SA

[woodster]

spirt

drumline was small and thus sorta hard to get excited about. they did play some cool stuff though.

The corp was fun to see being that it was my first to see of the year. However, the show was extremely boring. The music went nowhere and left me very flat at the end. There are somethings they could do to fix this.

glassmen

overall a more exciting show than spirit. a clear step up. Drumline wasn't very clean, but it was ok. I didn't particularly like the show, but i loved the 10 seconds of silence that they had. overall i thought this show was a easy step up from spirit and a big step below madison

madison

dirty drill. exciting drill. I guess i am enjoyed it, but it did remind me of June drum corp as far as execution. Drumline was the first drumline to see that came out with cool parts that took my attention. That sorta drum exposure is nice to see from madison. overall the corp had an alright show, but my grandmother can see those visual mistakes. i would've scored them at the level they did, though the drums should've been more like sixth, not seventh.

BK

This show seemed very conservative and clean. They appeared to cover their basses, though nothing made me close to excited except a few horn hits. Overall this show doesn't appear to have much more potential, but it doesn't look like anyone below them will catch.

Boston

Drumline was not very well written for my taste. There were a couple of out of the blue snare solos that were so out of place i could even focus on how well executed they were. Overall I thougth this corp was good, but no change from any of the past three years. I think Madison and BK should pass them. I was surprised they beat BK, though it is a complete toss up. Madison, BK, and Boston all have some glaring problems and different strengths. Hard to rate, though madison drumiline was better than three (since this is from a drummers perspective).

Crown

This show was better than any before it. Drumline was extremely weak at times, but then very strong at other times. They did pop a couple of triplet rolls that were by far the cleanest thing I heard all night. guard was good and horns were solid. drill was solid. Never wowed at any time, but this show appears to carry more quality (highest combination of demand and execution) than those before it.

SCV

eh. it was alright. cool drill. drumline was very dirty, but I expected that considering staff changes etc. I think crown could pass them, but i think SCV has the individual talent that will pull it out.

Cadets

I loved the drumline, atleast when they played. The drums couldn't be heard most of the first half. I below the snaredrummer who caught the stick missed a rim shot, which was dissapointing but fun too watch. The drumline should be clean come finals, as i give them the benefit of the doubt. I didn't get the show design, but honestly I never get anyone's show design. I just like to be entertained. The guard was non existant in my opinion. They might've been out there, but I never saw them.

On a side note I got to listen to people trash the corp behind me. Geez, it was like reading the DCP. Then they got into an argument with the parents of the singer. Classy. Atleast it gave my gf something to watch.

Phantom

good horns and drums. not so jammin guard. didn't care for the bondage stuff. the drum book was not the hardest thing i saw out there, but it was perhaps the cleanest. Didn't like the tuning of the quads. I couldn't tell what was clean in the dome as the tones take over each other and sound like mud. I am sure it is better outside. overall this show is the most boring of the top five so far, but their horn line did blow me away with that sound. Their drill production was....typical phantom drill. their drill wasn't dirty, but it didn't anything to my excitement. Not bad, but not up to par with the surrounding competition.

Bluecoats

For the first half of their show i would give them easy third place and perhaps high drums. But ever since a quad drummer fell down the show took a serious drop in quality. It was like a different corp. The snare line went from slammin to very crappy at times. All of a suddent individuals stuck out and parts were blown left and right. I will assume it was a bad performance. I also saw dropped sticks. The corp seemed to have the same performance. Great for half a show, then just good. Guard was the first guard that made my jaw drop with their ability.

CAvies

ok, this show concept i actually got. very cool. I always disliked their recent shows, but this was a lot of fun to watch. I actually watched the guard most of the time. I believe that is some of the coolest ideas i have ever seen put into action. drumline was dirty most of the time (despite a high score ?), but i didn't even notice them over the cool show design. This was the best show i saw of the night

BD

This drumline was the only one i didn't see crap the bed at one point or another (as is expected for SA). The show was boring and I spent the whole time waiting for the repeat of the god father theme, while looking at my watch. very solid package from every angle, though. I was thinking it would beat cavies tonight on the basis of execution, but cavies show would pass them once it was cleaned another layer. I guess it happened ealier than i thought

BD did crap the bed when they played their cadence though.

Overall it was interesting to look at the drum recaps and disagree with them. Of course, standing in front of the line is much better than my fourth row perspective. All of the groups were where i expected them to be by SA. I know finals will be much better. I know my comments were a little blunt and probably not thoughtful of the big picture. like i said, this was from my perspective.

[wesleyrp]

spirt

drumline was small and thus sorta hard to get excited about. they did play some cool stuff though.

The corp was fun to see being that it was my first to see of the year. However, the show was extremely boring. The music went nowhere and left me very flat at the end. There are somethings they could do to fix this.

glassmen

overall a more exciting show than spirit. a clear step up. Drumline wasn't very clean, but it was ok. I didn't particularly like the show, but i loved the 10 seconds of silence that they had. overall i thought this show was a easy step up from spirit and a big step below madison

madison

dirty drill. exciting drill. I guess i am enjoyed it, but it did remind me of June drum corp as far as execution. Drumline was the first drumline to see that came out with cool parts that took my attention. That sorta drum exposure is nice to see from madison. overall the corp had an alright show, but my grandmother can see those visual mistakes. i would've scored them at the level they did, though the drums should've been more like sixth, not seventh.

BK

This show seemed very conservative and clean. They appeared to cover their basses, though nothing made me close to excited except a few horn hits. Overall this show doesn't appear to have much more potential, but it doesn't look like anyone below them will catch.

Boston

Drumline was not very well written for my taste. There were a couple of out of the blue snare solos that were so out of place i could even focus on how well executed they were. Overall I thougth this corp was good, but no change from any of the past three years. I think Madison and BK should pass them. I was surprised they beat BK, though it is a complete toss up. Madison, BK, and Boston all have some glaring problems and different strengths. Hard to rate, though madison drumiline was better than three (since this is from a drummers perspective).

Crown

This show was better than any before it. Drumline was extremely weak at times, but then very strong at other times. They did pop a couple of triplet rolls that were by far the cleanest thing I heard all night. guard was good and horns were solid. drill was solid. Never wowed at any time, but this show appears to carry more quality (highest combination of demand and execution) than those before it.

SCV

eh. it was alright. cool drill. drumline was very dirty, but I expected that considering staff changes etc. I think crown could pass them, but i think SCV has the individual talent that will pull it out.

Cadets

I loved the drumline, atleast when they played. The drums couldn't be heard most of the first half. I below the snaredrummer who caught the stick missed a rim shot, which was dissapointing but fun too watch. The drumline should be clean come finals, as i give them the benefit of the doubt. I didn't get the show design, but honestly I never get anyone's show design. I just like to be entertained. The guard was non existant in my opinion. They might've been out there, but I never saw them.

On a side note I got to listen to people trash the corp behind me. Geez, it was like reading the DCP. Then they got into an argument with the parents of the singer. Classy. Atleast it gave my gf something to watch.

Phantom

good horns and drums. not so jammin guard. didn't care for the bondage stuff. the drum book was not the hardest thing i saw out there, but it was perhaps the cleanest. Didn't like the tuning of the quads. I couldn't tell what was clean in the dome as the tones take over each other and sound like mud. I am sure it is better outside. overall this show is the most boring of the top five so far, but their horn line did blow me away with that sound. Their drill production was....typical phantom drill. their drill wasn't dirty, but it didn't anything to my excitement. Not bad, but not up to par with the surrounding competition.

Bluecoats

For the first half of their show i would give them easy third place and perhaps high drums. But ever since a quad drummer fell down the show took a serious drop in quality. It was like a different corp. The snare line went from slammin to very crappy at times. All of a suddent individuals stuck out and parts were blown left and right. I will assume it was a bad performance. I also saw dropped sticks. The corp seemed to have the same performance. Great for half a show, then just good. Guard was the first guard that made my jaw drop with their ability.

CAvies

ok, this show concept i actually got. very cool. I always disliked their recent shows, but this was a lot of fun to watch. I actually watched the guard most of the time. I believe that is some of the coolest ideas i have ever seen put into action. drumline was dirty most of the time (despite a high score ?), but i didn't even notice them over the cool show design. This was the best show i saw of the night

BD

This drumline was the only one i didn't see crap the bed at one point or another (as is expected for SA). The show was boring and I spent the whole time waiting for the repeat of the god father theme, while looking at my watch. very solid package from every angle, though. I was thinking it would beat cavies tonight on the basis of execution, but cavies show would pass them once it was cleaned another layer. I guess it happened ealier than i thought

BD did crap the bed when they played their cadence though.

Overall it was interesting to look at the drum recaps and disagree with them. Of course, standing in front of the line is much better than my fourth row perspective. All of the groups were where i expected them to be by SA. I know finals will be much better. I know my comments were a little blunt and probably not thoughtful of the big picture. like i said, this was from my perspective.

Good review man, if I'd have known you were going to write a review on DCP and were siting in fromt of me, I would have compared notes with you. I agree whole heartedily about the drumlines. As a brass player i ussually don't comment much on the lines, but I saw that Mad town's drummers were smokin!! I was quite surpirsed at the sloppiness of crown and G-Mens drumlines, what did you think about that? Also, did you think that Boston's line overplayed a little? They seemed overlee aggressive, but obviously very good. Great job!!

Wes Perkins

[woodster]

yeah, i would definetely agree with regards to boston.

I was surprised with crown's sloppiness as the caption head was our battery tech at madison and marched star '93. He is a complete jerk, but one thing i recall is that he was meticulous about playing clean (even if that meant making 21 yr olds cry :P ). I have to assume it will just take time for him to get the right talent out there as he is virtually a no name in the business right now. As far as Glassmen, i was surprised since last year i liked what was happening. Their book appears a lot harder this year, but much dirtier. I wonder if their staff has changed since '05.

[TastyWaves]

Some very interesting perspectives bro! thanks for the thoughts.

Although i disagree about the level of difficulty in Phantoms show. Dont mistake "notes notes notes" for neccesarily being more difficult.

Phantoms books is alot more about control and musicallity which is very hard to do. Alot of syncapation and lower end dynamic level playing which i know from teaching lines the last 13 years is very demanding.

I think the book is perfect for the show its written for. I think this is what seperates the top 5-7 lines from the 8-15 lines. Sometimes percussion authors go for the "notes for the sake of notes" route as opposed to writing to compliment the ensemble. I think Phantom is in the elite class with lines out there when it comes to that. BD, Cavs, Bluecoats, can all say the same.

As for tuning in a dome, i have never heard a line master that! lol... I wonder who will be the first. Other than the A/C cranking and the sun off your head ive never been a fan of dome shows. I marched alot of drum corps shows inside and the listening environment is ####!

thanks again for the review man!

aap

"Phantom

good horns and drums. not so jammin guard. didn't care for the bondage stuff. the drum book was not the hardest thing i saw out there, but it was perhaps the cleanest. Didn't like the tuning of the quads. I couldn't tell what was clean in the dome as the tones take over each other and sound like mud. "

[prokofiev11]

As far as Glassmen, i was surprised since last year i liked what was happening. Their book appears a lot harder this year, but much dirtier. I wonder if their staff has changed since '05.

Caption head is the same, but most of the techs are different.

[woodster]

Although i disagree about the level of difficulty in Phantoms show. Dont mistake "notes notes notes" for neccesarily being more difficult.

Phantoms books is alot more about control and musicallity which is very hard to do. Alot of syncapation and lower end dynamic level playing which i know from teaching lines the last 13 years is very demanding.

I think the book is perfect for the show its written for. I think this is what seperates the top 5-7 lines from the 8-15 lines. Sometimes percussion authors go for the "notes for the sake of notes" route as opposed to writing to compliment the ensemble. I think Phantom is in the elite class with lines out there when it comes to that. BD, Cavs, Bluecoats, can all say the same.

I feel the exact same way about Paul's writing. It is definetely a perfect fit for Phantom on top of that. I always enjoy different aspects of his writing, such as full ensemble voices, tempo changes, etc. Very musical. He is also well known for not putting a solo in just for the sake of it. I guess that is why the average fan will have more trouble hyping the phantom drum book over the cadets book. I have two students of mine marching in phantom's line this year (1 snare and 1 tenor), so i definetely respect what they do. Coming from the North Texas Area in highschool and playing Paul's arrangements every year, I guess I am a little burnt out on Paul's style. So when I see West coast and East coast writing it definetely strikes a fresher note with me, perhaps incorrectly appearing more difficult. I still wished they played on Yamaha quads though :)