Alumni Corps Observation

[Andyroo]

It might be interesting to hear the comments of someone who was at the Bridgeport show. There were four alumni corps there - along with the competing corps.

I only heard the crowd's reaction to one of the four, but it was a standing "O" for practically the entire show - rather different from their reaction to the three competing corps I saw.

Just wondering if anyone who saw the entire show would have any comments.

Andy

[Commander71]

I don't think it always has to be a recognizable tune you've heard before. Surely, there was a time when you heard every song you know for the first time. I think it just has to be cool, neat to listen to, give you goosebumps, or make an emotional connection.

I wonder if when arrangers pick a song and arrange it, are they thinking, "Oh the crowd will love this!".

What do they hear, that we don't when the corps plays what seems to be random phrases and meandering themes as they scurry across the field with an occasional turn towards the stands play something real loud and then scurry off again to the sound of busy marimbas?

I know it's just me, because I don't get most of the stuff in the Museum of Modern Art, either.

...well, one of the things I also noticed was that when they "play something real loud" it isn't all that loud. I was in the second to last row and there was a bit of a distance between the performance area and the grandstands, but I didn't get any "pin your ears back" loudness until MSJ finished up with "Georgia". Random phrases is a good analogy....There's probably a reason the Museum(s) of Modern Art are heavily subsidized.

And you are right Marty about hearing tunes for the first time ever. My introduction to Classical and Broadway music was through drum corps in the 60's and 70's. Jazz too. It wasn't stuff that was on the radio or something most of us kids would look for. But once we heard it, we searched for it.

[oldbaritone]

It might be interesting to hear the comments of someone who was at the Bridgeport show. There were four alumni corps there - along with the competing corps.

I only heard the crowd's reaction to one of the four, but it was a standing "O" for practically the entire show - rather different from their reaction to the three competing corps I saw.

Just wondering if anyone who saw the entire show would have any comments.

Andy

Hi I saw the entire show. And, yes, Cab Alumni got the standing o's. And they deserved it. And, yes, the Bucs won the competition and deserved it. But, as much as we (I was sitting on the 50 with folks who must have had a 1000 years in drum corps, guys who have won DCA more than once) understood that Reading was clean etc, we didn't get any emotional rush from their show. Maybe time has just passed us by. I don't think its a matter of "recognizable music" most of the stuff theCabs have played over the years has been new to me when they played it. I think its more a matter of the "style of show". The folks who set the criteria have a different way of viewing things than my friends. It doesn't have to be top 40 music. My son and daughter sing with their high school chorus. A lot of kids with very different musical abilities. They sang Mozart's Requiem this year and it was incredible. And, I might add that the choral director, Kevin Cotallese, is a graduate of the "drum corps" college, West Chester University and has "Loud Is Good" written in chalk on his blackboard. My daughter also sings with a really good church choir and they sang Agnus Dei (Adaggio For Strings) a couple of years ago and it was also incredible. What I'mtrying to say is that music is not an abstract thing. You should involve the audience. A corps that has inovolved the audience in recent years is the Renegades. I was sitting with a lot of alumni people and it was like they were playing to us.

Thanks

Dave

[Fran Haring]

It might be interesting to hear the comments of someone who was at the Bridgeport show. There were four alumni corps there - along with the competing corps.

I only heard the crowd's reaction to one of the four, but it was a standing "O" for practically the entire show - rather different from their reaction to the three competing corps I saw.

Just wondering if anyone who saw the entire show would have any comments.

Andy

This Saturday at the Cabs' DCA show in Clifton, there also will be a nice mix of the old and the new.

Andy (old) and me (new). :lolhit:

But seriously, folks....... there will be a mix of DCA corps and alumni corps at the Clifton show....plus one DCI Div. 2 corps, the Raiders from NJ. Always makes for a nice night of drum corps.

Fran

[Andyroo]

###### Fran!!! You stop saying things like that or I'll bash you with my walker.

I'll tell you when I feel old - like tomorrow morning, for example.

In any event, I'm looking forward to seeing you in Clifton. Just be sure to wear one of those shirts of yours that looks like elephant puke so I can pick you out of the crowd of "Olde Phartes."

Andy

[Ace Holleran]

I am involved, fluently, with both DCA and its alumni offshoot. I also dabble in DCI.

I was in Bridgeport, which is where I live. I have announced the Barnum show for some 15 years, or thereabouts. As Fran Haring's understudy, I have also emceed the DCA Alumni Spectacular for the last four years. I know, big whup. I have also been priveleged to cover DCA Finals for Drum Corps World for quite a few years, too.

In 2005 and 2006, the Barnum show went to an all-alumni format. Both shows, IMHO, were faint tracings of the proud Barnum "Champs" legacy.

This year's Champs, I thought, was among the best I have ever seen. A nice mix of old and new.

I am over 50, as some of the posters here are. However, I embrace what drum corps is doing now--you name it: B-flat brass, amplification, narration, complex music, the whole ball of wax. It's called progress. Ooh, I'm sorry, Mr. Fan. News flash: Drum Corps doesn't exist to advance your own personal playlist.

In Bridgeport. the Cabs alums put on the best show I have ever seen by an alumni corps . They explored some new territory, played enough old favorites, and, in general, did what they do best.

However, to compare the elder bellbottoms to, say, what Reading puts on the field is sheer nonsense. No alumni corps I have ever seen could carry their lunch. Overall sound picture, technique, clarity, articulation, musicality. Sheesh. Other DCA corps are still struggling with their shows. This is because they are assaying some really difficult music, the season is young, and the players weekend warriors.

I encourage you "good old days" folks to broaden your world views. You are no longer the target audience for DCA. Instead of turning your back on what's happening today, try to learn why it is so good. Accept all facets of drum corps. Learn why "Adagio for Strings" is as important as "Battle Hymn." I shudder to think what drum corps would be today if it hadn't moved forward. The activity exists to serve its members, as well as fans. If the players were getting paid, then you would have more of a voice to champion your favorite type of music. Back in the 60s, Hawthorne came off the line with a stirring rendition of "Les Toreadors" from Carmen. The Cabs' 2007 show: Carmen. Thank you very much.

I'll be there in Rochester, for every event, and will enjoy all of them. I wish I could be in Pasadena, too.

Drum corps is a wonderful activity, pretty much uniquely American, with deference to our Maple Leaf friends. Why not support it? Learn newer music and different ways of playing it. Shostakovich, Sousa, Stan Kenton. It's all good.

There. I feel better. Brickbats and treacle welcomed.

Ace

[Mike_B]

IDrum corps is a wonderful activity, pretty much uniquely American, with deference to our Maple Leaf friends. Why not support it? Learn newer music and different ways of playing it. Shostakovich, Sousa, Stan Kenton. It's all good.

Ace

Ace, you were the voice of reason and political correctness until you excluded the European, British and the Japanese drum corps. Thanks for enlightening us as to what we should like.

[LegalEagle50]

I am over 50, as some of the posters here are. However, I embrace what drum corps is doing now--you name it: B-flat brass, amplification, narration, complex music, the whole ball of wax. It's called progress. Ooh, I'm sorry, Mr. Fan. News flash: Drum Corps doesn't exist to advance your own personal playlist.

. . . .

I encourage you "good old days" folks to broaden your world views. You are no longer the target audience for DCA. Instead of turning your back on what's happening today, try to learn why it is so good. Accept all facets of drum corps. Learn why "Adagio for Strings" is as important as "Battle Hymn." I shudder to think what drum corps would be today if it hadn't moved forward. The activity exists to serve its members, as well as fans. If the players were getting paid, then you would have more of a voice to champion your favorite type of music. Back in the 60s, Hawthorne came off the line with a stirring rendition of "Les Toreadors" from Carmen. The Cabs' 2007 show: Carmen. Thank you very much.

I'll be there in Rochester, for every event, and will enjoy all of them. I wish I could be in Pasadena, too.

Drum corps is a wonderful activity, pretty much uniquely American, with deference to our Maple Leaf friends. Why not support it? Learn newer music and different ways of playing it. Shostakovich, Sousa, Stan Kenton. It's all good.

There. I feel better. Brickbats and treacle welcomed.

Ace

THANK YOU ACE!!! i recently read something on an alumni corps' guest book that had my head spinning. it insulted a current competing corps, as well as any alumni that supported and/or liked their current show. your post really helps me get past that. <---- there aren't enough of those guys to go around for this post.

[MikeD]

Wow! You're old!!!!

Oh, wait, I remember that show too. Wasn't "Big Spender" in that show also?

Yup...I knew I was forgeting a great tune

[oldbaritone]

Ace, you'll get no brickbats or irish confetti from here. We all love you. I might say that you are well over 50 at this point. In any case, I'll stipulate that Reading had, by far, the best horn line and drum line in Bridgeport on June 30th. I'll further stipulate that all of the DCA corps present are staffed by fine and hard working musicians. I was merely stating that, from where I was sitting, the audience seemed to respond best to the Cab Alumni show that night. And the friends I was sitting with are not the stereotypical, reactionary old curmudgeons that want to lynch George Hopkins becasue he personally got rid of color presentations and caused the debacle in Iraq and would prefer G-D horns with pull slides. Generally speaking, they have varied musical tastes; two of the couples accompanied my wife and I to Yale Opera's La Boheme this year. And I know they have CD's of Barber's Adagio For Strings "Agnus Dei" because I gave them copies. We just don't really respond well to what present day drum corps are putting on the field. Again, this is a general statement of taste not a brickbat tossed at the corps. Am I to understand that we are morally and ethically obligated to feel something that we don't. That doesn't seem right.

Regards

Dave