hostrauser

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In order to keep this a reasonable length, I will focus on only one or two aspects of each show. 1. Cavaliers - People talk about their visual program, but man that brass was a revelation. The tone quality and intonation the Cavies put out in 2002 was simply unmatched in DCI history up to that point. Their 19.7 brass score at Finals seems laughably low in retrospect. No, it's not the hardest brass book of all time, but it sure is one of the cleanest. 2. Blue Devils - Their drumline was the weak link all season (not that anyone was catching the Cavaliers), but the bass drum runs in the last ten seconds of the show are still the best bass drum runs I've ever heard. Love. 3. Cadets - God I hate this show. Gimmicky garbage. The worst aspects of nostalgia passing for general effect. The drumline was fire, and BWBB was fantastic. Everything else about this show can go right in the dumpster. 4. Santa Clara Vanguard - Show should have been better than it ended up being. A great arrangement of Copland's Organ Symphony ruined in the last ten seconds by an awkward modulation back into a major key and a Trivandrum recapitulation (the original music from the opener) to end the show. 5. Phantom Regiment - I'm a brass guy, a huge Shostakovich fan, and a Phantom homer, so of course I love this show. It's not without flaws but it was *clearly* better than Boston and the Music GE judges at Semis and Finals savaged them in a fashion completely inconsistent with the rest of the season. 6. Boston Crusaders - I hate this (mini-Cadets) show only a little less than the Cadets show. It was the first season after 9/11 so both of the Northeast corps went with sappy, glurgy dreck for show themes. Brass was good, rest of corps was not (8th in visual, 9th in music ensemble, 10th in percussion). But, everyone wanted to be spoon-fed patriotism in those days and the judges ate it right up and over-scored the hell out of them. They should have been 8th, behind Phantom, Bluecoats, and Glassmen. 7. Bluecoats - One of my favorite Bluecoats shows. Great "Dancer in the Dark" ballad (sure, the Cadets would end up doing it better in 2005, but this version is still really good), and a fantastic closer with one of the 2000s great "screamer" soloists. 8. Glassmen - Sure, Phantom would do "The New Moon in the Old Moon's Arms" better in 2010, but this version is still really good. From 97 or 98 through the early 2000s the GMen had some absolute nail-eaters in their drumlines, and this is another fantastic one. I thought the show was more effective than the judges did but, as I have already established, the Finals Music GE judge was on crack. 9. Crossmen - I don't remember anything about this show. The Crossmen did similar, non-descript jazz shows over and over and over for about 20 years. Unless they were truly exceptional (1992, 1997) or bizarrely against type (1995) I barely remember any Crossmen show until their rebirth in the 2010s. 10. Spirit of Atlanta - The Easter Symphony is possibly David Holsinger's most ambitious work and, being a devout Christian, also one of his most intensely personal works. I knew that, for a long time, Holsinger very closely guarded the arranging rights to this piece, so I was amazed Spirit got permission to perform it. They did a great job with it, too, this was their best show since the 1980s. 11. Magic of Orlando - Great, fun show and corps that had been relegated to Division II for the season due to missing 2001. I seem to recall Wayne Downey wrote the brass book for this "Wind and the Lion" show. One of my favorite Magic shows. 12. Seattle Cascades - Most shocking finalist of all time? Only time in corps history they placed higher than 15th, and one of only seven years they've been in the Top 20. Didn't Wayne Downey or someone from another "Big Boy" corps write their brass book, too? Not sure they should have made Finals, kind of a generic Bernstein show. 13. Blue Knights - Still love this show (musically), especially the barbaric Barber Piano Concerto finale. Holy smokes that visual design is a mess, though. 14. Madison Scouts - Speaking of visual design disasters... their first time out of Finals since 1972. Musically they were good enough. But their guard had been scoring behind the likes of Kiwanis Kavaliers, Mandarins, Southwind, and Capital Regiment, and their marching wasn't much better.

I think it may have been mainly a North and Central California thing, but I know the Maytime Band Review in San Diego was a big thing for many years. I'm pretty sure there were a couple of others, but I'd have to check with others who were marching/directing back in the 60s/70s. When I marched in the early 90s in NorCal there were spring competitions in Alameda, Fairfield, Stockton, Tracy, Ukiah, Vallejo and even then Spring band reviews were "dying out."

Maybe I'm a cynic, but my view of the vast majority of the movers and shakers in this activity is that they are concerned with what is best for their corps/organization first, and the drum corps community as a whole second (or third or forty-seventh). DCI needs widespread organizational humility to affect all of its member corps for the tour to return to even some semblance of its pre-COVID self. Maybe that will happen. I've certainly been wrong plenty of times before.

LOL

For a long time that was the norm in California, I don't know if it was ever common in the rest of the country. There was a Fall season AND a Spring season, band reviews, concerts, and field shows. The field shows started being dropped from Spring events in the 80s, IIRC, as DCI got more and more popular. Spring band reviews continued in the 90s and early 2000s, especially in NorCal. Now they are pretty much all gone, only one or two left.

2003 Carolina Crown They missed Finals in 2002 and (IIRC) were super, super young in 2003. The brass line was very weak but they had good percussion and a GREAT guard and overall visual program.

No no no. Not all circuits. Just most.

Trying to fill in some of the blanks, to the best of my ability... AK - no competitions (only 1 competitive band, Colony HS) AR - both Bentonville and Bentonville West have cancelled their competitions. ASBOA state events are still on as far as I could tell. CT - waiting for USBands DE - I believe only TOB holds competitions in Delaware, and they've gone virtual for 2020. DC - no competitions HI - Oahu actually has a small marching band circuit with four or five shows. I can't find anything official, but based on a couple of band websites and Facebook pages (Mililani HS and Maui HS) it looks like the state will be virtual only. ID - waiting for USBands MA - NESBA season cancelled. Waiting for USBands. MN - In a holding pattern, but as of late June the YIM Championships were still scheduled. Can't find any updates about local competitions. MT - no competitions (only 1 competitive band, Bozeman HS) NV - northern Nevada shows are run by the Sierra Nevada Band Series (SNBS). Their season has been cancelled. http://envisionarts.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=620:snbs-2020&catid=80&Itemid=262 NV - southern Nevada shows are run by the WBA and MBOS circuits. WBA's season has been cancelled, and I would assume MBOS's season is cancelled too, since everything on the website is talking about spring 2021 winterguard scheduling. NH - no competitions that I know of. Only one or two competitive bands (Salem HS and... ? Alvirne HS doesn't compete last I checked. Londonderry HS has a huge band but only does parades/exhibitions) OR - NWAPA runs the only shows in Oregon, and their season is cancelled. RI - waiting for USBands SD - one USBands show and a handful of independent shows which, as far as I can tell, are all still on as scheduled. The calendars and Facebook pages of major SD bands like Sioux Falls Lincoln and Brandon Valley appear to be business as (mostly) usual. WA - one NWAPA show at Kamiak HS cancelled. The rest of the state is independent shows. Both major shows in Central Washington (SE Washington Cavalcade of Bands and Yakima Harvest Marching Band Festival) have been cancelled. https://www.cavalcadeofbandswa.org/ and http://harvestbands.org/2021/ In addition, Washington State University has cancelled their show. https://marchingband.wsu.edu/wsu-marching-band-championships/ WY - state only has two competitions, the University of Wyoming/Troopers D&BC show (no 2020 info) and the WHSAA state marching band show (still scheduled).

Wisconsin (WSMA) State Marching Band Championships have been cancelled. https://wsmamusic.org/covid-19-news/

In just the past few years, many of the Massachusetts USBands heavy hitters started doing more NESBA shows, and Virginia, Maryland and New Jersey each started up new marching band circuits that drew numerous bands away from USBands. You can assert that claims against USBands are all bunk, but something sure as heck is happening.

Blackstone-Millville, Dartmouth, and King Philip Regional all host USBands shows, along with Cranston East in Rhode Island. Only about 15-20 Massachusetts bands in total have participated in USBands shows the past few years, according to my spreadsheet.

Maryland's MMBA has canceled their season. https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=320414889336707&id=103692854342246&__xts__[0]=68.ARD5ixj37VXYFGLfggj5Qlt8c-MQg0UcNzc-x2cZArQrUmXeoJbOX_me2iMKar1Z5YwZXZyaSh5YTdCuyZusjdCJgMukYJJhDZTSF2R6MJxfl6kqkV0FQZMHoxjOixvaDJKY5J4Ezc7XySV0tN-YPgSGwRkVTMLT0_QDodXQ9BvUrYxpmwiAgiflWAUCj1__6_JhHaf1JJ9iJZ-Uff0tBdnmFh4zBNpvVrcwIk4lQQBrEq_kOsn15QAvIuzSP-CVdTiKjapYStJmoiHhOL50yD3YeXWb58GeOzpqm4DTAvsTpDrTHCkYPBszCqe1VZsBqaoJ_k0c2Ow6pCWoopo&__tn__=-R

Possibly the biggest band competition in the state of Tennessee, the MTSU Contest of Champions, has been canceled for 2020. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10107890847455625&set=a.687664687675&type=3&theater

The petty voice in my head though that USBands was playing chicken with BOA, and wouldn't announce anything until BOA folded their season first. But that happened a while ago now, and there's no information or updates on the USBands site at all (aside from this noncommittal vaguery which says very little https://yea.org/news/school-reopening-survey-results )

NCBA (Northern California) - 13 of 15 shows canceled, I'm sure the last two are soon to follow. http://www.ncbaonline.net/?page_id=30

[citation needed] Why would they want or need to do that? The three closest high schools to Ayala are Chino, Chino Hills, and Diamond Bar. All three have fantastic music programs. Chino Hills has won WGI and had the superior drum line for a few years now.

Pandemics have lifespans, just like anything else. The H1N1 Influenza of 1918-1919 ended without a vaccine. Polio outbreaks ended without vaccines for many years. The original SARS coronavirus outbreak in 2002 ended without a vaccine (there still isn't one: COVID is basically SARS 2.0). There has never been a vaccine for any coronavirus. But this pandemic will end at some point even if there isn't. I agree that WGI is probably sunk for Winter/Spring 2021. But I expect by Summer 2021 things will be "returning" to normal (there will be permanent changes from this, no doubt, but perhaps not as widespread and drastic as many fear).

Regardless of vaccine availability, the standard duration for 20th Century global pandemics was 12-18 months. This COVID pandemic started January 2020, so it should "burn itself out" between January and June 2021. I expect there will be another BIG spike in infections and deaths over the winter. I expect there will be no 2021 WGI season. I expect there will be an adjusted, possibly delayed, possibly shortened 2021 DCI season. But I'm only feeling about 60/40 on that, I certainly don't feel that a 2021 DCI season is a sure thing. I expect this will all be over no later than Fall 2021 and there will be a Fall 2021 marching band season.

Music for All just announced the cancellation of all Bands of America shows for 2020. https://www.musicforall.org/music-for-all-statement-on-2020-bands-of-america-championships

Kansas - KBA 1A-4A State Championships canceled, Open Class championships still tentatively scheduled. https://marching.kansasbandmasters.com/?page=home Iowa - IHSMA state marching festival canceled https://ihsma.org/ihsma-state-marching-band-festival/

Mississippi Bandmasters Association cancelled all Marching contests for the fall to include Regional and State Marching Championships. https://www.misshsaa.com/2020/07/15/regional-state-marching-band-evaluations-canceled-for-fall-2020/ The Florida Bandmasters Association cancelled all Marching Performance Assessments for Bands during the fall of 2020. https://fba.flmusiced.org/media/1942/fba-marching-mpa-cancellation-school-year-2020-2021.pdf

Band directors have never been in consensus on anything, ever, regardless of state. That said, band directors can be even more cliqueish than band students. I know plenty of organizations around the country where only people who "toe the party line" are tolerated (so to speak). I make no claims about the MCBA, I have no insider knowledge. But the MCBA is a small-ish organization (60 members?) so the numbers are small enough it's at least within the realm of possibility that there could have been a near-unanimous vote.

Michigan Competing Band Association has canceled state championships and truncated their season. https://themcba.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5&Itemid=139

MidStates Band Association (KY, OH, IN) has canceled their 2020 season. http://www.midstatesba.org/2020/07-20-2020 MSBA Covid-19 Statement Regarding the 2020 Season.pdf