Matt Billock

As I have said before in this thread, the best we can do is make sure it doesn't happen again. We have practices in place to get rid of members who cause problems, and screening processes to keep these individuals out. Thanks for your feedback and opinions.

I do not recall. I most likely was, but I can't honestly speak to what I knew about at that time as at this point it's been 6 years and quite a lot of life in between. All I can be certain of is that once I found out about his history and was placed into a position where I was able to do something about it, I did. Had I known about it six years ago I'd likely have spoken up then. But in any case, as mentioned before. Morgan Larson is not involved with the Kilties, and *will* not be involved with the Kilties. Furthermore, we have sexual harassment, performers' rights, and hiring policies put into place to prevent individuals like him from being involved with the corps again. Whatever has happened in the past, we're taking the steps that we can now to do things the right way as best that we can. If you'd like to discuss further, or have specific information to share of which I might not be aware, I'd be happy to speak in more detail via email or PM!

I was a marching member and on staff for at least two of the years he was associated with the corps (baritone in 2009, visual tech 2011-2012). I did not learn of any of his history until last year, and was not aware of it at the time. Our new handbook, issued at open house two weeks ago, outlines our policies with respect to reporting misconduct. We outline our sexual harassment and performers' rights policies, and establish ways in which an individual can report misconduct. One of those is an anonymous feedback mechanism, which we are still working on (we're in the middle of a tech transition, but it is on our to-do list).

The staff that have signed on thus far (announcements coming soon!) are strongly focused on creating a positive and respectful group that highlights the best of the activity, but we also know there is a road ahead and that trust needs to be earned. In support of that, we are all working hard on creating policies that were, frankly, missing or unclear before, and for most of us (myself included) these are not negotiable requests, and our staff will hold the organization accountable in whatever way we are able. We cannot change the past, but we are working to prevent it from being able to happen again. Thank you all for your concern.

Morgan Larson is not, and will not be, associated with the Kilties in any way.

Kilties did a baritone quintet of this in 2008 - I still have the arrangement!

Where's the White Castle? I could have used some gut blasters before heading out on the field these past few

No criticism intended on your part - after 30 pages of this thread the names blur together See the funny thing to me is that I think that DCA would actually fare much worse in Madison. Sure you've got a very nice stadium with drum corps history, but after that... what? DCA fans and members are much different breeds. While you can potentially stick most of the corps in nearby high school gymnasiums, enough would balk due to the lack of hotels as to make it entirely unfeasible. Couple that with colleges starting up and fall football schedules, and you're looking at a recipe for disaster. In addition, most of the DCA fanbase is looking for a "destination" for finals. Rochester has Buffalo and Niagara. Annapolis has, well, Annapolis, Baltimore, and DC. Madison has.... the National Mustard Museum in Middleton? New Glarus an hour and a half away? Wisconsin Dells half an hour north - maybe. In that respect, Racine is actually a much better DCA venue - Milwaukee half an hour away, Chicago two hours, the lake right there. It's just too bad they don't have the stadium to support it or (arguably) the economic base to make it a worthwhile venture. Oddly enough, those same reasons are the reason I'd like to see more corps travel (if they can afford it, and if it doesn't too severely impact their season) to the Kilties home show, as for smaller shows it is a much better venue. The stars would have to align for that to really happen, but it's nice to dream

Funny, you mention that but after 7 years of spending various amounts of time in Racine I still haven't been to Kewpie's - the Kringles, though... And there's a White Castle about an hour away in Gurnee, for the intrepid :-P

Not something I'm interested in. I'm just tired of the assertions-posed-as-questions that the IL-WI-MN area has no facilities or fan base for a drum corps show. If DCI Finals can succeed in Madison, so can DCA in Wisconsin. And hell, in terms of socioeconomic status, Racine is pretty close to Rochester - just lacking a Dinosaur

Half an hour north, you have Milwaukee. Half an hour south, the Illinois border - with Kenosha in between. There are a LOT of facilities in that area, and a healthy drum corps history with groups such as Pioneer, Madison, Racine Scouts, the Kilts... and that's all within 70 miles or so. Extend a bit farther and you're in the home turf of Phantom and the Cavaliers. Short answer, yes. Bit longer answer: the Kilties' DCA show each year pretty much sells out, even though the fans are only seeing the same **** corps they've seen the previous few years. Add additional draws to that, and you'll improve attendance and reputation. It won't happen soon, but it will happen. And I'll say that while "building the circuit" is an admirable goal, it takes a LOT less money for an Eastern-area corps to travel once to the midwest than it does to start, build, and maintain an excellent DCA corps in the midwest. And that's only one dimension of doing so - membership and such is another beast altogether. In the end, though, it seems this argument is going in circles. Midwest (and other region!) corps are tired of feeling like they're footing the bill for expanding DCA's presence outside the east coast, and East-coast corps are tired of hearing they should spend money they don't have for an altruistic (and likely fiscally unsound) endeavor. Until we can change one or the other of those, this issue will just go around and around and around...

That's why I chose HOME

This is the key right here. Differences in manufacturers and evolution of construction aside, bugles are conically-bored, while trumpets (and other true concert instruments) are cylindrical. This means that when you reach the sound production area, the cylindrical instruments have a longer length of "narrow" piping before the bell flares to allow the sound to escape. Conical instruments, on the other hand, tend to have an emphasis on a more gradual increase in bore size, producing a different characteristic sound when the instrument is played properly. A similar difference exists between a trumpet and a cornet - the cornet, when played properly, has a darker and more mellow sound, while a trumpet is designed to ring and pierce orchestra sound veils. Indeed, due to these characteristic sound differences you'll be able to find some earlier concert band arrangements that call for both a trumpet and a cornet part in the same group. Of course a lot of this has changed over time. When I started marching junior corps (mid 90s), you couldn't really tell much difference between a trumpet in Bb and a soprano pitched in G. I believe the conical bore was still there, but it was vastly under-pronounced. When I marched with the Glassmen in 97, we used a french horn line instead of a mellophone line, as those instruments shared the same distinction (I believe the marching french horns we used were cylindrical, while the standard mellophone is conical) and the french horn was determined to push through the ensemble and produce a better brass choir sound. Regarding the lower brass, in my experience there is a unique difference in terminology. Nearly every marching baritone I've seen/played on (be that Bb or G) was conically-bored, with a very noticeable widening taper after leaving the valves. Technically, in that respect, they're hybrid euphoniums - the euphonium differs from the baritone in its conical bore, producing a more resonant sound across the range of the instrument. Actual concert baritones are drastically different in construction from their marching counterparts. Part of that is the compactness and bell-front orientation of the horns, but there is also a difference in the tubing diameter. Compare the tubing diameters of a Besson Prestige concert Bb baritone (http://www.wwbw.com/Besson-BE2056-Prestige-Series-Bb-Baritone-Horn-620230-i1447440.wwbw) to this Blessing Bb Marching Baritone (http://www.wwbw.com/Blessing-BM-301-Marching-Bb-Baritone-H71523-i1809932.wwbw) - you can easily see the difference between the cylindrical bore of the concert horn and the conical bore of the marching instrument. I won't speak to the physics of Bb and G Harmonics, but the poster I quoted mentioned the change in the overtone series that results from changing horn keys. I apologize if any of this is flat misinformation. Most of my knowledge comes from playing far too many horns across far too many types of ensembles. Please correct me where I am wrong. My personal opinion is that a G line, played by excellent players with a focus on tuning and ensemble sound, can provide a much more visceral experience to the listener at a larger distance than a Bb/F line with the same parameters. This is mostly due to my own anecdotal data, particularly having marched in and attended finals both before and after the switch. Cavaliers '95 felt like they were hitting me square in the chest with their sound during Mars, even from the top row of the NFL stadium we were in. Cadets '08 was really the only corps to replicate that feeling for me, and I think a lot of that was driven by the chip they had on their shoulder over people's criticisms of their narration choices. Of course I was about 60 yards closer to the field at that particular show (Racine, WI), so your mileage may vary.

Good thing third valve is an alternate for 1 and 2 :-P Perhaps 1 -> 2/3? Say... the trumpet parts for Variations on a Korean Folk Song?

Come check this group out, folks - I responded to a similar post last year and am eminently glad I did! The music is challenging and exciting, and the people are fantastic. We would love to have you there! Also check us out on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/SineWave-Brass/130663430338572