The 2006 Cavaliers.

[FlamMan]

Love the drill & visual program...hated the music. Music made me nervous & uncomfortable!

[dciguy1987]

Why yes. Yes ! Im on Crack, and smack, and speed, and uppers, and quayludes, and horse, and bones, and grass and just about everything else I can shove up my nose, down my throat, through my veins, and its wonderful !!!

~G~

Well admitting you have a problem is the first step toward recovery! Way to go!

[dciguy1987]

Wow, so bitter and jaded. Do you really think you have a clue regarding the Cavaliers teaching philosophies and Phantoms for that matter ???

Actually I do...

It was cleared up long ago regading how Cavaliers do NOT write their drill first then their music.

Just because you cant get something out of the Cavaliers brass sound, style or music doesnt mean it don't exist.

I didn't say that. I said they do not write long phrases that develop with melody, counter melody and complex harmonic structures like Phantom does. Notice Cavies used to do play music like that, but they wern't winning and have been able to develop a design package that has little to no exposure to error.

[Matt_S]

I'm not on crack. I just don't like their music. It isn't offensive, but it isn't memorable to me. I have seen the Cavaliers a couple of times this year and I still can't remember a single note of their show.

Seriously? You've heared the second number, after the ElastiCorps section, and still can't remember a single note? That section was the most pure fun I've had when I listen to the CD's.

Saucedo is really good at what he does, but his music isn't going to become standard literature for music history classes. It isn't going to sell a million records.

Is JD Shaw's music? Is Wayne Downey's? Is Scott Boerma's? And to be fair, Saucedo's music is already quite popular in the wind ensemble arena. In fact, Colts used one of his pieces this year on the field.

TO ME, and that is all I can speak for, it is fluff. There is very little substance there. The visual package the Cavaliers bring is incredible. Since Gaines has taken over drill design, they have been amazing. Their hornline plays well, but when they play the Saucedo originals, their musical program suffers.

Hey, fair enough. :) Everyone's tastes are different. I think what's grating, though, is when people try to say that there's no value to the music at all, just because they don't find it appealing (statements like "there's no melody" and the like). Those comments are frustrating because they're trying to say something objective about the music, and they're flat out wrong. When you stick to the subjective, then I have no problem, and I'm glad to agree to disagree.

[chaddyt]

"Machine" was the most over-rated show of the season. IMO. It probably deserved to win, but I don't see it being in "a league of their own".

The brass book was centered around sound-effect gimmicks and was probably the most un-inspired hornline I've heard from the Cavies this decade. Granted, in a 'machine' themed show, it's hard to inject any semblance of emotion (and maybe that's what they were after), but the music left me extremely bored.

Visually, the design was a hodge-podge of previous Cavie shows. Nothing really new to see here with the exception of the "elastic" drill move which was apparently so mind-blowingly original that they had to use it three times by shows end, effectively turning what should've been the one "WOW" moment of the show into "... oh, that again". (I look forward to seeing the same move in '07, '08, '09....). And of course we can't forget the synchronized corps-eography (also known as the Backstreet Boys Tribute), which has nothing to do with marching or music, yet the crowd goes effin' wild every time they do it.

The Cavies have a formula which both judges and audience members eat up.

I personally am getting quite bored with it.

[Mellojaphoney]

Seriously? You've heared the second number, after the ElastiCorps section, and still can't remember a single note? That section was the most pure fun I've had when I listen to the CD's.

Is JD Shaw's music? Is Wayne Downey's? Is Scott Boerma's? And to be fair, Saucedo's music is already quite popular in the wind ensemble arena. In fact, Colts used one of his pieces this year on the field.

Hey, fair enough. :) Everyone's tastes are different. I think what's grating, though, is when people try to say that there's no value to the music at all, just because they don't find it appealing (statements like "there's no melody" and the like). Those comments are frustrating because they're trying to say something objective about the music, and they're flat out wrong. When you stick to the subjective, then I have no problem, and I'm glad to agree to disagree.

Aren't JD and company arrangers... as in they aren't composing original music... As in... The music is really popular/well known already, and they are just arranging it for a drum corps...As in... chances are, the music is more than likely taught in music history classes especially in the case of JD ( Biebel, Mahler, etc.)?

[GMichael1230]

It's just a little amusing that a few of you can so confidently distinguish by ear on TV or maybe one performance between a 19.60 and a 19.40 in brass.

Oh, and all the years of experience and live viewings you have will lead you to a different conclusion or should I say put you in a better position to "judge"...like the rest of us "armchair" judges ??

Write me when you go to at least ten shows a year then finals, K ??

~G~

[GMichael1230]

Love the drill & visual program...hated the music. Music made me nervous & uncomfortable!

You mean, you got a "reaction" of 'emotion" out of the music ?? Why how can that be ???

Sounds to me like it did its job.

~G~

[Slow Adam]

I'll be sure to let Paul know about all this controversy surrounding his brass score. DCI has put him on Finals two years in a row now... Ensemble Music in 2005, and Brass Performance in 2006. They must trust his judging ability.

It's funny that ONE person was in the right place to make that call at finals, and the hundreds of others who weren't are saying they know better. What you hear on the field and what you hear in the stands / on video are very different.

Paul knows his stuff. No one here was on the field that night. He heard what he heard and made his judgement.

Edited September 6, 2006 by Slow Adam

[Matt_S]

This is indeed the case. You have Phantom playing complete melodies and phrases with all of the performance difficulties built in to deal with and then you have the Cavies who design their way around those issues. It is unfortunate that drum corps are more interested in winning than helping their performers become stronger musicians through the performance of quality, fully developed music that has depth.

See, these are the comments I was talking about. This is a perfect example of someone who subjectively doesn't like the music, and then uses that distaste to try and comment about the music objectively. Frankly, I find that last sentence completely laughable, and even without marching Cavaliers I've seen enough practices to know that that statement was made out of ignorance.