The contras get a little love as far as exposure goes in this show with that little feature in the first movement and being right up front a few bars later but Down Side Up's contra feature pales in comparison to the awesomeness of Tilt's and Kinetic Noise's I feel. Even so Bluecoats will always be king of contras for me cause of how great they use them.
Yeah I love that one too! 2014 takes the crown for me cause of the ridiculous range those contras had that year! They went crazy high in their register.
Dude … honestly have no words. It’s so easy to sit in the high up seats and enjoy this beast of a show but to see how hard you guys were going down there. A true honor to have marched with you guys last week- I have all the respect in the world for your quality as a performer
awsome video😄. It has to be so difficult to march in bluecoats. I haven't been in a dci group, but i love watching dci. I am marching with contras, so i understand how they are. But still awesome video. keep up the great work
I marched (ahem) contra in the 90's and wow have the shows come a long way! Wish we had go pro's and breathable/quick dry uniforms. When I saw you guys in Jupiter, FL I knew 100% you were going to win. Congrats! Seriously, people don't understand what it's like to run around a field while playing a 30 lb blindspot without knocking your teeth out on another corps member or prop! And now they can see for themselves!
Yeah I would have loved seeing some of those old shows in first person! And let me tell you the breathable uniforms were awesome when you got past the non-traditional look haha. But thank you so much! Glad you got to see it in person, even if it was in the Florida heat :P
same here. baritone in the mid 90s. the drill and demand appears to be much more difficult these days, but oh that G bugle sound. if only we could bring that back.
Much more in-tune on the Yamaha horns. We mostly use it for longer tones, although there are some parts of the show where the 1-2 fingering was more in-tune based on the chord
Every tuba cam I've seen from bloo the past few years has had just 3rd valve pressed whenever the opportunity comes up, is that just an intonation thing with the yamaha's or is that a uniform thing?
I really hope you reply, but could you tell me the brand of contra that is? I'm planning on buying one in the near future and I want to know what's the best I can get.
Hey I'm a section leader for contras and barritones and I'm wanting to buy some of those things around the bell to protect them(contras not barritones as they can hold them themselves) where and can I buy those at
danny marokas I've played contra and Sousa and although contra is harder because of commands and stuff I think Sousa is harder, seemed heavier, also a bit different to play.
danny marokas my high school marches fieldshow and we only have sousaphones, commands are easy on Sousa because of the lack of mobility. Our show had movements we physically couldn't do because the instrument would be knocked out of our mouths, mobility wise Contras are much more convenient and lighter. You can angle your bell more comfortably and project forwards rather than through a bunch of tubing. So for field show Contras are much much more efficient than sousaphones. Tone wise Contras all the way btw
Calling it a Sousaphone would be incorrect. Sousaphone is just a specification of a tuba that wraps around the player and is used typically for marching. Although a contrabass bugle is also a marching horn, it does not fall under that specification. Technically the BBb horns corps play on are not contrabass bugles, but the name has just stuck through the switch to BBb horns. The accepted terms would be contra, or simply a marching tuba.
Sabrina Eddy I was a clarinet player for 6 years, been playing tuba for six months and already first chair, it doesn’t matter what instrument you start on, it matters how hard you’re willing to work
MrThetubaman Are Contras as unwieldy (in terms of weight and density of tubing) as they look? I ask because I play a Sousa and I'm trying to imagine what marching with one of those tubas would be like for college
+MrThetubaman Agreed. And sousaphones just look silly imo. Back when I was a little squirt (like seriously 3-4 years old) I would call them "funny trumpets" because 1: I didn't know the actual name, and 2: they looked so darn goofy.
Milo Johnson I like sousas but for field show I would prefer contras because they're actually sometimes lighter than sousas, plus you can actually move around lol
Actually, I can hold my breath for a long time. Playing the tuba at loud dynamics with my best tone and intonation while running around the field at 240 bpm takes just a liiiiiiiiiittle bit more effort.
