Shadow_7

The point was moot I guess. No one gets it (yet). When even 1 of your corps members dies from covid, or a family member, or your job, or ??? you run a foal of the "rule". And for those that never "technically" meet the rule, you season ends in MARCH or earlier, not labor day / September. This is not a good formula for the "growth" of the activity. Where's the incentive to become a DCA corps if you're a local "parade" corps or "bar" corps? If it works for you, where is the we need to change motivation? The members want it? Because DCA surely doesn't. And don't call me surely.

Seems like a pandemic situation dictates that 35 or "less" corps is one of the only things capable of meeting pandemic specs for "existing". 4 step spacing, aka 1/2 of 5 yards, aka 7.5'. And yet leading up the the pandemic, illegal according to the rules. And yet anytime any corps had a "soloist", was literally spitting in the face of the 35 minimum rule. Never mind that that rule did not include the staff, the honor guard, or even the drum major. Are we still there? Or can anybody with a decent render farm and recording equipment can "win" DCA? Just curious, for that thing that has literally been "virtual" since 2006. When it became cheaper to be a spectator, than a participant.

Optimistic IMO with 7 of those listed as DCA. But I guess 4 of them are returning from last season. Best of luck.

32.10mm inner rim on the Bach 18 and described as "medium" and best seller. Seems like the helleberg would be roughly the same specs, but a deeper cup. I tended towards a rim size near 33mm which was a larger inner rim than the helleberg. But it's been a while and the actual conn specs might be hard to find.

What do you NOT like about your current mouthpiece? Limiting your range? In what way? To hard to play high? To stuffy to play low? Inner rim too small? too big? I was mostly a Euphonium player who dabbled in Tuba. The helleberg wasn't for me, the inner rim was too small, and the deep cup made it hard to not be on the flat side with all the slides pushed in all the way. I have the G&W equivalent of a PT88 (Caver) and it's good and large, when everything else fails for me, that's a good fallback option. The one that seemed to work best for me was the G&W Alan Baer. Sort of a middle of the road piece. I have the LM-10 too, but unless you playing a small tuba or doing delicate solo work, it's kind of small. Good for high end, endurance, and pretty good sound at low volumes. But not a drumcorps piece. That's about the limit of my experience with mostly marching horns on the large side of the spectrum. There are lots of factors when it comes to mouthpieces. Give any new piece a month to get over the honeymoon period (about 2 weeks). And evaluate what you might change on your familiar mouthpiece(s) to get your desired results. More of a V cup can make a small mouthpiece play like a large one. Stainless steel makes a piece feel larger than its' actual specifications. And other traits. If you've got performance demands you probably don't want to change your rim size much. It's pretty much an endless quest which will ultimately result in a compromise. See if you can't borrow a piece or two from other players. At a minimum give a large, medium, and small option a try to see where you might fall in your preferences. Which is what I have to play with. Caver (large), Baer (medium), LM-10 (small). If you're really unsure, then get some of the kelly plastic ones, they're cheaper in general, and that can add up if you're gonna end up with a collection.

I agree with your points, and I don't want to turn this thread into that thread. But #5 no stress is an impossibility under the current DCA rule set for small corps. When you don't know if you're doing a field show or a standstill. And you don't know if your season ends in march or on labor day, based on nothing more than a number.

You are more than welcome to spend your dime to come here to see drumcorps perform. TXDCP sometime in June 2014 in Austin. And probably a show in Southlake Texas, that same weekend.

You give me too much credit. As I've maybe posted twice on here in that past two years. Delusions of grandeur are all yours I'm afraid. IMO, the 35 minimum rule was the cause. The effect is NO DCA competitive corps for the state of Texas. Which was the intent wasn't it? As far as the TXDCP show, it still happens. Vigilantes had their show in the Dallas area as well. But rules being what the rules are, there's just no affiliations with DCA. Or intent to even try. Austin Stars have pretty much morphed into a color guard. World Gone Mad is still around and strong in the Austin area. Not 35 minimum strong, and the instrumentation would never fly in DCA land. But still playing ball 7+ years later. I'm not sure about GCS, they hooked up with the local college, and after a few years I guess things didn't pan out. The fact of the matter is that without the competitive factor, there is zero motivation to leave town. With 200 miles between corps, it's an 8 hour drive round trip and it has no net benefit in terms of "recruiting". And yet two years after my last significant post and Jeff is still Jeff. I suppose I should thank DCA, as I no longer spend thousands per year and hundreds of hours to fail at getting DCA to do so much as lift a pencil and scribble.

September 2013? Sorry my inclination to do math/research isn't what it used to be. I don't really consider DCA a competitive circuit anyway. As you don't promote something by not allowing that thing to happen in the first place.

I just use the al cass fast stuff. Back when I had the option to do competitive drumcorps and when outside in dry conditions, you can get away with using a spray bottle with water like trombonists use. Or at least that's how'd you save yourself a bottle and a half of valve oil when rehearsing in utah for a couple of days. But it's not always a simple answer. Many of the newer horns have tighter tollerances and need thinner oils. Rotor oil is some of the thicker type stuff so you probably want to avoid using that.

In my experience. The mouthpiece that works can depend on the horn that's going to be played. I've had good luck with the G&W signature series. But a bit pricey if you have no long term plans with regard to said horns. I tend to get 3x mouthpieces. One large, medium, and small. Of the popular types so they can be resold or bought used. You still have to try any mouthpiece for a while before you can know for sure if it works for you. Your kellyburg should serve you well till you get acquainted with whatever horn you'll be using. From there you should kind of know if you need to go bigger or smaller after a period of time. Tuba mouthpieces of the metal variety can be quite pricey, so I wouldn't be buying anything that you haven't tried first.

It isn't a baritone, but I have a used silver plated Deg 3 valve Euph in Bb for sale that I bought from the brass shop back in 2006.

Buy used if you can. If you're lucky, you can sell it for what you paid for it. So it's not really money spent from a certain POV. The yamaha 204 is supposed to be pretty good. If they plan on using it for drumcorps, they should get silver. Unless you're in europe. They tend to cost more, but hold their value better IMO. Various opinions on bell thickness and sound attributes between silver plated and not. With silver generally winning the opinion poll. For college, I'd be hesitant to use a personal horn. And some groups might not even allow marching mellophones, except some marching bands. So you might want to check on that. With various horror stories about horns getting damaged in transit, and since it's a personal horn, the school (and army when I was in it) wouldn't pay for the repair(s) since it was a personal horn and not their property.

The rotating thing wouldn't work too well, unless the pit learned two different versions. And then you're left noticing the different version, not the difference in sound. To be honest I've found it hard to tell myself anymore. At least up close or with smaller groups. The difference IMO is how far the sound projects, which seems to favor the G horns. But most watching of drumcorps situations, not that there are as many options to do that these days, I've got to look at the actual instruments in use and recognize a brand and model of a Euph or other horn to know if they're on Bb or G. The G's generally do a half loop before entering the valve cluster, the Bb's tend to just go straight to the valve cluster on the leadpipe. Or just look at the trumpets and if they all look like piccolo trumpets, they're Bb. The bells are so tiny, it's almost cute, if it weren't for that hideous sound they make.

Make sure that the leadpipe that the mouthpiece goes into is clean. Dirt and cheaper metals corrode and can form a bond of sorts. BITD we'd just put an ice cube in the metal mouthpiece and that was generally enough to weaken the bond. Hot things expand, cool things contract and what not. You're not likely to have a freezer handy, much less one big enough for a tuba. But a half hour in there is about the same as the ice cube method. Get a puller. But some cleaning options will help prevent it happening as often. And of course remove the mouthpiece at least once a month to keep it from getting stuck, or at least finding out if it is stuck. At least during the winter to summer time frame. I've never had much issues with my kelly's, but mine are probably first generation versions. They're actually the least likely to get stuck IMO. And if they do, the ice cube method probably wont work, get a puller.

There used to be a corps before Derby City Knights in Louisville, but they went out around 2000. Lots of potential with Indiana and Ohio nearby, which hosts lots of DCI style shows. Glassmen, Bluecoats, Star Alumni, Cincinnati Tradition, Corpsvets, Alliance, Music City Legend, and other up for a road trip type options(hopefully those are all still active). Kentucky hasn't really had a good track record for longevity of corps. Although it has had a few over the years.

You could think of it as playing a Bb horn with the 3rd valve stuck down. Which is how we did audition camps when we were short on horns BITD. Alternatively for bass clef, the writting Bb, if fingered and played on the same partial of a G bugle would sound a G. The Eb would sound a C. For treble clef, written C would sound a G, written F would sound a C. You have 3 semi-tones (half steps) extra tubing on the G bugle. If you want to match the Bb horns, transpose everything "written" up 3 three steps on a chromatic scale for the equivalent note, that will sound the same pitch. Up a minor 3rd, A whole tone and a half step, whatever works for you. Or just use one of their Bb horns if they have some laying about. They likely do.

BITD when we marched frenchies, there should have been a 2:1 mix of frenchies to mellos. I recall 6 mellos and 6 frenchies at least one year that I marched, so 12. But that was 60-ish member hornlines. Had the mix been right, 18 middle horns. I counted Phantoms Euphs one year, 2006, and they had 20 Euphoniums, not including baritones. But some of those were guard Euphs or whomever that was who swapped sections for that mega-Euph feature. But out here in non-competitive land, most seem to have 2 mellos that do the entire season. As many as 10 mellos at open house and some special events. If only gas was $2 a gallon or less again...

BITD, I rode a bicycle a lot. When I wasn't doing that I fiddled with computers. When I wasn't doing that BITD, the local college marching band (while I was still in HS). A college honor jazz band for HS kids. A local honor band, but that was probably before corps. Sat in with a couple of the local university orchestras at times. Depending on how the various schedules all lined up. And when I wasn't doing all that I tried to get at least 4 hours of sleep a night. If I could. But all of that was BITD. Now I just do computers and when I'm not doing that I try to get 16 hours of sleep a day to catch up on a decade plus of sleep deprevation.

Best is relative. For Euphoniums, not that I've experienced the newer Jupiter horns yet... (or the new Kings) Deg - cheapest (used anyway) Kanstul - loudest and most rugged King - best sounding IMO (most Euph like) Yamaha - lightest Deg and King form factors can be a little awkward to carry. Kanstul and Yamaha are about equal, the valve action on the Yamaha is a little wimpy IMO. For a Euph anyway. But I haven't really played much Euph in the past five years and there's a few new models out that I haven't tried yet. DCI 2007 was the last time that I had many of these horns in hand. 2006 was the last time that I marched Euphonium competitively. (TFN DCA). And I spent most of 2007 playing Contra. Most of 2008 playing Trumpet. And the odd gig on Mellophone between then and now. Yea Mardi Gras...

What schedule? The last DCA competition in my state was 2008. They were supposedly scheduled for 3x shows last year. But delivered NONE. I'll believe it when I see it, because according to DCA rules of non-competition. Any one of two fail, all fail. Just one member short and your competitive season ended last season according to the rules. (or several seasons ago, if any) Who's reality? Gas, toll roads, parking, uniforms, instruments, dues, mandatory fun-draisers or buyouts, gloves, shoes, eating out, everything. It all adds up. $2K is conservative IMO. Given that the nearest (according to the rules) competitive drumcorps is 200 miles EACH way, relative to where I live. And at $4 a gallon, that's no chump change. For the math impaired. 200 (miles) * 2 (round trip) * 20 (weekends) = 8000 miles 8000 (miles) / 34 (mpg) = 235.3 gallons 235.3 (gallons) * $4 (per gallon) = $941.20 $940-ish in gas. And that's just the gas to get to camp twice a month for ten months. Drumcorps should start publishing baseball cards. Number of competitive seasons / over number of existing seasons equals batting average. Sadly there's probably only one or two corps that have the perfect 1.0 ratio. But that's probably just me being overly optimistic again. And I guess it depends on how the politicians fudge the numbers. Does one score for a minicorps performance once a year count as a competitive season? ----- In the meantime, for $27 a seat, let the best corps win. (it's a shame they weren't allowed to compete) ;)

I have a Deg 3 valve Bb Euph that's been for sale a while now. Pretty decent horn as far as marching horns go. Not the best of the best, but it's in great shape. $600 + shipping. Unless you happen to exist in Texas. Then I can probably deliver it for cheaper than shipping.

Save every penny. Get the audition INFORMATION for every corps you are interested in. You might not make your 1st choice, so having options and being prepared is a good thing. As a brass player, I wouldn't worry too much about marching, unless you've never done marching band. There are different techniques (less so these days), but as long as you put the right foot down at the right time (and the left foot too) and don't look like a string puppet doing it, it'll probably be something they can work with / teach. If you're a bit cheap or skiddish, you might look into other types of corps (non-competitive / all-age / ???) to get your feet wet. Perhaps someone knows someone and can help get you where you really want to go. Or at least get you enough information to be better prepared.

Not a fan myself. I don't have a problem with being charged for costs. But if I'm buying one thing (a ticket) it should have only ONE price. With some allowance for TAX. And TAX only. It's the government, do I really have a choice? But for corporations to invent their own form of TAX, my swing vote is turned away by that. i.e. NO SALE Hopefully all of this is one mailing and known up front. Multiple stamps and multiple check fees add up.

It's a down stream player thing AFAIK. I don't think I've ever met an upstream french horn player. On the small bores any sort of overbite is amplified. So the lead pipe is bent so the player can watch the drum major and see the field versus marching around with their shako perched horizontally, and yet still on the top of their heads. It's a marching thing. Without the bent leadpipe, the player might be playing with their head tilted so far back that they can't see the field or the drum major. Or having to periodically point the horn at the ground to check in for all purposes. Upstream players tend to play that way to facilitate the high end, and to make the horn a little more squirrelly to help with trills and flexibility. These playing traits are naturally a part of a french horn for a down stream player, and amplifying them is not normally desired. Given that a french horn is the same length tubing as a baritone (if in the same key as...), but plays on a small-ish trumpet sized rim mouthpiece. Plus the V shaped cup which makes it more squirrelly by default. As in small changes make big changes in what note / sound comes out of the horn. Plus that whole bore size and back pressure thing that probably makes upstream playing an impossibility on a french horn. Edit: Not to mention the concert french horn with the hand in the bell thing.