FrontierVP

I strongly disagree with this statement. What is the oldest Cavies show you've heard? If you haven't heard 1995, 1992, 1990, 1987, then I would say you might need to do some more homework. I bet I sound like an old fart, hehe.

Frontier's next rehearsal is this Saturday, January 28th at South Grand Prairie High School (Dallas/Fort Worth area.) We are currently figuring out how many people we are marching in each section, so there are still 'openings' in every section. Our first rehearsal on January 14th was extremely exciting--everyone is very eager to keep working on the show this weekend. We are currently working the music for the closer ('Fire Dance') and may start some of the second part (of 4) of the show this weekend. ('Fire Requiem'.) Check out the Frontier website for more information, rehearsal times and a map to SGP HS. www.frontiercorps.org

Frontier's next rehearsal is this Saturday, January 28th at South Grand Prairie High School (Dallas/Fort Worth area.) We are currently figuring out how many people we are marching in each section, so there are still 'openings' in every section. Our first rehearsal on January 14th was extremely exciting--everyone is very eager to keep working on the show this weekend. We are currently working the music for the closer ('Fire Dance') and may start some of the second part (of 4) of the show this weekend. ('Fire Requiem'.) Check out the Frontier website for more information, rehearsal times and a map to SGP HS. www.frontiercorps.org

In a way, you just proved my point. I believe drum corps must be experienced live in order to understand it and to know how it is different from marching band. Watching a drum corps video is a paultry, entirely inadequate substitute for the real thing. Marching band is like watching your friend drive his car down your street and into your driveway. Drum corps is like standing at the fence at a NASCAR race. And, I've taken us way off topic. Sorry, guys.

Hey! Yes, Frontier has a cymbal line! And we have a fantabuloso cymbal instructor, Heather Appleby, who marched Sky Ryders. We call her the Cymbal Goddess. Come on out on January 28th at South Grand Prairie High School. More details are on our website (link is in my sig below.)

You're welcome, Brent! See you soon! I'm really looking forward to the Texas Drum Corps Preview at the capitol in June.

There is an All Ages (DCA) corps in Austin: The Austin Stars. They will field in 2007. http://www.austinstars.org The director is Brent Unger, who is on visual staff with Frontier this year. Brent founded Music City Legend Drum & Bugle Corps, which is doing very well these days.

Heheh. I think one can only confuse marching band with corps if one has not experienced live drum corps on G bugles. I feel sorry for people who have never been on the receiving end of a G hornline of 72 horns, at gloriously full volume. No, there just is no confusion once you have heard (felt) this.

I have the shirt, but I do not have a digital camera at present. The 96 shirt is very similar to the 2004 shirt, btw. (I saw one recently.)

As far as DCI corps are concerned: it's SCV full tilt. They will always be my sentimental favorite. No one but no one has done pageantry like SCV. 1987 defined SCV for me, followed closely by '89, which I saw live. Ahh, the days of Gale Royer. A member of the SCV 1989 brassline is on Frontier visual staff now. We are learning so much from him.

Slight point of clarification: *DCI/Junior corps* is expensive. This is due mainly to long tours with lots of travel and missed opporunity to have a job during the summer. DCA/all-ages corps are not as expensive because there is a LOT less travel; plus all-age corps are generally weekend-based so you can still go to school, have a paying job, meet family committments, and not spend more money in travel expenses (both through the corps and on your own). I'm not saying that DCA or DCI are better--I'm just pointing out the differences. Either may work better than the other for any given person. If you have the opportunity--absolutely definitely march DCI.

Cavies '87 was my first live drum corps experience, so it's up there. Korean Folk Song is an important piece in the Cavies rep. '95 I also saw live (standstill) and it blew me away. My brother still thanks me for taking him to that show. '02 I saw live and loved it from the start, but I loved the show and the performance even more after I got the DVD.

The female vocalization is part of the percussion break music and is taken literally from Dancer in the Dark, just like the ballad. The noisy, low fidelity amplifiers in the Cadets pit don't help in her attempt at imitating Bj

Everything that's already been posted here is, in my experience, good advice. I can maybe elaborate on some of the things that have helped me and some other Frontier brass players. Individual volume--quality, durable volume--cannot be achieved without powerful air support. And, just like any other physical strength or capacity, the only way to build air support is to excercise it. Breathing excercises should do two things: 1.) strengthen and tone your diaphragm and supporting muscles 2.) increase your usable lung capicity and air control. The two things that made me a very loud (quality, round sound loud) bugle player this year: -Build your diaphragm muscle and air capacity and control through breathing excercises. The diaphragm is the biceps *and* the quadriceps of the brass instrument. -Buzz your mouthpiece without your horn. This may sound useless. Believe me when I say that it is quite the opposite. It gives your air system, your embouchure, and your ears more of a work out than playing with the horn attached. The horn is just an amplifier anyway. It's not the real instrument. Buzzing just 5 to 15 minutes a day improved my endurance and (good) volume range. Long tones at the beginning increase your endurance for the session. Also: -Develop your ability to both take in and exhale more air than you think is humanly possible (but don't over do it all at once!). Your stomach should protrude when breathing in. If it doesn't, you are not using your diaphragm and you're practically not breathing. -Always, always, always play with full air support--this must become a habit that you don't need to think about. Your shoulders are not air support. You should never use your shoulders to breath--raising your shoulders will only constrict your resonance chamber (throat and mouth) and that has a...bad effect on your sound. Think of your lungs as a bucked of air--you fill a bucket from the bottom up, not the top down. And, the other part of good tone quality is having a nice and open throat and mouth. Dont' constrict your throat or block your air with the bulk of your tongue--keep the tongue out of the way of your air. Remember, your diaphragm does all the work. Use only the tip of your tongue for tonguing. Another bad habit of mine was mashing the whole front side of my tongue against my teeth in order to tongue. Not necessary. Just the tip hitting where the teeth meet the gum is all you need. I hope this helps.