Jump to content

Freelancers


Recommended Posts

Strange that this thread should pop up again.

I was driving into work this morning and was listening to the '91 show. I don't remember how the hornline ranked that year, but wow. I was listening to the show for the first time without wishing we had articulated something differently, or wishing I hadn't heard a sop frak, somebody suddenly go WAY sharp, or somebody play a one-note solo right in the middle of the "slap section".

This was a very good hornline and a well written brass book. I never realized it! Especially good, were the bari, euph, and contra sections. They had an extremely FAT sound. Not to mention most of them were or are fat today. :P The mellos did some nice work and I won't mention the sops.

Today was the very first time that this show gave me goosebumps and I was completely surprised.

Edited by ravedodger
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 341
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

I can give some insight on 1988 and 1989.

1988 was a great year, and what made it great was the fact that no one knew what to expect from us. We didn't have message boards or chat rooms back then, so rumors didn;t run quite as rampant. Wehnwe debuted our show in Glendale in 1988, we were pretty #### dirty. But by the time we got to Colorado, we were beating Sky Ryders, and everyone was talking about us. In fact, we were beating Sky most of the year, and at one point in Texas, made a six point jump in one night and beat them by four points. But in the end I think we had reached our peak a few weeks before finals. We were all proud of our accomplishment, and the vets that year knew that 1989 would be our year.

1989 - We started that season just as CJ described it. The hornline was probably 70% vets, and the expereince paid off. Early rehearsals rocked, and we came out of the gates charging. You could tell from the outset that there was a different attitude among both the staff and the corps. Things were more serious. Our scores were better, work ethic greatly imporved, and desire to be a finalist was huge. That corps bonded more and felt more like a serious drum corps.

But the real turning point happend in Dayton Ohio, a couple of weeks before the end of the season. The hornline had peaked, and our scores weren't really going anywhere. I remember John Zimny telling us later that he thought there wasn't anything else he could do with us. But he was wrong...

Richie (horn tech) took us out in back of the high school one morning for an unusually early music rehearsal. After he warmed us up, Richie said "its about time we add some volume". We spent the next two hours on impact points, and learning to breath and fill the horns up with more air. Richie, who was usually pretty relaxed, was FREAKIN INTENSE, and pushed the crud out of us. But it worked, and by the end of that small horn block, a new hornline had emerged. When we joined the rest of the corps for production run through's, the staff nearly fell off of the scaffolding. Our guard instructor Greg yelled "Oh my god, we have a F'ing hornline, and it is LOUD!!!!" From that point on our scores improved, and by the time we reached Kansas City, we knew we were in. We scored the highest score in prelims history, placed 8th or 9th in quaters, and ultimately 10th overall on Saturday night.

But as CJ said, to appreciate the show, you really had to see us at Semifinals. That was by far our best show of the season. There was more heart in that show than all of our others combined. Marching it felt effortless, things just seemed to fall right into place. Everything was right with the world for those 12 minutes.

Anyway, I could go on, but i won't. Those were the best two summers of my life.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...

I marched in 83 and 84 and it was a blast. I wish I could go back in time, but I do have the Legacy DVD's. Being in the guard my best year is 83 as we marched 14 in the rifle line. We also had the double rifle feature in the drum solo, triangles, and flags for the hornline. It was a great year.

84 was more of a challenge as I had to learn to play a few notes on the G bugle for the opener as the male guard members started out the show dressed up in breakaway cadets.

Anyway, thanks for the trip down memory lane.

JC

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I remember after '76, listening to DCI albums with my drum instructor and diggin'on the bongo rolls in "Adventures in Time". My drum instructor goes "we gotta get timbale/bongos!" and for sure in '77 had 'em. Anybody know that guy from '76??

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I remember after '76, listening to DCI albums with my drum instructor and diggin'on the bongo rolls in "Adventures in Time". My drum instructor goes "we gotta get timbale/bongos!" and for sure in '77 had 'em. Anybody know that guy from '76??

BigMac would probably know. Where are you Mark?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1976 - What a horn line! 48 horns with the sound of 60

1977 - Awesome drum line 12 snares at start of season

1978 - The shaft at prelims! nuf said

1979 - Ugly uni's bad show concept. 10 CONTRABASSES!

1980 - Back to traditional uniform, Back to the Freelancer Sound!

1981 - Sac is Back in Finals!

1982 - Smooooooth show!

Kaboom

Link to comment
Share on other sites

One of my most memorable Freelancer memories is the drill for their closer in 1982. They made this pretty curvelinear (sp) form, turned it backfield and then obliqued it off toward the right corner of the field. Paul Zimny created a beautiful visual that tied in perfectly with the music and those gorgeous red cadet uniforms floating backfied to the strains of "Even Now" just made me feel all warm and tingley inside. 1982 was to me, the most mature Freelancers corps that I ever saw.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I remember after '76, listening to DCI albums with my drum instructor and diggin'on the bongo rolls in "Adventures in Time".  My drum instructor goes "we gotta get timbale/bongos!" and for sure in '77 had 'em.  Anybody know that guy from '76??

BigMac would probably know. Where are you Mark?

Hey Dave, you woke me up again! <_<

Yeah, I remember the timbale drummer, but the horns and drums didn't hang out too much back then, so I didn't know him really well. But he could sure wail on those things. I listen to the tape every once in a while, and really enjoy at what they added to the show. Very unique, even for nowadays.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Kaboom,

Thanks for the acknowledgement of the "shafting" in 1978. That truly is one of the few painful memories of my years in corps. If I recall, we had to wait til near the very end of prelims to hear them annouce the Kilties score, and needless to say, there was a lot of shock, anger and sadness (in the Freelancers. I'm sure the Kilties were exuberant). And don't get me wrong, the Kilties were one of my favorite classic corps, but we hadn't expected them to beat us out of the 12th spot! It's amazing how one performance can change everything. I even took 1979 off since this left me drained. Oh well, good thing I'm over it after all these years (right!).

And one last comment - I sure wish there were DVDs for the non-finalist corps from those years. Sure would be nice to see the show again.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.



×
×
  • Create New...