Cadetsnare

All 4 of them went to UMass and studied under Hannum...I marched with Nick in 88, and with Colin in the UMass band and Rudy between 89 and 92. And thanks for the 89 props, y'all! Yeah, 90 was clean, but 89 was an amazing show to perform. We were beating up on SCV's drumline until the last week, which shocked us ALL! If our hornline wasn't so green in 89, it would have resulted in an even stronger corps. Funny story...we went to DCI Mid-America in 89, and I remember seeing Larry (BD's section leader in 89) watching our warmup...I think it's GOTTA be the first time a BD guy has ever watched a Cadets lot warmup!! We went on, and won the show!!!!....except for the 7 tenths penalty we got from having a 14 and 1/2 minute show!!! We were first, then Cavies, then BD, then Star (or soemthing like that)...but because of the penalty, we ended up 4th!!! ...gotta love writing and performing an intentionally over-length show!

Hey Supersop, (for everyone reading...he was in the 90 Cadets hornline, and I was in the 90 Cadets snare line)..... The funny thing is, we were getting HAMMERED most of the season in most captions because of the ensemble demand. Not only was the ensemble demand ahead of its time...I believe it would be a challenge for many corps today. You can't see all of the spread on the video. That is deceptive...there were times where we had NO business of ever making it all line up...but we did at the end! There were times when the melody was on the 30, the percussion were on the other side of the field, and the low brass were in another "nightmare" area of the field. We really didn't start nailing the ensemble aspects of our show until early August. Of the shows I loved that year... 90 SCV...GREAT drumline (who were spanking us a lot that year) 90 Cavies...gotta give props to a well-designed show (but that hornline...eesh...) 90 Blue devils....if we had lost drums to them, I would have had NO problems with that!! 90 Boston....another ridiculously kick-a** drumline that were absolutely robbed! 1990 was, IMO, the end of the old, and the start of the new...lots of great corps, great new visual design, and new arranging. Feel free to ignore all the above...just an old man's ramblings!

Any more news on any more developments? Is anyone here planning on attending the first rehearsal?

(SIDENOTE: The website corpsreps.com identifies that as Dayton, but I’m pretty sure it was Centerville. If my memory is correct, it was on August 10 – eight days before Nats. I remember the Cadets of Bergen County were staying at the same school as us that day. And corpsreps.com corresponds with that.) You are correct! I was in the Cadets in 89, and I remember it. I feel for you guys...what a mess!

83 BD...Eric I think his name was...I went to UMass with him...a trombone performance major....a RIDICULOUS solo in "Everybody Loves The Blues"...IMO, one of the GREATEST baritone moments in DCI history! 1990 Cadets in Somewhere SCV Adagio For Strings Cadets 2000 at the end 1985 Suncoast 88 SCV in Masquerade

HUH?? Wiped the floor? Cadets actually won percussion performance at finals (regardless of who actually got the trophy...Cadets won percussion that night, just like in 88) and was second in brass and visual performance by a tenth. BD lost colorguard and was 3rd in ensemble music. Hardly a trouncing, but yes, a win, fair and square. BD had a great show, but to say they wiped the floor with everyone is a bit of an overstatement. I won in 1990, and although we beat the 2nd place Cavaliers by 8 tenths at finals, I wouldn't consider it a slam dunk by any measure...they were d**n good, and am honored I got to share a field with them that night! Back to our regularly scheduled thread.... 1991 was underhyped.....it was a great year for BDs brass...they get a bad rap that year for their unusually low 9th place percussion score, but the brass was SCORCHING that year!! 1990 was underhyped...especially percussion. They tied for 1st in brass in quarters, and were 2nd in brass in prelims. They honestly should have won drums that night instead of us....GOD, were they good! They got dumped in percussion all finals week, and on finals night got hammered in ensemble percussion...6th, IIRC. A great percussion section in a really neat show, IMO.

I have personally worked with John on several occasions...he has NEVER demonstrated anything but class and professionalism in my dealings with him. He REALLY set the standard for the rest of the sections to follow with his percussion program. John (as well as Rob Jett) were the best staff the corps had, IMO. Not to belittle the rest of the staff's work (they did a great job with what they had...I've worked with MANY of the other staff guys before)...John just really made a difference with the organization. I hope this gets worked out, for everyones sake. San Diego needs a competitive (and well-managed) Div 1 corps!

Those were some GREAT SCV drumlines...I LOVED the look of the champagne sparkle/bermuda sand drums in 85, and the writing all 3 years was awesome, especially the triplet-based battery stuff in the closer in 86, before the final push in "Great Gate of Kiev"...check it out...Ralph Hardimon at its best!!

Yo... I marched Cadets snare line in 89,90 and 91....90 has LOTS of memories for me. We started out well, then around early July hit the wall a bit. We were struggling to make all of the ensemble aspects of the show work (some suicide ensemble spreads). We saw Star in that time period, and we very rightfully got spanked. In fact, we got spanked by Cavies, Star and SCV at one point or another that year. We never got beat by BD, but the first time I saw that drumline, I thought we were in big trouble! We were in Burningman, Alabama in early August (flippin' HOT!!!), and we were getting spanked rather handily by Star and SCV. Tom Aungst decided to take us for an all-day sectional about 3 miles from where the corps was rehearsing. The buses drop us off, and we begin to clean, Aungst-style! We clean the first set standing still, then on the fly. Once that we clean, onto set 2, and so forth. This went on from 9 am until 7 pm, with a 20 minute lunch and like 2 water breaks....it must have been 105 with 90% humidity, and Tom and Willy (the snare tech) were sitting under a tree on the front sideline, enjoying a Slurpee. Tom would pour a little on Willy's feet, and Willy would exclaim, "Oohhh...that's SO cold...BRRRR"!!! Meanwhile, we're getting our a**es beaten by the rest of the techs. 7pm comes, and....no bus. Tom says, "Let's track back!" (He actually told the bus driver not to come back and get us!) So, Candide at 176 for a mile, Sanctus/drum solo at 172 for a mile, and the Gallop at 208 for a mile at 105 degrees! We get within a 1/4 mile of the stadium where the rest of the corps is rehearsing, and Tom says, "Lift 'em up!" We're thinking, "Thank GOD!". He starts running us at about 230 BPM in a fast jog with our drums on! We get to the stadium, and jogged us around a couple times (for good measure!). We get in there, and the horns have been working on the ballad (Somewhere) all day! The shadows are falling long on the stadium (ie...those whimps were in the shade!)....then ensemble begins. It was like dragging around lead sneakers! The next night, we see Star and SCV...we closed the 2+ point gap to 1 tenth behind SCV! The top 3 were seperated by 3 tenths in prelims and 6 tenths in finals! It was at least 120 on the field that day, and a tiny bit cooler for the night show. We still got beat in drums by 4 tenths...UG. The next night, we see SCV...beat them by 3 tenths, and 3 days later....1.9. We were finally gelling, and we we got tons cleaner each day. The corps you saw at finals was not the same corps 3 weeks prior...it was really an ensemble bag 'o donuts in mid-July. LOTS of re-writes. In fact, the ending of the show was the big impact you hear at the end of Gallop....the Bernstein/Copland collage wasn't added until late July, if I remember correctly. I had the UTMOST respect for Star in 1990, as well as BD. Just RIDICULOUS, especially Star's brass and BD's battery...UNREAL!! 1990....Great year!