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The tamber is very diffrent but the music is just as hard.

It's timbre, actually.

i would guess not that many

many people join because of the fun and life expiriences that they get from drum corps

or because its the cool thing to do, maybe its something in the family

people join to get better but i dont think it would influence them to continue in another

field of performance

You think so? There are plenty of people saying drum corps influenced them to the point of want to do music as a profession. You see plenty of them on the broadcast.

Edited by Einstein On The Beach
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It's timbre, actually.

You think so? There are plenty of people saying drum corps influenced them to the point of want to do music as a profession. You see plenty of them on the broadcast.

im saying the majority would not continue to a different field

not that there are almost none

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I didnt read everything....but

I know last yr at Cap Reg at every camp we would have "lessons" each member would go off for about 25 mins during a camp and go have a lesson with their tech.And we did it some during the summer, but mostly there wasnt much time.

plus i know more than one corps does tape assignments for each camp. They assign excersises and show music to be taped for next camp. Then i know at least at CR we get the tapes back with tons of comments good and bad and how to fix the bad.

So, i guess some corps do try to better each individual- not just the line...and, by being apart of a great line the individual does better themselves- i know i have grown as a player monumentously.so i would say...get over it and stop preachin...not to be rude or anything....

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Maybe a better question to ask, rather than the accusatory "Brass lines: How come you guys don't do more?" is something along the lines of "Where is the point of balance between difficulty and design?"

What kind of performance limits are there for the drum corps brass member, taking into account the visual portion of a show?

Have we reached them?

How do we push ourselves towards them if we haven't? What kinds of literature will?

I think this is a pretty neat little idea for a thread, but maybe we all got off on the wrong foot in the explaination. :)

Edited by bawker
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All I am saying is, being a soloist and a team player have to go hand in hand. When you master both, then you are set to really play as a section. The best soloists are the ones who truely listen. All I am saying is players should keep growing as players in the summer, not just settle for the show music, then they well do the same for the winter and the next summer. Why does the orfeus chamber orchestra sound so good, when they all are soloist in thier real life.

CornoBehnke - I would just be more careful about generalizing your experiences in the activity for all others. I for one got plenty of individual attention as a mellophone player when I marched. My technical issues were addressed by our staff on an almost daily basis, all in the name of creating a more unified approach to the instrument for the benefit of the entire line. I also had more than enough time to practice on my own...usually after shows, and the brass staff was always willing to be around for help during those times...

M

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I only read the first couple of pages so I may not be caught up on the latest action. Here's a few points I jotted down that popped in my head.

I don't know what corps that was that only played in F and Bb. I'm sure that was an exaggeration, but come on. The difficulty of corps shows has increased over the past years. Not only music, but have you considered how much more extreme the drill has become. Everyone marches a more demanding show visual-wise than Cadets 84 now.

Brings me to my next point. When you're running around the field, sometimes how you sound isn't the first thing that comes to mind. Especially the rookies just learning a new marching technique, they have to focus a lot on how they look and sound.

Lip health as I'll call it is another huge thing. Before you think i don't know what I'm doing because I'm not the trumpet player you think I should be, here's a couple things. Soloist with Cadets and Univ. of Texas marching band. Music major at UT with a very high level of training. With that said, every year when I move in my goal is to hold onto a legit sound for as long as I can. It's near impossible. After a few days of playing all the time and having the horn jam agaisnt your lips when you hit a hole in the ground, your lips are extremely raw and it never really gets better. I come back to UT and it usually takes me a week or too to get rid of my chainsaw sound.

I have a good friend that teaches trumpet at a university that has a few corps students in the studio. He'll ask them to play a certain way, even in breathing technique which is kinda our staple, and they will say, "But that's not hwo we did it in Corps name here." This might sound bad, but some people are learning wrong techniques that are building extremely bad habits. I'm not saying the corps that you marched in was like this, but there are some who are. I was fortunate enough to be led by guys like Gino Cipriani and Dean Westman. They laid a great foundation on brass playing and I learned more from those guys than I did in any lesson.

There are great opportunities out there for brass players to become better musicians. You just have to look for it, rather than look for the opposite.

By the way, is this the Behnke (Steve I believe) that marched mello one of the last few years at Cadets? If it is, I'm sorry to hear your view is at the complete opposite end of the spectrum as the 134 others as well as the other corps who learned more in one summer than anything else that they have done with their remarkable lives.

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this is the last thing I am going to say, how many brass players practice just 60 mins a day, EVERY day. It takes at least that.

Just to be clear, you did in fact march a complete summer with a Division I corps? With that in mind, where on earth do you think those 60 minutes are going to come from?

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