EL Paso Review

[Scadesfan]

This is a review done by my brother-in-law from El Paso last night. He has a degree in music (besides being a doctor) and also sings in the El Paso opera and competes nationally in barbershop. Excuse some the extraneous stuff as this was an email to me. We had asked him to review the show for us as our son is a member of the Cascades. You will note however he shows no favoritism towards them in his review.

We had a great time with Bryan today. He really scarfed down the taco's and

enchilada's. Some of his corps looked a little jealous. It was HOT out on

the practice field...it was 106 here yesterday and "cooled off" to 101

today. I got a little sunburned even by being out there for an hour. There

were a lot of skinny brown bodies out there.

Here are my thoughts about the show. We got to the stadium at about 6:45.

Only one bus was seen in the area that they were setting up last year. The

Blue Knights were the only corps south of the stadium this year. We walked

into the stadium and found a seat on about the south 45 yard line about 25

rows up. Jens and I went to look on the north side of the stadium and still

didn't see any buses. (We eventually found them after the show on the North

side and around a corner to the east where the remaining corps were set up).

I couldn't find the Cascades souvenir wagon to buy a T-Shirt. I'm not sure

if they even had one set up.

1. Revolution. Marching about 40 with additional flags/rifles. There was

a bit of wind and a large flag pole on the south end of the field had the

wires "clinking" in a rhythm similar to the Cascade's practice "ping." It

was a bit distracting to me. The Revolution had some intunation problems

and the ensemble work (marching in lines, playing together, keeping a steady

tempo) needs more work for them. With respect to the Color Guard, Jens

asked me, "Why are they doing ballet?" The melodies and tempo's were quite

slow and the rhythms regular for most of the show. Good crowd response to

the drum line solo. The Revolution sounded and marched stronger as their

show progressed.

2. The Troopers. Marching about 60. They had a cool entry to the field.

They ended up in a line on the 50 and did a sort of "suicide" line with all

the intruments along the line. Then they formed a small circle and expanded

the circle holding very good curves to a very large circle....cool. Then

they broke and marched rather scattered into their starting formation. The

crowd like the entry almost as well as the show. The entry certainly

enhanced the crowd's interest in their show. They started with a soft

fanfare, back to the audience, then a great gradual accelerando to a full

sound. Intunation was not a problem. Good ensemble work and a nice

baritone solo. There was one part where the Color Guard was in a wide block

formation amidst the Corps and they worked "through" each other. Very

effective. They got off tempo a few times near the end. The rifle work was

very good (except for one girl...but she seemed to be having a good time).

3. Blue Knights...Marching 80 plus 20 flags. Clearly the crowd favorite

even before they played. Likely a number of the Knights are from El Paso

from what it sounded like. They started with a slow ballad with an

underlying african rhythm. GREAT crescendo to a FULL/BIG ensemble sound.

They had a more difficult type of marching style. Not fast, but they tried

spinning triangles, sycopated 7/8 rhythms, etc. They didn't quite keep

their lines straight during the marching. The drum line did better on the

spinning triangles. They had a cool horn section where they Baritone's

formed a tableau (sort of a static pose) where one guy was playing while

lying down on his side. Looked cool, sounded cool. They had quick snappy

type of moves. Good fast finish, but the ending lines were a shamble. Good

flag corp work...nice colors of flags.

#4. Cascades. The entry was from the back right corner. Seemed subdued as

compared to the previous corps. Marching about 75 with 30 Color Guard.

Elisa didn't really like the Color Guard uniforms. Pretty blue top with a

strange maroon/red pant. Fashion police might pick them up. They started

in the sideways Chevrons <<<< on the field. I didn't take many notes while

watching the Cascades. My impression was that they were being careful, or

they were tired. The volume of the drum line and of the core in general was

about a 5/10 where the Blue Knights were frequently an 8/10. The Cascades

showed a number of things that the other Corps didn't do. 1) Much wider

dynamic range...especially softs. There were a couple of points where I

could barely hear the marimba/vibe/xylephone playing. 2) They used much

more of the field (by about 10 yards) in the portion where they expande to a

huge rectangle. 3) Constant movement and much more difficult marching

(distance travelled and angles). Lines were pretty good for the most part,

but certainly not perfect. The Soprano soloist had a hard time tonight,

flubbing a few notes and playing flat. He made up for it a bit by nailing

the high note at the end of his section. All in all, the crowd like the

drum section solo the most. The latin beat didn't do much for the crowd as

there was little energy coming from the Corps. They were playing latin

music and marching to latin music like they were "white" kids. Sort of like

when a Lutheran choir tries to sing a Negro Spiritual. They need to loosen

up a bit (?a lot). The Cascades had "finess" while the other corps seemed

more "in your face." MUCH harder marching and music than last year. I see

a lot of potential if they would march and play with energy and keep their

ensemble.

5. Spirit. Marching about 80 plus 20 Color Guard. They started with a

warm-up and then got into starting position. They had a "clock" theme

going. Eventually Chimes along the sound of Big Ben started from all the

corners (played by the Color Guard). They had lots of straight lines.

Sounded Louder than the Cascades. The uniforms showed good contrast when

facing front (shiney brass) and when facing away...bright blue. Good Flag

work. They used some familiar tunes at times. I heard "Danny Boy" at one

point, immediately followed by "Send in the Clowns" for just a snippet of

each. They had a cool solo part where the Soprano played from the right

back...separated by quite a ways. He sounded really good, and I think was

helped by a rather stiff wind blowing towards us from him. There was

excitement with "screams and yells" from the Corps. They "danced" with

their hips, arms, heads. Their finale was interesting as they ended relaxed

and actually laughing. Not the usual Blast from the Brass...hold...cut off

and freeze. Overall the marching was slower, across a shorter distance and

the music easier than the Cascades. They used some neat formations along

the clock theme...made sort of an hour glass at the beginning and end. At

the beginning the flags ran toward us and at the end (with the same

formation) the flags ran back the way they arrived.

6. Magic of Orlando. Marching about 80 with 30 Color Guard. No warm up.

The set up was interesting as the brass left their horns lined up on the

field (in front, and along about the 30 yard line to the right). Percussion

started and the Corps marched (sans instruments) to the tune of hand bells

among the Color guard. The corps used hands, arms, angle of the body to

make some interesting formations. They eventually ended up at thier

instruments and made a BIG CHORDAL fanfare..."IN YOUR FACE" which the crowd

loved. Overall the marching was easy. Movements of blocks of people. The

lines were off in many places...which surprised me with marching in blocks

of 12 or so. They never got much softer than a 4/10. The last song had a

long part where the corps just stood and played (loud) while the flags spun

over and over. They kept together. Overall...good sound...loud and full.

Easy marching with some problems staying in formation.

7. Phantom Regiment. marching about 100, 36 flags...3 standing in the

south endzone. Very traditional march onto the field from the endzone.

Tight formation of 8 columns, 11 rows. Once to the center of the field,

they broke away to the starting formation. Marching difficulty was that of

the Cascades. Constant motion. They filled the field on one occasion, but

to about the 20 yard line on each side. Good coordination of marching to

the music. In other words, they marched during fast runs and formed into a

wedge, block, or whatever during the "Blast from the Brass." One thing cool

was they aligned themselves in the blasting phases such that the horns were

aligned (Bass on the left to soprano on the right, or front left corner with

bass and decreasing in size to the soprano in the back right). Another cool

effect was the drum line wedge "cutting" through the horns south to north.

One rifle toss was spectacular. Very high, all the same height and all

caught at the cut off of a great chord. The chord rang around the Sun Bowl

a few times before they resumed the marching. Overall....there was no

question that the Phantom Regiment was head and shoulders better than the

rest tonight.

Scores....reflected my assessment pretty well...

1. Phantom Reg. 87.85

2. Spirit 79.50

3. Blue Knights 78.85

4. Magic of Orlando 78.65

5. Cascades 76.80

6. Troopers 67.25

Division II Revolution 68.65

[PR Mom]

Thanks! Enjoyed the review.

REGIMENT RULES!!

[Cadman]

Thanks for the great review, Rick. My wife and I are doing the Cascades souvies this year and are currently broken down in Albuquerque. Our stomachs are sick that we haven't been able to keep up with the corps, but our hope is to catch them in San Antonio - so if you're there, please stop by and say "hi".

Also, special thanks goes out to all the wonderful souvie folks from Phantom, Blue Devils, Troopers, Blue Knights and Spirit, who have made our first year fun. Their willingness to give us a push or pull here and there, and just be a compassionate ear, has made this an experience to remember. I'm so happy to see the across-the-board support these caring folks demonstrate.

[Phan Doris]

More proof for the Law of Relativity of Matter: You had the right relative -- in this case, your brother-in-law -- and the right subject matter, such as the drum corps show in El Paso. QED! :P

Very interesting insights shared in this review . . . many things no one else seems to have noted in previous posts. B)

Thanks for sharing with us. :)

[Sean1]

Thanks for the review

[Trooper]

2. The Troopers. Marching about 60.

Nice review.

BTW, Troopers are marching about 100 this year. (52 brass+16 Battery+12 Pit+18 Guard+1 DM+1 Backfield conductor = 100).