I’ve seen a LOT of drum corps and drum and bugle corps performances, and many of them are quite the spectacle. This one however takes the cake. Top Secret Drum Corps out of Basel Switzerland. Even if corps drumming is boring to you, the visuals, effects, movement and theatrics here are sure to impress.
It’s about 6 mins long, but of course the best part is at the end.
I can’t wait for my bro’ to see this (sent it to his work computer since his kids monopolize the home one). He is gonna have an orgasm!
My brother’s the better drummer of the two of us.
Rudiments. It’s all about the rudiments.
I got lazy, started playing in bands, but Skip went right from high school to The Spirit of Atlanta, and they rocked. Not like these guys, but they were great for the time.
I’ve been playing the hell out of that clip you linked us to, dnooman! Got out my drum pad and sticks and played along the best I could.
Done. If this happens in the future, you can get a faster response by using the “report post” button, which looks like a yield sign with an exclamation point in it.
Right. Same thing happened to me in another thread, and I had forgotten the “report post” feature. e-mailed, got it fixed, but as twicks and now Marley23 say, it is the fastest way.
I hate to be a buzzkill here, there are some nice effects here, but honestly, as a DCI open class competitor (once upon a time), several things jump out at me:
#1 This is winterguard, which is about a tenth as tough to coordinate because there is like 20 of them vs 128 in a full corps #2 No music, and minimal flag work. #3 Not even a full drum line (no tenors? No Pit?) #4 because its WG you have minimal issues with things like crossfeild phasing and such, meaning the drumming should be tighter. #5 I realize the rotating accelerando move is tough for anyone and even attempting it in competition takes balls, but that was musically messy. #6 IMHO half of those guys are playing with shovels to fling that much dirt, both visually and musically. Stick heights and interpretation of visuals are all over the place.
OK, from a DCI point of view, yeah it’s missing stuff, but your points 1-4 are all personal preference and not faults per se. You thought the accelerando was messy? I thought it was practically metronomic. I guess I didn’t see the times when stick heights were off, but you have to admit with the copious amount of stick tossing, they were lucky to have only dropped 2 sticks.
I miss the tenors too (that’s what I used to play though never in corps).
I just can’t for the life of me recall any one performance that would be as captivating to the layperson as this one was. Flaming batons, everyone has seen, but flaming sticks? I’ve seen a show where the bass drums had snares in them, but never pyrotechnics. I thought the dancing was hokey too, but there’s not a whole lot you can do with a harness on, let alone a sound projector at the bottom.
My bro got his link this morning, and I thought he was gonna take my ear off with the “Spirit of Atlanta” yell!
I know I’m not supposed to “gush” here, but this kinda stuff gives me goose-pimples and brings a tear to my eye, I ain’t kiddin’!
That “dropped stick” thing?
It amazes me to think how little time a drummer has to think about that mistake, because by the time he can formulate his “Awwww fuck it!”, he’s already into the next segment.
THAT, my friends, is a HELL of a mental challenge, IMHO.
Slightly different beast, but go take a look at the Kodo Drummers of Japan (no sound at the moment, so I can’t tell what’s worth linking to quality-wise). Again, it’s slightly different, but for precision performance, there may be some at the same tier, but there are none higher.