freelancer7577

Just picking up a horn again after many years but having a hard time finding interesting music to play. Anyone know of good exercises in treble clef, medium skill level and above. "Free" would be good but willing to pay for high quality and quantity. THanks!!

DCI should put out individual high quality "hits", or "singles" on Youtube. Artists do it all the time... videos is what got MTV started. You cannot stop it anyway - there are always going to be ripped off shows on Youtube, like it or not. So DCI should give up the battle and attempt to win the war...

WOW I loved SCV last night in Concord! Glad they didn't overdo the synthesizer. This was an exciting show and I am considering going to Indy because of it. Too bad there is only one Bay Area judged show this year.

Does anyone know where Pacific Crest is practicing today before the Stanford show? Their website has wrong information... Thanks!

Thursday night in MY theater, no one booed the Cadets or any other show. Some did talk along with the Cadets' narration, like an old movie that they loved so much and memorized the lines. After the show, I chatted with a few people outside the theater who said that "THEY REALLY LIKED the CADETS SHOW" and thought that the narration was a positive move. One guy who marched with me back in the 70s and who's opinion I really respect said that the narration was a positive change and that in the future he "hopes that more corps will follow the Cadets' lead and do more innovative narration", singing etc. "How about wireless mikes on the field, not just mikes in the pit? How about guest singers and narrators being part of DCI competitions"? insert sarcastic smiley face here....

Three votes for '77, the last year I marched. 1976 was also an awesome show for the smallest corps in DCI history to make the top 12. But don't forget 1975 - Its not even on the list! Our first national tour, the first year of Commencement for off-the-line, and the most awesome baritone soloist anywhere that year, Larry (whats-his-name?).

I hope it was better. Last year's show turned me off completely. I normally question the marketing smarts of any company when their product has this effect to where I don't want to use or view it again. I did read the prior posts - there were others that said this year's broadcast was too infomercialish. But I honestly hope the I am in the minority here, and that the ESPN broadcast creates new fans if that is really going to help the activity survive. I will try to tape the re-broadcast and see if there is an improvement over 2005. I live on the west coast and couldn't justify skipping out of work to get a seat in the theater for quarterfinals this time. I might do it again when the broadcast quality leaps forward. If I had a kid marching at finals I would do it for sure. But I am just a fan now. The only way I can get excited about a drumcorps season is if I can watch a corps show several times. Do others feel the same way? 2007 will be great for us out here, since we should be able to see a lot more late-season corps for a change. I may be dreaming, but it would be great if all the major shows could be broadcast live on pay-per-view. I have no idea what they break-even cost per household would have to be to make that work - perhaps someone else out there knows the answer. I'd be willing to shell-out more than the cost of a DVD to see live shows, especially in HD. I'd also be very curious to know how there once was a live broadcast where all top 12 finalists were viewed in their entirety and how that had been whittled down and forced into a taped and chopped broadcast. This is not as a criticism of DCI, BTW. With the explosion of so many cable channels, one might assume that this would not happen and we would have a venue. Could be due to underfunding of PBS these years compared to heavily subsidized DCI finals of the past? DCI finals was such a special event, and the event feel is missed in taped and heavily edited programs like we have today. But maybe this kind of event would be too boring for viewers nowadays.

I think having drum corps on ESPN is great, but it could be a lot better with some changes. I would just like to see a compromise - show at least ONE complete corps show on the ESPN telecast so the fans new and old, potential recruits, and people who just randomly selected that channel get to see a complete production. I think it would really help and be something to look forward to. A little less selling of the "lifestyle". Some of that is okay though. Any kind of informercial simply sucks, no matter what the product. What makes something an infomercial is the constant repetition of the same message over and over, designed to get the target message for those that watch for 20 second to 1 minute. Last year's broadcast was not an infomercial but had "the flavor" of one so it was hard to watch. I didn't see this year's broadcast - maybe it was better. I'd love to hear's DCI explanation of what they are trying to achieve with this style of programming - maybe they could convince us that it is the right thing to do. But it SMELLS like they are trying to get the hardcorp fans to buy a DVD by not giving them what they used to get what they still want, and what they expected by tuning in - and that is a "real" drum corps show. I'd much rather buy a DVD of a show that I know I like than one that is trying to be sold to me via an infomercial. The infomercial flavor cheapens the perception of the real product. That is just my opinion and has nothing to do with longing for the style and format of the 70s or 80s. I'd love to see finals in theaters. My bet is that DCI won't do it because they might believe it would detract from finals attendance, and I hope I am wrong. But from the style of the ESPN broadcast, I question their marketing smarts. They seem to risk turning off their hard corps audience. I would be much more likely to buy a finals DVDS after having enjoyed the show in the theater. And they would make a nice profit from this.

I think the whole thing is one big commercial, or more like a Drum Corps Informercial! I didn't watch it or tape it or TIVO it because I figured it would be just like last year's broadcast. DCI doesn't want to give us whole corps shows, not even one, or even a sense of what finals felt like - they want us to buy the DVD. In fact, I think DCI believes it can market Finals DVDs to people who are tuing into drum corps for the first time. Too bad - I miss PBS! Last year it felt like they were busy interviewing corps members and "selling" the idea of what it is like to be in a top 12 corps rather than showing us the result. I think the ESPN broadcast as it it produced today fails to stir up interest in the activity.

Why stay for the scores when you can easily find them on line ;)

I was there but missed the scores. If Mandarins beat Pacfic Crest again, something is messed up.

Is there ever going to be a Freelancer alumni website? I have a ton of info from the 70s.

That's Tony Schultz on the right - have not seen or heard of him in years - anyone know where he is?

I thought that was you at Ohlone college yesterday! A little less hair than in the old days, Earl...