The Best Hornline...

[Room_101]

My opinion for the best hornlines are most often not what the judges nor what the general public pick as their favorite hornlines. So, how do you decide on YOUR favorite hornline?

This isn't meant to put down any particular hornline. I have the greatest respect for every marcher out there, because I never had the gonzos to go out and do what they do. I just want to know how the public determines their favorite hornlines, and has this method changed through the years?

[MikeM]

Well, it's hard to just put it in one category.

I want Loud with quality. However, I want quiet with impact.

I want music I'll be humming when I leave the stadium.

I want technical stuff clean, and I want RFL to be RFL. Blow me back in the stands.

But, if quality isn't there, then it sounds like crap.

How's that for a circular answer? :P

[BryceH]

you can play obscure stuff but it needs to have quality, i agree RFL needs to be RFL but again with quality. lower dynamics, if thats even a word in drum corps, are easy to have the quality there. no matter the volume or tune, the Q's before the rip your face off sound.

[year1buick]

I like SPL (Sound Pressure Level) as much as the next guy, but I hardly think it's the end-all-be-all of drum corps. Far from it. I would put more emphasis on dynamic range, with control. Similar idea for fast and furious notes-- sprinkled in just the right places, they can add excitement and spice to a show. However, I don't want to hear 11 minutes of Clark studies either... Just as with a good book or movie, I want highs and lows, exciting moments, moving moments-- the whole bag. However, there's no secret formula and it's all easier said than done (which is why I have such admiration, year in and out, for the top performing corps that seem to pull this off time and again).

[jafar]

All i ask is that they blow my face off, sadly this now very rarely happens, the best thing i remember was when i saw madison live in 2001, holy mary i felt that

[shawn craig]

I like SPL (Sound Pressure Level) as much as the next guy, but I hardly think it's the end-all-be-all of drum corps. Far from it. I would put more emphasis on dynamic range, with control. Similar idea for fast and furious notes-- sprinkled in just the right places, they can add excitement and spice to a show. However, I don't want to hear 11 minutes of Clark studies either... Just as with a good book or movie, I want highs and lows, exciting moments, moving moments-- the whole bag. However, there's no secret formula and it's all easier said than done (which is why I have such admiration, year in and out, for the top performing corps that seem to pull this off time and again).

Excellent!

I agree. There needs to be a variety of musical elements in a show.

A favorite music director once said "the greatest fff are after the best ppp."

I'm fine when a corps plays something less familiar. There still needs to be some musical element you can latch onto; could me melody, could also be rhythmic patterns, fragments or motiffs, harmonies; something besides technical difficulty just for the sake of doing something difficult.

[MarchingXylo]

Clarity. Period.

[MikeD]

QUALITY....because that covers all dynamic levels.

[PhantomR]

eggs.

~>conner

[flashofthunder]

I love a unique sound; one you can hear and automatically identify it with a corps.

I love the loudness and brazen quality of the 1980 Spirit of Atlanta hornline, with that punch they pack on the first big hit of their show.

I love the perfection of the 2002 Cavaliers hornline. It had a beautiful sound, and was the very definition of minimallistic ensembles.

I love 1999 Santa Clara Vanguard, partly because it's my favorite show of all time, and partly because it was, as the announcer said, "vintage Santa Clara." That hornline is what I think of when I think of SCV.

One of my favorite hornlines is 2006 Carolina Crown. They had one of the most gorgeous sounds I have ever heard come from a hornline. It's no wonder that they sound so incredible, considering that the majority of the brass staff came from Star of Indiana, which had, IMHO, the very best brass that has ever been on the field.