TroopAlum12

Cheyenne seems to have been a turning point for the corps of the Mile High Performing Arts group. Director Leon beamed with pride as the corps took the field in the state he once called his drum corps home. The biggest turnaround came from the world class Alpine Scouts, who saw a nearly 3-point increase from Logan. "We added in some much-needed visual items that really packed a punch into our GE score, which was the only thing holding us back. Looks like from here on we have a real chance to be a contender this season." The Alpine Cadets and Western Wind also saw some boosts in their scores, but still have some work to do. "The corps will be getting some rehearsal time after the conclusion of this western tour. We may be looking at a few show re-writes to get that pesky GE up to where the judges want it."

The Alpine corps saw a significant increase in sores last night, but not quite enough to boost them over the 70 mark and into the thick of the competition. Corps staff members were seen wandering around the food truck this morning muttering something about "those danged GE judges..."

First off, Ames Field in Michigan City was always one of my favorite venues to perform in. There's almost no space between the sideline and the stands, so the DM has to stand in the crowd, and those in attendance get their faces melted by the hornlines. Good memories. Secondly, we're excited to see how the new additions to the Alpine Scouts and Alpine Cadets' shows come off tonight. Hoping to boost those GE scores and gain a little traction.

I never got to march with Jon, but I met him a few times because he continued to be a huge fan and supporter of the corps. Just a really good guy all around...someone who truly believed in the motto "Honor, Loyalty, and Dedication" and inspired others to do the same. The world has lost a true gem of a person. This has served as a reminder of the fragility of life, and also of how united the Long Blue Line is. >''<

Recap from Tacoma: The Alpine Scouts really started digging in and gaining a little ground last night, proving that they are beginning to get this show rolling in the direction they want it to. The Alpine Cadets joined the A corps for their debut performance last night, And threw down some pretty impressive numbers. The crowd loved it. Leon, director of Mile High Performing Arts, said: "A lot of people ask me if I'm concerned about the low scores we've started this season with. My answer always is: not in the slightest. There's many other corps out east we haven't gone up against yet. There's still choreography and musical tweaks to be added to the shows. There's still weeks and weeks for the corps to get better. After our next rehearsal day, we'll have a few surprises on the field that should boost our standings a little." Both the Alpine Scouts and Alpine Cadets move eastward into Boise, where they will put in some time rehearsing today. Tomorrow they will meet several corps they haven't seen yet in a large sweepstakes event, in what looks to be a very exciting day of drum corps. Back at the MHPA home base in Parker, Western Wind camp is nearing completion. The Div III corps, focused on music education, is made up of much younger members, and will compete in three smaller tours spread across the summer. They will head out to Utah in two days for some final rehearsal before joining up with the Alpine Scouts and Cadets to make their competitive debut in Logan.

Oof, our score took a hit tonight...definitely looking for things to shape up a little as before we start moving towards our home show.

I don't know about ones that are lost...but a few actually still stick around. Examples include: calling trumpets "sopranos" and tubas "contras" (which sounds better anyways, if you ask me ), referring to mistakes as "ticks" and someone who makes a lot of mistakes as a "tick bomb," things like that. Its part of the tradition.

The Alpine Scouts report from their opening show: It was an exciting night for the Alpine Scouts members and staff in Santa Clara, CA, as the corps took to the field for the first time ever in competition. "The members were super-charged going in. There was an almost tangible buzz in the tunnel," said the brass caption head. "We've had an excellent 3 weeks of all-days, and these kids were ready to show the world what they were made of." And they delivered. Musically, the corps brought the power, beating out all other corps in the music caption by at least 0.5 points. Visually they were strong as well, beating out another several corps. Director Leon said the following: "We have an absolutely amazing teaching staff, musically and visually. The visual staff delivers a package which is consistent and looks good on the field, and both they and the music staff instill the philosophy of 'look good play good' into the members. Our brass staff follows the teaching of drum corps greats like VanDoren and Harloff, and that showed up in the sheer power that came off of the brass tonight." What undid the corps was the GE score. While music and visually they were competitive, they scored almost 2 points below all other corps in the GE caption. Could it be show design issues? Or is the corps just not yet performing the show to the full extent needed? "Too early to tell," said Leon. "There's a whole season ahead of us. The corps will grow to fit the show. We still have things to add and to tweak. If all else fails, we have some room to make a few mid-season rewrites if needed. But with the level of excellence these kids are putting out there, I think we're going to end up having a fantastic season." The corps has moved into the Sacramento area for Sunday, where they will get some time off before tomorrow's show.

Um...not sure if anyone mentioned this on here yet, but look at the WGI fan network: Posted January 15th: "No Fan Network subscriptions are available at this time. WGI will not be providing online streaming performances until further notice. Please watch WGI.org for more information." http://wgi.thefannetwork.org/?vod_id=2ffce8c1-afd3-4a0c-9808-a19956d41fc8&mode=viral That really doesn't sound good folks

deleted - wrong thread.

As a recently-retired marching member, I feel as though this is correct. A lot of it too comes from a sense of wanting to understand and belong to both an activity and a corps that has a history to it. On the hornline bus at Troopers, we would sometimes listen to shows from the 60's, 70's, 80's, 90's and all the way up to the most recent years while we were on our way to perform. There was (and still is) a very solid connection between the alumni and current membership, with a strong desire from the membership to get to know the alumni and hear their stories about the way things were, how things are still the same, and so on. It makes them feel like they've really become a part of the legacy when they understand what the legacy is. The corps themselves also help promote this interest in historic drum corps. Many corps have some kind of "history night" where they learn about the background of their unit. At Troopers, we had two such events: one night at the corps hall in Casper, where they would pull out old trophies, patches, newspaper articles, film reels, and dozens of other items kept in storage for us to look at. The other night was the one where they would sit us down and explain the legend of the 1979 Troopers and their amazing semifinals miracle, including listening to the recording of the Dave Richards GE judge tape. There's actually a look at it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ktuvQYWygI The Troop alumni also have multiple facebook pages they use to connect old and young alumni, and people from all generations post photos, videos, and stories from when they marched, and people from all generations express their appreciation. So. Us "young bucks" are definitely interested in the past of the activity. The legacy will live on

I'm sorry, but all I could think of after hearing about his tweet was this picture that got taken during all days in 2011. I had to do it...

List updated.

As someone mentioned earlier, there is hope. Each type of media requires a different license. I think there's a total of 8 or 9 licenses per piece that go into each show (arranging, live performance, streaming, audio downloads, video downloads, broadcast, etc.) Based on past incidents, internet streaming is the hardest one to achieve, it seems. Long story short: If the shows are still available for purchase, this means there is still hope. And the DVDs/CDs may still go unaffected. For now, we have the fact that the streaming media was all that was pulled as of now. So we can hold on to that sliver of light.

"...describing the closer as 4 minutes of 'pure drum corps.'" Yes please!

I really hope not. But it's immediately what came to mind when I saw this. I've been on the receiving end of the licensing firing squad before...hence why the 2010 Troopers don't have a company front and a few other moments on the DVD...

Could it be licensing issues? I hope not...that would be a nightmare to try and renew that many licenses...and would put us out of watching those shows for quite some time.

Though I appreciate your support for 10 and 11, I feel like it's a big mistake to say that 13 and 14 weren't huge years for the corps and big steps forward. 2014 especially...sure the concept wasn't "cutting edge," but it saw a traditional Troopers show done in a way that was very up-to-date. Its set them up for what they want to do next.

While staying somewhere in the midwest in 2012, some of the football players from the high school we were staying at made off with one of our member's iPhones. He activated the theft mode in time to get the kids caught when they tried to sell it at an electronics store the next day...but because the police kept it for evidence, he had to wade out the rest of tour without a phone. Sad, but it does happen.

I think this has potential to be a really beautiful show. Looking forward to seeing the finished product!

Troopers camp this weekend. Updates coming from Facebook speak good things of the hornline. Colorguard is not present at this camp, they had a separate audition camp in Texas (last week I think). No show spoilers or anything like that, just a few photos posted by members and volunteers.

Nowadays, they are often sold to marching bands to raise money for the next round of uniforms. Some open class corps buy old world class uniforms. I've seen high school bands wearing old BD and Troopers uniforms. Sometimes they are sold/raffled off to the general public as well. I own an old Troopers uniform hat that I bought my last year in the corps. I know sometimes corps save a few old uniforms for future use/historical preservation. Supposedly the Troopers have a few original 1950's/60's uniforms in storage somewhere. I don't know if that guard captain uniform they used in 2013 was original or not, but I remember when I marched the staff talked about wanting to use an old guard uniform they had in storage during a show.

Ditto on this one. I was watching with my family and they caught it too...we all just kind of looked at each other and laughed.

I love Mikey! He was the bari/euph tech all three of my years at Troop. Amazingly talented individual (and an awesome person in general).