A drum corps love letter

[madcontra99]

I must say, I have heard many people wine and complain and say bad things about you boys this summer, and I will admit, when I heard that the uniforms were changing yet again, I was scared, and I said things on this forum that were not the best statements for an alumni to make about their corps.

Then I saw the pictures and all those worries went away.

So last night I saw a clip of your show on season pass, as I am not going to see the show live at all this summer :(

I must say something, and I am sure many people on drum corps planet will disagree with me, but you guys remind me of a year that I marched.

The year was 1997 and we were not doing a latin show... :sshh: we were doing some pirate show with a bunch of original music. How dare we?

You should have heard the people talk, many of you who are marching now were probably too young to even know!

But by the end of the season we had maxed out and had a great performance at finals, and if I cared about scores, those judges had no idea what they were watching that night if we placed where we did.

I digress.

I am writing to you guys today to say that you guys are great! Your everything a Madison Scout should be and everythign that the tradition should be.

If the Scouts truly had an identity it would be that they should do entertaining shows that the members enjoy and the audience enjoys. I can tell by the look on your face that you guys enjoy what your doing!

Your great and don't let anyone ever tell you otherwise!

and always remember....

"You don't tug on Superman's cape!"; "Fool with the Lone Ranger's mask!"; "Spit into the wind!"; "Mess with Dorthty ruby-red slippers!; "French kiss with a rattle-snake!" and "You don't_____ with the MADISON SCOUTS !"

MYNWA!

[arno0940]

I couldn' t have said it better.

[Hrothgar15]

I couldn' t have said it better.

I can. Their musical program is an unmelodic, non-flowing, mish-mash of hits and chords, compared to their perfectly written musical books of the '90s. There's no emotional involvement, no screaming sop solos to get the crowd on their feet, no 30-second long chords, no rotating company front, no jammin' percussion feature... Just listen to the opener from 1996. Everything is put perfectly into place:

Opening mellophone solo- This is the main theme from Arturo Sandoval's "A Mis Abuelos" and makes perfect musical sense, finely crafted over the course of months (unlike some original music being performed that is just slapped down onto the computer). Just the first two notes, an octave apart, immediately draw the listener in. The solo is sweet and flowing, phrased perfectly.

Full ensemble hit- The crowd hears that classic Madison sound for the first time, a sound only drum corps can create. It's that characteristic full drum corps chord, one that serves as a reason why people love this activity.

Soprano solo- Doesn't get any better than this. It's high, fast, loud, and...BALLSY. That solo IS the Madison Scouts.

Percusion interlude as company front rotates- Another Madison tradition...after the soprano solo you know the corps is building up for something big. Accelerando adds to the excitement.

Full corps return- Last thing they play before taking off again. Brash, loud, jazzy, leads you right into the next section.

Main theme- Sopranos have the melody, low brass has the rythmic counter parts. Everything is built on itself to create one cohesive sound and rythm. Note that this is a complete, developed, non-repeating melody that lasts eleven seconds (while many so-called "melodies" we here today last three or four).

Soprano solo- Next part of the main theme, effectively played on soprano. The structure of this part is similar to the last, but higher. There's just nothing better thana soprano filling the stadium with sound, and this is exactly the purpose that this part serves.

Main theme again- Gives the audience the taste of the now-familiar melody, with rythmic variations.

Transition into next theme- First percussion, than brass enters with loud chordal stabs, followed by a few licks leading into some chords to finish it off.

Second theme- The pit first introduces this eleven-second long theme, which is then mirrored by the brass. When the brass plays it, the mellophones start the beginning of the phrase and are answered with fat, loud, stabs of sound from the rest of the corps. This happens twice, and leads into the mellophone lead of the second part of this melody.

Variations on second theme- The sopranos mostly take this one, with fast licks into two quarter-note stacatto hits. The last part of this theme repeats and repeats until a final soprano call, which leads into a huge, spectacular chordal climax from the whole corps. A soprano hangs over on a high note for effect. Great audience moment.

Short percussion transition- Used to allow room for audience clapping while providing a short transition

Third theme (from second half of "A Mis Abuelos")- First, melody is traded between mellos and sopranos. Many melodic excerpts are transposed together in this section (including a prominent one from Malagueña). Ascending line of groupings of three eighth notes played by the sopranos to lead into the finishing fast licks of the section.

Short drum break- Just a little touch, provides a nice transtion to the ending statement with some loud percussive rhythms.

Ending- High voices hold a chord while the low brass plays the third theme for the last time. Leads into a rythmic ending from the whole corps (finishes it off, all stacatto)

See? That is good music. Melodic, chordal...everything serves a purpose. Everything flows. Do an analysis of their 2006 opener and you won't go as in depth...you can't, because there is no depth.

This has nothing to do with the Madison "identity" or anything, just that the quality of music performed exponentially worse than what used to be performed, hence the lower quality of the product.

[rut-roh]

I can.

No you can't, seeing as how you completely missed the point the original author was trying to make.

[Newseditor44]

I can. Their musical program is an unmelodic, non-flowing, mish-mash of hits and chords, compared to their perfectly written musical books of the '90s. There's no emotional involvement, no screaming sop solos to get the crowd on their feet, no 30-second long chords, no rotating company front, no jammin' percussion feature...

I think he gets it rather well actually. From a fans perspective (not a FMM), the "new" Madison Vanguard-Scouts simply aren't hitting home with many of the fans (if you were on the chat last night while watching the live stream, you would have noticed that most of us shared the same view). It's not about the style or genere of music, but the fact that Madison has always been known as an exciting corps that entertained the audiance. There is nothing entertaining about this show. What Madison has lost, in my opinion, is the ability to generate electricity in the stands and connect with the fans. This has been going on for the past several years now. They are trying to hard to win, and not hard enough to entertain. What the crative staff doesn't get is that you can do both. Now they have to figure out how.

Again, just my opinion.

Edited July 9, 2006 by Newseditor44

[madalumni]

no screaming sop solos to get the crowd on their feet, no 30-second long chords,

Well, to quote Vince Vaughn,

"Erroneous. Erroneous on both counts." :)

There are a couple real nice screaming sop moments

and in the closer, there's a very loud chord that goes

on for about 24 seconds...ok. not 30 seconds.

And no drum feature? What about the 20-30 second

long feature that leads into the closer. They are definately

jammin'! But hey, enough of MY yackin'....GO GET 'EM SCOUTIES! :)

Edited July 9, 2006 by madalumni

[Scerpella]

THe best finish for the Scouts in the past 18 years was 4th.

88 1

89 7

90 9

91 7

92 5

93 6

94 6

95 4

96 6

97 5

98 6

99 6

00 10

01 11

02 14

03 8

04 8

05 6

You can wax poetic all you want about those great Scouts shows, they didnt win a title. Those of you who keep referring back to all the Old Madison attributes are simply living in the past. EVERY corps I assume aims for the title. When you get stuck in the middle of the pack like they were for so long one of two things happens. Either you say F*** it and say we'll take the crowd (which in and of itself is not that horrible, except that it leads to years like 00-02) or you can say we want to do what it takes to win, and that means many times reinventing yourself. Cavies were out of it completely for a number of years, now they are once again a powerhouse, Blue Stars are clawing their way slowly but surely back into top 12 status after 20 years out of it! You dont get back into the winners circle playing yesterdays shows sorry!

This kind of "let Madison be Madison" talk was great in the 90s when they had a prayer of finishing high. Those type of shows will put Scouts out of the top 12 again.

As I said, if you want a little of that old feeling, stick around after semis and watch the Reunion corps. We guarantee to give you a thrill, move you a few rows back and remind you of what a different Madison was like. The current group of guys has to write their OWN pages in the history book. And they cant do it by being slaves to the expectations of yesteryear. I personally am always going to remember 2006 for the breakneck velocity alone.

Edited July 9, 2006 by dans24103

[Hrothgar15]

This kind of "let Madison be Madison" talk was great in the 90s when they had a prayer of finishing high. Those type of shows will put Scouts out of the top 12 again.

You mean to tell me if they had saved their 1999 show for 2006 and performed it at the exact same skill level, they wouldn't make finals? Please. What has "changed" so much about drum corps that a show with amazing music and drill can't make finals? That's just a cop-out for the fact that the Madison Scouts this year do not have a well-written musical program.

Edited July 9, 2006 by Hrothgar15

[MarimbasaurusRex]

(don't...) "Mess with Dorthty ruby-red slippers!;

You'll never prance alone... um... dude. :P

(It's a joke, don't kill me!)

[vferrera]

I'm with Hrothgar. Having a musically sensible show did not hold Phantom back last year. Performance still carries a lot of weight. When you look at the rankings from year to year, they generally correlate with execution. It's rarely the case that a corps gets beat by a show that is better designed but more poorly performed.

When you look at Cavaliers, yes they went from a more popular style to a more artistic style in the mid 80s. But they also got back to basics in terms of individual marching, what they were known for in the 60s. Then they developed a smoother brass style and that pushed them into the top 3.

If you're talking about 1st vs. 3rd, then design is a factor. But the thing that will get you in the top 3 is having excellent fundamental technique and professional showmanship.