drewbugler

There was something special about SCV's performance at West Chester...unlike other groups, it felt like they were really gunning and were getting the most out of their tour fees. Those mellophones...that drumline...wow. There was something special about PR's performance as well...the soprano entrance at the beginning was incredible. Thank you SCV and PR, you made me like drum corps again. Drew Ross

2 cents from me... 1997 Tarheel Sun: 3C 1998 Tarheel Sun: CG3 1999 Crossmen: CG3 2000 Crossmen: CG3 2001 Crossmen: Warburton 4M with a 10 backbore I finally found a mouthpiece I liked by 2001 :-) 98-2000 I just went with what I had, but after I saw the book for 2001, I decided I was going to die a slow death if I didn't find something with a more comfortable cup! I also have no problems switching from the Warburton to a 1 1/2 C, which is what I play on for everything else.

Crossmen's soprano pride came from playing third...to get the S 20 spot was just as big a deal as being S 1, so we had many guys stay on third who could've played second (and a few cases, lead) so they could hold down the end spot....I don't know if Joe Exley posts in here, but we used to always talk about how loud that third section was in 2001. In fact, all of those guys switched to Flugelhorn in 2002 (which was an amazingly good section) and one guy stayed so he could continue the S 20 tradition :-) Drew "I always wanted to play third" Ross :-)

2001...ahh, the ageout... 1-Cavaliers-I hadn't seen them march at that pace...ever. I knew that it was a bit too much running around, but it definitely paved the way for last year's show. 2-Cadets-Moondance was by far the most well performed tune of the year, hands down. Shaping, phrasing, style...wow. Best hornline I've heard out of the Cadets since I started marching. The ending drill sequence of Young Person's Guide was fabulously done too! 3-Devils-I loved the show every time I saw it. First time I got to see them early season too! 4-Vanguard-I don't think I got to see the show at all live except for Indy. My favorite part of this one was seeing my man Steve Ballard on the jumbo-tron during the New Era chant :-) You could tell that drum corps was doing what they do best, throwing down an amazingly difficult show. 5-Glassmen-Some buddies from the "heel" were in the drumline that year (and guard.) They did quite a bit of running around in that show, especially the first movement. I didn't really get into the brass book, but I did like the percussion stuff, especially the world percussion-esque music! 6-Crossmen-I felt like we had one of the best marching brass sections in Crossmen history. Not best ever, but pretty darn close! I am proud of that brass section! Aaron Goldberg made the night by playing that bari solo in Flyin' Home, and Firedance was an absolute blast to perform...I wish I could get those nights back! :( 7-Regiment-I thought the Bartok Concerto for Orchestra was really good. I also felt like the PR show design was about .5 better than the Crossmen's that year. Look what ended up happening...it was fairly close at the end. 8-Bluecoats-I think that much like Cavaliers, their show in 2001 set them up well for 2002. I thought they had a good one in 01, but 02 I enjoyed top to bottom! Thanks for the opportunity to go back and think about a great summer! Drew

A friend of mine sent me this article, I thought you guys might be interested in it.... THE NEW YORK TIMES March 24, 2002 No More Fortissimo? Europe Wants a Little Quiet By BERNARD HOLLAND The European Union is coming down hard on Beethoven, Berlioz, Strauss and all those other symphonic loudmouths. Politicians think it's high time. The trumpets in Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, the big bass drum in Verdi's Requiem, even Tchaikovsky's squalling little piccolo in "The Nutcracker" have poisoned our environment long enough. A little peace and quiet, please. The union isn't kidding. A directive being debated in the European Parliament and getting a lot of support around Europe would reduce noise in the workplace, concert halls and opera houses included, The Times of London reports. The bill calls for a workplace decibel limit of 85 without earplugs, 87 with them. Some members of the parliament, Helle Thorning-Schmidt of Denmark among them, think the directive doesn't go far enough. He is looking for an amendment to lower the level to 83. European musicians are not happy. They say that noise in a factory and the noise of a Bruckner finale are not the same thing. (Biased listeners might argue the point.) The Times quotes Libby MacNamara, the director of the Association of British Orchestras: "It will virtually stop us playing any loud repertoire whatsoever." The European Union, however, seems to be closing ranks. The culture secretary will defer to the health and safety executive, whose office sympathizes with musicians, but adds: "Noise is noise. It doesn't matter whether it's Tchaikovsky or a power drill." (And veteran concertgoers will remember performances in which distinguishing between the two was not that easy.) Classical music has brought this problem on itself. The business, beset by cultural competition of every kind, has an increasingly hard time holding the listener's attention, and being loud is one answer. How could one ignore the famous brass section of the Chicago Symphony, especially when it was egged on by its former music director Georg Solti? Trumpets and trombones, and the people blowing into them, have found new ways to reach earsplitting levels. One toot on a trumpet can reach 130 decibels instantaneously, the Times report says. Concert pitch is another culprit. In the interests of civility and uniformity, the music world has long since agreed that the note A equals 440 cycles per second. Yet naughty elements in the symphonic and opera world have surreptitiously engaged in an upward creep. Conscious violators are looking for ticket-selling brilliance. Unconscious ones are often European orchestras, whose wind soloists are highly competitive within their own ranks and tend to push upward in the heat of battle. (American players are usually more collegial and thus truer to A = 440.) How the proposed laws would speak to rock concerts is an even bigger question. Loudness at arena concerts has become a musical property all its own. Turning down the volume at Madison Square Garden would be the equivalent of deleting lyrics or taking away guitars. Players are protected to a degree by standing behind the mountains of loudspeakers, but their fans by the thousands have fallen to the epidemic of hearing loss among the young. (Rock critics take pride in their tailor-made earplugs.) Maybe outdoor noise will not apply. Were there ever good old days? Did our forefathers bask in afternoons of a faun with sounds no louder than the pipes of Pan? Did listeners once adorn their ears with flowers, not earplugs? Pitch varied from place to place in the 18th century, but it was usually lower than A = 440, sometimes much lower. Bach's devilish high trumpets aside, most old instruments had a grainier, less knifelike quality. At least they sound that way to our ears. The 18th century probably had less noise altogether, so perhaps what soothes us now caused headaches 250 years ago. Let us not forget that the European Union's legislation has more to do with musicians than with those listening to them. And here the problem is very real. Hearing loss among orchestra players is universal: the normal state of affairs rather than any abnormal affliction. There is a longstanding joke about backstage conversations peppered with "Huh?" and "What's that?" Sharp-eyed concertgoers may from time to time have noticed clear Plexiglas shields the size of music stands separating brass players from the string players in front of them. You seldom see them, because orchestra managements don't like the message they convey to audiences. Some violists have an alternative strategy. They mark the big trumpet and trombone passages in their scores and bend down on cue. One solution offered to the government-versus-music conflict is weekly averaging. Tuesday's uproar would be mitigated by a more peaceful Wednesday and Thursday. It would be like swapping air rights in the real estate business. This would also answer the eternal musical question of what "loud" and "soft" actually mean. With decibel counter in one hand and the week's tabulations in the other, monitors could calculate a "piano" or a "fortissimo" in terms of the weekly quota, as a form of rationing. If you want that quiet place in Mozart's Requiem any stronger, you'll have to make that Mahler climax measurably less loud. The other solution to the noise quandary is fewer musicians. Let's do away with those pesky second violin parts in Haydn string quartets. What about the Two Tenors? I know which one I'd drop. How about you?

Yeah, I remember coming up from under Camp Randall stadium after our finals performance, hearing the Scouts play followed by an audience response I hadn't heard since the 97 X-men/Madison closers...I thought the place was coming down :-) Drew

I am a little biased here, but I'll go ahead with my pics: 1996 Blue Devils (I saw them perform the show 6 times and remember seeing fog coming out of a few sopranos during the victory-runs.) 1997 Crossmen...big sound at the end of the show for a 50+ member hornline! 2000 Crossmen...Caravan park 'n blow There are a few examples of "loud" hornlines I remember. I also give nods to the Scouts for always bringing a volumunous hornline to the table, year after year. Drew Crossmen 99-01 Tarheel Sun 97-98