August 29, 2010

Paul Rennick to Santa Clara Vanguard

Paul Rennick has left Phantom Regiment to take role as Percussion Arranger and Percussion Caption Head Manager (?) at Santa Clara Vanguard. The announcement was made by SCV on Saturday through a press release on their website:

The Vanguard is proud to announce the appointment of Paul Rennick as percussion arranger and percussion caption manager, effective immediately. Rennick is Principal Lecturer in percussion at the University of North Texas where he has served on the faculty since 1991. He has been a dominant force in marching percussion for more than a decade, having recently won the Drum Corps International Fred Sanford award for percussion performance for the third time in five years with the Phantom Regiment, while also writing and designing shows for the University of North Texas Indoor Drum Line, which is the current and 16-time Percussive Arts Society National Champion.

Rennick is also leading figure in the world of percussion education, with a long history of successful students and performing ensembles. He has consistently been a featured clinician at Percussive Arts Society and music education clinics world-wide.

"We're elated to have Paul join our design and instructional team at Vanguard, as he brings state of the art writing, teaching and performance experience to the organization from the world of marching percussion and beyond; specifically the concert stage and Broadway. Next summer's member and staff experience will be greatly enhanced by his presence on the field, in the box and through his arrangements," stated Jeff Fiedler, the Vanguard organization's Chief Executive Officer.

For the full press release, check out the Santa Clara Vanguard website

Ryan at 10:20 PM

August 14, 2010

Blue Devils Crowned 2010 World Champions

The Blue Devils win the 2010 DCI World Championship, their 14th and back-to-back with their 2009 win, with a score of 98.9. Their 2010 Production called "Through A Glass, Darkly" challenged the audience both musically and visually with tiny reflections of previous shows and reflections from the tall 30+ mirrored panels used throughout the program (more information about the repertoire can be found here).

Ryan at 10:45 PM

August 13, 2010

DCI Semifinals Results

Here are the scores from tonight's Semifinals:

01. 98.05 Blue Devils
02. 97.25 The Cavaliers
03. 96.50 Bluecoats
04. 95.35 Carolina Crown
05. 94.85 The Cadets
06. 92.95 Phantom Regiment
07. 92.45 Santa Clara Vanguard
08. 92.05 Blue Stars
09. 89.60 Boston Crusaders
10. 89.20 Madison Scouts
11. 87.85 Blue Knights
12. 86.50 Glassmen
13. 84.65 Colts
14. 84.05 The Academy
15. 83.35 Troopers
16. 81.45 Spirit
17. 80.90 Crossmen

Ryan at 10:44 PM

August 12, 2010

DCI Quarterfinals Results

Here are the scores from tonight's results:

01. 97.90 Blue Devils
02. 96.55 The Cavaliers
03. 96.25 Bluecoats
04. 94.85 Carolina Crown
05. 94.45 The Cadets
06. 92.35 Phantom Regiment
07. 91.90 Santa Clara Vanguard
08. 91.65 Blue Stars
09. 89.65 Boston Crusaders
10. 89.15 Madison Scouts
11. 88.40 Blue Knights
12. 87.15 Glassmen
13. 84.70 Colts
14. 84.25 The Academy
15. 84.20 Troopers
16. 82.25 Spirit
17. 80.80 Crossmen

Ryan at 09:38 PM

DCI Broken Arrow 2010

As usual, it was extremely hot for this show and the drumlines did a good job finding shade where they could. Good idea considering 90% of the corps there had dark colored pants.

This show had nine corps: Music City, Legends, Teal Sound, Pioneer, Madison Scouts, Blue Knights, Boston Crusaders, The Cavaliers, and The Cadets. With this being a high school, it was much easier to find the warm-up spots as opposed to the Edmond show. The hardest group to find was Madison Scouts - they found a little strip of grass between two buildings that was about half the width of a football field. Other than that, I got most of the groups and I hope you enjoy what we've posted on YouTube.

Let's get on with it:

Continue reading "DCI Broken Arrow 2010"

Ryan at 09:27 PM

Big Loud & Live! 7

DCI Quarterfinals will be shown LIVE, August 12 at 6:30 ET (that's today) in nearly 500 movie theaters. The five hour long broadcast will show the current top 15 shows in their entirety. Ticket prices look to be around $18.

For more information and to find a theater near you, check out:

http://www.dci.org/cinema/

Ryan at 04:00 PM | Comments (0)

August 06, 2010

DCI Edmond Review

This was my first time to the DCI show in Edmond, OK and was a stellar line up of top corps. Troopers, Glassmen, Blue Stars, Phantom Regiment, Blue Devils, and a few others were in attendance. The show was set at the University of Central Oklahoma and like any other college, it has many buildings and grassy knolls to accommodate the student body. While this is ideal for the college student, it can be a nightmare for the drumline lot connoisseur. There are too many places to hide and if you judge your destination by sound, it can be deceptive with the sound reflecting off of adjacent buildings. With that in mind, I went to the show with the goal to see at least three warm ups and I hit my goal. The full review is after the jump...

Continue reading "DCI Edmond Review"

Ryan at 11:37 PM

July 19, 2010

Blue Devils Break 90 Mark

In Kansas City tonight, the Concord Blue Devils were the first to break 90 this season with a 90.65 beating out their closest competitor, Phantom Regiment, which scored a 86.70.

Ryan at 11:20 PM

July 02, 2010

Phantom Regiment Mystery Drum Revealed

When it was first rolled out, people started asking, "what is it?". It looked like a concert bass drum but without a shell. Seeing that it was from Remo, their history with pretuned heads and the TSS line, we assumed it was a very large TSS head. Phantom Regiment's Percussion Caption Head, Paul Rennick, is calling it a "bass gong" and it is a tunable head. We also found out it is much larger than a typical bass drum measuring in at 60" inches in diameter! That is one large drum! Be sure to check it out this Summer at your local drum corp show (find a show).

Ryan at 01:27 AM

June 22, 2010

The 2010 Drum Corp Season is Underway

This past Friday marked the start of the 2010 DCI season with a hybrid performance/clinic by The Cavaliers, Carolina Crown, and The Cadets at historic J Birney Crum Stadium in Allentown, PA. What can we expect to see this Summer? Well besides a heated competition (Crown by the way placed in the top spot in the season opener), we will see some new hardware by Yamaha, a new concept from Remo, the production version of the new Pearl carriers and much more.

To start you off, we have a couple images of corps "unboxing" their new drums. Enjoy!

Ryan at 11:57 PM

April 20, 2010

WGI 2010 Finals Results

Congratulations to the winners of each class at the 2010 WGI Finals held in Dayton, Ohio this past weekend. Here are the Top 3 in each class:



Independent Marching World
1 Pulse Percussion (Ontario, California) 96.375
2 Rhythm X (Columbus, Ohio) 96.250
3 Music City Mystique (Nashville, Tennessee) 95.513


Scholastic Marching World
1 Ayala HS (Chino Hills, California) 97.175
2 Chino Hills HS (Chino Hills, California) 96.750
3 Dartmouth HS (Dartmouth, Massachusetts) 95.500


Independent Marching Open
1 Palmetto Percussion (Columbia, South Carolina) 93.863
2 STRYKE Percussion Ensemble (Palm Beach, Florida) 93.288
3 OC Indoor (Portland, Oregon) 93.075


Scholastic Marching Open
1 South Hills HS (West Covina, California) 96.450
2 Pacifica HS (Garden Grove, California) 94.975
3 Upper Darby HS (Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania) 93.175

Ryan at 09:20 PM