kentw Posted March 29, 2012 Author Share Posted March 29, 2012 The Blue Devils 2012, in conjunction with System Blue, announce their Brass Line this year will be comprised of 80 Tubetmellophoniums. Tubetmellophonium from System Blue (Dizzy Gillespie version) "What the hell, we're goin' for it"...said John Meehan when asked about the change. "We were sick of having to write charts for different horns on different parts of the field and always concern ourselves with balance and all that other brass stuff....so Wayne invented the Tubetmellophonium.... King built it and were marching 80 of 'em." Meehan promises some great brass moment this year. Particularly when those 80 tubas "kick in" (for those moments when 20 tubas just ain't enough)....and (so far) the only complaint has been from low flying commercial aircraft over MARS during rehearsals. Learning to play all four horns has been a challenge for some of the rookies, but Meehan said the transformation was only really difficult for the trumpet players who were used to much lighter loads and having the one Tuba mouth piece was a bit strange for the high ranges trumpet parts....."but hey, they're Blue Devils...shake it off", said Meehan. The only unresolved issue so far is whether they go with shakos or the black leather hats. Meehan also said more changes are coming with the addition of the new 40 foot long "9-man Marimba" in the pit. We've had a few collisions going for the low notes, but we're having them wear bike helmets for protection.....however, mallet injuries are still an issue. Although not the intention of my post, I thought this was very funny. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RockEuph Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 28 trumpets don't excite me. 150 trumpets, now THAT would be exciting! (Horrible sounding I'm sure...but still exciting ;) Remember in 2006 when Phantom's trumpets all grabbed euphoniums (baritones? I'm not sure...something big and heavy and low sounding) for their ballad? Yeah, that was cool. I seriously wish more corps would experiment like this, even for parts of shows. My favorite part about that is that they actually sounded like a baritone section instead of just trumpet players playing baritone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluecoats88 Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 28 trumpets don't excite me. 150 trumpets, now THAT would be exciting! (Horrible sounding I'm sure...but still exciting ;) Remember in 2006 when Phantom's trumpets all grabbed euphoniums (baritones? I'm not sure...something big and heavy and low sounding) for their ballad? Yeah, that was cool. I seriously wish more corps would experiment like this, even for parts of shows. Bluecoats did something like this in 2009 During Sky Nlue when their Sops picked up Fluegel's (I think it was fluegels) during the song. also - in 1988 we had 20 guard members pick up soprano's at the end of the show giving us something over 40 sopranos at the end of the show. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skajerk Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 But were the guard members all playing or was it just a visual? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BanditKir Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 (edited) I know you're joking about this, but you wouldn't get any kind of depth from such a small ensemble, (or visual impact). At least, that's why I'm told we now need five marimbas despite pit amplification. 5 marimbas is not really for sound. It's so the marimbas have a true center. Because pits are spread over such large lengths it really helps to have someone undeniably in the center. I'm a fan of what Sandy Rennick has been doing by using a xylophone in place of the center marimba. This creates the easiest possible environment for doing runs: As far as depth of sound goes the dummy guide to pit arranging says everything doubled and everything in octaves so 4 is the number you need to achieve this. Edited March 29, 2012 by BanditKir Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmjfelts1988 Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 Yeah, sometimes I even like those French Toast Waffles. I butter the crap out of them too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
burgerbob Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 Yeah, sometimes I even like those French Toast Waffles. I butter the crap out of them too. Thanks for that. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ContraFart Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 the best explanation I saw was comparing to the choir. When the horns were in G they were all variations on the same basic conical shape in different choir voices. Even Wayne Downey in the 93 DCI vid compares the arranging as if it was a choir. Also part of the reason the trumpet and baritones outnumber the mellos and contras (I refuse to call them tubas) is that both the soprano and tenor lines are separated into 3 or 4 parts with the alto and bass parts are only split into 2 parts or are in unison. Now increasing the baritone and bass lines works for a slightly darker sound as illustrated by Phantoms 14-18 contras when the standard hornline was 64. So I think some corps have tinkered with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bstar82 Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 More cowbell should do the trick! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLSf43SXEp4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corpsband Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 Yeah it was baris, and it sounded amazing. Sure did. The Biebl Ave Maria is -- by far -- my favorite PR piece of all time. It was every Cesario adjective -- bathtub of luscious dark chocolate etc... -- rolled into one. And it's probably one of the best examples of OPs topic as well. GREAT effect using all that low brass in the first part of the piece. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.