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1956OPR

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  1. I am an original MM of the Regiment (1956-60). We did not know how difficult it would be to build a competitive drum corps but experience soon taught us the truth,, including a 3-year shut down from 1965 through 1967 after a fire destroyed much or our equipment and uniforms. The interest remained with our core members and we started off again in 1968 with around 26 MM. Four years later, the regiment made DCI Finals with a full complement of 126 MM and have done so since then. This year, it will be a challenge to do so again. But not an insurmountable one and I believe our 2019 MM will meet the challenge. Support for the current corps and it's future, can come in many ways. One is direct financial support, at many reasonable dollar levels, through membership in Club 56, managed by Robin Lanning. Go to regiment.org for details on the benefits of this support group. Another option is to contribute to the Fueled program which underwrites daily meals and snacks for our MM. Another option is to send care packages to MM while they are in the road; the Regiment site will have guidance re the location and timing necessary : I think Oreos are a current members for their favorite...as are messages/notes of encouragement. For example, if you marched in the percussion section, send a congratulation card to these MM for achieving 1st place in percussion at the Rochester, MN show tonight. I know it is hard these days but no harder than many difficult times we have faced since 1956. Keep the faith and, as Myron Rosander said in 2010, the Regiment will come "Into the Light"
  2. CC, my mistake. I had a more expansive view of the 2000s; won't happen again. I felt like I was in the 2000s but I am not . Now I will have to remember that next year I will be in the 2020s.
  3. CC, make that 3 Sanfords : 2006, 2008 and 2010! An even greater, and delightful surprise given the DCP forum commentary to date re Visual, is that the Regiment finished 3rd overall in this caption, headlined by ranking 3rd in all 3 Visual Analysis sub-captions and 3rd in the Guard Substance sub-caption. Who says we do not have a chance to make finals?
  4. Perhaps this is the core of the Regiment's difficulties these past 6 years : they have succumbed to the temptation that the musical folks should defer to the visual addicts and allow the latter to control the program ( I am thinking here of "17's Phantasm)...without restraint. It is time for our Program Director to take control again and to have the visual people create the visuals in accordance with the theme/story and music. As for a theme, it seems that has been a mystery wrapped in a penumbra wrapped in an enigma wrapped in tinfoil these past few years. Knock off these abstruse abstract "idea" themes; curtail the temptations to get cute; if at all possible, do not employ "designers" who constantly recycle old high school themes and drills; choose a program that we can explain in one short phrase or paragraph and to which the audience can say " We get it". Look first among the thousands of classical or modern operas, ballets, and other historical music presentations for an idea (e.g., Rhapsody in "05", Faust in "06", Spartacus in "08", Into the Light in "10", Juliet in "11" and Turandot in "12"} and then build upon its music and story theme with sustained music passages that allow visual development.
  5. swmstom, would you please explain what flat v tilted snare positions means and what differences either position would make. Thank you
  6. Just so we all are operating off the same data base, Andy Schamma's Aug 20 article on Official 2018 Age-Out Numbers for Finalists now contains a correction to the initial report stating that " We initially reported 46 age-outs for Phantom Regiment. That has now been corrected to 38 thanks to a message from the corps' staff." Another lesson learned.
  7. Well, what can I say but "Those who know not, and know not that they know not, are fools. Shun them". I know now that accurate age-out information is apparently reported to DCI within days after finals, lists are compiled and disseminated to organizations such as Flo Marching for publication/distribution. A lesson learned. Thank you.
  8. You echo the admiration and respect many have for Jamie's contributions. However, Ralph Stewart was hired prior to the 2018 season to be our drill designer and I believe we need to give him ample opportunity to make his mark. According to the Regiment's announcement of the current members of the 2018 visual team, Ralph marched six seasons with Crown, including 1994-1996 as Drum Major. Before joining PR, he was the visual designer for the Colts and had been a designer or technician for Blue Stars, Teal Sound, Crown and Boston in prior years.
  9. The 2017 Tour Director for the Regiment was Kaleb Schumann. I believe the gentleman Cappybara is referencing is Dr. Scott Schumann, the Visual Assistant Caption Head. Haven't heard anything about either Schumann staying or leaving. Don't know whether they are related. As for who cares if the Tour Director leaves, the MMs and those dependent on his management of the tour might care a lot.
  10. Tim, thank you for catching and correcting my mistake. Michsel
  11. Good examples. Keep in mind that Phantom Regiment hired Michael Klesch to replace Jim Wren. Michael was the Brass Arranger in 2000 and 2001. His arrangements for the 2000 program Masters of Mystique - Dawn of Modern Music included Jeux by Debussy, Petrouchka and Rite of Spring by Stravinsky and, my favorite, Transfigured Night by Schoenberg. A true young talent then and still a talent.
  12. To my simple mind, GE = Visual + Music. Of these 2 components, the fall of the Regiment since the Rennicks and alumni JDShaw left after the 2010 and 2011 seasons, respectively, is largely tied to the failure of my corps to figure out and/or apply the Visual components at a medal level. In the 9 seasons from 2003 through 2011, the ordinal rankings of GE Vis and Total Visual exceeded the Regiment's finals placements only once (2011) and only twice equaled this (2005 and 2006). Strong Music performances and rankings usually offset these deficiencies. In the 7 seasons since then, only once, in 2012, did their GE Vis and Total Visual match their finals placement. Since then, the caption slides have spiraled downward with GE Vis ranking 15 and Visual ranking 12. By the way, the Percussion team, in a very competitive environment, has stabilized this caption and it is on it's way back. It is galling to me that DCI's Best Visual Performance Award, which honors John Brazale, a former Phantom Regiment guard and visual designer in the 70s and 80s and DCI Hall of Famer, has rarely, if ever, been won by the Regiment. It is annoying to me that in 2013, Triumphant Journey was dominated by a laughable Puppet Queen; that in 2015 a show about Paris, the City of Light, was turned into celebratory shopping exhibition; that in 2017, Phantasm was mocked because someone thought that seductive moans and groans were an appropriate trademark of the production and in 2018, an abstract program attempted to help express it's ideas by using mobile gymnastic vehicles which simultaneously muddled and covered up terrific guard activities. So, what can be done. First, I would recommend that the Design Team be expanded to include all Caption Heads and that all be included from the beginning of the design process. It is my hope that these specialists will be encouraged to speak up when certain design choices are introduced that may sound great when voiced but that are likely to be really problematic when they are attempted to be applied on the field. Second, understand the judging rules well enough to be able to present competitive top 6 shows without having to accept DCI's current artistic inclinations. Third, return to programs based on classical, elegant music programs performed by brass lines powered by mellos, euphs (the Buicks) and contras Return to our musical roots. Concentrate these programs on musical and design parameters which do not require a detailed libretto to explain what and why the Regiment chose it. Let the music rule and let the visuals speak for themselves.
  13. Brasso, thank you for finding this data and posting it on DCP. I have always been curious about the number of age-outs from each corps that represents MMs who have chosen to age-out with that corps after spending their prior season(s) with another. For example, during 2017, 6 brass MMs of Phantom Regiment chose to spend that year with Blue Devils and reaped the benefit of having done so; 1 other chose SCV and another CC. The lead conductor who led SCV in 2018 spent 2016 with PR (having come to R from SCV) and then returned to SCV in "17. I do not begrudge any MM for making such a decision and was happy for each one who chose BD, especially to have then had the opportunity to contribute to such a wonderful, championship show product. In the back of my mind however, I wonder if there was something about their experiences with the Regiment in 2015 and 2016 that created the incentive to leave, something that related to the type of program choices and program direction and if that something previewed the concerns these days about what needs to be done to return regularly to medal contention...and soon. Sorry for the digression into what might have been.
  14. Allow me to add my congratulations to the 2018 Blue Stars for their results in Indy and for having the courage to offer us the Carpenters program. It was a pleasure to see and hear that idea take the shape it did. I have followed your (Wisconsin) Blues from afar, mainly because Dave Kampschroer, a snare drummer at the time, was one of my marching mates in Phantom Regiment in 1960. To have helped co-found the Blue Stars just a few years later in 1965 was remarkable. And then, in 1999, Dave served 1 year as director of the Regiment. What an impactful life. Blue Stars, good luck in 2019.
  15. Re Phantom Regiment, although I do not have formal figures from the corps, it appears as though the total is ca. 27. 10 of these are from the guard (5 females and 5 males), another 3 from the brass, 3 from the battery, 3 from the front ensemble and 8 or so from the "I don't know which section" contingent.
  16. My understanding is that if there is a tie after averaging all 3 nights, then the tie is broken by awarding the Zingali to whichever corps has the higher guard score on finals night. Given that these caption scores can now stretch out to 4 places, it seems unlikely that a tie would occur but if it did, does DCI have a tie-breaker to break a tie? Just curious.
  17. I like your question re DCI's Artistic Director. DCI now has a new AD, Lee Carlson. who has replaced Michael Cesario. My understanding is that Mr. Carlson is a long-time DCI judge who specialized in judging Visual-related captions. Anyone have a clue about what a DCI Artistic Director's responsibilities are, what the parameters of their decision-making are and what differences might result for DCI with a new sheriff in town?
  18. And to think that the name originally under consideration was the Rockford Rangers, a tribute to the proliferation of dutch elm trees throughout the city. Certain members, including Jim Wren, did not like that name. They had listened to a recording of the Syracuse Brigadiers playing a Leroy Anderson song "The Phantom Regiment" and convinced our corps director, Mr. Alex Haddad, to consider it as their corps name; he did and the Phantom Regiment and the Phantomettes were so christened.
  19. FYI, both of these posts come from the Madison Scouts thread. On 7/31/2018 at 04:28 PM, Nine White Russians said: Sad that the activity has become an elite professional career for staff instead of an activity that serves youth. I know it's been that way for quite awhile, but if it truly were for the youth, the judging would be prioritized toward the performers on the field, NOT the adult designers. I as a performer had absolutely zero control over WHAT I performed. I only had control over HOW I performed it. Why should more than half of my score be based on something I have zero influence over? So Corps have to be able to raise MINIMUM a million dollars per season to be anywhere near competitive! It's not sustainable for very long and I'm afraid more and more lower Corps will continue to fold. 20 hours ago I posted this in reply to NWR: In an idle moment a few days ago, I was reviewing the San Antonio results and wondered if the results would change if the corps were scored only on their performance/achievement. For SCV, their SA score of 92.325 would become 91.850. a difference of 0.475. For BD, their SA score of 90.975 would become 90.425, a difference of 0.550. For BLUE, their SA score of 90.675 would become 89.900, a difference of 0.775. For CC, their SA score of 90.088 would become 89.445, a difference of 0.643. The order of placement in SA would be the same for these 4 corps under either approach. I have not yet gone beyond this top 4 @ San Antonio to determine whether a performance only approach would have changed any other placings. My instinct is to say that if judges were able to concentrate only on the MM's performances and not have to also juggle tying to assess rises and falls in content/substance, it would be more fair to the efforts of the MMs. It also would be nice to concentrate our banter on DCP on critiques of the MM's performance of their brass, percussion, guard and marching responsibilities rather than constantly focusing on design/visual matters. I am a bit tired of hearing comments along the lines of " well it is true that, e.g., the guard members only dropped their weapons X number of times but WOW! their overall guard design was so good that we can just ignore such mistakes, such lack of performance. ". I agee with Mr. Zingali's assessment that drill is not art, it is drill. If you want to recognize design, add a 5 point caption for overall Design and use the other 95 points to judge the performance achievement of our MMs.
  20. In an idle moment a few days ago, I was reviewing the San Antonio results and wondered if the results would change if the corps were scored only on their performance/achievement. For SCV, their SA score of 92.325 would become 91.850. a difference of 0.475. For BD, their SA score of 90.975 would become 90.425, a difference of 0.550. For BLUE, their SA score of 90.675 would become 89.900, a difference of 0.775. For CC, their SA score of 90.088 would become 89.445, a difference of 0.643. The order of placement in SA would be the same for these 4 corps under either approach. My instinct is to say that if judges were able to concentrate only on the MM's performances and not have to also juggle trying to assess rises and falls in content/substance, it would be more fair to the efforts of the MMs.
  21. I do not know who from the Regiment staff made nuisances of themselves among the audience tonight but you know who you are. On behalf of my corps, start showing some respect for the people who attend our shows and stop embarrassing our corps with your juvenile actions. We are trying to gather phans not turn them away. When the day comes when the Regiment again is competitive for medals, we want the audience to rise and support us and not sit on their hands in silence because of memories generated by such disrespect.
  22. Sorry, I just couldn't resist: since this is Crown's show, I am surprised they didn't change the name to NightBEAST this year.
  23. Terri, thank you very much ! Perhaps I will be able to see you and Jim next year in San Ant.
  24. Off to San Antonio on Thursday to attend this regional contest for the first time. Obtained my ticket through the Regiment; will be in Sec. 112, Row 25, Seat 14; hope it is a good location. If anyone is familiar with the Alamodome, is there a "best" entrance to use that is closest to this Section and favorable to the handicapped? Thank you' Michael
  25. Triple 7, here you go again. You made a similar comment during the Minneapolis show thread and I replied (p.69) to your judgement and challenged you to substantiate your assertion that the judges at Midwest contests were "clueless". Why don't you use this opportunity to justify your St. Louis assertions or, in the alternative, just foxtrotuniformcharliekilo off. You are becoming an embarrassment to the Crossmen.
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