MURFREESBORO... I DEFINITELY WANT TO TAKE JUBAL BACK HERE

Wow.... I still remember our first big DCI show with Jubal in 2002: the University of Middle Tennessee in Murfreesboro. Now that's a perfect stadium for drumcorps!!! You bet!

Blue Devils had an all-day rehearsal here yesterday, a System Blue clinic this afternoon and the show tonight: The Masters of the Summer Music Games - sponsored by Pearl percussion.

OK,.. in 2002 it was the drive from HELL, coming from Michigan and going straight to Tennessee! That was a ridiculously long drive. No... bad choice... we'll never do that again.

But coming back here is high on my priority list! I doubt it's going to happen though.

I will have a meeting with both Dan Acheson (DCI CEO) and David Eddelman (Open Class coordinator) during Championships week in Indianapolis to discuss our tour-plans for 2011 and talk about the (im)possibilities as far as shows are concerned. We will be competing in Open Class, but obviously we'd also like to be in some bigger shows with World Class corps.

We'll see... DCI allowed us to perform at Murfreesboro (2002), Cookville (2006), Allentown to name a few... All major events! Not to forget Atlanta in 2006! That's a great dome the show is held at. We're on our way there now. It will be a short night! And a looooooooooooong day!

Now,.. back to Murfreesboro... The members did not have to sleep on a gym floor this time. The corps was housed in the University dorms, and had double rooms in two buildings. All rooms with their own bathroom and shower. They loved it.

It makes it a bit harder to get everyone up in the morning, but everyone did come to breakfast in time. We (staff) slept on our buses, but we got to use two of the dorms too to use the showers and bathrooms. A REAL shower,... that just makes your day on tour!

The corps got to rehearse in that fabulous stadium yesterday. Some of us went and see the evening rehearsal block. It must be a privilege to be in the position to rehearse in facilities such as this. I know there are a LOT of DCI corps out there that had much worse places to line their fields at and practice at all day.

There are a few changes to the show that were going to be put in for the Murfreesboro show. It's mainly the ending of the show that changed, and lots of small visual additions throughout the show.

Today (Friday) was the big day. It would be the first time the whole top-12 was going to perform at the same show (since Minneapolis rained out). We saw Carolina Crown the other night, but Bluecoats were here too this evening.

The crowd in Murfreesboro is always very LOUD, and tonight was no difference. They cheered for everyone! Especially all the marching band members DCI has been attracting to their shows over the last few years! They're going wild at some of the shows.

I still think The Cadets have a fun show. Nice theme! This "Little Jeffrey" guy plays a leading role and adds a lot of humour to the production. I don't care too much for the color guad when they wear the corps uniforms at the beginning. I really like "Dance of the Tumblers"! I usually enjoy the musical selections Cadets pick out for their shows. Unprecedented drill formations and developments as usual!

Bluecoats are the surprise of the season this year. They put a very entertaining in-your-face show on the field, entitled "Metropolis". This show is very percussion-focused. Now,... I don't know much about drums/percussion, but they perform some exciting stuff!

I should revise my opinion on what I said earlier about the Cavaliers show. I didn't like them as much when I first saw them, but I should give them credit now. The more I see them, the better I like them. "This is my rifle",... picture the entire hornline on rifle!!! Cavies do it. I'm still waiting for all of them to toss the rifle too though!! That would get this crowd WILD!

Love the brass instruments that Carolina Crown plays!! makes me think back of all the Jubal years we used to play them. I still feel sorry we switched to silver!! Crown's title of the show is Second Chance... that might very well refer to them not winning the Championships in 2009. Lots of body movement! Lots of sitting down and play! (No chairs though!)

Their new uniforms include the corps logo as a gold mirror with the letters MMX engraved. When I first saw it I thought it was a sponsor (Just like the banners on Cadets' Herald trumpets with the Yamaha logo), but soon found out it's 2010 in Roman numbers. Stupid me.... I should have known better!

Blue Devils are getting better and better, the additions seem to work well. I am sure they are still testing things, and there will be more changes to come! I fully understand there are people who hate this show. Just check what some of them write on the forum on drumcorpsplanet.com!
This show however is one of the most creative shows EVER brought to the field by anyone. And believe me,... I am an "old school' drumcorps kind of person. I wasn't much in favour of the switch from G to B-flat.... let alone all this electronics.

I posted about the use of electronics in my blogs before. I hated it at the beginning but I feel much more comfortable with it now, especially since it's used very effectively by a lot of the corps, and fortunately there is not a whole lot of TALKING over the microphones!

And then the Xylosynths! That's some invention!!! I love them.
Earlier this season our feeder corps Jong Jubal sort of kicked all their vibraphones and marimbas out the door, and replaced them by this wonderful instrument. A great choice! In fact I think they bought 4 of them. Some of the corps here use the instrument too. I think most of them only have one though! Great effects!

Blue Devils are in the hunt for another title... their 14th!!!
I'm excited!
They got an impressive 95.3 points for tonight' s performance, which gave them aimpressive lead over Bluecoats (93.55), Cavaliers (93.10) and Carolina Crown (92.35).

Enjoy,

HK