BRASSO Posted June 10, 2014 Share Posted June 10, 2014 (edited) . And IMO characteristic brass sound in general is SIGNIFICANTLY better than it ever was with G-keyed brass. I'd disagree with this assessment. While the talent is better, the sound of the G to my ears is a significantly better sound than the sound of the B flats. For example, to my ears, the G sound, paricularly in the soprano voices is richer, deeper, fuller, rounder, than the higher pitched tinny, thinner, sound of the soprano voice trumpet. This by no means a reflection of the musician, nor his or her playing abilities. It is mostly a instrumentation useage thing. In my opinion, the trumpet sound from this instrument ( in its natural pitched key ) is inherently a step down from the pitch sound of the soprano played in the key of G. For just one example, to my ears (,even with the smaller brass line) the '92 and' 93 Star of Indiana brass line matches up better than any line today in its " sound " ( notice I did not state its " playing ability " ) I recognize that the sound of a brass line to one's ears is a highly subjective and highly personal preference matter. As such, I fully recognize ( like all musical instruments ) some here like the sound of the Bf trumpet instrument better than the sound of the G keyed sopranos instrument. Edited June 10, 2014 by BRASSO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seen-it-all Posted June 10, 2014 Share Posted June 10, 2014 And IMO characteristic brass sound in general is SIGNIFICANTLY better than it ever was with G-keyed brass. Agreed, 10,000%!!! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RContra Posted June 10, 2014 Share Posted June 10, 2014 Agreed, 10,000%!!! Definitely. Characteristic sounds and intonation are light years ahead of where they were in G. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimF-LowBari Posted June 10, 2014 Share Posted June 10, 2014 Food for thought when comparing G and Bb. DCA has corps on G and Bb and any tone differences I hear with my untrained ears can also be attributed to different manufacturers. Now if you want to say todays Bb horns are better than the horns we had pre 3v then no argument. But I played 3v G Kanstul and definitely a good sounding horn. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N.E. Brigand Posted June 10, 2014 Share Posted June 10, 2014 I've heard that after what many thought were very good pre-shows in 11&12, the BAC staff decided to include, what normally would be a pre-show, as part of the judged portion last year. But, I could be wrong. While Cadets last year had a pre-show that most fans probably thought was part of the judged show. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BRASSO Posted June 10, 2014 Share Posted June 10, 2014 I know in 1989 if a Div. 2 corps made Top 25, it was a HUGE deal, but now-a-days placing 25th feels like not-so-big-a-deal. . .... especially now in the " all comers format ", where there are no divisions in the prelims, and only 36 compete, I'd agree that finishing 25th is no longer considered ( your words ) : " a HUGE deal " Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BRASSO Posted June 10, 2014 Share Posted June 10, 2014 (edited) I have never really bought into that idea. If you look at scores from the 70's, for instance, once you got below 13th or 14th place, much of the time the remaining corps were not even remotely in contention for 12th, let alone higher. Even pre-DCI, when you look at some of the prelim shows at VFW's or World Open, for instance, the competitive level dropped significantly after the top 10 or 12. Mike, I like you Man as a poster here, but once again your comments just don't match up with reality. Don't make me have to go list the multitude of examples of where the 15th place Corps was not that far off from making 12th in the 70's, or in the pre DCI Years, the 13th, 14th place Corps wern't oftentimes right on the heels of the 12th place Corps to make Finals but just missed out. You're just so wrong on the easily verifiable data on this, Mike. Edited June 10, 2014 by BRASSO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustinDMoore Posted June 10, 2014 Share Posted June 10, 2014 (edited) It seems the consensus from most in this thread is that the talent, achievement, difficulty etc. is much higher in today's drum corps than that of the 70s, and 80s. Given that this trend continues, I can't even begin to contemplate what drum corps would be like 20-30 years from now. Say, did anyone who marched or saw the activity back then ever imagine it would be the way it is today in terms of achievement? (not withstanding the various rules changes) And how do some of you picture it in 20-30 years? Edited June 10, 2014 by JustinDMoore Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BRASSO Posted June 10, 2014 Share Posted June 10, 2014 (edited) It seems the consensus from most in this thread is that the talent, achievement, difficulty etc. is much higher in today's drum corps than that of the 70s, and 80s. Actually, I don't belivee that a read of this thread establishes that " there is a consensus " has been reached at all on this thread that " the talent " is " much higher " in today's Corps. We established that the difficulty and denand is higher. But not on the numbers of marchers we can state are " talented ". The mere fact that the 70's and 80's had several thousand more participants, means that there were probably as many if not more " talent " back then as today. ( BITD also had marchers of much, much lesser qualities marching in Corps as well than today.) So we probably should be a little more careful in our readings so not to derive from the reading an interpretation of the remarks that are not a consensus at all that there are more " talented " marchers in Drum Corps today than BITD. The significantly lower numbers of marchers marching today in DCI make the claim of " more talent " numbers marching today than BITD a highly specious and dubious claim, imo. There were both more talented marchers participating, and much less talented marching, The talent back in the day was diffused outward among many many more Corps, wheras today, the talent is compressed into much smaller numbers of participants and participating Corps. Edited June 10, 2014 by BRASSO 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustinDMoore Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 Actually, I don't belivee that a read of this thread establishes that " there is a consensus " has been reached at all on this thread that " the talent " is " much higher " in today's Corps. We established that the difficulty and denand is higher. But not on the numbers of marchers we can state are " talented ". The mere fact that the 70's and 80's had several thousand more participants, means that there were probably as many if not more " talent " back then as today. ( BITD also had marchers of much, much lesser qualities marching in Corps as well than today.) So we probably should be a little more careful in our readings so not to derive from the reading an interpretation of the remarks that are not a consensus at all that there are more " talented " marchers in Drum Corps today than BITD. The significantly lower numbers of marchers marching today in DCI make the claim of " more talent " numbers marching today than BITD a highly specious and dubious claim, imo. There were both more talented marchers participating, and much less talented marching, The talent back in the day was diffused outward among many many more Corps, wheras today, the talent is compressed into much smaller numbers of participants and participating Corps. It wasn't meant as a reflection on the individual talent of the performers. I guess talent isn't the best word to use here. The final product is what seems better nowadays from what I've read. That is at least my opinion - granted never seeing anything in person back then makes it difficult to compare. Whether it be show design (based on changes to sheets, etc), hornline power, whatever your personal reason for liking modern shows over those in the past. For me it's almost like comparing one of the very first cell phones made to the iPhone or something like that. Just imagine how we will progress. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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