Hornell, NY Show Review

[Geneva]

"Music Under the Stars" Hornell, NY July 11, 2002

Well, it was my first field competition of the season. Time to repay you all for some great reviews!

PRE-SHOW NOTES:

It was a beautiful evening in upstate NY with blue skies and a few wispy high clouds, temperatures in the mid-70's and low humidity with a cool light breeze. Perfect weather for the corps to get down to some serious performing!

We learned as the show opened that the new astroturf field at Hornell High School had just been laid down as of 10 AM and the show had nearly been cancelled due to concerns that the field would not be ready. The crowd pretty much packed the bleachers of this small stadium (? 3,000-4,000). This was a very user friendly show in that I purchased the non-reserved $12 seat as the gates opened one hour before show time and was able to walk right up to a high 50 yard line seat next to friends. Parking was easy and this show was only 50 minutes from my doorstep. You couldn't ask for more except that I had unsuccessfully petitioned my 10 year old son to accompany me...and I'm paying for this kid's drum lessons which he loves. Go figure!

CORPS and SCORES:

Division II

1) Magic of Orlando..........................83.80

2) Patriots of Rochester, NY.............73.30

Division I

1) Cadets of Bergen County................……....88.85

2) Crossmen, Philadelphia.....................……..83.40

3) Boston Crusaders.............................……...82.30

4) Spirit of JSU, Jackson, Alabama...........….76.30

5) Kiwanis Kavaliers, Kitchener, Ontario..….67.25

COMMENTS (in order of appearance)

MAGIC OF ORLANDO

Drum line 6 snares 4 Quads 5 Bass 8 pit 60 horns

They produce rich sonorous sounds playing symphonic band style music which is nice but not very accessible. Drill patterns move slowly and their overall style is very controlled and homogenized. A very low impact show for 60 horns.

I found it interesting that their eight or so lead sopranos could survive balance-wise against a horn line of this size. In my marching days, I was in a line of 54 with 12 leads and we had all we could do to avoid being buried by our baritone line. I guess this just points to the fact that bari lines go for a different sound now (broader and less projected).

Aside fom their finale they generated little fire. I guess I'm showing my age in that I feel cheated unless a corps generates some good solid impact points in their show a couple times a minute.

PATRIOTS

Smallest corps of the night by a considerable margin. 26 Horns 6 snares 4 quads 5 bass 8 pit

Considering their size, the horn line sound was decent. They had some phasing and intonation problems in their opener. Second tune had some pretty, rich harmonious sounds at the end. Like Magic, I found their music to be inaccessible symphonic style stuff plus they were challenged by small size. Drum line was reasonably tight, but the rudimental density of their parts was low.

KIWANIS KAVALIERS

10 snares 6 Quads 11 pit Horns mid 50's

This corps takes the concept of concealing eye gaze to enhance military bearing to the extreme. They wear skull caps which cover their eyes with a fabric which they can see through, but is opaque to the audience...outside, indeed!

The crowd responded well to them. There was drama and directionality to their music which was comprised of familiar pieces inspired by the superheroes in a show entitled The Hall of Justice (Batman, Spiderman, Flash Gordon, Superman). There was some nice high soprano work and visual interest with many pass-throughs in the drill. The walking bass line from their 9 contras who were kneeling in the Flash Gordon piece was nice. Overall this was a good performance with some outstanding moments.

SPIRIT

7 snares 4 Quads 4 Bass 11 pit 62 Horns

They came off the line and immediately grabbed your attention by hurling one of their red velvet clad guard members up into the air! I found the red color accent provided by their guard set against the light blue of the musical ensemble to be eye pleasing. This horn line had more impact than any of the prior lines. Their music had much more momentum with a sense of direction to it which reached out to the viewer. You felt like the music was moving towards an identifiable climax point. Interestingly, there was original material added to the David Holsinger composition (Easter Symphony, 3rd Movement). There were some nice ensemble sounds from the sopranos and some dense rudimental work by their drum line. I enjoyed the “sound-bending” effect which the horn line created by horn waving maneuvers during sustained chords. They seem well positioned to become a finalist this year. Welcome back, Spirit!

CROSSMEN

9 snares 4 Quads 5 Bass 4 Cymbals 9 pit 60 horns

They start from a very spread position on the field with drum line to the left and the horns in a tight block to the right. This all converges toward the center with pulsating rhythmic lines executed well by the sopranos as the guard shines with some very energized dance moves at a high cadence during “Heat of the Day”. This opener really cooks! The second number “A Candle in the Window” features a rich sounding soprano solo. “Strawberry Soup” also was very well performed and the crowd really seemed to dig on this resulting in a rousing standing ovation at the conclusion of their show. I think they have a good shot at top six this year.

BOSTON CRUSADERS

8 snares 5 quads 5 bass 11 pit 63 horns

They present a very nice on field appearance with their rather dark, but very sharp cadet style uniforms (harking back to old Boston) sparked by the reflectorized buckle on their cross stripes. They are well set off by the white and gold uniforms of the guard. I am amazed at the resiliency of this organization in metamorphosing from the drum corps’ drum corps of the 60’s into a state of the art drum corps of the 21st century.

They open with a very demanding arrangement of Appalachian Spring featuring some bounding effervescence from the guard. This sets off well against their next show segment which features some nice big band sounds. I really liked the musical content of Boston’s show. I felt it was the most demanding on the field tonight. If they can clean it a little more, they have the potential to go places at DCI championships.

CADETS

9 snares 6 Quads 4 Bass 12 pit 64 horns

They present an interesting opening appearance with the traditional cadet style uniforms on the playing members and 1940’s street garb on the guard keying on their theme of “An American Revival”. This show is one of the most accessible out there. There is a lot of energy and fast cadence work. The drum line presents some chops with dense well-executed rudimental work. What amazes me is how well they sell what could have been a very shallow, gooey flag waving type of performance (they actually recite the Pledge of Allegiance) into a really joyous and fun presentation. The strength of their performance is the key. They really push all the right buttons and the audience was totally involved. There was some wild swing dancing by the guard (and horn players, too). The on field strip by the male portion of the guard with a very choreographed donning of military uniforms was unlike anything I have ever seen on a drum corps field! The panache with which they pull this off and create a successful effect is another sign that this is a performance in which the total is greater than the sum of the individual parts.

I am sorry that I cannot comment on their recent program changes which I understand they have been putting in place, since this was my first viewing of them. Judging from their past years performance history, Cavaliers had better watch their back sides. This corps is a strong finisher. The crowd totally loved their performance tonight.

The show concluded with a drum majors only retreat by 9:51, a very efficiently run night of drum corps for which the show sponsors should be commended. The crowd left with good tastes in their mouths after the Cadets victory performance in which they stormed the sidelines during Boogy Woogy Bugle Boy.

Hope to see you all at Madison!

:)

[chsdrumajor]

WOW very educated review! THANKS!!!

[SWEuph04]

yes i agree, great review

[MDempsey]

I concur. Well done. As an upstate NYer originally I could feel the 70 degree temps and wispy clouds.

One of the few that had a listing of horn/drum compliments. I was unaware that hornlines were in the 60 member range these days.

[Geneva]

I was unaware that hornlines were in the 60 member range these days.

Hi Mike,

Yes, it is a different world now than the drum corps that we grew up with. These division one "survivors" can pretty much pick and choose the talent level and composition of their corps. That is something we only dreamed about. The result is a much higher average level of musicianship. The top players in our day probably stacked up well against those in today's corps, but the difference is the quality of the players on the inner parts. No "dead wood" in these corps! It gives them the ability to learn and change music and drill more quickly than in our day.

Having said that, don't expect that 60 horns now has the same type of impact that 60 horns of 30 years ago would have had (if there were any lines that big). The playing philosophy is different now with ffff meaning a different level of intensity especially for the baritones and contras. The result is a more consistent sound quality, but less of the wild (and sometimes raw) sounds which used to give us chills.

[Rick351714]

Patriots Drum Line has more notes out there then any D2 corps, and then to boot moves just as much as some D1's.

[Geneva]

Patriots Drum Line has more notes out there then any D2 corps, and then to boot moves just as much as some D1's.

Hi Rick,

I should have added the disclaimer that I am not a percussionist. Just an overall "in the stands" impression. :)

[MDempsey]

Hey Geoff

I agree. I am also a brassguy and the level of expertise in todays hornilines is definitely better. In the old days(sorry if I hurt anyones feelings) the guys that could play soprano were leads/soloists and if you didnt play well you were 2/3rd/4th sop. Lended itself to some pretty weak soplines. The low brass seemed to not have the same problem in any of the corps i marched in.

I worked for DCI all 3 years they had THE MUSIC GAMES in Orlando and the low sops in BD/SCV/CBC were only slightly less talented than the leads and oftentimes i suspect the "leads" divvied up parts and spread the harmonies around.

I think every aspect of drum corps is better these days. It takes a bigger commitment and dues arent cheap and the book more demanding and the drill...yikes!!! Could I even do CBCs drill?

[Rick351714]

Hey dont be sorry! its all good. I just put my view, you put yours its all good. Hope you can see the show again. It is going to be changed so much. We have no GE yet. Just got the drill down. The planned finish for the show should be amazing. Hope you enjoy it.