Jeremy Emerson

Wow, Cadets look really vibrant. I absolutely love the new Bluecoats look, too.

It's the best edition of the Cadets since 2000. The show is a little weird, but from member to member, section to section, this level of just plain awesomeness hasn't been seen from them in a while. It's an absolutely _amazing_ performance. Liquid.

About Capital Regiment's ending lacking something - They haven't put on the closer yet. I've heard it, and it's going to be a classic Bocook/Sacktig style ending to the show. They just hadn't put drill to it yet -- The jam session is not the end.

Play something that really brigns out YOUR strengths. If you can get a really full sound, and/or you can work your vibrato pretty well... look into a lyrical style piece. Ask your band director or private instructor... or somebody who's marched before. Ask around! There's somethig out there you can sound good on.

Bump.

Cellophone?! Ha, ha. Funny. Is it cello like the instrument ("ch" sound) or cell like cell phone?

Here is my first review for a drum corps show ever. I hope you enjoy reading it half as much as I enjoyed remembering it! First off, I must say the weather conditions were terrific for a night of drum corps. There was a great deal of energy in the air to begin with, because everybody was going to see their idols, the top eight drum corps in the world. The spectacular weather just added to it. It was cooler than I remember it being last year, which was a major plus, and a stress reliever. The show venue was the stadium at Middle Tennessee State University, as always. I really must applaud this stadium, as it accomodates drum corps fans quite well. The seats are not stadium chairs, as they are in say, Louisville, and I appreciate that a lot. When I was in Louisville, I found myself charged with static electricity every time I wanted to stand up, and I would shock the people beside me if a so much as grazed their arms when sitting back down. So, the regular stadium benches were welcome by me. Also, as crowded as the place was, getting from point A to B was always quick and uncomplicated. There were never big masses of people that I had to fight my way through, except of course at souvie booths, so that enhanced the experience that much more. Well, on to the music! I was not able to attend the clinic by Santa Clara Vanguard, which was dissapointing. I had not anticipated the traffic problems I would have to face in Tennessee. Because of numerous setbacks, I didn't arrive at MTSU until the clinic had already ended. It was a let down, but I still got to experience something similar to a clinic... WARMUPS! I had roughly an hour before the show started, so I walked around campus looking for sections of corps to watch warm up. I am a trumpet player, so I naturally was looking for horn lines, but nobody can resist the amazing presence of a great corps drum line! After wandering around for only a minute or two, I found myself in front of Boston's drum line, along with a crowd of probably twenty or more starving drum corps fanatics like myself. They were merely playing 8s over and over again, getting it tighter as they went, but I always love just checking out the snare players' faces. The whole "looking straight ahead" deal is so sharp, especially when you're really, really great to begin with! Truthfully, Boston doesn't have the most terrific drum line in the world, and it did show, but the experience of checking them out was a great experience in itself. This was only my second show of the season, and I was just flat out hungry for the sights and sounds of drum corps! After I was finished watching the drum line warm up, I decided to coninue looking for some BRASS power. I found what was apparently the only brass section that was warming up at that time: Bluecoats. What attracted me there was the amazingly warm and in tune sound of them play quarter notes on F concert. It was great to finally hear music that was good and in tune (which most of you know is not achieved in music outside the professional or at least GOOD college level). I followed the pure sounds and found myself amidst another crowd of people lounging around checking out the horn line. After some lip flexibility work, they kicked in what's almost always my favorite part of brass warmups! Tuning chorales and chord progressions! Bluecoats have some great chords this year! They are really heavenly sounding, almost like the sound you would picture yourself having in your head while falling asleep in your happiest childhood memory. It was lush and soft... powerful and almost subtle... You get the picture. It was really cool and great to hear for the first time in a while. I could've stood in front of any hornline there for hours just listening to them practice. However, at that point, I didn't have hours! I had forty five minutes! I saw Vanguard on their way to change into uniforms, but of course, I didn't have time to wait for them to begin their warmup and also see every show, and besides, I really wanted to see the Cadets warm up, since they are my favorite corps. After I figured out that SCV wouldn't begin warming up for quite a while, I set out to find some more hornlines. On my way to another parking lot, I spotted Brad Deason, executive director of Eklipse Performance Groups, the organization that governs the Eklipse indoor drumline, the winterguard, and the brand new drum corps (all three, VERY successful organizations). If I may take a moment out of this review to say something on a more personal level, Brad Deason is a really great person. He was looking for Vanguard because a former Eklipse Winterguard student of his was in the corps. He was there to give her some money. I thought that that was so thoughtful of him to sacrifice for a former student of his. It's just a testament of how great the people in drum corps can be, I suppose. While talking with Brad, I asked if he'd seen the Cadets hornline and he responded by telling me that they probably weren't even there yet, but they'd arrive around the time the show started. I didn't want to miss the show, so, alas, I decided to miss the Cadets warmups in favor of seeing a greater amount of corps. That decision ended up to be a pretty great one, as every corps in participation tonight was greatly entertaining! I left Brad in good spirits and proceeded to enter the stadium. On the way to my seats, I saw several members of the Eklipse drum corps, which was neat, because I hadn't seen them in over a month. It was quite hot around the merchandise booths and tables, with all the people standing around. Perhaps they should be spread out a little bit more next time! The DCI table was totally swamped. I stopped by and purchased the 1998 Legacy DVD, something I'd been putting off for months, and moved on. 1998 Legacy Collection DVD. Check. Anyway, I got something to drink, and headed for my seat. The view was terrific and was the best view I'd personally ever had at a drum corps show. My seat was almost on the 40, side 1, up on the second level. It wasn't the best place for interpreting drill, but I caught a GREAT deal of sound there from every corps, and it was high enough so that I could see what was happening in the drill, it just wasn't crystal clear "high cam view" on the Championship DVDs. There was great anticipation in the air, as I mentioned earlier. I was excited about seeing how the corps at Louisville in attendance at Murfreesboro had improved and changed, and was also excited about checking out some of the corps I'd not yet seen this year like Boston and Blue Devils. I was especially excited to hear Fanfare and Allegro by the Cadets, which I'd had in my head ALL the way down there (roughly three hours). Apparently, the show announcer was Brandt Crocker, because it sounded just like him. I didn't catch the name in the announcements though, sooo, perhaps not. anticipation for the big, huge, powerful sounds and high powered drill of top-level drum corps was swelling. It'd been over a month since the Louisville show and I was dying for some more action! The Bluecoats came out. It was time to begin. BLUECOATS The Bluecoats have an interesting program concept this year. Capture and Escape. While I don't think the majority of the music fits the concept all that well, the visual aspect was designed so that it wasn't obvious ( at least not in a grade school way) that capture and escape were occurring, but if you looked and saw, you could catch on. I appreciated the show pretty well. The horns have mostly music of last year's style. It's jazzy, but not BD jazzy. Funky... but not Abe Laboriel Basics of Funk Bass funky... They have a groove/jam section that is very much like last year's. Personally, Bluecoats have never had music that catered to my taste, so while I appreciated the great sounds of the hornline both on the field and off the field during warmups, I had a hard time actually getting into the show music. One of the big things they've got going on this year, even more than last year, I think, is visual GE. They have tons of cool non-drill moves, but plenty of high speed drill to go with it. The guard sometimes has work with big shiny poles, a la Star 93. They use them to "capture" different things by surrounding them, not the least of which is a brass soloist at one point. It's a very nice visual program, and is very demanding. Some of the BIG GE moves need some cleaning, but I'm not nit-picking too much... The demands on the individual members are high. Their drill and other moves are just about as difficult as anybody's, and they're going to round out the bottom half the top 12 very nicely as far as pollished, hard work goes. I do wonder if they'll get it as clean as I'd like it by Orlando, but at any rate, it's pretty entertaining stuff. I'd dare to call it the most ambitious Bluecoats visual program not just in several years, but ever. BOSTON CRUSADERS It had been almost a year since I'd seen Boston. I saw them at finals last year, and while I wasn't bugged by the show they did last year, it really wasn't all that great in my opinion, either. It was very much one of those umm... art (?) shows? I mean, come on... banners, pretty, "touching" music. It really didn't do it for me, and when put up against the other patriotic show, the Cadets', I found this one to be less musically integritive (not that Boogie is wind ensemble material, but I think you know what I mean). In 2002, the Cadets had Bernstein (!!) and Boston had... quotes on banners. However, I'd heard some hype on this show, and was ready to hear it the moment I read their program description in the Winter. As most of you are aware, the program is very much a sequel to their 2000 production, Red. In fact, there are several visual and musical moments that clearly reference the show's predecessor. The opening set is similar to Red's. The opening number actually IS Red's. It's an arrangement of Bolero that is very wild, and in my opinion, much better than the 2000 version. They don't spend as much time this year setting up the first big musical impact. They just let you have it. And boy is it ever wild. There are plenty of other musical impacts that are in the show, like the subtle keyboard reference to the 2000 ballad, Time to Say Goodbye. However, I know you're all ready to hear about Malaguena! Well... it's weird... because (and maybe my ears were tricking me) part of the tune is the second number, and part of the tune is the last number... The hornline explodes at the climax, and is, in my opinion, out of control. They're loud and entertaining, but it's simply not refined enough for my tastes. Let me give you an example. The Cavaliers this year are just about as loud as anybody (I think BD is loudest), yet they probably have the best overall sound of any corps, ever. I also realize that Malaguena is one of those tunes where you have to just let loose and blow fire out of your horn, but the Cadets do, and in my opninon, sound noticeably better than Boston doing it. It's kind of the way Blue Knights did Rocky Point Holiday in 1996. It was the tune, and you could recognize it, but so many of the things that made it cool in the 80s were just plain missing, or they suffered from lackluster arrangement. It's a bit late in the season to be talking about this, but if the hornline were under more control, especially the high brass, I'd appreciate the craziness a little bit more. On the visual side of things, this group definately has the most insane drill of the corps that will likely make up the 6-12 range. The first few moves of the show are as in your face and aggressive as many other shows' closing drill. It's pretty crazy, with members running almost non stop, very fast. It's great! Defiantely worthy of a standing ovation. And I gave them one at the end. Boston is definately a crowd favorite. They recieved more response than the Cavaliers (for instance), by far. A very entertaining show, and designed well enough to place in finals, beating several corps doing it. MADISON SCOUTS This was my second viewing of the Scouts this year, and boy have they improved. They weren't bad at Louisville, but the show is REALLY working now. I'm happy to have been able to witness it. Let me go ahead and get some of the bad stuff out of the way. First, pitch is an issue sometimes with this corps. An obvious (but not necessarilly correct) assumption would be that they are still in G, and it is harder to tune G bugles and all of that... perhaps that is the issue, or perhaps it is something else. No matter. They still had some excellent musical moments, and a good deal of the show is just cool to listen to. Another issue is the sop group. The high note guys, one in particular, didn't have their chops up in Murfreesboro. The guy just couldn't make it up to where he needed to be. I was disapointed, and it did kind of kill the musical impact, but, knowing Madison (and really, every division I corps), it was probably just a bad night and not lack of member talent. Visually, as with all the corps of the night, this show's drill is a step up from last year. They have demanding stuff just like everybody else, but it's not quite as demanding as I'd like it to be. However, it does work, and there are some good visual GE moments, and it's very clean for the most part. Good stuff happens in the drill, it's just that the members don't have to absolutely floor it to get it done. It is well designed and eye catching, just not exactly as insane as many of the other corps in attendance tonight. For those of you who can't see or have not spotted the fleur de lis, surely you must've been in lower seats than I was. There is a long standstill portion of the show (perhaps in the ballad, I don't remember) where their formation is the famous and loved corps logo. I'm quite positive that Madison will be perform on Saturday night in Florida. Where will they place? I don't know... 10th? 9th? The point is that they're very good. Much better than last year (especially guard). In fact, the 2003 Madison show is one of my favorites from them ever. SANTA CLARA VANGUARD I have been anticipating this show (as always) since the moment I read its program description their website. Unfortunately the show is very hard (thus dirty drill) and not exactly fan friendly. Don't get me wrong... this is sometimes just how it is with me and Vanguard. It took me a long time to get into all the stuff they did in 2000 musically, but when I look back on it, that show is likely in my top five favorites of all time. It's one of those shows where you just have to say, "I wish I marched there that year!" Also, this time last year, I didn't appreciate their show at all, other than how good their hornline was. Now, it is one of the most watched shows on my DVDs. So, perhaps the same happy ending lies within this show? Visually, the show is very Myron Rosander. The drill is all typical recent SCV drill, with a small dose of innovation and a heavy dose of individual demand. Drill with SCV is funny. The errors that you see (rotating straight lines, for instance) look exactly the same every year. I love Rosander's style, and perhaps it's just the members' workload, but they need to figure something out either about writing drill, teaching it, or perhaps both. I would go as far as to say the Cavaliers' drill is harder, and obviously much cleaner than SCV's. I'm not sure why this is exactly... it is all my opinion, sooo... Do what you will with it. As a general disclaimer, yes, I LOVE Vanguard. They're consistently one of my favorite corps after the dust settles, and I love the style they portray. It's just hard for me to get into anything they do (besides drill) until I'm "conditioned" to like what's going on in the music. So, what can I say... they left me pretty flat. We'll see how they turn out in the future. The drill, as mentioned before, looks like Vanguard's drill has for the past several years. The same ideas and visual style occur quite often, which is cool, because I really like Myron Rosander's stuff. There are a few neat ideas that come in to reference the "Pathways" theme of the show, and I can get into that. Really, though (and perhaps it's just because I've only seen them once) nothing just reaches out and grabs me like in the drill. It's all very nice, but where is this year's move that works as well as the t-pull or collapsing Y or whatever you want to call it? Where is this year's drill that is as dramatic as the closing move from last year? See what I mean? Now, I'm being hard on them visually, because this is SCV, and I wanted more effect. Now, when I get the DVDs, it could end up being the greatest thing I've ever seen. Time will tell. Musically... umm... I don't think they're brass is up to Cavaliers' level. The musical selections themselves are pretty cool, even though they're not absolutely fantastic. If I may put it like this... it sounds like a more optimistic version of last year's show. A similar attitude is presented (more on this when I get to Cavaliers), but it sounds somehow less... in strife. It is much easier for the regular listener to take in, in my opnion, than last year's offering, which is a good thing (for me). There is a seven-note motif that shows up all OVER the opener and closer (a reprise) and in the pit at one part in the ballad, if I remember correctly. It sounds optimistic, but frantic, a cool effect, for sure. The ballad is memorable to an extent, and it warm and very modern sounding. That's what I like about it. It (the ballad... and well, all of their music this year) sounds unique and fitting to the style SCV has basically invented in the past few years, and yet it has a very modern (at least 1980s) feel to it. When I say 80s, I don't mean 80s drum corps, I mean, it has the warmth of the orchestral works from the 80s, like something John Adams might've written. It's cool, but honestly, it won't reach out and grab you like (perhaps) 1999's show did. SCV rocks, no doubt about it. But I'm still dissapointed with how long it takes to get into them... ah well... I guess in the end, the thing that matters most is that you have a pollished, signature work of art that you can look back on and be proud. So, hats off to them. They're good. THE CADETS The Cadets were the main reason I went tonight. Traditionally, the Cadets have my favorite show of the year. Something about the way they look, their marching technique, and the attitude of their music just sparks something an adoration in me that no other corps has or ever will match. Say what you will about Hopkins, the pledge, I don't care. The point is, they are the Cadets. They are the Cadets I know and love... they look it, sound it, and ARE it. I love them. This year's show is very, very cool. It was my second viewing of them, so I was able to catch many of the changes they've put in the music and drill since I saw them in Louisville a little over a month ago. The moving warmup works much better for the viewer for the second experience of it. I love the warmup now. It is one of the coolest things they've done in a while, and it's SO much cleaner than it was when I last saw it. Now it is working for them, and it rocks. It's also really cool to see everybody with a funny smile on their face when the corps is very much so performing and the announcer is still saying things like, "On the field..." They've made some changes in Fanfare and Allegro. The coolest one is a new pit feature that's kind of a fast-paced version of one of the tune's many themes. Immediately after that is my favorite part of the tune, where the dotted eighth-sixteenth and then two eight notes rhythm. The transition isn't as smooth as I'd like to hear it, but it still works, and is a really cool treat after just hearing the awesome new pit feature. Also, some of those nightmarish lip slurs have been removed from the horn book, and replaced with just NAILING the high notes of the slurs. That is an OK change... it is definately cleaner. However, I the slurs had so much drama to the piece. I'm not positive they'll put it back in, but I hope they do. Oh man, the big looooooong chord before the last push is so nice. I love that part. it's definately one of those things where you'd be in HEAVEN if you were standing in front of their horn arc listening to it. Very nice, high energy ending, though the drill is still a little dirty. Malaguena is also much better than it was in Louisville, not that is was all that bad then. They really build you up for the last hit. The song seems to connect better somehow now, for me at least. I used to see it as, percussion, brass, percussion, brass, and it didn't seem to flow all that well. Last night, for whatever reason, it all came together and I really enjoyed it. The tension is released in MAGNUM proportions with the drums exploding on the off-beats. This is my favorite version of Malaguena, period, and would be still if I weren't a Cadets fan. They just rock with it. There is no question about that. My only fear is that I annoyed the people sitting around me by talking about how great it was! Rocky Point Holiday. It is everybody's dream to march and play RPH. These kids do it great, and they do it justice. There have been some cuts in the music. The 2003 intro is almost completely gone from what you may remember from the early season recordings and is replaced with something almost identical to the 1983 version that almost everyone seems to favor. I, thinking the old 2003 intro was a little trite sounding, am glad to see it replaced, even though I'm not too thrilled that it's almost the exact version I've been listening to for years now... It could be better, but it could be a lot worse. Overall, that was a good change. That's for sure. The drums are quite fantastic and I hope they start getting a little more favor from the judges from it. Some of the percussion features were just MADLY entertaining. Very, very cool. New guard uniforms are cool... they look like a "guard version" of the Cadets uniform, complete with a drop sash. They are solid red though, and the drop sash is purple. So, they do look different, but I think it was cool that they obviously based it off of the regular corps uniform. Honestly, I almost prefer the black ones they had in Louisville, but these work. And they work well. They're just a bit loud, I guess. They have also added several cool little details into the show to enhance the overall effect. They have a ripple horns up in the "off the line" set at the beginning of Fanfare and Allegro, and the hornline does a cool, playful "right, right, right-left-right" vocal thing at one part where they're not playing. The drill reminds me a lot of 2001's drill. It's not the most amazing stuff in the world, but it does look very good, and with Jeff Sacktig back on the staff, it SHOULD look good. I'm looking for a few more impacting moves, though. It's not not quite up to the visual innovation standard we want to see from these guys. The most obvious drill change made was the ending move. I'm not sure whether to praise it or ask for a re-write, because it has some COOL stuff in it, but, I wonder if it is an appropriate ending for a tune as high energy as Rocky Point Holiday. They start with the z-pull, as usual... and then they keep going... and going... and going. By the time the piece ends, they are stretching from endzone to endzone and I don't mean just the tips of the endzones, either. They are almost reaching to the very edge of the field. It looks really cool, and is kind of an old school tribute thing (which I can easily like), but there are some problems with it. One, they're not moving ALL THAT fast. The ending of RPH demands something ultra high-energy, like they did in 2000 or 2001, in my opinion, and this drill move just doesn't have the tension that I was hoping for. Two, because the entire hornline is spead over the space of about 110 yards (maybe even more than that) you don't get the thick, loud ensemble sound you might prefer at the end of an AWESOME in your face style show. Phasing is not really a problem, it's just lack of a unified (umm... loud) sound. Perhaps a rewrite is in order, perhaps not... I'm just not convinced that this is the way to go for the ending of a terrific production such as Our Favorite Things. The Cadets this year (and every year) rock. Whether they pull past Phantom or not, nobody knows. But one thing's for sure, they're going to go down in history for putting this show on. It's amazing how much a corps can improve on something that's already great in one month's time. They are absolutely unbelievable in terms of energy and impact. PS - George Hopkins now sports a dark colored... BEARD! Yep, that's right folks. You heard it here first. PHANTOM REGIMENT Coming on after the Cadets... what a hard act to follow. But I was not disappointed in the VERY LEAST. In short, Harmonic Journey is my favorite Phantom production of all time. There is absolutely no question about that. Say what you will with your 89s, 96s, etc. This is THE Phantom show for me. When the corps announced their program in October (I think it was then... pretty early... very cool), I immediately saw the potential in this show. An example of my thoughts were like this... They're playing Canon in D? Because that's an obviously "bad" choice for an opener, you just KNOW they're going to do something absolutely incredible with it and blow us all away in surprise. HOW -- TRUE. Canon rocks. The staging of the low brass couldn't be better here with them in the front almost the whole time, especially in impact points, and the arrangements are obviously geared towards showing off the tubas and baris. The first hit in Canon was just stunning. It sounded just absolutely incredible. I don't think Phantom's hornline is quite as good as BD's or Cavaliers' horns, but the wonders of proper staging and arrangements can take a corps very far musically. This is the perfect example. Canon in D kind of melts into John Adam's Wild Nights, the third movement of his AMAZINGLY cool 1980s piece, Harmonium. I love this piece. Phantom does it justice too. The masterful arrangement of such a strange piece is evident, as they can sell it, and sell it well! This will go down in my book of "really cool second pieces of the show" up there with Cadets' Chaos in 2000. All the weirdness of Adams' original piece is there, and sounds great on the new King horns. The ballad is great. I mean, great. It is classic Phantom, in my opinion. I do think they could stand to push out some more volume on it though. The climax, in my opinion, isn't exactly where it needs to be in terms of impact. However, the tune itself is very good. The closer is from Bartok's Microkosmos. Any time you hear the name Bartok, you're going to think "FAST." Yes, dead on. It's a very notey piece, and it sounds cool. It has the intensity and aggression that you'd expect to hear from a corps' Bartok arrangement, but with the playfulness of Phantom to add in with it... it's cool. A worthy closer to a very good production. Visually, Harmonic Journey is about as good as it ever has gotten from Phantom. It's better than the past few years, in my opinion, and yet not QUITE up to par with Blue Devils and Cavaliers. There is a lot of body movement in this show, with rehashed visual stuff in the legs and horns. I'm not totally a fan of that... after all, isn't that kind of the point of body movements, to create something fresh and original for a visual effect? Almost all (if not all) of the body movements, we've seen in recent Phantom shows. So I wasn't exactly thrilled by that, not that it was a major offense, either. Drums are also a strong point. These guys can push it out, and they're very clean... The drums really enhance this already great show. Since I'm not a drummer myself, I can't say all that much other than "cool" in regard to their line, so... Cool! Good drums. It's a great show... will it win? I highly, highly doubt it. But, it very well could beat Cadets and come close to Blue Devils. This is all my opinion, though. Watch it win or something in Orlando. Who knows? BLUE DEVILS As Brad Deason informed me before the show started, this corps is "scary." This corps has the best Blue Devils drill of all time. This corps has the only hornline that can compete with Cavaliers. This corps has the only show that can compete, too. The 2003 Blue Devils are absolutely incredible. It's like Blue Devils on an entirely different level. I think perhaps they're the first corps to cross over into the new standard that the Cavaliers have set in terms of design and talent. The drill has them running like maniacs, much more so than any other BD show I've seen, and there is a lot of good visual GE, too. The visual package is far and away better and cleaner than last year's, and it really helps me to get into the show. The show's title, Phenomenon of Cool, really fleshes out in the guard and especially the drums. The show opens with a snare feature to die for. This is the COOLEST drumline ever. Has to be. These guys play HARD stuff and have incredible visuals to aid them. In terms of brass, again, I think they have the only hornline that could possibly take on Cavaliers. The brass book is really entertaining and reminds me of last year's. To be honest, I like last year's music better (at this point), but they still have some great moments. The racks are back, with similar antics to last year, only much more high energy (if you can believe that). In fact, the ending section of the show was arguably the most high energy finale of the night, with perhaps Boston in second place. The drums have a REALLY memorable feature towards the end of the show that is pretty dirty, but just about as entertaining a drum feature as I've seen, ever. You'll know what I mean when you see the show. VERY cool. I was only let down by the climax of Cool, the Bernstein piece. I mean... it was big and everything... but somehow I didn't get into it. I guess it just sounded too different from the orchestral version and I'm not used to it yet. I really don't know what else I can say about this Blue Devils corps. They are pretty much on the same level of design as Cavaliers, and they're not really sacrificing musical integrity to do it... which I guess in one way puts them above their green competitors (amd I don't mean SCV). I think this show can win... and yet it's lacking something. Perhaps the power of suggestion is the only thing that keeps the Cavaliers in the number one spot in the activity. I don't know. We'll have to wait until Orlando! But until then, believe me! It IS scary! They are rocking, and this is the best overall BD show since 99. THE CAVALIERS For those of you who don't know me personally, I must be up front with you about the Cavaliers. I don't think they've had a very cool show since 2000. 2000's music was fresh, loud, aggressive, hard, wild, everything you could ask for. The visual package fit well with mesmerizing drill and other assorted ripple effects. 2000 in my opinion, was just cool, no question about it. Now, where do I think they've gone over the past three years? Umm... that's hard to say. All I can tell you is that the music has sounded very uninspired, minus one or two brief moments from each show in 2001-2003. There seems to be a very weak mood to the music and it has not sounded very motivated or exciting. The drill has been typical Cavaliers drill, pushing the edges of the activity with both demand and never-before-seen moves. That's a good thing. How can that be bad? Perhaps the answer, for me, lies in the fact that there is no special effect worth missing out on the story for. Now, what I mean is this... for me, music is the heart and soul of drum corps. If you stop playing for extended periods of time so you can do a drill move, that's cool, but where's the excitement? Normally, if the music stops for a drill move, it's so the music can kick back in for an impact point and when the drill move ends, it all works together to make an awesome statement. The Cavaliers haven't done it this way in years. The music (story) and the drill (special) effects, have to work together. As George Lucas has said (and he can be questioned about this regarding the new SW movies... haha, another time, another time...), "A special effect without a story is a pretty boring thing." I concur. The Cavaliers are purely NOT exciting for me anymore. Now, after saying all that... I can say there's hope. For starters, this year's music is, in my opinion, much cooler than last year's. It has kind of a "show" attitude to it, and it works! It's not exactly what I would call exciting, but it is pretty good, and again, much cooler than last year's attempt. The horns are playing the heck out of it and doing a tremendous job -- they sound simply marvelous. The other half of it is drill. They have (once again) boundry-pushing drill this year. They are running all over the place, and dare I say it, they run like that probably twice as much, if not more, than any other corps. The demand of the visual book is very high. However... for the Cavaliers, good music and good drill have not co-existed with one another for several years. This year... sadly, is not different. The other ray of hope that I've got is that the Blue Devils seem to have this awesome music + new, HARD drill thing down pretty well. They do stuff that is as hard as the Cavaliers visually, and they do it while moving like crazy people, also. That's my outlook on it... so, I've kind of already reviewed Cavaliers here... they have a supurb show design, in terms of drill at least. But the show just doesn't work for me because of the lack of musical intensity matched with visual intensity. Let me put it another way... Watch the 1983 Cadets show. Now, as soon as the z-pull starts, press the mute button on your remote control. At the end of the move, un-mute it. See what I mean? Now, the z-pull isn't as hard as the Cavaliers move, but I think the Cadets have also done "impossible" drill with hard music simultaniously, too. The Cavaliers need to get some music (this year's is OK, but not great by any means), and pack it INTO the amazing, innovative drill moves. That's my take on it. Other than that, they are really, really clean. Based on last night's performance, I'd say they're unstoppable this year. BD MIGHT catch them, but I doubt it. Next year, everybody needs to take a lesson from Cavaliers drill and Cadets/BD music, and COMBINE them. You'd be surprised at what your members can do with it if you actually challenge them to do both at the same time instead of simply assuming it will not work. The Cavaliers DO have a new ending. Basically, everything stops and you think it's the end of the show. Then, they do some new drill and music and eventually "wind" into the opening set. It's cool. I like it... it's better than the original ending. CONCLUSION In short, this year's Murfreesboro show is simply the best drum corps show I've ever attended. Every corps was really on, and they were all very entertaining. All of the corps there took a big step up in show design and execution, and well, it showed. If these top eight corps are all in finals this year, it is going to be one AWESOME finals night! And I can't wait to be there! OK! I hope it's given all you readers out there a taste of how great everybody is this year! Thanks for reading! See you in Orlando! PS - Dn't be surprised if I come back to edit this! There are likely typos everywhere! EDIT: Haha, typo on the word "typo." Too funny.

Hahaha!! For REAL! The Cadets have been using those horn moves since probably before I was even born!!

Cool review. Feels kind of like a judge reviewing it. I like. I really must say though, I'm VERY fond of the Cadets' moving warmup thing. I think it's really cool and refreshing. A DM salute may be in order, though.

I've always heard that Blue Devils 2001 had the best tuba section... ever.

So, if you're a woodwind player who is marching (or has marched) in a corps, what instrument did you play in corps?

Cadets 2001 -- The little lick before the final break down in Moondance Cadets 2001 -- The big run in farandole Cadets RPH, any version -- Those brass runs before the final push! I LOVE that part! Villa Borghese (spelling?) also has some pretty great mello licks... you know.. the main part.

Actually, almost all the time, Cadets have both hands over the valves. Vanguard holds the valve casing MUCH more than Cadets do.

Come on, guys! 1996, of course! That's one of the greatest hornlines I've ever heard!

The high school that I graduated from... they're looking into doing Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy.

When I saw Shockwave in October, I was told by a merchandise lady (who ended up telling me she marched SCV in the early 80s!) that they were recording the show in December, so the dvd would possibly be out around February. I just hope they have better freaking camera angles this time! A high cam feature would be much appreciated. Also, audio recording could be about ten times better, too. The Blast dvd was just too darn quiet on audio track 1.

Well, the title of the thread alludes to my interest in a soprano bugle. :P

Looking for a good-condition, new or used, G bugle. I PREFER 3 valves. If none of you guys have one, can you point me to where I could buy a new one? Thanks. Reach me here: markjeremyemerson@hotmail.com