CorpsMom13

I never had the privilege to march, I watch our kids on the field and am with them every step in spirit. Bus fumes always makes them remark about Drum Corps! Makes me think of it too with all the times I've gone to see them after shows in the parking lots. I hear certain pieces of music that make me either remember a show or go - that would be fantastic if "so and so" did it! LOL Eating a bowl of cereal standing up, actually eating anything standing up or sitting on a curb. LOL I'm sure there are plenty of others to be added. CorpsMom13

OMG - the orange!!!! I saw Southwind at a show in July and there was one guy in the guard front and center during the show, I have 2 words for him - DANCE BELT! For the love of all things good, staff needs to make sure these kids are wearing the proper "underthings"! :P CorpsMom13

Not sure who my favortie was. I liked PR, Cavies and a few others. Did not like Cadets. I don't even remember what the rest of the guard wore, but I kept waiting for the girl in the red teddie to fall out of the costume! b**bs CorpsMom13

After paying dues for 2 kids in DCI and all the various other things needed for tour and such we could not afford to go to Madison. Last year we did attend all the shows in Boston since it was only about a 2 1/2 hour drive for us. CorpsMom13

Our son and his fiance met in Teal Sound in '01. (He just proposed to her in Madison this summer) I don't know if it is still their Corps song, but the whole time our son and daughter were in Teal the Corps song was "Nothing Else Matters" in honor of their MeTEALica tour. I thought it might be fitting to play that at their reception when they finally get married. I agree that Fire of Eternal Glory is a good one - brings me to tears every time. It would be fitting since his fiance has been with PR the past 2 seasons, and the Corps our son has been with the past 2 years plays it as well. CorpsMom13

I have various t-shirts for Corps. My MIL has a scrapbook going for our kids with their time so far in DCI. They will have to go joint custoday on it when she passes them down. (she just had to start a second one because the first is too full) LOL She has our son's first year alone, then everything else is the two of them so far. Next year he ages out and then it will be only our daughter until she ages out. She has all sorts of programs from shows we've gone to, ticket stubs, articles from the internet, pictures and so forth. Maybe once they age out they will allow her to put some of their patches in it. :P CorpsMom13

Sorry about that Cutlass! I should only post when I've had enough sleep. LOL Still stand by what I said about the band/Drum Corps comparison though. CorpsMom13

I don't know where you are from Cutlass528, but the high school bands we have locally could not even come close to the Cavaliers. I think most small Div 2's and some of the Div 3's could "whoop" the local high school bands. Even when we lived in GA there were few bands we saw that could compete with many of the Div 1 Corps. CorpsMom13

I usually explain that there are no woodwinds. Guard uses equipment that some high schools do not use (rifle and saber, at least in GA they usually don't). Horns are in the shape of bugles, where it all came from. The kids pay to do this and are considered professionaly musicians in many circles. And it's just so much more than "band". I like to say it's a band on steroids. LOL CorpsMom13

Please don't take this the wrong way, but if this did happen Div 1 would get a small sampling of what Div 2-3 has had to put up with for several years. CorpsMom13

Well said Oldguard. Thank you for your input and wise words on this board. I look for the same things myself in the shows. I also look for that beauty in the music that just reaches into your chest and squeezes your heart. It's that way when I heard Spartans do Fire of Eternal Glory after a show. CorpsMom13

"And yes, he does have to be told to pay his bills, put gas in the car, and purchase that ticket for this show, or that trip to see his daughter." Wadep66 - I have worked as an executive assistant to a food broker. High level stuff, national rep, business trips, co-ordinating things for his food business as well as keeping an eye on several local businesses he owns. Never, I repeat never, have I needed to tell him to pay his bills, put gas in his car, purchase tickets for anything or remind him to spend time with his family. CorpsMom13

Back around May or so there was a thread here on DCP with the rumor that Teal Sound would join KK. CorpsMom13

If you turn 22 after June 1st of the season you get the bonus year and age out at 22. Our son gets the bonus year and will age out next summer at 22, our daughter does not get the bonus and will age out at 21. I will say money is a big factor with our kids. It's not easy to afford to put 2 kids through a season of DCI on what we make. We have to make a lot of sacrifices to give this experience to our kids. '07 will be harder with finals being in CA I'm sure dues will be more so we'll be doing some creative money saving around here! :P CorpsMom13

I feel both of the comments you mentioned as relevant today as they were when he made them. There needs to be some sort of connection between the show and the fans. There are pieces of music that just reach in and grab my heart - I'll always love a show using them, and using them well. There is a connection there between the music, the show design and drill and the effect it has on an audience. CorpsMom13

This is just another example of what Drum Corps is and should be! Kudos to Marion Cadets!!! CorpsMom13

It's a shame that this discussion can't be done without some people trashing another Corps to make their point. All the Corps went out there and did their best - no matter what the division and no matter what their outcome this past week. To try and make a Corps "better" than another by trash talking the other Corps is not what I would like to see in this activity. I've heard good things about Corps members from my kids. They had some great stories about housing with some, warm ups and so forth. Unfortunately some of the fans, parents, whoever; haven't seemed to exercise the same class. CorpsMom13

I've heard the Spartans hornline playing Fire of Eternal Glory and it was beautiful! Definitely gets my vote. CorpsMom13

I remember seeing it a few times on PBS as a kid. Never thought about it again until our son saw a video in band class and came home wanting to do it. I am sooooooooooooo glad he did because we have fallen in love with the activity and have gained so much from it. We have made lifelong friends and will have a common bond with only those who truly know and love this activity. CorpsMom13

I hope you did not take my statement as putting down Phantom Regiment. I loved their show this year and thought it was absolutely beautiful! Last year I liked 2 shows in Div 1 and Phantom's was one of those. I felt their development of the story within their show was well done. CorpsMom13

Actually I felt this year was much better than last year. Last year I liked 2 shows in Div 1, and for me the best money spent for shows was the Div 2-3 shows. There were 2 shows I felt "unwatchable" this year in Div 1, but the others were anywhere form good to fantastic. That's just my opionion though. CorpsMom13

I saw Phantom's show as a full package, but I guess not in the sense you mean. I saw it as a beautifully written and designed show that used the guard to "tell the story". The music enhanced the guard's portion and the guard enhanced the music portion of the show. This show told the story without need of narration or amplified vocals. I felt the whole concept from music, to colors used with the guard, to the "lead characters" was well executed. I liked the fact that while Margaret was a focal character at times she was just part of the entire guard at other times. She was in the forefront when the story needed it, but then blended into the flag line when she was not the focus of the story or show. Other shows have focused on one charater and that becomes a distraction to me and I could not enjoy the "entire package". The Cavies have always seemed to integrate the guard into the show where it is one Corps and not hornline, percussion and guard. I've seen shows over the years where the guard just did not seem to be "part of the show" but almost an after thought. Just my humble opinion. B) CorpsMom13

I agree with this. I have seen members take an honest interest in members of other Corps no matter what divison they may be in, congratulating them on their show, being supportive of others, and just being all around "good guys". In fact, 6 years ago when our son got into Drum Corps he went to the Cavaliers trucks at finals week to speak with some of them. They were eating and fed him even though he was in another Corps (another divison even) at the time. He called home and raved about getting fed pork chops with the Cavaliers! :) I know others Corps do this as well, but this was our first year with Drum Corps and it made a lasting impression with us. I have seen other Corps be "snobs" and not sincere when congratulating others and so forth. This is not restricted to one particular Corps but a several across all divisions. While those folks may be a sampling of the Corps members and others may be very nice, it just gives a bad image to the entire Corps for any member to act this way. Then there are the staff, parents and fans. I know of one particular Corps this year that had some fans or parents posting here in a manner not becoming of the Corps. Our kids, however, say the kids in the Corps itself were great and always very supportive of the others Corps. So, for me, this Corps has a bad rep due to postings here on DCP, but the actual Corps members seem to be great kids. I also agree that the Cavaliers are great at the precision drill. They were truly the "Green Machine" on the field this year. I did not like their show last year and was disappointed, but this year they went back to what they are known for and put on a great show. I've always been a fan of the Cavaliers and until they give reason otherwise will remain a fan. CorpsMom13

DSL for us here and I can't get in. CorpsMom13

You're not the only one that can't get on the site. argh CorpsMom13