Ciphertanget Posted December 5, 2012 Share Posted December 5, 2012 (edited) Despite the obvious ones. How about some underdogs? Edited December 5, 2012 by Ciphertanget Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MetalTones2012 Posted December 5, 2012 Share Posted December 5, 2012 Jersey Surf. They were LOUD last year. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flammaster Posted December 5, 2012 Share Posted December 5, 2012 I always thought Velvet Knights had some darn good lines! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tigger2 Posted December 5, 2012 Share Posted December 5, 2012 (edited) Not sure I would call them underdogs any more, Spirit of Atlanta has really impressed me the past couple of years. I think they have placed a spot or two lower in brass than they should have the last few years. The judging system is full of music judges that don't currently, nor have ever, produced any great music ensemble themselves, so I doubt that they can recognize fully all the demand, depth, or range of skills asked of the performers in all corps. Spirit's brass book has been almost as challenging as any of the top six lines the past few years not to mention that the play legit swing or jazz, unlike even the big boys who play what many call fake jazz. Wow, its BD, Madison, or Bluecoats so it must be real jazz style, right? I think if they can tame their high brass, get a deeper low brass presence, and play with a bigger sound, they are going places and taking names. Edited December 5, 2012 by tigger2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quad Aces Posted December 5, 2012 Share Posted December 5, 2012 Wow, its BD, Madison, or Bluecoats so it must be real jazz style, right? Nope - not any more. Hasn't been true for about the last 15 years or so (with the possible exception of Madison at times). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheClutch Posted December 5, 2012 Share Posted December 5, 2012 Not sure I would call them underdogs any more, Spirit of Atlanta has really impressed me the past couple of years. I think they have placed a spot or two lower in brass than they should have the last few years. The judging system is full of music judges that don't currently, nor have ever, produced any great music ensemble themselves, so I doubt that they can recognize fully all the demand, depth, or range of skills asked of the performers in all corps. Spirit's brass book has been almost as challenging as any of the top six lines the past few years not to mention that the play legit swing or jazz, unlike even the big boys who play what many call fake jazz. Wow, its BD, Madison, or Bluecoats so it must be real jazz style, right? I think if they can tame their high brass, get a deeper low brass presence, and play with a bigger sound, they are going places and taking names. No DCI music judge has ever produce great music ensemble? Isn't Richard Saucedo a music Judge for DCI? And I ever heard of anything called "fake jazz," though I do know BD and Madison are pretty famous for their charts and ability to outplay others, though Madison's line was just two spots ahead of Spirit's last year. BD was way out of both their leagues though, especially in show design. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perc2100 Posted December 5, 2012 Share Posted December 5, 2012 No DCI music judge has ever produce great music ensemble? Isn't Richard Saucedo a music Judge for DCI? And I ever heard of anything called "fake jazz," though I do know BD and Madison are pretty famous for their charts and ability to outplay others, though Madison's line was just two spots ahead of Spirit's last year. BD was way out of both their leagues though, especially in show design. I'd say BD was way out of both their leagues though, especially in show design and performance. BD was way out of most brass lines' leagues, though, to be honest. I know we're talking about under dogs and not the traditional powerhouses, but recently it seems like the brass race is Crown & Blue Devils, with Cadets and Phantom being what I would consider a 'distant' third (by distant, I really mean not legitimately in striking distance: last year the spread was only .3 or something between Phantom & 2nd place BD, with Cadets being a few tenths behind Phantom; but I don't think any brass line was going to beat BD or Crown last year). Madison and Spirit are NO WHERE NEAR those two brass lines. They're good, but when talking about 'best' those two are no where near the conversation: I think Scouts were almost 2 POINTS below 2nd place BD, with Spirit being around, what, 2.5 points behind second place BD!! That's good, but no where close to "best" horn lines! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zeke Posted December 5, 2012 Share Posted December 5, 2012 I always thought Velvet Knights had some darn good lines! That 1988 Hornline was ON FIRE!! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drumcorpsfever Posted December 6, 2012 Share Posted December 6, 2012 How about Academy. Nice, dark sound. Could be a dark horse in 2013 for top 12. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fsubone Posted December 6, 2012 Share Posted December 6, 2012 Bluecoats never seem to garner much attention, but I always love the sound of their hornlines. Almost switched corps after seeing them live in 2007 and 2008. 5 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.