crownsop04

Lets see.... Crown as been very competitive in certain captions with all of those corps minus Cavaliers. They were right in there with the Cadets in visual performance for the first half of the season. They beat Phantom in visual performance last year. Beat Vanguard in pretty much everything this season. Actually beat the Blue Devils in BRASS at a show this season(Baton Rouge). I think all of these corps should see Crown as a serious threat. They arent just a cute little feeder corps anymore.

B) I have the answer that you are all looking for.... It is sooo simple that you will feel stupid. BREATHE DAH...... It really is that simple :P Thier brass philosophy works.... I think Star got the Jim Ott's to prove it Simple as that Talent has nothing to do with a great hornline. The real question is how dedicated can you be to a program. The real test comes when a staff that knows how to be great gives you the tools to be great. What are you going to do with those tools? If you buy into the program.... they teach you everything you need to know about greatness. Then when the time comes, it is our job to give that knowledge to others. If a hornline wants to be great... Just go back to the basics!!! It doesnt matter if it is a Bb line or a G line. Breathing is still the same and the basic fundamentals of playing are the same. If you want to have a great hornline, equip your members with the knowledge required to someday have a hornline of thier own.

First of all Mr. "former cavalier" It is CREAM NOT WHITE!!! Second.... In defense of all that went on after the last break the yard lines and hashes were practically non-exsistant. That field was CRAP! <**> And if my memory serves me correctly I am pretty certain that the whole "russian" thing worked pretty well for Vanguard the first time... I bet it would have been a differant story had they not run into so much staff drama. As far as the Scades go.... the show was ok. I think they got what they deserved.

Sorry... Thats not what I meant at all. I will give it up to anyone that deserves it. I think people often confuse cleanliness with easyness and it is very frustrating. I would be willing to bet that it was much, much harder than you think it may have been though... Just sayin' ! I just don't think there are any other corps anymore that would try something like that. Show the world how soft and expressive you can be...weather the song is good or not... I don't like the song, but I bet it means something to everyone of those kids whether they like the song or not. I do, however, stick by my previous statement that nobody else came even close to pulling off anything like this in 2005. Sorry for the confusion...

WOW.... I wish I knew of a corps that could shell out $2,000+ x 20-24 for any of those horns. A $50,000 trumpet section ..... WHY NOT!!! All of those horns, minus kanstul, are "botique" or special order(very expensive for the most part) instruments that the average drum corps kid probably doesnt know about... or care about. However... I personally love the Kanstul ZKT1504. I think Kanstul quite easily manafactures the best trumpets on the market as far as quality and value. As far as drum corps goes... which i think the topic was anyways... I will just comment on what I have marched with. King marching brass is very good... but it could be better. The trumpets are terrible <**> , it really just feels like a cheap piece of metal... nothing more! The mellos are superb. The baritones are also very good, but they are very out of tune and there is no way (adjustable/saddle slides) to correct intonation while playing <**> . The euphoniums are also superb. The contras are very nice and very well designed... But they are very fragile and break quite often under the stress of daily beating. <**>

Benge Mello 6, UMI Mello 6, King M6 .... all of those are pretty much identical. You can't really get too fancy with mello mouthpieces.

We (Crown) only had ONE 15 year old in the hornline this year....GO FOR IT!!!!! You might want to start lifting some weights.... Those King contras look pretty dang big! I wouldnt know cause I play trumpet... but Crown has a GREAT hornline and you should give it a shot! If you have any questions feel free to ask me anything and I hope to see you in November.

Star 93 BD 2004

And what far superior ballads have you marched??? In my opinion "Angel" brought musical CONTROL and EXPRESSION to a new level for 2005. No one else even dared to attempt ANYTHING so dramatically open and exposed. I really don't think people grasp the concept of getting 24 trumpet players to express something the same way and then to be able to control it while while doing some very stretched-out movement and dance.... not to mention crying at the same time! In that situation a hornline is naked... there for the world to see and NO ONE else did that in 2005. On top of that... If it "bit the big one" I think the brass staff would have done something about it... they are pretty smart guys! Just in case you don't know who is Crown's brass staff you might want to check it out before you doubt any part of thier musical concept. I am pretty sure there are a few rings there... not to mention a hall of famer!!! As far as great ballads go... I was all about Cadets 2005 It might not have been as expressive as Bjork or whatever but it was played perfectly in time REGARDLESS of staging. I thought that was amazing. The drum line in the back corner of the field and the hornline in the front... perfectly in time. SCV 2004... Another Gino Cipriani hornline, I know! That hornline just had a beautiful sound no matter what they played.

Physiologically it makes much more sense to play "down stream". But instead of lowering your horn try extending your neck and tilting your whole head slightly downward. What this is going to achieve is extending and opening your throat so that you may play with a more full and resonant tone. The upper-register will also improve imeadiately. The key is aligning your body to be more resonant and simply relaxing(the better aligned, the less hassle for results). Having said that I must also quote the indisputable brass pedogogy of Donnie VanDoren... as previously stated, "Breathe dah!"

www.rlrr.com

BACH #12

The new King horns are not too cheap either......

Bach 1 1/2c. Arguably the most versatile trumpet mouthpiece available.

the best place to ask someone about such a microphone would be www.sweetwater.com these guys are the people that the "big boys" go to with questions. The Sure Beta 98 h/c is a good way to go. I do believe that AKG and Audio Technica also make several products along the same lines.