MikeD
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Posts posted by MikeD
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Excelent review!
We seem to agree on quite a few areas, going back to my own review of Clifton, esp Crown's hornline.
I DID think that the way Crown reintegrated the battery after their ballad was pretty neat though.
Great job!
Mike
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Sluggo,
Don't get down on yourself. It was a fine review!
Frank,
Congrats!
Mike
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Excellent review!!!!
I took my daughter (going into HS junior year) to the Cadets Clifton show (3rd year in a row), and low and behold, my wife, who hasn't attended a corps show in over 20 years, came along too. Both of them had a ball. :D
Mike
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Add me as a "Yes" to the hats, just as last year.
Love their guard uni. Of course, the great performance level doesn't hurt!
Mike
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ipecac,
>do shows start too early?
No, at least not at Clifton. I think 7:30 is reasonable on a Saturday.
>too many people arrive late
Yes. At the start of the show I looked down at the ends and was surprised at the empty seats. At intermission, I also looked down and couldn't believe how crowded it was.
Mike,
>If I didn't know better, I would have sworn that they were playing on G bugles.
No, they sounded better than that. ^0^
>Off for a sausage and pepper hero. Ran into Glen Johnson,
I hope you didn't spill and peppers and onions on him. :o
>JSU was arced up, and they ripped into Georgia
I heard it from a distance, as we were walking back to the car. What an incredible sound!
Great reviews, both of you.
Mike
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Well, this isn't' a real review, just some comments on Clifton.
To start with, it was just gong to be my daughter and I going to the show, as my wife hasn't gone to a live corps show in over 20 years.
My daughter, bass drum section leader last season and now drum major of our HS band, has gone with me to Clifton in 2000 and 2001. Her goal was to watch drum majors to start to lern the ropes. We couldn't go watch any rehearsals this year, as my daughter is now a lifeguard and had to work until 4:00 PM.
So, as she and I were about to leave, my wife shocked the both of us and decided to come along. So, it was the three of us, and we had a great time.
We ended up with sets on the 50, and about 16 rows up. Great seats!
Prior to the show my daughter searched for shirts :)
...but sadly on all the shorts she liked, NONE of the booths had medium or large, just small or XL/XXL. :(
She decided to wait until the West Chester show, as she will be attending with the rest of the Vivace Marching band camp.
On to the show....
First corps up...Surf....
Did their own take on WSS. Very interesting show, adn I think they wil eventually nail it. A lot of performance "stuff" to clean, esp in visual perf and brass. Perc really cook for early-on.
Guard: all black, but for some odd reason they put everyone, including the guys, in pink tutus part way through. Very disconcerting.
Their guard work is obviously not yet done. For one number, they carried around sports equipment, like baseball bats, tennis rackets, and lacrosse sticks, painted taxi-cab yellow....though I hate to use the word "taxi-cab" anywhere near a post that will mention The Cadets...
They didn't do any work with the stuff, so I assume it's not done yet.
Their closer ("Somewhere") needs more to it as well, as it ends pretty abruptly.
All in all, some REAL nice playing showing lots of potential and a dynamite show, so I think they'll do just fine.
Kavaliers
My daughter's fave in 2000, as she had just seen "Miss Saigon" in NYC with mom and loved what they did with it.
This year the corps is HUGE, with the merger. Battery perc esp. 10 snares???
Very neat show, with superhero music. All black unis with visors in the brass/pec and all black on the guard.
One spot I had some trouble is when the corps proper is in some sort of 'S' shape with the guard layered inside the curves. The black-on-black almost turns the guard invisible, as they are not dong any equipment in that spot. I'd highlight the uni somehow to bring them out, or give them some equipment. Actually, I liked what they were dong, but I had to look real hard to find them.
All in all a very nice show. Lots of performance opportunities to work on, as all the corps showed; it WAS still June, after all.
Spirit
One of my three faves last year.
I've watched them the past three years and have marvelled at the intelligence of their admin, as they give the corps enough show to help them grow, yet not over their heads so it becomes a fruistration.
This year, they hit the big time, IMO. The Holsinger music is wonderful. The play the heck out fo the opener. I love the horn effect as they twist left and right in the wedge. VERY neat.
The "ballad": Once they add some more expressiveness and emotion, watch out! It came across a bit "by the numbers", but if they can get it up to the performance level of the opener, they'll REALLY have something.
Finale: Seemed to run out of gas. The trumpets esp started to fade in and out.
Overall a very well put together show, for sure. The visual design is wonderful, and the guard does an outstanding job.
Crown
Greek Gods show. Last year's show was one of my VERY facvorites, adn I thought they played the heck out of it. One of my top three favorites of the year. This year...not really.
The brass actually seem to play with better intonation than the past, but they still have to project more feeling and expression It comes across a bit dry.
One long spot the pit isn't paying at all, but standing near sus cymbals watching the DM for the end of the tune, where they contribte a short sus cymbal roll. The players seemed unsure of themselves, as they were looking at each other, and then up at the DM. I wonder if it was a new part.
Some visual problems, and a few folsk had to REALLY run at times to hit their spots, horns swinging to and fro.
They did the "park the battery in back for a while" bit, but the way they integrated them back in to the show was so neat I forgave them for that.
All in all, I liked them better last year. They really need to cut loose more, IMO, esp the brass.
Crossmen
My other fave from last year.
This year, I loved the opener. there are some problem spots performance wise, esp the first 30 seconds or so.
The Linda Eder ballad will be VERY nice once they get more emotion in the performance. I thought the flugels came across thin and breathy a bit, not dark and warm. Once they learn what they are SUPPOSED to soudn like, I'm sure they'll be fine. Some to the background to the flugels sounded unmusical in the lower bras, sort of just notes plopped down, not really performed in a musical manner. Again, something I'm sure they'll work on.
Strawberry Soup was a gas. They REALLY laid it out on that tune. The members must really like that tune a lot.
Battery perc, esp the snare rides on cymbals, get lost at times. Was a cymbal missing? There didn't seem to be enough cymbals for all of the snares.
The guad was great, but there was one move near the start of the show (I think it was Crossmen, but I might be wrong; it might have been Crown). where they do a two-person flip over move. It really looks clunky, almost as if I was on the field dong it ( a sight NO ONE would want to see, believe me).
Blue Devils
There seems to be complaints about their show in these newsgroups, but IMO this was the most fun I've EVER had watching a BD show, gong back to the 70's.
I love the opener, but then "Ragtime" is my favorite show of the last 5 or 6 years. The spin around collapsing hornline is a VERY neat visual.
I wish I could figure out what the furor is about "Channel One". I loved the chart I'd rather not hear the version for 19XX; I love to hear the new take on it.
Guard: as last year, one of my all time faves. I love the theatricality of their show...mixed in with great equipment work. Just wonderful. Percssion do a nice job, though I'm not sure it's one of their best percussion sections.
I love the switch to the percussion in the opener form the brass.
My quibble with Ragtime....maybe TOO fast, as it looses a littel of teh rag feel whe t gets going. Then again, as I sadi I love the show, so it's probably just me. I wish they had done their entire show on Ragtime, actually!
Cadets
My goodness, what a great entertaining program, performed very well.
The Bernstein opener took MAYBE a fraction too long to unwind, but once it hit it's stride it was incredible.
The Field of Dreams ballad is beautiful, and they already have a good bit of emotion and expression in it. It still needs more, but the structure is there, so I'm sure it will be great by August.
Boogie Woogie.. is so good it leads to a problem..the closer.
After such a hig energy number, just about anything will be a let down, and for me the closer was, to an extent. It needs more visual enhancement, and maybe even some rescoring to get it back up to the heights of the rest of the show. It never quite gets back to the heights of BWBB and the rest so I was left just a little "off at the end. I'm sure that will be fixed.
I love the high leg lift spot, and the REAL neat 'old style' drum feature. It shows that today's kids can play ANYTHING thrown at them, IMO.
As I said back in 2000, I stil think they may have too many mellos to the number of trumpets, as the trumpets get thinned out a bit and lose their presence in a few spots.
A general comment
Seems to be the year of placing the tubas on the sideline and leting them do a walking bass festure. I think at least three did it, and maybe four.
Scores:
I don't know, but the placements were acurate, IMO, as were the spreads.
I thought the BD did a great job and shoudl be close to the Cwdets, as did Spirit in their 3-point relation to the Crossmen..
My faves:
Spirit
Cadets
Blue Devils (which has NEVER happened for me)
My wife:
Blue Devils
Crossmen
Spirit
Mike
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Don,
When we bought my son the Conn tuba mouthpiece, it made a great difference. Very nice mouthpiece.
Mike
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Steve,
> I can't wait to hear your response to Spirit's show either, Mike. I remember how well you liked last year's offering.
This year is written so much better and the kids love it!
I really look forward to seeing them!
>When will you see them?
My daughter and I are trying to get a group of band kids (I have a minivan) to go to either North Penn (Lansdale PA) or Clifton, both next weekend.
My other goal is Philly in early August at Franklin Field, which would pretty much match last year's shows for me, one early and one late.
Are you travelling at all with the corps this summer?
Mike
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Uh, Steve, probably the most comprehensive non-comprehensive review I've ever seen! B)
Very nice job. Can't wait to see all the corps, esp JSU. Sounds like another step up. Very intelligent corps admin the past three years moving them along quite nicely.
Mike
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Miker,
I thought exactly the opposite the first time I heard the Cadets on Bb/F in 2000. I thought that the mellos were overpowering the trumpets, esp the 2nds and 3rds.
Last year I thought they balanced very well.
Mike
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Trish,
>you have to toss it, do a saute
Need some olive oil??? A little garlic and some fresh herbs?
Mike
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Hhhmmm...screamin' solos.
The one year I played horn (Cadets 72) , many people DID start to scream when they heard me play....I know my horn instructor Don Angelica did.....
....and then they told me to play so-lo they'd not have to hear me again!
Mike
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Andy,
Do you have any that say "It's not real drum corps if you don't march bassoons" ??????
Mike
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I started taking drum lessons in 4th grade at my school, the 1962-63 school year.
After the 64 season my dad, a dance band drummer in the 30's, signed me up with the drum corps at the VFW post he belonged to. Myself and two friends played together in drum corps and college through the 69 season, and continued in HS together, even though I moved on to Garfield.
One summer I picked up sax at summer schol for something to do, and I ended up playing bari sax throughout my HS years in concert band and jazz band, and even in my college jazz band (I majored in percussion).
I played baritone horn my last year in the Cadets, 1972.
Mike
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Relative volume changes are what I think make the difference. The absolute loudness is far less important to me than the use of the full dynamic range based on the size of the horn line and what will produce the best quality sound, with excellent timbre, intonation, and balance.
I guess I'm a "quality first" person. (:-D
Mike
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What?
]:-)
Mike
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Frank,
> But of course, I'm not normal..
....nuff said! :p
Mike
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Let's see.
I have a Slingerland drum set (from 1975)
Xylophone
Trumpet - Bach student model
Clarinet
Flute
Mike
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I voted for the Cadets for the long haul.
However, I loved Crown's and the Blue Devil's guards this past season.
And I always felt in the late 80's-early 90's that the Phantom Regiment had the classiest guard on the field.
Mike
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I would have picked 1972 as the 'best', because that's the year I played horn %-)
....but I have an old video of us at Blue Rock's show and ....ouch! The soprano line! :o)
...come to think of it, since 1972 WAS the year I played horn...another reason NOT to pick it as a "best" (8-]
The 2000 line was VERY good, but I think I might go for 2001.
Mike
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Doug,
No, it was Glen Ridge, but Larry DID later bring me into Morristown to do the percussion book and teach when Jill van Syckle (sp?) was band director, when Larry did did their visual program, early 80's or so.
Mike
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Well, since I only marched horn for one year in the Cadets (72) my ONLY brass instructor was also the most influential for me personally. It was Don Angelica, one of the greats in drum corps history.
One of the "little things" he did for a bunch of us who were music majors was pretty neat. He had us over to his house and had us each arrange a short piece for the hornline. We played through the charts at a rehearsal and then at a followup session he reviewed how we had done, both good and bad. My assignment was "When Johnny Come Marching Home".
Roger,
Bucky Swan taught the Garden State corps I marched in way back in 68/69, and taught in 75-76. Actually, it seemed like he taught ALL of the GSC corps back in those days. :P
John Arietano writes some great charts. He's been doing our band's for years (since before I started teaching this band in 94).
In fact, we're meeting tonight to finalize (hopefully) our show music for next fall.
Mike
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My daughter attended the Marching Band camp at Westchester U last summer and had Tom Float as her percussion instructor. She can't WAIT to go back this year to see him again.
Mike
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Let's see....
I left the Cadets tri-tom line after the '71 season when they let our drum instructor go (as did just about the entire drumline) and headed over to the Cabs where he was teaching.
Ended up going back to the Cadets, but decided I didn't want to play drums in a drum line NOT taught by George Tuthill (Cadets had this "new guy" Fred Sanford teachig the line), so I decided to audition for baritone.
I opened the case, on the first try! (:-D
....took the horn out and actually put the mouthpiece in the right place....only two or three tries to accomplish that. :D
Having been a bari sax player in HS (though a percussion major in college), I asked where the reed went, and told the horn instructor Don Angelica that the neckstrap was missing from the case, but they let me continue the audition anyway. 8^)
Put the mouthpiece to my lips and made a rude noise (on the horn).....I was IN! Section leader of the 3rd baritone line just picking the darn thing up (probably because at 18 I was the oldest player in the 3rd bari section). The kid next to me was 13 and the rest were from 14-17.
Pretty tough audition! 8^)
Mike, Garfield 70-72
Another partial Clifton review
in DCI (All) Corps Show & Event Reviews
Posted
What does one think when one thinks of attending a show at Clifton Stadium??
Where the HECK am I gong to park my car??? :o
Well, I had to deliver the rest of my band's show ideas to our arranger, John Arietano, so I figured I'd drive on up to Clifton and drop off the cut tape I made for our closer and just chat with him a bit. Also, I figured I coudl catch some DCA corps as well. So, off I went.....
I got to Clifton Stadium in time to see eveyone, just about.
However, by the time I took "le' grande tour de Cliftonne" looking for a parking spot, and wended my way over to the stadium, I missed both of the beginning exhibitions. The Hurcs were just about to start their show.
Hurcs: What a great percussion section! Very tight and some wonderful parts in both the battery and pit. A few hmmmm spots in the performance, but overall a great percussion job.
Guard: Another highlight! The guard is very good with both movement and equipment to this non-guard person. Very WGI-ish and I mean that in a good sense. In additon to technical excellence, they connect emotionally with the audience.
Brass: seemed VERY tired. Did they play a lot during the day? "Fanfare for the Common Man" was pretty decent, but after that they seemed to have problems in maintaining pitch and sonority. The sops were pinched and strident sounding, and there were some mellophone entracnes that were quite jarring intonaton-wise. The book is very well written, though. My guess is that maybe the played a lot prior to the show? Maybe a bit too much? If not, they need to build up their endurance so that the end of the show matches the opener in performance quality.
Skyliners: A lot of changes since I saw them at a rehearsal a while back, and from what I've been told, a lot more to come.
Brass: The highpoint for me of their corps. They had some overplaying at times, but the overall intonation was quite good, IMO. The had something like 27 horns, and they really should play like a very good 27, not TRY and play like 37. I like their opener, and from NY/NY through the closer the show really grabbed the crowd.
Guard: Very small, but they do a great job for their small size. I think they need to integrate them into the visual design more, but as I was told, that is on the way. They were out in the hinterlands a few times, as compared to the horns. I think the brass drill was changed (and some holes closed), and the percussion now all-pit, so the original guard spots that USED to be integrated are now outside of the forms. I know tey'll fix that i the coming weeks, from talking to their staff.
Well, after Sky I went in search of Screetch to give him out show stuff, the main reason I was there in the first place. So, I hung out with John and some of the Sky folks in the parking lot, sipping a nice G&T at the tailgate of John's car and discussed Sky, our band show, and lots of stuff. So, I missed Bush, Bucs, and the Brigs (must have somthing against corps that start with 'B').
I went back to the show in time to see the Cabs and Cabs alumni, though I saw both a ground level.
The competitive corps, doing the muchachos old show, did a pretty decent job. From my perspectie, they had some REAL performance issues in the bari line and there was some tempo fighting between the percussion and brass in a few spots of Pines.
The Cabs alumi corps closed out the show in wonderful fashion.
Started on the goal line in a company front and did a real 1971 drill to the old music. VERY nicely done. Their brass and percussion are outstanding! Not just "for an alumni corps". Just plain outstanding.
As they trooped the stands they stopped and hit us with "Cherry Pink"; a perfect end to their performance.
Then, they and the competitive corps combined with "Espiritu del Toro", stepping off from the back sideline to bring out the DM's for retreat.
Scores you can get elsewhere; I didn't hang around for them. I did hear that a best soloist award went to John Arietano, so congrats to John. It was well deserved.
VERY nice show, quite well attended.
Iwonder if Moe Knox has a picture of himself up in the attic that ages ( a la Dorian Grey), as he looks EXACTLY the same as he did 30 years ago!
Mike Davis, Garfield 70-72