The Cadets 2019

[NR_Ohiobando]

Saw the show yesterday, I was trying to post a review but the comments tool wasn't working? If this gets posted I'll start typing one up.

Edit: Hey it works finally, OK I'll edit this periodically.

Edit 2: The corps director said many times that they really didn't want any video getting out until Thursday. I kinda worry I'm gonna #### people off writing this written review, so if anyone from Cadets wants me to stop, feel free to message. I don't like going over anyone's heads and you guys deserve to control stuff until Thursday.

___ Non Opinionated Review ___

I'm a lapsed drum corps fan who doesn't really enjoy the current product, but I'm also a band director and I observed them during the performance & week for my own development. Just giving you context for what you're reading. I'll give a non-opinionated review first.

* The show did not start at 6PM which was a bit frustrating. Lots of people showed up expecting a show at 6PM, but they just did full ensemble rehearsal until 8:30. I kinda wish they would advertise this ahead of time, especially in the age of social media. In their defense, the entire Midwest has been rained on for the last week so I doubt they got much visual rehearsal and their members come first. The director validated this. (but again, we're living in the age of social media and people have lives). That said, it looked like pretty much everyone either waited and watched rehearsal or came back by 8:30.

* There are 4 giant white staircase props wheeled around the field during the show. I do mean GIANT. There was a scary moment during rehearsal where a colorguard member seemed to have pulled a muscle or something moving the staircase. She was shouting "OW" and lying down on the ground for a minute or two. Not sure if she came back in. I kinda worry about injury/safety regarding these giant wheeled props. That's a ton of weight and anyone caught by it or under it is getting a ton of force on a tiny little human body part.

DIRECTOR'S COMMENTS: I went into this show expecting a very women-centric theme, but via the director they're going for a more open ended interpretation. It's rather a show about power. Paraphrasing - One group/person holds all the power and is eventually stripped of it by various uprisings. After the chaos of conflict dies down, both sides build a bridge to try and form a better future.

PRESHOW: A Queen character in a very extravagant, poofy, Victorian queen-style dress makes her to the backfield. This was a nice surprise as we didn't get it during rehearsal. As she passes hornline members, they bow to her (the staff reminds them on the speaker to do this). The hornline is set up in a giant set of 2 diagonals emphasizing all 4 giant staircases in the center of the field (3 staircases together leading down to the audience & one behind them in the middle for the queen to walk up from backfield). I'd assume it's supposed to symbolize a castle or something.

Fanfare for Women: Several trumpet soloists open the show and lead a royal-feeling fanfare with open intervals into eventually introducing the Queen from backfield. One of the things I appreciate about this opener is how many tempo changes there were. Tons of em. There's a great slow almost-fugue section starting with the tuba section that also becomes a very lengthy accelerando, so props to everyone involved for not wimping out on something hard to achieve on a field. We finish out the opener very fast but slowing down to a more majestic pace. Very classical/royalty feeling coming from the music. The queen wields a staff representing the staff of "power" and the corps finishes with dual company fronts into a very LOUD ending.

Just/Blueprint: The drill dissolves as we hear some electronic choral vocal samples singing "Just her crown. Just her royal crest. Just her looks". Music is much more tense and slow. And after each line, the queen is torn apart by members of the corps. Like literally; they're taking away her headpiece, her crown, and ripping her dress off of her until all that's left is the wiring underneath. A giant dissonant crescendo leads into a great mellophone rip until the staff of power is finally taken from the Queen from atop the now-breaking-apart white staircases symbolizing the falling kingdom. The queen rolls down the back staircase where she remains out of sight for the next movement.

Estancia (1st mvt): This is not your granddaddy's Estancia. They are marching in 3, meaning the tempo is like 215+bpm for a solid 3-4 minutes. Crazy difficult just to play accurately at that tempo. Tribal-chant vocal samples boom emphasizing the first beat of every 3. The drumline is atop the staircase with the staff of power celebrating with a primal attitude, and the hornline joins them after running around and moving the (now all 4 separated) staircases about. There's a full corps almost-haka dance before the hornline rips into a huge crescendo and visually dissolves to let the drumline take center field. (Sidenote: There's a TON of drumline features in this show.) After drumline feature the staff of power is passed along to the 4 staircases set up all over the field. Snares/Trumpets feature on a staircase leads to Bari/Bass feature leads to Mello/Quads feature leads to Contra feature. We continue passing along features until the hornline gets to show off by itself. Eventually nobody seems to hold the staff for very long, and the dissonant music & conflict causes everyone to Bridgemen-style collapse at the end of the movement. (I loved this part). The queen character returns and sticks out as the only person standing, but also in a gold traditional-looking outdoorsy short dress.

Bridge Over Troubled Water: A baritone & trumpet duet leads us down a melody that we aren't quite recognizing yet. Once we get into the chorus everyone recognizes, the 4 staircases are brought into the centerfield and made into an adorable literal bridge with the queen walking right in the middle of it. I thought this was a nice moment. There's a nice brass shout section which leads into a slightly humorous quiet gospel organ solo... which then leads into a very intense gospel brass shout section. There were 4 soloists supposedly mic'd up (2 screaming sops and 2 baritones) but I don't think the mics were working correctly. 

Do Better: A ton of electronic samples throughout this movement. It's original music by Aungst, so obviously percussion feature. The hornline is busy doing hip-hop-style dance choreography while the vocal samples rhythmically tut "DO. DO. DO BETTER. WE. CAN. ALL. DO BETTER". The drumline shows off a TON during this movement and represents two groups during a 'battle' of sorts. It's less of a battle and more of a fun show off section. The quads with the female CG weapons vs. the Snare/Basses with the male CG weapons. Interesting to note the CG members have the female & male symbols on their weapon's stocks. Like the female guard members have a female symbol while the male guard members have the male symbol. The feature ends with the 4 staircases setup backfield in a giant "X" (so two criss-crossing bridges) with hornline members running & criss-crossing on top of them. The drumline leads us into the ending with a meshed Snare/Quad line feature (think 2004 SCV) that pops the crowd pretty nicely.

Symphony 4 (Maslanka) - I honestly don't remember much about the closer. Part of the issue is that the colorguard & queen don't have their choreography yet, so they were just doing drill. Nothing wrong with that, safety first. It felt very much like a recap of the first movement; lots of major triumphant tones. What I do remember is that they quoted their old dissolving vortex ending (1998, 2001) before breaking apart into a giant curivlinear set. The final set is the curvilinear set with the male & female symbols linked in the middle of the field (NOT IN THAT WAY GET YOUR HEAD OUT OF THE GUTTER).

Edited June 19, 2019 by NR_Ohiobando

[queenanne_1536]

33 minutes ago, NR_Ohiobando said:

Lots of people showed up expecting a show at 6PM, but they just did full ensemble rehearsal until 8:30. 

Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts, but THIS would have made me ELATED. There's nothing I love more than watching an ensemble rehearsal for hours and hours. But, I get where you are coming from. I heard their props are GIANT, so I hope people do not believe you are exaggerating. 

[NakedEye]

38 minutes ago, NR_Ohiobando said:

One group/person holds all the power and is eventually stripped of it by various uprisings.

[jwillis35]

2 hours ago, NR_Ohiobando said:

Saw the show yesterday, I was trying to post a review but the comments tool wasn't working? If this gets posted I'll start typing one up.

Edit: Hey it works finally, OK I'll edit this periodically.

Edit 2: The corps director said many times that they really didn't want any video getting out until Thursday. I kinda worry I'm gonna #### people off writing this written review, so if anyone from Cadets wants me to stop, feel free to message. I don't like going over anyone's heads and you guys deserve to control stuff until Thursday.

___ Non Opinionated Review ___

I'm a lapsed drum corps fan who doesn't really enjoy the current product, but I'm also a band director and I observed them during the performance & week for my own development. Just giving you context for what you're reading. I'll give a non-opinionated review first.

* The show did not start at 6PM which was a bit frustrating. Lots of people showed up expecting a show at 6PM, but they just did full ensemble rehearsal until 8:30. I kinda wish they would advertise this ahead of time, especially in the age of social media. In their defense, the entire Midwest has been rained on for the last week so I doubt they got much visual rehearsal and their members come first. The director validated this. (but again, we're living in the age of social media and people have lives). That said, it looked like pretty much everyone either waited and watched rehearsal or came back by 8:30.

* There are 4 giant white staircase props wheeled around the field during the show. I do mean GIANT. There was a scary moment during rehearsal where a colorguard member seemed to have pulled a muscle or something moving the staircase. She was shouting "OW" and lying down on the ground for a minute or two. Not sure if she came back in. I kinda worry about injury/safety regarding these giant wheeled props. That's a ton of weight and anyone caught by it or under it is getting a ton of force on a tiny little human body part.

DIRECTOR'S COMMENTS: I went into this show expecting a very women-centric theme, but via the director they're going for a more open ended interpretation. It's rather a show about power. Paraphrasing - One group/person holds all the power and is eventually stripped of it by various uprisings. After the chaos of conflict dies down, both sides build a bridge to try and form a better future.

PRESHOW: A Queen character in a very extravagant, poofy, Victorian queen-style dress makes her to the backfield. This was a nice surprise as we didn't get it during rehearsal. As she passes hornline members, they bow to her (the staff reminds them on the speaker to do this). The hornline is set up in a giant set of 2 diagonals emphasizing all 4 giant staircases in the center of the field (3 staircases together leading down to the audience & one behind them in the middle for the queen to walk up from backfield). I'd assume it's supposed to symbolize a castle or something.

Fanfare for Women: Several trumpet soloists open the show and lead a royal-feeling fanfare with open intervals into eventually introducing the Queen from backfield. One of the things I appreciate about this opener is how many tempo changes there were. Tons of em. There's a great slow almost-fugue section starting with the tuba section that also becomes a very lengthy accelerando, so props to everyone involved for not wimping out on something hard to achieve on a field. We finish out the opener very fast but slowing down to a more majestic pace. Very classical/royalty feeling coming from the music. The queen wields a staff representing the staff of "power" and the corps finishes with dual company fronts into a very LOUD ending.

Just/Blueprint: The drill dissolves as we hear some electronic choral vocal samples singing "Just her crown. Just her royal crest. Just her looks". Music is much more tense and slow. And after each line, the queen is torn apart by members of the corps. Like literally; they're taking away her headpiece, her crown, and ripping her dress off of her until all that's left is the wiring underneath. A giant dissonant crescendo leads into a great mellophone rip until the staff of power is finally taken from the Queen from atop the now-breaking-apart white staircases symbolizing the falling kingdom. The queen rolls down the back staircase where she remains out of sight for the next movement.

Estancia (1st mvt): This is not your granddaddy's Estancia. They are marching in 3, meaning the tempo is like 215+bpm for a solid 3-4 minutes. Crazy difficult just to play accurately at that tempo. Tribal-chant vocal samples boom emphasizing the first beat of every 3. The drumline is atop the staircase with the staff of power celebrating with a primal attitude, and the hornline joins them after running around and moving the (now all 4 separated) staircases about. There's a full corps almost-haka dance before the hornline rips into a huge crescendo and visually dissolves to let the drumline take center field. (Sidenote: There's a TON of drumline features in this show.) After drumline feature the staff of power is passed along to the 4 staircases set up all over the field. Snares/Trumpets feature on a staircase leads to Bari/Bass feature leads to Mello/Quads feature leads to Contra feature. We continue passing along features until the hornline gets to show off by itself. Eventually nobody seems to hold the staff for very long, and the dissonant music & conflict causes everyone to Bridgemen-style collapse at the end of the movement. (I loved this part). The queen character returns and sticks out as the only person standing, but also in a gold traditional-looking outdoorsy short dress.

Bridge Over Troubled Water: A baritone & trumpet duet leads us down a melody that we aren't quite recognizing yet. Once we get into the chorus everyone recognizes, the 4 staircases are brought into the centerfield and made into an adorable literal bridge with the queen walking right in the middle of it. I thought this was a nice moment. There's a nice brass shout section which leads into a slightly humorous quiet gospel organ solo... which then leads into a very intense gospel brass shout section. There were 4 soloists supposedly mic'd up (2 screaming sops and 2 baritones) but I don't think the mics were working correctly. 

Do Better: A ton of electronic samples throughout this movement. It's original music by Aungst, so obviously percussion feature. The hornline is busy doing hip-hop-style dance choreography while the vocal samples rhythmically tut "DO. DO. DO BETTER. WE. CAN. ALL. DO BETTER". The drumline shows off a TON during this movement and represents two groups during a 'battle' of sorts. It's less of a battle and more of a fun show off section. The quads with the female CG weapons vs. the Snare/Basses with the male CG weapons. Interesting to note the CG members have the female & male symbols on their weapon's stocks. Like the female guard members have a female symbol while the male guard members have the male symbol. The feature ends with the 4 staircases setup backfield in a giant "X" (so two criss-crossing bridges) with hornline members running & criss-crossing on top of them. The drumline leads us into the ending with a meshed Snare/Quad line feature (think 2004 SCV) that pops the crowd pretty nicely.

Symphony 4 (Maslanka) - I honestly don't remember much about the closer. Part of the issue is that the colorguard & queen don't have their choreography yet, so they were just doing drill. Nothing wrong with that, safety first. It felt very much like a recap of the first movement; lots of major triumphant tones. What I do remember is that they quoted their old dissolving vortex ending (1998, 2001) before breaking apart into a giant curivlinear set. The final set is the curvilinear set with the male & female symbols linked in the middle of the field (NOT IN THAT WAY GET YOUR HEAD OUT OF THE GUTTER).

Thanks for the fantastic review. Great to read, and it sounds like Cadets have a beast of a show from a demand and artistic perspective. Can't wait to see them.

[George Dixon]

14 minutes ago, jwillis35 said:

Thanks for the fantastic review. Great to read, and it sounds like Cadets have a beast of a show from a demand and artistic perspective. Can't wait to see them.

Cadets are behind right now. Give it a month lol 

[Terri Schehr]

1 hour ago, NakedEye said:

IKR? 

[Ghost]

1 minute ago, George Dixon said:

Cadets are behind right now. Give it a month lol 

As all the other corps improve also.  Hope being behind (if true) doesn't become a competitive issue. (Or maybe GD, you're just having a little fun.)

[George Dixon]

3 minutes ago, Ghost said:

As all the other corps improve also.  Hope being behind (if true) doesn't become a competitive issue. (Or maybe GD, you're just having a little fun.)

Imo they are badly behind. They will need several long rehearsal days to catch up a bit

hearing “lots of rain” as the reason 

[Ghost]

1 minute ago, George Dixon said:

hearing “lots of rain” as the reason 

Keith P. mentioned rain issues several times in his interview with Tim, but also said they worked around it with no major slow down for where they wanted to be during ST.

[yogitom]

2 hours ago, NR_Ohiobando said:

Saw the show yesterday, I was trying to post a review but the comments tool wasn't working? If this gets posted I'll start typing one up.

Edit: Hey it works finally, OK I'll edit this periodically.

Edit 2: The corps director said many times that they really didn't want any video getting out until Thursday. I kinda worry I'm gonna #### people off writing this written review, so if anyone from Cadets wants me to stop, feel free to message. I don't like going over anyone's heads and you guys deserve to control stuff until Thursday.

___ Non Opinionated Review ___

I'm a lapsed drum corps fan who doesn't really enjoy the current product, but I'm also a band director and I observed them during the performance & week for my own development. Just giving you context for what you're reading. I'll give a non-opinionated review first.

* The show did not start at 6PM which was a bit frustrating. Lots of people showed up expecting a show at 6PM, but they just did full ensemble rehearsal until 8:30. I kinda wish they would advertise this ahead of time, especially in the age of social media. In their defense, the entire Midwest has been rained on for the last week so I doubt they got much visual rehearsal and their members come first. The director validated this. (but again, we're living in the age of social media and people have lives). That said, it looked like pretty much everyone either waited and watched rehearsal or came back by 8:30.

* There are 4 giant white staircase props wheeled around the field during the show. I do mean GIANT. There was a scary moment during rehearsal where a colorguard member seemed to have pulled a muscle or something moving the staircase. She was shouting "OW" and lying down on the ground for a minute or two. Not sure if she came back in. I kinda worry about injury/safety regarding these giant wheeled props. That's a ton of weight and anyone caught by it or under it is getting a ton of force on a tiny little human body part.

DIRECTOR'S COMMENTS: I went into this show expecting a very women-centric theme, but via the director they're going for a more open ended interpretation. It's rather a show about power. Paraphrasing - One group/person holds all the power and is eventually stripped of it by various uprisings. After the chaos of conflict dies down, both sides build a bridge to try and form a better future.

PRESHOW: A Queen character in a very extravagant, poofy, Victorian queen-style dress makes her to the backfield. This was a nice surprise as we didn't get it during rehearsal. As she passes hornline members, they bow to her (the staff reminds them on the speaker to do this). The hornline is set up in a giant set of 2 diagonals emphasizing all 4 giant staircases in the center of the field (3 staircases together leading down to the audience & one behind them in the middle for the queen to walk up from backfield). I'd assume it's supposed to symbolize a castle or something.

Fanfare for Women: Several trumpet soloists open the show and lead a royal-feeling fanfare with open intervals into eventually introducing the Queen from backfield. One of the things I appreciate about this opener is how many tempo changes there were. Tons of em. There's a great slow almost-fugue section starting with the tuba section that also becomes a very lengthy accelerando, so props to everyone involved for not wimping out on something hard to achieve on a field. We finish out the opener very fast but slowing down to a more majestic pace. Very classical/royalty feeling coming from the music. The queen wields a staff representing the staff of "power" and the corps finishes with dual company fronts into a very LOUD ending.

Just/Blueprint: The drill dissolves as we hear some electronic choral vocal samples singing "Just her crown. Just her royal crest. Just her looks". Music is much more tense and slow. And after each line, the queen is torn apart by members of the corps. Like literally; they're taking away her headpiece, her crown, and ripping her dress off of her until all that's left is the wiring underneath. A giant dissonant crescendo leads into a great mellophone rip until the staff of power is finally taken from the Queen from atop the now-breaking-apart white staircases symbolizing the falling kingdom. The queen rolls down the back staircase where she remains out of sight for the next movement.

Estancia (1st mvt): This is not your granddaddy's Estancia. They are marching in 3, meaning the tempo is like 215+bpm for a solid 3-4 minutes. Crazy difficult just to play accurately at that tempo. Tribal-chant vocal samples boom emphasizing the first beat of every 3. The drumline is atop the staircase with the staff of power celebrating with a primal attitude, and the hornline joins them after running around and moving the (now all 4 separated) staircases about. There's a full corps almost-haka dance before the hornline rips into a huge crescendo and visually dissolves to let the drumline take center field. (Sidenote: There's a TON of drumline features in this show.) After drumline feature the staff of power is passed along to the 4 staircases set up all over the field. Snares/Trumpets feature on a staircase leads to Bari/Bass feature leads to Mello/Quads feature leads to Contra feature. We continue passing along features until the hornline gets to show off by itself. Eventually nobody seems to hold the staff for very long, and the dissonant music & conflict causes everyone to Bridgemen-style collapse at the end of the movement. (I loved this part). The queen character returns and sticks out as the only person standing, but also in a gold traditional-looking outdoorsy short dress.

Bridge Over Troubled Water: A baritone & trumpet duet leads us down a melody that we aren't quite recognizing yet. Once we get into the chorus everyone recognizes, the 4 staircases are brought into the centerfield and made into an adorable literal bridge with the queen walking right in the middle of it. I thought this was a nice moment. There's a nice brass shout section which leads into a slightly humorous quiet gospel organ solo... which then leads into a very intense gospel brass shout section. There were 4 soloists supposedly mic'd up (2 screaming sops and 2 baritones) but I don't think the mics were working correctly. 

Do Better: A ton of electronic samples throughout this movement. It's original music by Aungst, so obviously percussion feature. The hornline is busy doing hip-hop-style dance choreography while the vocal samples rhythmically tut "DO. DO. DO BETTER. WE. CAN. ALL. DO BETTER". The drumline shows off a TON during this movement and represents two groups during a 'battle' of sorts. It's less of a battle and more of a fun show off section. The quads with the female CG weapons vs. the Snare/Basses with the male CG weapons. Interesting to note the CG members have the female & male symbols on their weapon's stocks. Like the female guard members have a female symbol while the male guard members have the male symbol. The feature ends with the 4 staircases setup backfield in a giant "X" (so two criss-crossing bridges) with hornline members running & criss-crossing on top of them. The drumline leads us into the ending with a meshed Snare/Quad line feature (think 2004 SCV) that pops the crowd pretty nicely.

Symphony 4 (Maslanka) - I honestly don't remember much about the closer. Part of the issue is that the colorguard & queen don't have their choreography yet, so they were just doing drill. Nothing wrong with that, safety first. It felt very much like a recap of the first movement; lots of major triumphant tones. What I do remember is that they quoted their old dissolving vortex ending (1998, 2001) before breaking apart into a giant curivlinear set. The final set is the curvilinear set with the male & female symbols linked in the middle of the field (NOT IN THAT WAY GET YOUR HEAD OUT OF THE GUTTER).

Great review. I only hope the Cadets don't catch flack for the gender symbols. Because as we all know, in this day and age, there aren't just 2 genders anymore.

Edited June 19, 2019 by yogitom