AquaPatty

Here is a message today from George Hopkin's facebook (I'm guessing it will be also posted on the Cadets page later) Hello fans and drum corps show designers, HAVE FUN!!!!! As you know, The Cadets are bringing a brand-new production to the field in 2013: Both Sides Now. There has been a great deal of conjecture as to what exactly this is going to convey. Is it a Joni Mitchell tribute? Are The Cadets going to play more uniform games? Well, no and no. What WILL happen is that the program will live at different levels, but all communication will center upon the idea of one, two or more sides to the field. Some hints: · The field does not have to be split at the 50 · Where the split occurs can change · There are times, where both “sides” can be presented “now.” That said, I am looking for some music. You folks have more ideas than we will ever have. The last time I did thus we ended up with two tunes and the corps placed second. SO… here is the deal: If you give us a tune that we use in the show, I will give to you $500.00 worth of Cadets garb for the summer PLUS your choice of seats to any DCI show in the country. Just tell me where you want to go, and I will arrange two seats. Criteria? Well, it has to be in a form that will allow for us to relate that there are multiple ideas present, or that we can adapt. For example: · Percussion at one tempo and brass at another · A soloist vs. the entire ensemble · Two tunes playing in juxtaposition · Tempo or meter variations · Ballad vs. an up-tempo tune As for style of music, I am open here. We have a solid layout for about three minutes of “Trittico,” but I have also paid out six minutes from some rather interesting Broadway shows and motion pictures. Can they work together? Well, it depends on the through-line. So, this is it. And here is the deal on the deadline: I will accept video, audio or any kind of links until 12:01 a.m. on Monday, November 19. That's only a few days. After all, I have some ideas, but my bet is that you have some really good ones... and perhaps a stinker or two. :-) So, send them in. Please make sure your name and e-mail are attached, and please feel free to attach any explanations or concepts you might wish to offer. Thanks so much! Do a good job. I look forward to spending next Monday listening and reading a bevy of ideas!! All the best, Hop What do you guys think about this? I'm somewhere in between thinking this is genius and that it's disingenuous. I'm sure the $500 in Cadets gear sounds exciting right now, but I think the Cadets being able to take real credit down the line for whatever someone comes up with is a bit more valuable. It's certainly a decent trade-off. Does this foreshadow a more transparent future of drum corps where show concepts will be created by fan collaboration via social media?

Amanda Drinkwater writes the drill herself for Marcus. Klesch is the winds arranger and Thom Hannum is the battery arranger, not sure who does the pit book.

Anyone else getting the feeling that Cavaliers' program might be entitled Impact? In this letter from Adolph DeGrauwe (http://www.cavaliers.org/cgi-bin/mailer.pl?cmd=preview&id=117), the only two words bolded are IMPACT and XtraordinarY...

So Phantom doing Turandot for the 2012 got me thinking - I understand that amplified voice in itself has been used several times, yowza yowza yowza, but has anyone ever attempted to do classical singing? I'm sure that it'd also have to be amplified, but it's just a thought to put out there. I doubt Phantom would be the group to do it with its more traditional roots and approach to show design, but I think it'd certainly be an interesting realm to explore.

I doubt he has an issue with Rennick. He has a degree from UNT.

Blue Devils and Madison Scouts also have open auditions as far as I know.

I can't disagree anymore with your post. First off, I think both Blue Devils 2010 and Bluecoats 2010 would not be anything close to the same without their seamless electronic integration. Second, speak for yourself, the fact that DCI has decided to progress along the same lines as WGI in the natural progression of the art makes me appreciate it much more than I previously did (and therefore become a bigger fan). It's also led me and will continue leading me to audition camps, most likely at groups that are more susceptible to good electronic integration. Why? Because I enjoy their products more than others. Granted, I understand the balancing problems, but I think that the new palette of colors that groups are exploring is worth the risk. To the topic creator: Thank you for posting this. Good luck with the upcoming battle that you will fight.

Did you not do the same with Cavies and losing visual yesterday?

I want BD to win, but I really don't think anyone will be taking it from Cavies this year.

Whoa whoa whoa. I never said I preferred what SCV sounded like compared to other groups, trust me. I completely agree with you that all of those groups sound absolutely amazing! I would just take conceptual sound first over loudness with a bad sound. Obviously, groups like Carolina Crown are achieving a great sound along with volume, and the scores do reflect that. I just wanted to try to clarify why they aren't putting out much volume; it isn't in their agenda.

The brass staff is composed of people almost exclusively from Cavies back in the early 2000's. They value conceptual sounds over volume, which I personally prefer.

I absolutely love what BD is doing. Not only does the brass sound out of this world, but you can't tell me that certain shows have more clarity of intent. I couldn't tell where the heck I was supposed to look or what I was supposed to listen to half the time for Cavies. It was just a big cluster of bad transitions (granted, they're still marching and playing their butts off). The percussion writing is also completely different than what anyone else is doing - for example, the 2 against 3 section in the beginning of Little Prayer is amazing. No other groups attempt and succeed with something that complicated front-to-back. It's unreal.

I firmly believe that BD is the most deserving of this award this year. After them, Crown. If the Cavies even get close to it, I'll probably lose faith in drum corps judging; the sounds they're producing just aren't fundamentally good sounds. The low brass sounds so ridiculously harsh it's unreal. I know they're playing the heck out of their parts, but tone goes a long way, and it sure isn't for them now that the brass staff has completely changed.

For those who missed the captions, I at least wrote down percussion and kind of remember brass. Perc: Blue Devils - 14.95 SCV - 14.7 Cavies - 14.6 Bloo - 14.550 Crown - 14.5 Cadets - 13.95 Phantom - 13.85 Blue Stars - 13.4 Brass: Crown - 15.1 (only score I'm really sure of) Cavies Phantom BD Cadets Bloo Blue Stars SCV Keep in mind these are averages, so the actual scores from both shows will be different.

Just talked to someone on Cavies staff at Mcdonalds near the Austin show and he had no clue about leaked scores. I would say this debunks the apparent rankings and scores for Cavies and Bluecoats.

BD - In a class of their own muscally. Lots of dirt, but they were by far the most outstanding in my opinion. Visual was helped a lot by the props, definitely cool looking. Those horns can sure play, though. The battery was dirty but I love the composition, so I can't wait to hear what it sounds like when it cleans up. The poor guard had the worst wind out of everyone who performed, so I don't want to say much about them.

Crown - Corny, very corny. I enjoyed the entire show, but there was a bit too much cheese for me. Horn line had a beautiful sound as usual, didn't enjoy the guard much other than good soloists. Percussion is vastly better than last year - best drum line sound of the night. They somehow managed to surprise me while making me feel completely at home. Can't wait to see how it gets better. Bloo - Wow, disappointing. It seems like they took last year and trashed every part of it that brought them to success. Opening part was very interesting and good, but it went downhill from there. Guard uniforms are atrocious. They're going for some sort of intellectual thing, but they lost me completely. Contra feature sounded better at rehearsal. (Keep in mind Bloo was by far my favorite last year - I want to like them more than everyone else!) Cavies - Out there is a good way to describe this show. Guard members are on stilts for the majority of the show and I just didn't quite get it. The tenor upside down thing was very effective, but I can't bring myself to enjoy their overall performance as much as other groups. Guard was about what I expected. Percussion was typical cavies percussion with dirt, especially from the visual stuff. Brass playing was ok, but it's clear they're completely gone from the beautiful ensemble sound of the early 2000's. Now blue devils!

Blue Stars - much better than expected!! The props work very well and are effective. Overall, an easy show with some nice brass sounds and good percussion features (the entire show?) Not a big fan of the guard integration and overall visual package. SCV - Not a big fan. Percussion was very prominent and it made them lose effect in my opinion because of a much weaker hornline. They aren't playing much, and when you hear it, it doesn't sound great. Overall a much less effective show than expected - percussion is great though. Melodic perc a bit less on their A-game than expected. Phantom - WOW! They blew me away! Brass was miles better than the 2 groups in front. Guard was VERY effective and impressive. Percussion is the weakest point, but it's nothing to be ashamed of. Very emotional show with a lot of great visual moments! Much cleaner than 2 groups before. Cadets - This show is so much fun. I can't think of a better way to describe it. Brass is a bit more impressive than Phantom's - more technical playing in upper brass like you'd expect and less impressive lows, but I'd put them above Phantom for how well it was executed with the difficulty of the show. Everything is very effective - GE central. The uniforms are the source of effect throughout the entire show. Impressive characterization with performers - much more comparable to what Phantom has done in previous years than anything (and not comparable to what little effect SCV's characterization had). Great package, especially the ballad with the contrast between th Angels and demons. Can't wait to see the demon ending!

Just a bit of an update from the Bluecoats: They've had a late start today because one of the busses broke down on the way to Godley High School, so a good portion of the corps is still stuck on a bus on the road. Hopefully it doesn't affect their performance later tonight.

1 Blue Devils 2 Cadets 3 Crown 4 Cavaliers 5 Bluecoats 6 Phantom 7 SCV 8 Madison 9 Blue Stars 10 Blue Knights 11 Boston 12 Glassmen/Academy/Colts (hoping Academy)