bigbluekiltie Posted June 23, 2007 Share Posted June 23, 2007 I will attempt a very brief review. It is always a pleasure to see a show at historic Horlick Field in Racine. The packed stands indicate to me that the Midwest is simply starving to see good drum corps, especially in this kind of venue. It is still June, so it is a given that all these corps, without exception, looked a little sloppy on the field; many marchers showed lack of confidence, bad feet, hesitation....so no more needs to be said on that topic. RACINE SCOUTS: Seven brass, 7-10 percussion and nice guard. I am always amazed at how the staff gets so much quality and pride out of these young performers. Horn line sounded bigger than seven...and the color guard was entertaining and talented....the corps is fun. CAP SOUND: I have always had a fondness for this corps...great uniforms, terrific marching style, a drum line that "smokes"...and a disciplined and controlled horn line. Only 17 brass, but they did a nice job. The concept is great and true to who CAP SOUND has always been. TROOPERS: Oh, my goodness. Some of us worried that Troopers would not return after sitting out a season. Back they are: 64 brass and a good size percussion section. True to their tradition, they brought back the circle...which brought the crowd to its feet...there were even tears in some eyes. A beautiful field show and a nice repertoire, this corps could make the top 15. However, I do wish they would put the stripe back in their pants...it is clear the uniform screams for that. PIONEER: I had to watch them from the back of the field...but their field show looked as clean or more clean than all the other corps. Not sure I like the repertoire...I will have to listen to them again. I am guessing they had about 36 brass. MADISON SCOUTS: Well, I am a life-long Scouts fan...have almost all of their recordings....and, quite simply, this corps is not the Madison Scouts...the uniforms were dull now that the white pants are gone. The repertoire was complex, and if I closed my eyes, it could have been a dozen other corps on the field....NOTHING about the corps said: "We are the Madison Scouts." I have to admit that I loved the vocals and felt the best part of their show was the entrance onto the field...wow...impressive...but I long to hear some good Latin or Jazz from this corps. KILTIES: My beloved Kilties...great hosts on a wonderful evening. Very small this year...28 brass, but it looked like about seven holes in the brass line. Nice drum line...a slight improvement over last year but they have a lot of cleaning to do. Kilts are marching well..with a couple of glaring exceptions. Talented guard, but small also. I love these folks, but their repertoire is too soft...too pretty...not one real impact moment in the show. They could battle for a top 10 finish at DCA if they fill the brass holes and work hard to help the couple of performers who obviously struggled with marching and individual style. BTW, the Kilties score was announced incorrectly. They had a 61.875 well can you give us a review of the competition? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stoods59 Posted June 23, 2007 Share Posted June 23, 2007 (edited) Yeah, you ar correct Geno-one of us needs to get some sleep! I did that with one eye open this morning. I had to be at work at 6AM. Regardless, I'm really glad we made it to last night's show! Edited June 23, 2007 by stoods59 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbluekiltie Posted June 23, 2007 Share Posted June 23, 2007 Again, Kilties score was announced incorrectly. The had a 61.875 1 Madison Scouts 64.4502 Troopers 61.250 3 Pioneer 55.700 Division III 1 Capital Sound 50.700 2 Racine Scouts 41.350 All age corps 1 Kilties 56.375 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJN Posted June 23, 2007 Share Posted June 23, 2007 First off, I haven't seen Scouts since Open House (April 10, I think), and, a whole lot has changed. There is a drum solo that was added at the begining of Tango. There was a solo/duet w/2 sops added in Kashmir, and a lot of music, drumwise has been changed. From what I could tell, it was adding, not hosing :) . I was really surprised to see how well the bass drums and tenors had improved. There are at least three spots where the tenors have VERY exposed features, and they have lots of notes. They are still marching 3, but working the 4th in with drill and music. The bass drums have grown some balls since April - playing extremly confident and well together. The snares are much improved, and now have two techs working with them. When watching with drums and horns on the field (no pit or guard) there is some timing issues a few times that when combined with the spacing and visual demands produces some dirty playing. These parts were worked on extensivley, and were better at the show than the 2 run throughs during the day. The uniforms are growing on me, I like them better at night, altough the pictures really don't show it. I was using my brother's camera, since I forgot mine, and after it got dark, I had trouble adjusting the camera - sorry. There are some great impact moments with the horns - I think the show has lots of potential. The first picture is on the Scout's food truck - kind of cool The next few are of the dumline during sectionals The next three are of the Troopers -- I was very impressed. The PA guy said they hadn't been in Racine in 17 years. The horns sounded great, and the drums were very impressive. One snare had a major collision, and his drum and part of his harness went flying, but he recovered shortly after. Great drum major uni :P The Scouts pictures didn't turn out as well - sorry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJN Posted June 23, 2007 Share Posted June 23, 2007 One more - Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JCSeymour Posted June 23, 2007 Share Posted June 23, 2007 1 Madison Scouts 64.4502 Troopers 61.250 3 Pioneer 55.700 Division III 1 Capital Sound 50.700 2 Racine Scouts 41.350 All age corps 1 Kilties 56.375 Kilties 61.875 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GGarrett Posted June 23, 2007 Share Posted June 23, 2007 Just GREAT pictures Matt... thank you! Troopers look great! Madisons drumline looks very focused, and IMO don't look any younger than SCV's line in age comparison. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJN Posted June 23, 2007 Share Posted June 23, 2007 Madisons drumline looks very focused Geno - they are, and they have a great attitude. Plus, they love their parts and the show. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJN Posted June 23, 2007 Share Posted June 23, 2007 Oh, the Troopers uniforms fit MUCH better than the "baggy" look of the pictures that were posted a few weeks ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GGarrett Posted June 23, 2007 Share Posted June 23, 2007 (edited) In a quick comparison... from a snare drummer point of view... in much the same way a horn player would look at horn angles and where the bell was pointing, in looking at these two pictures one can see the left hand positions of the Scouts snares in the top picture, vs. the left hands kind of all over the place in the Trooper picture below... some have a full wrist turn going and some are actually lifting the hand up and turning the wrist, some have a vertical stick while some are still angled a bit. What does this prove? Well... it proves that in that fraction of a second where the camera caught something that the naked eye would probably miss due to optical ability, that stick angles need to be worked on in front of a mirror or big glass window. But the fact is that Troopers could have been clean as a whistle in that passage they were playing... it's all just the look of it all from out front. I know hornlines work on horn angles a lot during the summer, and this would be the drumlines version of that. Disclaimer: (sorry I have to add this, BUT:) I HAVE IN NO WAY STATED THAT THIS MAKES MADISON'S LINE BETTER OR CLEANER OR ANYTHING, so before someone jumps down my throat I want to clarify that. I'm merely pointing out a small detail that would be obvious if it was anyone other corps drumline as well... it's just that I have photos to work with here to explain my observation. Edited June 23, 2007 by GGarrett Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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