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(emphasis mine) I believe White Sabers have actually been around since 1928 (!!). Though somebody with a couple more years could probably tell you a bit more of the history.

Went through my first season of world class last year, and the things that saved my life/I wish I had brought. -GOLD BOND -Bungee Cords to hang stuff (esp. towels and and hats) on the ceiling of the bus -All of the socks. Bring every pair of athletic socks you have, buy two more packs, and bring those -Sunblock as you need it. You know how you burn, and you probably will burn. -Almost more importantly if you're a horn player, lip balm/protectant that protects well against the sun but won't make you break out when it's all up in your mouthpiece. The virtues of not playing on burnt lips, but finding a non-pore-clogging formula is crucial. This is a trial and error thing, and it's better to try stuff out in the month you have before you break out around your mouth and have to play on it. That's why I don't use Burt's bees on tour, it's so thick it clogs the pores around my mouth, and I know it happens to other people. Have a bandana if you're not playing or know how to make a white t-shirt ninja wrap. -A good pair of sneakers (or two). If you can afford it, get checked out at a running store. They can see how you stand/walk run and recommend shoes that minimize bad posture and running habits you have. Makes a HUGE difference in your knee and foot pain. -A poncho or vacuum bag to wrap around your/others backpacks in the rain. Makes a world of difference. I liked the poncho because it can keep me dry if I feel that's important that day. -A decent shoe polishing kit if your corps wears black shoes. Kiwi has a great one that's pretty cheap. Saddle soap is nice for shows on a messy field. -At least 1 gal water bottle. Not even a question. You will want that much. -BUG SPRAY. If you're not from a northern climate, you've never seen the fresh hell that mosquitos will reap on your sorry body when left unabated. Your whole section will thank you if you get the pump-spray stuff that holds a lot more. -If you have a leatherman/multitool and can swing it, bring it along. You'll want it at some point. -Power Strip. You'll be at a gym and need to charge 30 phones on one wall outlet. I use a power squid that might take up a little more room, but you can plug more bulky chargers into it. For hornline: -Black Towels. Several. Will become brown towels -Money for gloves DON'T BRING: -Too many clothes. You'll probably live in section shorts, socks, shoes, and little else. If your shorts are decent (with a good liner like running/bike shorts), even underwear is a show-day/free-day thing. You'll probably just want two free-day/laundry shirts, a couple pairs of shorts for after shows/free time. (I brought jeans and hated myself for it every time we had free. So hot! Especially when they became 6-8 inches too big!) Did I forget anything?

It's all on Cru's Website. It looks like it's going to be a good show!

Excuse me, I was mistaken, I meant equal temperament, the problems arise from people trying to make horns with equal temperament.

However, to allow better intonation in chordal settings, we have adopted the thoroughly unnatural system of equal temperament which really lets chords shine in all keys, but does not abide by these universal principles. On top of that, bugles can have intonation problems because different manufacturers have different priorities in the development of the instrument, decide that it's more important to be able to play such and such note with such and such fingers and that it's easier to compensate for other notes. These differences in priority result in tubing length that can make pretty big intonation differences and can, for instance, be the difference between playing a top of the staff G open and 1+2. That added with the differences in airflow from different pressures of air on different notes, the pitches produced by a brass instrument in poorly designed horns can actually vary greatly on particularly "stuffy" horns in my experience, even on open intervals (yet another the reason a good french horn is worth its weight in gold). So in a perfect world, yes all horns will be just so in tune, but in practical applications horn design becomes a real balancing act. EDIT: Derp

Cru?

Hail, Brothers! OAS, AAS, LLS Adam "Megaphone FOC" Pellittieri Rho Chi - SUNY Fredonia

I can clarify this for you. It's a goodbye from a member who won't be marching with us next season. All is well with Cru! We'll miss you Sara, don't be a stranger!

One word, Tasty. One word. I've always been sort of itching to hear somebody take a shot at "Space Oddity", but I'm not sure who would do the best job with it.

They're still sending me "Last Chance" emails to get me to buy pictures from the NYSFBC championships in 2006-7.

Ogg is actually just a container, the container used by formats like OGG vorbis, ogg flac, speex, etc. I think Nizerifin hit it on the head though.

Out of curiosity, how does the harmonic function sheet reflect non-traditional harmony (I know it's not very well represented generally, but can be very effective). Say a corps wants to briefly hit on a theme from a Webern quartet or something like that, can they get ticked because their selection doesn't have 'proper' harmonic progression?

Warm and fuzzy? I think you meant strong and macho.

For what it's worth, I've always found the hot hands solution a little dubious to the long-term upkeep of your horn. The fact of the matter is that it results in very uneven heating of the horn in the area where it is most likely to become unusable if it warps. I've also heard that it does some pretty nasty stuff to some lacquers.

It's actually on the website under The Holy Grail! (assuming that is the history you wrote, seemed pretty extensive)

Rho Chi '08 - SUNY Fredonia Might not be in DCI, but it's all drum corps, ehn't it?

Yes, while I have realized here that my experience is hardly the indicator, I have not seen a CC tuba that comes in three valves either, most being either 5 or 4 valve variations. I agree with DaveBari above me with doing long tones, but when getting used to four valve combinations, I would suggest using more Remington-style exercises to not only hit the lower range, but to develop more of a tone and air support continuity between the notes. By this I mean starting on low open Bb and at about quater note=60 (or just however slow you can go, it'll take a lot of air) go from Open-2, Open-1, Open-12, Open-23, Open-4, Open-42, etc. Strive to make your tone as consistent as possible in this low range.

To theory nerd it out, it's not technicallly a Neapolitan chord unless it functions as the subdominant and is followed either directly or indirectly by the dominant.

The fact of the matter is that Auto-Tune will not be used in corps whatsoever beyond a (rather expensive) effect. It can be used throughout the recording process if you engineer has time to 'chart out' the pitches, which makes it sound (arguably) realistic. Without having that kind of time during a live show, it can only be used as an audio effect, where it serves the same purpose of a vocoder without having to have somebody on a keyboard. When you use auto-tune on its 'automatic mode' it takes out the tiny wobble and differences in pitch that create the real richness of an instrument's sound. Long story short, if they want auto-tune during a real show, they can probably save money and have their keyboardist use a vocoder.

Not always, don't you remember '77, when INT beat the Crowd by .01 of a point? That one was a nailbiter right to the end!

Tom, might I suggest that assuming nobody has a problem with you sharing this performance, you upload it to one of the multitude of file-sharing websites out there that can more than handle a 12 meg file (my personal favorite being mediafire)? They can host files often faster than most email services, and you can just about instantly share the link with anyone instead of taking the time to re-send it every time to email.

When you have a year off like this, you can still march! Wherever you live there is some kind of opportunity to keep playing. Senior Corps, Parade Corps, Minicorps, even Volunteer Fireman's Bands and the like are more than a good enough time (and some even pay!), there's always something that you can be doing, and odds are that if you haven't found something, you haven't been looking hard enough. And you'll never know who you'll meet in these groups, a number of them could be in the same boat with you! Also, like others have said, no corps will turn down a helping hand, they're probably still looking for people to help with food etc. when they come through.

I see you're going for the Junior Corps thing, so in general, you should probably be learning bass, though you should be able to read treble to some extent. The way I would look at it is that you should be able to sightread to a show-music level in bass (as your audition etudes or what have you will probably be in bass) and being able to sightread at an 'exercise' level (basic intervals, scales, and the like) in treble. Forget the fourth valve unless you are trying to switch for your concert playing as well, and make sure you know the tuning tendency for all of the partials, so that you can tune a marching horn when it comes time for it. For your practicing, I would jump on the long tone bandwagon, aiming for a good, full tone with good air (a common pitfall for new converts). One of the best ways to help fix this is by doing long tones not only 'on the pipes' but on the mouthpiece alone. I really liked Peter Ellefson's Warmups* for a good while, just keep in mind not to blow past your upper range, as this can do serious damage, so for a while, just do long tone buzzing and lower range exercises. Good stuff for beginners and seasoned pros alike with the added bonus that it's free online, just know your limit. *Note: Peter Ellefson is a trombone pedagog and teacher, so when he calls for you to use the trigger, that's your fourth valve. While you shouldn't be doing technical things with the fourth valve for corps, it helps for your air support to push through that extra tubing.

Calm down folks, it's a different learning style, that's all. No more, no less.

I marched with a girl with one leg. Definitely wasn't the worst on the field, too!