2003Ageout

A source from within SCV told me that the show organizers will make a decision around 3pm.

I've seen BK about 7 times now...and it just skipped to halfway thru Boston. At this rate, we will see retreat around 4am.

No. Like I said on the last page, that horn line is arguably the best DCI has ever seen and heard. I think a .5 spread between them and the rest is totally justifiable.

I believe the spread in brass. Crown's hornline is arguably the most talented seen in DCI history. The percussion scores though...that's worth an eyebrow raise.

Or, you know, to stay true to the Einstein on the Beach source material.

But didn't he die last year? I'd love to know how DCI brought him back to life

They said yesterday on the broadcast that the big black curtain in the back would be blowing around and for fan comfort. In my opinion, if opening the roof is going to make it sound better (from the reports I read), lose the black curtain and open the #### roof.

Hey Spike, would you know the story about a huge trainwreck in Rome, NY? I remember hearing once about a pile-up, and it might have been in the years you marched...

And if you listen closely, you can hear applause at a wierd spot in the show...that's when he got his tenors situated and ran back to his spot.

...is #1 in the country at this moment I know, I know, havent been with everyone at one show, but it's nice to have this happen. It will be interesting to see if they stay there!

I'd be shocked if BD doesn't win this show. They've had ~12 rehearsal blocks in the last four days...SCV has had ~5 or 6, and I'd assume Bloo would be around that number too. That's a heck of a lot of cleaning/changing that could be done.

I like Wildabeast's idea. That would be epic. At the Phoenix show last night, there was about 2 people who yelled it in the middle of pt. two. I would agree that it does not mesh well with the show and I'm glad that Jeff put out that memo.

Just got back from a LONG day of drum corps... I hosted SCV at my most recent high school gig. The first thing I have to say about SCV is that I have NEVER seen this kind of vibe from the corps before. During the horn arc, they were having fun, smiling, joking, and generally having a great time even though it was probably 120* on the asphalt. Even talking to members of the corps who had marched last year...they all said that everything just felt better this year and people are just happy to be a member of SCV. Like Andre kept saying in rehearsal...they have that "swagger". Another comment on here was asking if SCV cleaned all that much today...they did one block of 8am-12pm in which 45 minutes was stretching/across-the-floors, about 90 minutes of sectional work, and 90 minutes of ensemble. During ensemble, they truly did not clean a bunch...maybe a few chunks here and there a few times. They ended the day with a production run of the opener. So onto the show... Troop - Haven't seen these guys live in many years, but I was IMMENSELY impressed with what I saw. Like others have said, they're on the right track. BK - Never been a huge fan of BK, but I will say that it was nice to see a departure from the doom-and-gloom shows of the past. Many solid moments throughout, but the stuff in between wasn't quite appealing. SCV - Absolutely incredible. I have to admit...it's not setting the world on fire with drill, but it is getting back to what I think is the most important aspect of this activity; quality music. I know a lot of people will disagree with that last statement, and that's ok. The music is NEVER sacrificed in order to do something that looks cool, and I think that's a great thing. Some adjectives to describe the show; elegant, sophisticated, classy, and understated. Bloo - normally like their stuff. I think this show could do some serious damage when it's clean. The horn book and visual package are very very challenging. I have to say that the removal of the jackets 1/2 way thru the show was a neat thing to do for the drumline, but when the entire corps took it off it just washed everything out. It was hard to see forms and everything just blurred together. One could argue that this is precisely what they are going for, but my personal taste doesn't agree. Academy - *sigh* I want to love this show, but I seriously can't find anything I enjoy in it. The corps needs to look up DYNAMIC CONTRAST. And not the kind defined by pit vs brass. The crowd was reacting at the first few big loud moments but that quickly subsided after there was a loud impact every other measure. This show needs a lot of tweaking in order to be successful. And they better do it quick, because the Troop is right on their butt. And boy, how nice it is to hear Clowns. My eyes still sting. In all honesty, I think that this is a case of "getting your scores a day later". And also, I'm beginning to hate the Phoenix show because it's so #### early and no one is clean. And I'm beginning to hate not having money to travel to Indy. And I'm beginning to hate that I don't have a beer in my hand after a long day of drum corps.

I hope SCV does the encore in Phoenix...I haven't heard clowns live in 4 years.

Gotta go to bat for my old asst. director of bands from NAU...I love her more than my luggage Maybe she wants to diversify her judging portfolio. If that is true, at least it's begun now and not the 2nd week of August.

Probably won't make a bunch of friends with this, but here's my review... Went out there tonight to catch the corps. I hung out at brass warm-up and I was marginally impressed. If my counting was correct, it was 20-10-20-10. IMHO, they need at least 2 more tubas to round out the sound. It is a bit trumpet heavy at the moment. "The Ascent" - very classy look from the corps, as always. The guard uniforms are pretty neat as well. They use a lot of ropes and climbing motifs in their show to get the point across. Even though this is the first uniformed run-through this season, I was somewhat underwhelmed. The first thing I noticed was the lack of sheer volume that I was hearing from the warmup arc. If they are to make a move up this year, they HAVE to get that worked out. The drums had a bunch of tears throughout the show, but its only June and I'm sure that stuff will clean up with more practice. The music has some great moments, but I would think the corps could put more into the musical line to make it more exciting for the listener. Visually, the drill had its moments and was packed with GE, but there really wasn't that higher-level demand that you see at big points in the music. Now, this should be a moot point because everyone changes the back half of their shows come San Antonio. I hope they add some extra velocity in as well. In technique, they are going to have to REALLY work the feet a bunch. I'm not saying the marching is a bag, but there is A LOT of room for improvement here. tl;dr They have a lot to work on if they want to make a jump in placement. Then again, it's mid-June. A helluva lot will change in just a few weeks. With green-shirt feedback, I can safely bet that they will make the right changes.

Holy bumping-2-year-old-threads Batman!!! I completely forgot I posted this. I wish I was never reminded.

Not sure if it's been said yet... But SCV 2000 Adagio for strings at the huge impact. It was the first show I saw live and the reason I started marching.

I searched through the reviews to see if anyone got close-up shots, but nothing came up... Anyone at Stanford last night get a good shot of the new uniforms, both guard and drums/horns?

its not so much bicycle step on the forward march...its about 90% straight. On the backward, however, this one is VERY circular, rolling down toward the heels. I could tell that a few of the hornline members were still adjusting to it. This is what happens when the visual caption and a large majority of the visual staff members are all former Cavies. Not that it's a bad thing...

At Glendale, I think the most the crowd caught the pez-dispenser job right after it happened...and there were quite a few gasps. I thought it was intense and loved it. Now, if they didn't do the thumbs up/down in the beginning, this part would be from left field and I think everyone would have freaked. I agree with some when they say it could use more of a build-up into it...maybe like a bass drum "heart beat" thing...

I saw the hornline during warm-up and during the show in Glendale. IMO I think the horn book is just too much. The kids look young and I see quite a few new people in the line. If all of last year's kids sans age-outs came back, the program wouldn't be as sketchy as it is now. I just think the talent level isn't quite as strong as last year in the hornline. Drums are another story... This doesn't mean that they can't improve exponentially in the coming weeks. Maybe the prescription they need is some good old-fashioned butt whipping.

Looking forward to the reviews! Esp. those of you who were at last night's show...Steen, i'm looking in your direction...:)

As per a few people's suggestions, here's my review from last night First off....it could have gone either way. Now that I said that, here's what I saw. PR's pros - overall I throughly enjoyed the show and thought the thumbs up-down part was cool. I was happy to see that they killed off one guy and left him there the back half of the show. Horn book is pretty meaty and is being executed at a pretty high level. Great dynamic contrasts in the brass, esp. on the high end. Drums had some slick rams and were mostly clean as well. I felt there was a lot of velocity throughout the high tempos of the show. Some wonderful GE moments. I noticed the Guard 91 move...it was cute. That 2nd part to the show features the guard very well with the weapons and I think some of the trick tosses (throw and catch someone else's rifle, etc) are well done. PR's cons - I did not get a sense of a single uniform marching style in their big moves. It seemed like everyone was just doing their best to get from A to B but the technique of getting there was an afterthought. They made a mistake by going with 10 tubas...they need at least 2 more to add some bottom to the sound. Soloist had a rough night...I'll give him/her the benefit of the doubt though. However, they should have known it was hot and compensated on their tuning slide...some notes sounded at least 10c sharp. Now it's time to make no more friends...I think that PR's show design is currently maxed out. While there is some guard stuff to be learned and a lot of cleaning in the feet and ensemble to be done, I simply don't feel that this show has what it takes to be top 3 from a design standpoint. Everything they can do with the show is being done already and until they add some major meat to their show, it just doesn't have the potential. SCV's pros - Drumline is great this year...glad Murray is back. I LOVED the 2nd movement...the Egyptian themes came across very well and the guard choreography is just brilliant. The brass book is well thought out and has great potential. Overall, for an SCV Phoenix show, it's what I expected. The new Cavalier-esque style is coming across nicely and will get cleaned further through the season. SCV's cons - lots of stickouts, both visually and musically. I caught one trumpet fall and two tubas colliding. Going back to the marching style...not quite everyone is on board yet and that needs to happen soon. Closer starts very beautifully but after the last 30-45 seconds is extremely anti-climactic both visually and musically. The crowd had no idea it was the end of the show until the staff got up out of the crowd. The guard is missing a huge chunk of work, probably due to not having the closer on the field since yesterday. And at the end of the show, it was bloody obvious that the kids were gassed. One member told me post-show that they could tell a few people were laying out...and it definitely showed in the stands. And for July 2nd, I'd have hoped to see SCV more clean in the feet and have more stamina. So the million dollar question: why did SCV beat PR tonight? Well, the recaps pretty much say it all. SCV had a better uniform style than PR showed. Both corps were dirty visually, but SCV's visual comp. score saved them. Musically, PR had the fire lit the whole show while SCV lost steam 80% the way through. Now onto GE...I thought this could have been closer and put PR over SCV. But I think the one underlying SUBJECTIVE fact of the matter is that SCV's show is designed much better. The big question...can SCV clean it up? I think they can and they will. And I don't think that this should scare Phantom...I think this should scare everyone. Consider this...they have known the closer for 2 days and have not done one ounce of polishing it. The guard book is about 70% complete. They do not have the final ending added in to the show. They don't have the new uniforms. Take all of these and put them into the kettle and you will have one HELL of a brew. In the end, SCV's show design is of the same caliber of the past few champions (with exception to the last :30) and could most definitely win. It's up to the kids and the staff to take the bull by the horns and be Vanguard. I know Gail will be smiling on finals night.

Saw Academy last night. The first big thing I noticed was that the mellos sounded very nasal. That could be an issue with oral cavity and embouchure, but knowing the brass staff there, it probably isn't. Trumpets....not half bad, but not half good either. The tubas are alright...they performed their winning 2007 tuba ensemble I&E piece after the show and they're ok. Kids looked really young with exception to a few kids I know who are music majors, so maybe there's some stratification in playing ability. I thought the tubas were warm but lacked a bit of clarity overall. The eups...Jupiter got these right. I enjoyed the euph sound a lot...very reminiscent of a nice early Kanstul models. It's hard to say which instruments sound the best because you have XXXX kids playing X different makes. If only we could make a Top Gear kind of show where "The Stigs" corps test drives all the lines and critiques them...