ussglassman

Which corps has the strongest tuba section?

I have Rick James's autograph :=P

ummmm...yeah, he's kinda involved with another corps....yeah....lol, you know, little things like WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS arent really big accomplishments or anything.....

For those of us who arent current on junior corps lingo, WHO IS INT?!?!?! I have never heard of a drum corps referred to as INT before and Im sorry if im the only person on here who doesnt understand what that means, but i've seen others asking the same question with no answer, so it seems like it might be some kid of inside joke.

Just to give a heads up to those hoping to see the Renegades out of the top 10.......we are having an UP year.......see you all in a couple weeks.....

Maybe an entire seprate class needs to be formed for "mini-corps" that want to march. DCA is growing every year. The true sign of growth is the number of units competing. Wouldnt it be awesome to see a bunch of new little corps start up and possibly have 1 or 2 big corps grow out of that? People should be supporting small corps in every way. I dont think a corps like Twilight Optimists (1999 43rd place in div 3) would be competitive against a group 2x the size, but wouldnt it be awesome to look back and see that 43 corps competed in a single division? I marched Mandarins, and one of the things we prided ourselves on was being able to do things that no other corps our size could do. In 1992 Mandarins won Div 3 with 30 members and only 10 horns. In 1999 we placed 13th in the world in brass with 19 horns. Small corps take a much greater responsibility on the field because each individual member must play to be heard. If a corps comes on the field and absolutely sucks....ok..? And onto the next one. Its time to realize that DCA is on its way to overpowering DCI and It's my opinion that everyone involved in DCA should want to see that growth take place soon.

I got autographs from a few ranking members of PR at the Stanford show. The kids seemed so honored and humbled my me asking them for an autograph, as if they werent anyone special.....i wonder how they feel about signing autographs after last weekend:-P

I think its about time something changed. DCI has grown so powerful that they are changing the activity so each drum corps has to evolve into something drum corps was never intended to be. Drum corps isnt about instrument sponsorships or ticket sales. Its about teaching young people to become more than what they ever could be. Whatever new sanctioning body arises should create a focus on new drum corps with the intent to get kids off the street and out of trouble. The way DCI has manipulated the activity, no low-income kid could ever perform with a DCI corps. The way corps are required to tour for so long, etc pushes the focus away from bettering local communities through music; it makes it a financial benefit to someone, and that isnt drum corps. The way a corps cannot survive without dumping hundreds of thousands of dollars into high-end uniforms and instruments isnt what drum corps is supposed to be. DCI is going to kill itself off only because its setting too high a price tag on what it takes to be successful as a drum and bugle corps.

There is a very good possibility that both Sacramento Freelancers and Anaheim Kingsmen will be taking the field in 2009 as competitive senior corps.

Basically you want to play your GG contra in a concert/marching band setting right? I had actually written a fingering chart for that purpose. The only problem is anything above the concert Bb in the staff starts getting really squirrley and hard to tune. I think I actually tried playing one random high note with all fingering combinations and it read the same on my tuner. However, if you want to take the time, its best to have a tuner and go from there. The horn is in the key of G, which means that the tuning concert pitch that comes out of the horn is a "G." That is the same G played 12 on a BBb tuba. If you follow the chromatics up from there, you will see the BBb, fingered open on a BBb tuba, is actually 23 on a contra. please PM me for any other questions, I'll try to find that fingering chart i wrote. I wrote it because I find it sad that these huge majestic instruments are considered useless and obsolete. Also, im sure they will turn up on ebay as "marching tuba" and I can see some kid buying one not having a clue how to play it.