kiotad

You weren't the only one. Not too many dry eyes in the area I was sitting in.

Can't really remember the first year I went. It was early in my teaching career and after seeing that DCI vignette on the highlights show, decided to take the plunge. Well it's twenty some years later, and I am going to the last one. Didn't even realize it was ending until I got bored web surfing one morning and told the wife. She got us tickets, says they aren't great seats but I think that's beside the point. The point is I am going back after too long an absence. Great memories for me over the year include: - watching my then teenaged sister drool over the Naval Academy guys. - hearing the Yankee Rebels, my hometown corps, playing requiem for an era - watching my then significant other's, now wife, jaw drop when the first wall of sound from St. Joe's came tumbling down. - Westshore of course - seeing the Pickles in all of their various incarnations you get the idea, it will be a blast returning - one more time - to the Forum and reminding myself of what I love about the activity. [i'd take my twin daughters too, but at 21 months they might not be the ideal audience members...]

As part of the encore set absolutely...although it would be interesting to see what a 21st century visual mindset would do with it on the field

Without rehashing you are left with some more 'undiscovered' Lenny for the field. Is the drum corps fan base really ready for a show that would be more 'out there' compositionally than those of BK ?[ no knock on BK, as a musician/educator I love their stuff] There is some good stuff left that hasn't been tapped for the field but I think maybe a 'Lenny and his influences' show might yield better results.

To those fortunate folks who are there: based on what you've seen so far, any predictions of placement changes in the 8 through 12 spots?

Monitoring DCP, blue devils website and DCI. Watching Bridgemen/Boston Crusaders Through the Years vids and random years from the 80s through the oughts. Finishing up a drill for one of the high schools in the county I teach in.

In my ideal world it would end up: Phantom, BD, Crown, Cavies. Reality suggests this might be more probable: Phantom, BD, Cavies, Crown.

that would be what I was looking for. thanks

Okay. Haven't seen the show outside of the clip on DCI.org, and only saw this brought up in a show review early on in the season. Do the Conquest hits show up in the show? If not, is there a place somewhere in the show where they could be inserted without causing a severe problem? Not saying they necessarily need to be in the show, but it would seem like something was amiss if they didn't/don't put in an appearance. gil

It is an intriguing idea... having said that, it is probably impractical from at least two viewpoints: 1. the audience wants to be entertained, and for most of them that means the familar [or somewhat familar] 2. for every Saucedo, RWSmith, Bocook - among others - who have the ability to create memorable original scores from scratch, ther are at least ten to fifteen hack composers who couldn't create an original score if their life depended on it. [ask your local music educator about all the promo recordings they get every year that contain carbon copies of 'what was hot the year before'] gil

I've got '88 on video. It's high camera.

Anyone make it to Boston's Spring Fling yesterday? gil

August 3-Baltimore, MD 1. Star of Indiana.........87.0 2. Phantom Regiment...83.0 3. 27th Lancers............76.9 4. Boston....................72.8 5. Blue Knights.............58.1 6. Malden Diplomats.....56.9 7. Connexion Quebec....54.7 8. Kingsmen.................52.8 Drum Major: Phantom Regiment Drums: Star of Indiana Horns: Star of Indiana Towson State shows were always great for me because as a student, I always had the inside track to the 'prime' seats at old Minnegan stadium. Yeah the crowds were small but the shows were great experiences for those of us who went into the music education field and ran with the marching tech/ideas that we were exposed to. gil [who admittedly borrowed some of the drill sequences for his first college band drill and high school drills from some of those corps at the towson shows]

I like what I hear. Only thing that's bothering me is the Troika segment but that's a personal thing. The Lloyd Webber bookends work nice and the Bartok is a bear. Definitely one to catch on the field this season. gil

Yes soon time will tell all. Seems to be a number of corps who are being quieter than normal. Until the time comes however, it's probably best to leave some information at the door and not start the latest round of 'who is going to fold/fall in the standings' rumors. just a thought. gil

Not exactly sure of their placement from year to year, but Black Gold always had something to their shows that drew me in. gil

So here's the deal: your creative team has met and settled on the show concept for the upcoming year. You have agreed on specific musical selections to fully flesh out and support the concept. All parties concerned have started creating the show. From out of nowhere, a copyright clearance that you had is suddenly pulled out from under you. Do you: A] scrap the show concept and start fresh with something new or B] find an alternate tune that would work without sacrificing too much in terms of the original concept A former student has gotten himself a band job in the mid-Atlantic and has run into the above situation. I have faced the situation four times and have done the second option the majority of the time. Just curious to see if anyone has run into this and how they resolved it. gil

The Crossmen Metheny shows... my students will catch me doing my best to hang with some of the more complex grooves at the end and marvel at 'how good you are'... ah, gotta love the middle school mindset.

No. I fear we will be in the minority though.

In response to the original question, Crown without reservations or doubt. Maybe to spin the discussion in another direction, which I will when I have enough brain cells to phrase it properly, Who will win the battle between Crusaders - tradition and Crusaders - modern era? gil

Well said Nick. I have found in my eighteen years in music education that a little education goes a long way towards eliminating the distracting behaviors of about 95% of the audience. The remaining 5% I put in the hands of the majority and - if your community is conditioned to accept only certain behaviors as being appropriate for the activity going on - let them deal with it. It's quite amusing to see next door neighbours politely tell one another to 'bring it down or get the <insert word here> out.' My current school, before I got there, would have four cops standing guard throughout the lobby to deal with bad behavior. Seven years later, one SRO as required by law sits in the audience and enjoys the performances. Education is the key. gil P.S. The worst audience behavior I have ever witnessed was at an MENC Easten Division convention.

God I feel ancient looking at some of the responses to this thread. Ahem. On Tape - somewhere in the early 80s, Bridgemen making this huge guitar form on the field. Live. 1988 Towson University, Minnegan Stadium, Suncoast Sound blew my mind up. And thus the hard corps Drum Corps fanatic was born. gil

You have to start scavenging in the dark corners for some musicals to do. Urinetown would be a great fit for a corps wanting something in a dark, Elfman/Sondheim chamber sort of way. Assassins would be cool on the field too. The American version of Phantom [not the Lloyd Webber] would be a nice div. II/III show and Whistle Down the Wind would be a solid production also. After everyone gets a chance to hear it, the new Wedding Singer show - which has a VK vibe to it - has plenty of possibilities also. probably more thoughts later, gil

Okay. Upfront, know that I am a music educator/instrumental music director who also is a roving administrator substitute. Also understand that I know that 'No Child Left Behind' is a flawed experiment on a lot of levels. The misconception is that school districts can justify cutting the visual and performing arts by citing the increased ACADEMIC standards that they are being held to... the dirty little secret that the passionate, dedicated educators, booster groups and just plain p'd off folks know is this: if you read the No Child Left Behind Act, the arts are considered a CORE ACADEMIC SUBJECT. Don't believe me? Read it. That one piece of information has single-handedly saved the music/arts instruction in at least four school districts in Maryland and has also helped edcuators in my local district, Baltimore County, stand up to the bureaucrats, 'policy makers', etc. and preserve the arts. Sometimes you just have to call their bluff - and have a good, knowledgeable lawyer around - to make them back off. Granted it's not going to work everywhere, but you'd be amazed how much you can get by using the language in the No Child Left Behind Act as it was originally intended and not how its being spun by the administrators/bean counters in a lot of school systems g.

I agree with you. When I saw the Crossmen at Allentown, it was clearly obvious that the majority of the crowd accepted the narration in the Radio segment [although I hope they had the balance and delivery problems cleared up in Madison]. The Blue Stars show didn't need the narration for part of the season so why did they feel the need to put it in. gil