Another Lewisburg Review

[Mike Ferlazzo]

LEWISBURG, Pa. -- The famed Cavalcade of Champions made a successful return to the Drum Corps Associates' competition line-up at Bucknell University's Christy Mathewsen Memorial Stadium, and Rochester's Empire Statesmen captured the large crowd and the judges in an absolutely perfect night for drums corps. In their first competition of the 2004 season, Empire looked in mid-season form as it swept the captions and scored an impressive 76.263 to 73.313 victory over the second-place Reading Buccaneers.

Raleigh's Carolina Gold bested Florida Heat Wave, 65.175 to 62.388, in the second-tier battle from DCA's blossoming southern ranks.

Among the exhibitions, Mighty St. Joe's and the Hawthorne Caballeros Alumni brought the house down, and had many fans reminiscing about past memories from this storied show, which began in 1949 and ran uninterrupted for 24 years. Fans also got a taste of contemporary junior corps with an exhibition by the DCI Division III contender Lehigh Valley Knights. The massed bands of the show hosts Lewisburg and Mifflinburg High Schools kicked off the show with a pair of standstill selections.

This was Empire's (52B-32P-32CG-2DM) first competition of the new season, but you wouldn't have known it by the performance level of their "City of Angels: Statesmen Style!" production. The show is well-conceived, easy to read, exciting, and has all the demand and showmanship to make the perennial DCA power contenders for the top spot again this year. Part of the reason it's so easy to follow is that the designers help the audience -- unveiling signs on David Bruni's drum major's podium for the different sections -- "Adventure," "Romance," "Murder Mystery," and "The Big Finish" -- while large paintings representing those elements are turned around from among the three large scaffoldings that frame the field along the back. The Statesmen are also apparently looking for the Hollywood black-and-white look in their uniforms this year, which have ditched the teal accent and continue to features the white dinner jackets, now with black pants and shoes and silver sequined accents. The flat black and chrome Yamaha drums accent the look nicely.

"Adventure" is depicted by a picture of Indiana Jones. It opens with Empie's phenomenal soprano soloist leading the corps into its first big impact. The selection features fast-paced, very integrate drill -- with some counter motion between the musicians and color guard. There's also a snare feature with some cool backsticking phrases, that are played well right now, but with some room to grow. The opener is a rousing start, that also puts on display the large and talented color guard, that has been strengthened in the weapons area by the demise of Rochester's DCI Patriots.

"Romance" features a painting from Bogey and "Casablanca," and some great staging -- particularly during an emotional impact -- framed by the guard on teal-colored flags (and one royal blue flag). There's also a talented solo dancer in a white dress that's featured throughout.

The picture for "Murder Mystery" had the crowd guessing. It was learned that it's actually from the "Black Dallion." The crowd may have a harder time understanding that rather obscure Hollywood reference, but it doesn't really matter with the excitement of the number -- which features the main "City of Angels" melody. The guard accents the murder mystery theme with red outfits -- which look similar to Carolina Crown's "Jekyll and Hyde" outfits when Mr. Hyde made his transformation -- and they are featured in those uniforms with some brilliant high tosses. The selection also has a well-executed trademark Empire fast-paced percussion (8S-4T-5B-5C-10PP) feature. The line looks solid in all areas, with maybe the basses still with the most area to grow.

"The Big Hollywood Ending" is pretty much the corps' curtain call, and doesn't need pictures. It starts with a funky little jam section, but gradually kicks in the ensemble. It features big bold rotating blocks, to a company front, to a difficult pass through with counter motion between the battery and brass, resolving into the powerful standstill, accented by multi-colored neon flags in the guard. The ending had the desired effect with the crowd -- which gave it a rousing standing O.

The Empire sweep was impressive, particularly given the quality of the Buccaneers (2DM-44B-35P-28CG-3HG), who followed Empire's Hollywood glitz and glitter with a serious classical show featuring the music of Dmitri Shostakovich. The Bucs caught the crowd's attention just marching onto the field with their color guard flag props, which frame the back of the field, and are put to good use during the percussion feature. But after catching their attention, the Bucs captured the audience in their own way with the big bold fanfare to "Festive Overture." It's well performed and is recognizable -- so it plays well with the crowd. However, it also signaled where the Bucs have their widest disparity with Empire at present -- and that's in the brass power department. They physically have eight fewer horns, but it sounds like more. It appeared as if they were marching about eight brass holes, so that could get a nice boost by championships, but right now they just don't have the same impact as the Statesmen.

However, that's not to say that this show doesn't have potential to also contend come Scranton. It featured the best field coverage of the night, with wonderful balance between the musical sections, and a talented color guard. Musicality and movement have been a forte' of this corps through the years, and this year they're assets once again. The opener has some pleasing mellophone parts, and some well-conceived split snare parts among the nine-person unit. The percussion (9S-5T-5B-6C-10PP) as a whole compliments the symphonic sound nicely with parts that are musical, but just not as "meaty" as Empire's book.

"Novorossiysky Chimes" is the ballad and warm, balanced, and controlled musically. The flag devices kind of stick out in this selection, although the guard itself contributes well with expressive dance, and beautiful curved flagpole work featuring pretty shades of purple in the silks.

"10th Symphony" picks up the tempo again and leads to an extended percussion feature. There's some tasty writing in this features, with "cheeses" throughout the sections and a nice split tenor idea. The guard makes the most effective use of their flag devices. by lining them down the 50 to due a pseudo-Rockford Files equipment toss.

"5th Symphony" also has some great multi-meter segments -- including an intriguing pass through. The number is fast-paced, and includes another nice snare feature with a stick toss that "wows" the crowd -- although the playing still has some cleaning to do. The guard also supports with some orange, gold and fluorescent silks that seem the perfect "hot" accent to the fast-paced ending. Once its holes are filled and it cleans, look for Reading to also be a "darkhorse" come Scranton. It's definitely ahead of where it was last year too.

Carolina Gold (2DM-26B-19P-14CG-4HG) opened the competition portion of the show with "The Music of Dave Matthews: Hanging with Dave." Right now, early season performance issues have the corps doing just that -- hanging with Dave. The crowd seemed to like the musical concept, but it didn't project well in the corps' competition opener.

Unison staccato 16th-note attacks between the musicians open the show, before melding into "Warehouse." After a solid opening statement -- which resolved with a company front -- confidence appeared to be an issue at times in the rest of the opener, which resolves with a well-conceive final impact.

"The Dreaming Tree" ballad has intonation problems in the brass, and a lot of feet issues right now. The feet are apparent, despite new black-and-gray uniforms with black pants and shoes. The tops look like the old Crossmen uniforms, with one side black and the other gray -- divided by a metallic gold panel. The color guard does make use of some pretty lavender silks with neon green dots -- although the guardwork as a whole, doesn't appear done.

"Kit Kat Jam" does have a nice battery jam with a snare shell/rim groove; a well-conceived percussion (7S-3T-4B-5PP) feature, and some nicely done guard rifle work. But endurance and intonation continue to plague the brass.

The closer, "Drive In/Drive Out" was tentative -- and clearly a recent addition. The drill is not complete, ending right before another percussion feature. The tenors are exposed throughout the number, and the design team may want to think about that, since they're really struggling in performance right now. Based on the pre-show warm-up, one of the tenors is a recent addition. The guard work is also not done through much of the closer.

While Dave Matthews sounded great in theory, it may have a tough time working in practice for Carolina Gold. However, it's clearly a work in progress, and will be interesting to see how this project grows over the course of the season.

Florida Heat Wave (2DM-23B-14P-10CG-3HG) deserves credit for just making the trip up North to compete in DCA to present its "A Night of Carnival: The Sights and Sounds of Rio De Janeiro" production. The drum major tried his best to connect with the audience, saying "Hello Lewisburg. Enjoy the show and thanks for inviting us." The crowd seemed to like the gesture.

After a confident opening statement, "Brazil Carnival" features the familiar strains of "Brazil," "Carnaval," "I Got to Rio," and "Santa Esmerelda." While there are so energetic moment, the opener had some rough spots in the color guard, and among the soprano soloist. Still, the corps puts out a better ensemble sound than part memory.

The ballad of "The Girl from Ipanema" slows things down, and finds the percussion (4S-2T-5B-3PP) sending the tenor players to the pit for some much-needed help. The only problem is that it's tough to get added contribution, since the pit itself lacks equipment -- with just a xylophone, set of bells, suspended cymbal, set of timbales, and bongos. The color guard does contribute some pretty sky blue, aqua, green and gold silks to the number, which needs much greater projection at present.

"Esta Nocha" picks things up and has a percussion feature that finds the snares moving to the front to play mounted tenors -- ala the Kingston Grendier features of 2000 and '01 on a smaller scale. The snares show great energy and effort in their feature, which is well-received by the audience. Unfortunately, the brass re-entry is weak and diminishes some of the effect.

"Pais Tropical '04" is the closer, and gets the crowd clapping along -- even is the selection lost some energy throughout. The guard work is not done, and that fact is amplified by some members just standing, and others trying to sway to the music and clap. The corps resolves the show with a big impact and a packed box near the front sideline -- although some of the effect was lost by endurance issues.

The Lehigh Valley Knights (1DM-17B-19P-12CG) performed in exhibition, and turned on the crowd -- despite following the much bigger Empire Statesmen and Buccaneers. In new uniforms -- featuring a mostly white tunic, with black accents around the shoulder framing a red triangle by the neck -- the corps continues to play with a higher degree of excellence each year, and this year might be a contender for the DCI Division III crown with its "Patterns of Knight" production -- which explores the connections between visual patterns and musical form. The corps appeared to be greeted with a warm reception, although it might have a been a bit deceiving as an area fireworks display began on the horizon just as the corps began its warm-up.

The show begins in the pit (7PP) with musical excerpts from Philip Sparke's "Dance Movements," eventually moving to the field percussion (4S-3T-5B) with some split snare parts. The corps moves well throughout the selections, and seems to get good impact from its small brass section.

During the ballad, the color guard has some nice sabre work, although has a drill curiously placing four silks on one side, and two on another.

There are some well done muted trumpet selections from a tune from the Cavalier's 1998 production next. The number also features some pretty sheer purple silks, and the three tenor players joining the pit to provide some additional impact.

Camille Saint-Saens's "Bacchanale" from Samson and Delilah, brings the show to a rousing finish -- and probably is the highlight of the production. The piece has some nice bass drums runs, and eventually a percussion feature. While the snare work is pretty well executed for this early, some of the clarity may be lost by the dry tuning. That tuning may come from two of the snares appearing to have Falam bottom heads, and the other two having plastic heads. Still, "The Bacchanale" has a nice multi-meter segment, and is well received by the audience -- even though the corps hasn't finished the drill yet. Still, this is the best its looked at this stage of the season ever. Depending on its performance progress, it could be a major player in D-III this season.

Based on the full concert-side crowd and reception for all the corps in a scenic college stadium with a "Field Turf" synthetic surface, the "Cavalcade of Champions" show may also someday be a major player again among DCA shows. The turnout and enthusiasm is particularly pleasing, given the fact that last year's initial plans to return the show to the area were cut short by severe thunderstorms. It appeared as if DCA officials seemed quite pleased.

Edited June 30, 2004 by Mike Ferlazzo

[corpsreps]

Thanks for the nice review - especially of LVK. Note, though, LVK dropped Claire de Lune months ago. The ballad is Movement II of Philip Sparke's Dance Movements. The opener is Movements I & III of that work.

[Mike Ferlazzo]

Thanks for the info. They didn't have a write-up on the corps in last night's program, so I got the 2004 show info. off the corps' website. They probably need to update it too.

I should have known that, but I simply couldn't remember what they played, since it was my first viewing of their show. It's a good one too!!

[Jeff Ream]

well done. maybe you should have covered for DCW last night...i now feel pressure :P

[mellobecka05]

thanks for the great review...we've weorked our ##### off, and it was nice to see the fruits of our labor...great job to all...we were honored to be performing alongside all of the other corps...thanks for a great night!!

[JimF-LowBari]

Any good guesses on the crowd size (probably in another thread I missed).

I missed this year but was at the Monsoon/Lightning Fest last year and there were a heckuva lot of people for a day that was threatening and a weather forecast that was really scary. The wild part was a lot of people showed up to buy tickets the afternoon of the show and drove a ways in spite of the weather forecast.

[usmpiano]

Thanks for the nice review - especially of LVK. Note, though, LVK dropped Claire de Lune months ago. The ballad is Movement II of Philip Sparke's Dance Movements. The opener is Movements I & III of that work.

Their ballad is the Allegro woodwind feature?

Edited June 30, 2004 by usmpiano

[Jamon98]

Their ballad is the Allegro woodwind feature?

No the ballad is Lento, the brass feature, whatever number movement that is.

[toph34]

Any good guesses on the crowd size (probably in another thread I missed).

I missed this year but was at the Monsoon/Lightning Fest last year and there were a heckuva lot of people for a day that was threatening and a weather forecast that was really scary. The wild part was a lot of people showed up to buy tickets the afternoon of the show and drove a ways in spite of the weather forecast.

Our EXTREMELY gracious host Dennis said the number of tickets sold by Saturday morning was around 2000. Hard to tell from the field but it felt like I was performing for a Super Bowl-sized crowd they were that enthusiastic. I LOVE the people of Lewisburg!! I could not have asked for a better first senior corps experience. Thanks, Lewisburg!!

ps. The weather was PERFECT!

Edited June 30, 2004 by toph34