Chris Cameron

I think part of the reason why Blue Devils won drums is because they were strong both in the battery and in the front ensemble. I mean did you hear some of the stuff the pit was playing? Holy cow. Runs everywhere. I did enjoy Phantom's PIT writing, especially the "echo" effect at the beginning. And Bluecoats PIT was executing really well. It was a pretty close race between those three I think, in my eyes.

True. Since I chose to declare my status as an Academy alumni in my signature, I make sure my posts are in the most friendly nature possible. I would hate for anyone to get the wrong impression about The Academy based on something I have said, simply because of my affiliation with the corps. This is also why I encourage people to PM me if they want to discuss things further. Even though I'm no longer marching, I still see my self as a representative of the corps and I try to uphold proper netiquette in my posts, because I know that the Academy wants to hold on to their slowly growing reputation as a corps of class. :) Thank you.

I do have some knowledge of Academy's strategy, since I've been involved with the group since 2002, and have known half the staff since before the Academy was even an idea. But it's been made pretty clear that Academy has taken baby steps and plans to continue to until it can support a full tour. And like others have stated before me, tours are agreed on between the corps and DCI and voted on by the directors. Anyway... this thread started as just a disagreement in the tone and manner in which an opinion was stated, opinions I can understand and respect. Now its just back to an argument about tour schedules and stuff, which has been done. So, if anyone has any more questions for me, just PM me.

I've found that it can depend on the drums you use and the sound you go for. On Pearls and Yahmaha, I like Remo Pinstripes the best, I like Suede's on Dynasty drums. Just my opinion though.

What I tell my kids that I teach about things like this is to walk before you run. If you have a problem with pinching rolls it probably means you're focusing too much energy on the thumb and first finger and not enough on the back three fingers. Go back to your basics, like eight-on-a-hand, and take it at a slow tempo, 80-100 bpm, and make sure every stroke is with the right technique. And by right technique (which is a broad statement, that is probably under a lot of debate) I mean a good wrist bend with all fingers on the stick. Your wrist should bend the same way it would if you were knocking on a door. There should be as little arm movement up and down as possible. Master this technique at slower tempos and slowly increase the tempo until you can comfortably play eighth notes with a correct wrist rotation and keep all the fingers on the stick at faster tempos of say 140-160bpm. Obviously as tempos get faster, the max height of a consistent stroke changes too (it goes down). Then apply the same strokes for eighth notes into double stroke exercises at very slow tempos. Playing a 16th note double beat exercise at 80 bpm should be the same stroke you used to play eight-on-a-hand at 160bpm. Then work the 16th notes up slowly, tempo by tempo, untill you can turn those 16th notes into rolls. Its very important to learn to keep the back fingers on the stick and rely on them more than the front two. You can test yourself by playing with your first finger extended off the stick. It shouldn't be terribly different than playing normally.

This should be on mythbusters, so we could see a rimshot on a slowmotion camera.

Im gonna wait untill I get the DVD and can watch the top 6 with the drum judge audio option, and then I'll decide who I thought was best. But more often than not, the judges are right about this sort of thing. BD did well all season, Phantom had a rediculously clean snareline...

Anytime... :)

I personally didn't connect with their show. It seemed like they were too focused on their new uniforms and showing off the contrast of blue and white.

To offer some clarification: The Academy is one of many parts of a larger organization called The Arizona Academy for the Performing Arts (hence: The Academy). Other groups include The Academy Winterguard, The Arizona Wind Symphony, Tempe Youth Band, and The Academy Summer Youth Guard. The corps started in 2001 as the "Academy Brass and Percussion Ensemble" and did a stand-still exhibition at the very first "Southwest Corps Connection", the first drum corps show in AZ in a long time. The purpose of the ensemble was to re-introduce drum corps to the untapped musicians of the AZ high-school marching band scene. In 2002 the group did the same thing, doing a stand-still in AZ and traveling to California to "rehearse like a corps", watch SCV and BD rehearse and go to a few shows out west. 2003 was similar in nature, only this time at the Phoenix show, the corps had a little bit of drill to go with their show. 2004 was the first competitive year in Div II for what was now called "The Academy Drum and Bugle Corps" which had added colorguard to the ensemble. Factoid: "The Academy" was the name chosen by the members of the 2003 ensemble over "Sonoran Sound" and "Arizona Monsoon". The group got uniforms and did some 6 shows in SoCal and AZ. In 2005 they added more shows and finished up at DATR in Dever. 2006 was finally the year they went to Div II finals still only doing 13-15 shows, and the rest is history. Ya can't really call Academy an "upstart" organization. Theres been a lot of planning and preparation for the moment the group that started in 2001 became a Div I unit in 2007. But the organization is still young, and isn't going to overstep their bounds too quickly by competing in more shows than the group can afford to drive to. I think the corps did more shows in 2006 in going to Madison than they did in 2007 because Finals was close to home and they didn't need to drive all the way across the country just to come all the way back. Next year will likely be different, but still not a full tour. I wouldn't expect a full tour untill 2009/10ish because thats just the way the Academy does things. Baby steps. I would expect to see 15-20 shows for the Academy this year as they make their way from Cali to AZ, back to Cali, across Texas, OK, Alabama, maybe Atlanta, up to Ohio, Michigan, etc... finally at Finals. And since they can have similar paths the next several years, the organization will slowly gain the financial motor to do full tours every year. As the corps continues in Div I, and does better and better with touring and placements, they will gain recruits, and sponsorships, and donations, and grants, and other things that will help them become the strong organizations we see in groups of the Top 12.

I hope if theres another big show in Phoenix that it gets moved from ASU to where it was supposed to be, the indoor (rain free) air conditioned stadium in Glendale where the Cardinals now play. They had the Fiesta Bowl Band Tournament there in January and it seemed to go over well.

Hows about: GE: 33.3% Music: 33.35% Visual: 33.35% Or better yet, make then all 25% and the last quarter is bases on "Americas Funniest Home Videos" style audience voting. ;)

"The Cadets - Allentown, PA - David Gillingham" Now that would be cool.

UPDATE: Just asked my friend who marched Colts last year who must have spoken with the staff at finals... He tells me she broke her thumb a month or two ago, then went home to recuperate. Then she came back about 2 weeks before finals and just marched her spot the rest of the season.

I noticed that too during the webcast.... hope someone knows....