Eggbert

Aren't those Gauchos?

It would take some practice. There would still be those that specialize in visual, but everyone can do something musical and/or visual with the right training and enough time. Yea, verily. As I watched one of those cool 8x8 drill block moves from cavies on this year's broadcast, I thought... They've taken thinking within the box to a new level.

81 horns (9x9 block) 54 percussion All do visual guard work in the show. Players switch between music and visual depending on the needs of the show segment. Brass and percussion instrumentations adjust accordingly. Players move in and out of the pit as necessary. No parking. No DM's. :)

Hashes? We don need no steenking hashes.

Darn tasty too. At least when it's made of drum corps people you know it has the highest quality ingredients.

Classic!

The hard part is getting the amps to learn their drill. Lazy ########!

That is so sad! Talk about throwing the baby out with the bathwater. We were right there with you in 81 (Blue Stars 16 Defenders 17). We had a VERY similar thing happen in 79 or 80 (getting foggy these days) at a pool in Talladega. There is a certain desperation that kicks in between 12th and 17th place and the staff goes a little nuts. Hey Johnric, you've got to have some good ones. Let's hear it! Jim, we used to swipe Phoenix's street beat (a very cool legend of the one eyed sailor type thing), but we knew better than to play it within earshot or those guys would come over and kick our butts!

Z just reminded me of a good one. Northstar had this cool little mallet part that they would play as a cadence. I dunno if it was tico tico or something like that, but it was really catchy and we heard it every night. So we ended up figuring it out one day and, as a joke, actually played it coming off the field after retreat one night when Northstar wasn't there. Needless to say our instructor almost had an aneurysm and said that if we ever.... EVER... did that again, he would have us KILLED. Good times. :)

Teddy Heumann used to do that. Seemed to fit the music really well and have a lot of flow. I always liked that team aspect, that we were making formations together instead of every man for himself to his dot. It's easier with dot books but we always thought that was kinda bandish. Obviously we couldn't have the visual designs of today without them. Surprised no one has mentioned Blue Stars stick chicks. Their main job was to move from set point to set point, sighting their position and marking out perfect step size. There were also little ways to cheat and mark the field. Bottle caps were useful, big enough to see but only if you know where to look.

Every now and then we had to get back at the staff. It's only fair when they say "last time" and then do three more runs in the dark. You've just got to do a little something that gets under their skin. This is one of those things and it started very innocently. Some songs just sound good on xylophone. The Maxwell House percolator song, Flight of the Bumblebee and this one: http://www.tv-timewarp.co.uk/midi_files/Ex...ainKangaroo.mid One day we were on break noodling around with some of those things that sound good on xylophone and that song came up, along with several tv show themes. As we figured out the notes our mallet instructor comes running over blue in the face, waving his arms and screaming that we should NEVER EVER play that song again! What if another corps heard us play that!?!?! God forbid! We could never hold our heads high in DCI again! Whenever things got tough all we had to do was play the first four notes. ARGH!!! Better than nails on a chalkboard!

He did? Cage... Hendrix... what's the difference, right? Got music history? Geez. Missed the point entirely. If you can't find music in the world around you... you might be a redneck. ($1 to Foxworthy)

Balls (preferably out)

This has got to be one of the most senseless posts ever. (the original post) Dude, you're not helping.

What if the saxes were in the key of G?

Think the first time I heard it was on David Letterman. Personally, I think babies are better chucked than thrown. Makes the flames go higher. chuckin' babies!

Um... Wasn't Glen Miller a trombone player?

I don't see the military aspect in visual design so much a problem as how performers carry themselves and the attitude that goes along with it. It's that cold seriousness that a lot of people can't understand when associated with music. In some ways I find the corps of today even "stiffer" than the old days, perhaps trying to hang on to some sort of traditional drum corps feel. MikeD said it well regarding the military thing while playing non-military music. It's all a bit of a force fit and has been for ages. When I first came into it (75) there was a strong movement AWAY from the military vibe. That was the thing I loved most about drum corps at the time. We were innovators and it felt like it. Shakos and cadet unis were on the way out and people were trying new things. While the guard has stretched into new areas and drill design is creating amazing stuff to look at, the corps proper seems to be stuck in a rut. There also used to be a push for true integration of the guard and corps proper. That didn't last long. I guess it's easier to write the guard block over on the other side of the field or whatever. Looks like two different corps out there sometimes. Guard was more integrated in the 60's when everyone was still doing pinwheels! Whenever I introduce people to drum corps there are a few questions I can always count on. Why are they so stiff? Why do they look so angry? Why is the guard "acting"? (it ain't working) What's with the saluting? It's really not very fan friendly or even sensible when you think about it. To me drum corps is as simple as people on a field making people in the stands go nuts. Now if they could just do that without alienating huge demographics of the audience. It's a great performance form, maybe among the most powerful in the world. But, it won't enjoy any kind of acceptance in society until average people can look at it and go, "wow!" instead of "huh?"

OK, now I'm confused. Doesn't anyone have solid numbers? Surely there must be someone here who's worked on a show committee recently and knows how much they paid to have DCI corps come to town. If there's a reason not to state these figures publicly, then please consider sending me an email. I'm doing a feasability study on sponsoring a show and hope to get some figures that will hold up. Thanks!

I'll be the first to say it... YAY!!!!!!!!!!! Guelph was one of my all time favorites. Promise you'll do the endless roll and maybe even Brian's song for old times sake.

If these are correct figures, that works out to a max of only about $18 per performer. I guess that might pay their meals for the day, forget about transportation and lodging. Thanks for the info.

Tried a search but couldn't find any figures. What are the standard minumum performance fees for div1/23. ?

Not really, the proper dynamic information is gone. Surprised it's so pronounced, but it's better than losing the whole recording to peak distortion. Live recording is always tough and ya never know. It may have been caused by the live audio engineer anticipating a problem and doing an "uh-oh," pulling the levels manually at the peak. Wouldn't be the first time.

Definitely compression. I noticed that on the ESPN2 broadcast it was fairly pronounced. Audio compression is tricky. When applied properly it should be transparent. When poorly applied, the compressor can be heard pumping in and out and clarity is diminished. Generally, compression is to even out extremes of the peaks and valleys of the sound. The objective is to give the impression of MORE volume, not less. It's also used to provide greater audibility to details in the softer parts. But, bad compression is usually far worse than no compression at all.

^ Exactly.