Madison Scouts...........Exhibition Pioneer..................Exhibition Capital Sound............Exhibition Blue Stars...............Exhibition Decorah Kilties..........Exhibition Kilties Sr...............Exhibition
In order of appearance:
Decorah Kilties (12 brass, 10 percussion, 5 guard, 1 DM) Played the music of Evita. Didn't get to see them, but I hear that they were very entertaining.
Racine Scouts (17 brass, 9 percussion, 3 guard, 1 DM) The "Chrome Domes" have taken a giant leap forward from last year. They played a very entertaining show entitled Western Chrome which featured such familiar western tunes as Happy Trails, theme from the Magnificent Seven (the old Marlboro commercial song), and the theme from The Wild Wild West TV show. They are already cleaner than they were all of last year, and their horn line stands out as being the strongest section. During Magnificent Seven, one of their lead sopranos was joined by a snare drum who also played soprano to do a screachers' duet. The crowd ate it up! Look for the Chrome Domes to turn some heads this summer.
Racine Kilties Sr. (47 brass, 22 percussion, no guard, 2 DM) This is the corps that I march in so I'll keep the comments brief. We are playing Tatoo Fanfare/Blue Bells of Scotland, Pachuco (from the movie The Mask), Hey Baby, and a brand new arrangement of Auld Lang Syne. We must have performed OK, since the crowd seemed to be doing an inordinately large amount of cheering. :-)
Capitol Sound (41 brass, 31 percussion, 16 guard, 1 DM) This is undoubtedly Capitol Sound's best corps ever. They are strong in every caption. They opened with Five Guys Named Moe which is very light and entertaining. Hernando's Hideaway was next, and featured the guard dancing with mannequins dressed in tuxedoes. Next was Big Noise from Winetka which features a cymbal laden drum solo that is both visually and musically stunning. I don' t remember the name of their closer, but it was cool. As the corps passes in review after the show, the guard carries the mannequins off as if they were puppets, waving to the crowd as they pass. The whole production is classy. Look for Capitol Sound to move up in the Division II ranks this summer.
Pioneer (50 brass, 31 percussion, 14 guard, 2 DM) Pioneer is performing a show titled Irish in Your Face. I'm not sure that the show is appropriately named, as the whole show is not what I would term "In Your Face". It is, however, definitely Irish and entertaining. The show does begin with an "In Your Face" powerful fanfare that got my blood boiling, then settles into some extremely nice Irish tunes, my favorite of which was Danny Boy, their second number. This arrangement begins with a deep rich baritone/contra only section, which is answered by a light and bright soprano/mello only section that come at you from opposite ends of the field. It's a really nice effect. They finish the show with a medley of familiar Irish tunes that also features a hot percussion feature. Once again, the Pioneer troop the stands playing their horns. The crowd loves this, and I don't understand why more corps don't do this. I really liked this show! I personally love the way the Pioneer have developed their own distinctive style and have stuck to it. I wish more corps would follow their lead in this regard.
Madison Scouts (64 brass, 34 percussion, 26 guard and 2 DM) Power, Pizzazz, and All That Jazz. This show was definitely properly named! They enter the field with 2 company fronts from opposite end-zones and march to their warm up block to play Rhapsody in Blue. They open with a tune named Lupon, which is a straight ahead powerful jazzy number. The guard is dressed in the same uniforms as the horn and drum lines and uses all rifles for this tune. I loved it! At one point in the song, all 26 rifles go up for a triple, and the music stops momentarily so that you can hear the "click" of all 26 rifles being caught. Next up, something called Swingin' Pete...Sweet. This number flows back and forth nicely from a classical to a jazz style, and the drill features lots of "light speed" movement. They close with a piece called Remembrance. This is one of those tunes that slowly keeps building and building and building, till it climaxes in an up front and personal (and loud) company front ending. WOW! Nice ending! It literally ripped me out of my seat and forced me to scream till I lost my voice! Also worth mentioning, is that the battery plays on different numbers of snares and tenors for each song. They open with 12 snares and no tenors, then go to all tenors and basses for the second number, and close with a more traditional 8 snares and 4 tenors.
All in all it was a great night to be in Sun Prairie!
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