Bruckner8 Posted April 7, 2011 Share Posted April 7, 2011 From previous helpful comments you've made, I understand the reasoning for replacing trombones, but what is the difference in sound between contras and sousaphones, and the cause thereof? I just think contras sound better, it's as simple as that, although I know that sousaphones have improved in quality in the last 10 years. I'm extremely scarred from the fiberglass and plastic crap from Conn in the 80s. There are many examples of blatty sousaphone playing, but not a lot of examples of blatty contra playing. Granted, that can be 100% instruction, and I'm open to examples of awesome sousaphone sections. Contras a built to project outside; sousas are built for convenience of marching outside. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlexL Posted April 7, 2011 Share Posted April 7, 2011 (edited) A lot of universities, especially bigger schools with big marching bands, could, if they had the resources put that way, put together a good drum corps. The key would be getting a good staff, and then you take some of those programs, offer a spring\summer program for competing in DCI. Even without auditioning outside the university population, you already often have 250+ winds in the marching band. I know mine had about 70 trumpets on their own. Obviously not all are drum corps dedicated, but you might be able to take the top 1\3 or so of the brass+those that want to learn, and have a fairly solid level of talent in your hornline. Then add some of the drum corps alums that want nothing to do with college marching band. Drumline and especially colorguard might be a bit more difficult to get the level of talent you need. The drumline tends to be a bit more exclusive at many schools than it is for winds, (much as it is for drum corps) so that might help it, colorguard however is often very simple work and many have done nothing near what drum corps is going to ask of them, and also in many college marching bands the colorguard is fairly small in relation to the size of the ensemble, leaving you less to pull from in DCI's ever growing colorguards. And then you get a whole bunch of additional advantages. College credit. The ability to rehearse weekly throughout the winter, possibly with access to indoor football practice field facilities if the university has those. Decreased costs to members- tour costs would still be there, but savings could be made as everydays would be at 'home' and few would be having to pay for flights to go to camps once a month like many members do now. Your talent at your university may be less than what drum corps recruiting on a natl level can do, on the other hand plenty of talented college marching band kids do not march due to costs (of which tour fees are only a portion), and the increased winter rehearsal time, as well as an overall high maturity of the group due to age, might more than make up for that. And this is just in the local university pool. If you opened up any holes to other university students in your state that could make it over for weekend rehearsals, your talent pool would be even larger. Depending on their touring model they may even be able to make it easier on students by giving them the flexibility to hold onto their jobs for most of the summer and not lose all of their summer income. Edited April 7, 2011 by AlexL 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hostrauser Posted April 7, 2011 Share Posted April 7, 2011 I just think contras sound better, it's as simple as that, although I know that sousaphones have improved in quality in the last 10 years. I'm extremely scarred from the fiberglass and plastic crap from Conn in the 80s. And see, I think a nice Conn 20K in capable hands sounds better than any marching contra I've ever heard, though I don't think the drop-off is that huge. Despite their design, I've always found sousaphones to be pretty unwieldy; they're good for marching in the Rose Parade, but contras are much better suited for the velocity drill used on the field. But I can't agree more with your trauma statement. Every "tupperware tuba" in the world should be set on fire. Conn still makes those fiberglass monstrosities, but I can't understand how anyone with a music degree or even an ounce of brass pedagogy would ever even consider using one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
year1buick Posted April 7, 2011 Share Posted April 7, 2011 North Texas... Beat me to it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captncontra Posted April 7, 2011 Share Posted April 7, 2011 And see, I think a nice Conn 20K in capable hands sounds better than any marching contra I've ever heard, though I don't think the drop-off is that huge. Despite their design, I've always found sousaphones to be pretty unwieldy; they're good for marching in the Rose Parade, but contras are much better suited for the velocity drill used on the field. But I can't agree more with your trauma statement. Every "tupperware tuba" in the world should be set on fire. Conn still makes those fiberglass monstrosities, but I can't understand how anyone with a music degree or even an ounce of brass pedagogy would ever even consider using one. I remember being in the Olympic Band at Dodger Stadium in '91/'92. Yamaha supplied us with 24 tupperware tubas. Once our performance was done, a few of the guys ran around 'high-fiving' each other by getting a running start and smacking the bells together. Chunks flew everywhere. Just about the most entertaining use for those things that I've seen. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N.E. Brigand Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 But I can't agree more with your trauma statement. Every "tupperware tuba" in the world should be set on fire. Conn still makes those fiberglass monstrosities, but I can't understand how anyone with a music degree or even an ounce of brass pedagogy would ever even consider using one. In high school, where we played on brass, we used to say, "If it's made by Mattel, it sure sounds swell." But my college marching band only had plastic. Until the end of my junior year, when our director petitioned a funding group for money to switch us to brass. No music majors in our sousaphone section, so I got to be the one to demonstrate to the ladies' auxilliary why brass sounded better than fiberglass. I'm not much of player, and my little audience wasn't musically trained, but even they could hear the difference: we got the funds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wackywords Posted April 8, 2011 Author Share Posted April 8, 2011 North Texas. The Drumline is already set to win High Percussion. lol this could very well be true. when i originally posted this topic, i was thinking of it as already doing away with the woodwinds of the college band. i thought TCU had a really great band the past couple of years. Riverside is a great candidate too. pretty much a feeder for SCV and BD top picks RCC UNT TCU UMass Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmt2116 Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 James Madison University. Band is huge and somewhat unruly, but if you pick out the top kids, you have one HELL of a brassline. Percussion ain't too shabby either. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geluf Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 As a UNT alum, I say without bias: UNT. Seriously, the drumline is essentially Paul Rennick's personal drumline that follows him around everywhere. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 How about Faber College (the band that marched into the wall in the movie Animal House) 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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