July 1, Phoenix, AZ

Thanks to Becky Parker on AOL for this review!

Hello all!  I just got back from the Phoenix show...I stayed overnight at
my mother-in-law's house in Tucson, and drove back to El Paso today.  This
is my first attempt at writing a critique so...be patient, and these are
all IMO only.  Also, I am a horn player, so my comments won't include much
about the drumlines.

Blue Devils:  Membership (counted at retreat), 60 horns, 9 snares, 5 quads, 5 bass
drums, 34 guard.  Score: 81.3
      I had bought into the whole "BD's gonna win, man!!," but after
seeing their show, I want to wait and see the DCE and DCM corps before
pronouncing a champion.  The show is very similar to last year in overall
concept, but (like someone said) 9 minutes of the music is new.  The horns
have, as usual, a very uniform and beautiful sense of sound.  The low
brass particularly impressed me in a feature in the middle of the show in
tone quality-- absolutely beautiful.  The guard has all the work to the
show, and although some parts are quite dirty for BD (eg some rifle and
saber drops), the guard is very talent, and the work will clean up nicely.
 The drill's OK...I liked last year's better.  I'm hesitating on jumping
on the 8th championship bandwagon because they're performing well, but are
not *incredibly clean...way ahead* IMO, and they're doing the same overall
concept again.  Politically I could see Cadets overtaking them show
concept-wise.  Plenty of room to grow which will help them not burn out
early.

Santa Clara Vanguard: Membership (counted at retreat), 46 horns 
(I swear I recounted 4 times-- maybe some people didn't come out to retreat), 
7 snares, 3 quads, 6 basses, 22 guard.  Score: 71.3
    SCV is doing a few things better than BD, IMO.  Individual marching is
much better.  I liked the drill better.  I'm not suprised they are .4
behind BD in horns (as an SCV member posted a few days ago), because they
*also* have a nice concept in overall sound, and are uniform in that
sound.  They occassionally have 2nd and 3rd part difficulties (especially
sops), but these are infrequent.  And, I'm sure I'll get a flame, the
level of volume was similiar to BD, and at the end of their show *SCV was
louder.*  I swear.  Maybe BD had an off night.  I see the majority of
their point spread being GE and guard.  The music is odd and hard to
relate to.  Their guard does dance for the second half of the show. 
Unfortunately it becomes ineffective after 2 minutes (as most elongated
dance intervals would in DC).  Now, it's early, so I'm sure things will
change.  I also did not enjoy the props on the field, especially the
spiral circles that they spin to get that hypnotic effect.  Very
distracting.  This show has potential though-- they obviously have a lot
of talent.

Blue Knights: Membership (counted during performance), 50 horns, 7 snares, 4 quads,
5 bass drums, 12 pit, 27 guard.  Score: 61.5.
      Well, how to say this.  The hornline is having problems.  Their
sound is thin (most likely due to a lack of 2nd and 3rd support), and they
had many middle horn intonation problems.  The music, well, it didn't
interest me.  Now, usually I don't like their musical selections, but the
guard performs strongly to help keep my interest.  Unfortunately the
second half of their show has almost no guard work yet (some work for the
last 20 sec hit), and 1-2 minutes of their work is those 10 foot
lollipop-looking white dot things that they can't spin, so they sway them.
 When the guard did spin they were quite talented.  Unfortunately, without
the guard work, there isn't much GE.  I enjoyed their drill (typical BK
design).  They had many interval problems in the hornline (most likely 2nd
to the 12 holes or so).  Drumline seemed as stellar as usual.  I think
they could remain top 12.  It really depends on how everyone else is
doing.

Velvet Knights: Membership (counted during performance), 54 horns, 10 snares, 
5 quads, 4 basses, 5 symbols, 13 pit, 21 guard.  Score: 59.4.
      No props this year.  They do set up on starting line and leave the
field as only VK does.  Occasionally the pit will make fun of a corps
motion (like BD's snareline thing).  But I would have to say they still
maintain the usual " VK-fun" atmospere throughout the show.  This corps
was one of two corps (BD as the other) that actually had some musically
tasty moments.  Their drum solo had some great writing (mind you to a horn
player's ear) that jammed.  The hornline had a couple of cool parts.  At
first I thought they would beat (or should beat) BK in horns until there
was a sop feature that was *really bad*.  Ah well, they'll clean up.  The
guard, who also has a few spots of work left to be written, had some good
use of color and work with two or three impacts.  I liked the drill OK. 
This show had some more GE than BK, but it still needs more.  I'm not
suprised VK is that close to BK...they could contend for a finalist spot
if they make good/appropriate design changes.

I really enjoyed all the drumlines when I paid attention to them.  (Don't
forget, I'm a horn player.)  In defense of the kids they all had a show in
Clovis, CA the night before (in the Fresno area, just southwest of the bay
area).  I would like to say it's early, many show changes will be made,
the kids are obviously working hard, and this was my first viewing of any
corps since finals last year.  I wish everyone good luck, and can't wait
to see their hard work deliver at Buffalo.

See ya,

Becky Parker
Troopers member '86-'90
Troopers staff  '92

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