The Oz

Joe Morello of the famous Brubeck quartet. Never settled to just ride the beat; he was always playing with base rhythms and responding to the other players.

It's legal. If you hit it with a stick.

50-yard line seats at Sahlen’s Stadium for the entire Labor Day 2012 weekend!

BITD every corps marched with slings and leg rests, hence with a tilted drum. And one that pitched about while you were moving. However, we also spent a lot of time playing on horizontal pads. No big deal. And stands were for wussies.

Do it in style. Charter a boat, drop the pick in Spa Creek, and walk to the show.

Shouldn't that be "corpswidth"?

A few freeze-ups, but I reset and could back up and watch anything I missed. Then return to live action. Very good job.

Not that I'm an expert, but today's techniques just won't work on mylar. You need an old guy to teach you the methods.

Sorry, but you've failed to accept the Enlightenment. Were I able to be at DCAs this year, I'd let you buy me a beer as penance. I'll take a rain check until next year.

Ludwig Super Sensitive with mylar snare and batter. I think we used a mix of gut and wire. A lot less messing around.

Thanks for the endorsement. We were better than most on the field. At this parade, meh.

If the arrangers knew what they were doing and could live with the limitations of the instruments, we wouldn't need the sound guy. You made Stingrays sound good? Now I know you are full of stuff.

Agreed, it's not showing us at our best, for several reasons. It's an off-season parade, October 13, 1973. The corps had the double whammy of a dramatic increase of numbers and a tight budget due to purchasing new horns in '72 (maybe '71). Money was tight and we had to put uniforms on all those new members. They do look, uh, inexpensive. The snare line was made up of about half the line from the field show and at least four new snares who had only been to one or two rehearsals. I bet we sounded just like we look in the picture. Back in the day, these parades were big money raisers. The best guess is that this is a fireman's parade in Reading. We would collect a couple of hundred or more. The best part was that, after the parade, you would purchase a beer mug with the fire company's logo and the beer to fill it cost nothing. All day. Nothing.

I'm not saying remove the pits, I'm saying shrink them. Please repeat that several times. I agree that the pit can add to a show, but do we really need all those instruments and electronics? And all that cost? And having the most playing time of any section? Why would small-pit corps have to be labeled as an alumni corps to hold your interest? If some corps came out with a small pit but with absolutely top quality writing, you would go get a hot dog just because they had a small pit? Wouldn't even be interested in watching just to see how this could work? Let's ask another question. Elsewhere on this board we heard of one show where the battery was grounded in the pit, and another show (admittedly BOA) where much of the percussion was electronic. So if this proves a trend, would you enjoy those shows? No marching percussion. No acoustic snares, quads, and basses? Note that I didn't say no battery, just a grounded battery or an electronic battery. Do I like the sound of mylar heads? Yes, I do. Sounds like a drum, not a tin can. Much better dynamics without resorting to rim shots. Marching tympani? Only if someone other than me carries them. Truthfully, I never liked the sound of marching tympani, too many compromises in the instrument. Valve rotor horns? They were a bit of an abomination. Two piston horns? Much better sound. Three piston horns? Brought an expanded repertoire. But, and I'm not speaking as an expert here, some of the “drum corps sound” may have been lost with chromatic horns.

Tall guy, fourth snare from the right. That's me.

Literary aspirations in the mind of an idiot can be a dangerous thing.

My "logic" is quite a bit simpler than that. Pits are too big. They cost too much. Their parts are over arranged. I want to hear drums and bugles with maybe a seasoning of pits. That's all.

Don't tell perc2100; I'm a drummer.

So we should take an instrument that wasn’t designed for outdoor playing and marching, add it to the corps because it’s new and there are reams of pieces written for it, and make it the focus of the drum corps music idiom? Makes perfect sense to me. And just to be sure I understand, the long attention spans of drummers can be used to separate them from brass players?

Agreed. But one battle at a time, please.

I would say it is subversive and cynical. Maybe it has some humor in it, but dark humor. But completely wrong? I may not be the only naive person in this thread. Had to disassemble this paragraph to comment on it. “Front Ensembles exist largely because … percussion has become a dominant voice.” OK, if you say so. "There are literally no boundaries of what can be a percussion instrument" Yup, you can hit anything, even a trumpet, with a stick. "and composers for the last 3+ decades have seemingly relished writing for percussion ..." As they have likely relished writing for brass, woodwinds, kazoos, and Theramins. "(the newest 'family' to the band/orchestra world)." I thought it was the oldest. But then, what do I know? "There is so much percussion writing in many of the more modern (again, read: 1970's-now) lit that for as many pieces as you think would sound better w/out front ensemble, there are several more that would not." Had some difficulty following that sentence. But you seem to be saying that some pieces would sound better with a pit and some without. OK. I gave up at this point. Sorry, ran out of interest. But I do want to know what gave me away as a brass player.

In my family we believe cousin Lee was a darned good shot! He didn't need no stinkin' second gunman.

Dear sir or madam, Are you sure you are responding to my post? - I am not an alumni corps member. Never have been. Doubtful I ever will be. Even if I was, I would not dare to speak for them. - I did not say that the pit is “completely useless and should be cut all together”. I am arguing that the pit is too large, too costly, and has taken too prominent a place on the field and in the music. - My argument is not aimed specifically to DCI. I’m sure that I am also disturbing DCA pitters. You can take solace in the fact that, as you said, no one is going to be convinced by my arguments. It is very doubtful that anything will change because of my posts. Does that make you feel better? One final word of advice, hanging around DCP is not for the thin skinned. If you have an opinion you are free to voice it. Strongly, if you feel so. It’s free country. OK, I lied, one more thing. Please don’t attempt to make this an us versus them debate. It is me debating whoever posts an argument to my post. Me versus you. Me versus Jeff. Maybe some folks may post in support of my position; or some parts of it. Enjoy the rhetoric.

Respectfully, Jeff … If you think the pit should be a major element in the music, were going to have to disagree. Listen to one of my favorite shows, Readings Shostakovich show. All that creamy low brass. What does the pit add to that? Bass drums (real bass drums, not the tuned basses of the battery)? Tymps? OK. But the mallets? Take the mallets out of the piece and I dont lose one goose bump. Now, just for discussions sake, lets take that show and cut the mallets. Rearrange a few bits to cover the resulting holes in the music. What do you think the judges would do to that show? Me too. They would bury it. I contend that there were two major reasons that pits came into being: - Tympani and bells to add little adornments to the music. - Save the backs of some percussionists. The two major reasons that pits exist today: - The judges have to score the way the leading corps dictate. - The instrument companies behind the leading corps want to sell pit equipment to high school bands. Somebody out there has the talent to write a thrilling show sans mallets. No judging panel has the courage to give it a good score. If you want to groove out on pits, go to an indoor percussion show. Dont support the movement to homogenize winter guard, indoor percussion, marching band, and drum corps.