Gaddabout

Kevlar heads are still an issue if you're my age or older. Sorry, but they just don't sound like a snare. Even tuned down they sound like table tops. It definitely cleans up the line, though. I'll give you that.

I had no idea Igoe had a corps background. That's very cool.

Competitors have the *total freedom* to step up and raise their own level of play. There are no limits with hard, earnest work.

I sometimes wonder if the race to the Top 12 -- and establishing consistency -- is about survival as much as anything. How long can a corps survive in this environment without a few Top 12 finishes?

Tommy Lee marched tenors in high school. Tommy Lee would never cut it in drum corps. Here's a guy all y'all should check out: Gary Novak. Crazy hands. Also, Dave DiCenso. More crazy hands.

It started on a site that worships Colaiuta, Weckl, Gadd, etc. It was a geeky thing to do since the number of us from drum corps circles are small among the larger group. You are right though: The things most of those drummers though far exceeds mere technique (and my name should give a strong clue as to my reverence)

Haven't we kind of worn out Phillip Glass in drum corps?

I think it's more egregious if the book is just a bunch of rimshots separated by sixteenth notes. If your book was full, maybe it's musically appropriate to be so demonstrative. I know I get more goose bumps when the battery's cooking up something serious in the closer and take it to the end, but I think that effect is lost on non-battery folk.

If you're a snare drummer you get to a point where the book just isn't a challenge, but getting to that point has always been about the (extreme) challenge of tehcnique. I&E offers the next hurdle to clear, and it's a mammoth hill to climb. The competition is intense. Considering this is where the next wave of caption heads are likely to come from, the opportunity to be creative and raise the bar on technique has definitely raised the bar for each generation on the field. I think you can see a direct correlation. It needs to be judged and it needs to be a competition so there's some merit to taking big risks on technique and presentation. I think at least this element to I&E is vital to the overall health of the activity.

Yes, but it's always great to hear of folks who make that transition. It's sometimes a bit harder to make that transition from corps to set because of the radical shift in techniques (and feet!).

Ryan Odello. Paging Ryan Odello to the Cavies courtesy phone.

See, that's cheating. ;) Another guy I think I've got everyone on board with is Terry Bozzio, but we're not sure if they have drum corps on the planet from which he came.

I forgot to add we DQ'd the North Texas grads as a matter of "no duh," so Gregg Bissonnette and Keith Carlock were already considered and given the seal of approval because of their exposure to a killer college marching program. On the flip side, I think Carlock would drive a caption head crazy with his extreme commitment to Moeller. He'd be a headache trying to get him to stick to a regimented grip and attack.

This is part of a silly, strictly theoretical debate/discussion that started on a different message board and carried over into a private discussion -- because we're just that geeky. The question was which drum set players could hang on a current DCI snare line. A lot of the posters not familiar with DCI (or maybe just not very respectful) offered up some guys I really doubted had the chops to legitimately carry their own weight -- namely Neil Peart and Mike Portnoy. Sorry, I just don't see those two guys cutting it at the highest level. The two guys we've all agreed would undoubtedly excel were: - Vinnie Colaiuta - Virgil Donati Both of those guys regularly utilize the same kind of skills that are native to a DCI snare drummer. Some drummers we've debated and not yet concluded: - Jojo Mayer -- I think Jojo could take an I&E championship right now on an improved solo, but for some reason there are doubters - Benny Greb -- Undeniable tornado hands, but I wonder if he could play well with others on a line - Thomas Pridgen -- He has the chops, but I've never heard him playing anything less than triple forte. I think there are some control issues there. - Steve Gadd -- Great control, but his snare chops are a little outdated - Billy Cobham -- Well, there's really not much debate about this. He comes from a corps background. I think I'd rather see him on tenors, though. ;) - Chad Sexton -- There are some in the group who worship this guy, but I don't see him making a Top 12 line. I actually know his instructor -- Larry Lawless -- when he was with the Railmen, and Lawless is a great drum corps guy. I also know he marched Sky Ryders. But I've seen footage of him messing around on a marching snare and it was pretty weak by today's standards. I dunno. Maybe he just needs to get his stuff back up to snuff. Feel free to jump in here. Drummers who marched the big time corps and went on to pro drum set career are DQ'd. So, sorry, Jeff Queen isn't part of the discussion here. We already know he's a stud. ;)

Anyone who studied under Cirrone isn't wired to do drum corps forever. Those guys usually have a lot going for them in the creativity department. Kudos to Casella for a stellar DCI career and look forward to hearing what else he's going to present as an artist.

What corps is not writing the pit book in relation to the horn and battery? I don't understand your point here. FWIW, the cohesiveness between pit and battery has been permanently fused in DCI, IMO. There's much less macho snare/tenor writing and a heck of a lot more thinking involved in the entire perc books from first to last place corps. I can't remember the last time I saw perc feature where the pit laid out for more than a passage or two. That's one of the GOOD things going on with everyone throwing the spotlight on the pit. Music first, technique second.

WWFD What would Float do? 1 2 you know what to do ...

Thanks for the excellent explanations on dutting. If you have to do it, I sort of understand why concerns about what the audience hears would be secondary. I've learned to tune it out for the most part. Never ruined the experience for me.

Would you agree with me that Phantom's music was championship worthy? I thought so. I think they're the poster child for the argument you're making.

Never understood the dutting when the line was facing the DM.

Eh. We could always make them march again. LOL *ducking thrown objects*

Don't understand the response. No one had heard of carpal tunnel in the 70s, but it became a very real problem for those who grew up in in the era of rigid drum corps technique. So much of the "all wrist" technique taught in some circles was completely the opposite of the history of regimented drums (i.e. Moeller stroke, Gladstone technique, etc.) and isn't very good for your wrists or tendons. People started to catch on in the 90s and drum corps started to loosen up because of it. Not radically, but for the better. It's not out of the question that banging the keyboards with extreme force -- even with good technique -- can cause injury, especially considering the repetition over the course of the summer. The really is no precedence for hitting a keyboard that hard outside of drum corps. I suppose it's the same risk a horn player takes with their embouchure.

Anyone think jazz running makes people look like they're doing a vague Richard Nixon impression?

Just a guess, but I think a lot of you who think you're on the same page on this (theme over music) are really thinking of multiple drum corps nirvanas. Star's circus show was as over-the-top in design as anything I've seen since then, and that was ... 93? It really depends on how old you are. I think if you're 45+, what you think of as great drum corps might not look like anything someone under 30 could really embrace because what first appealed to you in your comparative youths was likely very different.

I was recently watching some old shows from the 70s and it was alarming to me how much more militaristic the color guard was back then. I'd forgotten how much DCI had transitioned to Broadway/ballet in the 80s. Any other sport that relies on subjective judging has a set of required set of technical expectations with a base score for the simplest form of the technique. For example, in ice skating, a salchow has a base value of .4 and a quadruple salchow has a base value of 8.5. A technical judge identifies the technique while the panel of judges rate its execution. While every skater attempts to add crowd-pleasing nuance to their performances, they know exactly what they need to execute to place in medals. Maybe before DCI gets ahead of itself it needs to lay out better ground rules for judging so we don't have (a) new skill sets with no known judging basis beyond general effect and (b) everyone enters the season with fair degree of expectation of what the judges are looking for. If every corp knew they needed to have A, B, C, D, & E tech specs in their show, then GE becomes less of a controversial issue, IMO.