seinphan

Float to Spirit?!?

I saw on dci.org that Ralph is going back to BK as arranger. I LOVE his writing! I have a ton of respect for Jeff, he is a GREAT guy and fantastic teacher. Is he done with drum corps or is he moving somewhere else?

SCV 2004.... The most aggressive and emotional drumline I've ever seen live. Casella can write like nobody else. His writing plus Murray's approach?!? OMG. I truly hope to one day soon hear something that (IMO) comes close.

Mike Jackson? Is he still around. I must've missed it....

Jason will be a HUGE asset to the Crossmen, as will Chuck. Now maybe they can get some one with similar creds to fill out the visual, colorguard, percussion and program/staff coordinator positions.

You can't be serious. He writes some of the best percussion parts ever heard on a field. Along with Hardimon and Hannum, he is a MUSICIAN first and not a "drum jock" only. His writing didn't exactly fit the Cavaliers vibe but his parts are FAR from simple.

Pearl makes a superior product to begin with. However, in the industry, Pearl has a great reputation among it's roster of artists as being VERY open minded and easy to deal with and willing to listen to it's customers and make changes. As someone who has experience in the industry the above statement is simply untrue. And no, I did not work for Pearl. They have some hardware issues with tenors, but there is NO denying the sound.

The company has a contract with the corps. They also have a contract with some instructors. Ralph Hardimon, for example, is a Vic Firth, Sabian artist (among others) but the Troopers are an Innovative corps. They've been a Zildjian corps for a very long time. Sometimes an instructor can get the corps to switch, like Rich Viano did with Boston. They were a Zildjian corps since the early/mid 80's but they switched to Sabian with Viano. Other corps keep their contract with their company and let the instructor keep theirs like Ausdermore (ProMark) and Blue Knights (Vic Firth). Bret Kuhn is a Zildjian artist but the Colts are a Sabian corps. Casella remains a Pearl artist but Cavies are a Yamaha corps. Each corps is different and is handled differently. Paul very well could remain a Dynasty endorser (God only knows why he'd want to) and SCV remain a Pearl corps (which is hopefully the case).

He didn't play the instruments, Phantoms battery will still be up there next season. He, in fact, did NOT play the instruments. But he DID provide the product. Scott Johnson provided the same thing for BD when he came back. 91-93 were NOT the "glory years" for BD drumlines. Scott comes back in 94 and they have had a consistently great line ever since. Having talent only gets you so far. Talent with a sub par product will drag a group down QUICK. (Crossmen, anyone?) Rennick will be Rennick at SCV and won't try to be "Casella Lite" in his approach or writing, which has been a problem the last few years. I have always been a Casella/Gusseck fan and have great respect for the Rennick team. Good for you, SCV!

Congratulations on a job well done, Paul! I'm assuming this decision has been driven by family and I totally respect that! If that's not the case, I'd love to see PR with SCV if Casella doesn't want go back!

It's great to see Madison back! There are too many to choose from. Like someone else mentioned, they do have a file cabinets worth of stuff to do. If any one could get away with with a kick ###, full blown drum feature it would be Madison. It would be nice to see a drumline get more than 32 counts of "dance and ram." I'm all for progress, but the part of 72-93ish drum corps that I miss the most is the full length drum solo.

DCI without the top 7-8 corps would be like attending a drumcorp show with two botom 12 corps and 10 B class corps. Sure it's still entertaining but not at the same level. G7-8 could increase the length of shows and fully develop music and themes. Let's be honest their are only a few shows each year that are stacked with world class competition. San Antonio, Atlanta, Allentown and Worlds and a sprinkling of others. Most shows outside of those are over priced. I don't think the corps are ready to make that leap but that move isn't far away on the calendar This is an interesting point. QUESTION: Will the kids who want to march DRUM CORPS and not tour with "Hoppyland" flock to the BK, BAC, Madison's of the world? Will these groups get an influx up talent that might not have been there before?

Drum Corps is marching band already. AND, it's watering itself down so bad that you can't really tell the difference. As a teacher, I take students to DCI shows every year. 10-12 years ago the kids went and FREAKED out at what they saw. The past two years I saw yawns and had kids wanting to leave early. "It's no different than what we do..." was a common statement. I say this to make this point....... When all you had to deal with was a percussion section and brass, the designers HAD to be creative and were forced to think outside the box to come up with something new and exciting or to create the sound they wanted. With electronics there is very little creativity needed. You want a sound you find it in the library or sample it and hit a button. How cool was the 1991 SCV helicopter effect?!? That was incredibly effective! How lame would it be to see someone do a show with that sound needed and having a "poindexter" hold down the key on the synth that creates a helicopter rather than a group of kids CREATING a sound? Would that effect still be talked about today if it was a computer? Absolutely not! I absolutely love the activity AS IT WAS. I don't even mind the pit amplification. I'm all for progress and moving forward, but taking the easy way out by having sounds HANDED to you (electronics, woodwinds, bagpipes, etc) and not being forced to use your mind is simply dumbing down the activity.

Although I will say that "all days" was by far the hardest thing I've ever done. THAT was an ### kicker from start to stop, non-stop, 9am-midnight 7 days a week......

I was in a top 12 corps and didn't have a schedule that grueling. We got to the housing site and had plenty of sleep time (usually 6-7 hours AFTER the 4-5 hour bus ride/sleep time). On tour, we rehearsed (generally) noon-4 on show days, then eat/shower/load/leave. Unloading and warming up at a show isn't so draining. Tour is a lot of hard work, but it wasn't exhausting. Just my experience.....

1997 was a GREAT year, IMO. Blue Devils had a killer drumline. Cadets were awesome. SCV was extremely strong, one of my favorite shows ever. Crossmen knocked Cavies out of top 6. Glassmen started their late 90's climb that year. Blue Knights were very entertaining with a Ben Hur show that spawned a ton of High School rip offs. All rookie snare line. One of Magic's last finals appearances, Matt Savage's Bluecoats drumline..... Good year!

It seems very strange to include Crossmen in the discussion of who may or may not be in Semifinals. I can't even remember when they missed semi's and I've been involved with this activity since the 70's.

Your CORRECT, sir!!!

I think the fool's definition of "doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result" comes into play here. It could be music design (Guidry), arranging/orchestrating (Chambers), lack of REAL experience in some staff, or whatever....it's not working. Fred and Mark need to sit down at the end of the season, get emotions and friendships out of the way and make some "business" decisions. Get someone in there who REALLY understands drum corps to serve as program/staff coordinator, let them put a staff and show together then get out of their way.

Correct me if I'm wrong, please, but aren't their dues/fees the most expensive in all of DCI? One of my students marched there said the "Spring Training/All Days" fee combined with the dues was in the mid-high $3,000 range. If I'm on tour paying that much $$$, I'm looking at every other corps that pays significantly less and scoring significantly higher, and I'm gone the next year. My student is marching somewhere else this year. I wonder how many Crossmen alumni have jumped ship and marching somewhere else (somewhere else=another corps or Saturday night ) and paying less $$$? 1990's X-Men were great fun, they need to get it together. Drum wise, Bones used to be a "destination" corps that kids left their "starter" corps for. Now it's clearly the other way around. I think Guidry's arrangements could work if the staff wasn't having to teach it to primarily naive rookies that jump ship. My 2 cents......

Who's next to break through? Boston spent years ending their season on Friday night before becoming a consistent finalist. Blue Stars were competitive in the early DCI days, had success in Div 2/3 the came back to Div !/WC and are again a finalist. So, who is on the track with the right staff, patience, philosophy in place to crack the top 12 in the next couple of years and stay?

I too feel that Marty Hurley should've been in LONG ago, but someone who is overlooked for some odd reason is Scott Johnson. His resume clearly speaks for itself and there are some (deserving) members of the HOF whose resume isn't near what Scott's is.

I was at the show Jim was going to when the accident occurred. I was a little kid but I remember. Ya gotta wonder what might have been, you know? Float probably would've stayed in Atlanta with Ott. Spirit might have won a championship and Blue Devils drumline could have gone a different direction as well. Who knows?

We always called them the "Brass Clappers"

Would it be possible (if someone had the money) to start a corps to bring some old ones back? Could someone in Kansas start a corps and call them Sky Ryders and use the rainbow and bring back that corps (or start up in Tampa and call them Suncoast Sound?) Is there anything stopping someone from doing this? Just curious.....