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Blue Devils/SCV/Carolina Crown


Oboe

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Who here has marched for the Blue Devils, Santa Clara Vanguard, or Carolina Crown? Those are my favorite corps and I'd love to hear about your experiences and what you liked or disliked about it. What should I be prepared for when I audition a few years from now?

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Practice your horn and get in the best physical shape possible. Corps can mold your visual performance as long as you’re in good shape.

What they can’t do is build your chops before the season starts. Practice practice practice. If you think you’ve practiced enough, you haven’t. Play every day for as long as you can manage. The corps you’re looking at are some of the most competitive in existence for brass performers. There will be people at auditions who will blow your mind with their ability. If you wanna march in the same line as them, you’ll need to bring it.

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I can vouch for the dance classes, particularly modern dance. The visual staff at a now “very dance oriented corps” (they had a big feature last year...) recommended to my kid that he try and cram a modern dance class in prior to callback camp.

While dance is not new per se there is a boatload ton of emphasis on it now. In 1984 we had a professional dance instructor (her name was Deb-oh-rahh) come into camp and teach the hornline some moves; the “vision” Dave Owens & Co had in mind at the time had hornline members grounding their horns (which we did) pairing off with the CG (it was all female at the time) and doing extended complex dance during drum solo which in itself was a major departure musically when other drumlines were still ramming notes. In retrospect I wish we had kept at it and really locked down the dance and movement as it would have predated the whole dance craze by 25 years, probably boosted the GE Visual number and immortalized that corps under the heading of “Remember when SCV had that freaking loud Ott hornline that could dance their butts off? No, the other one...” A lot of us were really into the whole concept but we just didn’t have the body training or experience like the CG did to pull it off, and what we eventually put on the field was *vastly* watered down. 

Edited by TRacer
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15 hours ago, TRacer said:

I can vouch for the dance classes, particularly modern dance. The visual staff at a now “very dance oriented corps” (they had a big feature last year...) recommended to my kid that he try and cram a modern dance class in prior to callback camp.

While dance is not new per se there is a boatload ton of emphasis on it now. In 1984 we had a professional dance instructor (her name was Deb-oh-rahh) come into camp and teach the hornline some moves; the “vision” Dave Owens & Co had in mind at the time had hornline members grounding their horns (which we did) pairing off with the CG (it was all female at the time) and doing extended complex dance during drum solo which in itself was a major departure musically when other drumlines were still ramming notes. In retrospect I wish we had kept at it and really locked down the dance and movement as it would have predated the whole dance craze by 25 years, probably boosted the GE Visual number and immortalized that corps under the heading of “Remember when SCV had that freaking loud Ott hornline that could dance their butts off? No, the other one...” A lot of us were really into the whole concept but we just didn’t have the body training or experience like the CG did to pull it off, and what we eventually put on the field was *vastly* watered down. 

Ooh.  I remember that show for the body motion things.  There's a bit of what i remember at end of this clip.  I had no idea it was going to be something much more.  
 

 

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On 12/13/2018 at 5:36 PM, Oboe said:

Who here has marched for the Blue Devils, Santa Clara Vanguard, or Carolina Crown? Those are my favorite corps and I'd love to hear about your experiences and what you liked or disliked about it. What should I be prepared for when I audition a few years from now?

 Be prepared to tell them you marched in competition Drum Corps before for a year or two in another Corps, preferably a DCI Corps. While applicants do make these 3 favorite Corps of yours without having marched in competitive Drum Corps before,  most have marched before somewhere else and thus have prior experience. You did not tell us what section of these 3 Corps you intend to try out for. if its Guard, and you are a Guard person, you need to have either marched in a WGI Guard unit before, or in a Drum Corps Guard before.  Absent this experience, I would not recommend trying out with any of these 3  Corps in Guard. Secure experience in WGI / DCI/DCA first, as otherwise your chances of securing a spot in any of these 3 Corps in Guard are slim to none. Since your decision is not until a few years yet, my suggestion is to consider marching somewhere else first in the interim, no matter the section you intend to try out with at BD/ SCV/ CC in a few years hence. Whatever you decide, best of luck to you, and keep practicing !

Edited by BRASSO
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  • 1 month later...
On 12/18/2018 at 3:41 PM, BRASSO said:

 Be prepared to tell them you marched in competition Drum Corps before for a year or two in another Corps, preferably a DCI Corps. While applicants do make these 3 favorite Corps of yours without having marched in competitive Drum Corps before,  most have marched before somewhere else and thus have prior experience. You did not tell us what section of these 3 Corps you intend to try out for. if its Guard, and you are a Guard person, you need to have either marched in a WGI Guard unit before, or in a Drum Corps Guard before.  Absent this experience, I would not recommend trying out with any of these 3  Corps in Guard. Secure experience in WGI / DCI/DCA first, as otherwise your chances of securing a spot in any of these 3 Corps in Guard are slim to none. Since your decision is not until a few years yet, my suggestion is to consider marching somewhere else first in the interim, no matter the section you intend to try out with at BD/ SCV/ CC in a few years hence. Whatever you decide, best of luck to you, and keep practicing !

this is pretty late but i'm a sophomoe trying out for a smaller corps until i get out of highschool, then i'm aiming for BD

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The biggest things, by far, will be already being a practiced player, being in good shape, being able to adapt quickly, and being able to get along with everyone else in the corps.

 

Dance lessons is good and that will get you a leg up, but what you probably really need is lessons on your instrument on a weekly basis. I can not emphasize how important that is.

 

Lastly, be able to play and march at the same time. If you can do that pretty well, you’re going to be way ahead of a lot of people.

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On 12/13/2018 at 5:36 PM, Oboe said:

Who here has marched for the Blue Devils, Santa Clara Vanguard, or Carolina Crown? Those are my favorite corps and I'd love to hear about your experiences and what you liked or disliked about it. What should I be prepared for when I audition a few years from now?

The best way to be prepared for CrownCamp is to attend a November camp.  When you're finally ready to audition "for real" you'll know exactly what to expect.  

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