TOP 10 things IN 2009 we think but dare not say!

[Feathers Up]

1. Synths need to go away.

2. Stop making excuses for people not liking BD's show. Cavaliers won in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, and in 2006 I still saw crowds going crazy for them. Had little to do with "well since they win all the time, people don't like them". Most fans don't go to shows to see what the judges think. They go to be entertained. And I doubt most people sit there and think, "well I was really entertained, but since they are so successful I'll decide to tell myself I wasn't entertained." Come on, give it a rest. By the way, I enjoyed BD's show this year.

3. The GE caption is a joke.

[bluublood]

1. Synths need to go away.

2. Stop making excuses for people not liking BD's show. Cavaliers won in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, and in 2006 I still saw crowds going crazy for them. Had little to do with "well since they win all the time, people don't like them". Most fans don't go to shows to see what the judges think. They go to be entertained. And I doubt most people sit there and think, "well I was really entertained, but since they are so successful I'll decide to tell myself I wasn't entertained." Come on, give it a rest. By the way, I enjoyed BD's show this year.

3. The GE caption is a joke.

7 years (as compared to 39 [76-09] years) is hardly enough time to get sick of a corps. You can add that to your list of excuses!

Edited August 10, 2009 by bluublood

[tonkpils_656]

4) Crown's brass is SO is impressive. Too bad their percussion is dozing off in their own world , and their guard spins and tosses senselessly.

6) Phantom's new uniforms look absolutely terrible. They make them look very round and frumpy.

4. NO NO NO NO. Crown's percussion this year, especially their battery, had far superior musicality to all lines, (save for bluecoats and SCV. but ESPECIALLY blue devils) Their front to back was spectacular; no phasing anywhere. And if you can ram notes like the cadets of old, and still be musical, that's a #### worthy accomplishment. I think they deserved high drums more so than blue devils, but i guess the more distasteful splits you throw in and the sheer number of "dirt" breaks is more deserving than pure, musical, balls to the wall, great drum corps drumming.

6. I agree.

[do.it.up.]

4. NO NO NO NO. Crown's percussion this year, especially their battery, had far superior musicality to all lines, (save for bluecoats and SCV. but ESPECIALLY blue devils) Their front to back was spectacular; no phasing anywhere. And if you can ram notes like the cadets of old, and still be musical, that's a #### worthy accomplishment. I think they deserved high drums more so than blue devils, but i guess the more distasteful splits you throw in and the sheer number of "dirt" breaks is more deserving than pure, musical, balls to the wall, great drum corps drumming.

6. I agree.

Disagree. I found Crown's percussion to be very unmusical this year. Especially their front ensemble. Huge step back from "Finis." I loved Crown's arrangement of "Overture to Candide" for their pit last year. Very tasteful and musical.

This year, it was full of chromatic patterns and minor arpeggios in permutations that did not compliment the music at all.

I also heard tons of runs and triplet/sixtuplet patterns across the mallet line that made no sense to me either. Quite distracting. Might I add that they were turned up quite a bit....

[Cardman]

1) The Blue Devils are not peaking. That's just your wishful thinking. Too bad.

2) I wish BD broke 99.15.

3) Those Boston guard girls are hot.

4) Crown's brass is SO is impressive. Too bad their percussion is dozing off in their own world , and their guard spins and tosses senselessly.

5) HNC's ending isn't that amazing. It's just as cool and crazy as 07 and 08. In fact, 07s ending was better.

6) Phantom's new uniforms look absolutely terrible. They make them look very round and frumpy.

This post makes me want to punch babies. I agree on #5 except I thought 2008's ending was much better than this year and 2007's ending sucked. #4 has been stated on these forums many, many times (unfortunately...). Man, am I glad the season is over so I don't have to read any more posts using innuendo with BAC's guard...

1. Blue Devils' show this year was boring in comparison to Carolina Crown.

2. I wish Carolina Crown had beaten the Blue Devils

3. Carolina Crown and Phantom Regiment had the only exciting shows for me this year. (Ok, I've mentioned this before, but it bears repeating.)

4. Having DCI finals in Indy for 10 years in a row is a really, really stupid idea.

5. DCI will cease to exist within 10 years. (Actually, my high school band director predicted years ago that DCI would be dead by 2002 and he was wrong so...)

6. Amplified synthesizers suck, especially when they are used to make techno sounds and bleeps and bloops.

7. The people on these forums are a bunch of band nerds (self included).

[davla00]

1. Electronics should be banned, all kinds from synths to mics to anything, if you can't play music without them in all dynamic ranges and blow our doors off - don't play

2. TOO MUCH PIT CRAP - - how many shows has anyone seen where 15 marimbas actually make a difference - - I can count one in the last 15 years. Take pit off the sidelines and get players between the end zones.

3. quarterfinals, semi finals, finals..... what happened to every corps shows up and gets on chance - - either you make it or you don't Top 12 perform at finals. The only reason this changed is so DCI could make more money from us

4. Judging - - can't even go there, but needless to say it is without boundaries the single greatest failure and change in drum corps history from scoring from bottom up to taking judges off the field, to anything else you can think of.

5. The day a soloist gets amplified or a woodwind hits the field - drum corps is over.

6. DCI will be dead in less than 10 years and it will be resurrected as USSBA or BOA, pick your poison. I stop attending or watching or subscribing to anything related to it.

7. DCI needs to support all levels of corps activity and open up to merging with DCA - - if they don't do either, both activities will die faster - plain and simple, the economics of running these multi million dollar organizations is getting MORE & MORE difficult, not easier. If you want drum corps (not marching band) - someone better change their attitude about all forms of drum corps fast and now. I mean they need to support everything, not just the World Class members or the Open Class members - - ever try and get information from DCI - - fat chance. Since the top 12 drive the rules at the moment, everyone sit back and get prepared to watch a continued painful progression to BOA and USSBA

8. Allentown is the last venue close to being drum corps - Indy for 10 years is stupid and inside and one step closer to BOA.

[Bydloyoho]

5. The day a soloist gets amplified or a woodwind hits the field - drum corps is over.

Um, does anyone want to tell him or shall I.............?

[WestCoaster]

4. NO NO NO NO. Crown's percussion this year, especially their battery, had far superior musicality to all lines, (save for bluecoats and SCV. but ESPECIALLY blue devils) Their front to back was spectacular; no phasing anywhere. And if you can ram notes like the cadets of old, and still be musical, that's a #### worthy accomplishment. I think they deserved high drums more so than blue devils, but i guess the more distasteful splits you throw in and the sheer number of "dirt" breaks is more deserving than pure, musical, balls to the wall, great drum corps drumming.

a) Why are split parts "distasteful" to you, in particular?

b) how can you equate "ramming notes" with being musical? It's kinda one or the other, according to the pundits (I don't happen to agree, but then again I like split parts rammed in my face along with ridiculous rudiments played ridiculously clean and fast...so I'm probably a heathen who doesn't understand what "musicality" means).

c) what is a "dirt" break?

[WestCoaster]

Disagree. I found Crown's percussion to be very unmusical this year. Especially their front ensemble. Huge step back from "Finis." I loved Crown's arrangement of "Overture to Candide" for their pit last year. Very tasteful and musical.

This year, it was full of chromatic patterns and minor arpeggios in permutations that did not compliment the music at all.

I also heard tons of runs and triplet/sixtuplet patterns across the mallet line that made no sense to me either. Quite distracting. Might I add that they were turned up quite a bit....

Dude, I love reading your posts, but I have to be honest here...I despise the term "un-musical". It's just such a dumb way to critique something (and it's funny this term comes up in drum corps and marching band circles more than anywhere else (except perhaps some stuffy conservatories where *they* know what musical is and Metallica (for example) is abhorrent!)...

Ladies and gents, there is no "more musical" or "less musical", so please find some better terminology...(Oh GOD, that means we have to be more specific, and actually critique stuff we probably don't understand and probably can't play ourselves! Oh, the horror!! Better to call it "unmusical" and sound like we have a clue about what that means!!)

[Paralda]

b) how can you equate "ramming notes" with being musical? It's kinda one or the other, according to the pundits (I don't happen to agree, but then again I like split parts rammed in my face along with ridiculous rudiments played ridiculously clean and fast...so I'm probably a heathen who doesn't understand what "musicality" means).

Look at the Bluecoats. They play the most musical snare book of any Corps out.