JimF-LowBari

My RAMD response was: "And I'll stay that way until I'm a dead old man" (Red Fox playing Fred Sanford on "Sanford and Son"). :P ^0^ Ahh, but I was young when I saw the roses live......

After reading this I'm reminded again why dropping music as a career choice was a good move for me. Getting a Computer Science degree was so much easier. On topic: As a trombone player who didn't know fingerings, never even thought about differences between playing G vs Bb. I was too busy learning fingerings of notes. Also my thougths were "Well yeah duh it's different. just look at the horns" Wonder if WW players have the same experience playing horn in DC.

And for extra credit kiddies :P What corps is this referring to? Anyone over the age of 40 or into early corps history put yer hands down. ^0^

Well I won't say how long I was looking at the pic before I noticed something other than the roses. LOL, great timing as I just got called a Dirty Old Man on RAMD last week.... :P

Ben and Tank, if you can make it let us know... Old memory just hit me from 1982 or 1983. CD High School MB had their band show there and my mom and I were helping out. We were at the end of the stands and checking peoples tickets to make sure there were heading up the right steps. It's cold out and (sure 'nuff) I'm wearing a blue jacket with "You Know What" (Westshoremen for everyone else) on the back. Lot of corps members volunteering with the competing bands and by the end of the night almost all of them gravitated to where we were. Looked like the corner of the stands sprung a flippin' blue leak. (Maybe that's why they had to redo the whole stadium. :P ) Also freaked out some of the band parents that a lot of staff with the other bands *gasp* were around us and having a good time. (Trying to remember a nasty story involving Jeffs dad, head of the band parents and me at a another show. ^0^ )

With Westshoremen Alumni the people playing Bb had the wierd ###ed key. Think the Gs had no sharps or flats and the Bb players had three sharps and bunch of sharps all over the sheet music. :sshh: Man, was I glad I was playing a G Bari.....

Only corps I know who has done this is Westshoremen Alumni in their one (and only one) yearly gig. Reason is the corps owns very few instruments so most of the horn players bring whatever they own. Biggest headache appears to be having charts ready for G/Bb and Bass/Treble clef. I'm not a musicain so I can't really explain this in depth but with 60+ horns having mixed keys doesn't affect the sound or tuning from where I sat. (And I've sat in the corps and with the crowd in different years.)

Suuure it wasn't the reason for starting the thread. :P I'll think about it on the drive to practice Mike, never gave it a thought before. Back to OT: I have some classical guitar albums (yeah 12 inch records) and have heard classic guitar in concert settings with and without amplification. For guitars I can't tell the amped/non-amped difference with my untrained ear. Wondering if that is because of better equipment, studio magic, an indoor setting or just not cranking the crap out of the amplifiers. One of the two amped corps I have heard, one "cranked the crap" to the point what was going thru the amp overshadowed the rest of the corps. (It was the first show of the season which may account for the mis-balance.) Let's see do I have a point...... oh yeah. Actually you make a good point on definition of "acoustic" and reminds me of the discussions over definition of "Alumni corps". Maybe "Keep it Acoustic" should be changed to just "Keep it Non-Amped".

Year or so ago I asked what would happen if a corps came out with a "pre-pit" style show. IOW, all percussion equipment would be carried or just not used. Response I got back from many was that the pit is now included in the scores so no pit means an automatic lower score. Sounds like we might be on the same wavelength as what is going on with amps now is like the beginning of the pit era. When pits started being used they were optional and just a place to park the tymps and bells. Also a way to free up three drummers as it takes one tymps player now and before you had four playing (seperate) tymps. Wonder if 10-15 years from now there will be a item on the score sheets for amp use like what happened with the pit.

Oh comparing different eras in Drum Corps. :P Sharon what I remember from my first year (1974) DCA concert was flag bearers at attention but moving the flags around in the holders. Maybe for a big finish it was take the flags out and slam 'em to the ground a few times. By my end (1979) the flag bearers were not doing dance but maybe a step or two to the side or spinning on the pivot foot (like basketball) while doing flag moves. And I'm totally blanking on the rifles. What was Northstar doing (and I can't remember the name of your concert number)? And :P just looked at the Trooper pic again (after I got done looking at the roses ^0^ ). Anyone (besides us olde phartes) notice that there are no yard markers? Not to mention marching tymps and the Honor Guard (American Flag) section.

My old High School :) Cool.... And see Five Star is using the name of Westshores' old home show. Got my letter yesterday, saw "Review of the Corps" and thought "OK, Drum Corps somewhere". Two seconds later it hit me Double Cool...

Looks like the rotor was an option. :P Sometimes ads can give as much history as articles. Thansk Nanci...

Union Deposit exit of off I-83 but forget the name of the strip mall as there are at least three on that stretch of road. Alright Fran at the show. Always thought a corps show at Landis Field would be a good idea. Now 32 years later I'll find out.

What do the links to the right mean? Thought they might be brought up randomly but when I went to the site again the same links showed up. Wondering because two are for DCA Champs (2004 and 2006). Meridan and Rochester are two top ISP group sites eh? With my Senior corps background first thing I thought was Hurrs and Empire/Roch. Crusaders.

Got that mail yesterday too and #### near hit the floor for a few reasons. Can also get off 83 at the Colonial Park exit and follow Rt 22 eastbond (Colonial Park Mall is other side of Rt 22 at the 83 exit). Can't remember how many red lights (3-4) but turn right at El Rodeo Mexican restaurant onto Houcks Rd. School is on right after you go up the hill. Wow, DC at CD.... The ol' Alma Mater of Mark Hoover, Rob Engle, Paul Geiger, and (ahem) me....

Hmmm, didn't think about adjustments for indoor/outdoor and different mouthpiece/instrument. The only constant for me going from trombone to P/R bugle was I used the same mouthpiece, and the horn instructor in 79/80 wanted to change that. IOW, it was more like learning to play two totally different instruments instead of adjusting between the two. Glad for the posts about ideas I never thought of. Is there even time during a tour to work on your other instruments or is there no time at all?

Figure you had it covered. :P I just like a copy on CD so I don't have to log on to the web everytime. Sometimes it just makes things a little easier when you're looking for something.

Got the idea from Nancis Letter to GH and response from Stick Stack..... I'm not a music major, never did a tour and only played trombone (no fingerings for heavens sake) so I have no idea on this. Sooooo, let's open up the phone lines and see who calls in. :P Seriously, Stick Stacks comment was about non-brass players who take time away from their instruments to do a DCI tour. SS said it took him a while to get the chops back up after tour was over. I can understand that for all WW, keyboard, voice students but I'm wondering if the same thing applies to brass and percussion majors. Let's face it brass and perc folks, if you do the same piece over and over and over again after a while you really don't pick up new skills. And if you were working on improving on your skills or learning new ones with an instructor at home you just broke that off for a few months. And after you pick up again it does take a while to get back to where you were before to start improving again. Been there, done that as my old private trombone instructor was a HS band director who took loooong breaks over the summer. Yes you do learn new skills with a corps and learning from new instructors with different ideas always helps. But wondering if anyone did had problems getting back into the swing after tour on their horn or drums. Edit: Question for people who have done full tours recently. How long does it take to prepare for and do the tour? And did stopping your usual studies for that period of time put you behind what anyone else was doing?

Actually I'm having fun watching people get all huffy trying to guess what Nanci is trying to say. B) Then there are the people actually discussing DC with this tidbit ^OO^

Cool, the Friday gig is the Firefighters parade which lasts a few hours like the Saturday parade Hanover and ShenSound were at. This was my third trip down there and each year I learn more and more about the Festival. Didn't know there was competitions for wind and jazz groups until I read your post.

LMAO, after 32 years I know EXACTLY what you are talking about. :P ^0^ :P And I saw the... ahem... roses... at the second DC show I ever attended.

Well before this closed (Oh Nanci you trouble starter you ^0^ ) Thanks Wayne for the info. In my early DC research (mainly internet and History of DC books) I ran across the name Loris Marching Lions Band a few times. Don't remember seeing South Carolina anywhere so I thought the group was from Canada from the "Band" title. Imagine my surprise when I saw not too long ago they were actually a HS group. IMO, one of the more unusual DCs ever.

Yell out to Shane or any member of North Port HS Drum Corps. Didn't get to see the group at Winchester, VA and seeing if anyone is willing to post their thoughts. Also trying to figure out where the group was in the parade. Hope it was a safe and fun trip up north.

I'm sure Nanci will explain the next time she posts. And at her current rate, her next post will be about mid August (and I ain't saying which year ^0^ ).

Have a few ideas what Nanci means but don't want to give away with guesses. PS - Group in question was from a High School........ (Mebbe a hint)