Seattle Cascades 08 Season Announcement

[michsta8]

you know what should be done, increase the size of corps (thus costs), allow expensive electronic equipment, hire professional folks for narration. That certainly will help the budgets of corps. Hoppy and the other directors ae KILLING this art.

[str8lgz4lyf]

*removed*

Edited February 15, 2008 by str8lgz4lyf

[michsta8]

Those things arent required you know....

however, if you want to be competitive, you must, you must

[corps-mudgeon]

Yeah but it has nothing to do with why they are taking a year off. If they had 64 brass players at camp than we would not be having this discussion

Is there no possibility that if there were horns, uniforms, and food that perhaps there would have been sufficient brass players?

[euponitone]

Is there no possibility that if there were horns, uniforms, and food that perhaps there would have been sufficient brass players?

Maybe...

Look, as much of a pro-cadets person as I normally am, I can certainly admit that the rules changes did not help the corps. What I can not say, and what pretty much everyone here has no right to say, is that these changes are the thing that brought the corps down. It amazes me that people lay the blame at the feet of GH in spite of the testimony of people who are actually within the Cascades organization to the contrary. I'm sure that the thousands of dollars spent on electronics could have been used elsewhere, and frankly I wish it had, but to assume that it would make all the problems go away is downright foolish.

[CorpsMan97]

It is good news that the director and staff has the best intentions possible for the students of the corps. With all of the peaks today that directors of corps have to climb, I am glad that Mike Leone is putting forth some efforts to be able to get over it all. Who knows what will be in store for the corps next year in 2009. Hopefully there will be great things in store! Some newer equipment, newer transportation vehicles, and no corps debt would all be terrific. I hope that Mike Leone tries to consult with Fred Morris over the next two years. Troopers made a HUGE come back in 2007. I cannot believe what they managed to pull off! Cascades should try to learn from that to ensure 2009 is a success. The last thing the activity needs is the loss of a Corps in the Northwest where so few already exist. To think that some reports claimed that Troopers at the beginning of 2007 only had 14 horns at their first camp, is incredible. They managed to march practically a full brass line come quarters night. They also managed to get their highest score since 1995. If Troop can do it, I have faith that Cascades can manage to pull it off too.

If for some reason Cascades do not have the numbers in 2009 to truly put out a killer World Class program product, I think it could be a smarter idea to drop back to Open Class. Open Class corps do not have to tour for for two months straight. Some argue that if they go Open Class then they will not get the money at every show. That is true but it costs A LOT to put a corps out on a road for a whole month or more. Those show paychecks do not cover it. Going open class with membership at about 100 could be a very promising option for the program. Cascades should know from past experience that it is possible to go from lower divsions and build up to become a killer World Class corps. I would much rather see them build up and save money in 2009 as an Open Class corps with a 3 week tour, make it to championships that year, than put out a border line World Class program that may not ensure consistent building through the years. In the Past Cascades went from a Div III corps to a Div II corps placing in Division I Semi Finals to then Jumping to Div I and placing in at Finals Night. I would love to see a Cascades again that can perform another 2002 program. If they have the talent and money though come 2009 to perform World Class then... They should do it! But if it isn't looking incredibly successful, an Open Class switch may be the smarter idea. There are a lot of corps that start from the bottom and make it to the top. They used to be one of those corps. They could sure do it again.

I wish Cascades the best of luck for the 2009 season. I really hope they put out a killer program whether they are in World Class, Open Class, or still in Exhibition. Good luck in 2008 too! I am glad the program will still be touring and exposing the country to this great activity.

[Ila Gaponoff]

I am also familiar with the landscape in WA and OR and I think that there are plenty of marching band in the area to make a drum corps out of.

Evergreen HS, Kamiak HS, Cascade HS, Mead HS, Pasco HS, Aloha HS are just a few of the better competitive bands in the pacific northwest. There are also schools like Mercer Island that has an enormous marching band, that don't compete.

I am a graduate of Mercer Island HS. Yeah, we have a 275 member marching band, but competing? That's foreign. My band director was in VK and he got me into through some videos he had. It's not as easy as it seems. We do a 5-7 set show that lasts 8 minutes for each football game. The idea of drum corps sounds like too much to them when I try and recruit. They've never seen it live. They love the videos, but none of them will come try it. Believe me, I've been trying to recruit the past two years. Got one person interested, but his mom wouldn't let him come.

However, with this mini local tour, I think I may be able to recruit some people. When I go home for spring break, I am planning on dragging as many as possible to the next camp. The simple MI camp last summer had a great turn out and they did a little marching. Hopefully with my band director's support, we'll get quite a few to the March camp. I'm hoping to try some other schools in the Seattle area as well. *crosses fingers*

[roosevelt]

however, if you want to be competitive, you must, you must

I am curious, how much narration did BD have in their show this past year?

[roosevelt]

Is there no possibility that if there were horns, uniforms, and food that perhaps there would have been sufficient brass players?

Maybe, but you still have to go out and recruit the horn players and they clearly did not do it.

All I know is that when it came to recruiting for the cascades there were (and still are) a lot of excuses being thrown around why they couldnt get brass players, but there were very few solutions.... and that is why they are on the shelf this year.

I did not hear the color guard or percussion staff making excuses as to why they couldn't get kids. Instead they went out and got them.... and now they are the ones left out in the cold with full captions and no corps.

[roosevelt]

I am a graduate of Mercer Island HS. Yeah, we have a 275 member marching band, but competing? That's foreign. My band director was in VK and he got me into through some videos he had. It's not as easy as it seems. We do a 5-7 set show that lasts 8 minutes for each football game. The idea of drum corps sounds like too much to them when I try and recruit. They've never seen it live. They love the videos, but none of them will come try it. Believe me, I've been trying to recruit the past two years. Got one person interested, but his mom wouldn't let him come.

However, with this mini local tour, I think I may be able to recruit some people. When I go home for spring break, I am planning on dragging as many as possible to the next camp. The simple MI camp last summer had a great turn out and they did a little marching. Hopefully with my band director's support, we'll get quite a few to the March camp. I'm hoping to try some other schools in the Seattle area as well. *crosses fingers*

That sounds like a great idea. I know Parker Bixbey at Mercer Island. He is a very good musician and a great teacher. If you could get his support behind this it would go a long way.