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Madison Scouts 2014 -- Playing the Music of Stan Kenton and Don Ellis


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Why not? We all bring our own personal tastes and even prejudices to these things, whether we like it or not. I could attempt to convince you that if you would just keep an open mind and understand the nature of what the Cadets uniform means and where it comes from and how it relates to the show they're doing this year, you should really like their uniform. And you will state, for whatever reason that holds meaning to you and how you evaluate these things, that the Cadets uniform is ugly and you hate it. And that's fine. Musically speaking, no two people have the same background or experience in listening to, or performing, or evaluating music. I don't hate all drum corps arrangements that differ from the source too much. But I can't just give myself a lobotomy and turn off my brain and ignore that which I know and love about a piece of music just so I can better appreciate what some drum corps or their arranger wants me to feel when listening to their show. As with all things, context matters. And if the arrangements detract from my own personal enjoyment of the show, then I reserve the right to dislike them and criticize them as I please.

Very well. You and I just think very differently on how to approach music.

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Dude, are you serious? I just listened to the whole Scouts show via youtube and that is a pretty easy horn book! Difficulty wise it can't be spoken about in the same breath as Crown or BD. You need to go listen a few more times.

Oh, I should add that is not to say it isn't entertaining or that there aren't licks here and there that are difficult, just there overall book it isn't remotely close.

I knew that would get a rile out of someone. Sorry I worded it that way.

There are several sections in Madison's show that are as difficult as anyone's show. But, hey, I'm not really a Madison Homer. I just listened to that stuff same as you and responded to someone else saying their show was easy.

I've also heard Crown and BD, so it's just my opinion.

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Reading the recaps, it seems Madison has room to grow this year, especially in the visual and guard captions.

If they can clean this tough program, they could move up significantly. One thing I noticed, is in the Bulgarian Bulge/Fugue section,

the guard's timing is off here and there. Not meaning that they are bad, just that swing with a strange time signature is something

they haven't been challenged with in recent years. They'll just have to keep chipping away at getting the complex count structure spot on.

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Wow. I'm a huge fan of Kenton. I'm also a Kenton purist. What Robert W.,. Smith wrote is criminal. And to think they actually paid him for that crap. :)

First off, I am an unabashed Madison Scouts homer. But I have watched & listened to the video of Madisons version of "Fanfare For The New", & I gotta say, this version is just a chopped up truncated messy arrangement full of disjointed edits & transitions & Percussion charts that just don't sound right with the horn charts. If you are going to play the song, then play the song. Listen to the 1979 Guardsmen version, then listen to this. As for the rest of this years Scouts tunes, I LOVE IT! Jazz on the field again!

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First off, I am an unabashed Madison Scouts homer. But I have watched & listened to the video of Madisons version of "Fanfare For The New", & I gotta say, this version is just a chopped up truncated messy arrangement full of disjointed edits & transitions & Percussion charts that just don't sound right with the horn charts. If you are going to play the song, then play the song. Listen to the 1979 Guardsmen version, then listen to this. As for the rest of this years Scouts tunes, I LOVE IT! Jazz on the field again!

They'll get it and when they do, their score will jump that much more for the improvement ( we hope)

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From tonight in Akron:

IMG_05561_zps998153c8.jpg

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OK I know injuries happen but I have never seen a world class corps only march 2 quads. Noticble gaps in the Akron show. But what's the deal 2 quads? Madison sounds good but needs to take a huge step IMHO to break 8th this year the drill is very weak and in the new theater based DCI if you don't have a wow factor its unlikely that you move past 5th let alone win. Maybe it just didn't translate to the cinema very well.

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