West/ El Camino 2A-3A review

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West/ El Camino 2A-3A review

Post by formermarcher » Mon Oct 11, 2004 3:13 am

First off...I'll have only 2A for now, but will update
with the rest of the 3A later on.

Torrance High School- American Landscape
Well...first group I had seen in a long time, and first 2A group I think I;ve ever seen in any sort of competition. Being a 3A band member, it was rare to
see a 2A band, and I missed all 2A bands at Moorpark last year. Anyway...
The first movement was "Fanfare For The Common Man". This started slowly, with the band moving in near unison throughout the opening mintue or so before breaking into what was a beautifully played mellophone
solo. Add a few field visuals and we're off to a great start! I just want to say I was very impressed with the Alto Saxes throughout the opener, in particulary
with the sound the produced in unison. It was hard to tell if there was more than one sax other than to look at them. And the marching was oh so good!
However, things didn't stay as great as they were. There were some music "uh ohs" arising in the group. Instruments would be sticking out, in particulary low
brass. The band felt to be tearing a little bit, and I began to notice that everything was being played in one tone and one dynamic. When they played and then danced on the field, the group looked very bored with what they were doing...but other than that it was a great way to start the show!
The second movement they did was called "Summertime".
See...this is why you have to have WoodWind sections...cause they can produce such awesome sound, much like the line of Torrance did. There were some tuning issues all around, but nothing that made my ears bleed. And the DM...reminded me of Phantom Regiment because all of a suddenly she was using a baton. Actually, Kudos to the Drum Major of Torrance for managing all those time signature changes...I was watching her (this is in the 3rd movement too) and no two measures were really the same.
However, as in the first movement, things turned ugly. The band began to play really out of tune and it sounded like a few members in the band itself didn't
really know all the notes yet. Because of this, the music began to sound real choppy and thus didn't sound solidified which would have made this group really
superb today.
Last movement they did was much like the 1st and 2nd movements, so I'm not going to say much there.
Overall...Excellent visually but the music left some
to be desired.

My Score- 58.0/4th place (dear god was I off or what?)
Actual: 67.45/4th

Redondo High School: Selections from Fiddler on the Roof
Oh how I liked the opener here...reminded so much of Santa Clara Vanguard's arrangement that they did back in '92. Except with wood winds. Actually, I was very very impressed by the way Redondo came onto the field...you could tell they meant business!
Anyhoo...they started off with the entire ensemble playing games and mingling with each other...it was so cute! Hehe...
Well opening clarinet solo totally wowed me. Then he did a brief duet with the mallets. And I was wowed even more. Thats how good it was. Then the band came in...and everything was still okay. There was some tearing as the band got adjusted to the tempo, but they made a nice recovery. Everything was
looking (and sounding) good until the Drum Line made an entrance. I felt they were slighly overpowering the group and thus took away from the group...and they group never really recovered from this. I think they might have been getting tired because the music was a little bit laggy and lacking towards the end. They started out with alot of promise, but as things went on they just got tired.
Second movement...this started off with a pit solo that was well played but when the brass game in, they were sticking out over everyone else, in particulary the low brass. But on the flip side, they looked awesome in terms of marching! Now what really impressed me was the clarinet soloist again...except
this time he must have been tired because he is also in colorguard, which involves alot of moving. It never showed in his performance, so more power to him. I do have to say that the ballad of thier show was very well performed, especially towards the closer. The show ended fairly quickly, but it was a job well done at the end. My advice is to work up the beginning a bit more, and you guys would be set!

My Score: 60.0/3rd place
Actual: 68.3/3rd place

Western High School: A Pirates Life
Hey, its another Pirate show. But you know what...they had props, so it was all good! And I loved the costumes. And the brass sound they had during the
warmups. So yay.
Opening set and opening sound did exactly what they were supposed to do...set the mood. Combine a good sound with excellent marching and you got yourself a damn good show to that point. And the point of changing was the first hold set. Things were looking a bit shaky after awhile and some people didn't quite make it in time. It still looked half decent though, and my mind was soon distracted by the dark sound produced by the marching band. It was right around this time that the group began to tear as I'm sure they got tired. It must have taken alot of energy up to that point...
Start of the second movement was a flute solo. And a damn good one. All the solos today were good. Now while the flute solo was being played and the band
moved, there were a few band run-ins with the colorguard. No one fell or got hurt though, so thats good. Nice dynamics for the ballad, but tuning was a
constant issue all the way thorugh the show.
3rd movement...now I would like to congratulate the woodwind section here for a stellar performance in the 3rd movement. The brass, however, I think needs a little bit improvement. This is not in anyway an attack on brass...but when you have a theme as common as Pirates of the Carribean you absolutely have to make it clean and I felt that it wasn't completely up to par. Perhaps its just an early season thing (and I hope it is) but its the main theme...gotta really hit it up there!
Oo yeah...awesome piccolo solo at the end!
Overall...I think the brass could use some work, but I loved the woodwind section! Visually...you guys are looking good. Keep up the good work!!!

My Score: 61.0/2nd Place
Actual: 71.25/2nd Place

Los Angeles High School: A Vision Of Love
First thing to catch my attention...the unique salute. Salutes...the ultimate form of expression (in my opnion).
Right...first off they started with a very clean sound and superb marching! Field visuals were impressive, and the entire first mintue was absolutely stupendous!
Ah, but with such energy levels comes a very tired band. You could tell they were getting tired as the music seemed to be lagging, with phasing in marching and spacing.
But with a sudden burst of energy, toe heights were up and difficult marching sets were performed (such as expanding squares) very well. Overall though...very very very excellent start!
2nd movement. One More Time Chuck Corea. If I had a dime for every time I heard this piece, I'd be pretty rich. However, this school pulled it off nicely! I was into the beat, the band was into it with the dancing, and even the Drum Major was on the podium dancing. Everything was so much fun! Then came a trumpet solo, and it was a very very very difficult solo and I thought it was played pretty good for its difficult level. After the solo though, the low brass showed what power they had. A bit too much power though...but other than that I had no complaints!
Last movement started off with a Brass Chorale. Nice overall brass sound with a fine marching performance. After a little while though, things started to get ugly. The band sounded as if it were at Civil War because each section seemed to be trying to outplay every other section.
That was soon forgotten as the band came to its conclusion with a very impressive vocal shout with everything coming together perfectly. Very intimidating! This performance left everyone in the audience saying "Well who got 2nd?"
Overall...you guys got everything down. The most major thing for me would be the balance issues, in particulary between brass and woodwind. Awesome job though!

My Score: 71.0/1st Place
Actual: 73.15/1st Place

Coming soon...3A review.
"It is your destiny to be the leader who uses this event to rally a city, a nation...a world"

"Its not what you do or what you say, but HOW you do it that matters the most"

UC: Riverside, Class Of 2007

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Post by thom » Mon Oct 11, 2004 3:02 pm

Thank you for your review.
I have to say that the judges didn't agree with you about Torrance's show. The head judge for the day (Don Gunderson) was judging music, and had them in sixth for the entire afternoon show, while visually they placed 11th out of 12.

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Post by formermarcher » Mon Oct 11, 2004 4:36 pm

thom wrote:Thank you for your review.
I have to say that the judges didn't agree with you about Torrance's show. The head judge for the day (Don Gunderson) was judging music, and had them in sixth for the entire afternoon show, while visually they placed 11th out of 12.
Thats what I heard from the Torrance members who had seen the score sheets or had heard of the results.

That would be why I'm not a judge and just a reviewer! 8-)
"It is your destiny to be the leader who uses this event to rally a city, a nation...a world"

"Its not what you do or what you say, but HOW you do it that matters the most"

UC: Riverside, Class Of 2007

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