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DrumcorpsmademeaTuba

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  • Your Drum Corps Experience
    Blue Stars Alternate Tuba 2012
  • Your Favorite Corps
    Blue Stars, Carolina Crown, Blue Devils, Cavaliers, Cadets, Madison Scouts, Troopers, Bluecoats, Crossmen, Glassmen
  • Your Favorite All Time Corps Performance (Any)
    We are the Future (Cadets 2000) Cabaret Voltaire (Blue Devils 2012)
  • Your Favorite Drum Corps Season
    2008/1995
  • Gender
    Male
  • Location
    West Chester, OH
  • Interests
    Getting ZUN's music on the ###### football field

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  1. My first show seen period was Cadets 2002 thanks again to high school band literally playing close to the same closer musically (you know the visual story of most high school bands.) and also played a slightly different rendition of BWBB. It's still one of my top shows, probably the fact that the context of when it was performed made me never consider some of the issues that were had with it. Them drums was good, too. First live show was the Fairfield Ohio show in 2009. I can't remember the exact line-up, but I believe Spirit (Then just Spirit) and Teal Sound were there, and the show was highlighted by Phantom Regiment, The Cavaliers, and the Blue Stars. I wish I could remember more about that day, but it was mind-blowing to go from having only seen through video to seeing the groups putting it out live for the audience. Definitely raised my adoration for the activity. Quick review, turns out it was Memphis Sound, not Teal, and that the Glassmen were there as well.
  2. Not to mention Seattle is turf too, which is a plus for the marching members, no matter how many times MLS fans (ie. probably just me.) complain about soccer not being played on grass.
  3. I'm not knocking the acoustics, I'm praising them. There's a reason the 12th man has such a big presence in Seattle. Fairly certain Kansas City has a reputation for big crowd noise too, and they've actually had Championships there before.
  4. I really think that CenturyLink is one of the best stadiums in the world and easily a top 2 or 3 in the states. I shudder to think of how those monstrous acoustics would couple with a full volume blast of drum corps. The only problem is the place is super booked having the Seahawks and Sounders play there, not to mention countless other events. Makes Lucas Oil look like a State Fair in that regard.
  5. I was actually just giving this a thought while I was out having a smoke. I really don't have an issue with drum corps allowing anything and everything at some point in the future, yes including woodwinds, but at the same time, I'd bemoan that it's just plain not drum corps by any stretch of the imagination anymore. So my question became, "Why isn't there an organization like DCI, or a branch of DCI that can put out marching groups with low to no rules limits that can perform as well as DCI's top groups can?" If I could have my way, the drum corps part of DCI would start returning to its roots and its strict rules, while still finding ways to innovate within that set, while this new, except not really, division of marching groups would be able to continue the trek that so many drum corps fans seem to be so worried about? I understand the world isn't rosy enough to make those possibilities very likely, but really, what's there to complain about if there are more great groups and sets of rules to govern them beyond monetary concerns?
  6. I absolutely despised the Crossmen's show after my first viewing this year. I really wanted to give the corps a lot of credit for whatever they did this year because I'm still upset about what happened at Semis a year ago as a touring member of that Blue Stars group that fell short of making Finals, and letting that affect my opinions of a drum corps was immature and I knew it. But when I saw the show for the first time, I felt betrayed in a way that I had attempted to give them credit. It didn't help that they were scoring better after that viewing than I would've thought they deserved, and that there are a few overtly vocal fans of theirs on this site. Then I saw Protest at the Theatercast of Prelims and I was very pleasantly surprised. All of the moments I had thought were just poorly designed and poorly executed had become much clearer and much more enjoyable. In fact, even though I'd been pulling for the Troopers over them all year long, after I saw their Prelims performance and put it against Troop's, I was baffled that the gap was as small as it was that night. (.15 I believe. I had them at least a point over! My judging goggles need some work...) It's hard to put into words how much my opinion improved of Protest, and I can only feel bad for my earlier feeling because it wasn't fair to anybody involved at all. I said already that this was the second year in a row I wished that 13 corps could have made Finals, but this year might be slightly different in that I believe I'd want yet another extra because the Crossmen ended up astounding me this year. Honorable mention goes to the Bluecoats and the Madison Scouts as well for similar but much, much less extreme opinion sways.
  7. Meanwhile you have the Madison Scouts who spent two years with an absurd 20 on their line, and the max norm nowadays is still 16, which is nearly twice as many as the max norm of the 70s and 80s. I don't seem to recall any groups sporting only 10 contras by their choice alone and not membership concerns.
  8. I feel like I couldn't disagree more :smile:/> The day drum corps membership is limited to less than 80 members is the day that I'll agree. Every viewing of a single show on a single day you'll take something new away from it, and I think that the more times that can happen down the line, the better.
  9. Friendly warning, I'm about to go full otaku http://en.wikipedia....e_Bamboo_Cutter This story on the field, please. /> There's about four interesting sources that could produce some interesting music on the marching field listed at the bottom, the Robert Moran opera, the contemporary ballet, the upcoming Studio Ghibli film based on it, and the Touhou Project series of independent games. (That series and its music I can get more on later as to why I think its a perfect fit for drum corps.) I've really thought about making my own individual production of it in the spirit of drum corps since I don't imagine many groups would be willing to take on the story in the way I'd like it presented, but I don't have the resources to quite make that happen. /> http://www.youtube.c...h?v=RLoyIZMF7XM Only thing I could find from Moran's opera, a string quartet excerpt. Sounds nice, maybe not the most memorable thing in the world. ] Snippet of the ballet, probably not the best place for music, but a good place to look for ideas on choreography. Title screen of Imperishable Night, a game loosely based on the story. Brings some interesting atmospheric quality and time signatures to it (11/4, 6/5+5/4, or 3/4+3/4+3/4+2/4, whichever way you might want to divi it up.) That same pattern is also simple enough to break up even further by changing how many of those 3/4 patterns are in, creating an even 8 beats or even 5 beats. Also has a remix later in the game that I think could create an interesting and fairly long drum break a la 160 bpm from Angel and Demons. Of course, all those examples failing, just about any music about the moon would be pretty relevant if you ask me, though personally I'm especially in love with the idea of seeing The New Moon in the Old Moon's Arms utilized for it, regardless of the comparisons I'm sure it would end up drawing to Phantom's 2010 program />
  10. Two words: The Factory And there was more than one in that show! /> I guess the first one was more a simple chorale and was part of pre-show anyway, but I still count it.
  11. You say that as if they hadn't done Phantom of the Opera the year before they won with it in 1989.
  12. Why, the same corps I auditioned for the last two years, of course :rolleyes:/> The Blue Stars, though this time I'm not planning on touring alternate again, or ending up having to get out early because of real life... Gotta complete this corps jacket.
  13. That's for certain. I met a person who ended up being DM for the Racine Scouts last year despite having no prior marching member experience with the corps. Inquiring from the corps directly will get you the best answer about what they do for each of their positions, and even if you're deadset against being a "true" marching member, many corps have non-DM conductors for backfield or even just for rehearsal purposes that they'll gladly let you along if you pay the tour fees. In fact, I'd imagine that's a great way to get experience if you plan to get ahead straight to the podium as soon as possible, especially since you get to experience tour along with it.
  14. In a nutshell, G hornlines have a degree of "out of control" that I always have issues justifying to myself, though I don't hate it. It's a different default to Bb, which is a bit more clear-cut and "under control," for lack of a better way to describe it. Essentially, speaking as a tuba player, it comes down to the difference between the BBb horns and the CC horns, and the Eb and F horns by extension. On the one hand, the lower group has an ability to fill up more of the room, or stadium in our case since this is drum corps we're talking about, but on the other hand, a lot of clarity is lost as you go lower, and lips are just plain less agile the lower they go when buzzing a note. It has lots of effects on that signature sound we like to hook on, and less appreciable effects on volume, but in the end, it can create quite a different product. Personally, I vouch for the Bb sound just because I find it to be a lot more flexible than the G sound, but obviously the most important factor is ensemble quality. I do always wonder though with the any key scenario how a C/G set-up, the same as the modern set-up but up a step, would sound, especially since the enigmatic Mellophones would be back up in G and coupled with an equally higher hornline around them. :music:/> It's been food for thought some days when I'm especially bored.
  15. Very. The art of judging the "lower" tier is considerably less refined than the art of judging the "top" tier. At least one group is the first number to be decided on after all, everybody else is based off of it in a way, and that can have some serious effects that don't peter out until you get to some of the last groups. I really should go to bed, I'm the last reply on each of the top three threads :shutup:/>
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