How hard is it to make the blue devils?

[seen-it-all]

I don't know how to evaluate whether or not a corps "sounds into it." I heard a terrific sounding musical ensemble. You heard a show you hated and that's all there was to it. Enough off-topic stuff for me, too. I'm eager to hear what both Cadets AND Blue Devils have to offer in 2015!

[brichtimp]

Show design very much plays in to how a corps sounds. You can perform the heck out of crap (for lack of a better word), but that won't make the crap sound good. I have no doubt the Cadets had one of the most talented ensembles on the field this year, as they always do. I'm not hitting on the members/performers at all. There was nothing they could have done to make the corps sound alive this past season. They simply did not sound into it. But this has veered really really off topic and this post is all I have to say on the subject of Cadets 2014.

We were there all three nights, and the thought that the Cadets were flat any of those nights is, IMHO, Bravo Sierra. I think some viewers might mistake 'alive' for blasting/shredding at the front 10 yards of the field. The Cadets' brass, guard and battery were simply killing it from all over that #### field. Of course, there were questionable design elements in their show. Our take was that the relative spread between Cadets and Coats on prelims and many other nights was roughly what Saturday night should have been, give or take a few tenths; but that panel felt otherwise....fair enough. Both Cadets and Coats had flaws that night (edited out of the videos now).

We didn't see any of the top 6 as performing flat on finals night....the experience was electric! And, BD was jaw-dropping for sure. Now, bring on 2015.

Edited December 6, 2014 by brichtimp

[Pete Freedman]

You guys may not be disagreeing as much as it seems. Cadet's music was used as background music for a verbal (live and clips) and visual display that in an unintended way trumped the music. When you watch a movie, you don't put the attention into the music that you would if you were just listening to the music. Watching West Side Story is very different from listening to West Side Story. Drum corps is a generally a moving orchestra; Cadet's show was a visual and spoken word political story with a soundtrack. The music wasn't played flat by the members, but it was made somewhat flat by it's role in the show.

Oh, and it's very hard to get into the Blue Devils.

[Cappybara]

You guys may not be disagreeing as much as it seems. Cadet's music was used as background music for a verbal (live and clips) and visual display that in an unintended way trumped the music. When you watch a movie, you don't put the attention into the music that you would if you were just listening to the music. Watching West Side Story is very different from listening to West Side Story. Drum corps is a generally a moving orchestra; Cadet's show was a visual and spoken word political story with a soundtrack. The music wasn't played flat by the members, but it was made somewhat flat by it's role in the show.

Oh, and it's very hard to get into the Blue Devils.

Thank you for clearly articulating what I was trying (unsuccessfully) to get across.

[c mor]

I think "how hard" is not the right perspective to address your inquiry into marching in drum corps.

You have one year to prepare for 2016 auditions.

1. Determine how much this means to you. Photo shop your face into the uniform you want to wear, put it on your mirror, in your horn case, visor of your car, and anywhere else you'll see it and be spurred on to action.

2. Determine how much time you are willing to commit to preparation. In all likelihood, nothing less than obsession will be needed. What does that look like to you.

3. Determine your plan. Talk to whomever you can. March in a competitively lower corps to gain experience. Or, attend any audtions available to you for the experience and evaluations. Attend any clinics. Any corps brass players near you from whom you can take lessons, or maybe just a chat to share some insight?

Determination and action. You'll want to leave an audition knowing there was nothing else you could have done to be prepared. No regrets. Those are the only things that you can control.

[cdm]

To answer the OP's question, a person should "be the best that they can be", and the most professional that they can be, no matter what corps they try out for.

[MikeD]

You guys may not be disagreeing as much as it seems. Cadet's music was used as background music for a verbal (live and clips) and visual display that in an unintended way trumped the music. When you watch a movie, you don't put the attention into the music that you would if you were just listening to the music. Watching West Side Story is very different from listening to West Side Story. Drum corps is a generally a moving orchestra; Cadet's show was a visual and spoken word political story with a soundtrack. The music wasn't played flat by the members, but it was made somewhat flat by it's role in the show.

Oh, and it's very hard to get into the Blue Devils.

if you (the royal you, not only you specifically) think of the show as a spoken story with a soundtrack, I can see why you might come away with that view. My view of their show is of one seamless production, which happened to have a spoken component as part of the overall performance. I didn't feel that the instrumental aspect was a back-seat at all.

[Tim K]

if you (the royal you, not only you specifically) think of the show as a spoken story with a soundtrack, I can see why you might come away with that view. My view of their show is of one seamless production, which happened to have a spoken component as part of the overall performance. I didn't feel that the instrumental aspect was a back-seat at all.

We don't usually have consensus in drum corps, but there does seem to be agreement among old schoolers, younger fans, traditional, contemporary, and just about everyone else that Cadets narration may have been a bit too much, and maybe it was (for some reason it did not bother me as much but I would have done it somewhat differently and used more iconic quotes for some of FDR's portion), but in my opinion, the musical book was exquisite, and one of the finest arrangements of Copland for drum corps. What is interesting is that the most homespun of all the shows has turned out to be the most controversial, and the most controversial (BAC) hardly gets any ink.

[xandandl]

so a thread about BD becomes a debate about Cadets and there you go again homering about the barnyarders, a legend in their own myth.

What, are they funding your parish this year or is getting back to the OP's concern too much of the Devils' work? :-p

Edited December 12, 2014 by xandandl

[troon8]

Here, I'll help put us back on topic...

Oh, Blue DEVILS auditions....Never mind, my bad!