Phantombass Posted July 7, 2002 Share Posted July 7, 2002 Well I'm off, expect a review just after midnight Eastern time. It's a tough job, but somebody's got to do it :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantombass Posted July 8, 2002 Author Share Posted July 8, 2002 Ok, here it is: I got to the stadium around 1:30, got to catch some drumline/pit rehersal in sectionals on the field. Bass drumline seemed a little weaker than last year. Interesting line setup this year for Cadet's drumline, removing the tenth snare to have 9 snares (One of which was a girl who can hang with the best of them), and adding a quad to march 6 tenor players. The line was playing and marching a segment of the show a little shorter than two minutes long. The bass phrase was fairly simple, the quads and snares had a harder part, but I expect as happens many times in the activity (And in this drumline in particular) the hose will soon come my friend. The drums ran their parts for an hour or so then the hornline came in for their field time in sectionals. This was the begining of the supposed "Clinic" which for the fifty or so of us that showed up was a HUGE dissapointment. After an hour and a half of watching the hornline run and clean the opener and 15 minutes of the ballad, everyone in the stands was told to, "Leave and present your ticket for reentry in an hour." Just after this the Cadets had a full corps ensemble and run through for about 45 minutes. I was extremely dissapointed with this, having wanted to get two reads on the complete Cadets show this afternoon. So I left the stadium and proceeded to the lots to see what I could find... First I saw Kavalier's colorguard doing some flag-work, which looked to be fairly clean except for the 2 girls (Different each time through) who would manage to screw it up somehow... Then I saw Kavaliers drumline, who is, ummm, BIG, 10 snares 6 quads, 5 basses, 5 cymbals. Bassline seemed timid, alot of times I couldn't hear the articulation of the notes (Is that sixteenths or 3's??). The quadline was playing somewhat decently and the snareline sounded dirty. It's hard to take 10 players (Many of which probably have never marched corps) and have them play in a line that big cleanly. I hope that they keep on going at it though... Then I went on to Magic's drumline, who was playing quite a bit more confidently than last week, and to put it simply, more cleanly. Since this was a second read on the line I had a chance to look at the drum arranging a little bit more closely, I don't think that I like the way the bassdrum parts are intergrated into the drumline's parts as a whole, just a personal thing, but I thought I would throw that in there. The quads fubbled an attack or two but were playing more cleanly (And placing their diddles) more than the week before. The snare line was more crisp and the basses seemed to be having less mental errors. Orlando was not as good as the kids from Crown drumwise but better than Kiwanis for sure... Next on to Crown's bassdrum sectional, having marched in a top bassline what I point out will be picky but that's the way I am, let me first say this is a top 10 bassline for sure. It seemed like the guys on 1 and 3 were bassdrummers for sure, bass 2 played the drum like a snare player on a bass, his 4's were not placed, but simply thrown in there. Bass 4 seemed like he was probably a bass player and bass 5 seemed like he just made the cut, his stroke a little bit loopy and his resting position just horrid (Anyone from Crown's drum staff out there, please get that, that's an easy one to fix)... Then Crown's snare and quadline arrived and the line played some stuff before I had to run and catch the first corps. 8's were ok, snares were dirty on the final release two notes of a lick they had been working on in sectionals. quads were the best I had seen since Cadets earlier. So I was off to the stadium. MAGIC OF ORLANDO: Magic didn't seem as on as they had been the week prior, and after talking to a corps member, "IT WAS OUR WORST SHOW ALL SEASON," it was confirmed, there was some phasing visualy in the hornline's feet all night. The show itself is good, I think that compared to Magic's main competitor at the show (Crown) it is a more complete package (not to mention the fact that the drill is much cleaner than Carolina). The second piece has some percussion arranging that can only make a person think, "Ohhhh, BD." The drill writing has been making fans around me say, "Oh," and things like, "Yeah, that's cool" at both the Magic shows I've been to. At the end of the show a snare player fainted and the snares around him held him up and removed his drum. After talking to a member of the corps I found out that he had been having heart problems earlier in the week, and had earlier in the dfay given blood for testing. I wish that corps staffs would use their heads and tell people that they need to take a show off in situations like this. Health is more important than anything else and a person's health should come before a tenth of a point on a judge's sheet. I hope this guy is doing alright and can finish out the remainder of the season without anymore incidents. KIWANIS KAVALIERS: For Kiwanis this is a very strong year. Big corps for them with some interesting programing. The show seems very disconjoined, consisting of some cartoon theme songs jumbled together into a show that could be entitled something extremely goofy like, "Justice League... of Canada", or "Super Friends." The show seems like a college football halftime show, a marching band show if you will. The one thing that this corps really needs to lose are those condom hats, or head-covers or whatever they choose to call them. They do not fit the corps or ANY corps for that matter. I was surprised that Kiwanis had a capable soprano soloist (Or 2?) whose skills were showcased quite nicely. The dirtiness in the drumline was noticable still when watching the complete package, but I think the staff is using the drumline more as a general effect unit as much as anything else. But If they could clean that snareline up a little bit more that would be great. All in all I was impressed with what Kiwanis has put together this year. Carolina Crown: Crown's show starts off like a large diesel equipment truck hurdeling itself down the highway at 80 (or make that 65, their not BD you know :P ) miles an hour, but this truck simply runs out of gas at the end and sheepishly pulls itself to its final destination. What Crown does have going for it are quite a few interesting transitions from piece to piece featuring the marching section of their percussion section. What they have against them is a hard task to overcome though... It seems that their drill was either written above the corps capability level or was just not taught to them well. The visual was simply horrendous. The guard (Decked out in pastel yellow and pink dresses) has dropped the tires and two by fours of last year and has picked up bows to shoot their sabres to other guard members with (Cool effect idea ;) ). I think out of all the corps tonight I watched this guard the most (Or they drew me in and were intergrated into the show better than most). Summing things up for the Carolina Crown, The corps first half of the show was FAR better than Magic, but the last half just seemed to drag on. If Carolina can clean that visual they will make top 12 this year, if not, they'll be bowing out Friday afternoon. CROSSMEN: was next up (Who beat Boston last year, isn't the lineup ALWAYS in reverse order???), Crossmen is a step up last year and is putting out their best show since 97's rendition of Birdland (If not 92). The percussion section is quite clean, the drumline was a little dirty in their features tonight but I understand that it was an off-night. The drill is not super demanding but it is a deffinate step up from last year senior-corpish outing which featured the easiest top 12 drill ever. The music program is great, this program deffinatly flowed nicely. The YEA corps are doing something right, both corps GE were great. Drum's will very well be top 3 again, giving the percussion section its highest finish since 97's third place finish. Crossmen was a fun corps to watch and their rendition of Don Ellis' Strawberry Soup was pretty good, the sop trio of screamers needs some work but from what I understand they are improving quite a bit. BOSTON CRUSADERS: The demand is not there, like in many of Boston's previous outtings. The show is American in nature, with a few things that kind of ticked me off. The main thing was the signs that scrolled song lyrics through the closer and opener. It was EXTREMELY Cheesy. The snareline was pretty clean and the quadline is undoubtedly Boston's best ever. The show was pretty clean and Boston will be one of those corps in the 9-12 spot come Saturday night. Boston will be in finals this year once again. CADETS: WOW, program's GE out the @#$, the park and blow will be this year's drum corps moment. It's good, :) The guard wears old style dresses and when swing dancing is quite remmanissant of a GAP comercial. The percussion arranging that I had heard issolated earlier in the day sounds GREAT with the ensemble. For somke reason I don't remember much about this corps, I do remember thinking to myself, it's good, Top 4 for sure, but not a championship show (Much like how I thought after my first viewing of BD's 2001 show). Cadets are stronger than last year, but from the looks of things most corps are getting stronger this year. THE STADIUM: Was new, REALLY new, opened last week, really nice. The field was the newer extremely soft astro turf, with the rubber chips throughout (GOD, that crud can sure get in your shoes). The concessions were extremely cheap (1.50 for a 20 oz. soda, 2.25 for a piece of flatbread pizza). One interesting concession was a bucket of cotton candy (Wierd!). The crowd was pretty respectful tonight, only one moment where fans were yelling out during a show that I can recall. The attendance was LOW, but this is the first time this show has been held, I am sure next year some better advertising will help this show grow. Central New York is really turning into a great place for drum corps, not the best, but better for sure. Well, I may get to another contest later this week, till then, SEE YA~ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilentFlamDrag Posted July 8, 2002 Share Posted July 8, 2002 One word... paragraphs.... helps the reading. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lynkin Posted July 8, 2002 Share Posted July 8, 2002 yeah, that problem sort of thwarted my reading the review. But I noticed you wrote about the stadium and the warmups which is a very interesting thing.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantombass Posted July 8, 2002 Author Share Posted July 8, 2002 Can't work this Dell of my parents, the tab key just shortcuts to somewhere and the spaces I put in never leave the indentation once the message has been posted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sluggo Posted July 8, 2002 Share Posted July 8, 2002 Ok, here it is: After an hour and a half of watching the hornline run and clean the opener and 15 minutes of the ballad, everyone in the stands was told to, "Leave and present your ticket for reentry in an hour." Just after this the Cadets had a full corps ensemble and run through for about 45 minutes. I was extremely dissapointed with this, having wanted to get two reads on the complete Cadets show this afternoon. So I left the stadium and proceeded to the lots to see what I could find... wow, that is very dissappointing. I know all of the clinics that we did, we would always do the FULL corps rehearsal, and had fun with it. Even though we had to have our shirts on....I've seen pics of the cadets in the same shirts/shorts....kind of interesting, but professional. We just made it another attempt to clean. I remember that Fiedler would always use a mega phone and explain what was going on, while we were running in between sets, after stopping, and just showing the kids what a practice should be like for your HS Band. (I know I always got killed when I would run back to the set we were trying to clean, and everyone would throw stuff at me if I said anything...) Thanks for the review though, it was great! (I won't comment about the paragraphs either!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
strutta Posted July 9, 2002 Share Posted July 9, 2002 Hi, Phantombass. You wouldn't happen to be a Cadets/Crossmen/Yea fan would you? <_< Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantombass Posted July 9, 2002 Author Share Posted July 9, 2002 Actually, having marched Phantom I do not particularly like either of the two YEA corps. I felt last year Cadets weren't that entertaining and Crossmen had an easier visual package than most. But I feel both programs are good, fun, and full of G.E. this year. I do think that Phantom will edge off the Crossmen come Madison though :D . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xmen89 Posted July 9, 2002 Share Posted July 9, 2002 But I am not a YEA! fan, infact I think the way they deal with recruiting and running corps is kind of rediculous. In what way? (fixed quote tag)gd Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
csugrad Posted July 9, 2002 Share Posted July 9, 2002 umm.. what happened to the SPIRIT review? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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