FHdork

<I love how you picked "tubas," tx. ;) > You're welcome...I picked them because, usually a drill designer will say, 'hmmm...big ugly horns that no one can see around...I'll put them in the back, where they won't bother anyone'. And, VOILA - balance problems, all season long. Only the Bluecoats seemed to know how to stage tubas. And I don't think the Bluecoats drill people made the jump to SCV. Perhaps the new brass staff will be able to wield some clout and get the - in my opinion - most important section of the brass staged well. Then, when they turn the knobs to 11 on the pit, and all the new toys, people will still be able to hear the music.

<"WITHOUT THE NEED FOR ACCOUSTIC OR ELECTRIC AMPLIFICATION" (THEIR words....not mine).> Please...this thing...like all things in the pit...WILL be amplified. Someone is going to say, 'oh, but our new aloeveraphony can't be heard over the tubas...punch that up a smidge...' - and before long, the smidge has turned into an ear splitting squeal, and the tubas are lost. Let's hope that does not happen...and that I'm just having a dark moment here...

<They have to have THE show.> Everyone else has nailed it - and the quote sums up my view...though I'm just a fan, and not any kind of staff type person. Last year's Cadets show was the one that leapt off the field as the most creative and engaging work of art among the top 4 or so. I was a big fan of Crown's show last year...but there were draggy moments...and I don't mean tempo problems. I felt every top 4 show but Cadets had those moments where it seemed the designers were doing musical/visual/guard version of scatter drill.

Really...laserlemon...you should just embrace your hater status. It's ok - we may bash you for it, but it is your right. We all have the right to hate. So just come out...you'll feel much better! Life's too short to live someone else's life (thanks Steve Jobs...I stole your line...)

<because the entire Blue Devils organization does not strike me as having an ounce of class... > Well...I certainly hope that avatar picture you have is NOT you, and that you're not speaking as a member/veteran of the Bluecoats... I can easily believe you've run into classless moments with the Blue Devils, or classless members of the Blue Devils...just as I can easily believe that members of other corps have their classless moments. They are, after all, young. But to make such a blanket statement as you have....that is...well, hate.

<1) Take my daughter/future Blue Knight to her first show!!> Just remember...your daughter will have a lot to say about marching...or not...when the time comes! I speak from experience...sadly - <Whatever Wozniak has been doing with the hornline is working. > Ummm...there is 'another' guy there, too...I do believe HE (no religious reference...only emphasis) will have a great deal to do with their sound, style, and resurgence...along with George -

I can imagine a great brass line doing it. But I'm finding it hard to imagine any battery percussion there...or drill...or synthesizer...or the other synthesizer...or the 9 marimbas...or the 4 xylophones...or the gong...or the guy/gal playing all the doolydads that keep on ringing long after the phrase is over.

<Schubert's Unfinished Symphony.> I've thought many pieces drum corps' have played were poor choices, and been pleasantly surprised to be wrong. But the Schubert is, to me, such a string and woodwind piece...a work so completely of its orchestration, that it would seem (to me) to be a very poor choice for drum corps -

<Out of curiosity, when's the last time you heard a corps play anything in B or E major? > Ah...a challenge - Bruckner...HEY BRUCKNER! We need you down here...And like Batman, when we need help that only Bruckner can provide, we have to shine to Bruckner light symbol in the sky, and curiously, it looks JUST LIKE the moon. Of course, this makes perfect sense, because Bruckner is an old bald white dude... So - Bruckner - your symbol has been shone - and so the poor denizens of DCP City need to know: In what OTHER keys have corps played? Any B or E major out there? I believe the implication of the young upstart fresh out of the two year theory block is that Crown (and all drum corps) only play in the easy keys. Bring down the truth-o-meter, o diviner of harmonic truth!

To Xtreme0204 - you posted Shane sings 4 octaves...yeah - let's hear it for fans of Shane! Shane reminds me of some drum corps I've heard...but decorum dictates I not mention any names...

<"The Iron Stable: The Past is the Future" > Where is the 300 word paragraph full of adjectives, though saying nothing?

Korngold was a great composer...his output could get explored much more... Erich Wolfgang Korngold - if you don't know his music...find it - totally worth the listen!

DCI age-out...a LOOOOOOOONG time ago...

<Many many babies. This year may quiet many fans holding to old school drum corps. > Sounds like code for 'we're going whole hog...with a 15 synthesizer pit!' - and s/he's predicting we'll love it...

Said it many times...and here again... Blue Devils, 1991 - a beast of a horn line -

<This is the single most fiercely logical post I've ever seen on DCP. Good show.> I'm with you...while DCP is not (necessarily...) a competition... Bruckner8 wins... As I've read through this argument over the last week, I imagined the episode on which the Edge appears. I might go something like this: "Well folks, next up we have a real treat...these folks - and there are about 20 of them - hail from the world of marching band! Please welcome...THE EDGE' (cue golf clap...) Judge #1 (not Stern) - "Hi! Welcome to the America's Got Talent' - what are you going to do for us today?!" (Edge rep...) - Well, we're going to play 'Stella by Starlight', that great jazz standard...but like you've never heard it before!' "OK - here we go folks...please welcome...THE EDGE" (begin unknown music in complex, if excellent, arrangement...cameras pan to judges, with each one getting a good 5 seconds of face time. One smiles only with the mouth...eyes remain neutral. Another looks up at the ceiling...and Howard Stern looks like someone is attempting to feed him a rejected Fear Factor entree. In the 65 seconds of performance, the Edge get 45 seconds of camera time...) After performance, the host comes back on...'Wow...give it up folks for THE EDGE!' (cue better applause...more enthusiastic...because, of course, The Edge was 1000% better than the audience thought it was going to be...) Stern gets out in front of everyone...'You...you people...really? Tell me, what future do you see for this...this show you've got? Vegas? People in Vegas would ignore Sinatra to get back to the video poker machine...I mean, really! Corporate gigs? Eh...maybe...but then, you've got too many of those, what, tubas...up there - and trumpetey things...Corporations want drums, man...DRUMS! Not bando geek crap. You want my advice? Scrap the scrap metal, and just bang on some cans. Hey...that's a great idea for a show - and I THOUGHT OF IT! Bang on a can...I like it - hey...nebbish off stage! Call my agent and have him trademark that idea...it's mine and I thought of it!' Judge #2 - "Hey - you folks are REALLY GOOD! Really...I like it...I totally...like...liked you and all!" Judge #3 (British accent...because...well, it's required...) = "Nice work you blokes...and blokettes...I dug it - but...well, I just don't know..." Sadly - this is what I fear they're in for. Will they do well? As Bruckner says...excellence should be the goal. But as we all know (and Bruckner does, too) - there is always room for more excellence. So no matter how well they do, whether they're dropped right off or make it to the finals, they'll be striving to get better. Would that everyone in their own world of work and personal life did the same...

<Wow, DCP is testy these days. > Aren't we always? But back to topic...Boo is right...corps is a great way to morph your body from where it is to where you (and the corps) want it to be. And a corps in the 13-24 placement positions are the perfect place to hone your chops...and your body. Decide who you like, rank them, and begin contacting. It's that simple -

Good advice, as usual, from good old Anton (Bruckner...8...double 'O' 8...)

This is getting VERY funny...

No need for my darkness...and I would have plenty. You guys are doing great!

<That instead they'll hear the compressed and constrained subset of the super sound we know? Or that the small screens two dimensions won't reveal the depth of drill or guard? Or ...> This will always present a huge impediment to a broad fan base of support -

You guys...geez...

I was not even AWARE of DCP in 2002...but it's funny how NOTHING has changed in 10 years...we (DCP posters...) still have the same positions, arguments, and biases... funny - oh,my choice? It wasn't offered...but I would vote for 1991 BD -

I cannot imagine a drum corps show where poor performance will be richly rewarded because of the outstanding design as there will always be a fundamental lack of design clarity in poor performance. But a great performance of a mediocre or poorly designed show can...and should...still find a modicum of points and rewards on any set of sheets.

Brasso - I'm totally on board with your right to not like the music. I posted the video...and directed folks to the comments...because much of the commentary was, in my opinion, not a criticism of the 'music', but (once again, my opinion) an unfair critique of the playing, which I found well done. If you believe they played badly, I would simply disagree with you, wondering what you consider good playing if the example on the video does not qualify. Is it the Chicago Symphony brass? No. It's firmly rooted in the jazz idiom...one that accepts a more brash tone...more edge...than the orchestral style. I see 'hate' as the thing that colors our judgement to the point that we criticize unfairly...and I in no way feel you did that. But the discussion of what constitutes hate is interesting...as evidenced by the scorching heat associated with this topic...