Apple Foot

Overdue

It's been a great year in Boston sports. Maybe this is the year the Boston Crusaders finish on top of DCI?

Evelyn Rothwell

I hadn't even realized she was still alive.

So, of course, I'm listening to the Barbirolli Society's Oboe Concertos (vol 2).

I wish I'd known more oboe music my first time around, back in high school. I think the only famous oboist I'd heard of back then was Heinz Holliger, and I didn't particularly care for his style. I'd've especially been interested in a lady who made her name in classical music so many years ago, when the few females in orchestras tended to be harpists. And I like her tone. Wish I'd had her recording of the Marcello concerto when I was trying to prep the hideous thing for regional try-outs.

Beer Bottle in C

In my continuing effort to bring forth many posts which say "Cool!" and link to a YouTube video, I bring you (via Minnesota Public Radio) the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra playing a beer jingle, on bottles. Only in Australia.

A cappella

One of the (un)fortunate effects of having broadband is that I can now view YouTube with impunity. Faithful readers of my on-again, off-again blog will now be forced to suffer through numerous embedded videos with "Gee, cool!" posts.

Back at school, several friends were in an a cappella group (Wellesley College Tupelos), and I really enjoyed listening to them. Some of the other groups I saw perform with them were pretty cool, too (notably, the Tufts Beelzebubs--I think they have their own cult). Having rediscovered this world online, I'll spend the next several days digging through sites like Acapella U, The Collegiate A Cappella Podcast. Anyway, here's Indiana University's own Straight No Chaser performing a Christmas medley (I'm not sure the Hanukkah joke is totally cool, but the rest is funny) (via Metafilter).

Musical equipment for sale

The consignment shop in town often has musical instruments in the window (mostly guitars), and I always look, because someday they're going to be selling a professional grade oboe for pennies, and I don't want to miss out. Anyway, this week I see a clarinet in the window. It's got two reeds fanned out on the black velvet, and when I look closer I see a reed still attached to the mouthpiece. The display of the reeds suggests they're considered a selling point: act now, and you get--not one--not two--but THREE reeds of unknown provenance! Ick.

Drum Corps On Hiatus

One of the delights of living here is that every summer there's a Drum Corps International Div II & III show right down the street. When I tried to find out when this year's would be, I learned that it wouldn't happen. Local Division II corps the East Coast Jazz is taking some time away from competition for financial reasons.

Drum corps is a terrific activity for kids, and every time I hear that a corps is in trouble, I mourn a little. I'll really miss that Drum Corps show down the street.

Use it or lose it: Music edition

Friday night at Reunion we indulged in the Wellesley tradition of stepsinging. Actually, with such a large group and a rainy evening, we sang the school songs while seated inside the chapel rather than standing on its steps, but no matter. Over on the side of the chapel were '91 and '86, and we tolerated and occasionally enjoyed several of the old songs, but we cheered when the song leader directed us to the "Wellesley Composite". Lottie Evelyn Bates 1901 wrote some lyrics that have really stood up well, and "Finiculi, Finicula" is such a bouncy little tune it lifts my spirits every time.

Once upon a time, back in high school, I had a very nice singing voice. The choir teacher told me I had a textbook mezzo-soprano range, and I wasn't even in the choir. I was, however, a band nerd.  Band nerds don't generally pass a joint at parties: they sing songs and play the piano.

Unfortunately, I haven't done much singing since, and my voice is really dreadful. I was sitting next to someone who probably sings at church and sings to her daughter, and I was terribly embarassed by my uneven pitch. I wonder if I've gained anything to offset that loss?

During the parade, a brass band played Sousa. A classmate got excited during the bass line of "Thunderer" and admitted that she really wanted her bari sax-- turned out she'd also played bassoon, once upon a time, and still had the instruments, gathering dust. So at least I've been playing my oboe, even if I haven't been singing.

22 years: the cork grease anniversary

October 31, 1983: I first play the oboe.  After a half hour lesson from the high school band teacher (a clarinet/saxophone player), I was able to squeak out two or three "notes" on a plastic reed using just about the chintziest instrument you've ever seen (it didn't even have a low Bb key).  I proudly demonstrated my new talent to my mother, who said, "We should stick you out in the garage to scare away all the trick-or-treaters."

These days, I'm struggling through the "Various Scales for the Study of Articulation" in Barret.  I'm understanding more, but playing less: youth is wasted on the young. 

DCI Finals

Saturday I went to the DCI World Championships, held this year at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Mass.  It's the third time I've seen finals-- in 1994, I was at finals in the old Patriots' Stadium in Foxboro, and in 2000 I went to Baltimore.  Both those times I had my sister with me, who couldn't come this trip because she's got little children now.

I think drum corps is one of those things you either Get or you Don't Get.  They say that about opera, too.  My enjoyment of drum corps goes back to 1983, the year I entered high school (and joined the marching band).  That was the year the (then-Garfield) Cadets won the first of 3 consecutive World Championships; in 1984, they did the West Side Story show that changed the face of Drum Corps.  I grew up in northern New Jersey, so the Cadets were like hometown rock stars to me and my band nerd friends. (Note that this year the Cadets, the Crossmen, and parent organization YEA! moved to Allentown, PA.)

The Cadets won again this year, but I didn't get quite the same thrill I did in the mid-80s.  I'm not sure this show deserved a 99.15, 1.5 points ahead of the next corps.  For one thing, I think the "moving start" is really awkward, and just gives the audience the sense that the drum major screwed up.  But, also, the show just didn't seem to have the energy I've come to expect. Whenever the horn and drum lines started to really cook, there'd suddenly be a musical dead space, during which the guard (dressed like Woody Allen as a sperm in "Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* But Were Afraid to Ask") and four dancers dressed as Catholic school girls would start flailing around.

At this point I should probably admit that I had a really bad seat-- I bought my tickets two weeks prior to the show, and wound up on the second tier, in the corner.  I told someone, if it were only 40 yards over that way, this'd be a great seat.

Some general observations: the horn line is doing more and more dance moves these days.  Many of the corps had players rolling on the field, posing, dancing, etc.  Also, I saw more recognizable geometric shapes, alphabet, and numbers than I have since the "amoeba" took over in the 1980s.  mellobrass on rec.arts.marching.drumcorps observes that after many years as taboo, the "park 'n' bark" seems to be making a return.  The Madison Scouts continue to be underrated: they're tight, with excellent M&M, a crack hornline, and clean execution, and they have long deserved a higher ranking than they've gotten (plus this year, they had a drag queen). The Blue Devils continue to have the world's best drum line; Phantom Regiment continues to do everything with panache (their variations on Rhapsody in Blue were fun); and the Cavaliers were flat out terrific.

We had a half hour weather delay after the first three corps.  Foxboro FD thought we were all about to get struck by lightning, so we had to evacuate the stands and crowd the concourse, where all the kids who'd hit the souvie stands pre-show whipped out their Vic Firth sticks and started playing on cardboard boxes, soda bottles, and practice pads while chanting and whooping.  I love band nerds.

When did the scores ceremony get to be so excruciating?  They've got special awards for everything, so that it takes forever to get through the list.  And, after scores were finally read, the corps didn't seem to want to leave the field.  Honestly, it was 45 minutes or better before the announcer turned the field over to the Cadets, at well after midnight.  Also, I think DCI may be discouraging the kids from leaving their shoes on the field.  I didn't see very many pairs, and they were all quickly snapped up by DCI staff with black trash bags.

If you couldn't make it to finals in person, they'll be broadcast on ESPN2 September 6, 10PM ET.