kickhaltsforlife Posted September 6, 2012 Share Posted September 6, 2012 SCV Bluecoats Spirit Crossmen. All great sounding lines. Crossmen had a VERY mature and unique sound. The flugel line helped that, but they are doing some great things there. I will always have my love for Aaron Goldberg as the caption head, he was given a ###### deal, impossible books to work with pretty much. But Jason is doing a GREAT job also. I'm 100% okay with the brass staff and hope they are there for a long time. They are great at teaching the style of the music that the Crossmen play also. Some tasty musical stuff going on in Texas! SCV had immense improvement from last year. I felt their book was the most lacking. But #### those mellos!!!! JD loves his mellos... and I like how this brass staff and line handled his agressive writing. You didn't lose the aggressive nature of the music but kept things within the realm of good brass playing. That wasn't always the case at Phantom. Bluecoats have consistently had great sounding lines for quite some time now. Has a lot to do with writing. But the writing is getting old for me, every show sounds the same to me now! But I'll keep the brass sound. Good stuff. Spirit had some great stuff going on as well. Very mature sound, very mature playing. Great balance. Great writing. Stood in front of their warm-up arc in Allentown, they get a REALLY pure sound. And they carried it onto the field pretty well! Really enjoyed their performance. I have to say horn lines across the board are really starting to get great. It used to be some ratty lines in the bottom half of the top 12. But you can talk about good horns all the way back to open class lines. Oregon Crusaders, amazing stuff. And the other top open class lines aren't to crappy themselves!!! It's nice to see good teaching going on across the board. Yeah there are some lines that are a little behind.. but they are catching up! Now my challenge to all the arrangers, write books to where your horn line can shine!!! Putting random runs interrupting melodic lines is not the answer, and frankly it's not hard to play F major scales up and down, even my slow trombone fingers can do that. Just don't be lazy, really take the time with voicings, that can really make all the difference in an impactful moment. Let your brass lines play some music also! It's okay to have a phrase develop. Too much stating 4 bars of the melody then we can't recognize the music anymore. It's been getting better. I'm just tired of hearing "drum corps" arrangements. If your team choses to play a piece of music, something about it was effective to make you want to play it, so keep the integrity of the piece! Also it's so much easier to clean something that makes musical sense. It's easier to shape it, to really make it effective. Okay, I could go on forever, but these are just my thoughts on some great sounding horn lines, and a little bit of my OPINION on the state of brass playing and arranging in drum corps. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BRASSO Posted September 6, 2012 Share Posted September 6, 2012 (edited) In your opinion what was the most underrated hornline in DCI this last season and why. My personal opinion is the Crossmen. That hornline was rocking! The Cavaliers. Their visual program dragged their brass score down further than it should have, imo. I thought their brass line was underrated by finishing in 8th at Finals. Their brass line was chock full of veterans, and the brass line sounded pretty good to me. Better than 8th, anyway. Edited September 6, 2012 by BRASSO 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ironlips Posted September 6, 2012 Share Posted September 6, 2012 The Crossmen had one of the most expressive hornlines I have heard in a very long while. That's attributable to the writing as well as the training so kudos to Jason, Chuck, Chez and the rest of the brass staff. But the lion's share of credit goes to the players themselves, who ultimately delivered the goods. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim K Posted September 6, 2012 Share Posted September 6, 2012 I will have to agree with those who say Bluecoats. I downloaded the San Antonio and prelims soundtracks and the difference between the two is amazing. Not only did they have a great musical book, the worked to improve it. The same is true with Crossmen, I also agree with those who give a thumbs up to SCV. I also think Boston Crusaders did a commendable job with their horn line this year with a book that was not easy to perform and Spirit had some moments that reminded me of 1978-1980 when Spirit was the guilty pleasure of so many fans. I think Cadets deserve credit for making basic music rather challenging and Phantom has to be given credit for performing with both finesse and power what may have been the most challenging score. I've seen a few people mention Pacific Crest and that is a fun show and the switch styles back and forth with ease, or at least what sounds like ease. I would also add Oregon Crusaders to the list and add that Oregon Crusaders are more than ready for World Class competition. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bela Bartok Posted September 6, 2012 Share Posted September 6, 2012 Bluecoats for sure. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sacrificialclown Posted September 6, 2012 Share Posted September 6, 2012 The Cavaliers. Their visual program dragged their brass score down further than it should have, imo. I thought their brass line was underrated by finishing in 8th at Finals. Their brass line was chock full of veterans, and the brass line sounded pretty good to me. Better than 8th, anyway. THANK YOU for not leaving me the only one to say... Cavies hornline was vastly underrated this year. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FinisCoronat2 Posted September 10, 2012 Share Posted September 10, 2012 SCV Bluecoats Spirit Crossmen. All great sounding lines. Crossmen had a VERY mature and unique sound. The flugel line helped that, but they are doing some great things there. I will always have my love for Aaron Goldberg as the caption head, he was given a ###### deal, impossible books to work with pretty much. But Jason is doing a GREAT job also. I'm 100% okay with the brass staff and hope they are there for a long time. They are great at teaching the style of the music that the Crossmen play also. Some tasty musical stuff going on in Texas! SCV had immense improvement from last year. I felt their book was the most lacking. But #### those mellos!!!! JD loves his mellos... and I like how this brass staff and line handled his agressive writing. You didn't lose thIe aggressive nature of the music but kept things within the realm of good brass playing. That wasn't always the case at Phantom. Bluecoats have consistently had great sounding lines for quite some time now. Has a lot to do with writing. But the writing is getting old for me, every show sounds the same to me now! But I'll keep the brass sound. Good stuff. Spirit had some great stuff going on as well. Very mature sound, very mature playing. Great balance. Great writing. Stood in front of their warm-up arc in Allentown, they get a REALLY pure sound. And they carried it onto the field pretty well! Really enjoyed their performance. I have to say horn lines across the board are really starting to get great. It used to be some ratty lines in the bottom half of the top 12. But you can talk about good horns all the way back to open class lines. Oregon Crusaders, amazing stuff. And the other top open class lines aren't to crappy themselves!!! It's nice to see good teaching going on across the board. Yeah there are some lines that are a little behind.. but they are catching up! Now my challenge to all the arrangers, write books to where your horn line can shine!!! Putting random runs interrupting melodic lines is not the answer, and frankly it's not hard to play F major scales up and down, even my slow trombone fingers can do that. Just don't be lazy, really take the time with voicings, that can really make all the difference in an impactful moment. Let your brass lines play some music also! It's okay to have a phrase develop. Too much stating 4 bars of the melody then we can't recognize the music anymore. How could you call those writers lazy?! These people work their tails off to make sure that the horns play as successfully as they can! You can never call any aspect of drum corps "lazy". It's been getting better. I'm just tired of hearing "drum corps" arrangements. If your team choses to play a piece of music, something about it was effective to make you want to play it, so keep the integrity of the piece! Also it's so much easier to clean something that makes musical sense. It's easier to shape it, to really make it effective. Okay, I could go on forever, but these are just my thoughts on some great sounding horn lines, and a little bit of my OPINION on the state of brass playing and arranging in drum corps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FinisCoronat2 Posted September 10, 2012 Share Posted September 10, 2012 How could you call those writers lazy?! These people work their tails off to make sure that the horns play as successfully as they can! You can never call any aspect of drum corps "lazy". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
burgerbob Posted September 10, 2012 Share Posted September 10, 2012 How could you call those writers lazy?! These people work their tails off to make sure that the horns play as successfully as they can! You can never call any aspect of drum corps "lazy". The writers? I would not say they always "work their tails off." 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cadets98 Posted September 10, 2012 Share Posted September 10, 2012 Great to see so much love for Bluecoats. Here's a great lot recording! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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