Serenade in Brass

[Gary Matczak]

You'd think that kind of issue would cause people to balk at using the equipment. Were they penalized?

no penalty assessed, I was a late June show, if that makes any difference,....................

Gary- were you with Erie in '93 when your Mimi-Corps was up at Scranton and won? Curious. I have good a story about that, too.

Nope, brother Tom was, I've been with the corps since getting it back together 1n 91, but I had a festival gig that kept me close to home that year,............but do share!

[Jeff Ream]

Ha... Tom Tame :) NOT !!!!!!

Bus 2..... we slept the whole way to a show and back trust me :)

[Jeff Ream]

Cadets/Hoppy hate hecklers, most of them come out in droves for them in particular noawadays. I know I heckled them when they did the "ABC's of Modern Music " show at East prelims- that's another story for another place LOL. it was well deserved. That part of the show was re-choreographed between East and Championships, for good reasons.

I can't think of any other corps that's attracted the old-schooler's ire to the degree they have. Sad. There are times where they've been well-loved. Always very extreme.

The one thing I will say concerning the old school drum corps hecklers- if they *like* you, you will find no better fans. They're the ones jumping up and down on the bleachers like they're trampolines screaming like maniacs for you. From my observations, Phantom knows who those guys are at Allentown because they're lighting up the crowd for them.

You'd think that kind of issue would cause people to balk at using the equipment. Were they penalized?

With DCI as tight as it is at the top, is it worth a risk of penalties?

I know valve slides and mouthpieces can pop loose, sticks can break, etc. but usually those things aren't as cosmic a problem.

Gary- were you with Erie in '93 when your Mimi-Corps was up at Scranton and won? Curious. I have good a story about that, too.

penalties there are rare....judges discretion...and balance issues get huge passes.

seriously, as much as most corps use them in ways that suck, electronics will only get more prevalent, and nothing you can say will change their minds about it.

I too have seen band and indoor shows die on the spot because the system crashed. Never once stopped them, especially for crying "we were robbed because our system crashed".

sorry, if your show needs it that badly and it doesnt work, sucks to be you

[melligene]

Cadets/Hoppy hate hecklers, most of them come out in droves for them in particular noawadays. I know I heckled them when they did the "ABC's of Modern Music " show at East prelims- that's another story for another place LOL. it was well deserved. That part of the show was re-choreographed between East and Championships, for good reasons.

I can't think of any other corps that's attracted the old-schooler's ire to the degree they have. Sad. There are times where they've been well-loved. Always very extreme.

The one thing I will say concerning the old school drum corps hecklers- if they *like* you, you will find no better fans. They're the ones jumping up and down on the bleachers like they're trampolines screaming like maniacs for you. From my observations, Phantom knows who those guys are at Allentown because they're lighting up the crowd for them.

You'd think that kind of issue would cause people to balk at using the equipment. Were they penalized?

With DCI as tight as it is at the top, is it worth a risk of penalties?

I know valve slides and mouthpieces can pop loose, sticks can break, etc. but usually those things aren't as cosmic a problem.

Gary- were you with Erie in '93 when your Mimi-Corps was up at Scranton and won? Curious. I have good a story about that, too.

I'm curious about your story. That was our first win at minicorps'....AND....the 1st minicorps' contest at DCA. (we did the brass ensemble in 1992 which was our first appearance at DCA ).

Tell us the story..........please.

[JimF-LowBari]

As far as indoor shows go, particularly Serenade in Brass, I don't recall ticket prices being hiked up. Eighteen dollars for a full night of entertainment is really not that bad. To go to a movie and buy snacks will cost you more than that and only lasts on the average 98 minutes.

I'd say $18 is good for SiB as Dixie Stinger is $15 (only other concert I've piad to get in recently). The Hershey combined show IIRC was up to around $27 the year that it got cancelled. For DCI/DCA fans it probably wasn't that bad but for almost total DCA fans like me it was.... "well $54 will mean more souvies at DCA".

[JimF-LowBari]

Hey Jim, I've wanted to post this for a while, just didn't have the stones to,...................go you!

Hey I just don't give a #### what I say in public do I.

See ya at Rochester....

[buzzgok]

True, Scott, SiB is a veritable Buffet spread of a lot of history, talent, and musical ideas from a very rich activity. It's great value for the money. Those who would disagree haven't hit a movie, gone to a museum, Amusement Park, sporting event or concert recently and shelled out the shekels to get in.

And as many others here have said, it's the best way to get your appetite whetted for the Summer.

Speaking of history, I had to do a bit of a Drum Corps History lesson at a KKY Almuni event and tell a young lady there that yes- there WERE all-girl corps active that were quite good back in the day, especially the Ventures.

I now feel like some walking Rosetta Stone now when the people that were my age when I marched start asking stuff. I'm happy I met the people I met when I marched , asked questions, and learned stuff from them about the history of the activity and saw some of those people in full-tilt action. To know where we came from is a very impprtant thing when one tries to understand what's happening now, I think.

And as for electronics, Scott--- I think they'll kill themselves. I've given it some thought, I watched and listened to the 2009 Holy Name video and thought hard about it.

The expense to buy and maintain that stuff has to be serious. Could I spend that money in a better way to further the strength and well-being of my corps? I'd bet yes. Take that money and provide better meals for my corps on tour, for example? I'd rather have a better-fed bunch of people that play and march their butts off and have better morale without the electronics.

My guess is that to really make it work, one would have to do a run-through and careful sound check in the venue before every contest to properly set a board. Will that happen? Should that happen??? Hmm... Otherwise the addition of the amplification, etc etc ends up sounding really cheap as compared to the program that's not amped. It doesn't blend well acoustically if you're not careful. And I think when it doesn't sound seamless, it cheapens the effect impacts.

Also, just wait until someone has the system crash. It's prolly happened before in DCI and I just don't know about it. I saw this happen in an ACC contest right in front of my eyes. Keyboards and amps went dead, the girl got frustrated and yelled to her director- in the middle of the *championship* performance in anguish- "It's not working!", the poor director tried to dig himself a hole in the bleachers, several thousand people in the stands groaned... is it worth rolling the dice on expensive sound equipment blowing up in competition? I'm not a dice roller myself. I'd rather roll my dice on traning my people to perform well and have more control over things like that.

If people say this doesnt happen...

Watch this at 6'07", BoA Super-Regionals, this band was 4th at Supers, they WON Regionals, and were Second at nationals when everything worked. If you tell anyone in our activity you've got a 67 percent chance of something going right in a show... Well... enough said. And this isn't some fly-by-night organization winging it, either.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVIzlQ8soUE

I like this show a lot- but does this belong in corps? Nah. We don't need it. BoA is cool, but this is one thing that's just not a good bleed-over concept.

Anyhow, sorry for digressing- but since a couple of peeps brought some of this up, I thought about what they said very seriously and just wanted to answer them thoughtfully- something that they deserved.

Awesome post!! My whole take on the electronics thing. They said they wanted to vote it in so they could mike up the pit since you can't hear it. So everyone voted it in. Then the drill designers write drill which not only brings the drumline down behind the pit, but also the hornline as well. Now, I know for a fact you cannot program a mike to only pick up sounds made by the keyboards, it will pick up everything around it. So now not only are you miking the pit, but also the battery as well as the hornline. Defeats the purpose IMHO.