Blue Devils Preview..."Family Day"
Kfallon318
College's Viking Stadium last night, all I have to say is WOW! Their Brass
Section is absolutely on Fire! They are playing more agressively than they
have since '95. The Drum Line is also looking and sounding Phenominal. The
performance was followed by a two-hour rehearsal where the corps continued to
iron out a show that is well on its way to being one of the most entertaining
and finely tuned shows in the DCI.
For any of you who enjoy catching BD's terrific Brass Section warm-up before
shows (and for those of you who haven't given it a try yet), I highly recommend
that you try to check it out if you happen to be at one of their shows this
summer. The hornline is full of talented young kids and man, can they scream!
Also, John Meehan and Gino Cipriani put together a short arrangement of music
from Star Wars: Episode I entitled "Anekin's Theme". They played it yesterday,
and it had everyone on their feet. (not bad for a warm-up)
Also, the Blue Devils "B" corps put on an impressive performance. Their Drum
Line, under the direction of Roger Carter and Eric Melson (two of BD's most
legendary percussionists), has taken some huge strides this season. Their
hornline also sounded very good. You might say that I have a biased opinion
since I'm on the "B" corps' Brass Staff. But the kids have worked very hard
and they're making remarkable improvements in the way they all play. So I
wanted to give them credit for a job well done.
If you didn't get the opportunity to catch the show last night, there will be a
show at Viking Stadium in Pleasant Hill (DVC) on Saturday, June 19th. For more
info you can contact the Blue Devils at
Also, if you play a Brass instrument and are interested in marching in a Drum
Corps this summer, the Blue Devils' "B" corps still has one Contrabass opening,
two Baritone openings, and one Alto opening. For more information on auditions
for the Blue Devils "B" corps Brass section, you may contact John Meehan
through the internet at jksj...@aol.com...or Kevin Fallon at
Kfall...@aol.com
Good luck to all corps competing this summer.
Kevin Fallon
David77448
hornline is a talented singing group too..
bryan
RANDYGAR
in the car and raced up the freeway to
DVC, and got to the stadium in time to hear the announcer saying "Blue Devils,
you may take your one-minute warmup"
So, I missed the "C" corps & "B" corps and twirlers, and feel badly about it.
Blame my faulty memory and busy
get-ready-for-work Sunday.
Anyway, BD looked to be full-strength and sounded very good. They open with
the Ginastera piece that PR opened with in 1993. Of course the recordings of
PR in finals that year sound better than what BD did with it last night since
the season here on the West Coast hasn't even opened officially and BD is still
learning their show.
They open with about 15 tenor (?) drums scattered about in stationary positions
on the field...these drums provide that same percussive feel that PR opened
with. The brass seemed a little tentative to me, and not quite at home with
the classical idiom, in marked contrast to last year, when I thought BD used
the classical Romeo & Juliet quite well. Time & practice will tell with this
number. The drill seemed fairly well staged, and presented the various
sections well, and even seemed slightly innovative at one point when the horns
all faded away to the far left backside.
The swing portion of the show, the last portion, was distinctly Blue Devils and
was very well performed by brass & percussion, although drill is still to be
learned by both guard & corps.
So, I only got about 15 minutes of drum corps last night, but it was 15 minutes
well-spent!! I'll be back at DVC this Saturday for the real season opener and
will write about my impressions following that. If previous years are any
guide, my first impressions are always as un-gelled and tentative as the corps'
performances,
so try not to take anything I say at this stage of the game too seriously!
Randy Gardner
Robert Brown
massive drum line was a great idea. You know that kid was hyping.
Drum line was something like 12 tenors, 13 basses, and 20 snares
Fun to watch.
Rob
Kfallon318 <kfall...@aol.com> wrote in article
<19990614182609...@ng-fl1.aol.com>...
Kfallon318
>massive drum line was a great idea. You know that kid was hyping.
>
Yeah, me too. My favorite part of that was when he tapped off the starting
tempo for the third warm-up exercise and it was the Bass-Drum sections' turn.
The exercise was full of rolls and eigth notes and he tapped them off at like
200 beats a minute. It sounded like crap, but it was funny. Especially to see
all the A corps guys laughing about it...it's cool to see that not only are
these kids (A corps, B corps, & C corps) are all the best trained in the
activity, but they're also allowed to have a good time and a sense of humor.
Some corps don't get to have that experience.
MelloBoy
that's gotta be somethin to see....well, hopefully i'll get to meet some of you at
the Concord show this Saturday :)
Ryo :D
Robert Brown
> >massive drum line was a great idea. You know that kid was hyping.
> >
>
> Yeah, me too. My favorite part of that was when he tapped off the
starting
> tempo for the third warm-up exercise and it was the Bass-Drum sections'
turn.
> The exercise was full of rolls and eigth notes and he tapped them off at
like
> 200 beats a minute. It sounded like crap, but it was funny.
That was great. Sounded like thunder coming up from the track.
>Especially to see
> all the A corps guys laughing about it...it's cool to see that not only
are
> these kids (A corps, B corps, & C corps) are all the best trained in the
> activity, but they're also allowed to have a good time and a sense of
humor.
> Some corps don't get to have that experience.
>
During the years that I marched, the Alto line used to swap horns with the
B corps guys. The B corps horn players just loved playing on the "A corps"
horns.
I have a picture somewhere at home from the 1984 Family Night. The A corps
had just finished the show, still standing on the field at attention when
the C corps horn line came on the field, going through the ranks of the A
corps horn line shaking hands.
Strange to think that one of those C corps kids is now teaching the A
corps.
Rob
Blue Devils 81-85
Kfallon318
>that's gotta be somethin to see....
They're not the kind of tenors we think about in Drum Corps (like "quads" or
"quints"). They're more like single drums, each approximately 20"-26" heads.
(?) (I'm a horn player, so I really don't know the technical name for them.)
Don't worry though...you won't be let down. The effect is really cool! And
the writing, as always, is out of this world. Enjoy the show this Saturday.