big old drummer man

cavies vanguard phantom crown coats boston madison crossmen troopers spirit mandarins pioneer. that's right, folks. the blue devils and cadets won't make finals. you heard it here first.

bloo pit and crown pit.

exactly. the drum breaks these days are musically integrated much better into the show and, when done well, can add great a bit to the overall design and concept of the show, rather than just being a full tune in the middle of the show to give the hornline a break and show off the drumline. i do agree with the OP about voice amplification. get that crap outta here. the music should be able to speak for itself. some do it well (coats 07), but in most cases it distracts too much from the music (cadets 07). i am, however, a proponent of the amplification of the pit.

surf is going to crush everyone this year, in all captions.

so far the biggest disappointment of phantom changing to dynsaty has been the finish of their drums this year. the drums themselves sound pretty good, but the finish is definitely a down-grade from the finishes they have had the last 2 years, which imo were each the best finish of that year.

actually dynsaty's new mark ford marimbas (which phantom is playing this summer) are supposed to be sweet. i've never played one, but they are supposed to be on par with adams.

he said in the lot. bd was filthy in the lot last year. they were much cleaner on the field than they were in the lot. bloo was virtually tickless on the field last year (i have their finals tape), but bd played more in the their show, and was still reasonably clean. it was a toss up.

yes. the way the rhythms are phrased makes them change meter over and over again. in addition to that, the sticking of the "easy" rhythms, the layering of rhythms between sections and the dynamic shaping is what makes it difficult. it takes an enormous amount of control.

yeah their tenor cradle is unbeaten in the industry. they certainly have a great eye for innovation, and seem to be willing to work with people to constantly make their product better (ie working with paul rennick over the past year or so). so kudos for that.

yep. i have heard a few lines on dynasty that sounded good. reading buccaneers, boston, and rhythm x. other than that, no thanks.

cadets won in 03. they won 3 in a row from 01-03.

MTS is the yamaha snare drum with a top and bottom snare strainer. "Multi-Timbre System" i believe it stands for.

those drums scouts are using are BEAUTIFUL.

i'm not saying that they were consistently dirty on the field. but they weren't as flawless as they were in the lot. bd had some VERY demanding material, which wasn't consistently clean. they did play more notes throughout the show than coats. when coats did play, they played a lot, and it was crystal. so i guess it was a judgment call on the judges' part to weigh demand more than execution.

in the lot, phantom was TICKLESS. mind blowingly clean. but, they ticked on the field. coats were pristine on the field with a great pit. they didn't win b/c the corps got 7th. sorry, but it's true. it's a flawed system. bd was inconsistent, unmusical, and over-hyped.

bluecoats will be smokin this year, no doubt. tons of vets, great pit, blended snareline, sick basses, smooth quadline. crown has maaaaaad notes this year, and their pit is always strong. especially now that they have andrew markworth (of rhythm x) writing and teching the pit. phantom will have an incredible book, as always, and the battery will be more blended from player to player than almost everyone, per usual. cadets will have an absurd amount of notes, like always. they won't be good until late in the season, but they will come out of nowhere and beat a bunch of lines, like usual. vanguard will groove their buns off, and have an awesome lot vibe. they will be the most aggressive line out there, once again. if they can control it and be clean, they'll be nice. cavies pit will be great again. boston will have tasty beats, and an awesome quadline. blue devils will have a haze of dirt on everything they play, like they have every year since changing to dynasty. will be over-rated, as always. whatever, i'm a hater.