Discombobulato

Great review, I read the whole thing. The only thing I would really disagree on though is the Cavaliers show, but I LOVED their music book. To me, everything flowed extremely well, and except for the first part of the ballad, kept me interested throughout the whole show. It wasn't their best show, the Machine they took more risks, and performed extremely well, but I really did like their show this year.

Well, here comes a huge complexity issue. First off, you wouldn't have just 5 different types of instruments. You'd have, well I don't know, but a lot more. This causes the need for many different section instructors and having different playing postures. Sure, maybe they'd make a marching flute or sax or something, but woodwinds generally reduce the uniform look in my opinion. And I honestly don't know if there are any, but since I've never seen one it must not be too usual to see a silver clarinet. Difference in sound is a big thing. If you wanted a balanced sound, you'd either have to take out 2/3 of the brass section, or add 60-70 woodwinds to the corps. It might not sound so bad, but you'd either have to live with much less sound by taking out much of the brass, or have to deal with 2 more buses, more food, more room to sleep, more instructors, more bathrooms and ect. It's not economically feasible (at least what I think) to add that many more people for a balanced sound. And I'm not so sure people would like less volume of sound from a corps. Woodwinds don't like rain right? Well, I don't see this as big of a problem, but if a show ever gets rained on, or even a rehearsal woodwinds would have to sit out. It really isn't that big of a deal, they could always rehearse without their instruments I suppose. Just because It totally sounds like I'm against woodwinds, it doesn't mean I am. I'm just saying there's a huge amount of issues which I think could prevent it from happening. But what could be very possible, is having a small group have like a quintet, or something larger or smaller on the field for a segment of the show. That could be very interesting and new I think. Just my shpiel on the whole issue.

I think that the Rose Bowl is a great place to have a regional. I'd be pretty happy about going back there, disregarding the lights. I felt that the stadium had such a relaxed feeling as well compared to other stadiums like mile high. But hey, would the rose bowl want us back for a major regional to destroy the new grass they got after finals? Lol.

Hah, that's great. I've actually talked to my caption head and he recommended me an excersize, I'll start that tomorrow. And yes, warming up for a while really does help me, especially in darkening my tone. I was really happy to hear how well it worked when we had a brass clinic today. I was able to hit F's, sometimes fairly strongly, but most of the time cracking or fairly weak. Thankyou all for the advice.

Hah, thankyou all. I'm going to try all the methods, except the last one (until further notice, first I need my new trumpet). I've also noticed, this could be the mouthpiece, but I'm much better with range during the season and corps rehearsals, I think because I get warmed up a lot more than school (taking 30 mins at least to warmup up during school doesn't really work), so I think how warm I am has something to do with it. But then again, When I'm cold and just pulling out my trumpet it also is better. Weird, but yeah thanks for the advice you guys. Oh, and I know I need to focus on good tone quality as well, because the higher I play the brighter it gets. If I darken my sound in the upper register, will that also help improve my range? (Time to look at xtremebrass.com now)

Ok, I really want to improve my range. I can hit a D above high C pretty much on command, although not with the greatest tone but I really want to improve. For some reason its like a barrier between Eb and E. I can hit an Eb with a little more effort, but I just can't get that half a step higher. Also on a good day I can hit F's well, just its shakey. Anyone have advice on improve range, and tone quality in the upper register? I'm not exactly sure how, but I really want to improve. Any really good excersizes or anything? Thanks for the help.

edit.

BD was definitely one of the cleanest shows, although I have heard a few mistakes in the music, which is understandable. Cavaliers, also very clean, had a few, but I put them as the deserving champions. Visually very clean to me, and had some of the best music all tour in my opinion. The reason why I don't put Cadets its because I heard a few mistakes in there, which caused them to not sound as clean, although more interesting, than BD. Best Show? Cavies, Cadets, then BD. Cleanest? Ah, probably Blue Devils, with Cavies close, in my opinion.

Oh so they aren't able to keep the footage of quarterfinals? I thought they were, guess that was just an assumption.

I have to say I'm fairly disappointed with the lower scoring corps, like quarterfinalists, a lot of the video for them missed the features. It eventually went to the section or camera or whatever after a lot of the features finished, it always seemed one step behind. I definitely understand not knowing every single show, but what I don't understand is why they can't edit the video and make it perfect for the DVD's. Anyone know?

BD 05 was a good show though. But yeah, that is really..... peculiar.

Just got an e-mail notification of the ~$136 for my Div 1. DVD set, vol 1+2. I'm pretty excited, it'll be awesome.

SCV. Thats the best uniform, I love how its only red with the white stripe, and completely red on the back, not red, the stripe, and then green. The green made it look not as flashy in my opinion. BD. They've gotta uniform which looks really cool, and I like it better than the previous uniform. Cavaliers. They've gotta uniform which really makes them look big and tall, and its still a great uniform, but its not my favorite. Phantom Regiment. Didn't like it at first, but now I love it. Helmets, awesome, complete white with black stripe, its different.

Nah, how you end a thread is by getting off topic, and talking about how to end a thread. Like right now.

Can anyone here honestly admit that they've never been out of time... even when you're well rehearsed? It happens, and double the chances by the entire drumline, and its more likely. Its not worth the risk, so there's dutting. There's my 2 dimes.

They're not any problem, as long as its not so loud that you can easily hear it. I understand the quiet parts, but kinda takes away from the affect. I'd rather have dutting rather than bad attacks or torn tempo though, definitely.

No, good list. I for one like woodwinds, and in ballads or concert settings they are awesome. But a whole dci show won't ever be a ballad (I hope to god, although ballads are awesome), otherwise it'd be too loud for woodwinds. Another thing, is that front facing valved brass instruments are similar, thus can have similar visuals, and it would keep the shows much more simple. Sound would also decrease in volume, because of the member restrictions. If you wanted any woodwinds, you'd put a lot on the field, replacing a lot of the brass.

Yeah that could be it, when i first looked at them they looked different, but thats because I'm used to a cheaper one at my school. A whole line of concert bass drums, thats awesome if thats what it is. One of my favorite shows, i better not overplay it.

Whats the big deep bass drum thing they use throughout some of the show, cause that thing is really awesome and adds a bada** effect to the show. I'm gonna buy the 91 finals DVD, I've just started watching that year and its for the most part amazing. Some things I've never seen before.

I voted yes without thinking it through, but I'd actually say no. It might've helped them in the long run, but I don't think it would have helped them enough.

Not if you have full screen. I don't think any details have been released about the DVD's, although I am anxious for my copy. It'll probably be around the same time as last year or something, I don't know.

Good topic. Why don't we just stop with the cats, I'm kinda curious for more people's input.

I don't think this has been asked before, but why is it when I watch the encorps video of cascades in Pasadena, a little bit of ways into the show there's a voice that comes on, through a walkie talkie or something (on a near same frequency maybe?) talking about "the whole vent" falling down or something. You also manage to hear the "s" word in there, and I wonder, is that going to be picked out before shipped on DVD's or what? Would they be able to do that?

I'd say Cavaliers. Although sadly I've hardly actually listened to the full show. Cadets come close in second. The Cavies just play some really entertaining music, and I love to listen to it. Not necessarily my favorite show, but I listen to it the most.

Well, I wanna watch the horn in the lot cause thats awesome and I know about the difficulty, plus I marched horn, although drumline would be cool to watch, although I've hardly actually seen a drumline in the lot and had time to focus on it.