Well... the Phantom Phans sure showed up last night. They were the loudest fans of the day. Do you think that crowd cheering influences the judges at all?

Phantom ended up first in drums at the quarters yesterday, so they past up Crown and were about a half point behind the Cavies. The Cavies percussion was second to them, but the green brass line finished fourth, which kept the corps back of the Blue Devils... 97.375 to 97.000. The Devils color guard was first, followed by the Cavies.

Do corps ever come across low in energy or is this a myth. Two corps came across to me that way, especially, yesterday... Carolina and the Blue Knights, who might be performing the most uninteresting program around.

Phantom was scintillating with energy.

As for marching maneuvers, the green guys excel, as always... no comparisons... they are followed by Santa Clara, who are constantly on the move, unlike their CA brethren who are not nearly as active on the field... more park and blow.

Madison's show is again a big crowd favorite. Their consistent use of Latin music, included in their program each year, always pleases the audiences. Their new green tops matches the grass color perfectly, here at IU, and from up higher, where I sat (40 yard line), they were a bit hard to follow, visually, because of that.

Interesting discussion this morning with a long time drum corps fan who used to march with the Cadets... he claims that corps with white pants are much more conspicuous, in their marching maneuvers than corps who wear dark pants. He says that if you're going to wear white or cream pants, you had better be superior marchers. Do you agree with him?

Lastly, went for a beer and wings last night. I started talking with a guy at the next table. It ends up that he is the man (goes by D.R. or some two letters like that) who wrote all of Phantom's music for this year's show. I told him that I had written to Regiment about the throat slashing scene that my young grandkids had seen with me (still part of their show), and that the director had written back to me. He said that the man having a good time about 20 feet away is the director and that their staff were the rest of the people there, in the room, partying with others. Small world. He said that the kids see worse on t.v. and that it is part of their story-telling and important to the show's impact.

The Blue Stars uniforms look sharper, by far, than a year ago. They went to white pants, with white plumes (is that the word?). The are very good this year.

My prediction: 1 Devils; 2 & 3 Cavies or Phantom; 4 Carolina; 5) Cadets, who will not catch the others.

Something that I am convinced of is... the crowd loves the following: company line; park and blow; a corps that comes together in a tight cluster, all in a "ball" and blast their gutts out. I still think that none of these takes any m & m ability at all and should not be rewarded. However, I think that it helps in the GE category, which I disagree with... it should hurt GE scores. What do you think?

Lastly, the corps that is "selling" their program the best, out on the field, is Phantom. They just plain make you like their show, whether you want to or not! Is this possible? Others whom I have conversed with say the same thing.

Cymbals... the Academy has 6 marchers playing them. Vanguard has 5, and as always (I think) the "V" shaped by their cymbals is part of their finish. About 4 other corps carried cymbals, 4 each. They all do a nice job with them.

Why does it seems that Phantom always knows how to bring a crowd to its feet with their finishes, year in and year out! Why do they know how to finish better than anyone else?

Bill,

Glad you're enjoying the shows! Are you going all three nights?

To answer some of your questions (at least from my perspective):

1) Yes, corps can have low energy on a given night, and it can be a killer, especially at this time of year. That's part of why they went to quarters/semis/finals instead of prelims/finals, so there wasn't quite as much riding on one performance. Hard to explain why - sometimes it's just fatigue, especially in corps that are just trying to get into finals.

2) Yes, white/cream pants DEFINITELY require better marching, because everything is more exposed. That's what made the Cadets of the early 80s so incredible (and Star as well). That's also why you don't see many corps in white shoes anymore, where EVERYONE used to where them!

3) LOUD IS GOOD! I don't know why drum corps have lost this simple fact of late. Corps that aren't loud claim to be more "musical." The heck with that - BLOW!

4) I miss cymbal lines! I have this argument with my high school band director friend all the time. Visually AND musically I miss them. SCV and the few others who use them prove how effective they can be. Again, a concession to being more "musical."

5) I have NEVER understood the attraction that people have to Phantom. I know I'm biased against them, but I've always found them boring. I'll give that they generally have a beautiful brass sound, but they've rarely been able to march well, their drum lines (until recently) were mediocre at best, and the guard tended to overdo everything. I've just never really gotten what people see in them.

And remember, I do have a music degree. But I never liked applying it to drum corps, because for whatever reason, drum corps has equated "musical" with toning down the volume, playing inaccessible music, forgetting that there should be melodies somewhere in a show, and that drummers were meant to DRUM - not run around the field playing sixteenth notes.

But that's just me...I'm not as enlightened as people like Dr. Snyder...

What did you do in the Corps? Snare, Drum Major, Drum Instructor/Arranger

What years were you a Corps member? 1970-73; 78-79

Bob, I'll be here all 3 days, yes. Tonight is special because the Cavaliers 60th Anniversary Alumni Corps is performing, after the competition. I've seen em earlier this summer. If you wanna see some good ole fashioned drumand bugle corps, done right, be at IU's football stadium tonight. And they play loud, Bob!

I for one, really enjoy watching the cymbal folks; they add a lot visually and musically. I agree with you about loudness... especially as it regards brass. Both this year and last, during the Cavies show, I feel like yelling out, "Quit playin' so purdy, and blow the godam things, will ya!"

Bill, thanks for taking the time to post your observations and questions from Bloomington!

What did you do in the Corps? drummer

What years were you a Corps member? 1958- 63

You're very welcome,Dave... my pleasure. I just got back from all the excitement. My ears are still ringing. I have never been in a situation in which an area errupted as much as last night, when Phantom Regiment was announced as the new world champions. It was defeaning and long. Quite exhilerating! I'm glad I attended for all 3 days again.

I have one major observation, a conclusion, actually. Unless your corps is dominant in all captions, such as the 2005 Cadets were, you had better win over the crowd. That is the biggest factor in winning, as shown by the largely California crowd at the Rose Bowl last year, and by the dominant and constantly vocal Regiment crowd all three nights this weekend. In my mind, the crowds won the last three championships as much as the corps, themselves, did. The judges must see and hear it all and are then affected.