2006 Cool Moments

I’ve always felt Drum Corp is about creating moments that fans will remember, and while they are not the full story they at times are reminisced on like great plays in sports.
There are also the “very cool” moments that this fan takes away from the shows I see.
10 of my very cool Drum Corp moments for 2006 are as follows

Phantom Regiment extended chord at the end of Ave Maria. Gave me chills!!

The Cavalier trumpets getting stuck in a 2 note loop with their horns going back and forth till a guard member whacks them back into the show. Outrageous!!!

Bluecoats “corp wide” breathing between songs. Very cool. Great show

Carolina Crowns company front moving across the field dropping members off along the way with the guard dispersed and spinning those great flags. Great visual.

Blue Devils crucifix moving across the field to the Godfather main theme.

Blues Devils drum line anytime they are on the field.

Santa Clara Vanguard “Mr. Moto” and his exit with the cymbal line

Glassmen “Beethoven goes deaf” with the pit whistle and the great guard toss.

Boston Crusaders “Conquest” theme hidden in the music throughout the end of the show and at the end of the great drum solo.

Cadets bass drum feature while standing on the platform. Very Cool !!

Rise of the Machine

Back in 1967, the then Chicago Cavaliers won the VFW National Drum Corp championship at Fenway Park in Boston. The word in the stands was that they were the “Green Machine”, performing their routine like a fine tuned piece of equipment.
The 2006 incarnation of the Cavies brought the Machine analogy to a new level at Lawrence Mass Wednesday evening August 3rd bringing to the field multiple pieces of humanoid equipment that flow, fly, break apart, bend, and snap back together. Percussion, horns and machine-like metal sounds punctuate the sometime sporadic, sometime precision movements of the corps for a visual experience that breaks new ground. The soundtrack is not one that drum corps purists will be throwing on the turntable any time soon, not much to tap your foot to here. But melded with the visuals and execution of the performers, the show works. The Blue Devils will have their hands full trying to outperform the Cavaliers again the year.
The 2003 Cavaliers Frameworks production took drum corps to a new visual level as show designers smoked the processors of their Pyeware computers designing shows once not possible with charts, paper, and pencil. But for better or worse we are in the cyber age, and drum corp has embraced the technology and challenged the performers. Corps have risen to the Cavaliers initiative with some success as witnessed by the Cadets 2005 “Zone” winning show, and the overall “overdrive” movement now seen on the field.
Visual sophistication will continue to evolve and I’m sure we will be treated to more visual wonders but I will still be yearning for those classic drum corp moments. I will see a block slowly coming together, parking in place and treating me to the luscious stacked chords that raises the hair on my neck and reminds me “this is why I come to drum corp” .