drchuck9

I haven't heard anyone mention it yet, but when I think of underrated shows, I think of: Crossmen 1990 Great music, excellent soloists, and an exciting drill that matched the music so well. They perfected the "art of the pass-through", as one form crossed through another just at the end of a musical phrase, generating a great effect.

I've always thought of them as crowns. You know, crowns don't have tops and all...

Ah. It appears DCI is giving suggestions on their web-site. Should have looked there first: PARKING: General Public Free Parking in 25th Ave. garage on the Vanderbilt Campus, one block from stadium. Access 25th Ave. Garage off 25th or 24th Avenues from Blakemore Avenue on the South or 25th Ave. off West End Ave. on the North. Free entrance into garage on the Highland St. entrance. Read more: http://www.dci.org/schedule/details.cfm?event=295#ixzz38Js1Dw4t

Show starts at 7:30. Different venue this year due to renovations at Floyd Stadium in Murfreesboro. Vanderbilt Stadium 2601 Jess Neely Dr Nashville, TN 37240 Bluecoats - Canton, OH Blue Devils - Concord, CA Phantom Regiment - Rockford, IL Santa Clara Vanguard - Santa Clara, CA Carolina Crown - Ft. Mill, SC Boston Crusaders - Boston, MA The Cadets - Allentown, PA The Cavaliers - Rosemont, IL Music City - Nashville, TN My #1 question: There appears to be limited parking directly adjacent to the stadium, which I assume will be reserved for performing corps. Anyone have suggestions on alternate parking locations? Thanks!

There may be more than one arrangements that are similar to Cadets' version, but heard this version from Barlow Girl on Way FM in Nashville. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFzMPUSPSXc

I find it somehow ironic that the first advertisement that pops up when I visit the site is for Victoria's Secret.

Okay, so we know that Crown is going to have a top-notch brass line and music book, and if all goes similar to the last few years, will place in the top 3 in Brass Performance, Music Ensemble, and Music GE. But what about their Visual Program? To be a champion, you gotta have a championship visual design, which the Blue Devils seem to have mastered the past few years. Now, I could go into detail as to my observations on some of the "tricks" BD has used since ~2008, but instead, I want to focus on what Crown will do / can do to make their visual book be as immersive as their music book: - How will the ideas of Energy, Mass, Speed, and Light be explored (the name of the show is E=mc^2, after all)? - Regarding light, how can the concept of light being both a particle and a wave be visualized on the field? - Though this relates more to quantum mechanics rather than relativity, how about visualizing the "Double-slit Experiment" on the field? Any other thoughts/suggestions?

Though I don't take issue with the author's own opinions, I do take issue with the parent upset that the school "forced serious music students to attend band camp and march at football games," because this implies that marching band has no educational value. Instead, the marching music arts is just another performance venue similar to chamber choir, jazz band, concert band, etc. By requiring all music students to participate in multiple forms of music education, they become more well-rounded musicians. I graduated college with a degree in mechanical engineering, but at the conclusion of my college years, I was required to take the 2-part "Fundamentals of Engineering" exam. The first 4-hours tests your breadth of knowledge in multiple engineering fields, such as electrical, chemical, structural, industrial, as well as mechanical engineering. The second 4-hours tests your depth of knowledge in the engineering field of your choice. Though I have never in my 10 year career ever used a bit of chemical engineering, having a basic understanding of the field has made me a better engineer. The same is true for music education. "But high-stepping marching band has no education value," you say. The same could be said for a poorly run concert band, but this has to do with the music program itself, and not the genre of music.

Heard this on NPR earlier this week. http://www.npr.org/2013/03/13/174138591/school-bands-should-not-be-entertainment-adjunct-for-sports The article has received a relatively large number of comments on the NPR website. Basically, the commentator is upset with what he feels is an overblown emphasis on marching band within High School and College music programs. What do you think?

Ahhhh... I see what you did there.

Anybody know where the show is taking place? DCI.org is a little short on details...

I noticed your choice of music was from the movie "Prometheus", right? Good choice.

I'm sure it's just coincidence, but does anyone else see the irony of the top two headlines on dci.org? Wednesday, June 27, 2012 High temps will delay start of Friday's DCI Central Indiana event 4:21 PM ET Promoters aim to bring drum corps competitions back to Canada 9:55 AM ET

This... please...

Been excited about this show for a year! See everybody at the Slick Pig BBQ before the show!!!

I have no idea what they're going to play, but I'm dying to see them march another crown-to-crown finishing move!

Sadly, I'll have to agree with you there. I think I just block the drum solo from my mind sometimes. Then again, I wouldn't call losing by 0.4 points "far from championship caliber."

I've always had a feeling that Madison may have had a little inertia on their 50th anniversary to help them win the championships. But being that SCV had a championship-caliber show in 1988, the judges may have "handed" them the win in 1989. But what about Phantom Regiment? Their 1989 show "From a New Age to a New World" (or something like that) was championship-caliber as well, and many people felt they got robbed like SCV the year before. Unfortunately, they never got the memo from the judges that if they had repeated the same show in 1990, they would have been "handed" a championship, too. This is all just a big conspiracy theory in my opinion, but it's fun to speculate about.

Drummers walking funny, male mid-drifts... I just thought that it was all supposed to go with the theme of the 2008 show: Constantly Risking Absurdity. But what do I know? I'm just a drummer...

I'm not sure when the age-out ceremony takes place these days. I was at Finals this year, and it didn't take place before the encore, that's for sure. When I aged out in 2000, it was the day of Quarterfinals (I think, it's been ten years after all). As for what I left, I thought it would be fitting to leave the drum key that I found on the practice field of my high school marching band when I was a freshman. Kind of like "closing the loop," I thought. I didn't see the point of writing a letter, since it would just be thrown away. Instead, I kept a journal that I still read through every now and then. And I still needed my shoes, obviously, to march Quarters and Semis.

<Sigh> And I seriously was hoping that more corps would do away with themes and show titles this year. I mean, the Scouts won't have one, Blue Knights and Cavaliers currently don't have one, and Vanguard's title is a satisfactorily generic "Bartok." I guess we'll have to see if this "Toy Soldiers" rumor has any legs... if it does, I bet they'll be straight-legged.

My rookie year was 1999. We were 3/4 of the way through "Every-days" and about a week before our first show. For the last portion of our grueling full-corps coordination rehearsal that night, we were to run the closer back-to-back without a break. After the first run-through, my tenors were feeling REALLY heavy. Halfway through the second run-through, my legs turned to jelly and buckled underneath me. I managed to get to the sidelines before causing a train wreck, and watched in shame as the corps finished without me. Afterwards, Pat Seidling walked with me back to the gym, giving words of encouragement. The next morning I woke up knowing that we'd be doing a FULL run-through at the end of the day. I feared a repeat of the previous night's failure, but pushed it to the back of my mind in order to get through the tasks of the day. When the fateful moment came that night, I pushed through the run-through with energy to spare and overcome with emotion! I guess it was the juxtaposition of the previous night with that night which gave me that sense of exhilaration and accomplishment. As the corps circled up around Pat following our first full run-through, emotion was running high, and I remember him mentioning that drum corps could be the hardest thing you ever do in life, so when life presents you with a challenge, just remind yourself, "I did Drum Corps!" ...and I still do.

Tie-Breaker should consist of one of the following: 1) Tug-o-War 2) Bus Push 3) Ultimate Frisbee That should settle it.

You're probably right. After replying to the original post with my memory of after-show prayers, I meant to focus the rest of my post to those in this thread from whom I got the impression that they seemed to try to actively avoid any exposure to religion while on tour. What I probably needed to do was sit down with each of them at a Starbucks and hear their story as to why it's such a sensitive subject for them. I didn't mean to direct my comments to everyone in the thread, as obviously some people agree with me. Next time I'll be more specific.

Having marched with Southwind in '99 and '00, I can attest to the fact that after at many shows, about half of which had full retreat, a group of corps members would gather at the middle of the field to pray as the original poster mentioned. If memory serves me correctly, many were from Madison and SW, but members of many other corps would join them as well. In reviewing all of the posts so far, it seems to me that the majority of posters would not have been interested in such a group. Also, if the posters to this topic were a representative sample of all drum corps members, you can begin to see that a Christian in drum corps can feel a bit like a minority. I guess that's why I always found it comforting to see that group on the 50. Though I was always too busy packing pit equipment and couldn't join them, at least I knew I wasn't alone, and I think many others felt the same way. Though some people may think that religion should be a private thing, it's not something that should be hidden, or in the shadows, as some would like it. Why should it be? So some people don't feel uncomfortable? Well then they should ask themselves why they feel uncomfortable about being within ear-shot of a prayer circle or bible study group. Are they somehow afraid of learning something new, or hearing about another person's worldview? Do they feel they might somehow get "infected?" I mean, what's the worst that could happen? Finally, when I marched, I had the opportunity to march and live with people of other nationalities, sexual orientations, and religions, and I am better for it. Despite all those differences, it was in our common goal to produce a small bit of perfection on a football field that we found our common bond. And where I was able to learn from those different from me, I hate to suggest that some of you missed out to an opportunity to learn from those different than you.