Bannedforlife

There is a lot of truth in this post. My mom's hand made Bach Strad plays completely different than my machine made Bach Strad and same goes for mouthpieces. Right now I'm playing on a Jupiter 3C drilled out for me by the Horn Doctor after a TOC show in '11 and plays better than any Bach 3C I've ever had. My overall point with standardized mouthpieces is that a unified approach to embouchure will lead to consistent results and with great talent and instruction you should be able to eliminate the majority of erroneous tendencies in a brassline. But alas there are always special cases and in those circumstances adjustments must be made. I was one of those special cases in that playing upper lead on a 3C in '09 gave me an uncharacteristically bright sound so in '11 I was allowed to play on a 1 1/2C. Eventually I discovered that my embouchure wasn't centered and played with too much top lip, and once I changed this, mouthpieces ceased causing me trouble. Now I can make great sounds out of pretty much anything handed to me, and I've played on some pretty wild mouthpieces throughout my career.

I'm happy to help out, it's awesome that you are auditioning! Blue Knights had an awesome show this year (liked their show last year as well) and I can't wait to see what they come up with for next season. Best of luck to you! Check back with this thread if you ever have any questions/concerns leading up to your audition :)

Any trumpet player worth their salt should be able to get a decent sound out of a Bach 3C. I have played with several different embouchures and countless mouthpieces and have never had a problem getting decent sounds because as I mentioned earlier, if you breathe correctly and your buzz is free and resonant, the mouthpiece you use matters little. I agree that everyone's facial structure is different and certain mouthpieces may have advantages over others, but there is a reason a Bach 3C is a standard mouthpiece. If you throw me any mouthpiece you can find I will find a way to get a decent sound out of it; that is a hallmark of solid brass fundamentals. Although I am glad you have found what works for you, chances are there is indeed a way for you to make a 3C work and simply never took the time to explore that possibility. I see this with tuning slides so often it makes me sick; as soon as a trumpet player realizes they are out of tune they gun for the tuning slide with little consideration for the lack of proper breathing and buzz resonance. One thing I have learned about trumpet players over the years is that they are extremely obstinate about the way they play (including my younger self) and have trouble adapting their approach to playing. Now this makes sense seeing as new embouchure integration can take weeks or months to take place and trumpet players are often not afforded the luxury of time to change things up very often. I have put the horn up to my lips a thousand different ways with dozens of different mouthpieces and while certain approaches and equipment certainly does lend more success than others, I've never felt that solid brass fundamentals could not carry me through. Do you think Eric Clapton would pick up a Kmart guitar and NOT be able to make incredible music on it then blame it on the fact that he wasn't playing blackie? Do you understand that in the golden age of drum corps many corps used whatever hand me down equipment they had at their disposal? They were happier than a pig in mud to be a part of drum corps and beyond all odds found a way to make it work. Now if I were richer than dirt I would buy all the corps full lines of Yamaha Xeno's because they are consistently the highest quality instruments brasslines today use. Maybe a line of custom Monette's would be even better. Maybe Crown could have won the Ott the last 3 years on Jupiters or Kings. Maybe Blue Devils wouldn't have taken the Ott this year if they didn't have their system blue equipment. Who can tell. All I can say for sure is that great brass musicians always have and always will find ways to achieve success regardless of the equipment at their disposal.

"Oh goody this topic again!" said no one on DCP ever.

The idea is that with a unified approach you get a unified sound. If you can't find a way to play your show music on a designated mouthpiece than it's probably time to choose something to do with your life other than play a brass instrument. Blue Devils won brass this year and had a killer trumpet line. Guess what? They were all playing system blue mouthpieces. The reason they do this is because no matter what "serious" horn teachers say, in the end it works. I have a system blue lead piece and guess what? I sound great on it. When I marched I played a 3C and guess what? I sounded great on that as well. Please don't derail this thread with your pious conjecture on what "serious" horn teachers think, because having experienced both sides of that world there is NO justification for keeping a kid from marching drum corps. The brass caption heads and brass staff of these organizations are ALL incredible musicians and are some of the most "serious" instructors in the country and even the world. My 60 year old college band director plays trumpet like a fart through a tin can but guess what? He makes 60K a year. He teaches his studio about "the pucker approach to embouchure" and is pretty convinced after 28 years of being a band director he has it figured out. Well guess what? The reality is he has a studio full of crappy trumpet players. That being said he was ALWAYS supportive of students participating in drum corps, but time and time again I've seen snobby brass musicians/instructors against drum corps and that is not what this thread is about. It is for prospective MM's to imbue quality advice on how to pursue a membership in the marching arts, NOT a pedestal for you to hop on and tell off the beating hearts of these inspired kids that they aren't "serious" about being a brass musician. My father is the associate principal trombonist in the Symphony where I live and he had a stick up his butt and would say "it's just kids on a field blowing their brains out" until he saw with his own eyes the quality brass instruction that went into drum corps when I marched. A rival trumpet player from another high school in my town had a stick up his butt all through high school and said "drum corps isn't for serious trumpet players". Guess what? He was a trumpet soloist for 2 seasons with Phantom AND was horn sargeant his age-out year. All this to say please keep this thread about helping passionate students follow their dreams of one day marching drum corps. Rant OVER.

When I marched it was Bach 3C's for firsts and Bach 1 1/2C's for seconds and thirds. If you are a trumpet player you need to own a 3C and have experience playing on it. Some corps have their own custom mouthpieces, others go with whatever works best for each performer. What I would do is set aside some money so that when you find out what the corps uses you can buy one. It is important to note that everyone's facial structure is different and while one mouthpiece may work great for 9 out of 10 people there is still that 1 that doesn't fit the mold. The mechanics of how you approach embouchure are important as well. I've known great players with terrible embouchure setup and horrible players with perfect teeth and can hardly play a clark study. What I can say is the mouthpiece matters little if your lips aren't buzzing freely and with resonance. If you have that down then very few mouthpieces will give you trouble. That being said, don't be that guy that thinks a different mouthpiece will solve all your problems. The quality of breath you take along with a resonant buzz will make more of a difference than any mouthpiece can ever make on its own, so don't worry too much about mouthpieces. Look on YouTube for videos about embouchure development and tone production and be aware of the tendencies in your embouchure.

No worries, I am happy to help! It is a fair concern to be mindful of eligibility. With that in mind, generally the first few camps are centered around getting a hornline to utilize the brass technique (most of the visual in brass block boils down to marking time and step-outs) it is not uncommon to have at least 2 visual blocks and a short visual audition (sometimes done in small groups) over the course of your first camp. Now that I think back on it, I was most concerned about the visual audition as well. Most people walking into a camp have some level of proficiency at playing their instrument, but very little in corps style marching. My high school marching band is highly renowned throughout the tri-state region so that helped a little, but honestly the level of detail required for the visual technique was on a different level than I had previously been exposed to. That being said, the visual technique will probably on a different level than anything you've been exposed to, and will take a while to get under your belt. I look back at the first video I made for the vis staff in 09 and remembered how hard I tried to do everything right but watching it now I can't help but chuckle at how awful it was. It may be frustrating at first, but the good news is that with careful attention to detail you can improve quickly. There are a few things that instantly would have helped me going into my first visual block. The first is posture. If I got a dollar for every time I heard the words "lift and project" from vis staff (and brass staff too for that matter) I could outright buy my own drum corps. Look online for pictures or videos of great brasslines in rehearsal whether it's marching or just standing in the arc. Then find a mirror and make your body do the same thing they do. Keep in mind that while all corps visual techniques vary slightly, concept of posture is more or less consistent. Awareness of how your body moves through physical space in a designated period of time is extremely important. One thing I wish I knew before my first camp was how little I understood about the space my body occupied. One thing I noticed was that members who were involved with dance prior to auditioning were immensely more successful at interpreting the technique as the majority of conceptual body awareness had already been instilled in them prior to learning the technique. Now I'm not saying you have to go out and join a ballet studio or take an intro to modern dance class, but what I can say is these people were at an advantage as they went into it understanding many conceptual elements required to emulate the technique. Most importantly is to realize that during those 2 3-4 hour visual blocks at your first camp it will feel like a lot to take in and it's easy to get information overload and become frustrated. After you receive instructions, repeat them to yourself in your head. This will eliminate the majority of mental errors. Immediately after rehearsal is done or right after you're done eating (oh yeah, you will eat a LOT in corps as you can easily burn over a thousand calories each rehearsal) head to the sleeping area, and write down absolutely everything you can remember about the technique and any examples the instructors used to convey the technique. Understand that you probably won't get it down during the first camp, so practicing posture in front of the the mirror (when you learn what a slide is you will want to practice that one in a mirror for sure). After your first camp, if at all possible find a place in your hometown to practice your technique. This can be an empty hallway of your school or college or track or even in the middle of a park somewhere. Record yourself or better yet have a buddy tape you so you can reference your notes or visual manual (if your corps has one) and compare it to what you are doing on the tape and adjust accordingly. It is very important to practice marching with a metronome! Go to the app/play store and download a metronome (the one I use is called Metronome Beats by Stonekick in the Google play store which is a great one and best of all it's free!) then grab a cheap pair of portable speakers (around $10 at Wal-Mart, if not old computer speakers will do fine) and you'll be on your way in no time!

Thank you to all the parents, band directors, and private instructors! It is because of them that these MM's are able to take part in the wonderful world of drum corps and keep the activity running. I saw drum corps in 06 for the first time, became interested in 07, developed a dream in 08, and followed through on that dream in 2009. I couldn't have done it without the support of my family and instructors!

GET OUT.

Before my first audition in 2009 I checked out a mellophone from my high school band to become familiar with in the event all the trumpet spots would be filled. This didn't end up being a problem for me as I walked out of the audition with a trumpet spot, but it may be helpful to have experience on both which will help show dedication to getting a spot. You mentioned that you want to leave nothing to be desired, but I want you to understand that it is the brass caption head/techs job to find what is to be desired in your playing and make you aware of things to improve upon. How you sink your teeth into those changes and work to improve your playing will be the best indicator of a successful prospective MM. I've known people who botched their audition and we're incredibly discouraged from not getting a contract. This usually went one of two ways: They let it get to them and didn't show up for the next camp, OR they worked their butts off and came back the next camp or even the next year and 100% of the time they got a contract. It may not be the first camp, it may not be the last camp or even the next season, but if you work hard to improve you will almost certainly get a contract. Your dedication to improving speaks much more strongly than someone who nails the audition and gets lazy because they don't think they have to work as hard and end up falling behind the members that are working their butts off as a result. As far as repertoire is concerned. Most corps have their own audition pieces but may also allow you to play a short excerpt of your own. 2-3 minutes is really pushing it. The staff will be auditioning brass over the course of the camp and no one has time to listen to someone hack their way through an entire solo. What I did was played the theme to Napoli by Herman Bellstedt to display lyrical abilities and the 3rd variation to display technical skill. It took about a minute, and this is important because then you don't have to worry about playing a long excerpt after 2 days of playing your horn 8 or more hours (unless you play that much already your chops will probably be a little beat up come audition time). Also I want you to understand that a good brass instructor will be able to "see through" your playing and isolate issues in your playing despite the repertoire, so choose something you are comfortable playing and know you can perform well. Don't worry about wowing them by flying through Carnival of Venice when the first page of the Kennan may serve you equally well. Work with your private instructor or band director to choose a piece (or short sections/variations etc.) that highlights the strengths in your playing. Once you have found repertoire that you want to audition with, the next thing you want to do is to hop on YouTube and listen to as many different recordings of the repertoire as you can. Once you have a conceptual basis to outline what you want to do with the piece, flip on the metronome and tuner and start hammering it out. Practice in chunks, and overlap them so that the end of one chunk is past the beginning of the next. This way, when you go to play the full excerpt there should be no hiccups in the transition from one chunk to the next. Once you feel that you have hammered out the notes and rhythms and your transitions are seamless, pull out your phone/laptop and start making recordings. This is important because the awareness of what we hear while playing is often clouded by the focus it takes to play in the first place, and once you strip that away and devote your undivided attention to what you have recorded, issues with timing/phrasing etc. become apparent in a way that you may have previously been unaware of. As for the audition itself, remember that you are paying a lot of money for top quality instruction from some of the best brass educators in the country and even the world. Many have spent their entire careers dedicating themselves to improving the students they teach. If they have constructive criticism for you (and they will, it's their job), there is no reason to take it personally, they only have your best interests as a musician in mind. Last thing, and perhaps most importantly, is get in touch with members of the corps you want to march in and listen to their audition stories. Your first camp can be an awkward experience, but if you have an idea of what it will be like beforehand from members in the corps chances are you will be much more comfortable. Immerse yourself in the experience and take in everything you possibly can. Get to know as many MM's and staff as you can, listen more than you speak, and reach out of your comfort zone to go the extra mile. Participating in drum corps is hands down the most rewarding experience I've ever had, and when the time comes it will be for you as well. Hope this helps!

They didn't. I noticed a trumpet soloist with a ring in finals. Maybe it was unrelated but looked like a championship ring to me.

Wait WHAT

I'm not hating the game. I just said that corps that do it right are awesome to see and I've been an avid supporter of BD and Bluecoats all season and in my opinion had the 2 best shows when it comes down to it. I like the shows I marched, but now is a different era in DCI and I am excited to see the direction that it goes in. Great writers and designers and performers will continue to find a way to rise above any criteria set before them, as they always have.

I've marched some incredibly difficult drill myself, and I can attest that the demand is not the same as when I marched. When you're going at 190-210BPM for 4 and a half minutes straight with 3 hold sets, THAT is a marathon, and I played above the staff pretty much the entire time. One poster said he liked seeing a corps that struggles early in the season conquer their show by the end that is exactly the experience that I had. That being said, what I can say that should hopefully ameliorate some of the confusion/frustration about the scores is that when I marched the sheets were radically different. The new sheets are over one third GE with 40 possible points, 30 in visual, and 30 in music. The shows have changed since the time I marched because the criteria has changed. Honestly, for the corps that are doing it right, the sheets really do a service to the quality of the programs. Some corps are struggling to make the adaption and those productions usually leave me scratching my head. It will be interesting to see how each corps learns from this year and adapts their show designs to be more successful in the 2015 season. It's been one hell of a season.

Just saw the scores and thought to myself "Hmmm, DCP must be blowing up right now."