-late 80s Blue Devil charts. (Hrothgar, I'm not sure that your program has changed quite as much as mine has...although, we've had another decade...I graduated from Sprayberry in '93.) Harrison and Lassiter are both (along with several other schools) in what was originally the Sprayberry district.

Yes, it was turf in '84.

I was going to compare Bobby Dodd to Camp Randall. But, there are different challenges. Camp Randall is sort of on the side of the UW campus, nestled in a neighborhood. So, there's all the neighbor issues to deal with there. Bobby Dodd is pushed right up against the downtown connector (I 75/85), but otherwise pretty much in the middle of an urban campus. No neighborhoods -- in the immediate area -- but no empty space, either.

There were also not nearly as many "semis" (equipment trucks, all the other support 'stuff' that corps need these days). I know it was done. I was there. And, yes, Bobby Dodd Stadium (or Grant Field, for us old timers) is a fantastic place to perform (and watch) a show. But, the logistics outside the stadium are not conducive to a smoothly running event.

Way back in the early '90s, there was a decently sized (maybe 10-ish bands) HS marching band contest at GA Tech. I remember that the buses, even back then, were a very long hike from the stadium. I can't imagine that Georgia Tech has a bunch more parking lots now than it did then, so I really don't see how that campus could handle all of the support vehicles required for the ~20 corps that would compete. As far as I know, the University of Georgia has never let any sort of drum corps/marching band show take place at Sanford Stadium.

If I were to wager, I'd bet that it will be at Georgia Tech (if they'll let DCI back there). I bet the new stadium won't *quite* be ready, but that the Georgia Dome will no longer be usable.

One of the coolest things that this allows the Bluecoats to do, that other corps need to take a hard look at, is how it aurally separates the individual members of the pit. Having the pit spread out over almost the entire length of the field allows the live audience (you completely miss this effect watching online) to hear exactly where each sound in the pit is coming from. Additionally, the way the Bluecoats have speakers all over the field also allows soloists to be heard from (relatively) close to where they are actually standing. It makes the amplification sound more natural. I remember during Cavaliers show having to search desperately for the concert euphonium (baritone?) because I could hear the mic'd sound, but couldn't find where the actual player was on the field. For me, this is the primary reason that Bluecoats have schooled everyone else with the way they use amplification. For pretty much every other corps, the pit is amplified through a couple of huge speakers on each side of the pit. And, it robs a lot of the directionality from the pit instruments. As someone who still has a ways to go before completely embracing electronics in drum corps, I have to say that I very much appreciate what Bluecoats are doing. If you're going to do something, you need to do it well, and Bluecoats certainly are.

I wasn't suggesting that at all. I was only suggesting that if you're concerned, and in a position to, donating ALWAYS helps.

The best thing anyone can do right now, if you're worried about Madison (or any other corps you might be worried about, but this is the Madison thread...) is to give them money at drumcorpschallenge.com. Historically, Madison receives less in donations than almost all top twelve corps. Chris Komnick and his crew are wizards at stretching their dollars, but more financial resources would help them tremendously.

However, I once again thoroughly enjoyed the Scouts' show tonight. 5-year old loved it. Wife loved it. She thought--as a very casual fan--that it was the first Scouts show in recent memory that didn't have at least one cringe-worthy design moment. She also thought that both guard and drill looked significantly better than in recent past...no matter what scores they might be getting.

The problem is, for whatever reason this low score keeps happening in Minnesota (whether it's "dirty drums", or "bad design", or "the ghost of a-not-dead Scott Stewart," or "the man keeping us down," or whatever), this low score really does have a lasting negative effect on Madison for the next part of the season, for at least two reasons, both having to do with the way the schedule for San Antonio and Atlanta is determined. Being down in the 10-12 range has them performing potentially several hours (with the intermissions, etc.) before corps they were consistently beating before tonight. When that happens, it's awfully hard for them to put up big enough numbers to jump back up to where they were. And, because they're performing that early, they end up getting significantly less rehearsal time than the other corps that, before tonight, they were right with. So, they stay dirtier, fail to get the numbers, keep performing earlier, get less rehearsal time, ad nauseam. Is it fatal? No, of course not. Is it a significant issue? Yes.