jfmello

I have absolutely no memory of that, but I'll freely admit that I probably blocked it for sanity's sake. BTW, I did not know about the nail thing. Great idea.

Ditto here, and don't forget Dutch Boy in the late 80s. The theme from the Jetsons was hot the year they did it.

So YOU were the one...

Weedy: I have a slightly ragged copy of the '88 PBS broadcast that includes retreat. I'll have to look it up. I have no way of copying it, so I am loathe to loan it out, but if there are present (and past) Scouts that want to see it, I'll certainly consider it. PM me if you are interested.

Radiohead's a drum corps?

What he said.

Paul Hart also wrote 'Concerto for Guitar and Jazz Orchestra', which was the opener for the '88 show. I don't know if this helps, but Hart produced a CD of the Concerto, performed by the National Youth Jazz Orchestra (John Williams conducting) on the CBS label. You might start with their catalogue.

I have to put a word in for the '88 Madison French horn line. Just after the re-entry and before the build to the park and blow in our closer...wow.

Slummin' with the small-bells...

Mike: You can give my 204 a spin next camp, if I can make it...

So is GE.

I actually prefer the F# minor pinwheel, but that's just me... :P

You know, it's weird... With all the talk about crowd noise, etc., I have to admit that I don't remember hearing any crowd noise on the field during our show at all in '88. So I guess I'd have to say that I knew only when the 2nd place score was announced.

Bring out...the comfy chair!

Thanks for posting this. It brings back lots of memories. Some of the guys did partake in some of the legal festivities in Amsterdam. We made up words to the ballad of the show; the only thing I remember is that the lyrics made reference to the price of one of the 'festivities' (50 guilder, at that time)...

Matthew: I know Clay was the bari soloist in Malaguena in '88. I'll have to defer on the Georgeson question, but I was under the impression that Boerma arranged the horn book starting in '88.

Ah, marching Frenchies. Beautiful sound (a well-played line can really add to the sound of a hornline), but a beast to play. By my understanding (and I know I'll be corrected if I am wrong), the main difference is that the marching french horn (besides having a greater length of conical tubing than a mellophone) fundamental in its overtone series is an octave below the fundamental of a mellophone of the same key. So, the lowest note of a three-valve F mellophone is the F# below middle C written. The lowest note on an F French horn is an ocatve lower than that. So, playing the same pitch on a French horn as on a mellophone, the french horn will actually be an octave higher in its overtone series (that is, fingerings will be the same as an octave higher on the mello, and since the overtones are closer together on the frenchie, the tone will tend to be a bit more difficult to center). Add a french horn mouthpiece, and you've got a horn that is very difficult to play well under corps conditions. However, some of the finest musicians I ever played with and knew in corps played french horn (see, for example, Chris Smith and Matt Gregg).

You're on my list now, pal. :P

Gotta love postmodern deconstruction!

Celtic uses it too. Hail! Hail!

Wake the #### up...for safety. <edited for filter circumvention - jm>

I think the guy in the foreground of the second photo (in the bluish shirt) is Dave Chapik (sp?). He was in the mello section from '85 (?) to '89.

Marc, Thank you for posting. I don't know you, but I know a lot of people who do (I marched Star '87, and a lot of vets from '86 had 'Sylvester stories'), and all of them speak highly of you. Your post, I think, cuts to one of the main issues regarding the rules changes over the last few years. It seems as though many instructors (and possibly many corps directors) view drum corps as some kind of art form, and thus the field itself becomes a blank canvas for the instructors/designers to paint. You want as many different colors in your palette as you can, because that's just what artists want, and I understand this. On the other side, there are those that do not agree, for a myriad of reasons, with the additions you and others advocate. So, I think the question is: what's it going to be? Or, rather, what is drum corps to be and who is it for? Not to cast any aspersions, but many times the most successful artists are myopic in their vision, given to ignoring others' concerns in the name of art. I sincerely hope this is not the case, because the vision here seems to be the morphing of drum corps into something else, and there are many that have given time, money, and sweat in the past that are justifiably upset by this. The question for me here, then, is: is there any middle ground here? Is there a way to make all happy (or happier, at least), or are those who would lose interest in the new vision of drum corps (I would probably have to include myself in this group) simply going to have to ride off into the sunset?

Memories, after almost twenty years, become selective. I remember someone on the very top row of the stands, silhouetted (sp?) against the sky, waving a Scouts flag back and forth after the scores were announced. Our horn sergeant (who had patches on his corps jacket from '79) turned around with the biggest smile I had ever seen on him to call us to attention. One of the guys standing next to me even started to shake... As a side note, I wanted to mention what a class act Garfield was that night. We were standing in our block at parade rest after scores were announced, when all of a sudden a Cadet appeared in front of me, inside our block! I had been looking forward (even at parade rest, you don't look around), so I hadn't seen him approach. It turned out that the Cadet's horn sergeant had asked ours if they could some in our block to congratulate us. I shook hands with a number of Cadets that evening. Anyone from '88 remember this? What a class act all the way...

Mike, you're right. Heavy bottom valve caps did help. You have to experiment with the location of the weight (e.g., for some people, adding the shims in the third valve may help, since in the Yamahas the air stream enters the valve cluster via the third valve). I know it actually worked pretty well on the 203, so it's certainly worth a try on the 201 and 202.