Blue Devils Drumline - No High Drums since 97

[Jeffe77]

He's a question: Are all these corps using Dynasty because they're giving them free drums? Cause I agree, those drums sound like poop.

It was in conjuction with BD using Dynasty horns. And yes, it's also the case for other corps having a horn/drum package with Dynasty. I believe BD have been using Dynasty Horns for some time prior to the drumline switching over from yamaha.

I have tons of recordings of BD drumline warming prior to the 2000 season, I don't bother wth any recordings after the 00 season because of the switch over to Dynasty. I played on Dynasty tenors myself for a summer band back in 95, yikes. Hated the sound.

I'll say this, Yamaha was fortunate that Cadets switched over to Yamaha around the same time BD bail out because I feel Yamaha would have been driven off the marching market.

[DevTrev]

It was in conjuction with BD using Dynasty horns. And yes, it's also the case for other corps having a horn/drum package with Dynasty. I believe BD have been using Dynasty Horns for some time prior to the drumline switching over from yamaha.

I have tons of recordings of BD drumline warming prior to the 2000 season, I don't bother wth any recordings after the 00 season because of the switch over to Dynasty. I played on Dynasty tenors myself for a summer band back in 95, yikes. Hated the sound.

I'll say this, Yamaha was fortunate that Cadets switched over to Yamaha around the same time BD bail out because I feel Yamaha would have been driven off the marching market.

If the last time you played Dynasty drums was back in 95, you should really try again. Part of the deal with the Blue Devils was that they would have input on how the drums were made. They made great strides in 01 and 06 and with each new set of drums, more revisions are made. Same goes with the Dynasty brass. I loved my Dynasty euph.

[dcsnare93]

IMO, it's the writing. They have dense books, with a lot of beefy stuff, but it's not very musical. At times I am left wondering how the arrangements compliment the horn books at all. I think other lines have had more "musical" books in past years.

That said, they've always had awesome talent -- this year being a fine example. Much cleaner than in previous years, as well.

Edited September 8, 2007 by dcsnare93

[kbkcdrums]

Maybe I'm not hearing the same thing a lot of you guys are hearing, but I remember a lot BD writing to be very musical and with direction. Check out some 98, 00, definitely 02-04, 06, especially 07...even after being in the line, a lot of that stuff was some of the most musical stuff I ever played. As far as the drums, I think it's all in the tuning. I've heard some amazing sounding Dynasty snares, as well as some nasty sounding ones, just as I've heard some nasty sounding Pearl, Yamaha, and Premier snares. I thought the tuning in 02 was amazing, 00, 01, 05, 06 was pretty good too. It's all in the tuning. Plus remember what sounds good to one person may not sound good to another. There are plenty of Cadets tuning that I don't like, just as there are some BD tuning that I dont like, and SCV, and any other line out there.

P.S. someone earlier wrote about Scott's writing being too dense...Cadets write just as dense if not more (06, 07...) and ...uhhh....Scott doesn't write the book for BD

Edited September 8, 2007 by kbkcdrums

[PhantomPhanatic]

I honestly think the book is just unmusical. Some parts might be hard...but they don't neccesarily play the most notes.

Amen (about the unmusical part). They do play a lot of notes - but their book this year was all loud and no musicality to it. Had Phantom been placing higher as a corps, I believe their percussion would have won again. Their pit was far superior to anyone's this year, and their battery was sick clean. The writing wasn't all loud in your face stuff though - Rennick's writing is very unique! Very difficult, rhythmically challenging - subtle - but always playing, and always musical.

Next year is the year - Phantom to take the Gold!!! :)

Edited September 8, 2007 by PhantomPhanatic

[Zeke]

I say keep the dense book .. make it even harder if you ask me ... but use some technique closer to the BD lines of the 80's. I don't care how far over your head you can raise you sticks .. if you can't play clean every time, there's no point.

I can't agree more..you're right on the mark with that.

[RickCogley]

They seem to have found the right combination to impression the judges this year. I thought they were good, but I would rather they keep the meat, rather than rely on gimmicks like the tap-rolls-with-snappy-body-movement section.

And the snares still sounded like tuckus. Someone mentioned a snare player saying that he loved the sound of his Dynasty. Perhaps it's the phenomenon where a drum can sound great to you, but 100 feet away it's terrible.

I'd love to hear some of the cool lot flam exercises they did in 07 on half-way decent-sounding snares. Hopefully the Dynasty drums will improve, because it seems Devs are kind of married to them. I'd love to hear a nice snare sound again...

[atlvalet]

How many gut strings are on the bottom of a Dynasty snare?

There are 16 on the bottom of my Premier. IIRC, some kinds only have 12 or so, and it makes the drum sound significantly less "snarey."

[Gaddabout]

I'm also confused about the "dense" comment. I think some people are a little fooled by the BD mystique, because the density of the battery book comes and goes depending on the music. If anyone remembers Buddy Rich Suite from the 80s, that was not a very dense book, but the level of difficulty was very high ... lots and lots of singles with the accelerando from the snare line. BD has had some years that I've come away disappointed from the lack of BD-ness in the battery book. But that's just a snare drummer talking. The composition is usually great to my ears.

I think BD has become much more of an ensemble battery over the years, and all the added movement makes what they do extremely difficult. I think they've almost cut back on the snare arrangements because they move so much more than they used to. The dips and steps and choreography ... it really raises the bar on difficulty.

Conversely, I've NEVER heard more notes than I heard from Phantom the last two years. Their book is just insane. It must be a pack of black pages. They had flam combos I found entirely unnecessary, and if I hadn't seen them with my own eyes, I wouldn't have even noticed them. I could only ask ... why? It's fun for a snare drummer like myself to hear it, I guess, but if I'm putting a competitive corps on the field, I have to know ahead of time there's only so much reward you can get from level of difficulty until it starts to eat away at general effect.

The Cavs book, by comparison, seems to have been pulled back over the years. They are doing far less blowing from start to finish, and composition/effect is way up. I think the years they won high drum their book was probably not in the top 5 in level of difficulty to my ears. At least the battery. They've been pretty good at picking their spots to blow. When they do, it's good stuff.

But we're talking about high drum, and if I'm not mistaken, pit = exactly 1/2 of the score. The battery ... everyone's good. Seriously, you could pull any Top 15 corps and you'd have to be a super geek to tell the difference between the books and the quality of performances. Everyone thinks they hear slush in the snare line or gaffes in the tenors and basses, but it's usually people hearing want they want to hear (i.e. mistakes from the competitors). By finals, most of the battery is pretty solid.

The pit books are much more varied, and you can definitely tell a difference between, say, the No. 3 corps and the No. 10 corps. No. 10 may play beautiful, but No. 3 is probably making someone's eyes bug out. I can't remember a year where I didn't think this ... pits seem to be make the difference between a very good performance and high drum.

Edited September 8, 2007 by Gaddabout

[L1STEN2311]

as someone who marched phantom and BD, i would definately have to say that BD's book is harder. not as musical, sure, not as consistent, sure, but way, way harder... and when we did pull it off, it was also way more rewarding.