NSUMusician

Hey guys. Couple of quick thoughts. I'm currently teaching and don't practice as MUCH as I used to, but "back in the day" I had c above second ledger line c. I consistently still have double g and f range. I've had that since high school. Anyways, here are my thoughts: HIGH NOTES DO NOT MAKE A PLAYER! Clarity of technique and a clear, dark but brilliant tone make a great player (see Wynton Marsalis). As far as playing high notes, it's like this in my opinion. There is a Holy Trinity to playing high: firm embouchure, fast air, and a raised tongue. There you go. Think of the following too. Try playing "directionally" with your air. What I mean by that is if you think of playing down inward into the cup of your mouthpiece then your tongue will raise. Also, as trumpet players we normally talk about firming our corners. I don't like that idea. In immature players in causes us to clench our teeth. Instead think of pulling or firming the cheek muscles. As far as playing pedal tones for range, yes it works. It's all about air. You have to have an insane amount of air to play pedal tones and generally you use the same air speed on the higher range stuff. Try playing lots of Clarke Technical studies and scales. Add a note everyday. Make that note clear and brilliant before adding another note. Those are just some thoughts. PM me if you want to talk more.

Our top band is going to look at Ruslan and Ludmilla. Our second band is going to look at the Finale from Symphony #1 by Kalinnokov and my band is going to look at Pageant by Persichetti.

I think Crown falls a few spots. I think we'll see them in the 7 to 8 range this next year. With the "politics" of DCI, PR and the Cadets are due for a win. We'll see. I honestly could see it going: Cadets, PR, Cavies/BD TIE, SCV, 'Coats, Crown, and then I don't know after that. That prediction is just going by the politics of DCI.

All-time favorite has to been Wynton Marsalis. I've played with Allen Vizzutti. I was fortunate enough to spend a week with him the summer going into my senior year of high school. I've also played with Mike Vax on way too many occasions to count. With all that being said Wynton is my fav. I love listening to Arturo. Coolest one to hang out with is Mike. Oops. I forgot to add Chet Baker to that list. If you've never heard of him, go check him out. Guy from like the 20s and 30s with a sound from today. A TRUE BEAST!

Wasey Herbort is the name of the new director at Lake Dallas. He was the lead trumpet soloist in the Bluecoats' show back in 2002. He had the second solo in the opener and then the entire solo in the closer. He's a good guy. Probably doesn't remember me though.

58th consecutive 1st Division in Marching. 42nd consecutive Sweepstakes (I think). 8 or more All-State Students. 25 or more All-Area Students 60 or more All-Region Students.

Is "Bugz" the same show that Plano West did three (?) years ago?

SIX WORDS BABY!! I MISS YOU MOST OF ALL, MY DARLING, WHEN AUTUMN LEAVES START TO FALL! I can't be more proud to be an alumn than tonight! Enjoy the bus ride Bluecoats.

I really don't know what to say about Madison. 2000 is when the downward spiral started and it hit the bottom in 2002. I was with Bluecoats in 2002 and can remember seeing Madison EVERY NIGHT and all of us secretly saying, "Man, this ISN'T the Scouts we've always known!" That summer they didn't have the same feel. They didn't walk like Scouts, they didn't act like Scouts, it was weird. This year feels the same. Last year the tried to go in a different direction from what they had been doing. Same thing with this year. BRING BACK THE OLD SCOUTS!! I remember seeing Jesus Christ Superstar (the 1999 show for all you kids out there) and thinking, "THIS IS AWESOME!!" They had the patented cymbal toss over the hornline, the park-n-bark, everything! Next year they changed stuff and weren't the same! Oh well.

I hated it! I enjoyed Westfield 03 and Kennesaw Mountain 04 more than the Cadets show. TAKE OUT THE NARRATION! It does nothing for the show. I'm ok with some tasteful narration, i.e. Bluecoats 07, Cadets 05, etc. This has just gone too far. It takes away from the musical performance. Also, to me it seems a bit "snooty." They act like they are the only ones who make sacrifices and stuff. The music is awesome! They are playing really well, but the narration takes away from the whole show.

Saw the show last night via the webcast. Those tubas were kickin' hot! And yes, I've trademarked "kickin' hot!" You may use it whenever you want. It'll take off like wildfire in California!

What I meant about musical style of 03 was feeling that it was very top heavy. Percussion tuned really high. Lots of orchestral bell, crotale, and high end pit stuff going on. Lots of 10-part chords with emphasis on the higher end. I LOVED THE 03 SHOW! It was like they continued on with the 02 show and built on an idea there. The 05 show was just not really there. My best friend played trumpet in 04 and 05 with the Cavies. They called the 05 show "My Kind of Suck." It wasn't in your face or anything! I like more the 02, 03 style of Cavalier. On another note... How about those Bluecoat Tubas?!?! WOW! They would have won the Section of the Night Award from me! They played LOTS of notes!! The Bluecoats Tuba Section played almost as many notes as the Cadets Guard had drops tonight! ouch. My bad. That hurt.

Alright. Here's my take (it's going to be short): Spirit - LOVED the new unis. Enjoyed the new aggressive approach to their show. G'men - Honestly, I didn't watch it. Haven't been too big on G'men since 02 (Loved that 02 show). Crown - LOVED THE ENTIRE SHOW! What I liked the most about this show is that although it has a "theme" you don't have to know that to enjoy their show. Hornline sounds great and percussion is doing great things. My issue is that I feel their show is A LOT like Bluecoats the past two years. I think it's high now and will peak very early. Cadets - ugh. hum. I was taught that if you can't say something nice not to say anything at all. Actually, I dug the music tremendously. THE NARRATION HAS TO GO! It really is a BOA show done by a "Drum Corp." The guard was pretty down in my opinion. Cadets guard has year in and year out been pretty decent, but this years guard isn't up to guards of the past. They talk about "tradition" and such, but then have narration during the entire show. How does narration have anything to do with tradition? Like I said, the music book is pretty hot, but overall concept is very "high school'ish." Bluecoats - Oh yeah! This show is hot enough right now to get folks pumped, but hard enough that there are PLENTY of things to fix. Guard work is not yet finished. That hurt. The narration in this show works VERY well. I loved the "I'm watching you.." part. Very ominous. The 2 point spread behind Cavies was a bit much, but I think that it's a spread that can covered. Still not sold on the unis yet. Anyways, this show is great! The Cavaliers - Not sold on it. I love Billy Joel's music, but not sold on this show. I thought it was VERY visually dirty and wasn't that much harder than some other corps visual program either. Battery stuff is very clean with LOTS of notes. Huge surprise seeing as how basically everyone is a rookie. They've got the most to lose with this show. I compare this show to a mix of 05, 04, and 03. It's got SOME of the attitude of the 007 show, some of the same musical style of the Spin Cycle show, and somewhat the same program design of the My Kind of Town show. Those are my thoughts. Take them as you may. All in all it's going to be an interesting season!!!

I'd take AE over October purely for the emotional aspect behind it. I played the off-stage solo my senior year of HS at Region. On the other hand, though, I'd choose Whitacre ANY day over Ticheli. Ticheli, from all accounts, is just a jerk. Whitacre is an awesome guy! I posted a message on his myspace and he sent me an email thanking me for it and stuff. Just an awesome guy!

Ha. I can assure you I am no one's director on this board! Barisax, I know you were only comparing me to Mr. Geiger in looks alone. I greatly respect the things Mr. Geiger does as well as the things most of the other member's of this board's directors do! Yeah, sorry for a very lengthy sentence. One day maybe I'll be up there with them. I've got to start somewhere though.