maverick

We had 19 altos and 4 tenors. I was one of two rank leaders for the section. We ended up marching 16 altos and 3 tenors and our band marches about 180. In concert season we have 12 altos, 3 tenors, and 2 baris. Next year we predict to have a band that is 210 total, with about 24 altos and 6 tenors. We will probably march 20 altos and 4 tenors.

Look at the Selmer Super Action 80 series and Serie III, The LA Sax 7500 series and Chicago Jazz series, the Cannonball Raven series, and Keilworth Shadow series. Those are all professional quality horns. I've tried them all and I must say the Serie III and 7500 were less expensive and played just as good as a Super Action 80 and Chicago Jazz Series. The 7500 and the Chicago Jazz series also features a high G key that is actually not too bad. I figured it might screw up some of the bottom register but it played fine. The Raven series incredible and it is definitely worth the money. It comes with two different plated necks that can be switched depending on what you are playing for. I find the Shadow to be a little too bright on the higher register but has an extremely rich tone in the lower register. I hope this helps you in your decision.

Did you get cut? I had that happen before going to Madison. I missed one Cavie rehersal and they told me not to come to the next one.

A laptop with a wireless connection to my cell phone. We have thirtyminute breats about every hour and a half.

A laptop with a wireless connection to a cellphone. We have breaks all the time.

The Madison Scouts practice about 5-7 hours a week less than the Cavies.

I'm all for amps. Those in the Drum Corp know why some corps don't use them and why others do. First off, every corp can afford them, so don't think that they are too poor. Even corps like Esperanza and Revolution have them. The only thing is that they don't use them because they don't want to amp up a pit that isn't too good. Madison uses them to amp the pit so they don't have to destroy their mallets just to be heard. Also we use them to amp up soloists because there are sections when we are all playing as loud as possible and the soloist still needs to be heard.

My favorite year's were 95-97. 97 was my favorite cause it just blew me away, then 95 cause of a Drum Corps Fan's Dream and Planets along with a few other things, then in 96 i liked all the show ideas even if some of them weren't a developed as they could of been.

Oh, and another thing about the tryouts is that once you make it the senior members tend to have a ceremony of sorts. I can't tell you what happened when I joined but be prepared.

I was just kidding about him. He's a good friend of mine from when I was in Esperanza. He wrote Reflections for us that year. Key wrote three of McNeils last four shows. If any of you meet him though, be careful of his ego, and don't talk to him about any of the shows he has done that have gone to crap.

Each member of their corp had to pay just shy of $2000 for airfare costs. So they had to have used planes at some time or another if they had to pay for them. I'm pretty sure that they stop using their buses near the end of the season.

The Cavies are good but they are a dynasty that will fall very soon. In 03 the Blue Devils beat'em and in '04 The Cavies and BD were very close and Blue Devils even beat them about a week before Finals. I think that the Cadets and eventually BD will have a chance at first.

I think that SCV is doing so bad cause of Key Poulan. He isn't the easiest man to work with. He designed the 05-06 show for my High School and he is a pain in the...rear.

What did you think of the Scouts? I'm curious. We haven't had any outside opinions since the first couple of weeks. I don't think any of you know this but the Cavies have no lives outside of practicing. They have very little time to hang out cause they practice so much. They deserve first place, but they had to sacrafice the fun of being in a corp.

To clear this up, it really depends on which corp you join. Let's take the Cavies for example. They practice for about 8 hours on every competition day and they practice for 14 hours every non-competition day. Then they tend to have 1 off day every 2 weeks. Usually they sleep on the bus so they can do their traveling at night. But they are a hard core drum corp. Now let's the corp I'm currently on... The Madison Scouts!!! We practice about 8-10 hours when we don't have a competition that day and then we tend to have alot of free time. Usually on competition days we are really laid back and try to relax. When we arrived in San Antonio they gave us 3 hours to do whatever (we went down the river walk) then we had an hour of warm-up and about 3 hours of practice. We also get about 1-2 days every two weeks for just having some fun in what ever town we are in. So basically it depends on what corp you join. My guess is that the Blue Devils and Cadets will have similar schedules to the Cavies. Oh and don't join Southwind cause they travel by planes and thats WAY more exspensive then bus. There are a few other corps who do that so be careful.