Belated Prelim Review

[audiodb]

Well, since no one else has, here's a review of prelims that includes all 24 corps.

Warning - this review contains opinions. If you have any allergy or intolerance toward other people's opinions, then to you I say:

Every corps was great (and they all were....just to differing degrees). Stop reading here.

Shenandoah Sound (14B/8FP/7PP/7G/1DM): Shadows of Roswell, complete with aliens and government agents, was a new and more thematic direction in show design for this corps. Drill was more contemporary too, though peppered with stop time. Noticed demanding guard routines (and I'm not a guard person). Performance skills varied widely, but were enough to bring them within range of....

....Excelsior (20B/7FP/3PP/6G/1DM): a few sopranos with moderate range helped this hornline provide inspiring impacts. Articulation demand of Robin Hood main theme was a struggle for baritones, though. A couple of people clearly didn't know their drill. Drumline showed some of the skills inherited from the Targets in this joint venture.

LakeShoremen (19B/0FP/7PP/9G/2DM): ironic that this corps started out as a drumline, and now has no battery. I'm sorry, but carbon-copying DCI charts is not doing this corps any favors. Their note-for-note rendition of 1994 Glassmen invokes a comparison they should not be making. The raw materials are there in brass and guard....arrange something uniquely for them.

Sunrisers (16B/8FP/8PP/15G/1DM): competent performance in all captions. If this corps was as inexperienced as I heard....well, they're not anymore.

Sun Devils (23B/13FP/6PP/8G/1DM): had me in convulsions with the finest hornline performance Florida has ever brought to DCA. Power. Constant attention to dynamics. Tone quality. Stagger-breathing. Screaming sopranos. Deep bari/euph sound and clear contrabass support. Balance. Melody and countermelody. Mellophones were on fire, sometimes splitting parts between the five of them with unflinching strength. Several times, the mellophone section was left alone on a sustained unison note, and you could hear the "beats" disappear as they matched intonation....I don't recall hearing this phenomenon achieved on a football field before. I want to be a Sun Devils mellophone player when I grow up. Drill design was top-notch, and percussion nicely arranged. I would have had them first or second in brass, and much closer to finals.

White Sabers (20B/8FP/6PP/6G/2DM) came on next, and really did come on with one of their stronger showings. Horns were a more balanced line than some other years, and had some dynamics and range of their own. Add to that the drumline's edge over Sun Devils in execution, and it was a contest between those two units. Likewise, thought this performance ought to have scored much closer to finalist level.

Vigilantes (14B/15FP/6PP/9G/1DM): battery was unbelievably tight. I'd have put them third in field percussion in open-class (disclaimer - I'm a brass person). With just 14 horns, they weren't going to succeed with multi-layered, subtle brass composition, so they went with more straightforward charts that highlighted individual and sectional talents. And it worked - they got into class A finals on their first try, deservedly so. Seven horn players switched from other sections to contrabass at one point, yielding ten contras total.

Carolina Gold (21B/11FP/4PP/7G/1DM): drumline did good, horns did not impress. Need more soprano strength. Drill execution didn't match up to the preceding 3-4 corps in my eyes either, so I was surprised that Gold made the finals cut.

Fusion (20B/9FP/7PP/15G/3DM): appreciated the aggressive, ambitious brass. The Disney Millenium charts are tough, but these horns were up for the task. Percussion execution held them back quite a bit, especially with the quality of those preceding drumlines. Still, Fusion was the corps I didn't expect to miss top four.

Kingston Grenadiers (21B/13FP/8PP/9G/2DM): another good drumline, more consistently so than many of their rivals. Horns delivered a more secure sound than last year. Drill covered more field than most class A corps. Guard completed the package. Thought they'd make a nice class A champion for 2009, but I wasn't expecting....

....Govenaires (16B/11FP/6PP/14G/2DM) to put on the finest performance of their corps history. There's always an awkward, exposed moment when a hornline of this size takes on a fully-scored, jazzy repertoire....no, as of September 5, 2009, that's no longer universally true. Every member of this hornline met their individual responsibilities, and with the ensemble clarity and staging Govies employ, we had proof positive. The larger-than-usual-for-them drumline was so clean, I thought they earned the coveted runner-up spot in the caption (judges had them third). Auxiliary always provides exceptional choreography and interesting equipment work. And Hot for Teacher - how about them apples? For those who missed it, yes, guard members were juggling apples with traditional guard implements, often holding the apples in their mouths as they performed the larger equipment tosses.

Kicking off open-class, Rochester Crusaders (27B/13FP/9PP/10G/3DM) performed credibly. Someone had to be 13th out of 13, and odds were that Cru would be it, but they put on a show befitting of open-class status, and competitive in several music captions.

Music City Legend (46B/14FP/8PP/13G/2DM): if I were the judging panel, MCL would be a three-time DCA finalist. This one would be the more debatable of the three, though. Still one of the highlights of my day. I was hoping for more late-season improvement from the drums. This year's show spent too much time at fortissimo - can't believe I'm saying this - but I noticed the crowd wasn't as into them this year, and I suspect that is due to MCL's horns going to the "loud" well too many times. The ballad was a missed opportunity to demonstrate more sonorous tone and blend. And while the full-corps role-playing adds to the theme, it also combines with the park-and-blows to create too much stop time in the drill, a possible obstacle to scoring more points visually. These few tweaks ought to enable the MCL formula for show design to win over judges the way they have scored with audiences up till now.

Alliance (36B/22FP/11PP/16G/2DM) came in with potential to storm into finals, but a lot of work had to be done in those last two weeks. Well, they took care of everything. The corps harnessed the energy of their show, clamped down on tempo control and ensemble timing, and performed so convincingly that they became the mid-show block's crowd favorite without the benefit of recognizable, toe-tapping tunes. Drumline no longer needs introduction. Horns, on the other hand, have taken a big step forward, sounding like the 36-strong section they are. No shying away from tempo or drill demand in this corps. Seventh place in my judgment.

I was shocked at the performance of the CorpsVets (40B/13FP/7PP/17G/3DM). They actually seemed to have gotten worse recently, not just in drums (which both judges and I agreed ranked 13th) but also in the drill. Since the corps was at full manpower when I saw them before, I didn't expect to see the kind of missed pivots that last-minute recruits are often guilty of....but there they were. Horns weren't exactly on fire either, and I had this performance placing 12th, but I figured competitive inertia would probably keep them among the finalists. (Note: I did not stay for finals, where I am told the CorpsVets redeemed themselves; my comments only reflect their prelim performance.)

Kilties (41B/11FP/9PP/17G/2DM) were a pleasant surprise. Ensemble skills have improved over the past couple of years. Thought the drumline would be too small to score well, but they took 10th place. I find it hard to agree, but I find it hard to disagree too - they performed that well. Horns, despite a few glaring errors, spoke with authority and generated some unexpected effects, particularly in the charge-the-pit sequence. I think they had more power than last year's 50 horns. You're headed in the right direction, Kilties.

Brigadiers (33B/14FP/10PP/20G/2DM): crafty show design and enough of both quantity and quality in each caption to earn finalist status once again. Freed from the recycled Blue Devil charts of years past, Syracuse now creates better integrated shows as a result. I could never march there, though, as the thought of practicing playing while laying down/rolling over/doing yoga, etc., is somewhat daunting.

Bushwackers (29B/18FP/6PP/28G/2DM): drumline was excellent; auxiliary too. Horns proved they could generate some sound, but then failed to duplicate that feat. Based on today's performances, I agreed with the judges on Brigs' narrow edge over Bush. Don't get me started on their spread over the other corps, or the caption finishes, though....

Renegades (50B/16FP/9PP/21G/2DM): the big jump was (should have been) between 6th and 7th. The new uniform creates a cleaner visual look. Performing after two corps that clearly marched recent recruits, Renegades had the look of a far better prepared corps. I could go on about their sound forever (but gotta finish this review)....must mention the high notes, though. Absolutely sick....off the scale....can't count the leger lines....notes that high should be illegal because they deplete the ozone layer.

Caballeros (50B/23FP/14PP/30G/2DM): wow, this is fifth place? Can't wait to see the next four corps. Nice to see less DMs, and hear a cleaner ensemble vs. some previous years. Drill really reaches out and grabs you at times. Like the large battery. That said, thought Renegades should have swept Cabs in the music captions. Cabs' battery and pit were both a little loose in comparison, and the horns....Renegades were seven times louder, with no disadvantage in quality. Conversely, I'd give Cabs the sweep visually - they were clearly more mobile, and had a larger and more adept guard. Overall, saw these two corps very closely matched, not three points apart.

Empire Statesmen (50B/22FP/10PP/28G/3DM): usual entertaining program, powerful brass, enjoyable percussion scoring, visual show with all the trimmings, and even a little Joey Pero added in without stealing the show. Nothing out of place here, though some were distracted by the noisy fire extinguishers used in a soft portion of the ballad. (Understand that got relocated to later in the show for finals.)

Hurricanes (49B/18FP/12PP/33G/3DM): another solid corps, with steps up in percussion execution and guard from the preceding corps, and steps up in....well, all areas from even last year. Didn't quite see them two full points ahead of the preceding pair, though, and I would have broken the tie in favor of....

....Minnesota Brass, Inc. (59B/23FP/10PP/32G/2DM). MBI impressed me as the only potential threat to the Bucs' streak. The one thing that stuck out to me as holding them back on this night was that some forms weren't quite hitting in the drill. Brass was spot-on, with imaginative takes on their arrangements. They can play music that's been done before, yet give you a completely different experience from any other unit's version. Individual marching was solid, and the guard has grown this year. Drumline was hot even by MBI standards, and I saw a caption win coming there for sure, but that's before I saw....

....the Buccaneers (59B/25FP/14PP/28G/3DM) perform. Hard to find any fault with their percussion efforts, especially the much-heralded tenor feature. Kudos to the Bucs for adjusting horn tuning to account for the cool weather. Really, the whole last block did nicely on that account, but intonation is an area Bucs really improved on a year or two ago, and they are retaining what they have learned. From a September standpoint, I don't think Buccaneers were "unbeatable"....but perhaps it says more that they posted a convincing victory without being "unbeatable". (Aside from seeing 59 people and one hole in the horn drill, I had no clue the Bucs were mourning a lost member until I read it on DCP....another testament to the job they did on the field.)

[Sayre Kulp]

Excellent review! Very nicely done. Thank you.

[LegalEagle50]

Loved this review!

[Jeff Ream]

awesome review

[fecontra]

ThankYou for the excellent, detailed review!

[JimF-LowBari]

Great, missed some of the corps and really interested in the breakdown of horns, drums and guard.

But am ticked that I didn't think to ask about you being at DCA. Oh well, hope for a face to face in 2010.

Edit after I re-read: Vigilantes had less horns than Govies? Bravo to the horn line and arranging as I never even noticed. Then again I only noticed Govies horn numbers because their starting set had the horns away from the rest of the corps and made 'em easy to spot.

LMAO... on second thought time for a new thread on my latest brain storm (or drizzle).

Edited September 11, 2009 by JimF-3rdBari

[Scerpella]

Kilties (41B/11FP/9PP/17G/2DM) were a pleasant surprise. Ensemble skills have improved over the past couple of years. Thought the drumline would be too small to score well, but they took 10th place. I find it hard to agree, but I find it hard to disagree too - they performed that well. Horns, despite a few glaring errors, spoke with authority and generated some unexpected effects, particularly in the charge-the-pit sequence. I think they had more power than last year's 50 horns. You're headed in the right direction, Kilties.

Could you elaborate on that at bit? No one recalls any glaring errors apart from a frack or two that bedevils any corps.

[Jami]

this truly is a top-notch review!

[audiodb]

Could you elaborate on that at bit? No one recalls any glaring errors apart from a frack or two that bedevils any corps.

Don't know if I can....it's an impression I had, but I can't recall the specifics and I won't hear the show again until the CDs come out. Probably just that those few fracks stuck out more for whatever reason.

I could elaborate on this....the DCP video clip reminded me that the 2009 repertoire was chock full of tempo changes, which really helped drive home just how much the Kilties' ensemble skills have improved.

[Hulka]

Warning - this review contains opinions.

That's what makes for the best reviews! Thank you for your candid view on prelims!

Edited September 11, 2009 by Hulka