Utica, NY Review

[smj02]

Here’s my review of Drums Along the Mohawk, Utica, NY. I’ve never marched corps, but have been a fan for over a decade and a frequent visitor to DCP. I’ll try to be honest and fair. I’ll be talking about brass more than anything else. Seats were on the left 20 (facing the field) in the 4th row, so visual comments will not include form cleanliness. I was accompanied by several newbies, and will relate some of their thoughts as well. I did not take notes on paper, but did my best to make mental ones. If I say something that’s inaccurate, I apologize - I will do my best.

Venue: D’Alessandro Stadium, Proctor H.S. Built into the hillside. Wide seating area, not very tall (20-25 rows?). Stadium faced north, so that the setting sun in the west didn’t impede the view or cause squinting. Pedestrian flow not very good - only one entrance, you entered the stadium at the top and worked your way down to your seat. Due to arrival right at show time and the need to run to the car during intermission, I didn’t get to check out the souvies or concessions. Also, leg room was ok if you’re under 5’8”, not the greatest if you’re average to tall. Plenty of parking, not too far from the stadium.

Weather: Warm (low to mid-80s at showtime), humid, muggy, with no wind. Probably not much unlike what the D-I’s had experienced in their recent swing south.

Crowd: Filled the stadium, some onlookers on the hill outside the stadium’s chain-link fence. Don’t know if the onlookers were unable to buy seats due to sell out or too cheap to buy their own seats. For the organizers’ sake, I hope that the former was the case, not the latter. Demographically, seemed to be a mostly local crowd - families, seniors, couples. Since it is Upstate New York, quite probably a large contingent of former marchers from a former hotbed of the activity. I didn’t notice any large groups of area band students, nor did I see any school buses in the parking lot, but that doesn’t mean that they were not there. Finally, the crowd was respectful of the performances and I had no problems with crying babies, cell phones, blabbermouths, or other stands distractions.

Each review will contain a nutshell of my thoughts prior to the performance and the review.

Beatrix

Pre-view: I enjoyed this corps a few years ago in Allentown and was eager to see their treatment of Gershwin for this trip to the States.

Review: Entertaining, but rough around the edges. I wonder if some combination of jet lag, the first show in front of an American audience, or the heat and humidity had some effect on the performance. Some small flubs in the solos, some musical phasing within brass sections, from one brass section to another, and between brass and percussion. I am hesitant to comment on balance based on my seating location, but at times the low brass overpowered the trumpets. Take that with a grain of salt as the baritones were often 20 yards closer to me than the trumpets. Visually, there was some inconsistency from member to member with regard to horn angles and body carriage.

On to the positives. I liked the musical book, one of the most melodic of the night. Some of the arrangements were faithful to the original, others were more creative. A fair description is that it was a revue of Gershwin show tunes - long arrangements of several staples, with quotes from others that were not featured in great length. If it was a Gershwin Broadway hit, there was probably a reference to it. Despite the occasional phasing, the brassline was strong. For their size, they put out a good amount of sound. I recall the mellos in particular having a few powerful impacts. Also, the trumpet soloist had a couple of nice solos. Unfortunately, my brain is running out. I don’t remember too many smaller details of the show. Apologies to the percussion and guard. Apparently I didn’t pay enough attention to them. I’ll try to fill in the blanks at Allentown.

Overall, a very enjoyable production that is probably near the borderline of making II/III finals (caveats: I’m not sure of their competitive status, and I haven’t seen another DII corps this year for comparison.) Looking forward to a second viewing tomorrow in Allentown.

St. John’s

Pre-view: Looking forward to my first-ever viewing of these guys, hoping to see the first of two entertaining Pirates shows.

Review: First of all, I was sorry that they had to follow Beatrix, who was triple their size. They’re small, both in physical stature and corps size. But they proved that that was not a bad thing. I’m not going to point out any negatives regarding their performance, because they played their hearts out, impressing me and the audience nearby.

I will mention a couple of perceived design flaws though. For one, in the opener only the brass and guard were on the field. The percussion was in the pit - basses on their drums, snares and toms playing either more basses, large floor toms, or both - my memory is iffy. It created a unique sound, but reduced their coverage of the field. The other thing that I took issue with was the dissonant chord at or near the end of the opener and again at or near the end of the show. It didn’t sit well with me - the rest of the show was very tonal, except for this one atonal chord, and possibly the phrase leading up to it. I felt that there were better ways to musically express the angst caused by pirates than throwing that chord in there.

Now for the flip side. The pirate theme was portrayed throughout via the guard uniforms, guard work, props/equipment, and drum major uniform. Although the show used slower tempos and less demand than the larger groups, it was appropriately written for the corps’ age. They were (I think) the only corps of the night to use G bugles. Their intonation was stellar in many of the exposed parts where I was paying attention to it. Notes that resolved to unison octaves in different voices were usually well-centered, and in general they did a good job of matching each other pitch-wise within sections. I was glad to see that these youngsters are trained in playing fundamentals.

Again, I remember little visually. Not very much field coverage, but it worked in keeping the music together. The guard used shovels with detachable water bottles in the middle of the show. Just as their show was a bit of a miniature version of the Magic’s show, their use of the water bottles was a bit less liberal than Magic’s, but still caught the crowd’s attention. And lastly, there was a very young gentleman in the pit who was playing the cymbals intently, and appeared to be having the time of his life. Ultimately, that’s what this activity is all about. To sum up, an entertaining show from a young corps whose efforts the crowd very much appreciated. Their performance exceeded my expectations.

Kiwanis Kavaliers

Pre-view: Having enjoyed their last two productions, curious to see how their take on West Side Story stacks up. I’ve considered them the most entertaining of the non-semifinalist corps for a couple of years, we’ll see if WSS lets them keep that mantle.

Review: First of all, this is not a WSS show that attempts to cram every piece of the musical into the book. The show begins with a melodic treatment of “Tonight”. From the beginning, I felt as though their hornline is comparable to last year, the soloists have stepped up. Their arrangement of “Cool” is unlike any I have heard before. It’s not as choppy as the Blue Devils snippets last year, but it doesn’t flow as well as what I remember of Cadets ’94. It does contain several section features and it re-works the melody quite a bit. The ballad starts off as a bit of a “Somewhere” tease - I really did think that they were heading into a full-blown version of it, before a 90-degree turn (figuratively speaking) led into “I Have a Love”. To me, it was very effective. A percussion break cued the entrance into the closer, and just in case the rhythm didn’t tip you off, the color guard is in character to let you know that “America” is coming.

My general impression was that the show was more serious than last year’s Beatles show, but still strove to be entertaining. The “Tonight” opener didn’t have quite the velocity, excitement, or anticipation that I’d like this show to have, and the rest of the show was in a quasi-state of limbo. It wasn’t quite complex enough to catch the judges’ eye, and it wasn’t quite unabashedly fun enough to capture the audience’s heart. For those reasons, the show didn’t strike me as much as Beatles ’03 or Superheroes ’02. This isn’t to say that I didn’t like it. The music performance level is comparable to last year - once they clean up some of the ensemble problems between brass and percussion, they will probably surpass it.

A note about the trash cans - the guard used them for staging (stood on them) at two or three points in the show, but I did not see them playing them, nor did anyone else in my group. There was actually some disappointment that they didn't play them. They may have ditched that due to the problems that other reviewers have mentioned. One final thought: this show seems not very far from their WSS show in ’96 - when they placed fourteenth. The level of achievement today throughout Div I is clearly on a different plane.

Capital Regiment

Pre-view: Last year’s show was hit-and-miss for me, I enjoyed parts of it, but overall I sensed some lack of theme or coordination that left me unsatisfied with the product as a whole. Heading into this show, I’m looking for more coherence in design and strong performance levels as they duke it out with Seattle.

Review: I wanted a more complete show, and I got it. I wanted a higher performance level, and they delivered. The corps was clearly on a different level from Kiwanis in all captions. I considered them a “finals-caliber” corps. The opening statement of Old Hundredth got a nearby audience member humming briefly, although within about six hummed notes the transition into Ballet Exaltare had begun. BE was typical Holsinger - ostinato, syncopated low brass figures, and similar chordal development to Cadets ’92 and ’93. After the end of BE, there were roughly eight counts of “down time” for applause, then the corps turned backfield as the show flowed on. This left the crowd confused - they wanted to applaud, but didn’t want to disrupt the performance by covering up the on-going music.

I remember little from the ballad. For one thing, I heard a ringing sound that I couldn’t place. At first, I thought it was marimbas with a sustained pedal, but it was coming from straight in front of me, and the pit was far to my right. I seached for amps disguised along the sideline to no avail. Suddenly, eureka! - the drumline was using the same metal bars that Magic used at the beginning of last year’s show. Or so I think. I had another confusion during the ballad as well. The guard was wearing a dark top. They had come on in bright neon, “Spin Cycle” green, with flags to match. At some point, they had changed into this darker color. I made a mental note to ask my companions if they had seen when the change occurred. Hold this thought for a few sentences from now…

The above distractions diverted my attention from the hornline (congrats - it doesn’t happen that often :P ), so I can’t comment on the musical content of the ballad. I enjoyed Scootin’ on Hardrock. It was in a similar vein to the Cavaliers’ funk/jazz productions of recent years, but was different enough that it did not strike me as a “copycat”. My only disappointment in it was that when they pulled into the park ‘n blow I didn’t perceive a crank in the volume. This could have been due to my poor seat though. It’s a blur to the re-statement of Old Hundredth at the end, which ties the show together decently.

After the show had ended, I went to ask my neighbor when the guard had changed into the dark tops, and just before I spoke, I looked at a guard member and my jaw dropped. She was wearing the neon top again, with different pants. I had certainly seen that they had changed, but hadn’t processed the changes mentally. I don’t mind the changes of costume, I just didn't follow them closely throughout the show.

Overall, this was a good show, despite distractions. Design-wise, I think I may have been better able to follow along if there had been some common thread running throughout the show, references to Old Hundredth would work. Maybe it was there and I missed it. I was gratified that the field coverage was the best to this point of the night and had some horn and percussion activity down my way. Hopefully I’ll get a better read at Allentown.

This is taking a while to write up, second half will be along a bit later...

[smj02]

Apologies for the delayed second half of the review.

Intermission: A couple of notes about the announcer. He didn’t talk much during intermission, but it did seem like forever between the conclusion of the show and beginning of awards. There were the obligatory recognitions of volunteers, who I agree should be recognized, but the announcer said what he had to say and then spent about twice as long describing how it related to him personally.

The crowd grew very edgy, and just as it appeared that the corps were about to march on for retreat, he spontaneously decided to have a “non- [insert thirty seconds of silence, as he tryies to come up with a word]….objective” poll of placement by crowd applause. Each corps’ name was announced, applause. Then the corps marched by in review for retreat. Again, each corps’ name was announced, followed by applause. Déjà vu. Despite my gripes, the show was well-run, and overall a very pleasant experience. I wouldn’t have minded getting home 20 minutes earlier though.

Seattle Cascades

Pre-view: Have liked their 2002 and 2003 shows, especially the music. Would like to see more of the same here. Repertoire seems to differ from their formula from those last two years. Curious about the moving timpani - and hoping not to be drawn to watching them too much - don’t want to miss the other action.

Review: I’m sorry Seattle members, staff, fans, and others looking for a thorough review. I don’t have as much to write about this show. The mid-evening brain cramp that plagued me through Cap Reg continued after the intermission. A couple members of my group noticed the swaying hornline prior to the “you may take the field…”. Along with the rainsticks used by the guard, the mood was set for a “sea” introduction. Much of this show is a blur to me 24 hours later, but I remember picking out Savannah River Holiday, a very nice ballad, and some excitement in the Tempest movement. There were visual cues throughout as reminders of the nature theme. All Things Bright and Beautiful was distinctly different from the early 90’s Cavies version - Seattle has put its own stamp on it.

My major disappointment was that there was no showstopping production like Riffs in ’02 or their Latin tune last year. Despite the fact that it may not have fit with the show theme, I was hoping that with Scott Boerma arranging there would be a similar moment this year. Don’t mistake my foggy memory for a perception that this show is boring. They held my attention throughout, and were well-received by the crowd. I felt that their spread above Cap Reg was appropriate.

Magic of Orlando

Pre-view: Arrrr! I think this show will please the newbies with me. As for what I’m be looking for - what kinds of dirt, how much of it, and does it hinder my enjoyment of the show?

Review: I’m also not going to say as much about this show because I’m writing this last (I went out of order), and most of what I remember is show content that has been pointed out in other reviews many times. The opening tempo was bright and attention-grabbing. Into the second minute or so I’m not sure if the tempo dragged or the design lagged, but the show lost some steam. Somewhere fairly early in the show about 8 to 10 guard girls climb onto planks backfield that are tilted progressively, becoming close to vertical. The girls stay on by holding onto ropes. Tonight, two of them never established their footing and simply danced in front of the plank. A bit of an awkward moment, but better safe than sorry.

I was roped in by the antics of the guard throughout. When the spraying of water started, I wasn’t impressed. But it kept coming, and kept coming, and then all of a sudden it was going everywhere. I had a brief panic for the Cavaliers, who would have to march (and run) on the wet FieldTurf in ten minutes. Since the guard stole my focus - kudos to them - I paid no attention to individual marching issues.

The hornline was rough. They haven’t developed an ensemble sound yet, in many places it sounds like a bunch of individuals. Despite that, the music is entertaining, and this show is most certainly a must-see. If you haven’t seen it yet, do. It’s something to be experienced live, not on video. They were about dead even with Boston and behind Cavaliers in terms of crowd appeal, and there was a lot of disgruntlement and some booing when they were announced in 5th. I could care less about their score - I hope they’re having the time of their lives bringing audiences to their feet night after night.

Cavaliers

Pre-view: Downloaded the Orlando APD the night before the show. Listened to it. Immediately listened to it again. Audio only, this was my favorite Cavies show yet, and that’s saying a lot. Welcome to Cuba will be hard to top as my favorite chart of the year. The keyboard/timpani groove is infectious, puts a smile on my face. Couldn’t wait to see the visual to go along with it.

Review: This show is a perfect transition from their recent original music back into what could be a run of more familiar source material. I couldn’t appreciate “Frameworks” on CD, without the visual, until I came to realize the melodic motif that resurfaced in numerous rhythmic and harmonic variations. This show does the same thing, with the Bond theme as that motif. The show is literally woven around the Bond theme, and you’re lucky to not have it stuck in your head until you hit the sack. I won’t go into detail as to the content of the show; that’s been done in other reviews.

From the warmups, my companions were expecting something great. The dynamic shaping of the first four notes in the low brass set the stage for the whole show. It was so subtle yet so noticeable that you know that every I will be dotted and every t crossed. They did use narration. Three words - the first and third word were the same - towards the end of the first movement. Defined the show. You can figure it out. It got a good laugh out of the crowd. I didn’t notice the amps where I was sitting, aside from the speaking. I liked their flags during the ballad: outlines of Bond in a suit and female in the shape of a heart. It was an appropriate personification of the music.

In other reviews, I had read some disappointment in the ending. I felt that the ending will stand up ok as is. They’ve really created a pickle for themselves. The sequence beginning from the drum break out has so much excitement that it’s hard to get any better for a grand finish. I think musically, a longer extension of the phrase would make sense, but visually (albeit from my low seats), I was satisfied with the ending.

They were clearly the crowd favorite. Standing O’s in the middle of the show and I had to look for babies on the field at the end. Overall, the design is similar to the last few years. The major differences: 1) this is the most entertaining Cavies I’ve ever seen, the show is clearly geared towards audience as much as judges, and 2) the hornline plays with attitude and personality, not afraid to show a little individuality.

Boston Crusaders

Pre-view: Also purchased their Orlando APD. I like the music sans narration, sounds like Boston, but doesn’t strike me quite as much as 2000 or even last year on first listen. I’ll wait until seeing it with narration to make a judgment on that. Besides the narration, also wondering about these boxes at the beginning (and end?) of the show - how big?, what do they look like?, do they help the show?, etc… I have no doubts about the music and drill - how will I feel about the other elements?

Review:

The boxes - I called them “cubes” - were maybe 10’-12’ tall, PVC pipes covered by thin fabric on three sides. The fourth, open side faced the backfield drum major. The corps emerged from white cubes on the left at the beginning of the show and disappeared into black cubes on the right at the end. One friend thought that the order should be reversed - emerge from absence of color (black) and disappear into the combination of all colors (white). The effect of the entire corps rushing out of the boxes generated some “oohs” and “aahs” in the crowd. After the show, it took at least 20 minutes to disassemble the cubes on the track.

The narration - I didn’t hear any narration at the beginning of the show. Maybe I blocked it out. Maybe I’m going deaf. Maybe I missed it. Maybe they took it out... Don’t quote me on that. The only spoken word I heard was maybe two minutes from the end. The hornline was in a box in front of me. The guard was hidden behind a four-foot black curtain. As three or four guard members emerged from the curtain displaying shades of a color, the horn block moved forward, playing an eight-count phrase meant to represent that color. Meanwhile, the narrator stated words meant to represent that color, in tempo, usually on beats 1 and 3. At the end of each eight count phrase, the guard and row of horns moved to their left (audience’s right) as the next group emerged. My listening was divided between the words and the music. I didn’t agree with some of the word choices, and I’m not sure how much they added. After seeing this, I’m not dead-set against amps, nor do I feel that they’re essential.

At the end of the show, the crowd applauded more at the loud, fake ending before they disappeared into boxes to decaying music than at the very end. The music ended before the last guard members had reached the cubes. I think for a soft ending to work, the coordination has to be exact for it to be effective (see BD ’94). Regardless, it took a while for the crowd to applaud the end. I’m not sure what they were waiting for, because it was fairly obvious that they weren’t going to tear through the fabric for one last power chord…

The music and drill throughout were typical Boston. This could very well be the most talented corps they’ve ever had. I don’t know how they stack up against the other 5-9 corps, but I think this show would have beaten Gmen in ’01, themselves and Phantom in ’02 for fifth place, and would have been nipping at Vanguard’s heels last year. I’m sure Allentown will provide some more excitement for that 5-9 group this weekend.

And I’m spent. I’m sorry if I seemed to rag on the earlier corps more than the later ones. No disrespect intended. I paid attention to different things as the show progressed. If you enjoyed my comments, please let me know and I’ll attempt to review Allentown/Hershey/Hornell, or some portion of that. If not, I’ll save myself the trouble.

[GStuffJoe]

Excellent review, as a fellow newbie I'm very impressed!!

I look forward to future reviews from you! :)

- JS

[arno0940]

Great review! Your time and effort reviewing

even the smaller corps (Beatrix and St.John's) is appreciated. Often people say little of the Division 2 & 3 corps and jump straight to the Div 1. You reviewed each corps equally, Thanks!

[DrumCorpMom]

Great Review!!! I'm glad to see a review of some of the smaller corps indepth instead of concentrating on the big corps. As a newbie to drum corp. in general, it's frustrating that everyone skims over the smaller corps (my son is a rookie with K Kavaliers) with very little information. Thank you for you input.