July 12 & 13, DeKalb, IL, Prelims & Finals

Thanks to Eric Senzig on r.a.m.d for this review!

Prelims
-------

see Scores

What a night for drum corps!  Cool, cloudless, mildly breezy weather.  NIU
Stadium is one of the best one-tiered stadiums to watch drum corps that I've
been to.  I met a few RAMD folks as well ... Glen Johnson (the only other
person wearing a Cybercorps shirt besides myself), and Eric Landis and Jordi
Villanova, who were spectating with the rest of Bluegrass Brass.  Jordi and
Eric were sitting about 8 rows above me and saw my Sky Ryders jacket, but
couldn't decide if it was me or someone else ... so they settled on yelling
"Hey Eric!!" loudly and seeing if I turned around or not.  We chatted for a
while, and during intermission Steve Burstall made his way up and joined us.
 After the show I made the rounds seeking out friends in the various corps
... my Baylor friends in the Cavaliers drumline were quite surprised to see
me this far north ... I discovered an old friend from my summer in Sky is now
marching Phantom ... and I briefly talked shop with the Colts' DM, Chris "I
can't get this smile off my face" Baughman.  =)  He has an uncommon
friendliness and warmth of personality ... quite a pleasure to talk to.

Here's my take on the corps shows ...

Nite Express -- Wow!  Where did these guys come from??  Every section is
close to Open Class size, and is capable of producing an Open Class size
sound.  Granted, they have tons of cleaning to do in all areas, but they were
certainly crowd favorites tonight.  They got many standing-O's, probably due
in part to the "first corps in competition gets more applause" factor, but
many were well deserved.  Their music is from "First Knight", and if it
weren't for the guard uniforms I wouldn't have known.  They sell the music
well but don't project any medieval themes at all.  They should take a cue
from CBC '93 or especially Sky '91 and try to work in some visual themes or
characters in the color guard ... Sky did a very good job of working a story
line into the show, maybe NEX can make it work for them.  Other than that,
this was a surprisingly entertaining show to me -- look out for these guys in
Orlando.  Pet peeve: someone PLEASE teach their contras how to play a unison
low C with a full, open, ensemble sound ... instead of that thin, nasty,
laser-tone-at-"mf" that I heard.

Americanos -- this was the first time I've seen them since Div. III finals in
Dallas '91.  They've grown quite a bit since then, sprouted a battery and
drum majors to boot.  I must say though, their front sideline DM needs some
serious lessons in conducting, I'm baffled how the corps could keep time
watching him.  The corps seemed to have a strong and vocal fan contingent in
the stands, and for good reason: the 'Canos are very entertaining to watch.
 Percussion is obviously their strong suit and they play this trump card
every chance they get.  The corps adds a frilly mariachi-like overlay onto
their jackets halfway through their show for some added color and pizazz.
 I'm not sure what music they played (Gloria Estefan?) but it sold well,
though they had some problems balancing the full size battery against the 28
or so horns.

Capital Sound -- the first corps that played music I knew off the top of my
head.  Their warmup was really cute -- the horns playing Kenton's
"Intermission Riff" while the guard does some swingin' 50's style dancing
with each other.  The female DM got the crowd going with a sultry look and a
flirty swish of her hair after the salute, and it set the tone for the jazz
book to come.  The whole show seemed written in the Bluecoats style of jazz,
combining many different moods and musical styles.  I really liked their
closer of "Caravan".  It begins in a slow, lazy groove, almost like Harry
Connick Jr.'s recording, and wanders through many different treatments,
including hints of the new Chicago arrangement from the Big Band album.  I
wish I could get another chance to hear this corps, but unfortunately they
came out at the bottom of the pack last night.

Pioneer -- they just keep getting better and better.  Already, they are ahead
of where they were last year when I saw them in Texas in late July.  Bad
news: whoever posted saying that the guard might be changing uniforms was
correct.  I thought the green velvet dresses from last year were very classy,
but they are now wearing black unitards and plaid/checkered skirts, for a
more ragtag look.  A lot of nice things happening in this show.  "Gary Owen
March" is a crowd pleaser as always.  I must say, their mellophone line has
improved since last year and certainly earned my respect for handling the
difficult demands of the Irish music they always play.  Why can't other corps
follow Pioneer's lead and troop the stands with a signature tune after the
performance?

After seeing these terrific Division II corps perform ... I suddenly realized
... Lone Star is gonna get their butts kicked in Division II.  So much for
holding out hope for the hometown corps making a comeback (numbers-wise
anyway).  They should've stayed in Div. III for another year and waited a
little longer for a larger corps.  We'll see next week.

Madison Scouts -- yeah, baby!!  A great show as always, but after being
floored by their '95 show and transcribing/arranging parts of it for high
school band this spring,
I was left a little disappointed.  The opener ("A Mis Abellos", according to
the announcer) begins much like the Sandoval recording, with a slow, soft
mello solo.  After that the Scouts arrangement takes a lot of liberties that
left me wondering "are they still playing the same chart?"  Terrific soprano
work in the "chirp" range.  Okay, here's my take on Bolero:  Great idea on
paper, falls apart on the field.  Quick solution: turn it around and play to
the home stands.  I really like the tone quality of playing to the back
stands, and obviously this is what the arrangers were shooting for, but the
echoes produced by the stacatto style are extremely distracting and totally
ruin the effect.  The arrangement itself is fine except for the
drum-corps-ized ending (yecch).  Just turn the corps around, play at the same
soft dymanic levels, get the same credit for playing a soft, tasteful,
ensemble sound.  En Fuego uses some bright orange drum heads that the cymbal
players hold for the snares during their solo, creating a cool effect of the
drums actually being on fire.  Malaguena -- well, I can see where the purists
are crying "foul" for doing old music, but I think the arrangement is fresh,
new and creative in enough places to dismiss that argument.  The beginning
has some wonderful, pure, gorgeous baritone soli melodies (go Kent!), leading
into a symphonic 3/4 treatment before getting into the familiar '88 intro.  I
don't like the hyper-accelerando in the park'n'blow near the end.  The drill
and music at the end is of course a crowd energizer and left everyone on
their feet cheering. This was a great show to watch, and it still has to grow
on me some, but I am beginning to agree with those who are saying "get away
from the Latin music already".  It's time for them to find a new niche.

Glassmen -- my first thought was "Oh my God, I'm in hell, I'm back at Kyle
Field watching the Fightin' Texas Aggie Band again."  It is VERY different to
see the military step-two style of marching on a drum corps field, even if
it's just in the warmup.  I can definitely do without the vocal commands
shouted en masse by the corps every eight counts, and probably also without
the arm swings, but aside from that I thought it was a clever way to set the
mood for the show.  I like the idea of using the old style rope snares at the
beginning of the show, but someone posted earlier saying they are too boomy
and don't project, and this person was right.  It really sounds more like
someone stuck a snare gut onto the inside of a small bass drum, like Vanguard
and Cavaliers did some years back.  The mellophones have a LOT of work to do
playing the piccolo countermelody in "Stars and Stripes".  I liked the Ives
section, but then again I went wild over Star's Resphigi show, because I'm
familiar with those works of music and I'm certain I'm in the minority here.
 I think Ives is a little too weird to be fully appreciated on the drum corps
field ... he was known to steal themes left and right from popular music of
the time, up to 50 times in some of his shorter works, and that's a bit much
to digest in a drum corps presentation.  The Gershwin segment seems mainly to
be snippets from "Rhapsody in Blue" and "An American in Paris", and it seems
very disjunct at this point.  The corps is doing some REALLY un-drum-corps,
un-ballet, un-artistic body sculpting here and it left me thinking "please,
if you're going to try new stuff make sure it makes at least _some_ visual
sense."  Because it doesn't.  The music is well written and performed, but it
doesn't flow well and needs some tinkering with to be most effective.  A
couple of drum comments ... first -- believe it or not those ugly
purple-confetti-colored drums are GONE!  They have transformed into shiny
gold drums and mounted on racks this year.  Second, the drumline does a neat
percussion feature where the battery splits in two and each half does their
own work on a rack of toms, almost in a question and answer format.  Overall,
to paraphrase Will Rogers, "I haven't met a drum corps show I didn't like" --
but it might take many viewings to come to like this one.  Parts of it were
just too weird for me to think "wow".

Phantom Regiment -- "Be Afraid Of The Dark" is their new T-shirt motto,
referring to the all black uniforms, and it fits the corps well.  I'll need
to see them again tonight to fully digest the show, but the brass line is HOT
this year.  The percussion book seems much cleaner and noticably less
difficult than other corps for this time of the year.  Did I say their horns
are friggin' *awesome*?  I can't possibly find a 1.4 spread between them and
Cavies right now.  The Cavies' horns aren't even close.  More on Phantom
tonight.  Oh yeah -- those silver poles are way cool.  It looks like an
oversized baton twirlers' convention, but the effect is very cool.

Colts -- KUDOS for being one of only a handful of corps with the balls to
march in white pants.  One of those "I wondered when this was going to
happen" things -- during the 2nd number, the pit grabs handbells and goes out
to march in the drill, making the corps look much larger.  Unfortunately
their handbell technique is rotten and it mainly just contributes an effect
rather than discernable melodies or chords.  I tried to find Chuck Naffier
last night and give him some pointers, (I play in a church handbell choir)
but I didn't find him, and I'll have to seek him out tonight.  Gradually,
over the course of years, the Colts are losing their frantic energy and
crowd-energizing music and drill, and settling down into a more sophisticated
and refined style.  I miss the jazz music, but they are doing well with this
new style.  Guess what, the Colts are twirling poles too, but they are yellow
and slightly enlarged on one end, which instantly made me think "Yecch!
 They're twirling Q-Tips!"  I'm not too bothered by the color guard uniforms,
but up close when you can see the black embroidery I can definitely see where
the "bumblebee" comparisons are coming from.  I really wonder why they aren't
farther ahead of the Glassmen than they are.

Cavaliers -- Another show I need to see again to completely digest.  Their
horns are uncharacteristically weak this year (not saying they were ever a
powerhouse, either), but part of that may be due to a more demanding book
than they're used to.  The drill is a joy to watch as usual.  Near the end of
the show the DNA move appears front and center and then snaps instantly into
a tight block, which is really cool, and there is a lot of Brubaker-esque
fast moving geometric drill right after that.  I like the comment someone
made about "hearing more Congo than Copeland" from the percussion, though my
friends in the drumline said there was a lot of Copeland in the percussion
feature.  I really liked the ending, with a combination of Copeland's 3rd and
Fanfare for the Common Man.  And, they end the show with "The Riff" that
finished the 1992 show and began the 1993 show.  Naturally the "Mars" riff
makes a couple of obligatory appearances here and there.  Guard comments: the
"trellis" things really don't work for me.  What us up with twirling poles
this summer?  Wouldn't you know, the Cavies are doing it too.  Like I said
before, I honestly don't see where their 1.4 lead is coming from right now.
 But then, I wasn't sold on their Planets show at this time last year, and
look where things turned out.

I was commiserating with Paul Herzog last week about the uniform lack of
attention to marching nowadays: design, teaching, performance, judging,
wearing black pants with no stripes.  It was easy to back up this claim last
night.  EVERY corps, even (especially surprising) the Cavaliers, had problems
with basic marching technique: posture, uniformity, roll step, etc.  I was
just about floored when I saw some Cavies horn players out of step.  Maybe
it's just early season woes, but I would hope that that's all it is.  Part of
it is drill designers trying to make kids run and play at the same time and
that's just not right.  Say what you want, but I share Stuart's view that
there's a limit to how far you can march in terms of step size and still
maintain a body posture that maximizes the ability to play your horn well,
and that MOST corps (read: even div. II/III) cross this line too often.  Some
corps, such as Cadets and Phantom, have developed a technique that stretches
this limit.  Good for them.  But why?  (stepping down from my soapbox now)

I'm looking forward to seeing my first senior corps in 4 years tonight, as
well as the Division III qualifiers.  It's encouraging that there are 17
corps competing in Div. III prelims -- most of these kids are young and
hooked on corps while they're young.  Who knows, maybe one of these corps
will make top 12 in seven or eight years.  Stranger things have happened.

More scores and opinions after tonight.

Eric Senzig
Sky Ryders 1992
Brass Arranger, Texas Legion

p.s. Coolest T-Shirt Award: Glassmen and their tan "I Survived The Bug Show,
Port Clinton, Ohio, June (whatever), 1996", with mosquitoes flying around a
stadium in the background.  Cute!


Finals
------
Here we go, by divisions this time:

DIV. III

Golden Lancers - 61.0 (Brass, Visual, GE)
Blue Stars - 55.6 (DM)
Northern Aurora - 53.7 (Percussion)
Marion Cadets - 46.1 (CG)

The Marion Cadets just blew me away.  With only five brass (1S, 2M, 1B, 1C),
they had better balance, intonation, and matching of style and dynamics than
most of the other corps of the evening.  And these weren't just inexperienced
youngsters, either: the soprano player nailed high E's above the staff with
power and confidence, one of the mellophone players doubled on keyboards, the
contra player handled basically an entire show of walking bass without
difficulty, and each player handled their solo moments well.  Naturally,
there's not much you can do visually with only 5 brass, 5 guard, and 7
percussion, but they did a good job of hamming things up and keeping the show
from getting boring ... which is more than I could say for NA or Blue Stars.

Northern Aurora: Liked the new uniforms.  Their "Indiana Jones: The Last
Crusade" show didn't sell the theme well, kind of like NEX: I wouldn't have
known it was music from a popular movie unless someone told me. Pet Peeve:
why did the arranger end the show on a concert B flat chord?  That's a BAND
chord, for cryin' out loud!  Use just a small ounce of common sense and end
on a G or C or D chord that lies well with the bugle.  The show just didn't
sustain my interest ... an off night perhaps?

Blue Stars: Haven't seen them since their DCI winning 1993 season.  They're a
little larger and are trying some tough music in Appalachian Spring.  Perhaps
they had an off night like NA, but I think in this case the show is still a
little beyond their grasp.  Their drum major, strikingly tall and commanding
in presence, was deserving of the Best DM award, and her conducting was very
precise.  LOTS of intonation problems tonight.

Golden Lancers: They were EASILY the best Division III corps tonight.  I'm
very surprised the spread wasn't greater than it was.  Lancers performed with
all of the confidence, poise, and ability that seemed lacking from Blue Stars
and NA tonight.  Moreover, they sustained my interest even though I didn't
recognize the music.  They will be in the hunt for the Division III title in
Orlando.

DIVISION II:

Nite Express - 65.1
Pioneer - 66.1 (All captions)

Boy, it must have been REALLY close tonight for the spread to be only one
point yet Pioneer goes home with every caption award.  NEX had another great
show and closed the gap between them and Pioneer, even though both corps took
a hit in the score department from the previous night.  Now that I saw NEX up
close, their uniform is really pretty -- black pants, grey coats, and a
triangular stripe on the right side of the coat that is iridiscent-paisley on
black.  Again Nite Express was wildly popular with the crowd and had more
standing-O's than probably everyone except Madison.  They have a neat brass
effect where they sustain a chord and rotate their upper bodies from endzone
to endzone and back again, creating a neat crescendo and tone color effect
from the audience's perspective.  Pioneer seemed to have a stronger show than
last night, including some cleaner brass licks with the Irish music.  There's
a section in the opener where the lead sopranos and lead mellos share an
intricate melody that is doubled in octaves, that works well.  At the end of
Gary Owen March the corps performs their trademark shifting-company-fronts
move and that gets the crowd going.  Too bad NEX won't be joining Pioneer on
the Texas tour later this week.

SENIOR DIVISION
Governaires - 52.0 (Visual)
Minnesota Brass Inc. - 58.2 (Brass, Percussion, GE, CG)
Best Drum Major: Racine Kilties

These were my first senior shows I've seen since I marched with Sky Ryders
and the early tour took us out east, into the heart of DCA country.  The
Governaires were clearly not as talented tham MBI, but that didn't stop them
from delivering a solid show and having a great time doing it.  MBI just blew
me away.  High volume, high energy music with lots of style and pizazz.  The
repertoire was Blackbird, Caravan (I think), and then a medley of popular
tunes from their repertoire of the past 50 years, as the corps is celebrating
its 50th anniversary this season.  The audience groaned when the announcer
revealed that the corps would be performing 21 songs as a part of its medley!
 I was disappointed at not seeing the Racine Kilties after hearing good
things about them here on RAMD, but their drum major was there to receive the
High DM award.  By the way, all caption awards were determined by Prelims
performances, which explains how the Kilties' DM got the award when they
didn't advance to finals.

DIVISION I
Glassmen - 74.0
Colts - 76.2
Madison Scouts - 81.5
Phantom Regiment - 82.9 (Brass, DM)
Cavaliers - 84.7 (Percussion, Visual, GE, CG)

Glassmen - I had to stifle the urge to shout, "And now ... YOUR ... FIGHTIN'
... TEXAS ... AGGIE ... BAND!!" during the warmup.  =)  But the "band" part
would've been a bit harsh.  I'm still scratching my head here.  If they're
going to do all of this military style marching, at least do it even
reasonably well.  When you see two vertical company fronts approaching the 50
yardline from both 45s, and five or six people get there two, three, or even
four counts early, it sets a very poor standard for the rest of the show.
 Likewise, during the actual show, when some brass players are basically
running (while not playing), not even bothering to jazz run, to quickly fill
the field in a huge block, you damn well better hit your set or lose all
credit for the novelty of the effect.  When the form hit and I saw at least a
dozen people out of the form I just cringed.  Another very strange effect:
while the pit is playing "I've Got Rhythm", the cymbal players belt out the
"Bluecoats groove" (from C-Jam Blues and Celebration Jam) on the rope snares,
and totally destroys the mood.  Now a couple of positive comments:  I like
the giant rack mounted floor toms.  They create a huge, thunderous attack,
much like watching fireworks up close.  Phantom should take notes for the
next time they attempt "1812 Overture."  =)  And the effect seems to fit at
the end of the Ives number, while "Columbia, The Gem Of The Ocean" is heard
in the brass.  And, the "Rhapsody in Blue" and "American in Paris" sections
work well for me; the guard used new flags with the Eiffel Tower in red,
white and blue near the end.

Colts -- I saw Floyd's post today, and got the same information from him
after the show, about the handbells.  Sorry if I gave anyone the wrong
impression, it's just an effect, not anything more.  Not much to say except
to repeat, I miss the old high-energy jazz Colts, but they are doing a great
job with the Magnificat.

Scouts -- This show just doesn't seem to flow as well as last years'.  About
the massive echo problem in Bolero:  I was informed by staff after the show
that there's about a ten foot concrete wall before the stands begin on the
visitor's side, which is unusual, and they don't normally get echo problems
at all.  But it made listening to it on the home side very difficult.  After
a second hearing I really like Malaguena, and the drill at the end is very
high-energy and exciting: four soprano soloists screech over a vamp at about
the 45 yardline on side 2, then when they are done, the corps quickly
collapses into the familiar wedge with the soloists at the center (big
applause factor) and does the familiar push forward.  The '88 ending is
extended by several phrases, long enough for the wedge to be rotated/pulled
apart into two company fronts near the front sideline, which then subtly
changes into the familiar curvy lines from the end of the '88 show.  I can't
put my finger on it but there's something that's lacking to this show when
compared to last year ... it's not a bad show by any definition, but I was
merely energized instead of floored.  (hope that makes sense)
There were some crowd groans when their score was announced.

Phantom -- Their brass seemed a little off tonight, and I can see where
someone earlier made the point of "why can't they play that loud when they're
moving?"  This is just a powerful, great show that deserves comparison to the
New World Symphony show.  I look forward to seeing more of them in Texas, and
hopefully seeing them catch up with Cavies again.

Cavaliers -- Brass was definitely improved tonight.  The trellis things just
don't work when the guard actually wears them, it looks like an oversized dog
collar or something.  Rifle line is outstanding.  The bass line has spiced up
their trademark exit cadence with some rolls and stuff, listen for it if you
get a chance to see them.  Call me sentimental but, having marched in '92, I
can't get enough of the "one more note, one more note, one ... more ... note"
riff at the end!  =)

Post-show:
I ran into many more people I knew from the newsgroup: Marsha Kramer(?) from
North Force, Jessica Bibb and Brooke Phelps from Colts, Steve Waddell from
Phantom (fellow Sky '92 alum), Steve Burstall, and Kurt Scheible and Roger ?
from Minnesota Brass.  You know you're a diehard drum corps fan when you're
one of the last ones out of the parking lot both nights!  After the show was
a giant party of sorts at the Motel 6.  It didn't take long to find the room
where Kurt was staying -- it was the room with the VCR and the tape of MBI's
Finals performance on continuous play, with groups of 20 or so people at a
time watching it in shifts.  Kurt tells me that MBI is having one of their
best seasons, and maybe has the potential to go all the way to 5th place at
DCA; he figures that they fit into the 5th-8th place block and might come out
on top.  He was also most grateful for the gift of a six-pack of Mexican
beer.  =)  There were a great many other, similarly well attended gatherings
of fans and members in the parking lot, and I would've stuck it out and
stayed a lot longer than I did but I had a miserable headache after the show
and an hour's drive back to Wheaton waiting for me, so I bailed at about
2:30.  I have to say, armadillos are the worst live road hazards we deal with
down in Texas, and I nearly jumped out of my skin when I saw two deer on the
side of the road apparently deciding whether or not to bound across the road
into my path.  Suffice it to say it kept me plenty awake for the rest of the
trip after that!

Reports on Kansas City, Dallas, and Killeen later this week.

Eric Senzig
Sky Ryders 1992
Brass Arranger, Texas Legion


Thanks to Jim Eiden on r.a.m.d for this review! Hello everyone: (Before reading any furhter, please note that these are my opinions and you are more than welcome to disagree.) First of all, I'd like to say that I haven't been to a Drum Corps show in 5yrs. I went to the Finals at Dekalb. I took my Mom who was a staunch supporter of me in my Drum Corps days ( 1980-1983). I also took a friend of mine and his girlfriend along. They both had never even heard of it before. I had invited another couple as well, but they never showed. I'm glad I invited more than one couple, it increases your chances that someone may actually think it is worthwhile to come with you. Because of our waiting around for the other couple to show, and slow service at the Dekalb Burger King, we missed the first 2 Corps'. We came in time to see the Blue Stars. Since I don't have a program with me, I'll be doing this from memory. I explained beforehand to my friends what to expect. I told them about judging, and even about critique after the show. I told them that sometimes it's like Ice skating at the Olympics, you may see a great crowd pleasing show but the corps may get lower than expected marks. Kind of like the one judge that shafts the skaters. As the Blue Stars did their show, I pointed out the pit, the battery, the horn line, and of course the guard. Being an ex-drumline member of a folded crops, I tend to watch the percussion areas. I did try to make a point of showing a solo and drum feature as it happened. I also tried to have listen to certain things that may higlight the musicianship. I tried to explain about the Bass Drums and how each bass plays only a part of the whole. They really seemd to like the show. They liked it even more as the evening progressed. The Minnesota Brass Inc. put on a real crowd pleaser. Their soloists helped me point out the musicianship and talent involved. They were even more impressed when I explained to them that this was an adult corps. I missed the Governaires. I was getting lemon shake-ups for everyone and trying to see if I knew anybody there. My apologies to Jim Snyder for missing their show. I thought Nite Express was great. They've come a long way since the days of the Emerald Knights when I last saw them. To me, all the Corps' did a great job. But, I'd like to point out a few of the ones that stood out for me and why. The Pioneers blew me away. Last time I saw them the wore panama hats and had yellow and white uniforms, and they wern't from Milwaukee. Pionerr's show was very reminiscent of 27th Lancers. I really enjoyed their show. For me, Glassmen stand out as a great show. The last time I saw the Glassmen was in 1983, they had those grenadier uniforms. When they came on to the field, I had no idea who they where. I was very impressed with how they set up on the field, and their warm up. I thought their warmup was very innovative. Being a Drummer, I was looking at the drumline wondering how they could pull it off with those old time snare drums. I also couldn't figure out the red white and blue bass drums, until the bass line put them on. I was really impressed with them. The snares pulled it off, and the bass line had a great solo with a real clear and tough bass run. Overall, I thought that they did a great job with Souza. Souza pieces tend to be easy to play, but the Glassmen did a great arrangement out of it. It looked challenging. My friend is anti-establishment and thought it was too militaristic for his tastes. I thought it was great. The Colts. Last time I saw the Colts, they were doing the Old Man River thing. I didn't even recognize them. Boy have they changed. They seemed pretty good as well. They played a great show. A couple of trends I noticed. Almost every corps was using sabres this year. My friends asked me if it was required. I told them that it's probably a trend. I also noticed that many corps' used soloists facing backwards at different locations on the field. I also noticed horn lines stepping off the field. I wondered if they were just off, or if it was intentional. As far as my personal tastes go, I really liked Madison's show. I thought thew were phenominal. The guard was certainly innovative with the staged bull fights. I really thought it fit the music well. Madison can certainly play latin very well. Those red "toms" the snares played on where pretty unique too. I didn't realize they were being played on. I thought they were part of the guard. Then I realized they were being played on. My freind's girlfriend realy liked Phantom. She was very impressed with the dancing. The nylon that the guard used was also innovative. My friend's girlfriend had never seen ballet on a football field before. I thought Phantom's show was great as well. I gave each Corps a standing ovation. The Cavaliers show seemed very odd to me. The guard's unforms was such a contrast the the rest of corps, that I really thought they looked out of place. I also didn't quite get the stuff they were doing with the lattice. If they were doing a concept show, I couldn't understand the concept or meaning to their show. As far as entertainment value, I liked Phantom's and Madisn's better. The Cavaliers won. My Mom was adamant that Madison was robbed. My friend's girlfriend thought Phantom should've won. I used this opportunity to point out what I tried to explain about judging. Just because they liked another crops' show, doesn't mean the corps that won didn't plat a better show. Even though we may not have liked the Cavaliers show this year, doesn't mean that they didn't execute their show better than the other corps. It's possible they played a cleaner show with fewer mistakes, or did more difficult music and pulled it off. After the show, we took a walk over by all the Corps' buses. The Madison Scouts Tenor line was jamming. I pointed out to my friends how they used covers to protect the drums. I also had my friends stand in a position where they could get a really good look at the sticking. The tenor line was great. The musicianship became very clear. They played in perfect unison and also extremely fast. This really drive home my points about how this was different than anything they've ever seen before. The tenor line pulled out these tennis balls and were bouncing them off of the tenors. Each player bounced his tennis balls of of a diferent drum down the line. They would go faster and faster, the tennis balls would bounce higher and higher. As it started to breakdown and they could keep up becuase they were catching tennis balls, they would start throwing them at each other. My friend told me that that was the highlight of the whole evening. I would like to thank the Madison tenor line for demonstrating what it takes to be in Drum Corps. Before our very eyes, thay demostrated the musicianship, dedication, and discipline involved with Drum Corps. Bye for now Jim Eiden Imperials 1980-1981 Cymbals 1982 Bass Drum 1983 Tenor

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