Broken Arrow's Answer to Ramps - the Arms Race Continues

[corpsband]

interesting definitions of minimalism in this thread. clearly means different things to different folks.

not sure i'd call the cadets or academy minimalists myself in comparison to the SFA video. both were chock full of content.

[Scandinavia]

My daughter's band, Ronald Reagan High School (from San Antonio) is traveling to Indy this week-- they don't have any go-carts, but they DO have a front stage. :)

It's actually going to be a hectic week for them. They have the first round of state UIL tomorrow, then hopefully Finals the next day, then a flight out to Indy on Thursday. (Lots of planning and packing going on in this household right now...)

This has been an interesting thread for me. I've been out of the marching band scene for a LONG time and have always just assumed that the creative flow was a trickle down from drum corps to the high school level but is that still the case? Or was it ever? Interesting.

Is it this band?

https://youtu.be/EpGBR5aBeuU

[DrumManTx]

On an unrelated note if you thought DCIs webcasts were bad, they were a top tier master work compared to the service BOA offered this fall. YIKES.

That Ronald Reagan video and the others on that channel don't even come close to representing what those bands sound like and you can see the quality of video...

Edited November 11, 2016 by DrumManTx

[littlejaw]

Is it this band?

https://youtu.be/EpGBR5aBeuU

Don't take the quality of that video seriously. Flomarching doesn't quite understand mic placement.

[year1buick]

Is it this band?https://youtu.be/EpGBR5aBeuU

Yep, sure is. I don't know how they've been keeping at it. 5:00 AM Wake up yesterday, 3:00-4:30 call times on Thursday for the flight out and another 5:00 am wake up tomorrow. (Or, I should say today at this point.)

[year1buick]

On an unrelated note if you thought DCIs webcasts were bad, they were a top tier master work compared to the service BOA offered this fall. YIKES.

That Ronald Reagan video and the others on that channel don't even come close to representing what those bands sound like and you can see the quality of video...

Yeah, that audio is pretty wonky. They sounded MUCH better during their run thru the other night.

[Ghost]

Yep, sure is. I don't know how they've been keeping at it. 5:00 AM Wake up yesterday, 3:00-4:30 call times on Thursday for the flight out and another 5:00 am wake up tomorrow. (Or, I should say today at this point.)

It's great training for those who move on to DCI.

[year1buick]

It's great training for those who move on to DCI.

Definitely. Way more than I ever had in high school, for sure. She's just a freshman and, though I think she's had a great experience overall, it's also been a little overwhelming so I think she's a little tentative on sticking with it-- I've tried to walk the line of being supportive and encouraging without seeming to push her in a particular direction. (Though she told me last week that she wanted to do winter guard, so we'll see.) And, of course, I've been taking her to DCI and showing her videos of various corps for a while now. (With a healthy dose of Phantom Regiment of course.)

[garfield]

It's great training for those who move on to DCI.

I agree, except for the snare players. They'll never make it into DCI unless they abandon their matched grip and learn to play traditional.

Problem is that developing the left hand takes years to compete at the DCI level, even the Open Class level.

IMO, directors who teach matched grip to their snares are taking the easy way out for themselves and short-changing their students.

The Reagan band is outstanding, and you can tell the design staff is impressive. Too bad they took the easy way out with their snare players.

[xandandl]

Well those Giant pop-up, blow-up robotic puppets used by Franklin High at Grand Nationals LOS are certainly to be the rage, even outdoing PR's Queen Joan a few seasons back.