Drum Beauty (Part 1)

[jlhiatt]

Here it is. My first DCP review.

Well, first of all, thank you to Carrie Ellender for her drum corps faith today as I almost didn't make it to this show at all. My mom bailed out when she heard the weather forecast late this afternoon. Storms in south Minneapolis suburbs and some heading north of St. Paul. My mom offered to go to dinner and a moive instead. Naturally, being the drum corps nut that I am, I declined. I kind of let her have it, too, for canceling and being such a wuss. The weather, by the way, DID clear up.

As I scrambled to find another person to go with, I called my older sister, Jodie who is involved in negotiations on the closing of her house. After a bit of waiting, we both went together. Unfortunately, we missed Troopers and Pioneer. Sorry. I really wanted to see Troopers 'cause I wanted to see what they could do with Javelin and Frank Ticheli's "American Elegy." I don't think we'll see them at semifinals this year but given their score, they've obviously made some changes and improvement.

Okay. First of all, a few gripes. DCI needs to do a better job keeping up with last minute changes in venue and corps appearances. For the umpteenth time, this show was NOT in Stillwater, MN as it has been pretty much since it's inception in 1956. Stillwater is getting a NEW high school stadium that is near completion so after scrambling for a new venue, they found it in Park H.S. in Cottage Grove, MN (south of Woodbury, MN). Many thanks to Park H.S. for their generosity in hosting this event. Another gripe concerns the lack of visible signage indicating parking, ticket booths and sections. I spent five minutes just trying to find our seats until a volunteer pointed us in the right direction. Section G on the 20-yd. line, third row. Not very good seats. Next year, I'll go all out like I used to at Blaine.

But my BIGGEST gripe concerns some of the attendees. Folks, please spare us die hard corps fans from your unattended, bored toddlers. If your kids are still in diapers, chances are they won't get much of sitting there attentively for three or four hours. Really. If you must bring them, give them some crayons and a coloring book to keep them entertained. Don't let them run around on the bleachers where they could get hurt. Don't let them throw popcorn boxes or Coke cans (this happened NUMEROUS times). Don't make me babysit your kids for free. Okay? Thanks.

Onto the show:

Minnesota Brass

While they were setting up (CONSIDERABLE delay), my first impressions were, "Ugh! What's with those guard uniforms? Yuck!" My sister thought they were hideous for several reasons, the least of them being that many of the women in the guard are quite overweight and aren't exactly flattering. Also, they did not complement the rest of the ensemble's look at all.

Presentation of colors (the only corps to do this) during warm up was a nice touch. Of course, this pretty much goes without saying in a senior corps show. Wonder if we'll see more of this after September 11th. But we can talk about that in another thread.

Opening Fanfare: Original composition. Some dirt in the snares. Still trying to get over those guard uniforms. Guard seemed a bit lost. Problems with attacks and releases throughout in brass. So far, percussion is the cleanest section (this continues throughout much of the show).

A Night in Tunisia: Guard very inexperienced here. Very little synchronization. One member literally DID look lost and looked for help. Soprano soloist choked throughout. Brass sound thin. Very limited dynamic range. Pretty much mezzo-piano to mezzo-forte throughout. Percussion still the strongest section. Marching overall is not crisp but "there." Some phasing, difficulty getting to sets on time.

'Round Midnight: Guard members still looking lost. Finally, the mellos and sops are starting to come out more. Balance better but not perfect. Continued problems with intervals and difficulty making sets.

I'm Beginning to See the Light: Pit is very clean. Some dirt in the snares. Park and blow best section so far. Dropped rifle tosses, too many box spins (demand has been lacking throughout the show for this subpar guard), some guard members collide.

Blue Skies: What were you waiting for? The rest of your show should be this strong!! Company front is powerful. Balance is finally coming together. But, sadly, the show is now over. What happened?

LOTS of cleaning to do before Scranton, folks. This is NOT a high quality show and my sister even admitted to having seen better high school guards. This should score anywhere from eighth place on down at Scranton. Yes, it's that sloppy.

Southwind: IT SHOULD NOT TAKE TEN MINUTES BETWEEN CORPS. <Sarcasm button on> My sister loved their yellow jackets--get it, yellowjackets? That's sort of what they looked like. <Sarcasm off>. Strongest section of this group has to be their drumline. Pretty tight. Honestly sounded as good as a top-12 line. Intervals are good. They've cleaned this show well late in the year. Some dirt hitting the forms and a contra misses a stepoff in "Toccata and Fugue in d minor." Technique is not uniform, though. Some are roll-stepping, the rest look like the Colts. Good intonation, balance and blend in brass.

Marche Slav was classic "old school" drum corps and really evoked some old Phantom Regiment ("I march in Phantom 'cause I like 4th place." Just kidding, folks). Mello/sop/sop trio good. I liked the old school field drums. LOTS of old school visuals (Haven't seen drum-to-drum work in a percussion feature in a long time). Some phasing issues in brass.

Prelude: Too much cymbal, there. Easy. Very nice intonation, balance and blend. Rich sound but give me more! These guys are trying to get that Phantom Regiment sound and I'll give them credit for that. Mellos and contras strong.

(Part two to follow. Sorry this is so long but I REALLY was disappointed in Minnesota Brass's performance.)

[wayd]

Glad to hear that I am not the only one who feels a drum corps show is not the place for toddlers. You'd think that people would realize that by the time the buy the kids' tickets and some concessions, they could have paid for a babysitter. In my opinion these kind of people are just selfish and clearly do not care about their children nor the people who are sitting around them during the show.

Stepping of soap box.

[wayd]

That should read "stepping OFF soap box"

So much for proof reading

[matye]

Jon:

I agree with you regarding the toddlers in the stands. Sheesh! We had a line of high school students behind us at the show who talked through most shows about the most banal drivel. I kept looking back to get them to hush up. Finally one kid said, "hey, let's listen to the music", and they were quiet through the rest of the Colt's show. Luckily they left before Santa Clara and the Cavies came on. Please kids ... if you're going to a competition, keep your mouth shut during performances. Most of us in the stands came to hear Drum Corps, not you!

Okay ... off the soapbox.

[Roger Grupp]

This was a very strange show for MBI. I play horn, but go out on the field earlier than the rest of the corps. Usually I go out on the field with the pit, but the horn line dawdled in its warm-up, and we got to the stadium a little late. Anyway, I went on to the field and took my place in the pit, and waited, and waited for the rest of the horns.

Later I was told why the corps was SOOO late -- maybe four-five minutes.

We usually put the plumes on our hats before we head over to the field. Well, the weather was threatening, so the plume people waited until the horns got to the stadium. Distributing plumes took about two minutes.

Then the horns had to move to the other side of the stadium. I'm told they just about RAN around the stadium. Because their entrance side was different, they had to line up differently. Meanwhile, the guard and pit folks didn't know what to do.

How did all this happen? Let's just say it was a combination of things, and I hope it doesn't happen again. It seemed to affect the whole performance.

C'est la vie.

Roger Grupp

[jlhiatt]

Hey, Roger!

After having also talked to Michael Oldemeyer, he DID appreciate my honesty (a bit brutal at times). But the reason I was so critical of that performance last night is because I KNOW what you guys are capable of. Most of the staff at Eden Prairie H.S. have ties to MBI, I've seen you guys at Drum Beauty and other local venues (my favorite show was the "Crime Figher" show from the early 1990s; "The Music of Chicago" was also awesome) and I just felt like the level of execution and energy was almost, well, atypical for MBI.

Weather definitely played a big part in it because apparently, you may not have had sufficient rehearsal time yesterday. Also, the delays just messed everything up. I could tell. Watching MBI was difficult because for as hard as you were working, it seemed like, well, work.

I AM confident MBI can really clean before DCA. Unfortunately, with my studies resuming at the U of MN in scarcely a month, books to buy still, a Madison trip that is a little spendy and trying to land a new job for the school year (my summer job just ended and I graduate next year so I probably won't be going back), I won't be able to make it to DCA or any other shows unless they're in the area.

Last night did not seem typical for MBI and I understand. Hopefully it was constructive criticism (the guard uniforms have GOT to go--ugh!). MBI is a good group but for whatever reason, things were not happening last night.

But I think MBI will make the changes they need to make and everything will be okay.

Take care!

Jon

[joeybabay]

As a member of MBI's gaurd staff, I have to tell you that your review caused quite a stir at this evenings weekly rehearsal. As I am an actor by trade, I am used to reading all kinds of trash - both good and bad - published about me. But because they were so distraught, I decided to post a response on their behalf.

I am guessing guard is not your field of expertise. For as much as you hated our show, we did score a very respectable 16.1 in the guard caption at the show which put us a full 1.5 in front of Southwind under Div I DCI sheets. I truly believe our show is solidly written, demanding and performed. Our results this season have demonstrated this. And although we did have rifles drops and weak recoveries, you can say the same of Santa Clara and Cavies as well. Although this was not their best performance of the season, it was certainly an effort that sold the show from dark aggressive beginning, to isolated ballad, to bright finish. And the final part of the show which you did actually like, was in all honestly our weakest with phasing problems and odd transitions for some reason. You also note rifle work and box spinning which do not exist in those parts of our show. So I would hope that you would give us a second viewing with a more open mind.

I am very pruod of the corps work and wanted to put this out there for those who may not have seen the show. Our staff is expecting a very good finish from the corps at DCA and I am sure we will be a far cry from the 8th or lower place finish that you predict for us.

Joey Babay

MBI guard and visual staff

[Roger Grupp]

MBI put its no-excuses mediocre performance behind last night with perhaps one of the best rehearsals of the season. Maybe that Drum Beauty performance was the shaking we needed to refocus ourselves after the DCM season ended.

Finally, we had some weather we could practice in, and we jumped on the opportunity.

And now, back to the grind at work -- only 578 calendar days to go.

Roger Grupp

[jlhiatt]

Well, I just want to say that I stand corrected on many points. This was the ONLY time I was able to see MBI this year so I really DIDN'T have anything else to go off of aside from prior shows through the years.

Also, I am not a guard person and found it, surprisingly, the most difficult thing to evaluate. I'd have to see the recaps to believe that MBI's guard scored HIGHER than Southwind. Troopers? Yes. Southwind? I'm skeptical. But the sheets don't lie, do they? I thought Southwind's guard was definitely stronger, guard uniforms aside.

Overall, the show just looked and felt, well, labored would be one way to put it.

I'm sorry if it came across a bit harsh. I enjoyed Drum Beauty this year (well, late arrival and bratty toddlers notwithstanding) and I wish MBI success at DCA. Mea culpa!

Sincerely,

Jon H.

[life after jr corps]

Mr. Hiatt,

I think you own an apology to the MBI Guard for the "overweight" comment. You want to critique the show (even the uniforms) that's fine.

Stick to that and keep the rest to yourself. We are not all body beautifuls out there. This is a very hard working color guard and we are very proud of them.

Please keep your reviews more respectful if you want anyone to look at them.