cheezedogg 23

I don' t about everyone. In highschool I was an upstream player, and it added range to me. But it was also very bright. I switched to more downtream thinking, still not true downstream But i think about going down, and I lost range for awhile. But it got 100% darker/warmer tone, and i eventually got the range back, and now i've way on the plus side. over an octave higher for a concert endurance level.

I just play all the hard fast stuff slow over and over again. Making 100% you are 100% focus in the music of it, and just repeatition of it, keeping music in mind, You body will speed it up when its ready. At least for me it does, my trumpet proff taught me how. I'd do it to a slow tempo on a MET the first time, then just try to keep there without the MET and just naturally as my body gets used to the fingerings it speeds up on its own.

I bought myself this summer a Kanstul 1503 signature. I love this horn more than anything i've every touched. It plays so nicely. Much easier control. High D is flat, but playing it open makes it right in tune. Couple other spots in the extreme registers too are weird, but there are easy corrections. I just love it.

Yeah thats just about the sound i'm lookin for. Thanks.

The notes the hornline plays that also sound like a train. within the first minute of the show. The lowbrass, and possibly the mellos are playing chords that are a train sound. They play on 1 and the and of 2... I have it around around 45 seconds into the show. Like about 10 seconds before the horn riffs and runs/scales start. Its the soft background stuff.

I'm sure i'm being restarded here. But what is the process for making the brass sound like a train whistle. I can't quite get the right sound. It usually is sounding like half-steps or just bad. I've been playin halfsteps within a 3rd. what am I forgeting.?

The band I teach for right now uses alot of the excersises for all the winds/horns. ITs a good technique book. Granted we dont' use it to the extent like a trumpet/brass player would. But we use them, transposed and such, for the whole wind section. It really helps on technique and listening for timing across the band.

I found it easy to go back. I had to work less hard. Less time was spent in rehearsal. And I was good compared to the rest. And super bonus, no bus sleeping, I had my bed. It was a relief that it was easier. I didn't appreciate the lack of focus and energy by the rest of the band, but i let it go and just did my thing at my level and let them see it and try to emulate me. It worked mostly worked.

One difference between the main line of Kanstul trumpets and thier marching line is quality. They don't design thier marching horns like thier chicago/signature series. Or the prices would way to high to use as a marching horn. I bought a Kanstul ZKT 1503. Its a great horn. I'm sure its better than any of thier marching horns, or why would anyone buy the more expensive ones. If you're looking to just get a marching horn then buying of of Kanstul's MArching horns would be great. But I personally wouldn't dare take my new 1503 outside. I'm gonna use my old POS Strad for marching band this year.

practice and blow with full air.. doesn't mean loud. But its gets your lips used to the air pressure faster without braces. everything that brass lines learn in corps, use that to its maximum potential and you'll get it eventually. But there is no "quick fix" in brass for anything. There are temporary changes that can be made but almost all damage you in the long run. I.E. f you want your range back ASAP. just start pushing hard and blowing even harder.. its a quick fix, but bad for the long run. (Except for you "hard corps" players out there.. :P )

well if you can't march drill then most won't take you as a horn member. But alot of D2/3 corps would let you sit in on camps in the horn section to develop your playing. But if you wanted to also march in the pit for that corps, then you'd have to be in all of the front ensemble rehearsals instead of the horn rehearsals. But like i said because of your visual impairment i'm sure many 2/3 corps would let you sit in to learn with them.

Here's my review finally. Been busy sleeping, practicing and reglueing my upholstry on the roof in my truck. Well me and my mom drove 4 hours to the show and got there around 530. Picked up my tickets and then ate dinner. got out and heard Marion's drumline warming up. It was rocking. I was VERY impressed with it. As it seemed the many people watching were as well. Soon the heat and humidity got to us and it was time to go sit down. Luckily the stadium seats were in the shade. We were on the 40 about halfway up the stands. Marion- Opener was again much louder than you'd expect from a small corps. I was still very impressed with my old corps. But compared to the last show i saw they didn't seem as alive in it as the previous time i saw them. They took out the silent "hit" with the funny DM shrug and replaced it with some hard hitting brass hits while doing a nice sumo walk. I liked it alot, very good. the crowd liked it too. The ballad again wasn't as energetic as last time i saw them. But MUCH more intune this time. Only a few moments weren't so pretty. Crowd didn't get into it as much as I did. Finally the closer was completed. And moves to beat heck all over the place. I couldn't keep up with it. The drill is stil very dirty, but i'm told they just finished just udner a week ago. So it'll be awesome come finals. Speaking of which, having 5 gaurd is a good sign. Only 2 of them did most of the show. all 5 did a brief moment in the ballad and such. But they just recently picked them up. Good luck girls. the solo girl in the ballad is VERY good as well. Back to the corps, the drumline i felt was slighted in thier score tonite. I felt they were solid with just alittle bit of phasing the pit and pit to DL moments. The hornline was much improved over last time. And thier endurance was much greater too compared to last time. Kiwanis- they had a great opening moment. the drill matched well with the music. It was nice to see another classic redone in a new way. I really don't like seeing people pretty copy another corps show entirerly. I read once someone saying they didn't like the fact these shows (of the once been done b4) were different. I loved the fact that they were completly odd and different. Makes them unique. anywho.. Musically I felt they could have had more dowm moments with builds to thier big moments. It just seemed to go up and down way to quickly. And thier visual program needs a bump up a level or 4. It seemed to me they could easily have taken on a much harder show visually. The gaurd program was well written and staged really well. I think it was bext part of thier visual program by alot. But over all I enjoyed the show, but it jsut seemed a little dry through most of it. Colts- As people have said b4. Old man river.. WOW, what can be said.. thats a song for them that could be a favorite for them. Something you could expect from them at victory or retreat show playing you know. It was simply wonderful. Again it seemed yet another corps was giving a much easy drill book then they could have taken on. The forms were well designed and they flowed much better than kiwanis. But it didn't seem to match as well to the music all the time. The brass is clearly the strong point of the corps. Very dark balance and very few moments where someone stuck out. Crown- well they were clean. Seemed dead at the begining of thier show. didn't have the impact i thought it should have had. Not much to say this time. the percussion has come along way here. And brass didn't have as many problems or balance issues as the last time i saw them. Gaurd was very well put together. I still don't like the singing. I also could barely hear it, and the little scat/narration thing. It was very under balanced where i was. The Rhapsody again was just AWESOME. The arrangement is very nice. And the ending still gives em goosebumps. Its hard to pull off a soft ending like that, and they do it very well. I hope they do well. I'm not really sure how much farther they can go with the show though. It seems to be stuck on a GE roof on it. we shall see as the season continues what the staff pulls out of thier hat for them. Madison- seemed dry also at the begining. it seemed for the crowd till halfway through the show. Of course to those that have seen them. The ending of malaga jsut gets you going. Some parents of a friend of mine have seen them several times and they said they jsut seem to hold the chord another 4 beats every night. Perhaps at finals they'll do another "take a picture of the crowd" thing. I know iw as standing well b4 they finished.The soloist were awesome. BEst they've had in a while. close to the guy from a drum corps fans dream. I was hoping for comepltly new solos though. they aren't complete rips, but they both contain alot of the same riffs from years past. But again.... it works really well, so why not. hehe... A great show. The percussion rocked it out. I was slightly dissapointed with thier volume of the corps though. I was expecting to have my hair parted. not quite, but quality over quantity. Crossmen- first off. I love thier show. I always do it seems. I felt they should be ahead of Crown. But thier drill is too dirty yet I suppose to do that. But they seem to have the GE package to go places with it. The horns still need some work in the trade off section. The trumpets were quite off last night in thier feature, they were much better at my last viewing. The baritones pitch got alot better this time around though. the snareline was smoking. Being a horn man myself I know not alot about percussion, but for my enjoyment I liked Crossmens Dline just as much as Madison's, perhaps alittle more. they weren't as good, but i enjoyed them just as much. Their drill is much harder than years past. and how dirty is still is is obvious of that fact. But once they get the visual package clean, I think they could be shooting for 7th place or evern more. The horns I felt were quite loud. I felt my hair starting to part with them. but nothing compared to the PHANTOM- Wow were they loud. They had several hits from the back field and i felt it. I could also feel the couple of musical tears they still had. I picked them to win, but i knew madison was gonna be close, and they were. The percussion wasn't as good as last year. At least not IMO. But they definatly have places to go. Actually i felt that madisons GE was better and that PR visual and music was better performed. with madison having the better ensemble. And i thought thier visual program should been alot closer than the recaps give. Overall I just was hoping for more impact from PR at the end. but their is time. They seemed to give up in the last 20 seconds. But they were the first corps since Marion and Kiwanis to not start out seeming dry or tired. They seemed into the show from the begining till nearly the end when i felt they pooped out just alittle. A show that if cleaned to perfection could win i feel. But I havn't seen any of ther 1-4 corps yet. But IMO the show has the possibility to win it all. perhaps another 96 season. we shall see. Its gonna be a great season.

Marion is an Kanstul hornline. I don't have a good enough scanner to get you a good copy of our horn line sectional picture from finals last year.

:-p great review. Now i really REALLY want to march with my corps again. And I really really want to see them perform again. I saw them in Elizabeth, great show. I'm heading to the Huntington WV show and I hope they get the show completly and perhaps a few more gaurd in it. But its only a week away.

I was at the show. Got there pretty early and had some great seats. I was on the 50 about 8 rows from the top of the short stadium. I felt like great seats. anywho. Spirit of America Marching Band was pretty good. they were fun and had a great trumpet soloist and such. Some great playing over all. Then Marion came on. I know i'm alittle biased (alot ok) but OMG. It was an awesome show. I highly enjoyed it. And I agree with the majority of people. They gotta get a color guard out there. They have 2 members now. The brass was very good for this point in the season, and blew louder (and were in tune) than the 3x size of the Spirit of America MB just on before it. I was not ready for them to be that much more impactful. Tonite they added almost all of thier music. But they stood still for the closer. Just recently learned the drill I was told. the drum line was smoking. I mean they all have lots of work ahead. But man, for where we were last year at this time, they are miles ahead. With a great program given to corps to perform. Glassmen. What can i say. I think they're doing thier comeback quite nicely after last year. The brass was great, as the recap shows. Their balance I felt was not a strong point. Lots of moments where sections or people stuck badly out. But recovery was good. Visually I felt they could be more demanding than they are being. But its being done fairly well. Fairly consitant drumline, I didn't notice any strengths, nor any weakness there. Didn't do much gaurd watching tonite, sorry. Crown. Nice show, it really is. a Great closer, but I wasn't down with the singing. It was weird and felt out of place to me. especially with most of the vocals being doubled in the horns throughout it. However the vocals weren't distracting, just weird. I don't know what to say about it. But the closer definatly made up for the singing on my part. Drum line was good. Great bass line. Snares weren't up to par with the rest of the drumline tonite it seemed. Tenors seemed fairly consistant, but didn't seemed to be as demanded. Magic. I enjoyed the whole show. I felt they were slighted in thier score. But I don't pay attention enough to be accurate with scoring. Its not as important to me. I just felt they should have been much higher 60s. Good brass, some great individual players. Drumline has alittle in and out. I felt the snares were the strength in the line, with the basses needing more work. Over I enjoyed thier show alot. Spirit. What can i say. Great show. For whatever reason I can't remember much about the show to review. I enjoyed thier show. The middle seemed to lack energy to me. And the ending was.. odd for me. I don't know why. Off night, maybe I blinked or something. Boston. I don't know. I just didn't get into thier show that much. They were by far the most visually clean of the night. But musically it didn't grab me. They had a fairly solid drum line. Some really great moments. Brass I felt was alittle too heavy at times, and the low brass far out balanced the high brass at most times. Over all was a well performed show. I really didn't like the vocal speaking thing. Seemed kinda, "well duhh" to me. It didn't seem to add anything but a distraction to the show for me, I seem to be in the minority with thier show, me being in the minority of not enjoying it that much. Crossmen. Wow, IMHO I felt they were slighted, and shoulda easily been 2nd, posibly 1st. But being 2nd I wouldn't have argued much. Now visually they were probably behind glassmen. But musically and GE i felt they out did everyone. And the drumline folded on a few spots, also I felt had the best great moments. So maybe the inconsistancy outweighed the fact their top was better perhaps. But oh my, I was on my feet for thier show. It was loud, it was fun. It was, well, the crossmen. Where did they get these screamers this year. They could be contenders against BD's screamers. WOW. Some of them were flat on thier notes, but higher than i've heard a corps other than BD or Madison play in a long while. (other than Cavies solo last year). But i felt they marched better than Spirit and played better then spirit and carolina ensemble-wise. Well this probably wasn't the best review most of you have read. But its my opinionated review. Which kind of what a review is. Take it or leave it. My little knowledge on percussion is obvious. My perceptions on percussion could be highly off, its just how i felt. Sorry about not gaurd review, i was just tryign to listen more than watch tonite. i watched, but i payed more attention to listening than thinking about what i'm seeing. I can't wait till I get to see another show. July 12th, huntington WV here i come. I gotta get my tickets!

any reviews of Marion and Lake Erie? I'd like to hear how someone felt about thier match up.

Hey Charles. I Just bought a Kanstul 1503. Through WWBW. I got it yesterday. WHAT A GREAT HORN!! I found a new love in my life. Seriously. Everything about it is better than my old Bach horn. And I mean everything is better.

yea, i agree with the platy the book and play in "normal" register and also play high. I, for one, believe there is a difference in the way one can play a GG. You can play the note with good tone and intonation, and then you can scream it. NOw a good scream note still has good tone, but its not a symphonic tone, its just full and alot louder than just playing a GG. I learned to scream in my show last. I had a GG at the end of our drum feature. I hit it most nights. But since we had only 2 lead sops i had to play the part leading up to it as well. So it made my job alittle harder. But I found I'm not a screamer, my GG doesn't pierce through the ensemble yet. More it sits there on top within the ensemble. I love a good scream, but playing with the ensemble can be good too. Its all in the musical arrangment, Jazz leads to having a "scream" note, symphonic generally leads to symphonic sounds in all registers, even the altisimo register. Cavies for instance in 2002 had several moments of guys playing GGs in think chords, but it was symphonicly high, however BD had GG and double Bb notes that were scream notes. both were good tone and intonation. But different styles. I'm currently trying to develop my wind capacity to truly scream over an ensemble. I'm working at it. Thats about all i can do for now.

yea, Artunian is a good one, I did it last year at DCM I&E, i wish I had had time to practice it during the season. I played for the competition having last played it for my jury in the spring. I still got 7th place, its a good one. I'm doing the Ewazen sonata now.. ITS BEAUTIFUL!! the 3rd movement is a big pain in the butt though.. It puts any peice i've done so far to the ground in difficulty. But Ewazen just has a beautiful way of showing off the technique and the beauty of the trumpet, its a great piece.

harder in what way? harder technically or harder Musically? Carnival of Venice is a technical hard piece not quite as hard musically. Umm, Let me get back to you on that. I'm not big on non-classical hard pieces. Thats mostly what I know of. You can always go with another Arbans solo, Fantasie Brillante is another good one, in some ways harder than Carnival technically. Take a look at it..

I play on a Warburton 2D or 2MC both with a wideopen 12 bore on it, for most of my playing on my Kanstul soprano back in the day. I've added Bob Reeves i forget what model, it was my professors, i added it for lead playing in jazz band on trumpet.

AFtrer hearing BD this past summer I updated my own technique book i've been developing for drum corps hornlines and one for marching bands. Useing ideas from BD's book, and stuff from my own Daily warmup routine. From Vizzuti, Jakobs, Etc.

I don't know for the majority of D1 corps, bu Cadets house thier members. And i'm sure there are many other corps that have a Gym somewhere for the member to sleep in for weekend camps and deathcamp.

If you just want a decent cheap horn go with any of the midline or even the Bach Strad. I'm not a fan of Bach anymore, I play on one. Its just not what i want anymore. But i'm going down the custom root, so i'm gonna be spending a good bit of money. But on Ebay or Horntrader.com there are usually some bach strads being sold there for a pretty good bargain.

I've just used solo mics on a stand. I've never looked into clip on mics. A good solo mic seems to work just find, most professional studios just use a good solo mic in an isolated room.