homsar

You are absolutely right that it makes sense. And no, I'm not aware that many championship shows ended softly, because I don't know much about Drum Corps history. If it works, it works, but I could tell that the crowd was ready to burst, and one more shining example of that amazing volume would provide some impressive audience background noise for the judges while they scribble down the numbers.

First show I've ever attended out of uniform, as marching last year with crown was my first experience with drum corps. I only saw Revolution, vets, and the Div I corps, Corpsvets First senior corps I've ever seen, reminds me a little of College Marching Band sans woodwinds. Love the screamers. Revolution Div II. Tough show for a Division II corps, but they just might pull it off by the end of the year, full complement of good spots in the brass to complement the dirtiness. Carolina Crown Show design is so much better than last year's. FIGURES. They don't have hardly any vets, a lot of us either didn't go back (hence my being at a computer) or went to another corps after the the staff left/got axed/#### if I know. The important thing is this: VERY young hornline that is obviously benefiting from an excellent staff. Low brass sound in particular amazes me. Mellos are putting out the volume, but need to clean up the sound and the lead sop spots need to be filled. The second and third sops at times seem to be trying to make up for the soft leads, which needs to be rectified. Soft high brass is much better than bad high brass. Visually, I was very dissapointed in the execution (although the book seems very competent), but having marched with them last year, I couldn't take my eyes off the more troublesome marchers. The rest of the audience and the judges seem to be far more lenient than I. Much room to improve, I can't wait to see it a month from now. Show design second only to..... Crossmen GE is excellent. They don't stray too far from last year's formula, and I don't really see any areas upon which they have not improved from last year. Volume, maybe? Loud enough for me, though. Drill is a little easier than that of last year, if only because last year's was too hard (though, in my opinion, the most original this side of cavies). SO, maybe they'll be a little cleaner by the end of this year and see themselves a little higher? That's my prediction anyway. Bluecoats Far and away the best performed show of the night, but where is the GE? I fell in love with the bluecoat's sound last year. It was better than ANYONE outside of the top 5 by a long shot, and in my opinion better than BD's. That sound is back, but the vehicle for it just isn't as strong last year and it's too late for massive rewrites of the music. This is by no means a disaster, the show certainly isn't boring, but I was really hoping to see coats break in to the top 6, as there is no doubt that the talent and instruction is there, and I'm just not sure that the GE can carry them that far. Hopefully midseason they'll put 30 seconds of malaguena at the end and open with cavies "fight club". Spirit I have to admit I have it in for Spirit. I thought last year that their sound was bright and their show was easy, but most of that resentment was just frustration over them beating us. I stand by the fact that their show isn't as difficult as the rest of the top 12 but, I have to give credit where credit is due. I think SCV, phantom and BD maybe louder, but that's it. Spirit is freaking LOUD, and, much to my displeasure, it sounds #### good. A good amount of GE to boot. But don't end the show softly, Spirit. The crowd is ready to give you a rowdy ovation, but they don't know when to stand up. Fix that, and you'll be hearing some top-6 like crowd responses. And please, if you can play lead trumpet well, give crown a call. They need you, and I promise they'll give you a good deal.