Jeffsjetta

just a quick notes...many rewrites were planned for the next ten days for Coats since at least mid may. expect changes

thanks for the scoop.

give it time. B)

she'll still look great. Becky's just a good lookin girl B)

oh the much ballyhooed xmen DM uni wasnt worn tonight. Becky will look great in it.

ahhh, live drum corps, and while humid as ####, no rain for a change in South Central PA. Tonight, 4 corps, a small stadium, a lousy field due to 3-5 inches of rain hitting the area in 4 hours last night, and a lot of drum corps starved fans. First off the Hanover Lancers alumni field corps. about 40 horns, 6 snares, 8 basses and i think 4 quads. Nice selection of patriotic tunes. After the first tune, the announcer took the time to introduce the guys on the track...these gentlemen were the members of the Air Force Pipe and drum corps, the one that Truman crawford led when he was with the Air Force. Many legends on that track...John Flowers, Eric Landis, looked like Red Windsor, Whitey Roberts and more. At this point Hanover kicked into an armed forces medley, and invited vets and current enlisted to stand when their service hymn was played. Hanover then trooped the stands to "You'll never Walk Alone" Next up the Crossmen....numbers looked similar to last year. The corps starts on the back sideline, except for a solo dancer and a sop soloist for "Somewhere Over The Rainbow". Guard used pieces of fabric to show Colors, the unifying theme of the show, at one point strecthing the fabric in front of their whole bodies. Being that the guard was in grey jumpsuit like uniforms, it worked to a tee. Next up was St James Club, a fast piece jazz tune w/an underlying perc groove. Members seemed tentative on drill, and on that field i cant blame them. Tune doesnt seem up to tempo yet, and may take time for some visual transitions to fall into place before they can. Many trades between brass and percussion, and the huge guard is busy on weapons and flags. The power chrod ending and ending tag was very similar to last years opener(which is fine w/me) Next song was Blue Rhondo ala Turk. Many mood/meter changes in this one, and has the potential to be very tasty by August. Perc featured more here, especially the pit, and a park and blow that heard traces of Blues In The NIght. A Visual highlight during the drum solo was the horn line running to the upper left corner, then turning around and doing last years opening drill move.....i totally forgot to watch the drums and guard because this move is still cool even coming from the other direction. This led into Count Bubba, which was done park n bark jam style, as the drill wasnt performed. This song will be a jam session galore...brass moments, perc moments and guard moments. Now i know it's June, and expect dirt, but the drums surprised me...either dead on, or dirty. brass intonation was nice, tho some stamina issues, which is to be expected. guard, as has become a Crossmen standard was superb. The Cadets. very unusual start to the show for them. As the break out of the block and go to the opening set, the low brass begins to march and play My Favorite Things, while the rest of the brass hangs out and the percussion plays a quick warmups. The low brass ties into the mid voices and they begin to move, adding onto the upper brass then the percussion. They turn around and you feel impact coming, yet they turn backfield again, eventually forming a straight line on about the 20. This actually looks like an old time off the line as the corps kicks into Fanfare and Allegro. A nice intorduction to the tune coming "OTL", then tempo kicks up into areas the Cadets seem at home with. Motoring around the field w/out a concern, the corps finishes off the tune nicely. the guard was in black spandex tops and bottoms, which dont seem like the final uni, but the guard work is nuts. Up next is Malaguena. Ok, i will admit, i have personally declared this song overkilled. However, i cant rip the cadets version of it. The females in the guard add a blue skirt and the flags are a bright blue for this, which had me confused...i think red when i hear this song. nice brass/perc trade offs, leading to a full perc afro/cuban feature, followed by a full brass park and blow. Tempo picks up again, and the song ends with the full blown Malaguena in your face you expect when you hear the song. Then...my song i wanted to hear most...Rocky Point Holiday. Intro as expected, tho the tempo seems a bit down yet.mello book to die for, and the updated perc parts have a ton of black on the paper. About half the way thru the tune, the corps parks, as the drill is not finished yet. After the mello lick from ####, the one that sets up the ending, the corps does a nice melodic recap of all the tunes, then the power chords from Rocky Point. The Rocky Point tag isn't on the end, but i see it coming. The corps moved confidently for June 14th, and sounded better than they have early season since maybe 98. When the drill is done (praying for a Z pull here), this show will turn heads. Finally the Marines. Wondered what they would be like without the Good Colonel at the helm, well I can honestly say they kicked my ###. the best drumline they have had for years, and playing tunes like Hoedown, Bugle Rag Blues, Stars and Stripes and others, i can honestly say the corps is in great hands. and did i mention that drumline kicked ###? The bassline never stopped. my vantage point for the first three corps was 35 yards line, 8 rows up in the 12 row high stadium. event could have been run better, but a venue change seemed to leave people at sorts. The corps themselves tho, made me ready for my next show in 2 weeks.

first off, great review. gave explanation to a show i hope to see in 2 weeks. hats off to the cavies for what seems to be a great design job. I hope it's entertaining and i also hope it's well performed. and i really hope i dont have to see a summer of Cavie bashing and vice versa, Cavie faithful bashing the cavies bashers. opinions are like ########...don't be an ########, just have an opinion.

drumese is english :P

anyone try em? I saw the Coats use them, and i wasn't quite 100%sold on em

Why is this? Are you saying that none of these marching drumlines that you're trying to arrange judging for actually march? one does, one doesnt. i dont like it either way personally. one is grounded and one has a brass/wind section over 100

now that is a cd worth buying

the problem Mike, that people want to use the same sheet, and change the position. and still not make the ensemble music guy responsible for doing their job, which includes all sections, yet perc never gets mentioned unless it's the obligatory "drumline too loud"

the sheet does not mention brass at all...it is solely percussion. the circuit has a music ensemble judge whose responsibility covers the issue you addressed. they rarely do, but it's their job. if the current sheet is used, 60% of the verbiage will be wasted in the stands. Actually make that 80%. if it is to go upstairs, the entire sheet needs to be redone

my faves: Shore 95/96, Bucs 98-00. Empire 02. Renegades and Inspires 02. Scv any year. Madison 95 Suncoast 84-86 Bluecoats 00-present.

we have two rooms to go yet. sadly, these are the worst two rooms to go as well. i may just hire a hauler

my dad has it somewhere, we just havent been able to locate it....and we've been looking for months. you have to understand, his house makes Fred Sanford's house look clean. i'll keep looking

you had me til the end. I am in charge of a grounded ensemble, placed 4 steps behind the center X. so, i will not be heard as clearly as a moving line with staging that can benefit them. hence, my dilemma. we program to get our perc moments in as well as be musical within the big picture. but, with the emphasis on technique on the sheets, i am terrified of someone trying to judge my four mallet technique at pianissimo from 20 rows up when we are behind the center of the field.

finally, Blast came to a true drum corps town, and the town was appreciative. having seen the show on Broadway, baltimore and now hershey, i must say this cast seemed to be the most laid back and loose of all three casts i have seen. More humor than i ever remember seeing, all of it very well done. No real big names on staff except for the queen of DCI telecasts, Stacy Johnson. drum battle was the cleanest i have ever seen it, and as always, it stole the show...tho the weave of death at intermission came close( and yes, to the drummer who asked, i knew the old SCV beat you were jammin to) I noticed many changes, but, IMO, all made the show more enjoyable to those who may not have been drum corps nuts or band kids who played these tunes. App Spring was gorgeous....such vocal quality, and the bells were right on the money. medea was a total throwdown( i still like Blasts better than Stars version.) Land of Make Believe was a scream, and the soloist in EVERYbody Loves the Blues belongs on a field somewhere now! and Malaguena.....the closer of closers. Great job Blast, and i wish i had seen you more. Looking forward to seeing what happens when the London run ends.

no but it IS a part of it. if you read back, you see i mentioned this is the case in ALL disciplines, not just guard. but if you have enough from every discipline fed up and walk, you get smaller crowds.

Well I don't know about you, Jeff, but every year the seating at WGI gets tighter and tighter. Same venue. Hmmm..... mabye people are just getting fatter and fatter.....but I doubt it. What i can't understand about the ###### off and bitter old school is if they hate the product so much, why..whaaaaaaayyyyyyy do they keep coming back? I liken it to the old addage patient to doctor: "Dr., it hurts when I go like this" ::Bends arm at the elbow Doctor to patient: "Well....don't go like that". duhh..... however, while WGI grows, DCI shrinks. so there is a tradeoff.

but the spectators pay to see it, and when more and more spectators are unhappy, you have less people to perform for. I dunno about you, but performing to no one sucks. and this applies to all the disciplines, not just guard.

the probelm is, like modern programing of shows, not everyone is a guard fan and likes the higher, louder faster....be it guard, brass or percussion as well. i sit w/drummers and horn people at shows...and we all comment how we'd love to see a ###### 5 once in a while...cause it catches our eyes.....just as we want to hear a ton of singles, screamin sops and mello runs to die for. the problem is all of the above are no longer en vogue, and as such, joe every fan, regardless of era and caption, is becoming bored.

i just cannot understand how people can say this. If you pull out baseball tapes from the 20's, or basketball tapes from the 70's even, they are COMPLETELY different games now. The objective is the same, but the way its done, the rules, the strategies, the participants...they are completely different! YET they are STILL basketball and baseball. Just because guard has evolved doesnt mean its not guard anymore! i am far from a guard expert, but besdies the DH, what really has changed about baseball? um...lets see...9 players....9 innings....world series......#### not much. i used to follow guards closely, especially at the local indoor level...the tosses fascinated me, and some dance was ok. now when i go i wade thru the dance to see some tosses......and i am bored to tears.

it's a specialty caption, so the odds of us getting two judges is about as likely as me joining a guard. so, base it on one judge, choose where he/she/it goes.

the band circuit i teach is currently wrestling with the issue of whether to place the percussion judge in the stands or keep him on the field. the main complaint is judges miss too much down low, as well as the sheet is too vague and asks for ensemble and GE issues be addressed. as well as many feel the judge upstairs will miss way too much by being so far away from the performers, as well as then be harrassed by staff members for not looking at the drill like a drill guy, or by going out of caption and doing the ensemble music judges job. now, percussion is a specialty caption and doesnt contribute to the score, yet drummers being drummers make this one of the hottest fights of the year competitively. i won't vote for a while, not will i make my thoughts public, but i wanted to see what other percussion people think.