friceox

I believe Kidsgrove and Cadets2 will go on first, since neither were at Prelims last year.

actucker nailed it on the head with the book from Eddie Capps. However, what you're doing by watching youtube vids, will help tremendously. Maybe not so much technique wise, but creative wise. The thing I've learned from trying to teach a high school cymbal line, is keep it fresh and entertaining for the kids. You have to make them realize that marching cymbals can be cool/interesting/hard/demanding/etc.

Figure out what your ACTUAL budget will be. Meaning, how much can you actually afford to march. Look past the dues amount for the corps, then add on what it's going to cost you EACH camp to get to and from camp. Then after that, figure out how much it's going to cost to actually GET to camp from the airport (Phantom for example used to pick us up from the Rockford bell tower after we took the bus from O'Hare, which was like $15 round-trip per camp). Budget in money for free days, laundry days, snacks, etc while on the road. Then after all of that....figure out what style of corps your enjoy. I'd recommend ranking the corps you like & think you'd have a shot at. Look at their audition schedules and figure out what your backup plan will be if you don't make corps #1, #2, etc.

still a few left.

Only 7 tubas left

JJ pretty much nailed it on the head. I'll take everything JJ just said and add one thing..... $$$$$$$$MONEY$$$$$$$

Pretty sure the Cavaliers have only been in Chicago and Rosemont. Phantom's always been in Rockford.

Minnesota Brass played the national anthem on Opening Day for the Twins this season.

I wasn't a music major in college either. However, being a marimba/vibe player was rough in college since I couldn't easily practice. Fortunately I was able to sign up for private lessons (1 credit hour) with a grad student, which got me a little access to equipment. I snuck into practice halls from time to time if I knew there was a marimba in there. Other times i'd go to the row of percussion practice rooms at crazy hours in the night and wait for a music major to leave a door unlocked by accident. One year, I discovered that the band director at one of the local high schools was a drum corps guy. I offered to fix up and restring their keyboards in exchange for a couple hours of practice time.

If the corps is using yamaha drums/brass, then they're most likely using Yamaha audio equipment. I know the Cadets use a Yamaha 01V yamaha mixer (digital), yamaha passive speakers (i can't remember if they had Crown amps or not), yamaha motif XS synth and a Xylosynth (with a yamaha motif rack module). They also have a couple smaller analog personal mixers throughout the pit. Most corps seem to be using passive speaker setups, Teal Sound was the only corps I've seen who had powered speakers.

These horns are only 1 1/2 years old and they are Bb.

Tampa Bay Thunder currently has the following King horns for sale: 6 King Marching Baritones (1127SP) $750 each + shipping 8 King Marching Tubas (1151SP) $2400 each + shipping The horns are available for delivery immediately after Labor Day weekend. email efox@tampabaythunder.org for more information.

Tampa Bay Thunder currently has 6 King Marching Baritones (1127SP) for sale. King Marching Baritone $750 each + shipping The horns are available for delivery immediately after Labor Day weekend. All horns will be cleaned up and in full working order. email efox@tampabaythunder.org for more information.

I thought drum corps was dead in the South East? Isn't that what half of this summer's threads have been about?

I had my laptop stolen in 2003 during move-ins. I was blogging for DCI at that point daily.

Some corps issue section shorts to the members, different color for every section. Some corps allow the sections to decide what they want to wear. When I marched Scouts, the corps issued each section different colored shorts. At Magic, the front ensemble went to Wal Mart one night and bought super tacky board shorts that matched.

Phantom started the dog tag tradition back in 2002. We were very loud when we walked around that summer (until lots of people finally got the rubber covers to go around them to keep them from clinging). You were issued 2 identical tags, then 1 was left on the field after retreat.

Have you tried Paul Collins from the Brass Shop?

I honestly don't think their souvie sales are any different from in the past. People still love the Cavaliers, regardless of their placement. As for the Cowboys analogy, yes, that's proven fact right there. But I've been in the licensed merchandise field for 16 years now and I can tell you this much.... The "big" teams, sell regardless of what they do on the field. Yankees, Red Sox, Packers, Cowboys, Steelers, Ohio State, University of Texas and Notre Dame are the "super" sellers. You can relate that to DCI easily.

Last year it wasn't announced until late into the season, so I'm sure some type of announcement will be coming soon. From what I've heard however is that ticket sales have already exceeded last years!

Then why not replace all the brass sounds with synths? Many front ensembles out there already utilize malletkats/xylosynths already. Electronic "keyboards".

5 shows is actually above the average amount of shows DCA corps perform in (outside of those in the northeast).

Definitely not a written rule. Just a spoken rule.

now, was it an actual bumper sticker...or was it a window decal/cling?

It's not a lack of expertise, exposure or talent. Money and facilities play very large roles. It does hurt only having 1 show in the state every year. However, it's not due to attendance, it's due to the weather. DCI always has to be careful with Florida because of the rain in the summer. It's also tough getting a DCA show in Florida, since it's an 8 hour MINIMUM trip for the closest corps to Tampa (Atlanta CV & Alliance) plus even longer trips for Shenandoah Sound (Virginia) & Carolina Gold. Since DCA corps are weekend warriors, it's tough to pull off a trip like that just for the weekend, time wise and financially. Last summer (2011), Tampa Bay Thunder hosted a DCA show which only included 3 DCA South corps and had over 800 people in attendance alone. There's TONS of expertise down in Florida, but expertise doesn't go very far when there's a lack of funds.