MoonHill

I'm sorry, but I have yet to read any complaint that brings LOS up to EPIC FAIL status. A simple FAIL, maybe, but EPIC? When we still have the splendiferous memories of Jackson to sustain us?

But why do they need to get new instruments on a regular basis?

I've said it other places, and I'll say it again here: The King two-valved G euphonium is one of the smoothest horns I've ever played. The Bb DEG euph I played around with in Rochester last year was a piece of crap in comparison. I'm always going to be a little disappointed that when the "any key" rule came down, the whole of the movement was to Bb, with F mellos. The occasional C tubas, too, but rarely. Not a single one of the really ridiculously financially-stable corps ever experimented with keeping the sops, baris, euphs and contras in G but switching the mellos/middle horns to C, thus achieving the tonal coverage a Bb/F line gets but at the lower basic key. I think it would be a neat sound, and while there wouldn't be as much of a sell-through ability, the initial investment would have been cheaper. I won't even get into the fact that music education seems to be entirely focused on Bb horns, when teaching kids to play all sorts of different keys might actually be a worthwhile use of teaching time...

I've stood in front of lines playing Bb/F horns, and lines playing G horns. I've stood in front of lines playing three-valved Kanstuls with TAN slides, and lines playing P/R car bumpers. It ain't the pitch of the horn that determines whether the line is crass and/or out of tune. edit: and for the record, this is coming from a guy who both prefers G hornlines, and highly-visual show design...

What I think is that whenever anyone mentions that suite, I can't help but think of the lyrics me and the other trombones in my local orchestra came up with for that main theme in "The Hobbit". "Oh, I am a big fat happy Hobbit, watch Me Drink some Beer!" "He is a big fat happy Hobbit, watch Him Drink some Beer!"

He kept using the dice, though, didn't he? ;) Fair point, though. I'd still maintain that he linked all the weirdness into a single, unified whole.

It's drumming with a monkey, obviously.

I give unto you a gold star, good sir.

re: the bolded bit. I'm still waiting to experience that. Bb/F hornlines have blown me away. I've seen amplified voice used to great, powerful effect. So far, I've yet to experience an amplified pit that had any effect on me other than A) I don't notice it at all and experience no difference from the pit performances pre-amplification, or B) was noticeably unbalanced and distracting. Corps have had balance issues long before amps, to be sure. And those balance issues haven't been done away with, even with amplification of the pit. It's just feeling like corps out there are spending thousands of dollars and lots of man-hours to make the job of balancing the ensemble even harder for themselves. Plus, there's all that extra set-up and break-down. And I won't even go into the philosophical point about how on-the-field during-the-show ensemble balance is now very often the job of a staff member, rather than a performing member.

However, look at Cunningham's actual work. Whether he tied the choreography to the music or not, the choreography itself always had a very clear technical and emotional through-line. Not a story, to be sure, but it wasn't a bunch of disjointed moves with no internal connection. Similarly, listen to a Mozart symphony, or most musical pieces from the classical and baroque eras. Very, very rarely was there any story (program music was the exception), and most of them didn't even really have names, just technical descriptions. But they're most certainly designed, and carry an emotional or technical theme through from beginning to end. Me, personally, I prefer drum corps shows that have more going for them from a design perspective than the average coffee-house band doing a set. Not necessarily a grand story or anything of the like (1992 Cavies is one of my favorites, and I challenge anyone to tell me what the story there is), but more than a random collection of music set to a random collection of drill sets. Show design has always mattered, even back in the days of pass-and-review, and I have to point out that it's been a long time since anyone passed out Librettos before a drum corps show (Phantom, I'm looking at you guys). Also, michsta8, do you ever respond to any posts, or are you exclusively an "ask new question" type of guy?

That bothers you? Really? I'm not trying to be confrontational, but I'm having trouble wrapping my head around that viewpoint. If you have the absolute best, most perfect performers in the world all gathered together in a single corps, and for performance they play a series of whole notes in uncomplicated major chords. For 11 minutes, they stand still and play whole notes. Why, precisely, should that win a championship?

What's the story in HNC's show this year, exactly? Who are the characters in SVC's show this year, exactly? Why do you keep using that phrase "a contest of Designers" ? When has this activity not been both about design and performance?

Even if a corps like Phantom just played selections from Mozart, the design of the show would still play a significant part of the contest for score. The contest isn't, and has never been, just between performers or just between designers. It's the whole package versus the whole package, and it was that way back in the day of it being a pass-and-review. You could have the most intricately-designed show ever, and if it's not performed well, it won't win. You could have the absolute finest performers ever, and if they've got a badly-designed show, they won't win. At least, that's the theory.

And would those people be horribly biased and/or unfairly slamming the Blue Stars? Or would they be reacting to the design of the show? Blue Stars put in the clip, and it works. Perhaps Glassmen's staff need to do something similar, or something completely different, or just enhance what they're already doing. I don't know, but I do know that their show isn't grabbing me. And when it comes to my personal, subjective, totally irrational biases, then if Boston can grab me, then Glassmen should have no trouble.

I'm not a die-hard, dyed-in-the-wool, "OMGBESTTHINGEVAR!" fan of I&E, but I really don't see any point in being opposed to it, either. There are so few venues for people, especially kids, to perform live music in front of an audience, and to receive good, qualitative critique on their performance, that killing another one off just because some people don't dig it seems entirely pointless, even counter-productive for the underlying basis of this activity as a whole. The corps have so many shows and so much rehearsal over the course of a summer; a single day of I&E is really a huge hardship? Is it really taking so very much away from the accomplishments of the whole corps to have a single day where individuals and small ensembles do their own things? Performing can be, and often is, its own reward. Every kid in these corps pay good money, often lots of it, to get the chance to perform a show in front of an audience. What's the great evil involved in yet another opportunity for someone to perform?

There is an actual reason that I asked scrappyslap directly what he was bothered by...

A) why wouldn't they be? B) why do you hate to say it?

Star 1992. All the extra banners and flags and blah de blah.

great news!

Gah, I remember that I&E. What a great madhouse that was.

Doh de doh de doh, I think I'll go into that lolcorps thread and have a laugh or somethYAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!! GREAT ODIN'S RAVENS, THE HORROR! ...the horror!

1992. The difference between 12th and 13th was one-tenth of a point. And it was deservedly close, as well.

That's your answer for everything.

The Drum Major is the proverbial 800lbs Gorilla of the membership. Which bus do they sit on? The one with the cage.

My thought as well, actually.