1956OPR

Congratulations to gabe211. We know Sibelius and Shostakovich will be in the program and Rachmaninoff is certainly possible under the cover of "selections from past years". I like the possibility of more Khachaturian; it reminds me of 2008. As for Maurice Jarre, he is primarily known for film scores for Lawrence of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago and A Passage to India; I am putting my bet on Lara's Theme from Zhivago for (one of) their ballad(s). I am not very excited about the uniform sketch unless it is designated only for the DMs. If it is and the field corps retains its devotion to mostly white (with the black chevron crest on the front a la Turandot and with the blood red sleeves) I might like this uniform a lot.

Ghost, Thank you for posting this video. It was great to hear the boys and girls of Cicero's 1965 Championship production again.

Or they could be Celtic (Glasgow, Scotland) fans, for whom YNWA is also their anthem. And when the Hoops play the Reds, the whole stadium sings along with Gerry and the Pacemakers, a true night in Paradise.

My selection is the Chicago Royal Airs (or Aires) 1965 Championship performance at The VFW Nationals in....Chicago where they beat the Cavaliers. My recollection is that at the time, the Boys in Green were not referred to as "The" ......... I wonder when that pretentiousness started with drum corps. Although scheduled to be held outside at Hanson Field, rain and wind (what else?) forced the finals to be held indoor at McCormick Place. The Royal Airs entire show was electric, with "Alexander's Ragtime Band" and "Watermelon Man" leading the way in sound and memories.

LS, I would not bet that your analysis re either Finlandia/Sibelius or what PR or others may do in 2017 is wrong; the odds are overwhelming in your favor for the reasons you've stated. But, there is still a chance! Other then exercising my imagination re the 2017 program, I was serious about inviting others to do the same exercise for (a) corps of their choice. Some corps are not shy about teasing their fans and DCP about their seasonal programs with commentary, practice videos and assorted publicity ( the 2016 Cadets come to mind); others avoid any hints at all; still others seemingly do the latter in combination with misdirection. I do not have a quarrel with the direction any corps takes in this regard but the sense I get on the Planet is that many of our membership are devoted to trying to find out such things as programs/music ASAP. In the meantime......Imagine! Visualize! Guess! Have fun!!

Based on some hints from photos of the Regiment's February and March brass camps (energy, motion, conflict) + the mention a while back of the probability of some music from Jean Sibelius (specifically Finlandia) + the Regiment's affinity for Shostakovich, I would like to guess that the Regiment's 2017 program will be based on the War of 1939-40 between Finland and Russia, the 105 day invasion of Finland by Russia. I guess it will be entitled "Fire and Ice". I envision a Wes Cartwright field presentation that echoes The Cadets' 2011 performance of "Between Angels and Demons", with the Regiment split into a large Red contingent and a smaller White/Ice contingent, with battles everywhere between the opposing forces. I further envision the 2017 uniforms to reflect these opposing colors. And I would expect a very active color guard to frame and enhance this constant action. For music, I would anticipate the Russian/Fire to be exhibited by Shostakovich's "Suite of Finland Themes" and by "Novorossisk Chimes" aka as "Fire of Eternal Glory". For Finland/Ice, I would hope for extracts from Sibelius' "Finlandia", "Karelia Suite" and his "Violin Concerto in D minor". Maybe the Regiment could even invite Sarah Chang to participate in the latter piece as a guest performer. This is purely conjecture on my part but it was fun to try to imagine a 2017 program based on just a few clues. For followers of other corps which have not yet announced their 2017 programs, I invite you to do the same for your favorite corps.

CC, thanks for the confirmation on the Sibelius piece. Finlandia, in one form or another, seems to have been a staple of the Madison Scouts' repertoire in the 60s but does not appear to have been included in a WC repertoire since 1968. I'm happy that Phantom may bring it back in 2017. Can anyone take a look at the Shostakovich music and identify this piece?

2 of the 3 2017 Regiment conductors are Noah Blanco and Paul Blanco IV, both of whom live in Mississippi and attend Ole Miss. I believe they are twins. I do not know the third conductor's name yet but if he/she is from Florida, chances are that they would have to drive through Georgia on their way to Illinois so maybe that will satisfy the Peach State connection.

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The Regiment has just announced their selections of Drew Solomonson as Visual Caption Head and Lindsay Kusmierczak as Color Guard Caption Supervisor for 2017. Both are Regiment alumni and now residents of Georgia, growing the connections between the Regiment and the Peach State. Concurrently, Phantom announced that Chris Carichner (Brass), Derrick Shannon (Percussion), Annie Pelka (CG) and Jessica Francis (CG) will again be Caption Heads in "17. One other note re the 2017 auditions: PR has added a Percussion Audition Clinic in the Dallas area on Nov. 26 or 27.

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Re the 2017 auditions, it is interesting to note that auditions will be held around the country this fall in addition to those in the Rockford area (which usually means either Rockford or Beloit, WI). Brass auditions will be held in the Dallas (late November) and Atlanta (early December) areas. Color Guard auditions will be held in the Dallas (late November), Atlanta (early December) and Los Angeles ( Dec 10 or Dec 12) areas. Percussion (Nov 18-20) and Conductor (Dec 9-11) audition camps are set for Rockford. It is my understanding that Video Auditions are possible for Brass, Percussion and Color Guard. I do not know if additional percussion, conductor or other camps or clinics will be held around the country but The Regiment knows so visit regiment.org for info and updates. If you visit the corps site, at the end of the article announcing the additions of Mr. Richards and Ms Mitchell to the staff, there is a "Read More" line in red which will lead you to the current audition information.

Thank you Spandy. Mark S. is a name I recognize as associated with The Cadets and others.

Please pardon my ignorance but who is "Sully"? His nickname suggests he is a member of my clan, the Sullivans, and we like to keep track of and honor our distinguished members.

Thanks ripchops, good catch. After finishing 1 1 1 2 1 2 1 3 3 4 2 3 from 2000 through 2011, I'm pretty sure Cavaliers fans would consider a 5 spot drop to 8 an unanticipated fall. I will edit the sentence beginning with " So far " in my post 360 on page 36 to consolidate this new info.

garfield, I would like to add my thanks to you for helping all of us to better understand the financial dimensions of this activity. I am particularly looking forward to your report and analysis of the bronze medalist in 2012.

You have a point insofar as 1983 was the last year of the 'tick" system and 1984 was the first year of the "build up" system but 1) there have been significant changes in the application of "build up" judging since 1984, i.e., see the recaps for1988, 1990, 1994, 2000 and 2004 as examples and 2) since Labmaster did not put any time frame restrictions on his query, I chose the DCI era. You are welcome to respond to Labmaster with responses restricted to 1984. Anyway, back to Labmaster's original query. So far, we've identified drops by the Regiment( 8 spots), Madison( 5 )and (most recently, thanks to shofmon88) the Blue Knights ( 8 )...and, thanks to ripchops, the Cavaliers ( 5 spots ) from 2011 to 2012. I would like to add the following corps who dropped significantly after appearing in finals: Argonne from 11 in 1973 to 33 in "74; Kilts from 7 in "75 to 28 the following year; Bridgemen from 9 in "73 to 26; 27Lancers from 7 in "73 to 20; Blue Stars from 3 in "73 to 12; Troopers from 5 in "74 to 12 in "75 and, it should be noted, from 13 in "76 to 20. Of these 10, 6 are still around as World Class corps. Only 4 corps had falls that resulted in their REMAINING in finals the following year. ÷

Sorry, DMT, for whom is JB the bcd?

snare_guy_83 Thanks for the reminder about that masterful presentation. That answers my first question. My second ? has to do with the ongoing discussions, especially between garfield and MarimbaManiac, as to whether placement of the entire FE on the field (similar to what the Regiment did) would address some of the questions raised about maintaining tempo, distance of the FE from a roving battery, ability of the FE to see and take cues from the DM, ability to expand the use of the entire field, ability to bring the brass closer to the crowd, etc. Just curious.

Within the DCI era, aside from the Phantom decline of 8 spots from "08 to "09 and Madison's decline of 5 spots from "15 to "16, I believe the Kilts' decline of 21 spots from "75 to "76 and the Troopers' decline of 7 spots (twice) from "74 to "75 and "76 to "77 should be noted.

I am curious about the off-field placement of the pit. Is there a DCI rule these days that stipulates the Front Ensemble must be off-field? My recollection is that some years ago the Phantom Regiment had its entire FE on the field (somewhere left-of-center around the 30-35 yard line and perhaps 20 yards from the sideline). If anyone is familiar with this show, do you have an understanding of its on-field placement and/or an opinion on its efficacy ?

I am doing some research on DCI members and have a ? about The Cadets. It is my understanding that the corps was christened as the Holy Name Cadets in 1934 and retained that name until their last contest in 1958, the American Legion national championship in Chicago, at which they took the field under the name Garfield Cadets. In 1988, they took the name Cadets of Bergen County and then, either in 1996 or 1998, became The Cadets. Was it 1996 or 1998? And any corrections to the other name timelines?

PN, thank you. I have scheduled a session this weekend with my wife to learn how to Copy/Paste. Michael

If I knew how to do it, I would transfer my comments on page 189 of the Staff-merri-go-round thread re the additions of Mr. Cartwright and Mr. Moreno to this thread. Anyone know how to do it? Perhaps DCP's admin will step in and offer me guidance. Thanks. And to all the charmers on DCP who can't resist telling me to just retype it here, take into consideration my interest in becoming a "tech-savvy guy".