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BMBob

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Profile Information

  • Your Drum Corps Experience
    Carolina Gold 2003-2004 (lead mellophone)
  • Your Favorite Corps
    ummm....this is a tough one
  • Your Favorite All Time Corps Performance (Any)
    another tough one...
  • Your Favorite Drum Corps Season
    ...and another...
  • Gender
    Male
  • Location
    Charlotte, North Carolina
  • Interests
    music (all), drum corps, horn, a lot of random stuff..................................anything, really...

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  • AIM
    AlphaBrass01
  • Website URL
    http://
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  1. To comment only on one part of the original post, I hope that if a corps like this comes from Carolina Crown, that it comes as part of a partnership with Carolina Gold rather than a competing entity. Being a Gold alum, I would hate to see the [much] greater visibility of Crown cause problems for that organization. I see that as a potential issue with any such group, but the northeastern DCA corps are, in general, more established, and seem to draw a steadier membership base than the more thinly spread all-age groups in other areas. Now, if Crown and Gold (or any two existing DCI and DCA corps) were able to form a MUTUALLY BENEFICIAL partnership to create an organization that could better serve a wider variety of people, I would think it would be a wonderful thing.
  2. Bob - good to meet you at Catawba College on Saturday!
  3. If anyone feels like sharing their thoughts on the show, I would love to hear about my home corps and all the other groups that performed this past weekend!
  4. Additionally, even if it does take some adjustment for the kids, I think it is a good thing, as long as it is financially viable. How many high school brass players ever get to experience playing instruments in multiple keys, and have to learn to hear it? The experience of trumpet and baritone players often having to play higher in the overtone series than they would on Bb horns gives them a wider breadth of musical experience, and knowing how to deal with that can only make them better.
  5. I do not really understand the idea that a horn in a different key plays less in tune. As long as the players can hear it, and the quality of the horn is okay, the key does not make a difference. Symphonic trumpeters play horns in C, Bb, D, Eb, and even A...sometimes in the same concert. The performers have to learn how to hear the key - the bad notes and partials are the same as on any other brass instrument, with peculiarities to each individual horn, which can't be avoided in any key.
  6. I am interested to see how this turns out. I've always thought Metroplex would be good on the field, but it seems like it will take some work to fit it into the rest of the rep, which is a lot more jazz/commercial sounding. Musically speaking, I'm guessing the arrangements and transitions will be the keys to making that work. As always, I'm looking forward to it, and I'll be behind Gold all the way!
  7. I disagree with this. Listen to a symphony orchestra brass section and you can definitely pick out the difference between muted horns and muted trombones (the two brass instruments with the most overlap in range/register). There is, however, a greater variation in timbre within a symphony brass section than a drum corps hornline.
  8. I've had luck with trombone mutes. You may need to remove/re-do the cork thickness and placement for your individual horn, but I've used a standard trombone cup mute with no modification successfully with King and Yamaha mellos.
  9. As another horn player, I will say that I find the lack of horns to be of an extremely practical basis. The Bb marching French horn, at least every make I've tried, is a vastly inferior and more difficult instrument to play (well and in tune), especially in the upper register, than the mellophone. Additionally, the sound "breaks" much earlier in the dynamic spectrum, meaning that one cannot play as loudly with as tasteful a sound. The fact that it's pithed lower than a mello means that if you're playing similar parts, you're playing well into the upper partials. If you're playing lower parts, you're basically in the same range as the upper and middle baritones, and the tone color is not very different from these instruments. I think the yearning from horn players for a marching French horn is based on missing that orchestral horn sound, but the fact is that the sound we're thinking of is NEVER going to be present on the field without concert horns (which have seen good use in some marching bands for limited sections of shows, but I've always seen as a novelty). In my opinion, we need to just accept that this sound is missing. A drum corps is much closer to a British brass band setup than an orchestral brass setup, and nobody complains about the lack of horns in the great brass bands of the world. While I'm on the topic, I'm also strongly AGAINST using horn mouthpieces on mellophones. They don't match the leadpipe correctly, and the two aren't designed to work together. Trying to make a mellophone sound like a horn is a losing battle - it's better to realize what a good mellophone sound is and shoot for that. There are options out there to alter horns and mouthpieces to make the setup more "familiar" for horn players. Mouthpieces can be made with screw rims and a horn rim can be duplicated to fit on a mello cup. Also, some customizers, especially Patterson Hornworks (www.hornworks.com) have come up with some great ideas to make the transition less of a change. Personally, I feel that as long as you are very aware of what your embouchure is doing with both instruments/mouthpieces, the situation should not have a negative impact on either. Look at JD Shaw, as well as an article in the most recent Horn Call (from the International Horn Society), which focuses on "creative" hornists, including one who routinely doubles on a number of other brass instruments, and specifically decries the idea that this is damaging to her horn embouchure. Sorry this was such a long response, but these issues hit home with me, and as someone who is a horn player, but also occasionally plays other brass instruments, teaches young brass players, and has arranged for several different situations, I've developed some strong opinions on this stuff.
  10. I would think cost alone for something like this would be completely prohibitive.
  11. another Monday

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