Doug's Sounding Board

A few weeks ago I remembered that I wanted to try to see a live drum corp show this summer. I decided to look up the Santa Clara Vanguards to see when they were next playing or maybe to see a rehearsal. I totally lucked out in finding that there was a competition happening on July 2nd. I sent th elink to Nicole and to mo and both wanted to go. So I got tickets for me and Nicole and Mo and Patrick.

When I ordered tickets I chose the premium section but was told that they didn’t have 4 seats together so I chose the section behind that (also a good bit cheaper). When we got the tickets from will call and walked to our seats it turned out that we were in the good section after all and our seats were right in front! Aside from being front and center the good seats are good because they have a back and aren’t just benches. Anyway, we had prime seats for listening, a little higher up woul dhave been nicer for formation watching but I’m very happy with the seats.

It all started with the national anthem played by a hot-shot trumpet player who has played with a lot of people and is getting his master’s in trumpet at USC.

First up was the senior corps. I read that the San Francisco Renegades were going to be there, they are a senior corp (senior meaning anyone too old for regular drum corp (21?), and I wanted to see what they were about in case I ever get motivated enough to start practicing trumpet again and want to join. The first one was a medium sized corp but I don’t remember where from. They were ok and kind of what I expected from senoir corps in general. Next up was the Renegades. They marched well, they played phenomenally (they have at least 6 trumpet players capable of playing great solos) as a band, and they ended up being the loudest of all the corps there that night. Nicole actually had to plug her ears at one point. If I want to join them I have a *LOT* of work to do.

After that it switched gears to the juniors. First was the Blue Devils C-corp. Age range is 6-14 and seeing 6-year olds with horns and marching is really cute. Then came several B-corps that I don’t remember too well, Santa Clara Vanguards, Blue Devils, and I think some others. They were all pretty good as a band but lacked in the solo department.

Intermission came and then the A-corps.

It started with a show from Seattle which did a show about the history of flight, complete with bad voice-over. Boeing needs to not dictate the content here.

Next was Esparanza but I don’t rememebr where they are from. They were the tightest of the bands musically I thought. They could start and stop on a dime and made good use of silence. They also made good use of minimal color guard costumes with a long sash.

Then came the Pacific Crest from Diamond Bar. They had flashy uniforms and by far the best color guard show so far but that’s about all I remember. Oh yeah. I thought everyone was better than Seattle. Unfortunately Seattle beat out Esparanza.

The Mandarins, from Sacramento were really good and I especially liked their uniforms. Unfortunately I don’t think their hats go will with their uniforms. They ended up taking third which I think is about right.

Second to last, but placing first was the Phantom Regiment. I knew they would be a good show because they’re always one of the famous ones in the finals, and this show was no exception. They had an amazingly balanced sound and sounded great overall. Good solos, good playing, good marching, really nothing wrong except for a few mistakes which is no big deal this early in the season.

Finally was the home team, the Santa Clara Vanguards. The Vanguards took second place and put on a great show and there were fireworks going off during it from the neighboring stadium which I think added to it.

I need to try to go to these things more often!