1956OPR

My 2015 Phantom Regiment program suggestion # 1 is entitled REQUIEM and consists of selections from WA Mozart's Requiem Mass, G Verdi's Requiem, G Mahler's Resurrection Symphony (Symphony no. 2 in C Minor), Dan Forrest's Requiem for the Living and J Brahm's Requiem Mass. PR has played excerpts from the Mozart and Verdi pieces in their 2011 show, JULIET. Santa Clara played the Verdi piece in 1979. PR played the Resurrection Symphony in 1986 and in 2006 ( FAUST ). Carolina Crown played it in 2010. It does not bother me in the least that some of this music has been played before. It is good music and as one of Phantom's former leaders said, there are three components to a good program: 1) good music, 2) good music and 3 )good music. A key for me is matching this music to the best brass arranger available. I have at least two other program choices germinating and hope to post both in the next few days. P.S. A couple of these pieces have been suggested recently by others; I hope neither person ( Cadevilina Crown was one ) will mind if I have adopted their idea into my REQUIEM themed program.

Maybe it could be titled "The Adams Phamily"

Interestingly, Mr. Henderson has been the Brass Consultant this past year for the Regiment. According to his biography on the Regiment site, he has served as Head Horn instructor or Brass Arranger for three DCI champions ( the 1989 and 1999 Santa Clara Vanguard and the 1992 Cavaliers ) in addition to instructing at other corps such as The Cadets and the Troopers. Also, he has served as the Arranger for the nine-time All-Japan champions, Aimachi of Nagoya. I would like to see GH considered as the Brass Arranger for PR, especially if they can also retain Christian Carichner , their current Caption Head. I think he has done a remarkable job this year and we all saw the results this past weekend. Also, picking up on Lincoln's post # 26 and the concerns of many others, it is probably time for a change in Program Coordinator first. Perhaps Mr Henderson should be considered for this position as well.

As a PR phan, huge THANK YOUs to Bret Kuhn for taking on the task of rebuilding our percussion unit, and to Matt Jordan and the other 12 members of our percussion staff for working so diligently on its transformation and especially to all the kids in the battery and the front ensemble for working, learning and producing the DRUM in our corps.

Cue the Phantom Regiment " life and death " banter.

Gabe211, I sure like your website design proposal but perhaps some would be concerned with having to learn Latin in order to read the text. I think that first phrase " Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet " has something to do with the internet and a chinese police department but perhaps that also has to do with your sense of humor…something anyone who visits DCP's Phantom Regiment site had better have. Like Lincoln, I have great respect for Rick ( and Lori ) Valenzuela. I believe he/they do all that they can to make every aspect of the current members and alumni experience and association with Phantom the best it can be, including, eventually, an improved corps website. FYI, the current website's history traces back to a relationship that PR had, and still enjoys, with the Rockford Register Star, the local daily newspaper and a significant long-time booster. According to an article ( which can be found in the News section of the current website ), the then director of the paper's online site ( rrstar.com ) designed PR's website. This preceded Rick's joining PR in Nov, 2005. The wheels of time grind slowly but grind they do. When the time comes, I hope you will be given the opportunity. Good luck!

Lincoln, Mr Klesch was the PR brass arranger in 2000 and 2001, after which he migrated to Carolina Crown.

NeutralNovice, I admire your ambition. A few suggestions: Consider adding Narration and Brass Soloist as voting categories, increasing the picks by at least one…and adding Least Favorite choices for all categories. I would prefer that this poll be restricted to DCP visitors. If you want to solicit voters from other social sites and ask the same questions, that is OK with me as long as the DCP vote results are reported separately from the aggregate of the other solicited sites. I have noticed a recent trend by a few DCP posters to post extensive Twitter comments. I hope that stops…and soon.

Nor am I. Oprah and Kim? What bizarro world is the Cadet's staff living in? This is stupid. The only saving grace for me is that it will replace the "evil witch queen" from PR's 2013 program as the most ill-considered use of visuals in DCI history.

Lincoln, MCM and Ghost, My nomination for the Blue Devil's 2015 program is Matthew Bourne's version of Swan Lake, with costuming similar to that pictured in MCM's post. Given their annual goal of "Constantly Risking Absurdity", I recommend they attempt it. Given their musical talent and creativity, I would forecast another winner. As for the current headgear worn by all the mini-Rothbarts for Regiment's 2014 show, the closest I have come to a source for the "look" is that worn by the evil magician in the Kirov Ballet's Swan Lake production. I applaud the Regiment for attempting to illustrate the tension between good and evil in this year's program by accentuating the "dark side" via, among other things, this headgear.

Jeff, I agree with you on the guard comment. For clarity, my question is with respect to WGI's philosophy : what differentiates WGI's judging "philosophy" from DCIs, and is the difference "corrupting" DCI judging? E.G., what current DCI judges seem to have adopted this WGI philosophy and is there an adverse impact on DCI results. I may be totally off base but Marie C. comes to mind as an example. Visual, as I understand it, is the "modern" term for M&M ( marching and maneuvering for younger drum corps fans ) . Has exotic body movement, props, et al surpressed or surpassed marching technique and design accomplishment in today's drum corps environment? Is it time to upgrade the value of brass and percussion on the judging sheets to outweigh the value of such nebulous concepts as visual?

First, to DCIFan44, welcome to the Planet! Re Jeff Ream's post, I think he is on point re the "indoor" factor and I have a question related to judging. I have watched a few videos of indoor/WGI performances and, while the ensemble performances are enjoyable at times, the overall effect, IMO, is like watching a skateboard performance…ultimately, Box 5 boring. My question is the extent to which today's DCI GE and Visual panels utilize individuals who also judge these indoor events, and the extent to which this indoor experience carries over and corrupts the GE and Visual captions. Any thoughts on this?

Annie Pelka is the Regiment's 2014 color guard caption head. She marched with Phantom for 4 years and has since been on Regiment's guard staff a number of times in recent years. If you go on Regiment's site, there is a listing of, and often biographies for, the entire Regiment staff. She appears to be a keeper. By the way, I know nothing abut the hair extensions so its up to fatbrassboy and eric49 to settle this once and for all.

Great site! Thank you for starting this and letting us know about it. I particularly like the aggregation of each judges' scores. My only question at this point is : if, e.g., I enter the Scores section and see the BD listings from 7-6 to 6-24, how do I scroll or whatever to the BD scores to the right of the 6-24 entry. How do I expand each page to see all entries? As for the videos, this may become my first stop when searching for the newest DC events.

Grammie12, Thank you for your posts. If you live in the Phoenix metropolitan area, I would be delighted to have the opportunity to meet you. As a side matter, I have encouraged the Phantom Regiment Alumni Association to identify specific areas of the country in which multiple alumni live so we can consider local gatherings for alumni and phans alike. Grammie, with your passion and knowledge of the corps, you are very convincing on some matters and not so on others…but that is true of all of us. I simply invite you to continue to present your views, particularly on this year's program. I look forward to being surprised by your observations, as I am virtually every time I visit any of DCP's forum. The space is certainly here on this site and hopefully you will find the time. Happy July 4 to you as well.

I was reading the "Brass Impact! Overland Park, KS" site and found post #28 by dcdadx3 commenting on the Regiment's utilization of a gas powered generator near the sideline during their show. Does anyone know why this was used? And if you are tempted to post a humorous response, do so; I will use my detective skills to sort the kernel of wheat from the chaff. On a more serious note, beginning with that post is a contentious discussion of the Colts show, including a series of replies by Chuck Naffler, their Brass Arranger, on the thought process behind the Colt's development of this year's program. I invite you to read the discussion. Do any of the points raised echo this site's dialogue on PR's 2014 program?

On June 24, 2014, NeutralNovice posted a "how-to" tutorial on the " 2014 World Class Banners Update" site. I recommend typing this site title into the DCP search facility at the top of this page. If you have a Mac and are able to do what you want, let me know how. I have tried to follow the site's guidance but not succeeded for reasons that remain a mystery. Hope this helps you…and me.

Lincoln, I forgot to mention another of the highlights of the recent alumni gathering at the Show of Shows. One of the traditions of the current corps is for the age-outs to leave their Regiment dog-tags on the field after their last show or maybe after one of the finals week's shows. If one of our alumni knows the specifics, I would appreciate knowing the facts, including when the tradition started. At the SOS gathering, a couple of alumni provided each of us a dog-tag rimmed in red and stamped with data about our Elsa's performance. I wish I could remember the names of those who did this but, apart from Ray from Louisiana. I am unable to give either the credit they deserve for this gesture. Needless to say, I did not leave my dog-tag on Boylan's field that night.

Well, if that is this forum's goal, some of us should probably suspend their efforts to convince chaos001 to discontinue his/her posts. If it were not for the edge which chaos001 brings to this discussion and the counterpoints offered by those who object in some manner to those postings, we would never reach zigzigZag's goal. I for one enjoy chaos001's contributions as much as I enjoy anyone (particularly those who have had, like me, the opportunity to line up on the starting line with our corps) who takes the time and makes the effort to offer their judgements and weave their suggestions about what can be done to improve each years's final product/program. I've only been on DCP a short time but as to factual matters about the Regiment, I can count on his veracity. As to his opinions, so be it. Although some perceive them as "hateful" or "mean" or "cutting", others may understand them as honest and open critiques of what she believes is happening in "Phantom's world" vs what should be happening or could be done to give the current members, the kids, the best drum corps and life experiences possible. I am among those that hold the second view. Out of chaos will come order. SUTA! Michael Soprano Bugle Phantom Regiment 1956-1960 PS Lincoln, I will be posting another comment shortly (on the "phantom alumni horn line" site started by the esteemed Mr. Boo) about the recent alumni gathering in Rockford. Something I forgot to post earlier.

Hello Lincoln. Thanks for the question. And thanks for the kudos. The alumni reunion was everything I had hoped for, beginning with the first rehearsal on Thursday evening for the 100 or so brass alumni that attended, a rehearsal guided by my 1950s/early 1960s contemporary, Jim Wren. What a kick(halt)! The party later that evening was open to all alumni and the public. Lincoln, you would have enjoyed it. On Friday morning, we had a second alumni rehearsal outdoors at Bishop Boylan Central Catholic HS (site of the Show of Shows), followed by one highlight of the reunion, a chance to have a food-truck-prepared lunch with this year's corps members. Meatballs and marinara sauce on hot dog buns never tasted so good. At this lunch, I had a chance to visit with a group of young trumpet players, most of them rookies and new to drum corps. They were all enthusiastic about embarking on their drum corps careers and making the alumni proud of their efforts in representing the Regiment. I have no doubts about their willingness to work hard together to achieve their goals of learning their craft and presenting an entertaining and winning program. Walking onto the field that evening and joining, along with my alumni brethren (men and women) and the 2014 Corps, was special. Playing "Elsa's Return to the Cathedral", a revised arrangement of our anthem, was a real emotional treat for this old guy. And now, my trumpet career is over…unless we choose to have 40th anniversary rendition of Elsa's. If so, and if I am able, I will be there. And I invite all other alumni not to miss the next opportunity to have as much fun. SUTA!

gabe, thank you very much for posting this. I did not have chance to see this until tonight and now I have a context in which to measure the commentary so far. At this point, I have to agree with those who yearn for the emotional, lush, rich brass sound of the Jim and J.D. years. Lets give Chris C and the rest of the brass staff the chance to tease that result out of what may be a youthful and somewhat inexperienced horn section. I can only hope that by the time the three A contests roll around, we will hear, and applaud, the results. In the meantime, do not give up on these kids, brass or percussion. I also enjoyed hearing my corps play the revised arrangement of Elsa's, particularly since on Friday, June 20, I will have a chance to join with Phantom and the rest of the alumni to play, for my first time, our anthem. What a treat for an old guy!

Today, I have posted the music selections for Phantom Regiment's 2014 "Swan Lake" program on the 2014 Programs site. I have never known of a specific uniform choice to have made the difference in how a specific corps' program is judged (although I leave open the possibility that this board will light up with opinions to the contrary). For myself, I would have preferred that PR's uniform announcement would have been accompanied by explanations from Mr. C and/or the Regiment as to why elements of the uniform which so many posters are considering as "goo" were necessary to help tell the story. In any event, it seems to me that the VISUAL elements of anyone's program dominate judging discussions and decisions these days and it appears that many corps are reaching to satisfy this category.