I'm a long time Santa Clara Vanguard fan and this version of Send in the Clowns gives me the chills just as it did way back in 1974 the first time I heard it! SCV has been and always will be my favorite corps. Best of luck to them in 2016 season!
SCV as always sounding strong. Baritones and Euphs rock the beginning of Send in the Clowns. Love watching you guys but I will always bleed BLOOOO. 93 Bluecoat Euph.
I couldn't find this anywhere and then FINALLY!!!! I'm absolutely smitten with this version. They used to have similar videos of Send In The Clowns all over RU-vid from different bands and they all disappeared. You guys sound phenomenal!!! I'm just blown away. Chills every time. You all are so lucky to have such an awesome conductor!!!! =D
+BlinkinFirefly SCV's media team is almost nonexistent - they certainly don't post lot videos. Contact the corps, mention how much you value this type of content, and tell him to hire me!
All of these DCI and DCA drum majors today just stand on their podium and emulate a mechanical metronome. Each one is a clone of the other. - JMO That gent in the Bermuda shorts should be the drum major, or start a school for drum majors. I believe he could coax musical dynamics out or a rock! That's what a true drum major should look like and be capable of doing - as they did 40+ years ago.
Really? I'd argue that what he's doing is actually counterproductive. You can't get more volume out of the trumpets than they're producing. Hear how they're getting more and more buried even as he pushes the line higher? The line itself is imbalanced instrumentation wise. The upper voices can't get a big enough "bite" of air to compete at fff levels. Now, I agree with you fully that the drum major in the picture is no drum major at all. That is 100% correct. Nothing there. BUT...on the other end, the guy in the khaki shorts is actually giving up his power. He's seeking dynamic contrast at the very top of the volume range, where he will never get it. He can jump up and down, turn red, yell, gesture madly, take a giant dump, emit rockets out of his ass...whatever. Once you start getting that hyped, and you're not directing it literally to the top 5% intensity of the entire show, you have lost control of your ability to get a result. You have not "kept your powder dry" as a leader. Granted, it's a rehearsal. But that horn line is actually not performing at the level of the truly great SCV horn lines. Take away the whole G/Bb thing, and just concentrate on how the real masters of hornlines throughout the history of the activity taught. It was NOT this. It was making sure that you could hear a pin drop WHILE the corps was playing a pianissimo, and creating constant gradations of power from pin-drop to blood in the mouthpiece (metaphorically speaking). If you are playing your entire push at 100%, where is the space to rush that sideline, and HIT THE STANDS WITH HUGENESS OUT OF NOWHERE??? You can't get it if you're just blowing your brains out. You are not getting more volume on ANY pitch of horn at that level, but here's where the Bb thing DOES come into play...you are not going to get it in the upper brass on a trumpet. Just listen to the tone. By the time the trumpets are at the push, there is literally no more volume to be had. Hear how they're at 100% sizzle, while the low brass is still not fully buzzing? That is the instrumentation imbalance. The trumpets are outgunned, and pushing the entire line to get louder buries them more. It is purely systemic at that point. Now, perhaps on the field, they've staged the show to compensate for it. That is possible, and if visual design is doing that consistently, it's a way to make up that fundamental line imbalance--to compensate for robbing Peter to pay Paul, so to speak. But still, it's lurking there. And the solution to it isn't simple (for sure, once you're out on the road and there's no practical way to rethink instrumentation). But bottom line, the dude in the khaki shorts is beating his head against a brick wall, and frankly giving up his power as a leader by being so histrionic. Great leaders don't yell and get beet red, and make spectacles. You don't make someone listen to you more by speaking louder. You save that shit for the 1% of time you need it. The rest of the time, stay calm. Get control of an ensemble by keeping your range of gestures in reserve. Ironic isn't it...for all the continuous talk about how "old school" DCI was just all about volume, I keep seeing rehearsal videos like this where guys in shorts are jumping up and down and getting beet red in the face screaming at hornlines for more volume. Hint: Once there's literally nothing left except edge, you are not going to get even 1% more volume. You are just going to get more edge. Go back and listen with this in mind, and you will hear exactly what I'm talking about. Those trumpets aren't getting any louder, because they can't. Due to the line's instrumentation, they low brass WILL drown them out at that level. There will be no mid/high "punch" because there is literally nothing left with which to make it happen.
He has the freedom to move on this ground. Most drum majors are pretty expressive from my experience the just have to stay put on their tall stands. That's tricky. This man is really expressive indeed tho!
