captcastile

Now that was funny!....a cymbal probably would be the only thing that would work between my knobby knees nowadays....

Spot on Don...Mass Brass, as John mentioned, is suffering from a small case of burnout. We chose to do Brass Choir to keep MB in the activity with the hope that eventually we can regenerate and be back next year. The travel cost for some of our members had a lot to do with our decision. Star United had nothing to do with our decision....hell, if we thought we had to beat them to be successful, we would have dropped out years ago. Let's see how this Brass Choir works out, could be the future. A lot less work, no music rights, no drill,(sounds like Mini Corps years ago)and you can still maintain excellence. could be the "poor man's" mini corps.....

Yes it's true Ray, Mass Brass has seen the Bud light... We're actually doing 3 Choirs, A "Boston Strong" set and a "Groovy Brass" set (couple of 70's tune that you should know) and last but not least, a Mass Brass Alumni set, played with not a single alumnus involved. Looking forward to seeing you

Now that.....would be very cool!

Agreed Frank, but for the most part we try to stay consistant with our music from year to year, with a couple of exceptions. Maybe it's time to change it up, who knows...

We don't need someone to tell us that, and no one ever has...that was an example...but don't tell us we were great and then give us a fair score, just justify the score whether it it be great, fair, or bad. Have the comments match the score and then we would have a better understanding of where we went wrong

Frank, although I totally understand where your coming from, the sheets don't make sense as far the Judges comments. How do you get comments like "great show", "aggressive charts" "very entertaining" and then get a score that doesn't back those comments up. If we got sheets that said "tempo problems" "weak show", Corps not able to sell show, then we would understand what we have to improve on and that would justify the score . We would much rather have constructive criticism. I believe tapes would provide us with this as the Judges could comment as they go along and point out weaknesses and strengths. It's really that simple

Donny, Will you stop being the voice of reason...your starting to scare me. Rick was a great kid, great horn player, loved everything about Mini's. The fact that he willed himself to live until the day of the show, tells you everything you need to know. I guess in the big picture some things aren't as important as they may seem when it comes to real life. What can we do to get Mini going in the right direction? Mike

Extremely well said! Where have you been this whole thread? The OP came across a little more harsh than intended, fact of the matter is, I did not see any other Corps other than Star because of the position we were on, so when the scores came down, my reaction was lets see what the sheets say, this is the only thing we have as a tool to help us fix things. Some people say it's the last show so what does it really matter? Well for us it's the ONLY show, any type of input would have helped us for next year, we got nothing. I did not and have not blamed the Judges for our score, I just think they should do more to inform us of our weakness as well as our strengths. There was no sour grapes here, I didn't see anyone so how could I say we got screwed? I still think a little more effort from the judges is needed. If people think we're wrong for trying to improve, then that's on them. Thanks for your input.

You are a complete MORON! We knew nothing of the Becky story, but if you had listened to Fran during the announcement of our corps you would have heard that a marching member of OUR corps died of cancer the very morning of the show. His wish was to make to the Mini's but fell a little short. You have no idea what we went through as a group to help Rick Hagey try to make it to the Annapolis, carrying his horn for him, giving him rides or assisting him anyway we could to make his last wish come true. Don't you ever pretend to tell us how we should act or express ourselves over an unfortunate story that we knew nothing about! Your just making #### up now...people matter...practice what you preach. You just made this whole thing personal you fool! Talk about an apology needed.... we wouldn't expect to get one from somebody who so callasly used a sick person as an example to put down another group...like I said earlier...your a real class act

Sour grapes my ###...not once was there a mention of our placement or our score, it is what it is. How dare we ask the Judges (paid Judges not volunteers)to give us more of an assessment of our show than a couple of comments scratched on a sheet of paper. I'd bet the store that you and some of the others that are ripping us aren't even involved in the mini's, because if you were, you would know exactly what I'm talking about. Every Mini out there, is there to have fun and put on the best show possible for the crowd, they all work hard, very hard to entertain the crowd, which I think we do a good job at. For some one like you to sit back and rip us for wanting to get better is a complete joke! While we're at it, I'd like to thank you for the private e-mail you sent to me, telling me to back off, to handle it differently...I did..and then you go off and take over the whole thread with YOUR opinions and rip anyone who doesn't agree...a true class act

Harrisburg ran the mini show up until their next to last show. Larry brought the mini's in to draw more people for the Sat. Night show and that couldn't save it. Should I be like you and say that nobody would pay to see "Alumni Corps"? Fact of the matter is, Drum Corps in general does not draw like it use to and most people can't afford to go see it. With the line-up that Larry use to put out year in and year out and the Show still couldn't survive....doesn't that tell you anything? Do you think the "Alumni Spectacular" would even exist if it were not sandwiched between the Semi's and the Finals of Championship weekend? My point is, that the majority of people would not pay to see any type of Drum Corps, not just Mini's