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QuadraticBeats

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  1. QuadraticBeats
    I had noted the high level judges... where did your directors find these guys? Oh, and btw- nice BD Godfather tribute there.
  2. QuadraticBeats
    11 bands have been registered. Does anyone else know if their band (if they aren't already officially registered) is attending? The lowish looking attendance is making me sad.
  3. QuadraticBeats
    Our school (Vista Ridge High School of Cedar Park- Leander ISD) has such a creative show name- Reflections. * What that title has to do with the theme of the show, none of us have any idea, and our show shirt has been messed up in a rather entertaining way- if you happen to see us (We're 4A, so we have a more limited realm of marching band), you might also happen to notice that our shirts indicate us to be the "VHRS Marching Band". But anyhow, the arrangement of marching music we're playing is... John Rutter's Gloria Open Thou Mine Eyes A closer using original music (I think) along the lines of the two previous pieces... plus a percussion feature a little bit into the beginning of it. 43 sets are in the first movement, about 15 sets are in the second movement, and I'm guessing 20-30ish for the closer. No offense to Key Poulan, but I'm enjoying the fact that we're not playing a pre-made marching show. That, and a new drill writer who actually knows what he's doing... we actually look like SOMETHING now! I have to feel sorry for our seniors, though. This is the first year where the organization has been ran with a semblance of... yes, organization. This is also the first year in which we have had actual marching techs, a sizable band of about 180ish (also a full battery, with the exception of two cymbal dropouts), and well-run rehearsals (in which the directors have not forgot water breaks for 40-60 minute intervals, that kind of thing- thanks to our drum majors!) and procedures. And they don't even get to go to State in the first year we aren't improvising everything. To those who have been ripped off... I salute you! *- I've heard that this is a ridiculously common show name used whenever the directors can't think of anything in particular to name the show.
  4. QuadraticBeats
    Thank the drum corps deities for the November 12th Auditions. Now, if only they would inspire Mike Pearson to finish his exercise packet... It's weird, I know... but I don't see you trying anything .
  5. QuadraticBeats
    Problem solved, then.
  6. QuadraticBeats
    The list so far (on the site) is... Akins High School, Austin, TX Bryan High School, Bryan, TX Georgetown High School, Georgetown, TX Lake Travis High School, Austin TX Leander High School, Leander, TX Robstown High School, Robstown, TX Round Rock High School, Round Rock, TX Vista Ridge High School, Cedar Park, TX Westwood High School, Austin, TX Apparently, we could add Seguin to that too.
  7. QuadraticBeats
    I wonder if Cedar Park took that contest into account. In my opinion, that BOA regional is a smackfest for the Dallas-area bands... thus, I think Cedar Park's contest is better, since only a few schools compete at the level that those bands do... and most of them are not from central texas.
  8. QuadraticBeats
    The drums of many names. Quads. Tenors. Multi-toms... what ever pleases you the most at the given moment. My evidence why? Vic Firth DCI 2006- I&E- Tim Jackson of the Blue Devils, 1st Place Multi-tenor Individuals This year's his ageout year, after four years of straight individuals victories... I'd like to see anybody try anything that interesting on snare
  9. QuadraticBeats
    UGUHguhughguhgghhhhhhhhhhhh. Death to MTV! Band Jihad! Smite the MTV infidels! Loud noises! If that didn't come across as random or weird, then you're a terrorist. J/K (if anyone is offended)... I just hate MTV.
  10. QuadraticBeats
    I'd say that your bands' policy is the exception rather than the rule. I love it when they try to make up reasons for stuff they shouldn't be able to get away with legally... bring up the threat of a lawsuit and their case crumples. Anyhow, my pity goes out for you guys... every band does their own thing, I guess, but it's still a pain when band directors think they can get away with whatever they feel like should be a policy. Or worse yet, school administration... or further up... politicians slapping around educational rules for credos and usually with worthless means and/or ends (yes, totally unrelated to separate buses for male/female)... For me, I find their audacity more offensive than any codes and policies that they claim to have the power to enforce. But admittedly, there must be rules of some sort when dealing with masses of people. Speaking of which, could anybody here confirm something I heard about school starting after Labor Day next year? It could just be a district thing, but I heard that something along those lines had been passed into law to go into effect next year. If it's true, it might be one of the few better decisions that has been made regarding schools recently (that I know of). It's nice to not have that heat, but it won't be nice if I can't march corps because of school in June.
  11. QuadraticBeats
    As far as my prospects go, there's two people in my band so far who have gone out of their way to tell me that I should audition for Cavvies after I said I didn't really know who I wanted to audition for (after they asked me if I was going to try out for any corps for next year). As for my prospects of actually MAKING their line, or anybody else of that level, I don't really know nor care. The thing that matters more is the development of the skills towards the ends of making the cut and doing one's personal best, with attention to detail and proper techniques and approaches. Other corps I'm interested in are- The Blue Devils (video) SCV (video and audition if they think I should, as per their description on their site) Bluecoats (McIntosh's work over there is amazing) I like Phantom, but I'm not sure if they're having a camp in texas for percussion... Cadets would be nice also, though I'm not really going out of my way to audition for them. Barring those high(er)-end corps... probably Crossmen or some other good Division I with an accessible camp. Instructors are more important than the corps itself as far as personal development of your skills goes. Thus, why Academy would be my top choice for a Division II (if they stay). Unfortunately, we can only audition for a few of these...
  12. QuadraticBeats
    I'm not sure if the Academy's staff list from 2006 is still up on their site, but it was pretty crazy when I looked at it. I found out about them a bit too late to make a serious audition attempt (that, plus the whole plane ticket dilemma)... there was a bunch of ex-BD, SCV, some Phantom, Cadets, and I think even an ex-Cav or two. They had a staff better than that of many Division I corps, and they sounded like it on the recordings I've heard of them. I've heard a bit or two about them moving up to Division I next year, but I've also heard they're staying in Division II again. Either way, they'll put on a good show.
  13. QuadraticBeats
    What a way to break in freshmen, though . On the plus side, water breaks have been done regularly this year... rehearsal is being ran so well at our school this year, I have no idea as to how we survived the dehydration last year. Next week (at least in Central Texas), it appears that temperatures are going down about 6-7 degrees. Or that's what I saw yesterday.
  14. QuadraticBeats
    Nice idea for getting votes... Though Seguin may have won the vote, we can settle this on the field . Anyhow, none of our bands will probably see each other until October (with the exception of Sep. 29 with us at a football game at Hendrickson, which may as well be October). Hopefully our little 4A world will be interesting this season. Just two weeks from this Friday until our first performance... anybody else looking past the heat into some good ol' marching season goodness?
  15. QuadraticBeats
    I think our cymbal line is exceptional- we've only had guys on it so far, most of the girls are in the pit. Too bad...
  16. QuadraticBeats
    At worst, I think BD will get 2nd this year. More likely than not, they will be in close or decisive competition for a first placement (I hope they go on the field last at San Antonio- I want my cavvie-obsessed friend (our section leader) to see why I like the Blue Devils . If your internet doesn't suck or you're patient enough... check out the stuff at the end of these BD camp videos. March: http://www.bluedevils.org/programs/a/2006/...06_episode3.wmv Early May: http://www.bluedevils.org/programs/a/2006/...06_episode5.wmv And if those don't work, you can access all of the episodes through http://www.bluedevils.org/blueview
  17. QuadraticBeats
    Hm, we do alot of what Cedar Park does, except we're somewhat (putting on political correctness for the subject of physical work)... lazy... about exercise (no group running to my memory- the most exercise I got in band camp had to be our percussion camp... tracking X miles around the track). I do wish that our directors had more original ideas, seeing that apparently we've "borrowed" some of CP's ideas. But CP's director from their 4A championship year gave us a clinic sometime during marching season last year, and insisted that we have a "great staff". If he's right... then maybe I should direct my rhetorical club elsewhere.
  18. QuadraticBeats
    At last, we're utilizing all of our instruments to the point of practicality. Vista Ridge D®umline '06 Battery: 5 Snares, 3 Tenors, 5 Basses, and 4 Cymbals. The Snare Line consists of four vets and one new player. The Tenor Line consists of me (the one vet), the best incoming freshman, and our ex-third bass player. The Bass Line consists of three vets, one incoming freshman, and an oboe player who should have been a percussionist. The Cymbal line... well, they didn't do much last season, (had three marching last year, but one of them broke his arm) so they may as well be a new thing. Front Ensemble: 4 Marimbas, 4 Vibraphones, 1 Timpanist, and three Auxiliary.
  19. QuadraticBeats
    We have four drum majors for our show this year. It makes me wonder what our drill must be for us to have that many.
  20. QuadraticBeats
    Hm, I didn't expect THIS kind of a response. First, it appears that some people have taken my statement offensively- however, is it a personal attack on my section leader? No. It is nothing more than a criticism. As for the shirts... it appears we will get that and possibly jackets to go with them for our drumline next year, so I'm proud to say that my section leader is making progress. As silly as it may have seemed to get worked up over a shirt, it is simply an example of inactivity- something I do not like existing in our section or band. I note a difference in the attitudes of our Cedar Park friends here- it suddenly makes sense as to why CP is significantly better than its sister schools. Personally, I think it'd cool to see both Leander and Cedar Park competing at 5A State this year, but we've yet to see if Leander is recovered enough... good luck this year. Oh, and nice quote above me.
  21. QuadraticBeats
    At my school, I haven't had to deal with any nearly evil section leaders quite yet. However, a number of our band leaders are indeed existing at the darker ends of this spectrum. Our percussion section leader is very barely on the edge of the equivalent of an abyss for band- he has good things to say, when he feels you worthy of the wisdom- I think he just is scared or doesn't know how to communicate to people who may not understand concepts that he, as the valedictorian of our grade, does. I do give him credit for having to deal with basically being an object of great envy by many of his peers- however, he has a tendency to come off as arrogant or has his arrogance reflected in his actions. Also, my only other qualm about him is that he seems to not really do much with what he is expected to be as a section leader but attempt to be a disciplinarian at times. We still haven't gotten our percussion shirt for our 04-05 season, and probably never will- he discussed it a bit with me and some peers for a week or two back in march. I just think he's too distracted with other activities and doesn't yet possess the leadership skills to really whole-heartedly lead the percussion section. There is discipline. And then, there is discipline of wholly different kind- how many times have you had to deal with screaming harpies or crazed savages of section leaders whose "discipline" tended to prove more annoying than the offenses precipitating the action? Mutual respect makes life so much easier...
  22. QuadraticBeats
    I'm a remo fan for marching percussion, but have a few evans heads on my drumest and find them to be nice. Snares- Hard to say, given that there tends to be little difference between the mylar, kevlar, and etc. subtypes. I prefer the Black Max over the others for the reasons that it's a bit darker and is still nice to play on. For the side head, I think I'd like a somewhat loosely tuned clear marching snare side head- I prefer a drum that still sounds distinctly like a snare drum, and most of this has to do with tuning- ever since our percussion instructor "really" tuned our yamahas, I suddenly found myself able to respect them as a very good brand of marching drums. Tenors- Renaissance Emperor. All the frickin way. Suede Emperor is pretty nice too. Basses- Dark but articulate sound is what I like- a combination of "oomph" and definition. As a result, I'd probably go with the new "power-max" bass heads, ebony heads tuned up high enough to have definition, or perhaps the new renaissaince or ebony suede marching bass drum heads- those may be relatively limited to indoor percussion, though.
  23. QuadraticBeats
    Winterline is an urg/cool thing to me. For instance, alot of the groups drive me to new levels of annoyance that I thought to be impossible- but then, a number of them impress me and I give them my respect. However, I say that most of them could lose either the formal outfits or cheesy guard-like ones- I prefer the more martial (or funny, like a uniform made from trash or something) costume arrangements, since we are indeed playing the most advanced versions of instruments that have their origins in the military. My fave is RCC as far as WGI goes.
  24. QuadraticBeats
    Why are Dallas bands so... bloody... GOOD?! Oh, and if you don't mind "wanting to go puke in a corner" (if you're a percussionist), visit Marcus High School Drumline website and check out some of the videos. Some of my friends and I in the drumline found it funny that such a good line would look so skinny, and well, immature- alot of us in the battery are in pretty good or excellent physical condition, so I guess we thought they'd look more imposing. Either way... they outplayed us and alot of other people- but of course, we weren't competing against them- they are in a league of their own for the most part.
  25. QuadraticBeats
    Hm. I love 1994 as a personal favorite, especially the percussion parts. (The tenors have alot of fun) Then again, it's pretty (pardon my french please, as there may be more sensitive ears) darn hard to choose between 2003 (I love the marching "drumset" parts) and '97.
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