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Band like Drum Corps or Drum Corps Style Bands


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I some how ended up on to a Marching Band Contest Video on YouTube. So I watched more. The funny thing to me is : Liked Those Drum Corps Style Bands Better than many of the Band Style Drum Corps. Now as I said this was a Band Competition of National Quality I am watching. So I am matching them with TOP Quality Drum Corps.

( I have never been much of a Band fan before. ) :w00t::shutup::peek:

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I'd be curious to know more about what you liked in the band shows that you're not seeing in corps?

Also, did you see this thread that George Dixon started last fall in the DCI forum? In it, he argues that last year's eventual BOA champion, Broken Arrow, has a better-designed show than many in DCI. Although the thread is now locked, you may find the comments there of interest.

There is a lot of crossover between the two. Last fall, for instance, chatting with some fellow audience members at a band contest here in Ohio, I learned that a woman whose son was the percussion instructor with one of the bands that evening had marched in 2014 and 2015 with the White Sabers.

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The training ground for drum corps is now school band programs unlike how it was decades ago where drum corps was used as an activity to get the kids off the streets and give them something to do.

You're going to have crossover as the band programs get better, and encourage their students to march drum corps. You're also going to have staff crossover as directors teach drum corps, and vice versa. Bands want to help their students improve in the fall seasons, so they look for help with outsiders who teach. Drum Corps look for staff who can do the same but in the spring. It only makes sense to enlist the help of people from the pool of marching arts educators from each side to improve the quality of both.

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Chris, that training ground was alive in the mid-late 70's for Westshore and also the Bucs. Cavalcade of Bands, Tournament of Bands, and even what's known today as PIMBA were active in areas that Central PA bands could and did compete in. Myself, my sister, Ben B. and all his cohorts from Middletown, PA, Cumberland Valley HS, Lebanon HS, East Pennsboro, Mechanicsburg, Williamsport HS, Ephrata, and more all had people in Westshore and it was one of the tricks that helped get the corps over the hump along with Y-R folding and many of their members heading North to us.

The combination of the experienced adults and the kids who had 2-3 years or more of HS competition were a huge factor in pushing us into the top 6.

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Chris, that training ground was alive in the mid-late 70's for Westshore and also the Bucs. Cavalcade of Bands, Tournament of Bands, and even what's known today as PIMBA were active in areas that Central PA bands could and did compete in. Myself, my sister, Ben B. and all his cohorts from Middletown, PA, Cumberland Valley HS, Lebanon HS, East Pennsboro, Mechanicsburg, Williamsport HS, Ephrata, and more all had people in Westshore and it was one of the tricks that helped get the corps over the hump along with Y-R folding and many of their members heading North to us.

The combination of the experienced adults and the kids who had 2-3 years or more of HS competition were a huge factor in pushing us into the top 6.

During those days, we (Sunrisers) didn't have quite as many band members in the pipeline.. but the ones we got, from high school and college bands, were great members... including a couple of our top lead soprano players.

Interesting that during my time there, we also didn't draw a lot of members from the top-level DCI/junior corps... Bridgemen, Cadets, etc. in our area. A few here and there, but not many. Our "corps veteran" membership tended to come from smaller local-circuit groups.

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I some how ended up on to a Marching Band Contest Video on YouTube. So I watched more. The funny thing to me is : Liked Those Drum Corps Style Bands Better than many of the Band Style Drum Corps. Now as I said this was a Band Competition of National Quality I am watching. So I am matching them with TOP Quality Drum Corps.

( I have never been much of a Band fan before. ) :w00t::shutup::peek:

Glad you discovered the scene, man. :cool:

Here are some suggestions of some good stuff to watch, in no particular order if you want to see some exciting HS band stuff, you have to search them yourself, I don't want to catch heck for linking anything verboten:

Search YT for "Nishihara HS" then look for herbs4mike and his videos from 1999 to about 2006ish. These Okinawan kids are TOUGH, and HIGH ENERGY. Yes, Japanese bands compete indoor, doesn't matter, they can play and march :cool:

Search "Ronald Reagan High School 2003" , a personal fave of mine. I have many :wub: for their treatment of excerpts from "Lincolnshire Posy".

Search "LD Bell Quest", another personal fave. Love the fact they play some of Husa's "Music for Prague:1968", which Alliance also did some of last year.

Search "Menehune Marching Band" for a ton of stuff from Moanalua HS. Menehune are the traditional nature spirits of Hawaiian folklore) Always very entertaining.

One more if you want loud- "TCU Adventures in Time", TCU knocking out some serious gas with some decent arrangements of Johnny Richard's Adventures in Time" Trumpet solo guys at end are in there with just about anyone.

And one from my Alma Mater:

"2015 WCU Golden Rams Marching Band" nets you some serious win with the first 2 minutes of that show :wink:

WCU is very much a place for a lot of DCI and DCA people to head to. When I was there for instance, we had people from Cadets, Madison, Crossmen, Cavies, Westshore, Bucs, Sunrisers- I'm sure there are still some folks from the corps that are still active or still in the region heading there.

Edited by BigW
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Just stumbled across a whole series of articles about last year's BOA Grand Nationals, published at a blog run by the "Voxitatis Research Foundation", apparently a group publishing education journalism. It may be of interest to readers of this thread.

Have any corps ever muted their contras/tubas like the Centerville band did last year?

b40_oh_cv_165_w.jpg

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Thank you for bringing up Sun, Fran, I almost forgot John Herlihy :satisfied:

We had John and Dave Cooper from Crossmen do the duet stuff from "Dindi" at WCU, MONSTER. :wub:

Him, plus a couple of guys from the 1977, '78 and '79 seasons. Ross Holman and Jim Muccio. (Not sure about the spelling there.) Both great players. Ross had some serious upper-register chops.

A semi-bizarre side note about Jim.... after the Son of Sam killer, David Berkowitz, was arrested in NYC the summer of '77, we all took a look at Jim at the next rehearsal and realized... he could have been Berkowitz's twin. :w00t: It was uncanny.

So... of course his nickname from then on was "Berkowitz." Some people who joined later thought that was his actual last name. LOL

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Thank You All.

The Drum Corps style Band's seemed to be, more Fresh, Fan Friendly,and Entertaining. They looked more like they were enjoying themselves. It did not matter weather I recognized the music or not. Where as the Band like Drum Corps looked very Professional. They seemed to be trying to Impress the judges and not the PAYING public. More forced in what they did. Don't get me wrong Both are Excellent.

Maybe thats why I always seem to LIKE : the Govies more than MBI ,or Hawthorn Cabs more than Reading, Renagades more than Empire, or NYC Sky over Bush. (and in : DCI, SCV over BD, or Madison over Cavies, or Phantom over Cadets.). In general anyway.

I guess it is just personal taste than anything else.

Edited by 2B or not 2B
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