txpride

Hey Piper. Got it. :-) it was late last night when I posted and I was tired and cranky. No worries. :-)

Oh and I almost forgot myself....(I can forget too). You can get all types of brass instruments and in some cases...bells that are solid sterling silver with no brass. You can get different types of plating that respond differently. Does it mean one is better than another. Heck no! I have about 6 different horns in about 5 different cases and I use ALL of them depending on the need. So why do you feel that the type of drum head you would use should be "one size fits all". In most cases, I myself prefer the sound of kevlar. But obvisouly even the Cavie caption head felt that there was a need for a change to mylar for part of their show this year. I think his expertise is reputable, no?

Hey Piper. I get it. This discussion was not meant to be an argument as to which was "better". Perhaps read on a little and detect that we are discussing why the caption head for Cavaliers chose mylar for part of this year's Cavalier show...and how it created some unique charactoristics that fit the music better.

Here's an interesting question to call for some speculation. Now that the Cavies have by association made these heads and that sound acceptable once again, do you think some high schools might start going back to them - if for no other reason than perhaps cost? I've always kind of thought that the Kevlar only works with high schools that have larger snarelines anyway. A high school with 3 snares tuned high and dry (absolutely no pun intended) sound a little thin and expose the errors more (speaking totally from an outdoor perspective). Mylar might actually be more practical for small to mid sized high school programs for the sake of cost as well as sound for a smaller and younger ensemble. Yes? No? Thoughts from percussion experts?

Yeah, I thought it would be a good thread and hopefully some decent (and civil) discussion. The article is great and the best part is that Mike appears to have no regrets over the decision. And I do hope that those ovetones mean that we can expect to hear that sound again in the future.

Yeah, I felt the same way - even though I'm not a drummer.

Ok, I found it. GREAT article! Interesting that the staff innitially had the same reservations as actucker up above - until they in fact tried it. He mentioned the way they blended particularly well with the mellos (which ironically our horn books are heavier with these days). He also mentioned how much better it fit the swing section due to the types of charactoristic issues I brought up. This leads me to wonder if we are making false assumtpions in thkinking that the dryer and more articulate sounds balance better in a dome. If you think about it (and ask any sound tech), the higher end frequency overpowers that of the mid range (which the mylar has) and especially indoors. When I listen to the dry articulate sounds of kevlar indoors (especially in a dome), it often just sounds like noise. Rim shots and diddles sound like clicking and bibis hitting bricks and the echo is over the top and sometimes downright annoying. We often blame the bass drums but honestly, I think it's the high end of the snares that overpower. Again, I love the mylar sound too...but maybe we have it backwards. Again, ask any sound tech what they would do with the high end in any arena concert and they will tell you that they try to eliminate as much of the high end as possible. This sounds backwards from how we often think of indoor drum tuning - which again makes me wonder if we've had it backwards all along (and Cavies may have just proved it). Just a thought.

Interesting you mention "education". There are also legal exceptions to media deemed as for "educaional purposes". Again, we're just throwing out the baby with the bathwater. How about we just use our brains? If it's TRULT copyrighted, absolutely! Censor it, PLEASE! But do your fricken homework first and make sure it's illegal. To just blindly ban all youtube material "unless linked from a corps website" is not only absurd and excessive, it's LAZY!

So again, I want to read that article. Where is it?

Epic use of sarcasm, Hammondbrass! :-) It plays to my point quite nicely. Thanks! I suppose what I would further suggest is that by just blindly banning anything drum corps related on youtube that's "not linked to an actual drum corps site" is like throwing out the baby with the bathwater. I fully agree with the censorship of copyrighted meterial. But not every private drum corps video on youtube is copyrighted material. Brass and drumline warm ups certainly are not.

Seriously though, there is NOTHING illegal about a hornline or drumline playing warm up routines. To ban those types of media is absurd!

Was just reading the youtube guideline threads. Really? Warm ups are even banned? You mean to tell me that a drumline playing 8 on a hand or a hornline playing a lips slur or chord progression is copyright infringement? I get the rest, but that one seems a little excessive - unless I'm reading it wrong. And by the way, even if a hornline uses a melody in their chord progression (space chords etc...) Technically by law it has to be a certain length to be considered copyright infringement. One quote of Close Encounters does not count. Can we re-think this and not be so OCD about it?

Cool, Fusebone! :)

Where is that article? I'd like to read it.

Hmmm...interesting. I would think the mylar sound would be more like a concert snare sound indoors - giving it a more true character in the context of the rest of the ensemble. I guess the difference is in the numbers within a snare line. Which brings me to another thought. What about smaller snare lines or perhaps splitting a snare line in half? I just really liked it and even if it's rare, I hope it's not the last time I ever hear that sound in a world class drum corps again.

I only went to one show this past year and I was so high up - I couldn't really tell by sight. Did I hear the old mylar heads at one point in the show? Or was it a different drum or something? Regardless of the answer, I really liked hearing that sound again. Now, I don't want to turn this into an old school verses new school debate (though I'm sure some people will). Instead, I want to look at this from the idea of creativity and taking more of an "anything goes" mindset - which appears to be what a lot of the modernists lean toward in the first place. To start with. Let me give you my opinion so that you know where I'm coming from. I LOVE.......BOTH......sounds...which made me smile all the more when Cavies appeared to give us a taste of both. One the one hand, I like the old mylar (less tighter) sound because it sounds like a real snare drum. 8-10 snares together on mylar's heads sound much like a concert snare in a symphony hall or on the drum kit at a jazz OR rock concert. On the other hand, I like the Kevlar sound - particularly during a snare break when the line is being featured in soli. So here is my question. Is it possible that the "new" kind of "new" could be the use of both (I.e., like Cavies). There are times when one may easily be more appropriate than the other. I for one would love to see more switching back and forth in shows. In the 80s on back, it was all mylar. Then that was considered old school when Kevlar came out. Now, is it possible to say that old school could become the use of only one and the new cutting edge could be the use of both. ALSO...one other twist I want to throw at you. Is it possible that Mylar might be more appropriate in a dome? More like a concert hall. These questions come from someone who is not a drummer. So please be easy on me. I just know what I like and when I like it is all. And I really loved how Cavies gave us a little of both sounds. Thoughts please...

Oh cool. Yeah, that's what I was really wondering. As young as he was (or appeared) I was mainly wondering if he got to experience any of the winning years or if he got out too soon. Wow. That's a great drum corps career. Start at age 12 and 5 years later rise all the way to 1st. Very cool.

Really? So did he continue marching after his glory year of air soloing or was 1980 his only year? LOL! Was he like 10? Judging from the picture...

I was just watching my 1980 DCI finals video for some history re-visiting and found myself caught back up into something that really interested me when I started getting interested in drum corps. That little kid who faked a soprano solo in the middle of Garfield Cadets 1980 show. I was always curious... how old was that kid that year and did he continue marching after that year? What was his story? At the time, that kid was inspiring for me as I was just a young buck myself who was just starting to get interested in corps. Anyone know much about that one?

Hahaha. You've already figured out where my blood pressure buttons are, huh? LOL! That's funny. :-) Yeah, you have a good point about moving downam only thing is, with the way things are right now, you almost need about 6 divisions (which is screwed in and of itself). A 140 -150 division, a 120 to 139 division, a 100-119 division, an 80-99 division, a 60 -79 division and a 59 and below division. By the way, I really do think that the division plan I just laid out is about the STUPIDEST idea ever. But that's how much inconsistency this 150 max has created in the activity. I haven't had a chance to do counts for 87 yet but I'm thinking that even if your earlier numbers are right on the momey, corps were still closer to the same size then than they are now. 114-128 is much closer than 124-150. Yes, I concur that there have always been plenty of corps under the max. But it is definitely worse now than it was before. Were all over the place now. Sigh! I guess its just the way it is, and the way its going to be.

Don't even get me started on that. Yes, I believe you have the option to march 150 if you choose. Very unfair when there are corps with less than 60 in Open Class. I thought we had a good thing going on with Div II (90 max) and Div III (60 max) (A-60 and A-90 previously). I don't understand for the life of me why we ever changed that. (I told you not to get me started)

Because there ARE corps who can't even come close to reaching the max number and thus, it isn't fair that 3-5 can (or at least could if they wanted to). I've said from the beginning that my issues with the 150 deal is that it is unfair. It has nothing to do with whether or not people cut from larger corps would go somewhere else or not, either. It's a matter of the advantage those upper level corps have. Impossible! Your corps would have been disqualified (unless you did it under the table...that's just plain dirty).

Hahahaha! All good (though funny). :-)

I have stated and even used the fact that 150 is not a requirement to even further my point. Here's how I look at it. You have no more than 3 corps with the full 150 in 2009. Lets hypoyhetically say that half of the under 150 corps marched their number due to injuries or missing their recruitment goals. The other half did so by choice. In either case, it raises the question...is 150 a good number to have as out max? Honestly, I lean MORE on the corps that chose NOT to march 150 as further amo for my point in asking that question. If staffs and directors aren't WANTING 150 members in their corps, then couple that with the fact that on the second year of the rule change we couldn't even find 5 corps at that number regardless of the reason...why not lower it at that point to a max that more corps are marching?

Yeah, I noticed it. I just don't know how to edit the title and I'm posting from my phone a lot which makes it hard to be accurate (esdpecially when I'm trying to type fast). Sorry.