KVG_DC

Oh Bloo is another great example of pit/battery integration. Bloopit has been astounding of late. I think they sometimes get overlooked, as does Bloo guard, because they make it look so effortless and everything gets SO integrated sometimes, there's no single 'standout' moment where its any one single section prevalent in the music or the visual of the show. That's one of the amazing things about Bloo's design and instructional teams is they really get the WHOLE corps functioning as a single unit.

Not surprising. The word the last few years was Mandarins were specifically seeking people who wanted to do shows "like Bloo" so those who'd done Mandarins would go for Bloo in the absence of their team.

Right. I marched in N. Indiana band with a tenor sax. It was a regular thing to have to do major repairs after marching season. Many of us had 'marching horns' and 'concert/jazz' horns if we were top line players. We'd be tempted to pull out the good instruments for state finals but then the notion of a Selmer Mark VII on the truck, carried gingerly over the large rock lot of fallen twisted ankles outside of the Hoosier Dome and the weather exposure of winter before getting into the dome were 'uh no...I'll use the horn that's been outside all season.' And the number of extra reeds we had to share around the section at EVERY show. And a box of 10 was still fairly reasonable at $9.95 for the cheaper kinds. Reeds now are way more expensive.

I believe they both had brass instruments they marched otherwise. I think the BK kid was marching a Euph. The BD kid a Mello? I remember watching them on streams with us trying to see when they switched out. Cause were talking about what different embouchures would be needed for the switching

That Miss Saigon show was all my band alumni friends were talking about. It was so remarkable what they pulled off.

Totally. If we're not beyond the "music education" aspect of the activity yet, then it also reinforces the cross instrumentation skills and understanding of musicality in the activity. Something I think would appeal to the current "I'm a music major looking to be a band director" crowd that seems to be the prime recruiting field. Even in my day (the mid to late 80s) in high end competitive band, it was considered super cool to be multi-instrumental. As part of the Jazz Band I front line, we were expected to be able to put down our saxes and pick up a flute or clarinet for some numbers and relished the challenge of it.

This. We could see it grow to 'featured ensembles' but it'd be stunned to see full sections unless the touring model completely collapses and we end up with 'weekend gigs only' sort of things. In which case, the entire activity would have changed pretty dramatically.

The oboe for BK last year was really well done. I don't mind the soloists working in like this as BD did a good job with the sop sax as well. The cellos, violins , ketyars, etc. incorporated the past as featured instruments have been done pretty well too. I've get the concerns of the slippery slope but I'm fine with 'featured soloist' usage of various other instrumentations and their colors in the sound scape. I would like to see some provision or modification where a featured woodwind/string/non-brass musician be ALSO performing in a 'regular' role of the ensemble, e.g. a brass musician who come to pick up a flute or a oboist who is otherwise marching brass, percussion, or guard. I think it's most impressive when we see features where cross musical/performing skills are in play. e.g. the vocalist for Troopers' Wild Horses doing that vocal work after having spun her heart out on the field in the guard, etc.

Ramming for rammings sake has rarely appealed to me. Even in the WGI. I'd much rather watch something nuanced like what Ayala was doing just prior to the pandemic break with things like The Point of It All than what Chino Hills was doing. Mike Jackson's writing with BK was the field equivalence of that nuance but it didn't always translate. I was excited for him with Crown and the Camelot show worked for me in that integrated sort of writing but the 'mesh' with Crown Brass wasn't quite working. On the flip side is say, what Cadets were doing toward the end with percussion. Lots of ramming features that were impressive as heck but ... they seemed to disrupt the flow of the brass book. The balance perhaps being BAC's percussion prior to Glitch and Boom where you'd have some nice transitions to ramming percussion. it's integrated even more for Glitch and Boom in some ways. I'm a big fan of the battery working with the pit in features, (particularly if they're challenged to listen across space and on the move!) rather than treating them as separate entities and typically writing the pit into the brass musicality and the battery separate. I think SCV does one of the best jobs writing the pit and battery together in interesting ways on the field and their record of taking the Sanford as much as they have shows that. Rennick's know what they're doing.

I just remember going from "eh, this could be more" to "oh wow they really sold the La La Land to me!" They really got those kids to buy into the show and perform the snot out of it with verve. We were all "they probably could have layered more if they knew the kids were gonna light it up that much."

Here in DC we've dropped 14 degrees in the last 2 1/2 hours. We're expecting a good chunk of snow that will be then covered by a few inches of sleet. So it'll be like a layer of concrete. Probably tons of power outages

Everglow was sort of the opposite trajectory in my memory. It was loose and choppy all season then the last sprint it just had a total glow up with pacing and energy.

Last year wasn't it for me. The Sins show seemed to do too much. The Frida show though was fantastic. Here's to hoping the design team delivers another like that or Everglow

Yeah everyone here had that intrusive thought the moment they read the post.

Ouch. We'd call that a "Marching and Maneuvering solo."

Ah the old "2 to 5 step to get to the bathroom" followed by entering the field like a BD bass drummer on finals night...

That's a nice pick up

I forget who first suggested it, maybe Chief Guns? BD doing an all Gordon Goodwin show. I think the hope was for all original charts but that won't be at this point. But I've been obsessed with the idea of a BD all Goodwin show since.

That. I remembered that whole kerfluffle among some looking for show information last year. I did my PhD in Boston and know that area and yeah, it's good for making a noisy loud mess but not nuanced music. The description of it being a fundraiser for donors and sponsors makes total sense to just do some fun reps for what that crowd wants and take the cash. It doesn't even have to be played all that well because the acoustic environment will mask all errors. When I was a senior in HS our Jazz I band got offered a paid (to the program) gig for a Christmas party for some local business's Christmas party. One of the members' parents worked there I guess and that led to the gig when then wanted some live music. But they wanted swing tunes from the 50's and Christmas music. We'd done the Midwest International Band Clinic in Chicago that year so we'd assembled and practiced a lot of tunes for that. About half from the previous year but a lot of new charts too. We were in the middle of swapping out the old charts for new ones in the coming competitive season and picking up some fairly complicated things like Lyle Mays Sir Gwain and the Green Knight. So the director was loathe to lose practice time. He hands out the charts the last practice before the gig and we sight read through them. Sing Sing Sing, In the Mood, and some corny arrangements of Christmas songs. We take them at a danceable tempo for the party so it was like we were speeding them to make the challenging. We're not as together as we usually are and ask, "Is this gonna be ok for the weekend?" Director is "it's an office party with an open bar, it'll be noisy and they won't know. We're there to play anything so as long as they have fun they'll pay us." He was dead right (and the drunken people were hilariously distracting from playing ensemble parts. One soloist lost it mid solo and we had to come in early because he was going back to his seat laughing." On the bus back we were like "that was so bad." Director was, "we got the money, it was good. It'll pay for the bussing to the big invitational in South Bend in January." So raking in 600-800k for playing Sweet Caroline in whatever shape it comes out and doing some chords and warmup tricks that echo off the glass buildings seems to follow the same principle.

@Iron Lips

That would include a border crossing everyone had to wake up for I presume. Ugh what a night.

Boston and Phantom both have traditional "concert in the park" but they're largely pushed back to the start of the Summer season now. I believe Phantom still uses it to debut the show music, Boston did but I believe the last one was more of a shift to "other tunes" and line features. I have a vague memory of conversation here that Boston's concert had become not about the show music less out of 'secrecy' and more out of the fact that it was both a fundraiser and 'thank you' to the big donors and businesses who wanted stuff like Sweet Caroline and "let's see what those rifles I donated money for do" sort of things. Also, they were doing it on the even of carting everything out west last year as well, so the lack of show stuff there might have been in part, due to that.

I dunno why my brain keeps forgetting this is gonna happen this year but every time I see a reminder my brain goes, "EEEEEEEEEE! It's gonna happen!" and I flood with dopamine.