Horizon

See you at G-West!

That would seem a little desperate to me, and it would undoubtedly fall short of Spartacus. They can't rely on just killing people to do well.

Granted, it is far from every corps using electronics in this way.

That's exactly it. A fight song/alma mater represents a whole school. A corps song represents just the corps itself. A drum corps exists wholly for itself.

The whole parade IS the main event.

A drum corps doesn't perform in a half time show or play a fight song to pump up the football team. Drum corps is always its own main event.

I don't know where you got this information, but it's not true. Edit: I mean I guess it could be closer to 17. 19 is closer to 17 than 20.

Notice how it's the most popular and high scoring corps that seem to recycle source music. Out of curiosity, what did you think about the Glassmen, Blue Knights, Colts, and Boston Crusaders who all used mostly unused music in 2009.

Well retaining 100 members from last season is easier said than done. I'd say the corps I marched in was about half if not over half rookies and we make finals regularly.

I'm not quite sure how a thread about visual warm-up segued to BD '09...

I think the offense really comes in when ignorant people make the assumption that a drum corps is a high school marching band.

The only corps I think might have been underrated is Phantom Regiment. From watching finals live, I thought they were superior to Blue Stars. All the other rankings I agree with completely.

52 is actually a remarkably low number of rookies.

Most of that rep is modern symphonic music and Beethoven is anyone's game.

I did include a disclaimer didn't I?

I would much rather see Vanguard do this. I don't think it would suit Blue Stars well at all. I'm not sure why you think that.

Well Glassmen haven't dropped since 2003... 13 12 11 11 11 11 10. Talk about slow and steady progress.

I agree with the judges: Troopers Colts Academy Although I personally enjoyed Colts show the best, I can see why they were beaten.

Judging by the current pattern, it seems like they have a good chance of getting 0th place next year.

I have personally never really considered "moving up" in the way you refer to it. I've always felt that I would be more satisfied with trying to help move up with the corps that I've already marched. Granted, my corps is a world class finalist every year, and is quite competitive. I can see why one might want to march a corps that will be a better match in terms of competitiveness.

Good point, but I was kind of thinking of corps that you think will come out and surprise us in 2010. It wouldn't be the least bit surprising to see those corps in the top 5.

Of course, but Mandarins is not my corps. And yes, I do have a corps. I just think including a bias in the OP of this thread would compromise its integrity.

Although it's impossible to know how a corps is going to do next season before that season even starts, I'd like to see peoples' opinions on what corps they think (hope) are really going to come out and surprise us in 2010. I'd like to start with the Mandarins. I was really impressed with the show they put on this year after being second to last in the World Class for the past two years. Their show really got me to start paying attention to the lower-ranked corps in the World Class. I think if they can put on a show that good with an undersized corps, they could potentially challenge for a spot at finals with a full corps. I am now officially a Mandarins fan just as much as I'm a Blue Devils fan or a Santa Clara Vanguard fan, and I think that says a lot. Anyways, your thoughts?

I, also pretty progressive about drum corps implementing electronics, am also offended by the use of synths to bolster hornline sound. When I imagined incorporation of synths into a drum corps show, I imagined people playing a synth like a piano, something that requires talent by a performing member. With that being said, I would like to compliment Glassmen (they weren't the only ones, but the one that comes first to my mind) for not using synthesizers in a cheap way. Whenever there were artificial sounds in their show, they had someone actually playing a synthesizer, not just pressing a button. That's how I imagined synths to be used. The "technoish" beat in the third movement was produced using something that a front ensemble actually drummed on using drumsticks which is pretty cool considering there was a much easier way to do this, but they chose not to. I do hope that synths become less prominent in drum corps shows in the future, especially if they are being used in a cheap way. Every corps does not need a synth in their show. It's supposed to be an option, not a necessity.

Now I'm not a physicist, but I think opening the roof would lessen the echo and improve the acoustics overall.