Troopers

[rut-roh]

I'm not completely sure, but didn't Michael Cesario re-do the Troopers uniform back in the 1987-ish time frame when he was a consultant for them? That was certainly under Mr. Jones' direction.

[arrangerx]

Think of it this way, Matt. Suppose they'd marched the mallets, or bought a line of traditional, non-free-floating snares with mylar heads. Would the judges be able to look past the choice of instrumentation?

And for Chuck, a follow up question. Were the quality of sound issues due to the brass players having to alter their perception of key and pitch center due to the horns being in G instead of Bb/F? Thanks.

Garry

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Garry,

Yes. The Troopers brass line practiced a grand total of 12 days before the beginning of the season.

The members could not take instruments home to practice without being fully paid in dues.

Most of the members were between 8th and 12th grade.

Young. Inexperienced. Playing unfamiliar instruments.

Now, I ask anyone. . . would you expect a high-school student to perform in an orchestra playing a C Trumpet for the first time in their lives after 12 days on the instrument -- and expect anything other than an amateur sound?

G's are from a time when members were local, practiced all year around, and members stayed in corps for longer than 2 years.

Oh yeah, we played out of tune a lot too. . . Blue Devils and Star of Indiana notwithstanding. . . and even then. . . not as good as today.

Thoughts.

Chuck Naffier

[TroopersWeb]

I'm not completely sure, but didn't Michael Cesario re-do the Troopers uniform back in the 1987-ish time frame when he was a consultant for them? That was certainly under Mr. Jones' direction.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Actually, no. The uniforms in 1987 were the last remnants of those purchased in the early 80's - 1981 I believe. A new set of uniforms was purchased in 1989. Those lasted until the end of the 1995 season. The current version was designed by Mr. Cesario in the fall of 1995 (we axed the fringe he wanted on the gauntlets!) and debuted in 1996. We've made some modifications to them over the last 9 seasons...it's time for some new threads. :sshh:

[tubamann]

Just some of my thoughts on this:

The competitivness (or lack thereof) of the Troopers has less to do with the key of their horns as to their numbers issues and the quality of players they are attracting.

I will preface this by saying this is not ment to offend the Troopers or the good people of Casper...this is simply an outsiders view based on my observations through the years.

Have you been to Casper? It is a small city that lays in middle of the rugged yet beautiful rolling plains of eastern Wyoming...A nice place to live and visit..BUT..

It is in the middle of nowhere, and is hardly a place bubbling with groves of talented kids wanting to march. The city, with a population of just over 50,000, has a grand total of 2 high schools: Kelly Walsh and Natrona County. The entire state of Wyoming has 483,000 people. The city of Denver, 278 miles down I-25, (just the city..not its suburbs) has a population of 554,636. That is 70,636 people more in the city limits of Denver then the entire state of Wyoming!

I know that the Troopers have worked hard to recruit and have been tapping into the Salt Lake City area for members. This is good, but they face an uphill battle. there are options that todays kids will choose over them. You have BK in Denver, SCV and BD in NorCal, and PC and Esperanza in SoCal. Today's kids are likely to want to march in a corps that has enjoyed more competive success and therefore tend to gravitate to these other options. In turn, the kids that the are coming to Casper are younger and not as talented. Chuck's comments seem to affirm this.

Reality is that the Troopers have struggled competitvly while trying maintain their identity and Wyoming roots.

Competitive success in DCI today can depends on several matters. They are as follows:

Talent and Numbers--They are working on this and are making some progress, but this takes time, and luck in some cases!

Good Staff/Programming--Jeff Bridges and Chuck have done great a great job designing programs that are at the level of the players they have, and are true to tradition, as well as entertaining. Jason Buckingham is a superb teacher and a Trooper himself who genuinly cares about HIS corps. Nick and the boys have done a great job with the percussion line to boot. These guys do very well with the talent they have..as well as one would expect.

Organization/Managment-Excellent. Matt Krum is a gentleman, a Trooper, and a person who cares about the corps and its kids. He has done quite a job managing the corps and its operations. You never hear about the Troopers eating poorly or being treated badly. This is a solid organization.

To sum up, the Troopers are building a solid base for the future, and have been addressing the problems that they face. Eventually, this will pay off as they are able to attract more talent in greater numbers. God knows (and the Cadets prove this) that you don't need to be from a music-education-strong hometown to be successful.

I think eventually, the seeds that they are now sowing will grow. :)

Edited September 20, 2005 by tubamann

[bari-tard]

bump

[danielray]

I dig the Troopers... but think that drum corps has changed quite a lot since they were a major player, and they simply need to adapt if they are to get back on to their same status as years ago.

I'm not talking about their instrumentation, uniforms, design or programming. I am talking about the actual nature of the top Div I corps changing from a locally based, but nationally touring organization, to nationally touring organizations that recriut from an international base of talent.

The largest problem with the Troopers is location.

With the closest major airport being almost 4 hours away, it is nearly impossible to attract the level of talent they need in order to be competitive with corps that are within minutes of a major airport.

To break down the distance from a major airport with corps placing higher than the troopers, it is pretty revealing...

ALL Div I Semifinalists are within 1 hour of a major airport. Every championship corps (with the exception of Madison and Star) is within minutes of several international airports. Historically, the most consistently performing corps are those with the greatest number of major international airports nearby (Cadets - 3, Cavaliers - 2, BD -3, SCV - 3, Phantom - 2).

If Troopers want to dramatically improve, they must move. Period.

If they were to move to Salt Lake City, for example, they would immediately be flooded with talent (members and staff) that would not have otherwise considered Troopers as an option. SLC is a cheap 1 hour flight from Seattle, SF, LA, Denver, Phoenix, Vegas, Boise, Albequerque. There is loads of local talent in the area (I'd say about 75-100 kids from there currently in other Div I corps... there were 10-12 in BD, alone, when I marched that were either from there or going to university there).

There is also LOADS of cash in SLC for arts programs (public and private) and and a number of incredible facilities available. It is also a rather conservative western community that would certainly respect the more traditional approach of the Troopers.

Of course, loads of people would suggest that it is blasphemous for the Troopers, of all corps, to move... or that it is sufficient simply to hold camps in another location... but...

To simply hold camps there would not fully be taking advantage of a different local community that would have much greater potential for support.

[felixh]

I was thinking the exact same thing. Somebody made a bad decision there.

I can understand why they wanted to stay in G, but to buy an entirely new hornline in G that they probably won't be able to sell in a few years? Where was the thinking in that?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The more alumni corps that regroup, the stronger the demand for G horns...The Kingsmen alumni corps has been desperately seeking out G horns since the alumni corps was launched a few months ago.....sure they will be able to sell those G horns

Edited September 21, 2005 by felixh

[scrappyslap]

anything that Jason Buckingham thinks is ok in my book.

[trooper11]

Being a current member, i think i might as well put in my two cents.

FIRST- The location... i agree with most of the location comments, except who the heck wants to hear and from Podunk , Whocares, The Troopers. Then name goes with the tag. I would compare it to SCV moving to Santa Monica... DCI is proud to present The Santa Monica Vanguard... YUCK! it's the casper troopers, not the Salt lake city troopers. To add the thing holding us back is people think of wyoming, and automatically dissmiss the location, the fact is most of the time it is a great place to be, minus those windy gusts, and snow... in june.

SECOND- The horns are very complicated to learn, this is was my second summer with them and it is still a learning process. I don't think that getting an "easier" horn would solve our problems. We have a very talented horn line who are good on the Bb and F horns, but putting them on a new horn/ mouth piece is a real transition.

THIRD- 40 horns in 04 and 35 in 05. They need members to stay with them, or even look at them. We are a Div. 1 corps, just like all of the other ones. We do the same thing as all of them. Being small makes it more difficult to achieve the same amount of greatness that a hornline double our size has. Not only does it limit our show design, but the music is also limited. Playing at 2 step intervals is way easier to adapt to sound then 4 step intervals, and form control would be locked in. The G horns + the open forms = a harder job to play and keep it in tune.

-Now i'm not ready to argue for any cause but switching to Bb would really be a change to the traditions that we keep, When i think of "#### bent for Victory" i think of those kids that travel casper that play their g horns in the wild wyoming weather. This orginization is probably one of the strongest ones i can think, the one problem that we have is member retention, if we could get members to stay with us it would solve our placement problem, starting over fresh every other season sucks, big time. I talk to members that have been there from 02 and 03 and they recall several members that were with the troopers and then next season were marching with a top 12 corps, i mean props to them, but if we had all of that top 12 talent, we would be in the top 12... just a thought, reguardless of which key we play in it would happen

Edited September 22, 2005 by trooper11

[arrangerx]

I would support moving the corps to Denver, Colorado. . . or Boise, Idaho. . . or Pennsylvania or Texas for that matter.

I don't care if SCV moves to Santa Monica. . . I don't care where the Troopers are from. . . Cadets and Cavaliers seem to be just fine being from different places every few years.

It's not the Casper Troopers. . . it's The Troopers.

Bb/F horns will make the corps sound better.

Full drum corps will make the corps more competitive.

Moving to Denver would allow attendance at camps for all.

Moving to Denver would allow exposure that currently does not exist.

Amplifying the pit is no longer an option -- they must do this.

The rehearsal facilities in Casper are awful. There is no tradition of excellence in any music program within 4 hours of Casper. The weather is the worst. Sustained 30 mph winds, cold weather, and dust storms every day. . . IN JUNE!

If the Troopers are to contribute in any meaningful way to the future of Drum Corps, some BIG decisions need to be made very soon. . . or be relegated to the dustheap that is Drum Corps History.

No new news in my message I'm sure. . . just stating it here in a subject concerning the Troopers.

Chuck Naffier