jbentley0025

I was cut from the Cadets in '95 after two camps. I went home, marched Bluegrass Brass senior corps (who's season ended at DCM finals). I packed a month's worth of clothes and took it to a show in Seveirville, TN and went to every souvie trailer asking if there were holes. The Crossmen said yes, I auditioned for Barry Hudson after the show, and got on the bus. Rest is history, I guess.

Firebird is a post-show exhibition tune. The show's called 'A Family Goes To Disneyland." It's the story of a family that used to road trip in a decent, but expensive car that barely fit them. Then, they get a far more affordable and comfortable family wagon with a new paint job and great gas mileage. Fun times had by all, running, loud notes, "CHAK, BU-BOOSH", horns down, drums do an 8 count smack-someone visual, and they score a 31.528π. On topic, I really enjoy the sound of the instruments. I love that they're shiny, new, and something a kid in the hornline can be proud to take care of. That may not mean much to people, these days. I played a beat to hell and back Kanstul mello that I really hope is melted down into pawn shop jewelry. I'm happy for the horns. They deserve far better than drum corps budgets can allow, but this is a great year for them. They're motivated, humble, and willing to give any comers a demonstration of the Jupiter/BK quality. Jason

This is biased and only supported with what I know about the BK. Cavies (Cause I want Hinshaw to do well) BD Crown Cadets SCV Phantom BK Madison Bluecoats Boston Crossmen Blue Stars Yeah, I teach BK, and I'm Crossmen alum. I told you it was biased. I love this game.

Well, I have something to say about all this. :) I know the horn line is going to be a strength. People always tend to overlook the connection between brass and visual staffs. What Brad's staff and my staff do is work in concert. These kids are going to move well, and, as a result of the approach, play well... simultaneously. The beautiful thing about all this is everyone on this staff has been at the top of the game. Talk all you want about Sully's approach to visual design being a detriment to the brass program, but there is very little proof in the punch for that viewpoint. We expect people to want to be the best players on the move. We have to staff to deliver the info to get that done. The best part is we have a 'coalition of the willing' auditioning for the corps. I'm looking at the most coachable and willing group of auditioning kids in my three years here, every month. I have to tell you all that I'm excited about this summer. Later Jason Bentley

Seems the consensus is we don't have the visual juice, this year. Well, for being in year two of a total technique overhaul, I feel pretty good about the corps. The visual package is plenty hard, just not in ways most folks pick up on. Tempo changes alone separate us from all others, and we have to change style musically all the time. Yeah, that is supposed to weigh in your score. It usually doesn't this far in the ghetto of the top twelve. I'll take whatever placement, though. Kids march and play their butts off, and we don't make oil paintings out of audiences. Also, we retain the hell out of kids, so we will be giant slayers one day soon. There is a ton of championship experience on this staff. I love that we are such a frequent topic of conversation! JBentley

I'd really love it if a drum corps did a Johnny Quest show, but used the music of Tori Amos. Any thoughts?

I figured the drum corps crowd would dig it.. there are melodies.

I'd like to see the show Glee on the field. Anyone else out there?

Well, I'm curious how the rules changes will affect the activity. The breakdown of the visual sheet change is the one that most affects me, and my job. Honestly, it kind of codifies what's been happening anyway. The past decade has seemed to generate a really tangible effort from the judging community to pay a lot less attention to the 'what' part of the visual sheet. I should rephrase 'pay a lot less attention to' to 'avoid crediting' the 'what' part of the sheet. Usually, the defense was a lack of execution preventing credit of what performers were attempting, accompanied by an effort to push execution and achievement into an absolute black or white. My impression is some individuals in the visual judging community are not aware or familiar enough with some efforts to credit them when they are achieved perfectly. Honestly, I was really hoping to keep on a track that the instructors and judges talked about at the rules congress in Orlando, a few years ago. I think it was Lee Carlson that articulated it perfectly with the analogy of a 10th grade B in math being of a greater value than a 6th grade A in math. I think a possible positive of this latest visual sheet change is to take a departure from achievement being spoken of, or credited in absolutes. I would rather there be funding for required judges training in what efforts they are seeing and what it takes physically and mentally to achieve those efforts. An initial feeling I have is that we're forming the judging sheets to fit the existing judging community, more specifically, the bottom percentile of awareness in the judging community. I think that having access to the judges before the show is a step in the direction of making them more aware of what is going on on the field. I would certainly love to see that taken a step further with judges attending rehearsals to observe and talk with the staffs of drum corps to really get inside and see what kind of efforts are going on out there without the advantage of uniforms to hide or aid performance ability. These are obviously my opinions, and are generated from my experience as a performer and teacher in this activity. They in no way represent the views of drum corps that employ me. I am optimistic that these changes will expose things that we need to address in the future, and will lead us to a greater understanding of the visual caption. Jason

87 Garfield. Easy choice cause I love Zingali/Sylvester reshapes.

This website is way too Disney for a thread like this. J

I had to do it. I think the mojo superstition is the most ridiculous thing I've ever come across. Why would you give the world a big red button to push that brings the demise of your bus tires and equipment trucks? Let's start embracing the reality that there is no luck, good or bad. Tires blow, people fall off scaffolding, truck doors slam on fingers.. 'stuff' happens to every drum corps at some point. Any thoughts, or tangible evidence of the mojo phenomenon?

What 'm' word? Mojo? Jbentley

Jersey Surf has my favorite ballad, cause there's no ballad. JB

Just like kids who used to load and unload chimes are cheering right now.

For real.

I'd like to see A-list professionals brought in to adjudicate shows and performances. No criteria whatsoever. Have a panel with Franco Dragone, John Williams, Mia Michaels, and Evelyn Glennie. I'm curious to see what they would think of things. How about bringing in a legit producer to evaluate the shows and choose a line up based on the content and tone of the performances? Has it ever occurred to anyone to balance the lineups instead of having all the happy stuff, or angry stuff, or confusing stuff clumped together? Drum corps shows are like bad television programming. Live broadcasts of every performance to be voted on by fans in the stands and at home. Instead of caption awards, have the medium awards.. facebook champs, twitter champs, myspace champs, etc. Have the phone providers pay for everything cause text messaging would be such a huge part of that. Eliminate the rules, except on and off time. Gotta keep the show moving. Do whatever you want. If the pasta's done, it'll stick to the wall. For those that don't get the analogy: If it's great entertainment, it won't matter if there are electronics, different instruments, rear projection, jetpacks, or the swedish chef from the muppet show. People will applaud and love it. Here's my favorite proposal: Corps with 5 or more championships get to compete for the uber-mega-ultra-championship, and everyone else battles it out for the regular old world championship. Then, when some corps gets five of those, they can move up. That way, they are still at shows, but we don't have to watch the cavies, cadets, and bd win the next 16 out of 18 championships. I like threads like this. J

Hey, all, What would you do with a Pokemon show? J

Creating posts with 'Synthesizer' in the title is like screaming 'Pokemon' to a recently quieted group of 8 year olds. Thanks for that analogy, Goldberg. J

Has anyone taken into account the discrepancy between drill pages and a real football field? It's a dot diver's nightmare. I'm here to tell you NO drum corps subscribes to either extreme. It's a big umbrella, and every visual staff occupies a different spot under it. If you only go to dots, you would be hard pressed to write anything besides straight paths. That, or you'd have to write three hundred pages of drill including subsets. If you totally guided all the time, no one would ever go anywhere cause everyone would be reacting to what was going on in front of them. If you scale up the dots on the page, they are about the size of a small beach ball. You can choose to approach it as a mathematical graph where points on the grid occupy no space, but it's all moot if the person in front of you can't nail their dot. The reshapes that Sully and Zingali wrote were so crazy that knowing your dot was about 1/100th the responsibility. Check out the '87 Garfield ending. Sure, there are subsets, but there isn't a straight path or follow-the-leader to be found. There is no way they could have done that without their eyes on each other constantly. The argument about which extreme holds the most individual responsibility still goes on in critiques. J

Man, I'm already three pages old. You guys post too fast. Wait, I'm probably too slow. J

Safety? Sure, that's an issue, but I would probably feel a lot better after a quick jolt than from a full summer of nameless east coast drum corps' sleepless beat down. It's probably better for the body, too. Equipment malfunctions? I'm not sure if anyone has ever experienced the amazing feat it was to play the G Kanstul three valve mellophones that the Cad.. nameless east coast drum corps used to use, but it was not one of consistently flawless performance every night. Those things took an act of will, magic, faith, and a little satan worship to work properly. It took three years to get my third valve slide to work at a poor level, and that's not even considering the times the second and third valve decided to just stop working.. mid-show. It's not like bugles were this cost effective thing, either. They weren't free, and there was no market for them outside of drum corps. At least there are sponsorships on some level with the normal horns. At least kids can show up to auditions with their own equipment and participate. I'm no great fan of F mellophones, but I would rather play one of those than that tired Kanstul (I hope is at the bottom of some scrap pile). At least the parts I got to play were sweet, though. Thanks, Jay.. uh.. I mean, nameless east coast drum corps' arranger. Embarrassment? I'll wager there is no level of electrocution that could top the mental anguish of the '89 bd soloist debacle. Bless his heart, but dang. The reality is brass sections aren't prevalent in most of the music kids listen to, and kids are the life blood of this activity. The reason.. the only reason your experience is ruined is because you bring your expectations to the show. I would love it if my favorite era was perpetuated forever, but that's what I use the Fan Network for. I challenge you to show up with no expectations, and let yourself enjoy the fruits of the hard work that goes into developing and performing the shows in front of you. I really don't want to come off as a butt head, but the sacrifices most of us have made and continue to make to keep teaching and designing for this activity are far greater than purchasing tickets. If you want to change it, go to the rules congress, make a proposal, and get involved. Please don't take this as a personal assault. I appreciate the back-and-forths on this forum. It's a weakness of mine that I let it affect me so much, but understand that there are a lot of us that have given our lives to this activity. JB

Plenty of people dug Star's style. Haters are usually louder than appreciators, that's all.

Agreed. Plus, it's a dry heat (for those climate concerned individuals).

I know the ol' Surf is just now entering the 'world class', so we'll see what happens with the formula that's in place. It's pretty much weekends only, a week of move in, and a couple tours (check the website for the real sched). In open, they were easily the most consistently full drum corps year after year. It's a high percentage of local kids, or kids who are willing to drive a few hours. That's still local in my book. I mean, I drove 12 hours (one way) to march with the Cadets. That touches on another part of this conversation. I lived in Kentucky at the time, and Star (my favorite drum corps) pulled out to do brass theatre (er?). The personality thing applied. I had no interest in the other midwest drum corps. I probably wouldn't have marched if I had to go somewhere else. I don't feel like drum corps' personalities are all that discernible these days. However, it's probably just a case of me getting older. Ultimately, I'd appreciate more regional touring until the end of the season for a number of reasons. #1- We're on first every show this season, and I'm not feeling the long drives between the shows just to get an hour or two of rehearsal for the twenty to fifty people that actually arrive when the show starts. I'm sure that was a run-on, but you get the point. I'd love it if we could do just enough touring to make sure every kid gets a home show, rehearse a bunch, and roll to championships well polished. Most drum corps would benefit from that, I feel. It's late. I'm rambling. JB