Division I Blue Devils..............76.3 (Brass, GE) Santa Clara Vanguard.....74.1 (Visual, Perc) Madison Scouts...........72.8 Division II/III Mandarins ...............66.9 (Visual) Blue Devil B.............68.4 (Perc) Pacific Crest............66.9 (GE, Brass) Vanguard Cadets..........65.2 Earthquake...............59.2 West Coast Sound.........51.3 Thanks to Ray for emailing us these scores!
I'll just summarize the Division I corps, to keep this short: (most of this is opinion, since I didn't take notes at the show)
At times the music seemed awkward, but soon the recognizable strains of "In the Hall of the Mountain King" made the tried and true Drum Corps fans cheer happily. This section "swung" much more easily in the jazz idiom, and was accompanied by a nifty forward-stop-backward-stop marching routine.The closer, "Remembrance", was epic Madison: blazing drums, brilliant horn-lines, and a eye-dazzling drill. The show comes to a fast and loud conclusion, much to the delight of the audience.
I was tremendously impressed, and think this is the best Madison show in years. It also has a lot of room to add things and build upon, and I think Madison is on their way to a great season. They finished 3rd with a 72.8, a placement and score even the all-SCV and BD audience thought was a rip-off. The audience booed the judges loudly, and then proceeded to give Madison yet another standing ovation when their Drum Major accepted the award.
However, I must say I was immensely disappointed with the rest of the show. All of their drill, and some of their musical "gimmicks" (twirling horns, etc) seemed to be a re-hash of last year's show. Last year's show was terrific because it was original and new, this one isn't. And Copland just isn't as passionate or exciting as Bernstein.
However, SCV's technical accuracy will keep them in the hunt this year, just like last year. I was also impressed with the SCV Cadets, and I can almost GUARANTEE that SCV will have another DCI title in the next 3-4 years. Not this year, though I won't be surprised if I see them in the Top 3 again. This seems eerily reminiscent of Phantom's original 1993 show, and re-hashed 1994 show. SCV finished 2nd, with a 74.1, High Percussion and High Visual captions.
Unfortunately, that was the only flaw I found with the show. It's not that I don't like the Blue Devils, I'm just wishing they'd give someone else a chance. In the last 3-4 years they have switched more towards a symphonic setting than jazz, and this show continues their successful blending of the two styles. Wayne Downey... what can you say? There are not enough superlatives to describe this man's arranging talent. He blends "Romeo & Juliet" and "West Side Story" seamlessly in the program, and the music is even more beautiful and passionate than last's year's Casablanca show.
Here it is, June, and BD already has monstrous crescendos and control over fiercesome runs in the brass. The percussion needs a little work, but not much, and the guard already seems flawless. I still remember the ending, with two company fronts of GUARD near the sideline, and all the corps behind them: the guard does a dazzling swirling toss, with the flags almost horizontal to the ground, and the corps finishes off the show with three pounded notes. Blue Devils finished 1st, with a 76.3 (a score I thought was about 4.0 too LOW, as they were far better than SCV and even Madison), High Brass (no shock), and High GE. This show has nowhere to go but up. BD isn't just going to GIVE the DCI championship away; someone's going to have to forcibly take it from them.
I'm not going into the Div II Corps in details, but I will say that I think the quality of these corps are far superior to what I remember in the late 80s. The Mandarins are small, but they were tight for this early in the season, and have a lot of complexity in their show. Blue Devil B, Pacific Crest and SCV Cadets were also improved and entertaining. I admit that in the past I just counted down the minutes until the "big" corps hit the field. This year, the Div II corps had me watching and listening.
Of course, this was the second show of the season, but the hornline needs a lot of work, and their brass performance score (7.0) showed it compared to Madison's 7.6 and BDs' 8.0. I'm not just saying that because the scores said it. It was obvious to me during the show. Second areas for improvement: Color Guard. They are close to completing the show, and it was actually pretty tight. Compared to Madison and BD though, they just don't seem to have the talent, especially in terms of dancing ability. Something is missing here, and they don't add a lot to the show. They definitely are doing a lot of appealing and difficult things, but nothing that makes you say "wow!"
The other major strength was the guard. They were by far the best guard of the night. The men are dressed like sharks, and the women like Juliet. The rifle and saber work was unbelievable, although there were a few drops. The men in the guard were incredible dancers. My wife, who's a big Broadway fan, was blown away by the talent in the BD guard. Most of the show is done, and it was clean, and very difficult.
So where do they need the most improvement? This isn't a BD show (like 95) that started out incredibly clean and peaked too early. Drill was nice, but not truly remarkable like SCVs'. BD drumline doesn't get a lot of play in this show. I'm not a percussion expert, but the drumline didn't have a lot of exposed spots where everyone listens and then goes nuts.
Well, all-in-all, I think the scoring was right on. Madison was great and crown-pleasing (so what's new?) but a bit one-dimensional. SCV has loads of potential, but the talent level in the hornline and guard isn't quite to the level of BD. BD deserved to win, but will need to work on its visual and percussion. BD's show concept, hornline and guard blew me, and those around me, away. I think both SCV and BD have stronger shows, potentially, than last years Fog City and Casablanca shows.
All in my humble opinion, of course.
First up was West Coast Sound. They had an ambitious show of Stan Kenton's 'Adventures in Time'. They had a strong battery and a contra section that was very good. The rest of the hornline did a good job, but seems to tire toward the end of the show. A small guard, but very good for such a new corps.
Next was Earthquake. They had a show of songs by Stevie Wonder. A fairly small hornline did a good job on this horn book. Again, the drumline seemed strong, but I'm not drum person so take that for what you will. Another new corps that is making excellent progress.
Next up were the new-look SCV Cadets. They have a new uniform reminiscent of the old A-Corps uniform. Black pants, red tunic with a white diagonal stripe and green Aussies. Very sharp. Their show is from the Broadway musical, 'Titanic'. They are off to a good start, and since they are going to Orlando, watch out come August. The hornline had some very nice moments, and the drums are strong. A much bigger guard than last year.
Pacific Crest was next up. They are playing 'Hamlet'. It starts very dark and moody, with a member of the guard holding a skull at midfield. An excellent corps. They have continued to improve every year. Every section was strong, and they had a strong show from beginning to end.
The Mandarins are playing a show celebrating China. Very hard horn book, and very clean. Good soloists in the hornline and a very expressive guard. A sixth Div. III title wouldn't surprise me.
Blue Devil 'B' finished off the Div.II/III competition. Quite a bit of this show was taken from 'The Wizard of Oz' with a few other things added in for some spice. Strong drums, the hornline seemed to wear out a bit, but the season is young. Should be right in the thick of things all season.
It is nice to see so many strong Div.II/III corps in CA. For a long time, it seemed like drum corps west of the Rockies was an endangered species, but these new corps have given us all hope for the future.
In Open Class, the Madison Scouts came out and tore things up. Their show,'Power, Pizzaz, and all that Jazz' is well named. They come out and flatten you from beginning to end. Better visual show that I have seen recently from the Scouts. The guard begins in regular corps uniforms, and then changes a couple of times during the show. The drumline starts on all snares, and then switches to all tenors. Cool effect. A fun show from beginning to end.
Santa Clara Vanguard was on next. 'Aaron Copland:The Modernist' is the title of their show. Many of Copland's early works are featured including a very jazz-influenced closer that might surprise a few people. The drumline is magnificent, the hornline isn't far behind, and the guard looked very strong. A strong title contender in Orlando.
Blue Devils finished things off. Their show 'One Hand, One Heart' is a fictional meeting between Tony from 'West side Story' and Juliet from 'Romeo and Juliet', with music by Leonard Bernstein and Peter Tchikovsky. An interesting blending of musical styles. The horns were excellent as usual, and they are again very clean for this early in the season. It will be interesting to see how this show develops as the season progresses.
Corps GE ENS PERF PEN SCORE
MUS VIS MUS VIS BRA PER VIS
Blue Devils 148 147 125 115 80 75 73 0 76.3
Santa Clara Vanguard 142 145 122 110 70 77 75 0 74.1
Madison Scouts 145 140 115 108 76 73 71 0 72.8
Mandarins 133 125 125 107 69 70 67 0 69.6
Blue Devils B 134 122 115 105 68 75 65 0 68.4
Pacific Crest 135 123 123 88 71 69 60 0 66.9
SC Vanguard Cadets 130 117 117 90 61 74 63 0 65.2
Earthquake 118 103 104 82 67 61 57 0 59.2
West Coast Sound 112 94 76 79 46 53 53 0 51.3
Judges:
GE Music:Mark Petrash
GE Visual:Scott Pizani
Ens Music:Dennis Aquilina
Ens Visual:Tom Wietrach
Perf Brass:Steve Barnhill
Perf Perc:Chuck King
Perf Visual:Dan Smith
Tabulator:Tom Hope
Chief Judge: Mike Rubino
Div I Blue Knights.............70.7 Cavaliers................Rained Out Colts....................Rained Out Div II/III Capital Sound............55.5 Phantom Legion...........55.3 Americanoes..............48.8 Coachmen.................37.2 Kilties..................33.3 Colt Cadets..............33.1 Thanks to Dave Borden for emailing us these scores!
Well, tonight was a less than optimum night for drum corps. Reason being that we got rained on. The show stayed dry until about halfway through. This means that I do not have any scores to give you. Sorry and please don't kill the messenger. BUT, I will give you what I can of a review. Here goes nuthin'.........
COLT CADETS -- A corps from which I am a former member of! They always succeed in providing a fun show to loosen up the crowd early. This being their first show tonight, they pulled it of quite well, in my opinion. There are a couple places where the horns could work. But, I'm not complaining, I'm proud of them and I wish them the best of luck this season. (Kudos to the new staff members and Steph!)
COACHMEN -- Hailing from Grand Rapids, MI. The Coachmen came and played a show. Yeah. What I did note was that the beginning and end to the show did have some nice percussive statements. Next corps.
DECORAH KILTIES -- Last year, they came to our show for the first time. They, sorry to say, didn't provide the crowd with a show that would keep their interests. But, then again the show took place in Dubuque, the city with the lowest average attention span of its citizens. Anyway, even though Dubuquers are this way, the Kilties didn't provide me with much either, your seasoned drum corps fan.
PHANTOM LEGION -- Formerly known as your friendly neighborhood Phantom Regiment Cadets, Phantom's "B" Corps has made a surprising leap from the bottom to the top of Division III drum corps. I'm am very impressed by how well executed their entire show was. At this point in the show, the caliber of corps jumped quite a few notches.
As I said before P.L. impressed me with their cohesiveness, musicality, tasteful rhythmic statements, strong hornline, and a graceful flag section. Good job!
AMERICANOS -- A favorite corps of mine, they should have just titled their show "Chris Adams' Dream Show". How 'bout it? The show contained some of my favorite pieces. "Another Night in Tunisia" (though I do prefer A Night in Tunisia.), "Late in the Evening" by Paul Simon, a tune from the Mambo Kings (a tune that has been performed in years past.), and "Spain" by Chick Corea. Beautifully arranged, executed, and..... put it this way, it rocked. I can't wait to see what the future holds for the Americanos. With growing numbers, better equipment, higher scores, and awesome shows, things are gonna come up roses for these guys, if you know what I mean.
CAPITAL SOUND -- While I do appreciate their jazz flavor, the show didn't click with me, it wasn't as good as shows they've done in the past. Maybe it was the fact that their usual warm up wasn't complimented with the usual dancing and merriment of all of the Capital Sound members. This year's show was just kinda there.
BLUE KNIGHTS -- Yes, I liked this show! The way they played their Shostakovich and Beethoven was just simply awesome. Whoever did the arranging for the Knights, I wanna shake your hand! The show, the music, and the marching, c'est magnifique! I hope to see you guys in future shows.
WRITER'S NOTE: It 'twas at this point the rain doth poured. I give the Blue Knights my praise because they performed in the rain. They got on the field, were given the option of not performing, due to increasing rain. But the Knights played a stupendous show, and the lightning added some nice effects, too! The Cavaliers and the Colts performed standstill shows.
CAVALIERS -- Despite the fact that there was no drill performed, this was my favorite show of the night. If this is June 20th, and their playing this well, I'm thinking...1st place? Champions? could be.. And the percussion line, ..................... (I'm speechless.) God, I was amazed, it's a religious experience and a drum corps show all rolled into one! I can't wait to see this again, and hey, maybe even with drill added!!
COLTS -- Ah yes, the hometown corps. THIS IS THE BEST SHOW I'VE SEEN THEM DO IN YEARS. Listen to me now and believe me later, great great show. The music was CLASSIC Colts stuff performed by some EXCELLENT musicians. Then, I heard the second tune. ................... (speechless again.) Great fusion flavor to the piece, I digged! And the hand drumming added a great color to it. (Even though the new dark green lacquer drums are great looking, they DON'T go with the red and white of the uniforms, it's like Christmas all over again.) The horns and drums blended the best they have in years. And the soloists, DAMN!!!! I'm so proud of you guys!!! Good job!!!
(Beautiful singing Erica!)
Well, that was this year, hope you all enjoyed.
I'll try to do some reviews for some other shows, but if not I will see you all next year!
Later!
Chris R. Adams
Div I Glassmen.................69.9 Phantom Regiment.........69.1 Minnesota Brass..........54.4 The Kilties..............45.9 Blue Stars...............44.9 Bluegrass Brass..........38.5 The Governaires..........37.3 The Cadets of Brooklyn...22.6 The Bandettes............18.4 Thanks to D. L. Adler for emailing us these scores!
Sunrisers................66.8 Hurricanes...............64.0 Grenadiers...............61.2 Heat Wave................52.8 Generations..............50.3 Thanks to Tom Peashey, DCA for emailing us these scores!
East Coast Jazz..........69.4 Spartans.................66.6 Jersey Surf..............63.1 Bayonne Raiders..........56.9 Kips Bay.................54.7 3rd Regiment.............53.0 Citations................49.7 Knight Storm.............48.0 Phoenix..................42.6 Thanks to Stan Steber for emailing us these scores!
Seattle Web Factory
CyberCorps Web Page Designers.
CyberWebMistress Caryn Roberts
Web and Page design ©1995-1998 Seattle Web Factory