big old drummer man

90 star 91 star 92 cadets 93 star 94 blue devils 95 madison 96 regiment 97 blue devils 98 vanguard 99 vanguard

From a drummer's perspective... 2000 - Cavaliers. Great percussion section, lots of energy in this show. 2001 - Blue Devils. Very exciting show. Have to mention Glassmen's drumline though. My favorite from this year. 2002 - Cavaliers. Legendary. 2003 - Phantom. I had a hard time deciding between this and SCV, since I LOVED Vanguard's drumline this year, but Phantom's show won out. 2004 - SCV. One of the best percussion sections of the 00s. 2005 - Bluecoats. Every minute of this show grooves hard. 2006 - Phantom. One of the cleanest drumlines I've ever heard, incredibly musical pit, extremely emotional show. 2007 - Phantom. Again, GREAT drumline, and I love this show. 2008 - I think I have to pick Crown based on their show, but I have to pick Bluecoats based on their drumline. 2009 - Crown. REALLY enjoyed this show, and the drumline played MILES of notes!

Taking the percussion judge off the field is an even worse idea than dropping the Perc2 judge. And dropping the Perc2 judge was a terrible idea.

most high school lines are pretty good at playing out of time, so this should be a smashing success!

i LOVE the 03 line/book/show, but the front ensemble was clearly better and the battery was cleaner in 04.

vanguard 04 was one of the best percussion sections of the decade.

while marching WGI, i injured my knee the weekend before a regional. left patellar subluxation, with a partial tear of the meniscus. i marched the next weekend at the regional, and finished out the year, much to my ortho's chagrin. it was my ageout.

one of the years i marched WGI, we had a saturday rehearsal where we reported at 6:30am, and went until 3am. by 4pm, we were all giddy and stupid, and still had 11 hours left.

aliens.

Jimmy Stelmach! Great kid!

BAND BAND BAND BAND BAND

chill out, it's band. just appreciate it for what it is, and recognize that the judges and design teams are smarter than we all are.

indoor drill is more about staging than form development. form development is a nice touch on top, but you have to start with good staging. as for crabbing - it's all about HEIGHT. as soon as they bend their knees, or touch their heels, or drop their weight, it's over. STRONG legs and a STRONG core are required. weak legs and core will make their drums bounce around as they move, which will make playing well even more difficult.

GO PHILS!

ah when i read that headline, my brain read percussion coordinator, not program coordinator. either way, the dude know what he's doing.

more like a GREAT pickup. in my opinion, he's in the top 5 battery arrangers in the activity today.

LOVE this tune.

great post.

i'll bite. crown phantom bd scv cavies cadets bluecoats boston madison blue stars blue knights glassmen

HEY HOW ABOUT THOSE MADISON SCOUTS I HEAR THEY HAVE A GOOD STAFF THIS YEAR

i don't like your comparison of phantom 06 as a clean book with less demand, versus bd 08 as a demanding book with dirt. phantom's book in 06 was REALLY hard, just in a different way than the blue devils. a lot of times, space can be harder to clean than a book that has consistent notes jammed into the bar. if my hands never stop moving, it's a lot easier to clean. plus phantom's bass drums were OFF THE CHAIN in 06. they split all kinds of singles.

thom hannum basically INVENTED what we know today as modern marching cymbal playing. his cymbal thesis totally changed the game. for what it's worth...

the EPITOME of clean AND tasty: STAR 93.