Quincy Review

[funcorpsagain]

Last night was my first live show; until now, I’ve only seen DCI’s live feeds which pretty much kills any chance of establishing an emotional connection with a specific show.

First, a rant…

Maybe I have slipped into dino-corps, but a design trend in recent years has sucked a lot of the enjoyment out of watching shows. Namely, the sampling of a piece, then chopping it up into some hyper-stylized version that is most definitely not an improvement on the original. I loved Tim Salzman’s arrangements because he stayed true to the original music while still making it drum corps appropriate.

Is this drum corps in the age of ADD? Where everything is a jittery, abbreviated mess like a teenager’s text messages? Just predating the “sampling” trend was taking a piece of music and turning it into a bunch of staccato eighth-notes, I guess to make it sound busy and difficult, broken up with ill-placed drum breaks. This unfortunate trend is also still with us.

Ok, Quincy…

Nice night, packed stadium. We have largely escaped the heat wave in Boston, so no problem with that. Agreed with the placements and spreads.

The Class A/Div II/Open/whatever-they’re-called-this-year corps were very young, but with entertaining music selections. About 35 horns each. Was great to hear 7th Regiment play “Enterprising Young Men” from the last Star Trek movie; would love to hear a big corps do it justice. I’ve been around some of the Spartans and their staff for a couple of years, so have a soft spot for them – really good kids. Whole show was “Firebird.” Entertaining, but quite a bit of cleaning to do, and they could definitely benefit from more power.

Jersey Surf – Bridgemania. Was not sure what to expect with Kerchner and DeLucia doing junior corps again. It’s a very fun show, with little digression into schlock. The first 60% are from the B’men repertoire, then a couple of other pieces in the Bridgemen style. Opens with an extended “In the Stone” fanfare, then “Land of Make Believe.” The arrangements are modern without suffering from the complaints in the rant. Ballad from “Willy Wonka” is very pretty. Uniforms are the B’men coat style, but solid, uniform dark blue, even the hats. It actually works. A little shuffle, but they don’t overdo it, which was my fear when I heard the theme. Overall, fun to listen to, but not much drill (just like the real Bridgemen). It’s a better Surf than last year, for sure. Wonder what Bridgemen management thinks about the final piece with guard guys dancing and hamming it up on the 50 since they have often stated their opposition to men in the guard. Big standing-O, well deserved.

Colts – Nice sound. Nice drill. That’s all I remember.

Crossmen – About three years ago, one could always rely on the Crossmen for a horn line that sounded a lot like a wood chipper. Last year (placement aside) they really started to improve their musicality. That has continued this year. They may not make finals, but they're definitely heading in the right direction. Guard looked a lot tighter than last year as well.

Crown – Once again, great horns (but not perfect). Some ridiculously frenetic drill moves – seems like a much more substantial drill than last year (not a high bar to jump). Sideline to sideline coverage creates a lot of demand on the musicians. Of course, in the Indy echo chamber, it probably won’t possible to hear whether or not it’s clean. Still too much posing and Tracy-Turnblad-bug-squishing for my taste. Guard was good, but a little messy. Seems like drums have a lot of down time. Percussion is the only category they lost to Cadets, and rightly so. This could be their year, but I have a sinking feeling that DCI will reward a corps with more across-the-board strengths (ugh, BD).

An aside… didn’t notice much in the way of pre-show garbage this year. I never really saw the point of pretentious narration, or atmospheric recorded music accompanied by silly posing by the corps. Crown’s pre-show last year is only one I’ve ever found worth watching.

Cadets – Here are words I thought I’d never line up in a sentence: The best part of the show is “Jingle Bells.” The show is less offensive than I thought it would be, but “Carol of the Bell” is painfully endless. It’s a Cadet show – big sound, lots of movement, overall very good horn line, but not as musical as Crown. Percussion was much more active and interesting than Crown’s. Guard seemed good when they weren’t being wasted playing with Christmas presents. The ballad (“Do You Hear What I Hear?”) is pretty, but the final Xmas medley is fundamentally uninteresting. The horns have a problem, especially as they get tired, of way overblowing. The blastisimo of the mellos made the closer unbearable.

That’s all I’ve got.

Edited July 7, 2012 by funcorpsagain

[md60]

Last night was my first live show; until now, I’ve only seen DCI’s live feeds which pretty much kills any chance of establishing an emotional connection with a specific show.

First, a rant…

Maybe I have slipped into dino-corps, but a design trend in recent years has sucked a lot of the enjoyment out of watching shows. Namely, the sampling of a piece, then chopping it up into some hyper-stylized version that is most definitely not an improvement on the original. I loved Tim Salzman’s arrangements because he stayed true to the original music while still making it drum corps appropriate.

Is this drum corps in the age of ADD? Where everything is a jittery, abbreviated mess like a teenager’s text messages? Just predating the “sampling” trend was taking a piece of music and turning it into a bunch of staccato eighth-notes, I guess to make it sound busy and difficult, broken up with ill-placed drum breaks. This unfortunate trend is also still with us.

Ok, Quincy…

Nice night, packed stadium. We have largely escaped the heat wave in Boston, so no problem with that. Agreed with the placements and spreads.

The Class A/Div II/Open/whatever-they’re-called-this-year corps were very young, but with entertaining music selections. About 35 horns each. Was great to hear 7th Regiment play “Enterprising Young Men” from the last Star Trek movie; would love to hear a big corps do it justice. I’ve been around some of the Spartans and their staff for a couple of years, so have a soft spot for them – really good kids. Whole show was “Firebird.” Entertaining, but quite a bit of cleaning to do, and they could definitely benefit from more power.

Jersey Surf – Bridgemania. Was not sure what to expect with Kerchner and DeLucia doing junior corps again. It’s a very fun show, with little digression into schlock. The first 60% are from the B’men repertoire, then a couple of other pieces in the Bridgemen style. Opens with an extended “In the Stone” fanfare, then “Land of Make Believe.” The arrangements are modern without suffering from the complaints in the rant. Ballad from “Willy Wonka” is very pretty. Uniforms are the B’men coat style, but solid, uniform dark blue, even the hats. It actually works. A little shuffle, but they don’t overdo it, which was my fear when I heard the theme. Overall, fun to listen to, but not much drill (just like the real Bridgemen). It’s a better Surf than last year, for sure. Wonder what Bridgemen management thinks about the final piece with guard guys dancing and hamming it up on the 50 since they have often stated their opposition to men in the guard. Big standing-O, well deserved.

Colts – Nice sound. Nice drill. That’s all I remember.

Crossmen – About three years ago, one could always rely on the Crossmen for a horn line that sounded a lot like a wood chipper. Last year (placement aside) they really started to improve their musicality. That has continued this year. They may not make finals, but their definitely heading in the right direction. Guard looked a lot tighter than last year as well.

Crown – Once again, great horns (but not perfect). Some ridiculously frenetic drill moves – seems like a much more substantial drill than last year (not a high bar to jump). Sideline to sideline coverage creates a lot of demand on the musicians. Of course, in the Indy echo chamber, it probably won’t possible to hear whether or not it’s clean. Still too much posing and Tracy-Turnblad-bug-squishing for my taste. Guard was good, but a little messy. Seems like drums have a lot of down time. Percussion is the only category they lost to Cadets, and rightly so. This could be their year, but I have a sinking feeling that DCI will reward a corps with more across-the-board strengths (ugh, BD).

An aside… didn’t notice much in the way of pre-show garbage this year. I never really saw the point of pretentious narration, or atmospheric recorded music accompanied by silly posing by the corps. Crown’s pre-show last year is only one I’ve ever found worth watching.

Cadets – Here are words I thought I’d never line up in a sentence: The best part of the show is “Jingle Bells.” The show is less offensive than I thought it would be, but “Carol of the Bell” is painfully endless. It’s a Cadet show – big sound, lots of movement, overall very good horn line, but not as musical as Crown. Percussion was much more active and interesting than Crown’s. Guard seemed good when they weren’t being wasted playing with Christmas presents. The ballad (“Do You Hear What I Hear?”) is pretty, but the final Xmas medley is fundamentally uninteresting. The horns have a problem, especially as they get tired, of way overblowing. The blastisimo of the mellos made the closer unbearable.

That’s all I’ve got.

[cabhorn]

Jersey Surf – Bridgemania.  Was not sure what to expect with Kerchner and DeLucia doing junior corps again.  It’s a very fun show, with little digression into schlock. The first 60% are from the B’men repertoire, then a couple of other pieces in the Bridgemen style.  Opens with an extended “In the Stone” fanfare, then “Land of Make Believe.”  The arrangements are modern without suffering from the complaints in the rant.  Ballad from “Willy Wonka” is very pretty.  Uniforms are the B’men coat style, but solid, uniform dark blue, even the hats.  It actually works.  A little shuffle, but they don’t overdo it, which was my fear when I heard the theme.  Overall, fun to listen to, but not much drill (just like the real Bridgemen).  It’s a better Surf than last year, for sure.  Wonder what Bridgemen management thinks about the final piece with guard guys dancing and hamming it up on the 50 since they have often stated their opposition to men in the guard.  Big standing-O, well deserved.

Thanks for review! I enjoy the entire show Being in the Bridgemen Alumni Corps, I have no problem with their show!!It is entertaining and interacting!! Love the fact that they are getting standing "o's" at every show. They have brought back FUN TO DRUM CORPS!!! HYPE!!!

Edited July 8, 2012 by cabhorn

[dandaman31]

An aside… didn’t notice much in the way of pre-show garbage this year. I never really saw the point of pretentious narration, or atmospheric recorded music accompanied by silly posing by the corps. Crown’s pre-show last year is only one I’ve ever found worth watching.

You didn't think that Crown's preshow in 2010 was the best part of their show?

[OrlandoContraAlum]

Jersey Surf – Bridgemania. Was not sure what to expect with Kerchner and DeLucia doing junior corps again. It’s a very fun show, with little digression into schlock. The first 60% are from the B’men repertoire, then a couple of other pieces in the Bridgemen style. Opens with an extended “In the Stone” fanfare, then “Land of Make Believe.” The arrangements are modern without suffering from the complaints in the rant. Ballad from “Willy Wonka” is very pretty. Uniforms are the B’men coat style, but solid, uniform dark blue, even the hats. It actually works. A little shuffle, but they don’t overdo it, which was my fear when I heard the theme. Overall, fun to listen to, but not much drill (just like the real Bridgemen). It’s a better Surf than last year, for sure. Wonder what Bridgemen management thinks about the final piece with guard guys dancing and hamming it up on the 50 since they have often stated their opposition to men in the guard. Big standing-O, well deserved.

Thanks for the review... only thing I would like to point out is that the dancing guys are actually the cymbal line, and if you were ever to watch the video of the song they are doing (not recommended for you, based on your post! :) ) you would understand more WHY they are doing it...