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Cavaliers Sound Quality


Penguin

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Ok, so lets take a sec. and recap what we're talking about here. I agree (against every bone in my body :silly: ) that the Cavies have started sounding very good, but to say they were the best sounding corps last year is a stretch. I also agree that phantom has one of the phatest sounds in DCI history (except '97-'00; what happened there :beer: ) and that dates back as far as '90. However, Phantoms high brass is so bright it makes the low brass sound flat. Next time you get a chance pop in the finals or midseason CD and give Canon(sp?) a listen. When the "tubas" enter your ear is so accustomed to hearing that bright (some times sharp) sound they--the "tubas"-- sound almost a half-step flat; not to mention the baritone that forgot what balance means ("that guy" also dates back to '90).

Now, let us speak a little of the Cavaliers. As far as their music goes............ it sucks! Sorry, but it's boring. Anywho, I remember hearing them live for the first time back in '94. I was only a freshman in HS, but I thought they were a little weak. They have grown much stronger, but it helps when they play whole notes..........for most of the show. I give them mad credit for producing any sort of tone with the poo they call marching technique, but hey, it's they're style, right? I'm not saying they don't have a good horn line or a good staff, but it ain't "like takin' a bath in chocolate." Not even close! Neither was phantom back in '95; at least they didn't do a pirate show that year cause that really would of swashed my buckles twice in three years and I don't think I could of handled that much Michael b**bs !!!!!!!

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Wow, all that lousy marching technique and boring music from the Cavaliers...and still the Cadets haven't been able to muster up enough to beat them since the end of July in 2001. (That's 30 consecutive head to head meetings for all the kids counting at home.)

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81.3
Regiments line is very exciting to the general audience. Cavies line is very exciting to the higher end listener who is excited about a line that can do everything and do it well. Its all a matter of taste, but what the Cavies are doing is going to win as long as the judges really know what to listen for.

Let me see if I got this right. Since I like Phantom's sound better than Cavies I must be an unsophisticated, neanderthal eared, general audience member incapable of appreciating the higher end sonorities produced by the only hornline in history to produce beautifully intoned sounds for an entire show????

no. it means the university or drum corps that taught you did not do it's job correctly

That was a direct attack on another person's instruction and education, simply based on the fact that he doesn't mind a little edge.

Im sure thats what the directors of show bands tell themselves (i.e. grambling, southern...etc)

b**bs I'm dying here...Hilarious and true!!!

Listening to the TSU Ocean of Soul horn line is like taking a bath in chocolate!!!

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bonescadets

its seems like you have some personal problems with the cavies...

you critize just about everything they do..Their music is hardly boring...its some of the best music out there...and for you to say that most of their show is whole notes....listen to it again...

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I'm going to be a Johnny-Come-Lately on this forum. And I haven't read everything that has been posted. But I do want to tip my hat to the Cavaliers for their hornline the past couple of years.

There was a time, even in their early championship years (1992, 1995, and the first two years of the three-peat) I wouldn't say that the Cavis had a horn quality that I would have asked a line I was teaching to emulate. That has changed over the last 3 years. Though the Cavaliers have never been one of my favorite corps in terms of show selection, their sound has richened up, become significantly less abrasive in the low brass and overall is a pleasing product.

Kudos!

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cavalier's brass may be getting better, but phantom's brass was like mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm..................bath of chocolate.........with chocolate herbal essences........

Well said!!! I'll take a bath in that PR chocolate any day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! B) :P

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Listening to the TSU Ocean of Soul horn line is like taking a bath in chocolate!!!

Hmm... it's certainly like a bath in something.

Seriously though, TSU came to one of our games, and pretty much won over the crowd by doing stuff our band would never attempt. I couldn't bend the way their Drum Majors did...

Good times!

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B) Well Ladies and Gentlemen, I hope you all have learned something. There are a bunch of people that are familiar to me in here and I am confident in their opinions, even though they don't line up with each other. To be stuck on one philosophy is a way that wouldn't make us grow as musicians. I find myself extremely blessed to have been under some of the greatest DCI hornline instructors, Frank Williams, Robert W. Smith, Rick South, and Freddy Martin. Now, all of these men had different philosophies, but did they teach me something? Did they produce hornlines that were incredible, with good tone quality, articulation, a balanced and blended sound? To some people, yes, others, they would say no. You be the judge.

Also, we have to remember that we hear Drum Corps on a FOOTBALL FIELD! Brass instruction is only a part of the solution. I haven't heard one thing about visual staging. Staging plays a HUGE part on balance issues. Plus, to all the people who judge drum corps brass playing from cd's. Well, the recordings are made from 3 microphones, about 30 ft in the air on the front sideline. How can you hear balance and blend from 3 points on the field when the hornline has 64 different players placed at different areas?

Cavies, I salute you. The visual package meets up with the brass extremly well. Also, Cavies have the best sounding forte piano I've ever heard from a drum corps. Now, sound quality, PR takes it. In my opinion, Phantom Regiment have always (89' especially) had an incredible sound. The way MY body works is that when PR plays with thier dark and rich sound certain chemicals secrete in my body to produce goosebumps. But hey, that's my body, not yours.

As to the greatest hornline with all the best attributes, visual staging in mind, tone quality, balance, blend, timing, articulation.....Remember, we're talking as an ensemble... in my opinion, there's no other like Star of Indiana.

These are my opinions, may I never shut myself off to learning new ideas. Thats how I grow.

Brian Bentley

Edited by onfiremedic
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