Kansan

Prairie Sound Drum & Bugle Corps of Olathe, KS has joined Sound Sport DCI as an activity that will hopefully spark interest in our Corps and launch us toward DCA. The Sound Sport idea has been presented as easier for a smaller group like ours to participate in. Video performances with some live performances at DCI shows near our location in the Summer (we played the Star Spangled Banner at last years DCI show and will be doing so again July 15th, 2013). This gives us something to work on that is more oriented to Drum Corps Performances and does not require our corps to travel large distances. They say any instrumentation may be used. We will be using our 3 valve G Bugles and percussion. We are also talking about getting our Color Guard running again and including them in this project. This activity could spark some performance groups in our area/region and help get a competition circuit going the center of the U.S. Jeff, Prairie Sound.

Yes, we got a couple clips at the beginning but we can't be heard due to the entry playing drums in front of us. about a block into it things spread out and we could be heard but the camera person (my wife) took shelter due to the cold so there isn't any real useable video.

We have been wanting to March the Kansas City, Missouri St. Patrick's Day Parade since 2006 and this year we finally had enough people in town during Spring Break to make it happen. We had 11 people marching in the Kansas City St. Patrick's Day Parade. We were entry 32 out of over 100. We won 2nd place in the Marching Band Division. We played "St. Patrick's Day in the Morning for the Parade route and "Danny Boy" for the Judges. They actually heard both songs as we were playing just before we reached the reviewing stands.

Don't really buy that as you can only play 1 note at a time on a Horn and you can play 2 to 4 notes at a time on a mallet instrument. What about having two people play on one mallet instrument. Some of those units are large enough to do so.

Not sure about DCA but it really looks like the DCA have duplicate mallet instruments out there that are not really needed. Back in the 80s we had 1 Vibe, 1 Marimba, 1 Zylo, 1 Tymp player and someone to cover toys. Heard the parts real well without any electronics as well.

Our second and last Salvation Kettle Gig of 2012 was successful. We had 5 members and 1 Guest perform. We had 2 Trumpet Players, 1 Mellophone, 1 Slide Trombone, 1 Valve Trombone and 1 Marching Valve Trombone. We started at 3pm, Two players left after 2 hours, Two left after 3 hours and some change which left two players to close out the Kettle at 8pm. The weather was overcast for the most part with a temp starting at 51F and ending at 48F. Macy's had a good amount of Customer Foot Traffic. Many people stopped to put money in the Kettle, some tried to give the corps cash which we directed to the Kettle, many gave us good words of appreciation and many hung around to listen especially when we had the kids of one of our members shaking the jingle bells while we played Jingle Bells. Using the Concert keyed horns worked out OK. We may use Bugles at one Kettle and Multi key at another in 2013 we'll see.

I was told to buy a trash can just for cleaning horns and fill it with water and Simple Green. Simple Green is supposed to be able to clean with out messing up the finish. I've always used Dawn dishwashing liguid to degrease and clean my bugles.

Listening to the local radio show tonight and they were discussing the reduction and possible elimination of Tax Deductible Donations. Would this change the requirement to be a non profit in the competition circuits? Would this hurt the big corps who take in a lot of money on a yearly basis?

Also forgot people seem to be more spectator oriented like they are watching TV or something. People today will see something happen right in front of them and not react like they are watching TV. They are used to being isolated from what they are viewing and don't feel the need to react as much.

I know we had colder temps and more snow when I was a kid later 60's, 70's and 80's. I think earlier show were less sophisticated as far as musical taste with more impact. I think a lot of people are left today trying to figure out the show they are watching. there are some newer shows I have like and some of them are the newer Cadets and Madison Scouts shows that seem to be reaching back more to their roots than to the obscure.

I was being sarcastic. The 2010 Madison Scouts were touting their 20 piece Tuba line that year and everyone was all excited to hear what 20 tubas would sound like. They sounded just like a synth because the darn think covered them up quite nicely. After I saw their show I wondered why they spent so much on Tubas.

Just because Corps are allowed to do something doesn't mean they have to. What's going to happen in the future though, is smaller corps won't have to buy Contras anymore because the synth will eventually fill the part.

We have had some pretty great responses. Thanks to everyone who contacted us. 2013 looks promissing. We are always looking for music so don't think this thank you is an end to our music searching efforts. Thanks, Jeff, Prairie Sound.

Prairie Sound Christmas Brass Ensemble 2012. Our 5th Consecutive Year of Playing for the Salvation Army Kettle. We played from our Salvation Army Brass Ensemble Caroler's Favorites books in front of Mardel Christian Book Store on 119th and Metcalf in Overland Park, KS for 5 hours. We had 6 Members Participate 3 Trumpet Players, 1 Mellophone Player, 1 Baritone Player and we let our 9th grade Drum Major play her Flute. Our Next appearance will be at the Macys Store at Towne Center Plaza in Leawood, KS on Saturday December 15th from 3pm to 8pm. We expect to have One alumni Baritone Player and guest from Lincoln, Nebraska as well as 5 members of Prairie Sound from the Kansas City Metropolitan area.

We are looking for a music arranger to help us with St. Patrick's Day Parade Music and 5 Minutes of Patriotic Music. We keep getting requests to play patriotic tunes at events and only have the National Anthem so far. Contact Jeff at directorprairiesound@gmail.com

So a letter stating, "to the best of our knowledge" the music you are planning on playing is public domain, will keep you out of legal trouble? It looks like they do some research for you. Is my assumption correct?

What about "Public Domain" music?

Turned out pretty good. We had 1 Drum Major, 2 Drummers, 2 Soprano Players, 2 Mellophone Players and 2 Baritone Players. Looked like about 3K people in the stand maybe more.

Turned out pretty good. We had 1 Drum Major, 2 Drummers, 2 Soprano Players, 2 Mellophone Players and 2 Baritone Players. Looked like about 3K people in the stand maybe more.

Prairie Sound Drum & Bugle Corps will be playing the National Anthem for the Brass Impact DCI show in Olathe, KS hosted by the Colts and Olathe NW High School. We will be playing for around 5,000 People. Wish us luck for the performance and recruiting. Jeff Dancinger.

Prairie Sound Drum & Bugle Corps of Olathe, KS Plans for 2012. Our Basic Plans for 2012 are as Follows: We are planning to March 4 Local Parades and Perform 1 DCI Field Exhibition, 2 DCA Exhibitions and send select members to DCA I&E. Participation in the DCA exhibitions will will be contingent on reaching our recruiting goals. We are still working on our Field show rehearsal schedule and should have it posted to our site after the next planning meeting. We are looking at using the music from our 2008 "Tent Meeting Revival Show". This music also lends itself to being played in a Brass ensemble setting. We currently have a good core of 8 Brass Players which we hope to increase to 12. We are looking for at least 2 percussionists and 4 Color Guard as a minimum for 2012. Anyone located close to the Kansas City Metro area is invited to participate. Thanks, Jeff Dancinger, Director, Prairie Sound Drum Bugle Corps.

Prairie Sound will be marching the St. Patrick's Parade in Shawnee, KS on Sunday March 11th. Our Rehearsal on Saturday February 26th included 1 Soprano, 2 Mellophones, 2 Baritones and 1 Contra. We hope to convince two more local Sopranos a Baritone Player and a Drummer to join us. We will have some help from Tulsa Oklahoma this year from 2 Drummers a Soprano and a Mellophone. Hopefully a couple more from Tulsa will join in the fun as well. We marched this parade in 2010 and won best music. We'll try to do the same this year. We will play "Kilgary Mountain" aka "Whiskey in the Jar". We'll post again after the parade. Thanks, Jeff Dancinger, Director, Prairie Sound Drum & Bugle Corps.

Prairie Sound Drum & Bugle Corps was able to participate once again in the Johnson County, KS Salvation Army Kettle Drive Playing at two locations for 2011. With the help of 3 Boy Scouts, we played at JCPenny in South Overland Park, KS from 2pm to 7:30pm on Saturday December 10th. Two Scouts played for two hours, One Scout Played for 4 hours and the Director of Prairie Sound Played a total five and a half hours. We played G Bugles at this performance. With the Help of 4 Scouts and 3 members of Prairie Sound, we played at Macy's at Towne Center Plaza in Leawood, KS from 10am to 2pm on Saturday December 17th. The Scouts Played from 10am to Noon and the PS members Played from 10am to 2pm. We played multi keyed Brass at this appearance in order to include more Scouts. For the 2012 effort we will play from Salvation Army Brass Ensemble Books. This will allow us to have many more songs and enable us to include more guest players by using multi keyed brass. Note: By using the multi keyed brass for Christmas we will have more time to service our Bugles for the coming parade and field show season. Thanks, Jeff Dancinger, Director, Prairie Sound Drum & Bugle Corps.

Passed on the info. Thanks.

Will Do. Thanks for the help.