Drum Corps Isn't Dead.....

[Jeff Ream]

What's odd? DCA pits manage to get the sound through no matter how loud they have to play it. YOU might be happy that you can hear it fine, and it might be fine to YOU, but from what I have gathered, it really sucks for the players to play their parts FFFF to be heard, and there is a lot of parts that do get lost in the ensemble anyway.

But since I am a brass person, I guess you and I are just not looking for the same thing when we listen to a pit. And that's fine. But not odd.

I absolutely agree, like I did mention in my post, and here is the quote: that some DCI corps are over doing the amps and we are losing parts in the drums and brass.

I understand the need for amps in many cases. the problem is give an inch, and give up, they'll push for the rest.

yet...I remember sitting in Ralph Wilson stadium, way up high for Semis. I heard the Cavies pit quite clear. for finals I sat in row 12 and saw that they weren't beating the #### out of the keyboards. it's all in how you arrange it.

[Jami]

That's strange...... I have NO PROBLEM hearing the four Scout House glocks no matter where they are on the field. Their talented writers BALANCE the sounds. I also have no problem hearing the USMC 2-man pit. I also have no problem hearing the Cabs maracas.....or MSJ's tamborines

Amplification is a convenient cover up. Write it RIGHT. Stage it RIGHT. When it's time for Park and Bark, send the pit out on a smoke break.

Joe

We're not talking auxiliary & glockenspiels not being heard on the alumni side. You will have no problems hearing those. Piercing bells are gonna be heard, no matter mallets you use. You'll never see amps on the alumni side, which is perfectly fine.

However, for the drum corps that I choose to follow and teach, the front ensemble is a little more complicated. That's fine for people like me. For people like you, you can stick to the piercing bells and the auxiliary percussion. I'll continue to utilize those instruments where they're appropriate in our program - which isn't constantly. In the meantime, I'll also continue to use the rest of the front ensemble to create musical moments to accentuate the rest of the drum corps by any means necessary, as well as create moments specifically geared to them - cause that's why I was hired. You can choose to watch, or not. But I'm certainly not gonna tell you your way is right or wrong. I have the respect for all sides of drum corps to not do such a thing. Enjoy your alumni corps, and I'll continue to teach my front ensemble.

[Jami]

Agreed on Scout House, but I'd think a glock being played with a copper-ended mallet will get more acoustic penetration than a marimba being played with even hard rubber mallets. I know from trying a glock with copper I'd be wearing earplugs- they'll make your ears ring and are borderline pushing the "threshold of pain" (there is such a thing) envelope for your hearing.

Then again, those instruments were designed for outdoor use. It's been a sticky wicket using expensive mallet percussion instruments on the field unless one uses kelon or some kind of all-weather compound for the bars. Weather extremes mess up intonation unless you tune to the mallets, humidity or rain can damage the bars, which are expensive to replace, and you can't use harder mallets because you don't want to split or crack mahogany/whatever exotic hardwood they use bars.

I do think careful musical arranging and thought can compensate and overcome those obstacles, and it can be done if one is willing to put the mental effort into it. It's far easier to just write what yah want and turn up an amp when it comes right down to it, and very convienient.

Bingo. Thank you for an educated response.

[KoyaanisCABsi]

Someone mentioned that they're upset when people in the stands don't rise when the Honor Guard goes by while trooping the stands. I can honestly say that I've never seen that as a problem - although it probably has as much to do with the corps as with the flag going by.

Um, that would be the Hawthorne Caballeros, so I have to disagree. But even if it were a corps that nobody liked, proper ettiquette would be to stand when the American Flag passes. That's all I was saying.

Just as a point of clarification, for the five years previous to this, the competing corps' honor guard and the alumni corps' were pretty much one and the same. It was great fun (NOT) finishing one show and running like crazy to start the next.

Just to be clear though, there were no competing corps members in the HG for those 5 years. Hopefully you enjoyed the heck out of it. It was also the first time the HG didn't have to handle the equipment trucks, cook for the whole corps, polish the contras for finals, etc.

[BigW]

That's great you have great hearing. There are very talented writers out there. You choose not to see that because you want things one way and one way only.

Interesting comment and perhaps a teachable moment. Jeff's been playing in large drumline for a long time, and I'm sure his hearing can't be perfectly acute.

Bear with me- and this is a pet peeve of mine as a Music Educator- Maybe the better way to phrase it is that Jeff knows how to *listen* to the performance. It's an acquired skill that can be taught, and music educators have tried for decades to teach it to students in general music classes, and pretty much failed miserably. It's not that he has better hearing than anyone else.

People really don't listen to music much anymore, even though they might hear it and don't realize it. Case in point that I use:

I'm in my car with an old friend and listening to the Red Hot Chili Peppers "Snow (Hey Oh)" and I'm listening to Flea play some fantastic bass parts. I comment on it, and my friend couldn't hear it until I cranked up the bass and turned down the treble until it beat him over the head. It was already beating me over the head with the volume set normal- because I was listening to everything with more focus and attention. My hearing's been messed up since I was a kid and because I work in a loud warehouse/factory situation, it's not as good as it could be or should be, either.

I have to compensate by really listening with a lot of focus and intensity to the music to pick out the parts and gather them in.

I know I could teach yah, Liz. For starters, try picking out say, just the bari parts in one corps performance and trying to listen to them and find them in your ears. It's tough at first but very doable.

Most folks think of music nowadays as background filler at a mall, dentist's office, or in the car, and it changes perceptions, and it's also given us a lot of the nasty stuff that's been played in the Top 40 for the last decade.

Just something to think about.

[KoyaanisCABsi]

The Cabs Alumni Honor guard works hard at NOT violating the flag code. I must say, however, our motto is, "To **** with it; we'll take the penalty!!"

Holy #@*&%^. Who is out there giving penalties to exhibition corps? I better tell Tubaguy. LOL

[camel lips]

Its a Chord,,not a cord.

And

They are called keys,,not knobs.

Thank you for your time and attention.

[Andyroo]

Holy #@*&%^. Who is out there giving penalties to exhibition corps? I better tell Tubaguy. LOL

Linda,

Could it be that you missed the sarcasm in our motto??

But... Believe it or not, there are a number of folks in alumni/exhibition corps who do care about flag violations. As an example, four of us (from two competing and two alumni corps) had an excellent discussion last year in Rochester about one of the above corps having a flag violation built into its program. We never did come to a consensus, but we surely did have a fine time arguing it out over coffee and cigarettes.

Perhaps we don't do as much on the field as some other sections of the corps, but we do take a certain pride in doing it to the best of our ability. I only wish all corps - competing, alumni, and parade corps - would feel the same way - instead of using their Honor Guards as the corps dumping ground as some do.

Andy

[Jeff Ream]

Interesting comment and perhaps a teachable moment. Jeff's been playing in large drumline for a long time, and I'm sure his hearing can't be perfectly acute.

Bear with me- and this is a pet peeve of mine as a Music Educator- Maybe the better way to phrase it is that Jeff knows how to *listen* to the performance. It's an acquired skill that can be taught, and music educators have tried for decades to teach it to students in general music classes, and pretty much failed miserably. It's not that he has better hearing than anyone else.

People really don't listen to music much anymore, even though they might hear it and don't realize it. Case in point that I use:

I'm in my car with an old friend and listening to the Red Hot Chili Peppers "Snow (Hey Oh)" and I'm listening to Flea play some fantastic bass parts. I comment on it, and my friend couldn't hear it until I cranked up the bass and turned down the treble until it beat him over the head. It was already beating me over the head with the volume set normal- because I was listening to everything with more focus and attention. My hearing's been messed up since I was a kid and because I work in a loud warehouse/factory situation, it's not as good as it could be or should be, either.

I have to compensate by really listening with a lot of focus and intensity to the music to pick out the parts and gather them in.

I know I could teach yah, Liz. For starters, try picking out say, just the bari parts in one corps performance and trying to listen to them and find them in your ears. It's tough at first but very doable.

Most folks think of music nowadays as background filler at a mall, dentist's office, or in the car, and it changes perceptions, and it's also given us a lot of the nasty stuff that's been played in the Top 40 for the last decade.

Just something to think about.

well, and i canhear you talk at rehearsals, so i'm not deaf yet. but yes, ear training and what to listen for has been a huge tool, and it is tough to teach.

[MCL_Contra]

Agreed with John. DCI is still drumcorps. Synths and all that aren't as bad as the dinosaurs make it out to be...but woodwinds..that will be the day everything changes for the worse

Sorry to disagree but when I heard the bass synths overpowering the hornlines at Murfreesboro I said that would be the last time I watched a DCI corps perform. It was a sad night.