Blue Devils Drumline - No High Drums since 97

[BigSnareline]

did anyone mention BD's PIT?

I don't remember BD having a stellar pit since.. 2000? Perhaps that's where BD is lacking these past several years.

the top guns had great batteries alongside amazing pits....cavies 2000, cadets 2003, scv 2004, pr 2006. those pits were mad skilled!

Agreed. Since Jeff Lee left the blue devils for Blast their pit has been less than impressive. He wrote some incredible stuff for them in the 90's - Just incredible.

[BigSnareline]

Agreed. Since Jeff Lee left the blue devils for Blast their pit has been less than impressive. He wrote some incredible stuff for them in the 90's - Just incredible.

Actually my previous post was a little harsh. BD's pit has been good since 2000 - they were just much better in the 90's.

[marimbaman89]

I never saw BD's pit in the 90's but BD's pit was good yest year and, in my opinion, the best this year (don't know about before that).

Whoever said Phantom's pit was far superior to every other pit this year, I have to disagree with you. BD had an insane pit this year...they had lots of insane unison runs, and they sounded like one person the entire time, which is very very hard to pull off...even one person hitting a wrong note or fluxuating in tempo a little bit will make the entire run sound dirty. Phantom's pit book was very well written, and the amount of exposure plus the cool effects plus the excellent harmonic writing made the book seem harder than it actually was. When you're not playing unison rhythms and unison pitches, it's much much harder to hear wrong notes and fluxuations in rhythm. Now, maybe PR hit every right pitch and didn't fluxuate in rhythm at all either, but it's very hard to tell. Plus, the PR pit runs, for the most part, were not as physically demanding (at least the ones I remember) as BD's were. BD also had some demanding four mallet work.

Plus, the Cavies' pit this year played some insane stuff during Angry Young Man...single independent strokes are very very hard to get to that speed and make clean. I watched them warm up for 5 or so minutes at semis and they warmed up by playing Krauss scales at the same tempo as the four mallet licks in the show with four mallets, then they would play the Angry Young Man licks, and I don't remember hearing any dirt at all (can't say the same thing about the Cavies' drumline).

[L1STEN2311]

Well I don't have much of an opinion on the snares, but the bass tunning has changed for the worse. Do they come with a pillow inside? I imagine the flams pop a little better, but I just don't like the tone. I say let them ring!

while still not as open as the yamaha yester-years the bass's this summer were way less muffled and way lower than in the past 5 or so seasons...

[oldtimedrummer]

Really? Maybe I've been away from the activity too long, but I remember books like Cadets '93 being harder (or at least seeming that way). I talked to a couple of friends who marched SCV (one of them was section leader) in the parking lot during semi-finals and they felt Phantom was the best. I didn't see it myself, but I trust their judgment.

Personally, I didn't see much crazy tenor line action like 1996 blue devils for example.

I was very impressed with PR as well, although their book seemed just a tad ..(splitting hairs) easier than Bloo's. I thought PR and Bloo wer BY FAR the the most musical and the cleanest. PR shapes and contours their phrases better than anybody. Every note is clearly defined. Bloo had a little more meat on the bone and were very musical as well. Draw straws between those two. BD plays with FAR less dynamics and bags quite a bit of their feature. Listen to the lot videos and compare. It's pretty obvious. BD was very good, but IMO, PR and Bloo were BOTH clearly better.

Edited September 10, 2007 by oldtimedrummer

[pinkskittles]

I never saw BD's pit in the 90's but BD's pit was good yest year and, in my opinion, the best this year (don't know about before that).

Whoever said Phantom's pit was far superior to every other pit this year, I have to disagree with you. BD had an insane pit this year...they had lots of insane unison runs, and they sounded like one person the entire time, which is very very hard to pull off...even one person hitting a wrong note or fluxuating in tempo a little bit will make the entire run sound dirty. Phantom's pit book was very well written, and the amount of exposure plus the cool effects plus the excellent harmonic writing made the book seem harder than it actually was. When you're not playing unison rhythms and unison pitches, it's much much harder to hear wrong notes and fluxuations in rhythm. Now, maybe PR hit every right pitch and didn't fluxuate in rhythm at all either, but it's very hard to tell. Plus, the PR pit runs, for the most part, were not as physically demanding (at least the ones I remember) as BD's were. BD also had some demanding four mallet work.

Plus, the Cavies' pit this year played some insane stuff during Angry Young Man...single independent strokes are very very hard to get to that speed and make clean. I watched them warm up for 5 or so minutes at semis and they warmed up by playing Krauss scales at the same tempo as the four mallet licks in the show with four mallets, then they would play the Angry Young Man licks, and I don't remember hearing any dirt at all (can't say the same thing about the Cavies' drumline).

BD pit rocked my world!!! better get it

[oldtimedrummer]

BD pit rocked my world!!! better get it

Yes, FAR better then the battery

Edited September 10, 2007 by oldtimedrummer