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What is "standard" instrumentation / lineup?


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"Pulsing," someone said that? That's even funnier than when corps list their "faculty." :tounge2:

Peace to all, no personal disrespect intended,

Fred O.

Fred,

Do you really want drum corps to be taught by instructors without their faculties?

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Again it is a matter of subjective opinion, taste, and past experience.

Yes, getting 150 members within the 10 yardlines, or never going out past the 35/20 yardline markers or past the front hashes as we have recently seen with certain DCI shows is congested.

But as so many of the DCI top drill designers also write for mega-size high school and/or college bands, 150 is quite small compared to, say, Michigan universities, Ohio universities, and the University of Massachusetts whose ensembles can at times be as many as 400. Perspective, perspective, perspective.

Hey, my reply disappeared? I meant no disrespect or ill will, to anyone. my point was/is that the mega 400+ groups look really congested, the work of the high end drill designers notwithstanding. But I still think 150 can look overpopulated, especially with the variety of flotsam and jetsam corps lug onto the field these days. I enjoy the modern era, absolutely - but there's something to be said for the elbow room that the 128 -135 teams offered their members (and their viewing audience) in years gone by. It is, as you say, a matter of perspective, perspective, perspective.

Peace, holiday regards,

Fred O.

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Hey, my reply disappeared? I meant no disrespect or ill will, to anyone. my point was/is that the mega 400+ groups look really congested, the work of the high end drill designers notwithstanding. But I still think 150 can look overpopulated, especially with the variety of flotsam and jetsam corps lug onto the field these days. I enjoy the modern era, absolutely - but there's something to be said for the elbow room that the 128 -135 teams offered their members (and their viewing audience) in years gone by. It is, as you say, a matter of perspective, perspective, perspective.

Peace, holiday regards,

Fred O.

wasn't me.

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"Pulsing," someone said that? That's even funnier than when corps list their "faculty." :tounge2:

Peace to all, no personal disrespect intended,

Fred O.

Yea, no kidding. I must have really insulted the guy (I think he had a relative or child playing in a pit, but I don't recall) because he fired off some invectives and highly critical comments to me. I had never heard the term so did, and do, doubt its "official" use as a thing. Rather, I think this kind of false emoting will die a quick and uneventful death. It can't be taught well, it can't possibly keep time across thirty yards if the players can't get the tempo from the conductor right in front of them, and the pit is not the place for story-telling beyond exceptional arranging and execution. IMO, that is, and I hope I didn't insult anyone else.

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Yea, no kidding. I must have really insulted the guy (I think he had a relative or child playing in a pit, but I don't recall) because he fired off some invectives and highly critical comments to me. I had never heard the term so did, and do, doubt its "official" use as a thing. Rather, I think this kind of false emoting will die a quick and uneventful death. It can't be taught well, it can't possibly keep time across thirty yards if the players can't get the tempo from the conductor right in front of them, and the pit is not the place for story-telling beyond exceptional arranging and execution. IMO, that is, and I hope I didn't insult anyone else.

From what my current DCA and DCI pit friends tell me, "pulsing" is a word that is definitely used a lot. Whether it's "official" I don't know, but that seems to be what it's called in today's world.

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Pulsing is real and legit. Although not all pit movement is pulsing.

Edited by mingusmonk
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"Pulsing," someone said that? That's even funnier than when corps list their "faculty." :tounge2:

Peace to all, no personal disrespect intended,

Fred O.

I have no idea how judges judge " pulsing " in the pit, but I will support proper pulsing from the pit till I draw my last pulse.

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  • 4 weeks later...

To hopefully help clear this up, as a member of a drum corps front ensemble I as an individual and the front ensemble have more of a job today than say 10 years ago to contribute to the overall package of a drum corps show. We don't just stand there and play because... that would be pretty boring, in all honesty, but we definitely do not dance to the music we are working with. We "pulse" which is used as a timing mechanism as well as a way to show the crowd that we are actually enjoying what we are doing. Because light travels faster than sound, we use pulsing and prepping (the up and down motion of the mallets dictated by the center marimba to tell the members of the pit when to play their assigned parts) as tools to keep time in the crazy listening environment that is modern drum corps. In my teaching, the center marimba watches the drum major, dictates the tempo and the rest of the ensemble watches to keep time, while everyone is also listening back to the drum line. In addition to pulsing, some front ensembles (see Cavies or Bluecoats) also add visuals into the playing to add to the effect of the show and some even go as far as almost acting (Phantom 2014/13) however that is not how I was taught so I do not know much about how all that works. Long story short, we pulse in order to keep time as an ensemble as well as to not look bland in front of all the movement and color that is happening behind us.

Just a comment from someone who fell in love with that section of a drum corps and eventually was a member of that section! :tounge2:

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