beavs

kids playing music in step on a football field its just marching band

....and thats why drum corps is more or less the same now as it was when the dinosaurs roamed.

Maybe less is more... For corps that need no introduction this may be very effective. Almost as if the announcer doesn't want to ruin the production with their inferior intro.

I guess you could say whats she is doing in the world of announcing is what The Cadets may be doing in the world of drum corps. Just sirring things up a bit. Adding a little variety... I've seen mixed reviews of her style. Seems people either hate it, or they love it. ...like The Cadets. What interested me the most was the likeness in color and shape that announcer has to The Mars Volta vocalist Cedric Bixler Zavala. (minus the rrrrrrrrrrrrrrr) Back on topic though, I would like to see these new themed enterances and exits that corps seem to be using more often become a standard drum corps practice. I find that I pay much more attention to the whole show when I am instantly captured in the theme of it before the judged starting point. Keep in mind, I am talking generally here. Plenty of drum corps have very effective show beginnings when they don't let the audience know whats happening 'til the first judged downbeat. I do remember having some crazy announcers go totally off script and get the audience really pumped. I think it may have been back in DCM days though... I don't think I'll ever forget the "....Stiiiill Uuundefeateeed...." at one or two shows. I didn't even think about it until the announcer said it that night. I think it was the first time in a while I got real nervous before performing the show. Thats the kinda stuff I wanna hear though! It brings out the competitive aspect, AND the showy (is that a word?) aspect of the event. Think about corps members on the jumbotron getting interviewed right after their performance, maybe doing a bit of trash talking too. Ok, maybe thats a little to far. ...so I'm guessing no one is down with lights displays and recorded or performed music as the corps enters the field? Sounds like most responding don't even like the pre-show shows...

I personally am tired of the standard script before shows. Even still, i'd be ok with it if each corps had a representative from their corps do the introduction. Another thing I couldn't stand (with my relatively limited experience of actually watching live shows) while sitting in the audience was the awkward silence while the corps enter/exit the field...and when they are set in their opening drill form...standing there....and the crowd is quiet...for like 5 minutes....then finally the announcer comes in with the standard script. BORING! I remember people in the crowd even shushing others that were talking. The corps hadn't even been introduced yet! WTHell are you watching....the trumpets marking off their first set? Listening to the guard puting down their equipment? The audience is never ready for the performance with an intro like that, unless thats how the show is written (to just start out of nowhere), which is one reason I like how the corps out there are performing before they are judged. Its awesome! They get the crowd ready for whats about to happen. Its like walking in to the Cirque's "Love" show in Vegas....as soon as you walk in to the lobby there is Beatles music playing, and the staff is dressed in costume, with the whole place wrapped up in the theme. I wanted to go in so bad! ...but I couldn't.... (no tix that night) We need something to get the audience AND performers pumped up! Yes, its a judged competition...but its also a SHOW!

Last night I was up 'til a bit past 4am watching some TV 'til I fall asleep on my couch - My normal week-night routine. One of the best channels to do that with is HDNet. Limited commercial breaks, great HD shows, and NO "paid programing" after 2am like the other channels! (I'm tired of flipping channels finding endless infomercials talking up 'male enhancement' products) On HDNet almost every night, around 3am or so, a program called HDNet Fights comes on, showing random MMA events around country, and the world, in HD. Last night was a great event, showing some great fights in Japan on new years eve. What kept me wanting to stay awake during this fighting event, you ask?? The announcer!! HOLY CRAP!! I got goosebumps from listeneng to the intros of each fighter. Heres a little clip from one fight: Fedor Emelianenko - Entrance Of course, I had to do research of the voice work in that intro...and now I want to hear every entrance she's done! While Lenne Hardt may not be the best announcer for a drum corps show, it got me thinking. I hear about all these Japanese marching orginizations having lights and music shows for their entrances to get the crowd AND the performer pumped up....and I kind of like that idea... Topic: What could DCI, or its corps, do differently to make corps entrances, introductions, and exits more exciting? (by the way, this year has some of the coolest corps entrances)

'06 finals retreat, Phantom Regiment's mini concert. Don't know if it was just for them or for The Cavaliers....I'd like to think it was for The Cavaliers, since thats what made it so awesome. Being on the field recieving that concert was pretty cool moment. If it wasn't for The Cavaliers...then it was still cool to chill and listen to some tunes for a while.

I actually do agree. The whole show, minus the ending, is very musical. From percussion to horns, they sound and perform great. I'd say the coolest moment is the pitch bend section. Coolest effect. I love all the subtle musical lines the baritones have throughout the show. Phantom has some great music moments (its great music...) Crown, dunno when in the show, they are in a block near the front of the field side two, and just brass are playing, really loud. Cadets mellos, cool stuff.

I don't really see anyone out there that hates BD's show. Everyone I've talked to about the show, wether they like it or not, agrees it was very well performed and is one of the most GE packed shows from them....ever. Cadets, Cavaliers, and Phantom get a lot more #### on this forum than BD. When you're good people find tons of reasons to not like you. BD isn't special. They don't get any better or worse treatment. People still clapped when they played loud. I heard plenty of ooohs and ahhhs when they shook their shakos around. Everyone 'got it' when they stumbled and jogged around the field. I personally don't like their shows. They just feel long, and I find myself wondering when the end is coming and thats the worst thing about their shows. Plus, there is plenty more season to go... things change.

I'm pretty sure it was the "turf turds." I've marched the southwest regional 6 years out of the seven I marched drum corps (they didn't let revolution march on the field their home show their first year) and every year I marched the turf was more or less the same - Some thick rough areas of tall sticky green turf, and some slippery areas with a lot of those little black rubbery things.

Four Cadets fell, in groups of two it seemed. Two Cavaliers fell. I was waiting for one Glassmen baritone to fall the whole show. Feet so out of time the whole show, moving at about a third of the real tempo...I assumed the member was going to pass out. I did notice, I think in Vanguard's performance?? I can't remember..., a soft bass drum mallet had fell on the field. The judge picked it up and handed it back to the bass drumer, and not even half a second after the bass drummer dropped it again. Poor guy. ; Crossmen had a fall I think. The member even lost their hat in the fall. Had to pick it up while they scrambled back into the drill. Every fall had a great recovery though. Props to all that fell in San Antonio. ...just don't let it happen again. ;)

Y..you're crazy man. You're crazy. I like you....but you're crazy. The BK/BAC thing might be a personal opinion. I do believe BAC lacked the same control and confidence in performance that BK had, and the overall design of BAC's show seemed to lack any forward progression. BK, while having a pretty unique, and very non-traditional drum corps show in terms of entertainment value, had a great performance and much more solid show design. Crown was louder than Phantom, so by Phantom's standards of drum corps success Crown SHOULD have beat them. Other than that, I just expected politics to come in to play tonight, and figured Crown would be ahead. In my opinion it was a tossup tonight. I do think Phantom will pass crown later in the season.

While watching from the upper level of the dome, it seemed The Cavaliers had one thing missing from there show. Well...make that two things. Their ending of the show, and their VOLUME. Of course, this show doesn't demand volume like other corps shows do, but seriously....every corps out there could reach the top rows of the dome with mass amounts of enless volume... except The Cavaliers. Their horn sound is by far the best (their low brass is crazy good), but its not reaching like it could... and with all these corps this year that seem to be going back to the louder is better approach (though this year seems like a great year for hornlines), The Cavaliers just seem (mf) compared to all the rest from the upper level of the dome. Now as far as vis effect goes....who knows. I guess they'd look better if they played louder. There are a few moments in the show though, where I don't exacly know what I should be looking at... and feel like I'm missing something. That might be working against them. I'm sure they haven't cleaned all 260+ of their sets on the field, so they aren't quite as clean as BD right now. 4th might be a bit of a stretch though.... And count me in the 20% of people who honestly didn't get excited by BD's show.

I once marched with someone that swore by "doppler guiding." He told us he would listen to the sounds around him, and use different volumes to give him a reference of where to stand relative to the sounds around him. I don't know if he was serious... but he definitely wasn't on par, or on the same page as the rest of the corps most the time.

Its very common. Rarely ever successful... Marching drill shouldn't be improvisational. Consistancy is what creates the most success. You shouldn't be held responsible for someone else's mistake, and dot marching helps members devote their visual focus to their own performance of the show, and especially the practice and learning of their own show, without wondering if the person next to them is going to overstep or understep their place on the field. What about all the steps inbetween each dot? Those are just as important as the dot, if not more. If you are trying to stay between two people from one dot to the next you'd be taking a different stepsize, and a different path, almost every time you perform or practice the show. They are trying to stay between two people too...and you're one of them!! ...and you wonder why the corps lacks visual confidence, and your visual program lacks drill moves that "click." From one dot to the next, you probly see a lot of small-big-small stepsize progressions. Small after the step off, big in the middle of the move, then small as they approach the next dot. Its obvious I am very pro-dot marching... but I do believe you can march curved paths and still use visual references on the field, creating checkpoints and subsets on your way to the next dot on the field. There is no doubt that if you guide drill and march a clean show you must be a very tallented group. I've marched every type of style, from "The drill you learn at drill camps will be different at the end of the summer. The judges don't know what the pages look like, so get between two people!" to "Look at the people around you.... they are all idiots. Don't follow them." Obviously there is no right or wrong. I prefer dot. Don't get me wrong, I believe every member should be aware of where the other members are on the field at all times. Sometimes durring practice and rehearsal the only way you know if you're changing your stepsize, or taking a weird path in the middle of the move, is seeing yourself completely out of at line or form. Also, if you ever want to teach visual at a corps as a tech in the future (or if you aren't getting any tech attention because you're just that good) its smart to watch the members around you and take note of their tendencies, find solutions to common mistakes, and see what they do to fix it themself. Heck, you might be making the same mistakes! Be aware of your surroundings, but don't use the people around you as a steadfast reference of where you should be on the field. I cringe when I see people at the point of an angle or diag turn around, hold their horn in the air, and move people into a line.

After reading my long post I don't think I said anything about marching 5 years with the corps... oh well. And actually I can count the number of quad ringed individuals on one finger, come to think of it....only he didn't own a single ring.

Indeed. It was actually three over the course of five years. Two years at UTA with Jayzer (first DCI sax I&E champ if I'm not mistaken), and the remaining at UH... The math adds up if you think about it. 17 years old means I must have marched about 5 years with the corps. If I had three consecutive "wins", that means I must of at least had a fourth for my age out. Now THERE's a rarity. Can count them on one hand... And technically I don't have three rings. Winning can be expensive if you're in it for the bling bling. Those things don't come cheep and i've got too many other things to pay for...like rent....and xbox live... The real brain teaser is guessing which Div. 3 corps I marched. The Texas heat should be enough of a clue...

Oh how you put the word ART on a pedestal... Its not ballet or oil on canvas or a great play... and even those have physical elements in them that require much muscle conditioning as well as mental. Drum corps is an art. I think if it wasn't on a football field it'd be a little more obvious. I thought the whole playing instruments part would be enough... its music and movement and movement within movement and form and shape and color. It tells a story. It expresses emotion, and inspires emotion. Its not a ball going in a hole, its not a race to the finishline, its not hitting the bullseye, and its not beating the crap out of the opponent until they lay motionless on the floor....though one could even find art in those practices as well. I really have trouble finding where the "sport" part of this activity comes in to play, other than being judged and winning points...

I left a corps I marched with for two years that didn't feed me well or let me sleep normal hours, and made me march every day for a month and a half of pre-tour/hell weeks/nine-to-nines in Texas heat with limited water breaks playing on two-valve G bugles, getting 19th in brass Div. 3 championships....i could go on... anyways, i left that corps, and all the close friends and family I made, to march a 'better' corps. Since it didn't take much to find a corps better than the one I came from had no trouble picking somewhere else to march. In fact, I chose to march anywhere my friends from school decided to audition so I could march with them. They chose the one corps that had the best chance of getting a ring - the corps I probly had the least chance of getting in - and as much as I wanted to, I couldn't really object. I mean, winning is cool n' all, but their corps of choice wasn't really known for their hornline (at the time) and I really had a few other corps I wanted to march...heck...i wanted to march any Div. 1 corps. and beggars can't be choosers so I was up for whatever. I told a lot of people I marched with my plan for the next summer. Most the members of my old drum corps were supportive of the whole thing. .... even though some of the staff always told us "its more important and fulfilling to 'bring up' a corps than to join an 'established' corps that you know will make finals..." I never understood that...i mean if it were that easy to make finals, how come our show still sucked and theirs was still awesome? Whatever made our staff sleep better at night I guess.... So my friends and I went to the audition, I made it, they didn't, and I was stuck in a corps that did things the complete opposite of pretty much any drum corps I had ever heard of, 17 years old and surrounded by college music majors, and needless to say I was scared. The sustained state of fear didn't last long. 10 minute water breaks, waking up at 10am or later on tour, the constant flow of music education, and countless other forms of awesomeness including a 3-valve Bb hornline that had more than 19 members, reminded me of how my decision (actually my friends' decision) to march there wasn't a bad one. Everything the corps did seemed to make sense. Its funny, a lot of those members have never marched anywhere else. They couldn't believe the stories I told them from my previous drum corps experience... and they would never appreciate marching there anywhere near as much as I did. Winning the first time was pretty cool. It’s weird; I had become the very person I was idolizing only a year before. Marching a summer there really took out the *magic* from my earlier perceptions of the corps. It’s a lot harder than it looks. Of course, like someone said before, after finals I took a bus to the airport, slept on the floor for a while, then flew home on a plane (next to some troopers member that insisted on talking about his WHOOOLE summer to me on the plane ride back) like everyone else. I went home to my first year of college, so there was a lot of changes going on in my life aside from winning a DCI championship (having a gold medal doesn't make freshman music ed classes any easier...). Some students followed drum corps, but since I didn't know anyone in that college it was nice. None of them knew I marched drum corps, so I didn't have to worry about super-fans or nay-sayers for a while. Once students started finding out that I marched a pretty good drum corps (I held off for a long as possible but the band director marched BD and won a ring so he didn't waste any time teasing me at marching band rehearsals) I’d like to think nothing changed. I made a close friend at band camp who found out I where I marched and told me how much he hated that corps.... that was weird...we're still close friends. Nay-Sayers and super-fans started to pop up. Mostly kids fresh out of high school like myself, but some older students too. Seriously, as soon as college started the only time I thought about my previous summer achievement was when people reminded me of it. From comments like "Yeah, you think you can do whatever you want cuz you won DCI..." to "So what’s it like.... ya know... winning n' stuff." It was entertaining I suppose. The second time was different. I had moved to a college with a heavy population of drum corps members from many different drum corps, most of which marched in the same corps as me or had marched there before me, and they were all mature and great and I loved hanging out with them and performing at football game half times with them. The marching band director was involved with my corps in a big way though, so he never let us get away with too much. Sure a lot of the people didn't think too highly of my corps, but we all had an equal amount of respect for each other (and we all knew how to party). The third time was pretty much the same. Seriously, after the first it makes you think of how silly it would be if you based your whole summer's success off of how you placed at finals. Just because a few people in green shirts gave you a number that’s supposed to represent your level of achievement and blah blah blah. It’s all BS. You still go home to the "real world" and get back in the daily grind. Drum corps is still one of those things where unless you marched or were involved you'll never know. Unfortunately many members march only one drum corps and don't know what it’s like in any other drum corps. They assume theirs is the best because that’s where they march and have this blind loyalty to their group because they spent 3 months on tour with them. Too many drum corps tell their members what they want out of the drum corps experience. I know a lot of people would say "Not true. These are adults out there who can make up their own mind about what they want." but drum corps has a very military background which, thanks to tradition, keeps members from expressing their feelings about bad situations to their leaders, and forces them to experience things they shouldn't. Yes, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, and no one has died on a drum corps field, but there are some things you should never have to experience while marching a summer of drum corps. Now i'm not saying I regret marching the first corps I joined. I learned a lot from that experience, and was very proud of them when they won the Div. 3 championship the summer after I left (I guess I was holding them back!). I'll never forget my summers with them, and still to this day spend much time with members I had marched with those years (all of which also left that corps to march other corps). Heh, it was pretty funny in finals retreat for my corps members to see me huddled around a group of people from about 6 or 7 other top drum corps. They all thought we went to school together or something. They were shocked to hear they all marched with me before. Oh, and like a previous poster wrote, i agree I'm much more interested and involved in the score and recap now than I ever was when I marched. I don't know what it is now, I just get all caught up in the competition!

When I started marching drum corps I found their guard very distracting, but for other reasons... Judging by the photos I saw from this season, they look just as "distracting" now as they did then. Very similar uniforms too.

If cadets dropped all that stuff they would be just another drum corps. They've created a relatively new image for themself, from a design standpoint, and they seem pretty dedicated and committed to it now. I would like to see them refine this new direction, but I definitely don't want to see them move backwards (creatively speaking).

I agree with some that the show has stale moments. I also agree with most that ITS JULY 3RD...and...its THE CAVA-FREAKIN'-LIERS. They know what they're doing. I think people are comparing Machine to Samurai because they both have the same dark tone and serious concept. The only difference - the 5/4 section of the machine show thats a lighter and more playful. Other than that you've got the same corps, same uniform, same amazing marching technique and innovative effective drill moves, same great balanced horn sounds and a relatively "darker" brass ensemble sound, with aggressive drum writing (not as aggressive as Machine). If you close your eyes and think hard enough during this show you might still have machines dancing in your head (heck, it was only 2 years ago). I don't know how you can see machine when the show has an (?apparently not-so-)obvious Japanese theme musically and visually, but I can see how you might relate them. As far as The Cavaliers using "Broad" concepts with their themes, and formulaic design...maybe you aren't watching AND listening hard enough... even the most complex and deep stories have a broad outline. In relation to machines, look at the Matrix... general theme = neo is a bad-###. crazy fights, awesome costumes, special effects, thematic music. Apparently theres over 10 DVDs worth of extra commentary and discussion between directors, composers, actors, philosophers, and more about the depth of the trilogy, but most viewers just enjoyed watching neo kick the poo out of everyone in the room. And yes, The Cavaliers make flashy shows with instant appeal with the first viewing, but have you really watched the progression of drill, listened to the flow of the music in relation to the "story" (even looking at the score - brass and percussion - can reveal some interesting things) and maybe really REALLY watched the guard? Like the cadets, The Cavaliers take advantage of every second they are allowed to fit as much as they can in to a short period of time, while making a great, innovative, entertaining, intellectually stimulating, WHOLE production. This year is nothing different in terms of raising the bar for quality production and execution. Right now it seems there is no doubt in anyones mind that this corps' members will execute and achieve whatever the design team puts in front of them, at a very high level. Lets see how "Asian" they can make it before we start calling it "Machine II: ASIMO's Revenge." Edit: Jan. to july, good call, NR

Truthfully, while listening to the show all I could thing about was the Warner Bros. Orchestra. The show music is like a Looney Toons cartoon! Bugs Bunny shampooing Elmer Fudd, and the snake charming electric clippers... ahhh, hillarious.

Seriously though, since 2000 I feel drum corps has only gotten better minus 2005 (that year was a big let-down for me). I do agree after 2000 people started watching drum corps differently. I mean shoot, 2000 was maybe the best year for drum corps ever. After experiencing the last 8 or so years of drum corps I can't watch most of those old shows the same way anymore. They sound so...bleh...and are kinda bland visually. Its just music and marching for music and marching sake. I can still jam to them in my car (jammed to 97 phantom not too long ago) but I guess I've been conditioned to react negatively to sub-par-quality drum corps products. I really do feel the par for quality drum corps product (execution and design) is raising every year, which is making it hard for show designers to keep up with new levels of demand and innovation and entertainment, while making a strong competitive show. Maybe thats why some of us feel like drum corps shows are getting "worse"...?

I have a dream... that I'm marching cadets show and don't know the drill or the music but I'm ok at guiding so I hang in there long enough to realize I have no pants and am missing a glove that fell on the field but for some reason I keep trying to pick it up in the middle of the show thats over and now I'm the only one left on the field after rehearsal and the busses left without me to the show but its in walking distance so i run there still in uniform but with a Cavaliers aussi now and I wake up in the gym in the middle of the night and everyone is asleep still....whew, it was just a dream...but theres girls on the other side of the gym and no one told me they allowed girls this year and a real hot one is in my sleeping bag but shes still wearing her drum harness and its getting "in the way" so i take it off only to discover its my corps director telling me to not to go right to go left so I do the rep again but the box drill was in a different direction this time and I forgot so I get hit in the face with a contra bell SMACK... ...whew...its 3:30 am I still got an hour and a half before before we get to the housing site. Whos shoe just fell on me?