Vance

I"m not going to say anything anymore about Scouts 17, except a warning to all of you guys... and it's not a bogus hype! Their opener blew my mind and the final run through this morning gave me the chills I haven't felt since the 1990's... And the way Scott Oliver shaped the music... OMG! As a member of 1991 BD, I felt the style of Scout's opener is like a mixture of 91 and 95 BD closer. Come out of the gate like gun slingers... F'ing Glorious.... I'm still feeling the goose bump! It has style, little avant-garde jazz phrases, bunch of FFFFFF blow aways... And more importantly, something that have been missing in recent decade, aggression with anger. I can't wait to see the finish product, judging by what I have seen, this show will be a home run!!! You guys are in for a treat!

I just came back from the camp site and I realized a mistake was made, they have one 15 year old, a vets who I was staying with gave me the wrong info last night. To be honest, I was actually excited to hear the Scouts having some younger kids because I see no reason why they should be rejected based on their age if they're capable, something I experienced back in the day. But one thing I will say is, their opener is a home run and the ballad is unbelievably emotionally driven! The opener is really intense and the shaping of the balled reminded me a lot of 91/95 BD's ballad! This is show in my opinion, have a deep Madison root within. Their brass caption head is pretty awesome and was doing a great job running the rehearsal, over all very efficient and effective. I think you guys will be in for a surprise!!! Also they have a new group of marching staff with plenty of experience from another world group and they have been working the kids hard to clean up their feet. From what I have seen, you'll guys will be in for a treat! I have always wondered about the rehearsal schedule of the Mid West and East Coast groups during winter. West Coast groups are some what spoiled with the nice weather they have. And eye opening experience.

Depend of who drives the activity. It seems like BD, Crown and BC are the one dictating show designs now a days. For one I'm not a fan of giant scaffoldings because I have experienced that with the Riverside Community College way before DCI got into it, but if it works and show flows well, I really can't complaint. To experience Madison cam this weekend is a huge eye opener for me, a mesmerizing experience!

When I marched 1991 BD, there were two 14 year olds in the group, and both of them marched all the way till 21 and they have 4 DCI rings. BD no longer allow that because they have no problem recruit from all over the world and they also have B and C corps. It's actually quite common to have younger kids in world class group, you just see less now a days.

So I'm adding some icing to the cake....Their opener is from Bartok with some interesting Advant-Garde jazz. I like what I'm hearing so far. For those who remembers the end of their 1997 show with that glorious 45 second FFFFFFFF hold, with the drum major picking up his camera and took bunch of photos of the audience jizzing all over themselves in the stadium??? I told them it's time to bring that back!!!!

Kanstul is still making them, so I'll leave that market to them. My goal is to create and explore a new market, I think what I'm doing can achieve that. What's missing with the traditional key is the soprano bugle and contrabass sound. The trumpets sounds very thin and their smaller 4/4 size tuba is being buried by electronics. That's why the sound of modern day drum corps is hallow. All you have to do is listen to 1986 Blue Devils and 2017 Blue Coast, you will be able to tell the missing element. As for the horn, I played the original megaphone with 91 BD, and my latest creation actually plays a lot better in tune. This is a prototype, the question is if I can get a group to play them, so I can put it through production.

Different type of horns suits different type of music. If you want to hear a very nice concert band on the field, Yamaha is the go to horn. . However, if you intend to play Malaguena, Spanish Fantasy, Malaga, or La Fiesta, those Xeno will not do the job. Perhaps that's why drum corps no longer play these type of adrenalin pumping, angry music. The activity have definitely changed, but a lot of things eventually go retro when idea runs out.

If that's the case, why is Jupiter still in the game? Why is BD still with King instead of using Yamaha? In my opinion, Yamaha have nothing on Kanstul, but very few groups uses them. Until the day Drum Corps International becomes Marching Band International, the desire to hear the bugle sound will never go away.

They are on two valves Kanstul G bugles. They got two sets about two years ago and they will continue to use the two valvers unless there are no manufactures left. They have spoke to me about a year ago asking me if I can produce them if Kanstul go under. I told them "Let's hope Kanstul survives and thrives." If that happens, I can produce them. The factory I work with is very capable,

The Scouts have been with Yamaha since 1984, it will take a lot of convincing for them to drop Yamaha for my horns. They are curious about my products since many of theirI alums are using it. My Bb soprano bugle is becoming very popular among DCA cats, so the Scouts have seen my horns and expressed their curiosity. I do know that the staffs were at Bands of America two months ago to see Ayala HS's performance, to get a better understanding of the sound, presented in Bb form. There are two problems I'm facing. I cannot compete with Yamaha because I don't have the funds to furnish a whole line as a sponsor, and I don't know if the Scouts is getting their horns free, or they have to pay. And The biggest concern/challenge is the fact that it has been a generation since DCI abandoned G bugle, so the younger staff may have problem hearing/understand the bugle sound. I'll be taking a trip to visit the Scouts this weekend, I have made a lot of friends in that area since the founding of my company, maybe I can have a chat with the staff/director.

I heard the Scouts' opener and they are going for it. They have return to Advant-Garde Jazz with some serious power. Looking forward to see them return to finals.

Ayala High School of S Cal at BoA this year, they're not a drum corps so the power isn't there, but you can hear the Soprano bugle over tone, with the upper register ring/buzz not heard on regular trumpets. There are also two small drum corps using them. The Raiders and Highlanders. So far I have produced about 80 of these horns, most of them are sold. Half of them were sold to DCA cats and regular trumpet players around the country. They love the versatility of the horn. There is a World Class corps rehearsing with them last camp, and they requested to use them again this upcoming camp. If they end up using it this season, I will make an announcement.

Came across this thread. Very interesting. I played the Meehaphone with the 1991 BD and I love the sound. So I went to work on a 3-valves F version, and I had it done couple of weeks ago.

Raiders were very successful with my Bb soprano this past summer and I expect them to excel to the next level in 2017 with a bigger group. I was fortunate enough to have WBA (Western Band Association) champion Ayala High School on the Bb Soprano Bugle this past weekend. They took delivery of 24 horns last Wednesday night, and had about 4-5 hours through Thursday and Friday rehearsal and performed with the horns on Saturday night. It was a ballsy move but their assistant band direct Jim Rogers prepped them properly prior to delivery. I am very pleased with the result. Sample one: They didn't have enough time to do a full warm up, and I was only able to capture this video on the run. You can tell a few younger players had some problem adjusting, but over all I was extremely satisfied to have captured the final 20 seconds (before they tune the whole band). It was glorious!!! Again, please allow me to emphesize on the word blending. You can hear the Bb soprano blended much better with the mellophone, not sticking out like a sore thumb. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syAUEvd-fvc Sample two: Their actual performance. Clearly there are issues to be iron out but from moment to moment, you can capture the old school drum corps sound! Also with my Mellophone and specially designed mouthpieces, that was probably the best sounding mellophone section I have heard outside of DCI! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cnebb5Fj4ac Here is a semi good news. Couple of world class corps have contacted me. They want my Bb soprano... Just a matter of getting out of their contract with big corporations... Keeping my fingers crossed.

I forgot to mention. Yes, I am producing a 5/4 Marching Tuba based on the old King K90. The Kanstul Grande is also being used as reference. The reason it's taking a long time is because I'm producing a sousaphone at the same time, so it pushed everything back a few months. As for marketing strategy, I'm not going after any World Class corpsl. Yamaha, Jupiter and King got that covered by offering those groups free horns. As a boutique company, I don't see the point of fighting the big guys. As stated, my goal is to supply DCI Open Class, DCA, Sound Sport, high schools and colleges. Raiders was a good experiment to hear my Bb soprano on the field and they did a fantastic job. Even though they only had five players this year they sounded like ten on the field. They did buy 12 horns and is expecting to have 12 players next season. The next experiment is with Ayala High school from California. They are the Western Band Association Conference champions on numerous occasions and will be attending this year's Bands of America Grand National in November. The assistant band director Jim Rogers is the Baritone Soloist for BD in 1993/94, and soprano soloist in 1996. They will be featuring my Bb soprano with 24 players so I'm hoping for a good recording from BoA as my press material. I can't wait to see them in action. They will be getting the horns in mid September.

I'm on a road trip from S Cal to Portland Oregon, so I'll be busy for couple of days. The biggest difference between the trumpet and soprano is the "wideness" of the sound. For those who are confused with the difference, you can youtube 1986 Blue Devils and listen to their closer Spanish Fantasy, or 1988 Madison Scouts' Malaguena. Listen carefully to the loud cords. When you listen to modern day drum corps such and Coats and Crown, the trumpet is way up there, and they sound like a layer of voice is missing between the Trumpets and Mellophone. When you listen 86 BD and 88 Scouts, you can hear the Soprano, but they blended perfectly with the alto voices with no noticeable gap. The effect is that famous wall of sound without annoyance of the Bb trumpets sticking out on their own. 86 BD had 8 Contrabass, and 88 Madison had 9, they were clearly louder than today's 16. With Amplification, companies such as Yamaha, King, and Jupiter only need to produce a 4/4 Tuba, not the 5/4 like before. Talk to you guys in couple of days. Have a great time making fun of each other...lol

I was told the Raiders drum and bugle corps have a few holes and they really want to fill it. Please contact them if you're interested. Mike Hamilton (Brass caption head) told me that they will work with you on the tuition/tour fee. If you have Facebook, please look up Michael Hamilton or Tom Maiello and discuss the possibility. If you're trumpet player, you get to play on my Bb soprano!

I just realized there is a 2015 Spirit of Atlanta DCI finals performance on Youtube. @ 1:27 you can heard the sound of Kanstul Powerbore, and the 5/4 Kanstul Tuba at the cord of that particular passage. The mellophone is still on the edgy side but that's what Kanstul are known for. It's actually very good. Specially at 3:50, 7:20 and 10:00, you can hear the blending of the cord with a clean solid note on top. The trumpets did not stick out near as much as the Yamaha and Jupiter horns. It's a shame that Yamaha and Jupiter have bought all the corps through sponsorship and contracts while refused to make horns that are truly for this activity. I bet you if they perform right before top five corps, people will think they're louder. I think my horns can do better, but at the moment I really dig the sound of Spirit of Atlanta. Kudos to them!

Well, Cadets is using a solo string this year in the pit. I think you'll see soon see sax as well. BTW, you enjoy the music from the girl in your signature page? I grew up listening her songs.

No bashing here on Kanstul, but their Bb marching horns are OK. Kanstul had plenty of help when they were developing the three-Valve G bugles. The Blue Devils sent their brass staff to evaluate the prototypes before finalized the design for production and they were the test bed on all of their new newer G bugles. However, They did not get the help on Bb since everyone left them in 1999. So their Bb horns were shorter versions of their G horns, except they couldn't make their Bb trumpet to work with the K20 G bugle bell, so they settled on the power bore bell, which is an new invention by itself during the late 1990's. The only horn in Bb from Kanstul that is still very G like, is their Tuba. If you can find the following recordings, you will hear the difference between each generations. 1986 Blue Devils 1988 Madison Scouts 1991 Phantom Regiment 1992 Cavaliers And fast forward to: 2001 Blue Devils 2002 Cavaliers 2003 Phantom Regiment You will hear a huge difference in sound. Because the soprano bell is with a much wider flare, the sound actually does not stand out. It blends with the mellophone much better than regular trumpet. And the loudness comes from the bottom, hence the old 5/4 Contrabass vs today's 4/4. The closest corps to G right now is Spirit. They are a Tama/Kanstul artist and their Coliseum trumpet is with the powebore bell, but still not quite the same as the K20. You will not hear the full glory of G until a top 12 corps uses my horn, but if they do, they will sound louder than the old G corps because of the 80 brass vs 64 (of the old days). Than again, only top 12 corps have the capacity to produce the full brass sound, no matter what key they are in. The best sounding Bb corps in my opinion is 2003 Phantom Regiment and 2004 Cavys. Seems like between 2005 to 2009, corps stop playing lyrics through brass, just ran around the field holding whole notes and let the percussion and pit do all the playing.

Brand new G Bugle continues to exist and there is only one manufacture making them, and that company is walking on egg shell right now. They do not do sponsorship. The competitiveness and corporate sponsorship are two different things. From what I understand, when DCI switched to Bb (or traditional key), they were persuaded by corporations, even though they did it in the name of accessibility. Some corps stay with G till as long as 2007 but they realized it's a dead end since buying new G bugles is much more expensive than buying a used set of Bb from another corps or music company. A world Class drum corps will take over $100 grand to furnish a used set from a lower tier company. Also when the switch in 2000, most of the G bugles were sold to DCA, Japan and Europe, they are gone! In fact, the drum corps in Japan are still in G. Back in the days a corps will hold on to their set of G bugles for around 5 years before buying a new set, now the top tier corps gets new horns every year and don't have to pay for them. Large corporations like Yamaha and Conn/Selmer will take the horns back each year and sell them, and get to brand them as "used set from SCV," or "Cadets." It was a brilliant move. Now companies like Yamaha get to by sells thousands of horns each year directly in large quantities directly to "nonprofit" institutes and pass local dealers! If they were still on G, that wouldn't have happen. During the G era, Div I (today's world class) had 128 members. Corps like the blue devils will have 64 horns: 24 Soprano 12 Alto 8 Baritone 8 Euphonium 10 Contrabass They are much louder than today's 150 member corps with 80 plus brass. If you're don't have experience with G era, find the following recordings: 1986 Blue Devils, 1988 Madison Scouts, 1989 Phantom Regiment, 1990 Star of Indiana, etc. Those corps generated some of loudest none amplified sound we have ever heard from out doors music activity. There is a good reason why people still talk about the old G bugle sound, because they were genuinely loud!

I went to world class corps last year to show my horn, the trumpet tech pulled out a mouth piece out of his Bach Strad case and played Hayden Concerto. I almost fell on the floor. I asked him to play a middle C with a fortissimo volume, but he couldn't do it. I had to show him what a old Drum Corps fortissimo was like. It hit me pretty hard realizing that today, a large number of the people working in drum corps have never seen or play a G bugle and they teach the line to sound like a nice concert band. The G bugle is in a lower key. The G soprano is about 12" longer in piping than the Bb trumpets. If you push down the third valve on your Bb trumpet permanently, you turn your horn into key of G, and you can simulate the two valve G bugle that way. Some reference here. G Bugle vs Bb Trumpet F = D G = E C = A A = F# When arranging for G, it's not hard to find the key that will work. As you know high C or above the third valve becomes irrelevant. So when you play a high "C" on the G bugle, you're really playing a "A." The only note that requires alternative fingering is A flat, so on the G bugle, you play it with first valve and adjust the trigger for intonation. The Blue Devils is notorious for writing their music in higher keys than other corps (or original music). Specially in the 1980/90's.

SCV will be in top 5. Their GE the last few years were very good but not quite as good as the top three, but the actual weak part of the corps is the horn line. This year they got Chip as their caption head, I think he will make that horn line sing. Chip was the caption head for Phantom Regiment 2008 when they won DCI and I believe high brass. He is a PR and BD alumni. As for the champion prediction, it will probably be BD again, they are due for a three-peat. The show design from BD is just light years ahead of everyone else. It's almost like a cirque Soile show. Ever time you watch it, you find something new and cool! Cadets will not probably not go anywhere for playing music from Star of Indiana 1991. It is very hard to win DCI playing the same music that was already done by a previous champ. Blue Coats... They are kind of an anomaly. Hopefully they can do something. Perhaps they'll be the surprise winner this year. Crown.. No dice, their drum line still suffers....

The Raiders had their first public appearance with my horns this past weekend in NY City! Looking forward to see them in action next month!

The page below is great for those who wants to know more about G bugles. There is a horn called Meehaphone used by the Blue Devils between 1987 to 1991. I used that horn when I was with BD. I love that horn and is trying to revive it in the key of F with three valves. http://www.middlehornleader.com/Evolution%20of%20the%20Bugle%20--%20Section%204.htm