2003Ageout Posted June 25, 2009 Share Posted June 25, 2009 Just got back from a LONG day of drum corps... I hosted SCV at my most recent high school gig. The first thing I have to say about SCV is that I have NEVER seen this kind of vibe from the corps before. During the horn arc, they were having fun, smiling, joking, and generally having a great time even though it was probably 120* on the asphalt. Even talking to members of the corps who had marched last year...they all said that everything just felt better this year and people are just happy to be a member of SCV. Like Andre kept saying in rehearsal...they have that "swagger". Another comment on here was asking if SCV cleaned all that much today...they did one block of 8am-12pm in which 45 minutes was stretching/across-the-floors, about 90 minutes of sectional work, and 90 minutes of ensemble. During ensemble, they truly did not clean a bunch...maybe a few chunks here and there a few times. They ended the day with a production run of the opener. So onto the show... Troop - Haven't seen these guys live in many years, but I was IMMENSELY impressed with what I saw. Like others have said, they're on the right track. BK - Never been a huge fan of BK, but I will say that it was nice to see a departure from the doom-and-gloom shows of the past. Many solid moments throughout, but the stuff in between wasn't quite appealing. SCV - Absolutely incredible. I have to admit...it's not setting the world on fire with drill, but it is getting back to what I think is the most important aspect of this activity; quality music. I know a lot of people will disagree with that last statement, and that's ok. The music is NEVER sacrificed in order to do something that looks cool, and I think that's a great thing. Some adjectives to describe the show; elegant, sophisticated, classy, and understated. Bloo - normally like their stuff. I think this show could do some serious damage when it's clean. The horn book and visual package are very very challenging. I have to say that the removal of the jackets 1/2 way thru the show was a neat thing to do for the drumline, but when the entire corps took it off it just washed everything out. It was hard to see forms and everything just blurred together. One could argue that this is precisely what they are going for, but my personal taste doesn't agree. Academy - *sigh* I want to love this show, but I seriously can't find anything I enjoy in it. The corps needs to look up DYNAMIC CONTRAST. And not the kind defined by pit vs brass. The crowd was reacting at the first few big loud moments but that quickly subsided after there was a loud impact every other measure. This show needs a lot of tweaking in order to be successful. And they better do it quick, because the Troop is right on their butt. And boy, how nice it is to hear Clowns. My eyes still sting. In all honesty, I think that this is a case of "getting your scores a day later". And also, I'm beginning to hate the Phoenix show because it's so #### early and no one is clean. And I'm beginning to hate not having money to travel to Indy. And I'm beginning to hate that I don't have a beer in my hand after a long day of drum corps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cgmomma Posted June 25, 2009 Share Posted June 25, 2009 Some adjectives to describe the show; elegant, sophisticated, classy, and understated. Put another way.... pure Santa Clara Vanguard! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silver_King Posted June 25, 2009 Share Posted June 25, 2009 glad to see SCV going up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BariEuph Posted June 25, 2009 Share Posted June 25, 2009 Academy - *sigh* I want to love this show, but I seriously can't find anything I enjoy in it. The corps needs to look up DYNAMIC CONTRAST. And not the kind defined by pit vs brass. The crowd was reacting at the first few big loud moments but that quickly subsided after there was a loud impact every other measure. This show needs a lot of tweaking in order to be successful. And they better do it quick, because the Troop is right on their butt. that was one note i forgot by the time i got home. they seemed to be struggling to put out volume today - tired maybe? the encore sounded more energetic....of course, they weren't moving i heard more sound/energy at the open house friday. the big impact points near the end weren't there, sadly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TallAZEuph Posted June 25, 2009 Share Posted June 25, 2009 At this point in the season The Academy is going for precision and technical accuracy before they allow the members some more "expressive breathing room" if you will. I would agree that they weren't reaching out, grabbing us, and smacking us across the face with sound. However, they are putting out quality sounds for the most part. Still a very young hornline, young season, don't give up on them in JUNE! Sheesh people. I really enjoyed the Bluecoats show. I'm really digging the musical selections, especially Hunting Wabbits. The 16 member contra section were laying down some tasty bass lines. Although the drumline isn't up to the level of the last couple editions, it is clear they have talent and can play! I didn't really understand the whole corps taking off their jackets. Perhaps there will be another uni underneath the jacket similar the guard uniform later on in the season. Pure speculation though. BK's show was a departure from their designs of recent memory. However they are still doing quite a bit of movement and moving a lot. The opening hit was attempting to have a Crown moment similar to the their opening hit in 07. However it lacked volume and sustain. I really liked the white guard uniforms, match well with the Shiver theme. Troopers have a very entertaining show this year! I really liked their rendition of Cave, which has a slow bluesy funk groove. They are already attempting some difficult visuals. I thought they had more energy than The Academy tonight, but not nearly as clean and controlled. Finally, my biggest complaint is the bumble by the announcer skipping over the scores of The Academy and Troopers first. Than attempting to save face by quickly reading them as SCV was setting up their encore. Come on now! As I like to say, "Weak Sauce." Bluecoats have an excellent vehicle, but I don't see it threatening for the top 4. I was surprised by the spread between them and SCV tonight, but SCV is really starting to own this show. I can't wait to see it after the first round of changes! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XxDrumCorpsFanxX Posted June 25, 2009 Share Posted June 25, 2009 One thing with the synths that makes me think of why they were so loud today. If anybody notices during rehearsals they have the speakers covered normally, and so with that being said. . . Although the sound does travel through whatever they have covering the speakers it does dampen the sound, so rather than dropping the main mix down a few dB from rehearsal to the show, they end up just leaving it with what they had at the rehearsal. I know from watching Bluecoats today that they had blankets over the speakers and they were talking about levels of the patches, etc. . Hopefully this makes sense to everybody. . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shawn craig Posted June 25, 2009 Share Posted June 25, 2009 One thing with the synths that makes me think of why they were so loud today. If anybody notices during rehearsals they have the speakers covered normally, and so with that being said. . . Although the sound does travel through whatever they have covering the speakers it does dampen the sound, so rather than dropping the main mix down a few dB from rehearsal to the show, they end up just leaving it with what they had at the rehearsal. I know from watching Bluecoats today that they had blankets over the speakers and they were talking about levels of the patches, etc. . Hopefully this makes sense to everybody. . Maybe they should leave the blankets on for shows! But seriously, aren't reharsals to make sure EVERYTHING works and is balanced including amps and electronics? Aren't run throughs to be just like a PERFORMANCE? So why would they have the speakers one way for rehearsal and another for performance? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BariEuph Posted June 25, 2009 Share Posted June 25, 2009 At this point in the season The Academy is going for precision and technical accuracy before they allow the members some more "expressive breathing room" if you will. I would agree that they weren't reaching out, grabbing us, and smacking us across the face with sound. However, they are putting out quality sounds for the most part. Still a very young hornline, young season, don't give up on them in JUNE! Sheesh people. me of all people is not about to give up on academy... lol. i'm impressed with what i've seen and heard so far, and am enjoying their show much more than previous years. just pointing out the noticeable difference even from the dress rehearsal friday night. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pinwiz Posted June 25, 2009 Share Posted June 25, 2009 Which makes for an interesting race. You've got Troopers who are exciting but dirty and Academy that are clean but reserved. Both shows have tons of potential, both have avenues to victory, either could win the summer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Laubhan Posted June 25, 2009 Share Posted June 25, 2009 Which makes for an interesting race. You've got Troopers who are exciting but dirty and Academy that are clean but reserved. Both shows have tons of potential, both have avenues to victory, either could win the summer. Would be really cool for that victory to be a finals spot... Blue Stars reminded me how much fun it is to see a new face in the top 12. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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