DCI Classic Countdown leaves you dry.

[skimannc1]

And as far as your comment about the sound, the surround sound  didn't do the impact points justice for the earlier corps. I don't appreciate your comments about how easy it was to play that music and peform the drill, very disrespectful attitude. I played some things that weren't so dang easy. I'd like to see you play some Don Ellis. (Especially that contra solo in 27) play that! Like I said before I'd like to see you pick up a horn and play the music that was played like Madison, BD, and 27 played. :ramd:

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I'm glad to hear you can play such top notch literature... Say, can you play "Flight of the Bumblebee" On a rotary contra and make all the Judges drop their jaws and WIN with a high score!? That's what Cliff White did (soloist you are talking about)...I guess that's too easy though for you uh? :sshh:

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

No where in my original quote did I say anything about how easy the shows were to perform. I was saying that I had heard how much cleaner the drill used to be and everything and I guess I was expecting it to be really really clean and it wasn't as clean as I expected it. I knew how they played because I have CD's of those shows and no the playing was not easy at all. It was much more demanding then the drill

Your also the one that questioned whether I could play the solo I was just answering your question of whether I could play the contra solo and the answer was yes. Then you want to try to belittle me. Once again I didn't say it was easy I just said I could. In my opinion there is nothing easy about music or about DCI.

[Malibu]

Hype your one that keeps on hyping them about how good they are.  I am not being disrespectful I am just stating my opinion.  All I had heard was how great they were and I left my opion until I saw them.  It's not about not showing respect for the history.  I am greatful for the history but what I don't see is when people continously say back in the day things were so much better when the activity has definitly grown into what it is today and hopefully will continue to grow which I feel it will.  I would agree that the colorguard was sorking very hard almost too hard because sometime it was distracting and too busy at times.  I would still say it's not as hard as what the performers do today because all you did then is what we teach as basics today.

Before you ever question whether I can do something or not you might want to know who your talking to because I gaurentee that I can march and can play that contra solo (I've played much harder things then that like most of the top tuba literature out there).  I happen to be a very fine tuba player and could hold my own on the marching side as well.  I have had the pleasure of marching symetrical drill in college.  I found it much easier to do that then to march asymetrical drill because you had so many more dress points to make sure you were right.  I'm not quite sure about the PERFECTNESS of what I saw though. 

We all have opinions and no one has the exact right one but what I said is no different then all the commonets that have been made about corps and their choices today like Boston and Crown.  I like what they did but some didn't and we all have that right that's why this is a message board

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

See you missed the whole point. Sure you can look back now and say, "I don't see the hype." Just like you can look at a car today and compare it to a Model T....you forget it was those early innovations that made corps what it is today.

Somebody had to break the ice with color guard so 2-7 DID IT! So you say the moves they did back then weren't as hard as what performers are doing today? Again, you over look what most guards were doing at that time. 1980 was a year many guards were starting to add Movement to the guard work Vs what they did just 4 years prior. I very much doubt you will get a rifle line from a top 12 corps today doing double time (or fast) with the precision and speed that 2-7 did. Many don't even know how it's done. Also, you have to understand not many guards were tossing quads in 1980......2-7 DID over and over and over again with NO DROPS! You also forget we guards from the '80s were still under the "tick system" so we HAD TO MAKE SURE WHAT WE DID WAS CLEAN WITH NO DROPS. That meant a lot of guards didn't take the chance of putting in too much difficulty.....it could mean your corps not making the top 12.

So stop dissing what we did and understand WHY it was done and WHERE it led to.

You forget most of the top guards in DCI & WGI today, have instructors who marched in 1980!

Edited April 25, 2005 by Malibu

[ScribeToo]

Thanks Stef you are right on with my thinking just because I don't like something or state an opion about something doesn't mean I don't respect it and appreciate it.  I totally respect everything that has happend before, I just wish people would respect what is happening today as well, instead of turning their back on the activity that continues to do the same things that they were taught back in the begining.  

By the way I wish I could consider myself a kid but I don't think my age would allow that.  The fact is that anyone who aged out in 1980 could only be 14 years older then me.  You can do the math on that one.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I agree with you -- I also wish people who talk a lot of smack could respect and at least attempt to appreciate what's happening today.. I see a lot of knocks coming from a certain generation towards today's corps and kids.. and it's more than unfortunate.. it's downright sickening, IMO.

:) My "age-out" was 90.. so you're still a "kid" to me.. (enjoy it while you can!!)

Stef

Edited April 25, 2005 by ScribeToo

[Lancerlady]

No where in my original quote did I say anything about how easy the shows were to perform.  I was saying that I had heard how much cleaner the drill used to be and everything and I guess I was expecting it to be really really clean and it wasn't as clean as I expected it.  I knew how they played because I have CD's of those shows and no the playing was not easy at all.  It was much more demanding then the drill

Your also the one that questioned whether I could play the solo  I was just answering your question of whether I could play the contra solo and the answer was yes.  Then you want to try to belittle me.  Once again I didn't say it was easy I just said I could.  In my opinion there is nothing easy about music or about DCI.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I wasn't trying to belittle you..re read my post. I was asking you a question since you stated that it looked easy to do that's all. I'm not going to get in a pissing contest with you about this.

I'm glad to hear you say that nothing is easy I apologize if I offended you. No offense was meant.

[LancerFi]

We don't clean weapons anymore?  I guess I just wasted alot of time cleaning our winter guard show for the past 4 months because apparently we don't clean them.  Don't understand that point because we do spend time cleaning our guard just as much as they did back then it's just the work is different and IMO harder to get as clean because of the many different angles used in today's writing.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Clean harder :P Put it this way, your idea of clean and my idea of clean is 2 different things from 2 different eras......

I hadn't realized you knew that "cluttered drill and guard was Zingali's", your words, not mine! I believe had you, you may not have said it!

Done, done, and done!!! Enough of this banter. You see what you want, I'll see what I want, it's that simple.

Edited April 27, 2005 by LancerFi

[LancerFi]

I believe this should be closed, it's been going nowhere for 3 days now!

[skimannc1]

I wasn't trying to belittle you..re read my post. I was asking you a question since you stated that it looked easy to do that's all. I'm not going to get in a pissing contest with you about this.

I'm glad to hear you say that nothing is easy I apologize if I offended you. No offense was meant.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

No harm no foul. Just a mis read of each others post. That happens all the time. I definitly respect everything you did.

[Lancerlady]

I agree with you -- I also wish people who talk a lot of smack could respect and at least attempt to appreciate what's happening today..  I see a lot of knocks coming from a certain generation towards today's corps and kids.. and it's more than unfortunate.. it's downright sickening, IMO.

:)  My "age-out" was 90.. so you're still a "kid" to me.. (enjoy it while you can!!)

Stef

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Obviously alot of those you speak of do respect todays corps or we wouldn't still be involved with the activity supporting kids and helping sponsoring or going to shows. I see a lot of knocks the other way too...to each their own...And I consider that sickening as well. IMHO...to act like one era is better then the other, is not good. All era's contributed to the activity.

And I aged out in 86...so.. :P :) still a kid to me too. :P

I just like for people to look at the history and where it came from and learn to appreciate that if it wasn't for the past you wouldn't have the future...that's all. :)

Edited April 25, 2005 by Lancerlady

[notelvis]

I didn't say anything about the literature being performed.  I actually like what they played back then just as good if not more then what they do today.  I think you got mixed up with what I was saying about the guard.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Very possibly......I think I mixed your remarks with those from other people in other threads who were questioning the music. I appreciate you not telling me I was an addle-brained old pharte!

Take Care,

David

[BayonneBum]

Hype your one that keeps on hyping them about how good they are.  I am not being disrespectful I am just stating my opinion.  All I had heard was how great they were and I left my opion until I saw them.  It's not about not showing respect for the history.  I am greatful for the history but what I don't see is when people continously say back in the day things were so much better when the activity has definitly grown into what it is today and hopefully will continue to grow which I feel it will.  I would agree that the colorguard was sorking very hard almost too hard because sometime it was distracting and too busy at times.  I would still say it's not as hard as what the performers do today because all you did then is what we teach as basics today.

Before you ever question whether I can do something or not you might want to know who your talking to because I gaurentee that I can march and can play that contra solo (I've played much harder things then that like most of the top tuba literature out there).  I happen to be a very fine tuba player and could hold my own on the marching side as well.  I have had the pleasure of marching symetrical drill in college.  I found it much easier to do that then to march asymetrical drill because you had so many more dress points to make sure you were right.  I'm not quite sure about the PERFECTNESS of what I saw though. 

We all have opinions and no one has the exact right one but what I said is no different then all the commonets that have been made about corps and their choices today like Boston and Crown.  I like what they did but some didn't and we all have that right that's why this is a message board

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hello All you DC folks,

I'm a long time reader and a first time poster. Ya Know, the above post may be correct, but it's not right. I don't think Lancerlady (or was it Lancerfi) ever said that any part of the activity was better back then. No doubt the activity has grown, and the marching and musicianship (for the most part) is better than when I/we marched. But it's like professional sports; unfair to compare the past with the present. For instance, I was 14 when I was "bussed" to another grammer school (for racial diversity - you older folks remember that). It was then that this inner-city youth from Bayonne, NJ (Jerome- I know that you're from Jersey City, much more inner-city than Bayonne, so you're probably laughing at this description) was introduced to DC by my good friend to this day, Artie Bernard. I played trumpet in early grade school and started with the Bayonne Kidets (1978), where I met people like George Lavelle, now the Exec. Dir of the new Bridgemen Alumni Corp, and many other good people my age that I will never forget. I marched there for a year and we older Kidets got our shot to march with the Bridgemen. We were 14-16 yrs old(!!!!!!!!!), I was 15 in 1979. I wish all the younger folks that try to get all hoity-toity on us older DC vets would remember this. How many 15 yr olds did you march next to in Finals? My friend Ed Marino tells me he is the one of the youngest people ever to march in Finals, at 12 yrs. old. That year was the hardest, toughest, sweetest, most electifying thing that I will ever experience in this life. I am now 41 yrs old, so I have a frame of reference, like graduating from college and law school. I thank DC in part for giving me the work ethic to be able to accomplish these things. ####, Greg Clarke was our horn sargent in 1979, so you know where his foot was for half the season.

I wrote all this to say to the younger folks that you have to put the activity into the proper context before you start with the "Oh, that's not so hot" attitude. Reading the threads on DCP has opened my eyes to a lot of things that I've been missing for the 20 yrs. that I lost touch with DC. It seems the activity has gotten "Highbrow", if you know what I mean, as evidenced by the above post. Not that this is necessarily a bad thing. The three years that I marched, we've placed 6th (twice) and 3rd in 1980. I was 15, 16 and 17 yrs.old. I bet you couldn't find a 15 or 16 yr old in a top six corp for some time now (maybe the colorguard). And I'm sure that for people like me, the perception is that the activity is not nearly as popular as when I marched. Although I have no basis for this statement other than the fact that back then, the annual PBS broadcast was live (or maybe slightly delayed) throughout the country, I believe. Now, due to lack of popularity (probably) you have to check for the showings online, because you'll never find it in the usual TV listings. DCI finals had huge crowds (I can't give numbers or tell if the attendance is greater today - but I seriously doubt that). Then, the activity was a neighborhood activity, probably much more so than today. When I was in highschool, Bayonne HS had a all-state football team. I didn't play football, but I was in the Bridgemen, and hot doggie, that was just as good or better. I don't think my high school comrades would feel the same about today's Jr. Corp. They'd probably call me "Opera Guy" or something like that.

Thanks for letting a older (not old yet) guy vent. Hope I didn't sound too much like the posters that got me heated. And sorry for the post's apperance, (shhh, I'm at work). All you folks are great, and have taught me a lot about what I've been missing. Shout outs to Jim Jordan, Jerome Kimbrough, George Lavelle and other Bridgemen alumini that I see posting. Although I can't march or play with you guys, I won't be a stranger. I'll see what I can do financially (student loans, ya know). See you at Vet Stadium for the cookout.

Clarence Clay