StickTrick

I feel terrible for phantom. My personal favorite corps and it stinks to see them fall after performing one of the best shows of dci history. Hopefully they can finish top 4 still.

Maybe crown is just better than the cadets? I can't believe the number of people saying that corps with holes and people falling should be penalized. Do you understand the judging system?

Cadets are doing no visual skills except marching. They aren't doing that at high velocity. They will have low rep numbers in the end.

If it is July 5th, I would rather be a little dirty doing a vast repertoire than clean doing an easier show. Crown is not that dirty. They are changing the activity and performing well already, obviously.

To answer the question, yes there are some that would survive without a massive drop in performance level. My addition to this is that I would HATE to see that. One of the coolest things from me marching was being in a corps that was from a totally different region than I had grown up in and being with people from different backgrounds. We had kids from the south, Cali, midwest, New England, Japan, and other countries-- it was a really great time learning about each other. I would hate to limit myself to the same type of people I am around all the other months of the the year. For me, that really made drum corps a special experience.

By no means would I say that "music is dead" in drum corps. What about Phantom and Crown the past few summers? Some of the greatest music out there. Something I will say is that 00-03 Cavaliers shows GREATLY changed the way drum corps and marching band shows are designed today. It is much more common now to see original music and I accredit a lot of that to Dick Saucedo and the Cavaliers. Also, I don't know if Cavaliers were doing better "body" or whatever you want to call it... but they were making it look cool. There are tons of corps and bands that do "band body" or "movement" and it is sometimes fitting of the music but it usually just looks awkward and like they are wanted to get rewarded for simultaneous responsibilities. The Cavaliers really owned this one and make it look cool to do movement in your show.

Wow, I didn't realize how many of these shows were 10th place. These are some of my favorites! This really goes to show that people should watch ALL 12 shows on the DVD and not just the top few. Anyway, I like 92 VK, 02 Spirit, and 03 Crown :)

I played on a brand new Jupiter mellophone today. So much back pressure! It is very compact and not very free blowing. I have always liked King mellos and low brass, but if I had to pick a horn manufacturer today it would be Yamaha. I think that their horns are best overall quality throughout the brass section. They are constructed the best and The trumpets/ mellophones sound awesome. The low brass isn't King quality, but it is alright. I would rather take a great high brass and a pretty good low brass over King's great low brass and mellophone with TERRIBLE trumpets.

Be careful when Trekkies and Band Geeks mix.

Each corps kind of their own bread and butter. For the Cavaliers, they do a fantastic job of foot timing and going at high tempos. Their uniforms can hide a lot of inconsistincies in feet as well as make everyone look tall. If you watch them practice, their is not a great upper body presence, but they do their thing and it works for them. Cadets always appear to be the strongest hornlines every year. They don't do a great job of keeping their horns still on the move, but their upper bodies are strong... if that makes sense. They always appear like they want to be the last corps standing and nobody is going to take it from them. Military precision is the name of the game with the lower body. Blue Devils use a technique closest to natural walking. There is a slight knee bend, but it isn't really a "lead with the knee" style. What gets me from these guys is the upper body projection. NOBODY projects to the box with the upper bodies like them. Phantom is kind of a mix between Cadets and Blue Devils for me. Their foot timing this year was insane good, as well as upper body definition. However, I'm still not really clear on what the lower body technique is. Crown of late seems like a quasi Blue Devils technique. They have some great upper bodies and crazy high toes (I think a lot of that has to do with the cream shoes), but I don't think the lower body technique is quite as defined as BD. SCV were masters of the upper bodies in the late 90's. I always thought of them as the ideal group for how I wanted to move my horn and give off presence. I think they are in a transition lately with the switch to more "Cavalier-esque" style. I think this could be a major visual power in a few years. I think that was the top 6... Boston obviously does their thing as well as Blue Knights, but most other corps in World class are kind of based off these corps, I believe. Anyway, each corps definitely does their own thing that has really continued to make corps (and bands for that matter!) continue to strive to look better every year.

What are the top executives salaries?

People are over reacting to this. This guy's signature says he is a bari sax player. Yeah, the Blue Devils have rookies that probably love it. So does Impulse. He's asking where a good place would be to learn about drum corps in a non threatening environment. The reality is that a lot of guys do Open Class and stay to age out there. Others march there for a year or 2 and then go World Class. Some guys also march top 3 and then go to another top 3 corps. It's not a "feeder corps" situation... people just move on. I think this kid just wants to know where he can go learn drum corps and develop some fundamental skills. There is NOTHING wrong with that.

BOA has got to stop having shows at outrageously huge and expensive venues. One reason they are in trouble is that they try to host all these huge regionals in stadiums they will never fill. Secondly, the money is going to be there. There is no way Scott McCormick is going to let BOA fail. Some big time donor will kick in or the executives will slash their salaries. Given the option between making much less money or no money, I'm sure they'll make the move to stay in business.

In my experience, corps don't cut kids because they are fat... However, there are very talented musicians that are extremely overweight and can't keep up with physical conditioning. I know corps will cut kids that are at the back of the pack when the corps runs at camp. It doesn't matter how well you play if you can't do it on the move. Much is probably the same in color guard. It's all about making the best OVERALL product.

I don't really want to start the fire, but I'll say this... One reason that the small drum corps don't exist anymore and the average band kid doesn't want to join a small-town 40 member corps is because of the improvement of high school marching bands. The high school marching band circuits are way better than they were 20 years ago. These bands achieve on a level I would never have expected from school kids who still work and do homework and manage high school stuff all week. Why would a kid do a small drum corps if the level of the high school band is higher and they are doing cooler stuff? I have even met kids who are in BOA National Finalist groups that don't want to do DCI because they have kind of already done it all. If you look to the top 6 at BOA this year, they are achieving in every aspect of marching music at an incredible level. That being said, this will never equal the level of the top DCI groups. If I was a high school marching band kid, I would want corps to be a step up and marching in some of the small open class corps would not be an option.

Even though we are at 25% of the corps we had 40 years ago, it is clear that the quality of corps have gone up. I am perfectly alright with there being less small-town corps and more strong groups. The World Class today is so strong compared to Division I even 10 years ago. If you look at today's corps from a financial and performance perspective, the 48 that are in existence are in very good shape. I would much rather see quality over quantity of corps. I know that some others would rather have the massive amounts we had years ago, but I definitely feel that the existing corps are much more stable now than ever.

Spirit's 2002 "Into the Darkness" show was very similar to Avon 2001 "Symphonie Ressurectus". Both featured Holsinger's Easter Symphony as majority of show. The drill writer for both groups was the same, and much of the drill was the same. A great year for both groups!

In a vote for ugliest jacket, I'm going to go Star of Indiana. Those things are disgusting! Great corps, but really gross jackets.

1) Carolina Crown 2) Cadets 3) Blue Devils 4) Phantom Regiment 5) Cavaliers 6) Bluecoats 7) Santa Clara Vanguard 8) Blue Stars 9) Boston Crusaders 10) Madison Scouts 11) Glassmen 12) Crossmen

I think Crown makes it look and sound easy because of their excellence... I would still say they have visual/musical demand.

at one show crown was announced from rock hill, sc instead of fort mill, sc.... which is weird because rock hill is a town really close to fort mill.

If I were you, I'd email the directors/ brass caption heads of the corps you want to march at. Give them your marching background and maybe attach a video of yourself moving and playing. I guarantee that even top 6 corps will pay attention to this.

I was at an Indiana Unversity football game this fall and they are definitely doing construction on Memorial stadium too. They are putting stands up in the side 1 endzone. I am not sure if they are making it a horseshoe or what. Anyway, it's not supposed to be done by August either.

How about 91 Star when they lift up the hornline members and carry them while other people in the hornline waved their arms/instruments at it. Wild. My 2nd place vote has to go to most of 92 VK's show.

this might just be me, but i tried the new balances one summer and they tore up my achilles and ankle. anyway, i tried tape and stuff but it was rubbing the skin down to blood so i had to made the switch to asics. i was most successful with asics and nike (even though nike can make some very low quality shoes)...