leadsoplove

I saw the shows all three nights, and with the exception of Madison really deserving the move up to ninth (they had a great show finals night, improved SO much from the beginning of the season) it seemed as though the coastal corps got the shaft. SCV had a great show on finals night, and I was not that impressed at all by Bluecoats show which was right before them. Bluecoats' percussion didn't have that great of a show (for them) and their hornline wasn't too impressive either. I didn't mind the lower placement for the Cadets, but I think that the Cadets should have taken 6th, Bluecoats 5th, and SCV 4th if there was going to be such an upset. The one that I feel the most strongly about was the top 3 placement, as I'm sure a lot of others who were there feel as well. The Blue Devils WITHOUT DOUBT had their absolute best show finals night. Again, Phantom, who was on right before them, wasn't nearly as clean (I was high) and their hornline's performance was probably the best in quarterfinals. I was sure that with the show they had BD was going to give the Cavaliers a run for their money. Maybe the judges never saw the Godfather so they just didn't get it. I think that the corps from the midwest had the home field advantage, bottom line... and though it shouldn't have mattered I believe that it was reflected in the scores. Besides, the Madison Reunion Project should have won DCI.

-I don't think that my second sentence contradicts my first at all. I wouldn't do it again (once is enough, if the end product - the parade- was typical of what we would see in the future), and I WAS incredibly disappointed... but I don't regret it. Can a person not feel all that at the same time? Sure I took something from the experience... I did say that it was a learning one, did I not? And the difference between being upset with the airing of this performance and not getting any facetime in a DCI performance is huge. Most of us came specifically because we would be representing DCI in a national broadcast... I don't march every summer to get any more face time than I would get playing a solo at each show. And I have to agree with my fellow Honor Corps member; the beds weren't all that fantastic and I am lucky that I could share one with a corpsmate. As little modesty as we all might have, it probably would have been a litte unnerving to share a bed with a guy you just met, and if you chose not to, you'd be on a floor anyway. I also would have welcomed a gym floor with open arms, I have been sleeping in a bed ever since I got home in August. Also, with the way my corps works with me financially (-$100 for every season I have marched, -$100 for everyone I recruit), I will probably end up paying LESS out of my own pocket for the 2006 season than I did for the Disney experience. And to address the question about drill: I have indeed done some pretty crazy drill during especially long parades (i.e. Mardi Gras: 6, 8, and 4 miles respectively) and although I haven't been expected to perform an entire package like we did in such a short amount of time, it isn't much different than having the last few sets of the show rewritten and performed either the next day or even that same one. Just setting the record straight.

This news is truly tragic, an unfortunate thing to be woken up by a couple days ago. It caught me completely by surprise, and I'm not sure what to think even now. This man was always incredibly interested in how our summer experiences were, and was the first one to fight for better conditions for us. He is the only reason I could continue marching; after an unfortunate even with my family he sponsored me for $625 in 2004. I even had dinner with him and his wife when they came by my home town on the way to the Black Hills. Yes, we still attend church every Sunday it is possible... all I can think to say is that we all need to pray about this situation. Not easy.

-From an honor corps member: I was incredibly disappointed, and I personally would NOT spend the money to do that again. I do not regret in any way the money I spent or the time I gave up, but it was without doubt a learning experience. I know that Dan Acheson could not have anticipated this coverage issue, especially since Disney mandated the song that we play and that the last set of our parade drill be a Christmas Tree. I sure didn't see any shot of that very tree that they wanted so badly, and I am truly disgusted with the whole thing. That was without doubt the worst parade I have ever seen, and Disney taped for weeks to get that footage. I actually felt like apologizing to everyone I asked to watch the parade to see me perform. I thought that since I was front and center right before we began the drill that there would be ONE shot of me, ironically I think Disney managed to show 7.5 seconds of us and not actually SHOW anyone. It's true, we were free entertainment for the multi-billion dollar Disney corporation. (&@$^($^@)#%B#%(*^!!!!!! <**>

Yes, we got to keep the sashes, but everyone I have talked to is really interested in a patch as well. Thanks for reminding me, I wouldn't mind having one more to add to the jacket.

I think that they main idea was sheer volume and resonance, but I also don't think that any of the G lines mentioned have any major tone and tuning issues either. -On another note, trumpets CAN produce that resonance, but few people learn how to do it. Check out some good Adam's students. Although I don't think Bach will ever make a line of Strads for drum corps. G's are just pitched lower and have larger bores so it's EASIER to access all the overtones.

Yeah, we had had a four hour or so block that morning, where we learned the drill we did in the parade AND put the music to it. It's hard enough to memorize a part when all you have is MIDI files, so can anyone expect us to look and sound like a drum corps in August with such limited time together? As for the technique; they told us to try to find a happy medium in our marching techniques so that we looked a LITTLE like each other. Luckily there weren't any Cavies guys in the hornline. The next day we fixed a lot of things, and in the recording the second trumpets are in the front of the block (before we do the drill) so the balance is a little off. I'm noticing a general trend of bitterness on this board.. why is this?

My only question for him would just to ask how he is nowadays. I know that the 05 tour was hard on us all, I am so thankful for his talks and any time we did get to have with him. I appreciated it a lot... especially when he would break out some classic drum corps recordings and then proceed to tell us all about even the soloists we heard.

I didn't call the drum corps unclassy, I called him unclassy. And I'm sorry if I seem to have taken some of this personally, but I don't see a thread entitled "SCV- you need to stop sucking" or "Bluestars- I really hated your show last season" or "Glassmen- umm... I don't know about you because I slept through your show". Everyone here backs up their "innocent criticisms" with the fact that all the other D1 corps get it. Well, considering the former part of this post, I don't think that all the other D1 corps get quite this amount of criticism so openly. At the very least not over a hundred pages worth and certainly not right to the face of the members who march there. Especially since there is absolutely NOTHING I or anyone else can do who reads this to impact the show decisions. For you ageouts, how would you feel if a corps that you marched started getting criticized for hundreds of pages over a lousy 2 or 3 seasons, when there is obviously nothing that can be done. Would you feel as though your hard work was appreciated, or would you feel disgusted? Disgust is a good description for how I feel about this thread. I don't expect everyone to agree with what Pioneer does, Lord knows that I don't, but like I said before, write a letter to someone who matters. Otherwise this is really just like a bunch of gossipy old women b******* about the people they work with. I'm sincerely sorry if I am not more able to take it all with a smile, I guess I'll have to work on the whole meek, just take it, attitude. I have definitely had many conversations with people about what needs to be different at Pioneer, and this definitely does not sound at all like the "constructive criticism" that I have encountered and spoken myself. I suppose many of you who have not marched cannot comprehend the frustration and animosity that this topic inspires. EDIT* That Pigh O'Near thing did made me laugh... it's ironic because Roman definitely isn't Irish himself.

The point is that I, while wearing a shamrock more visible than the one tattooed on my shoulder will not overtly criticize another drum corps. It has nothing to do with whether or not I HAVE criticisms of other corps. It actually disappoints me that you look at it as "only drum corps" when you have marched a season in a corps so highly regarded for its tradition and passion. Classiness is not something you should be able to be called out on in any aspect of your life if you actually cared at all about being a classy person. It's like claiming to be a real musician but only worrying about playing one kind or even one piece of music musically.

I won't debate with you. It's just like swearing in uniform or saying how you don't like someone's show around the people that march there with your corps jacket on. Maybe you were never taught to show respect while wearing corps attire, if this is the case you cannot be blamed, can you?

I can't say anything for sure, those of you know Roman know that it would be completely impossible to say for sure what the change would be until they arrive in boxes and we wear them for a few shows.

Thanks Bobby. And thank you as well geluf, all I wanted to hear was something positive. If you were a corps member and all you heard in rehearsal was solely what you did wrong, how good would you honestly think you were, and how high would your morale be?

AMEN AMEN

My point is that if you always hate the themes and you always hate the design and you hate the tradition we have set... what do you like about the corps??? I mean, the corps was founded in St. Patrick's church, we have a little bit of precedence here. I am not implying anything at all, why don't you post all the shows and everything else that you have liked/like about the corps, then I may be a little more welcoming of your criticism.