Review: Michigan City July 2nd

[ShortAndFast]

A bit delayed, but here are some thoughts on the saturday night show in Michigan City, IN. It was a beautiful night for a show. Our seats were near the top of the center section of Aimes Field, so we had about as good of a vantage point as could be had in the stadium. For perspective, I mostly pay attention to brass and drill, and somewhat to the guard. I don't have a very good ear for percussion parts, so I probably didn't notice a lot in that caption. I'm afraid I'll be a bit brief on the Div II/III shows - no offense to fans of those groups, but I'm just not as familiar with those corps and their programs.

Lake Erie Regiment

Well, they gave it a good effort, but it was pretty difficult to read what they were doing. I thought their staff overreached with their program. If you know you're only going to field 10 horns, does it really make sense to program harder music (3 Holsinger selections) and have a bunch of cryptic props all over the field to support a narrative of "dreamscapes"? They'd have been better served to put a show on the field that their members could perform.

Colt Cadets

Now, here I thought the programming idea was pretty good - video game music. Easy to arrange for younger performers, easy for the audience to follow. But it still came off pretty lackluster. It was clear that there are some extremely young members in the corps, and they struggled to play the show, keep brass and percussion together, stay in time with their off-center pit, and so forth. I thought the guard could have made the show much more fun by acting out some of the video game sequences - I couldn't believe they didn't put the Tetris pieces together to form rows!

Memphis Sound

I had never heard this group before. It was a big step up in quality from the preceding corps. They had a much fuller brass sound, and the show (latin, blues, jazz) was well played. I could have used a little more stylistic contrast between songs. They may have been playing "latin" vs. "jazz", but it all came across as pretty much the same style and sound. But a good show, and the first really enjoyable performance of the night.

Kiwanis Kavaliers

I honestly don't remember much about this show. They have a ton of holes in their drill, which made it hard to read what was going on. You'd frequently see individuals 5 yards away from the rest of the form, presumably because they are holding spaces open for new recruits - I saw signs on their souvie truck that they're still recruiting brass and guard.

Southwind

Now this was a pleasant surprise. They were much better than I remember from previous years, and I really enjoyed watching their show. The little nods to other corps' performances were great. I loved the mellophones doing the Phantom Regiment "splits" during the Bacchanale. They do a corps' wide vocal section near the end of their show, and it was extremely effective. I don't know if they just had the guys sing, but they got a real nice baritone choral sound. Visually, I think their lopsided pointy sheikos look pretty cool. From the front, it makes the players look quite tall, although it looks a little odd when you see it from a side perspective. Good show. I'd expect they'll be a semifinalist this year.

Glassmen

The good news is that this is a way more engaging Glassman production than those of recent years. They drew a good audience response and they were unquestionably the loudest hornline of the night. I though their arrangements were really clever. All of the New World Symphony melodies are present, but with very playful twists. The "jaws" moment going into the final movement was great. And musically, I thought the whole thing held together. It didn't seem like random sections spliced out of a much larger work - even though they excerpted and interpreted heavily, each movement still works as a piece of music. There's a very nice extended mellophone and baritone duet while the corps is laying on the field doing dance - I thought that was a particularly effective moment of the show.

Visually, I thought their drill was pretty fast paced. Maybe a notch down from recent years, but it certainly held my interest the whole way through the show. The guard uniforms are very bright. You definitely won't have a hard time finding them on the field.

The bad news, for me, began and ended with the brass playing. It honestly seems like they've been given no brass instruction other than "play as loud as you possibly can". When they had to play anything other than fortissimo hits, they really struggled with intonation, support, and tone quality. And their strident sound had worn me out by the end of the show. I like loud horns as much as anybody, but not at the cost of all other aspects of brass playing!

Overall, I enjoyed the show, and it seemed to go over very well with the people around me. The folks behind me had seen them several times and felt they've improved quite a bit since the beginning of the summer. But do something about those horns! Please! I'd expect them to make finals and finish somewhere around 9th-11th.

Cavaliers

I watched the Cavies ensemble rehearsal in the afternoon, so I had a preview of this show. I do think that Aimes Field is a bit too low to get a good read on their drill and visual program. Last summer, I saw the Cavies early in the season and thought they lacked in GE. Boy was I surprised come championship week sitting in the upper deck! So I'll just assume that we couldn't see most of what they were doing. They have a warm, balanced brass sound, and they definitely were spending more time working on balance and intonation than on power when I watched them rehearse. They'll definitely gain more volume as the summer goes on, and it should leave them with a really strong horn sound come finals.

My favorite parts of the show are the baseball game and their blues closer. The baseball tune is totally fun. Their front ensemble really shines on the complicated keyboard parts, and all the little excerpts of baseball fight songs and organ music are cool. There's even subtle little snippet of Malaguena (or some similar chart) near the end, complete with a trumpet screamer. And surprisingly, the Cavies play the blues pretty well. Their tuba line particularly shines in the closer, although it's played well across the brass line. I did think the whole trumpet/flugelhorn two-horns-at-once was a bit lame - it just didn't seem like a very strong trumpet feature for all the attempt to visually showcase it. Overall, it's definitely an unusual closer from the Cavies, but it was pretty compelling. There's another strong front ensemble section, complete with a "walking tympani" bassline. Personally, I liked the ending, with the corps filling in the space between the ladders and jamming out. It's very reminiscent of a Blue Devils ending. But the Cavie fans around me were hoping for more typical fast and furious drill.

The "My Kind Of Town" opener and the Great Fire were, I thought, a bit weaker. At any rate, they suffered more from arranging to fit the visual program rather than arranging to present a strong piece of music. The mellophone "Amazing Grace" is powerful and very well played, but I didn't think the rest of the Great Fire really stood on its own musically. But as I said above, I'm willing to believe that these will be stronger pieces when presented in a bigger stadium.

Visually, I didn't find their guard to have as much of a presence as in past years. The work they did was excellent, but I didn't find my eye drawn to them quite as often as I'd have expected. Similarly, the drill was good, but not jaw dropping. I think the ladders work really well during their ballad, and serve as a good "center stage" for the closer, but I can see that they are inhibiting the drill to some extent.

So bottom line? The Cavies have another strong show, it's enjoyable to watch, and they are performing it well across all captions. But I somehow don't see this show winding up with a championship. I haven't seen Cadets or Blue Devils, but I think it could be someone else's year if either of their shows turns out well.

[MsCorps]

Ditto on the review, nice job...at least you have courage to tackle a review. I agree with you on the Colt Cadets I felt they could have done more with the arcade pieces especially with the tetris pieces plus they need to say Mortal Kombat in unison! I saw them in Cedarburg and were a little more in unison. Just wondered what the people around you thought of the retreat?

[the_aborigine]

thanks 4 the review!

[d_c_i]

I saw them in Cedarburg and were a little more in unison.  Just wondered what the people around you thought of the retreat?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

any cedarburg review??

[lol_@_u]

The bad news, for me, began and ended with the brass playing. It honestly seems like they've been given no brass instruction other than "play as loud as you possibly can". When they had to play anything other than fortissimo hits, they really struggled with intonation, support, and tone quality. And their strident sound had worn me out by the end of the show. I like loud horns as much as anybody, but not at the cost of all other aspects of brass playing!

Your feedback is quite interesting. Having marched under some of the instructional staff that they have there (glassmen) now I.E. Frank Williams, I HIGHLY doubt that they are recieving "No brass instruction other than play as loud as you possibly can". I was at this show as well and don't feel that they were completely devoid of brass instruction. A little too loud at times, yes, a little bright, yes .... but maybe its because i personally have never heard this corps play anything but straight classical or obscure.

John Ryland

[ShortAndFast]

Your feedback is quite interesting. Having marched under some of the instructional staff that they have there (glassmen) now I.E. Frank Williams, I HIGHLY doubt that they are recieving "No brass instruction other than play as loud as you possibly can". I was at this show as well and don't feel that they were completely devoid of brass instruction. A little too loud at times, yes, a little bright, yes .... but maybe its because i personally have never heard this corps play anything but straight classical or obscure.

Now that's interesting. I also marched under Frank Williams! I usually can pick out his hornlines just based on their sound - I didn't know he was at Glassmen this year.

I'll say that just increases my surprise at the Glassmen horns. Frank is a monster about intonation, so I'm shocked that they have so many problems in that area. Maybe he'll make his influence felt as the summer goes on.

I really was disappointed in their brass performance. For me, I felt like it brought down an otherwise strong show.

[lol_@_u]

Now that's interesting. I also marched under Frank Williams! I usually can pick out his hornlines just based on their sound - I didn't know he was at Glassmen this year.

I'll say that just increases my surprise at the Glassmen horns. Frank is a monster about intonation, so I'm shocked that they have so many problems in that area. Maybe he'll make his influence felt as the summer goes on.

I really was disappointed in their brass performance. For me, I felt like it brought down an otherwise strong show.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

As far as i know, he's been there since 97

[BorisTS]

Speaking as a former member of the Glassmen hornline (for several years), they're always pretty rough the first part of the season. I'm not making excuses or anything, but I'll say that my first season, I was truly shocked at the difference between beginning and end products.

[aubie]

You also have to ask yourself how much has Frank been on the road...