Centerville, Ohio - Soaring Sounds 28 - July 2, 2007

[Gentleman Marcher]

Hello, Drum Corps Planet readers! I'm here to bring you my impressions of the Centerville, Ohio drum corps show, Soaring Sounds 28, that I saw two days ago (as of this writing) on July 2nd.

To begin, a few words about the facilities. Centerville has had this show for some time--as evidenced by the 28 in the name. True to form, it's quite well run, with lots of high school band kids and boosters in charge of concessions, traffic direction, what have you. The entire school has undergone major renovations this year, and I personally can't speak for how this impacted traffic, as I arrived on the site very early and left after the encore. I imagine congestion was a bit of a problem, but that's to be expected, as there were a lot of fans in attendance (more on that later).

Centerville has steeply sloped stands meaning you don't have a problem if you're five foot six and someone who's six foot five is sitting in front of you, which is about the situation I had. The field is separated from the stands by a quarter-mile running track, and they had just replaced the field within the last year with new artificial grass turf. I imagine the corps were happy with this, as we'd experienced a few days of rain in Ohio before the contest.

That said, the weather was bright and sunny, a little on the hot side, but otherwise perfect. I've attended Centerville a few times and it seems to menace rain a lot, so blue skies were most welcome for the evening. The sun didn't really get set until after the intermission--when Glassmen were performing the sun was in the process of sinking behind the stands. I feel a little bit bad for the performers, but so it goes! My seats were 48 yard line, 3/4 of the way up. Great seats for viewing from.

As I said, I arrived at the contest early to catch a clinic run by the Bluecoats. I have a friend marching with them and wanted the chance to see them rehearse, as I'm quite a fan. We were early enough to see some pre-clinic rehearsal time and the Bluecoats were working on cleaning the closer. The clinic started, with at least a hundred people in attendance, maybe two hundred? It was quite a crowd, with a lot of band students. The corps broke down into groups--brass, drums, guard--and strutted their stuff before coming together to work on the closer again. They concluded with a runthrough of the whole show which was very warmly received by the audience--a sign of good things to come for the Bluecoats later in the evening.

After catching up with my friend, getting some hot dogs, doing some shopping, and checking out just a bit of the lot, I made certain to be in the stands in time to see the first group, appearing in pre-show exhibition.

Cincinnati Tradition is a group I've been following the progress of for several years now, and I was HUGELY impressed with how they have continued to grow year after year--and to never rest on their laurels. I missed Tradition last year, sadly, but this year's program blew me away, entirely because of how far the group has come. They had, for the first time I've seen them, a battery (2 snares, 1 tenor, 3 basses, 1 cymbal), a complete marching program on the field, and a colorguard that was huge for the size of the group. Though the drill was not difficult (lots of slower marching, standing and playing after a couple of quick sets) and the brass and drums were what you would expect for a still-growing organization, Tradition got some great applause with their program of easily recognizable (to this drum corps fan) classics and pop tunes. I enjoyed their version of Legend of the One-Eyed Sailor especially, with the soloist recreating the Blue Devils solo of yore on a trumpet. Before I move on, I have to give props to the Tradition's guard. Way to go, guys! You really go a long way towards making your corps stronger.

First up in the junior corps, all the way from Texas, was Revolution. The immediate impression I got from the corps was that they really appear complete--huge drumline for their size, very few holes, and generally well-rounded sections. Their program was equally solid--I recognized and enjoyed their closer, Sensemaya, particularly. I'm not extremely well versed in the goings on of Division II/III, but Revolution had a good size, a good show, and represented their division and their state very well, and the audience responded in kind. I had the chance to catch the Revolution drumline in the lot, and let me say that my impressions were three things: that those kids are tough looking, aggressive-playing, and strong as a section. The drum scores agreed, giving Revolution's drumline high marks.

Second was the Memphis Sound, who I last saw at this contest in 2005. I was somewhat disheartened to see that the group has shrunken some, but it seems part of the problem is the extremely tight block they enter the field in. Memphis has quite a few holes this year, the most glaring of with seemed to be a third bass drum--the basses on the field in the 2nd and 3rd positions kept a large distance from each other the entire show, which I assume means they're missing a bass. The color guard also seemed startlingly small at first, during the opener I counted four members. There's something going on, because when I checked again in the closer they'd more than doubled their number--perhaps a lot of members signing on midseason? I'm sorry to say I focused a lot on what Memphis didn't have than what they did, but I will tell you they had some great ensemble brass moments as well as the best drum major of the night--especially during the ballad, the DM really showed that he knew what he was doing and that he was able to lead the corps into surprisingly emotive territory. If the corps can continue to harness that emotion, they'll achieve some great things.

The Troopers are coming! I was thrilled to see the Troopers take the field, I made sure to pick a contest to get out and see them. Clearly, this year's long blue line is a much stronger group than when I saw them in 2005 at Allentown, and the audience had more than a few members who recognized that. One man in front of me yelled out, "Welcome back, Troopers!" (which I had intended to do--he beat me to the punch). So, obviously, lots of goodwill to the corps as they were getting underway. The corps put out a big sound, marching some effective though not breathtaking drill--my favorite part about their visual repertoire was the high stepping that appeared at several points in their production. The drumline this season is extremely aggressive, with lots of loud playing that got my blood pumping. The first "WOW!" moment of the evening came in the closer, when the Troopers locked into their trademark Sunburst--though not quite the original sunburst (the whole corps faces forward and the back half high steps backwards) I felt a huge rush of adrenaline--first time I'd ever seen it. Thank you, Troopers, for that moment to remember! I'll see you in Louisville.

Next up was yet another far-traveling corps, the Cascades. Their repertoire was entitled "Three," which I really wish I'd known going into the show. The corps starts in three three-pointed formations, highlights three performers (a trumpet, a snare, and a guard member) and quoted the "three" theme at many points throughout the program. The group had some fine brass moments in the ballad, but the real pleasure was the finale. The corps played loud and clear as they locked into a triangle formation, and then concluded the production bringing the same three members back again. Sadly, I feel I missed out on a lot of stuff in the program because I didn't know what the title was (I'm kicking myself for not picking up one of the complimentary programs until I retrieved one left on the seats right before they did awards). Sorry to any Cascades fans I might have disappointed.

After an intermission, the Glassmen went on, and they're something of a home team here in Ohio and especially in Centerville. Let it be said that there are a lot of things I love about this year's Glassmen performance. The way they start the show, with the whole pit kicking off the percussion groove, is spectacular, and the way it transitions onto the field with the guard is also great. The guard, heck, they deserve major props themselves--Glassmen's guard is great at getting into character and this season is no exception. I also very much enjoy the closer, where the music builds to a climax only to stop suddenly so that they can build it up all over again. The multiple uses of the Glassmen shield in the closer didn't escape my notice, either. This was clearly one of the favorite performances of the night for a lot of fans in the audience, and I think that the entire package of "Gitano" is excellent.

Next on were the Blue Devils, and I was startled at how dark their entire production was. "Dark," as in, "very evil sounding." BD had the performance captions nailed, that was certain--a very clean drumline pulling out their classic trick of trading off drums on the sidelines at high speeds (which I love and was thrilled to see). The new uniforms, which are a year old but which I was seeing for the first time, work very well especially under the lights at night, and BD had very clean feet. The Blue Devils hornline is great this year as well, and really blew me away--they maintained a wall of sound for the entire performance. This is also one of my big gripes about this year's Blue Devils show, and that's that for the entire performance they never really got below a mezzo volume. When they wanted to sound quieter, they played backfield, but they seemed to alternate between loud and louder. Though they were technically very solid, I can see where this cost them GE points on the night. My other big gripe is that the show as a whole is very choppy. There are a lot of impact moments and great things happening on the field with the guard and the horns and the drums, but there's not a story being told or a real emotive movement from start to finish. This is a show that will thrill you but won't make you cry. If I want to be entertained, that's fine with me, but I'd be concerned about getting the gold if I were BD.

Bluecoats were up next, and the corps looked sharp in their new uniforms. What can I say, other than that the Bluecoats had a great show the other night, and have great potential for this season? The drumline is very solid, and will be a top three contender again, the horns have some great moments and a great range of sound and emotion, and the guard is spectacular. Some more specific things about that--those posts about the Bluecoats having a great contra section? Completely true. These guys can put out some serious sound and are a joy to the ears. The guard has some excellent moments--keep your eyes peeled in the first half of the show for when the one color guard member steals the briefcase off of the drum major's stand. The integration of the guard is likewise spectacular, especially in the closer--the rush inward at the very finale is great. As far as pit percussion goes, the narration is done tastefully and got some great laughs from the audience--and this is a sign of people honest-to-goodness enjoying the narration, folks. If you don't take it too seriously, you'll like it. The staff leading the clinic described their show as a "summer blockbuster" instead of a "film noir," so let's have the Bluecoats "You have the right to remain silent!" be taken more as a "Hasta la vista, baby," okay? I also noticed that the Bluecoats employ a beatboxer in the pit right before the longest bit of narration, something that I didn't catch with one viewing but was actually impressed with the integration of. A great show that still has a ways to go before Worlds, I'll be cheering the Bluecoats on the whole way.

The closing corps was the Cavaliers, and I'll be the first to admit that I wasn't very excited about seeing this year's show from the Cavies. I was underwhelmed by their 2005 production, and I expected the Billy Joel show to be very similar. Well, I was somewhat right. This is a very melodic, audience-oriented show, right from the first big hit, but the program never really lags and there's a lot of Cavalier style here. The best way I can explain it by analogy is that it's like my two favorite sections from 2005--the Miracle Mile/baseball game section and the "Sweet Home Chicago" closer. The "Pressure" segment is excellent, and the guard has some extremely physical moments in their routine. Some of the drill could use a bit of work, but if you're expecting the typical can't-be-beat Cavies design, you won't be disappointed. Lots of Cavalier fans in the audience, and the Cavaliers certainly got a lot of love after the contest when I passed by their souvenir stand. I can't say I see this show winning, but when the lowest this corps has placed in the last seven years at Finals is second, never say never.

Awards came, and when the Cavaliers were announced in third, there was a lot of surprise from the audience. I'm not sure if it came from disappointed Cavaliers fans or excited Bluecoats fans, but I personally was very excited the Bluecoats got second (so I thought). When the Blue Devils were announced in second, however, the audience erupted into Blooooing after just the briefest of pauses. The people around me were stunned as well--one of the folks was the mother of a Bluecoats tuba who had flown in from Texas to see her son at this contest, and we were thrilled for the 'Coats.

The Cavaliers had the encore, and started off with Stars and Stripes Forever, which was a very appropriate choice as during the piece a few fireworks peeked over the trees in the distance behind the stadium. They played a full runthrough of their show next, and then closed with "Somewhere Over the Rainbow." The Cavies were loud, probably because they were less than thrilled to be in third, but I left with my ears ringing (in a good way).

All in all, an excellent contest in what's shaping up to be one of the best drum corps seasons ever! Thanks for reading, and I hope to report on the contest in Louisville next week in much the same way. Comments and criticism is very helpful, and I'll gladly answer any questions you have about the contest or the corps.

[NeutralNovice]

THANKS!!

[RevoMom]

Thanks for the great review and including info on the Div III corps! :D

[Gray3]

Great review!!! I will be forking out the $ to DCI for the DVD's from this summer - hhmmm, maybe my wife will get them for me for Christmas? I gotta start dropping the hints now....

[Cocytus]

Thanks for the review on Tradition! That made my day! :)

[BlooContraGuy]

hahaha you talked to my mother two years ago! She was out of her mind that night (not to mention, so was everyone else)