7/15 Murray, KY Review, Critique and other Stuff

[Directorofbands]

OOPS!!! It was #2....... WAAAY too tired to have written this thing. Oh well....here goes.

Colts (5th Place - 76.55)

Me - The Colts show was "pleasant". Nothing flashy, just nice music. I felt their visual package was nice with a strong guard. Fundamental marching was coming across well. A few times heard feet in the horns, but minor, to say the least. Like I said....pleasant. Nice drill which seemed to have more velocity than Spirit, Crown or Southwind. (Did I say pleasant?)

Wife and Sis - Guard wasnice.....they liked the work and the integration of the guard into the drill.

Daughter - "What's wrong with their uniforms, daddy?"

Niece - "They're okay, I guess." (In bored voice)

A few other comments: My daughter thought Glassmen's unis looked like Oreo Cookies. (Black on top and bottom with cream in the middle.) She then starting describing each corps by the type of Oreo cookie they would be - Spirit: Springtime Oreos, Crown: Halloween Oreos, Southwind:Thanksgiving Oreos, Colts: Christmas Oreos........you get the idea. Ahh the mind of a 12 year old.

G vs Bb:

I have given up the whole G bugle thing, although I can still hear a difference. My wife, during the Colts performance, leaned over and asked if Spirit was on Bb's and Colts on G's. When I said yes, she said that not only could she hear a difference, she could feel it. Hey, maybe I'm not losing it after all. From that point on, she picked out each horn line by G or Bb accurately (She knew Cadets were on Bb, so that was a gimme.)

Criticism - Yeah, I was a visual tech last year, so I guess I was a little more in tune for this. I was on row 66(?) and was noticing from that VERY HIGH vantage point some of the most atrocious upper body articulation (or lack thereof) in Southwind, Spirit, and Crown(to a lesser degree). Shoulders pointing to the stands, etc. Folks, it's July.....this is a fundamental problem.........concerned me greatly.

Still haven't recovered from the trip.......I have some other comments, but will wait until I'm not comatose myself.

I've got a group of about 10 band kids going to Murfreesboro with me who, after listening to my description of Cadets, are chomping at the bit ready to see this show. (3 of them are recent Cavies fans) Heh, in the immortal words of the Joker, "Wait until they get a load of "Cadets"".

BTW - Between myself, the wife, sis, daughter and niece, we dropped about $150 at the Cadets souvie booth. Funny thing is, to date, I think the sum total of my Cadets purchases was $15 over the last 20 years.