lowbrasschick

For an American-themed show, the song Hymn to the Fallen would be a great ballad. It's from the end of Saving Private Ryan, but I'm not sure of the composer.

I agree with this. I loved their show this year (of course, I'm a big fan of Mozart in general), and Surf really made it their own. Especially for just having a part-time tour, and being the rookies in World Class, I think they did quite well, and maybe even deserved to be a few spots higher. Since you're all talking about Crossmen...I liked their show this year too. I've never seen their jazzy shows that you're all talking about, but this year was cool. I liked the darker tone it had, in comparison to most other shows, and the baritone duet in the ballad was gorgeous.

I'm fairly new to the drum corps world, but this is my opinion: 1. Why doesn't anyone realize that if they stop griping about the bad things, and stop and think about it, things aren't really that bad. Attendence at the two shows I was at was standing-room only (and I got there an hour early), and though I didn't go to finals, I heard it was still packed. 2. Any year, you're not going to like every show. Some years are worse than others, but that doesn't mean drum corps is dying. 3. Electronics was a new thing this year; they're going to experiment with it. As with anything new, not every show is going to turn out well. Give it a few years, then complain. 4. It seems like everybody here is some sort of alumni complaining that drum corps has changed since the 70s or 80s or whenever. Well...it's been 30 years, what do you expect? Stop trying to make drum corps what it used to be, and focus on getting the most out of what it IS.