dbc03 Posted November 24, 2007 Share Posted November 24, 2007 Maybe I am arguing semantics with you. An advantage may exist because of the instrumentation of a drum corps, but they weren't "given" that advantage. A drum and bugle corps being brass and percussion goes back quite a ways. It was not something they dreamed up as a way to keep woodwind players locked out, was it? Perhaps it is just too bad that drum and bugle corps replaced the drum and fife corps. Yeah, I think we are on the same page. It isn't anyones fault really that the brass has an advantage. All I'm saying is that if the shoe was on the other foot there would be plenty of people currently marching who wouldn't because they wouldn't want to learn to play a different instrument to march. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meaghatron Posted November 24, 2007 Share Posted November 24, 2007 Yeah, I think we are on the same page. It isn't anyones fault really that the brass has an advantage.All I'm saying is that if the shoe was on the other foot there would be plenty of people currently marching who wouldn't because they wouldn't want to learn to play a different instrument to march. Out of curiosity, is it easier to learn how to play a brass instrument or a woodwind? I guess the easiest to learn would be percussion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbc03 Posted November 24, 2007 Share Posted November 24, 2007 Out of curiosity, is it easier to learn how to play a brass instrument or a woodwind?I guess the easiest to learn would be percussion. I would honestly guess brass. I'm dumbfounded by woodwinds with all those buttons and levers and other nonsense Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meaghatron Posted November 24, 2007 Share Posted November 24, 2007 I would honestly guess brass. I'm dumbfounded by woodwinds with all those buttons and levers and other nonsense Yeah, that's what I figured. My friend taught me a basic scale on her clarinet, and I did ok. I learned 5 notes on a trumpet a lot easier though. And I learned to play a snare drum quicker than both. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hrothgar15 Posted November 24, 2007 Author Share Posted November 24, 2007 I would honestly guess brass. I'm dumbfounded by woodwinds with all those buttons and levers and other nonsense But the cool thing about woodwinds is if you can finger it, you can play it. None of this embouchure changing and increased air velocity stuff. I still can't for the life of me get a danged G on the top of the staff out of my trumpet...but practice makes perfect I guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tubacurt Posted November 24, 2007 Share Posted November 24, 2007 i think that woodwinds are easier to learn, but they have to play much more technical stuff, where as brass instrument are harder to learn to produce the sound, but don't have to play the ridiculous parts that woodwinds do. So it probably evens out in the end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Brace Posted November 24, 2007 Share Posted November 24, 2007 Stewart could and did sell his ideas to the board until such time that the Scouts did not make finals. Scott Stewart was director of the Scouts for more than 20 years. Stewart did win a championship, so get your facts straight. The simple shortcoming of Hopkins' vision is to turn drum corps into marching band. He has Gibbs and Acheson with him in full. Had Gibbs and Acheson backed Stewart's view, we would be discussing how successful the Scouts have been and what ever happened to George Hopkins. In my opinion, we would have a more exciting brand of drum corps as well. David: Parts of Scott's vision are what caused the Scouts to miss finals. He didn't really care all that much for the developments and emphasis on the color guard. And he lost touch with the successful visual elements of the late 90s shows. His traditional approach was even challenged by corps members who asked him point blank whether missing finals in Madison was part of his plan. One more thing...Scott's vision also had little respect for the adjudictors. He didn't believe that most were qualified enough to judge drum corps. I heard his say as much in respect to DCM judges. He used to send international members (who struggled with English) to critique instead of staff members. Happen twice I know of during the 1998 season. He tried to work within the system to make change, but it was his rebellion against the systems in both DCM and DCI that led to the ultimate mutiny...with the BoD at Madison...then the ouster of that Board...Scott's brief return....then the final swift flush. I know...it's history and my version of that history. So, take your shots...but, the real test will come for Scott's vision over the next couple of years with the current Madison corps. I know lots of those guys and they cut their teeth in drum corps under Scott's leadership. It could very well be the "phoenix" of Scott's vision and in time, it may turn out to be a fitting tribute to his vision. We shall see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoltonH178 Posted November 24, 2007 Share Posted November 24, 2007 Sometimes it's not feasible to have the "sensitive" horns run of the field to have thir horns "take cover". This also breaks continuity of the lesson being delivered, and breaks the concentration of the hornline on the field (brass, I mean). I'm assuming here (and I know that's a bad thing to do) that you haven't staffed at the DCA or DCI level. Not that it akes any difference, but to take a note from some of the earlier conversation, you really can't speak fully to the educator's side of the equation unless you've been there. I have, and I know how poorly it can reflect on a rehearsal to have multiple interruptions. I also know what it is to keep powering through a rainstorm whether it's a performance or a rehearsal. I really don't see how it could be "not feasible"--there are roofs everywhere, even at show sites. Second, telling the woodwind players to put their instruments in their cases takes all of 15 seconds, and hardly qualifies as an interruption--at the very least, certainly no more than a water break. Heck, even Tom Blair uses a torrential downpour regularly in his montages at the beginning of theater events and DVD sets. What of drum corps with exceptionally dusty standard rehearsal fields ("Dust Bowl", "Mars", etc.) What of fields you're given to march on that are exceptionally dusty? Do you forego rehearsing musically that day because of dust? How will that affect your performance that There are ways to clean the woodwinds, the same way that we clean the brass valves when they get full of dust. Show me a professional woodwind performer (no offense to you at 20, I've been performing professionally longer than you've been around <gulp... I'm old>) that will subject their best horn to that environment. You have a lot of professionals out there that will definitely overcome just about any situation during a show (not field, just show...). But I know of a very few that will subject their best horns to the rigors of an outdoor season. I mean, we *do* want them playing their best gear, right? I'd assume that we'd supply the horns the same way we do with the brass, if for nothing else so that everyone's playing on the same kind of flute/clarinet/saxophone...and for a good deal cheaper, I might add, than we equip our brass lines. No, I disagree. I've taught in the very same conditions, and we've had to put the woods away in the worst of circumstances, and we've also put them away EVERY time it rained. The band director and myself learned how to do pad jobs because they were needed so much, we just got the kids to buy the kit and we did the work. It was MISERABLE.I can also guarantee you that if you get caught in a 12 minute downpour (without lightning, otherwise you'd be pulled from the field) that you would most definitely need a pad job. Keep the cases near you at all times during rehearsals, and you won't be caught in more than 30 seconds of downpour. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tekneek Posted November 24, 2007 Share Posted November 24, 2007 (edited) I really don't see how it could be "not feasible"--there are roofs everywhere, even at show sites. Second, telling the woodwind players to put their instruments in their cases takes all of 15 seconds, and hardly qualifies as an interruption--at the very least, certainly no more than a water break. They should stop a run-through just for the woodwinds to protect their instruments? Based on my own experience, there had to be a clear and present danger to your life for a run-through to be stopped. If they don't stop it, those woodwind players will get killed or at least bring about some injuries by making mad dashes for instrument cases (besides, I cannot remember ever having cases near the practice field at any site we were at all summer). It would definitely change the way drum corps works. Edited November 24, 2007 by Tekneek Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbc03 Posted November 24, 2007 Share Posted November 24, 2007 They should stop a run-through just for the woodwinds to protect their instruments? Based on my own experience, there had to be a clear and present danger to your life for a run through to be stopped. If they don't stop it, those woodwind players will get killed or at least bring about some injuries by making mad dashes for instrument cases (besides, I cannot remember ever having cases near the practice field at any site we were at all summer). It would definitely change the way drum corps works. 11 and a half minutes of rain isn't going to destroy all the woodwinds Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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