ContraRich77 Posted September 5, 2006 Share Posted September 5, 2006 Star's repertoire was the ONLY classical one of the evening, and the only classical rep I can remember in all the years I have competed in Minicorps. Was nice to see someone take that direction and kick ### with it. Congratulations to Star United, you blew doors & deserved your title. Thanks for coming to watch us practice and perform for us before the competition. You guys are a class act through and through. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MiniSopGuy Posted September 5, 2006 Share Posted September 5, 2006 (edited) Star's repertoire was the ONLY classical one of the evening. I am sure I heard some other classical music in the mini corps venue...........eventhough it did get booed and ended up being an Earth, Wind and Fire show Edited September 5, 2006 by MiniSopGuy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nbrown Posted September 5, 2006 Share Posted September 5, 2006 (edited) So one does not have to be a Star Alumni to join the Alumni Association? There are several levels of Star Alumni Association membership. Only those who have been "marching members" of Star of Indiana or Brass Theater may be Active members, meaning they have voting rights. Those who were on staff (either paid or volunteer) may become "Associate" members and those with no prior affiliation may become "Friends" of SAA. Any member may participate in performance ensembles like Star United. After performing, they are considered full-fledged alumni. I hope that answers your question. Edited September 6, 2006 by nbrown Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rdorocke Posted September 5, 2006 Share Posted September 5, 2006 Hi All: I feel compelled to add my 2 cents here. First of all, thanks for the kind words about Star United - we are honored to be accepted with open arms in our debut to DCA competition! Everyone that I talked to in Rochester was incredibly kind and complementary to us and our show - I wasn't quite prepared for the overwhelming response that we were given. For that, THANK YOU!!! To the Renegades, thanks for being such an awesome audience on Friday afternoon - you have no idea how nervous we were to perform our show for you. I'm glad we had the opportunity to see your run-through, the show looked incredibly fun to perform. Your soloists are insane!!! Awesome!! My best, Rob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
camel lips Posted September 5, 2006 Share Posted September 5, 2006 I have to say that I was torn watching Star United at minicorps. Torn because without a doubt they were the finest musicians of the night. But conflicted because a straight classical repertoire as they did is very uncommon (at least to me) as fare for the mini corps competition and is not really my cup of tea. My personal favorites were Mass Brass. They played what you expect (and want) to hear at a mini corps competition and it was fairly spotless. Renegades were high energy and entertainment but I thought less than clean. Minnesota Brass might actually be in Star territory with respect to musicianship but their repertoire was on the offbeat side of the jazz catalog and I felt that they never showed the crowd what they can really do. We know they can wail on the field, I wish they would have done a little more of that in mini corps.But to get back to Star, I cant say Ive ever heard a better mellophone line in this acitivty. They really make all others seem like amateurs by comparison. Can I ask you Star folks to consider something with a little more sauce for next year? I feel the same way you do about.Had that corps from Indiana came in and played that book half baked,,the crowd would have sent them packing. They were by far the best act of the night. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidp Posted September 6, 2006 Share Posted September 6, 2006 (edited) Are the same people doing the CDs and DVDs this year? I didn't get to go, and now I'm really dyin' to hear this stuff (I was just plain ol' dyin' to hear it before I read this :D ). Anybody got the URL to their website? Thanks in advance. Never mind; found it, and ordered. :) Thanks anyway though. Edited September 6, 2006 by davidp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
strutta Posted September 6, 2006 Share Posted September 6, 2006 Random thoughts on DCA Mini-corps:- By default, Strutta got to play a solo in Auld Lang Syne. And THIS, I assure you is the greatest drawback of the night, IMHO!!! (Only took me three notes to hit the right pitch but at least I knew when to come in...wait, maybe that wasn't a good thing.) :P Thank you to Doug and Dan and everyone that enjoyed Mass Brass' performance. It was a great night for mini corps and congratulations to the new champions, SU and all the corps that performed! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Ream Posted September 6, 2006 Share Posted September 6, 2006 I had NOTHING BAD to say about the Quality of Star. They are nothing but the best.But your replys are just perfect. Once DCA becomes a DCI Clone they will be Better. As to some of the other replys to mine. I hate to burst your bubble. BUT. It is NOT classical I do not like. It is the RE Writes of the music. I happen to like Phantom and Bluecoats. If I ever wanted to see a DCI show, those are the type groups I would be looking for. I will never understand why the DCI (and now DCA) "Designers" have to bastardise EVERY piece of music they play. Often to the point you can not even tell what the name of what they are playing. I do not care weather it is an old "March", "Classical" or Movie theme. Let me hear the Music of that peice. Not some guy's outlandish version. Then also as I have said. Why MUST I like your version of things? If you like it. GOOD, enjoy. There is no reason why I should be considered "Uneducated, or Stupid" because I like something different. That is the DCI lifestyle way of things. (The Lucy par of nic . is for St. Lucy's Cadets) you do realize even the original corps to play these peices didnt do that piece as it was originally written right? face it, if they did copy what someone else did note for note, they would get cricified for copying it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
camel lips Posted September 6, 2006 Share Posted September 6, 2006 SS,,Not sure why their score is not listed.But I thought they had a very entertaining package.Those 5 guys are all heart and put out a large amount of sound for just 5 players.I am sure the arrangements had to be tweaked with no low brass but it really wasn't obvious.Good job guys and I hope to see you back in Class A or open class next year. 9th - Govies Played mostly music from their field show (I THINK) anyways I was very impressed with the sound they put out. 8th - Heat Wave After hearing about all the problems they had getting their class A corps off the ground this year,,,I didn't expect them to do very well,,,boy was I wrong,,they had a very solid sound in all the voices.Nice low brass sound. 7th - SoCal Dream Very Entertaining show.Loved the visuals you guys did.Loved the classical start off with the PICC trumpet/bugle and then the lead off with EWF.Great stuff,, 6th - Erie Thunderbirds Sorry,,I missed your show. 5th - Ghost Riders Joey Pero always delivers and he didn't fail to disappoint.Great solos and I loved the set up on the stage. 4th - Minne Brass 93.0 What can I say that I haven't already said about you guys this year.Fantastic mini corps.Were you missing a few guys from the Minn show?seems like you might have had more there. 3rd - Mass Brass 93.5 I always like your mini corps and this year was no exception..A very well rounded package.All the tunes you did left me leaving there huming.I might be mistaken but didn't you do two of those numbers in 04?IF so no worries,,just wondering why you chose to do that.A lot of corps don't like to repeat charts,,especially the exact same arrangements.Great show. 2nd - Renegades 94.25 WOW.What power and great arrangements.You guys rocked.I think if you would have added some more visuals to your show,,you would have really brought down the house. 1st - Star United 94.5 OMG,,,I didn't know what to expect out of these guys.I had been in touch with one of the members off and on all year and kind of knew what was going on behind the scenes but still was expecting to see what it was they brought to the table. Let me tell you they played a extremely hard book.One that is on the college level for sure,,and played it well.They have a Mellophone player that is a monster.Sop section was very together and played runs that were off the charts.Loved the low brass.The SMALLISH contra section sure had a lot of nads behind them.Baritones were very dark and chocolaty. By far the best performance of the night. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tapper7 Posted September 6, 2006 Share Posted September 6, 2006 Congratulations to Star United. Plz keep coming back. Star fits ANY venue. Its not about DCI/DCA or classical/jazz, forget that. It's about drum corps. And Star is one of the best of all time. Class A? If you guys could get 30+ horns together ... you could set your sites a LOT higher than that. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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