Pacific Procession
Monday, June 24, 2013
Santa Clara High School -- Santa Clara CA
We had breakfast at the hotel, which included some kind of half-bagel topped with egg, cheese and bacon. I refrained from getting waffles, but I was tempted. Even though we liked our hotel suite at the Hampton Inn, we did need to leave for Santa Clara. While we were on the way, I saw that today was Family Day for Santa Clara Vanguard, so we decided to go to the school right after lunch instead of going to the hotel first.
We shopped at Sports Basement in Walnut Creek, but didn't find anything to buy. There were a couple of restaurants nearby, and we decided to try China Village Restaurant. Wow, they had fast service! I think that we were done with everything within, like, 20 minutes, from sitting down to walking out the door. Granted, we ordered lunch specials and it was a weekday, but still. The food was pretty good, too, and piping hot, so they weren't just playing a soundtrack of cooking sounds back there like Bro had wondered.
We arrived at the high school early enough to obtain a space in the parking lot. Most of the school grounds were being renovated, so it was difficult for others to find parking, and they had to find a space on the residential streets. The corps buses were across the street, and the corps all had to cross the street with their instruments, walk around the school buildings, and then walk to the field. It was kind of nuts, but I guess their construction progressed much further than was expected.
Watching the rehearsal was free, and we sat at the top row. There were a lot of people already in the stands, most of whom turned out to be SCV. We all watched the Vanguard Cadets rehearse. They worked on some of "Night on Bald Mountain", and then we were treated to some other pieces. The drumline did a solo, then the horns played 3 different pieces; one from 1975, one from 2012, and The Great Gate of Kiev. Then they did a run-through of their full show. I like watching rehearsals, because you get to actually see the kids faces. Bro said that they actually look like kids, as opposed to when they are wearing their uniforms. They handed out free water to those of us in the stands. It was really nice! They have 3 girls in their bass drum ensemble. Cool.
Then corps director Jeff Fiedler talked to us a bit about the show and their tour. Then he passed out water bottles himself! The A corps took the field, and they were told about what needed improvement in the show, and what they'd be working on for the day. They mainly worked on the timing of the beginning of "Do You Hear the People Sing", because the drums and the horns weren't really playing in synch with each other. They were also told that they need to have more energy throughout the show and that they need to not have brain farts. You see, when you join an A corps, you don't get away with much. They then played the music of their show at a standstill, followed by the entire run-through on the field. Then, Mr. Fiedler said that they had one more "very important song" to play for us. Of course, we got to hear "Send in the Clowns". We were in SCV Fan Heaven.
We had some time until the gates officially opened, so we walked to Togo's, and I changed into the long-sleeved SCV shirt that I bought the previous evening because, hello, it was getting chilly. We walked back to the venue and saw a bunch of corps people on the way. We were given white wristbands with the initials "CB". I asked Bro what they meant. He shrugged and guessed "Charlie Brown". We went to the SCV souvenir trailer, and it was starting to rain. A guy got in line that looked familiar. Bro told him that they sat next to each other at the Walnut show. He only remembered that he had a hard time driving, and that he doesn't do that anymore. I bought the green SCV Swing Tank top. We stood underneath the stands for a minute or so to get out of the rain, which reminded us of our Orlando DCI trip in 2003. Then we decided to just find our seats and bear the rain, which had actually subsided. The seats were wet, but we had my SCV blanket to sit on. Our seats were on the 50-yard line, 3 rows from the break in the stands.
The Star-Spangled Banner was performed by the SCV Cadets. I'm really loving that we get to hear the national anthem live on all 3 days.
BLUE DEVILS B
No tarp today. I hope it never comes back, because it's not necessary (Someone nearby talked about how it would be like a Slip 'n' Slide in the rain and it would be treacherous, like yesterday). People fell down during the show anyway. The music sounded good though. The girls in the CG had a yellow line down their faces, which continued down their uniforms.
SANTA CLARA VANGUARD CADETS
I like this show more every time, even though it's still not finished. Aw, dude dropped the rifle during his solo. We giggled at two women behind us, one of which had never been to a drum corps show. They had funny remarks while asking each other stuff. One of them said that the drum major was serious because he had a baton.
Between each show, staff from different corps tried to sit in our section, but were turned away because it was all reserved seating. One of the ladies said that the initials on the wristband meant "Center Best". Bro said that it actually stands for "Center, Bitches!"
The two women behind us saw that Pacific Crest was next up in the program, and wondered where Diamond Bar was located. One of them said that it was in Gold Country (I guess because of the "diamond"). Then the other one told her to look on her "fancy phone" and it took a while for the lady because she had never used whatever app it was before, and needed to let it set up. No, I didn't turn around to tell them about Diamond Bar. I preferred to giggle with Bro. I'm not always a nice person. Also, it was funnier to hear their conversation than to silence them with my knowledge.
PACIFIC CREST
Bro and I had been talking about PC's sound for the last couple of days. We like their sound because they sound brassier, like the old G bugles. I think that it must be something with their arrangements, because Bro said that they use the same instruments as other corps, but they just sound really different. He had read somewhere that if a show was arranged without the horn player having to use a certain valve, they would sound just like the G bugles. Perhaps that's what PC is doing. I think that the block formation has a hole, but Bro thinks that someone's just not catching up. Soprano ensemble rocked it! I wonder if those women ever found out where Diamond Bar was, instead of the generalized "Southern California".
<Intermission>
Bro decided to look up the history of the Paper Sons, and added a book about it to my wish list. Yes, I authorized it.
MANDARINS
When the narrator first started, Bro heard the judge behind us say, "That's really loud." Yes, we were close to the judges and could hear them talking into their tapes, but we couldn't hear very much once the music got loud.
CAROLINA CROWN
The body movements were not very sharp today, and the music was not as clean as yesterday. I didn't know that the narration was live. I figured it out when I saw people talking on the mics. Bro said that there is also someone using a drum pad for the counting segments. Why are they singing into the mics if I couldn't hear them during the drum solo? Oh, someone does play the rolling bass drum later on. I didn't catch them playing those 10 gongs, though.
SANTA CLARA VANGUARD
SCV staff sat in front of us (they had reserved seats), and one of them had a mic recorder. The corps was still of during "Do You Hear the People Sing", which they worked on earlier in the day. I love that soprano/mellophone duet during "One Day More"! I want to have one of each of those fleur-de-lis flags in my house.
We did not get an encore today, so I'm really glad that we went to rehearsal. I'm also glad because we got to hear SCV's show three times today.
While we were waiting for the scores to be announced, Snoopy and Charlie Brown arrived! I told Bro that he was right about the wristbands the first time. They were APPARENTLY there to promote Great America. They even shook hands with the leads during awards.
SCORES
Open Class
2) 64.60 Santa Clara Vanguard Cadets
1) 65.20 Blue Devils B
World Class
4) 62.10 Mandarins
3) 64.00 Pacific Crest
2) 75.40 Santa Clara Vanguard
1) 77.80 Carolina Crown
We somehow got out of the parking lot without Bro running into anyone, although he was willing to run into Crown's amps. He drove to Vanguard headquarters so that I could geek out about the buses and stuff.
We checked into the Hampton Inn in Fremont, where they had freshly baked cookies for us. Nice! The room wasn't as spacious as the previous evening's hotel, but we were comfy.
We are now dreading the withdrawal symptoms that will happen for the next few days until we see another drum corps show. So I will be drowning my sorrows at our next stop: NAPA.
We shopped at Sports Basement in Walnut Creek, but didn't find anything to buy. There were a couple of restaurants nearby, and we decided to try China Village Restaurant. Wow, they had fast service! I think that we were done with everything within, like, 20 minutes, from sitting down to walking out the door. Granted, we ordered lunch specials and it was a weekday, but still. The food was pretty good, too, and piping hot, so they weren't just playing a soundtrack of cooking sounds back there like Bro had wondered.
We arrived at the high school early enough to obtain a space in the parking lot. Most of the school grounds were being renovated, so it was difficult for others to find parking, and they had to find a space on the residential streets. The corps buses were across the street, and the corps all had to cross the street with their instruments, walk around the school buildings, and then walk to the field. It was kind of nuts, but I guess their construction progressed much further than was expected.
Watching the rehearsal was free, and we sat at the top row. There were a lot of people already in the stands, most of whom turned out to be SCV. We all watched the Vanguard Cadets rehearse. They worked on some of "Night on Bald Mountain", and then we were treated to some other pieces. The drumline did a solo, then the horns played 3 different pieces; one from 1975, one from 2012, and The Great Gate of Kiev. Then they did a run-through of their full show. I like watching rehearsals, because you get to actually see the kids faces. Bro said that they actually look like kids, as opposed to when they are wearing their uniforms. They handed out free water to those of us in the stands. It was really nice! They have 3 girls in their bass drum ensemble. Cool.
 |
| SCVC Bass Drum Ensemble |
Then corps director Jeff Fiedler talked to us a bit about the show and their tour. Then he passed out water bottles himself! The A corps took the field, and they were told about what needed improvement in the show, and what they'd be working on for the day. They mainly worked on the timing of the beginning of "Do You Hear the People Sing", because the drums and the horns weren't really playing in synch with each other. They were also told that they need to have more energy throughout the show and that they need to not have brain farts. You see, when you join an A corps, you don't get away with much. They then played the music of their show at a standstill, followed by the entire run-through on the field. Then, Mr. Fiedler said that they had one more "very important song" to play for us. Of course, we got to hear "Send in the Clowns". We were in SCV Fan Heaven.
 |
| French-ish Flags with Fleur-de-lis |
 |
| Red with Purple Fleur-de-lis |
We had some time until the gates officially opened, so we walked to Togo's, and I changed into the long-sleeved SCV shirt that I bought the previous evening because, hello, it was getting chilly. We walked back to the venue and saw a bunch of corps people on the way. We were given white wristbands with the initials "CB". I asked Bro what they meant. He shrugged and guessed "Charlie Brown". We went to the SCV souvenir trailer, and it was starting to rain. A guy got in line that looked familiar. Bro told him that they sat next to each other at the Walnut show. He only remembered that he had a hard time driving, and that he doesn't do that anymore. I bought the green SCV Swing Tank top. We stood underneath the stands for a minute or so to get out of the rain, which reminded us of our Orlando DCI trip in 2003. Then we decided to just find our seats and bear the rain, which had actually subsided. The seats were wet, but we had my SCV blanket to sit on. Our seats were on the 50-yard line, 3 rows from the break in the stands.
 |
| Sign at SCHS. Notice the construction behind the fence. |
The Star-Spangled Banner was performed by the SCV Cadets. I'm really loving that we get to hear the national anthem live on all 3 days.
BLUE DEVILS B
No tarp today. I hope it never comes back, because it's not necessary (Someone nearby talked about how it would be like a Slip 'n' Slide in the rain and it would be treacherous, like yesterday). People fell down during the show anyway. The music sounded good though. The girls in the CG had a yellow line down their faces, which continued down their uniforms.
 |
| Blue Devils B Drums |
SANTA CLARA VANGUARD CADETS
I like this show more every time, even though it's still not finished. Aw, dude dropped the rifle during his solo. We giggled at two women behind us, one of which had never been to a drum corps show. They had funny remarks while asking each other stuff. One of them said that the drum major was serious because he had a baton.
 |
| Playing Marimba with Cello Bow |
Between each show, staff from different corps tried to sit in our section, but were turned away because it was all reserved seating. One of the ladies said that the initials on the wristband meant "Center Best". Bro said that it actually stands for "Center, Bitches!"
The two women behind us saw that Pacific Crest was next up in the program, and wondered where Diamond Bar was located. One of them said that it was in Gold Country (I guess because of the "diamond"). Then the other one told her to look on her "fancy phone" and it took a while for the lady because she had never used whatever app it was before, and needed to let it set up. No, I didn't turn around to tell them about Diamond Bar. I preferred to giggle with Bro. I'm not always a nice person. Also, it was funnier to hear their conversation than to silence them with my knowledge.
PACIFIC CREST
Bro and I had been talking about PC's sound for the last couple of days. We like their sound because they sound brassier, like the old G bugles. I think that it must be something with their arrangements, because Bro said that they use the same instruments as other corps, but they just sound really different. He had read somewhere that if a show was arranged without the horn player having to use a certain valve, they would sound just like the G bugles. Perhaps that's what PC is doing. I think that the block formation has a hole, but Bro thinks that someone's just not catching up. Soprano ensemble rocked it! I wonder if those women ever found out where Diamond Bar was, instead of the generalized "Southern California".
 |
| PC Drums |
<Intermission>
Bro decided to look up the history of the Paper Sons, and added a book about it to my wish list. Yes, I authorized it.
MANDARINS
When the narrator first started, Bro heard the judge behind us say, "That's really loud." Yes, we were close to the judges and could hear them talking into their tapes, but we couldn't hear very much once the music got loud.
 |
| Dragon Kite Flag |
CAROLINA CROWN
The body movements were not very sharp today, and the music was not as clean as yesterday. I didn't know that the narration was live. I figured it out when I saw people talking on the mics. Bro said that there is also someone using a drum pad for the counting segments. Why are they singing into the mics if I couldn't hear them during the drum solo? Oh, someone does play the rolling bass drum later on. I didn't catch them playing those 10 gongs, though.
 |
| Crown Rolling Bass Drum |
SANTA CLARA VANGUARD
SCV staff sat in front of us (they had reserved seats), and one of them had a mic recorder. The corps was still of during "Do You Hear the People Sing", which they worked on earlier in the day. I love that soprano/mellophone duet during "One Day More"! I want to have one of each of those fleur-de-lis flags in my house.
 |
| SCV DM Salute |
We did not get an encore today, so I'm really glad that we went to rehearsal. I'm also glad because we got to hear SCV's show three times today.
 |
| Red / Black |
While we were waiting for the scores to be announced, Snoopy and Charlie Brown arrived! I told Bro that he was right about the wristbands the first time. They were APPARENTLY there to promote Great America. They even shook hands with the leads during awards.
 |
| Snoopy and CB offer Congrats to Crown |
SCORES
Open Class
2) 64.60 Santa Clara Vanguard Cadets
1) 65.20 Blue Devils B
World Class
4) 62.10 Mandarins
3) 64.00 Pacific Crest
2) 75.40 Santa Clara Vanguard
1) 77.80 Carolina Crown
We somehow got out of the parking lot without Bro running into anyone, although he was willing to run into Crown's amps. He drove to Vanguard headquarters so that I could geek out about the buses and stuff.
 |
| Sign at SCV Headquarters |
We checked into the Hampton Inn in Fremont, where they had freshly baked cookies for us. Nice! The room wasn't as spacious as the previous evening's hotel, but we were comfy.
We are now dreading the withdrawal symptoms that will happen for the next few days until we see another drum corps show. So I will be drowning my sorrows at our next stop: NAPA.
Love the spacing on that sign on the construction fence. When did they change their name to VAN GUARD? ;-)
ReplyDeleteInteresting comment about Pacific Crest sounding like they are using the old G Bugles. As you are probably aware, G is a minor third down from the current standard key of B-flat. On modern brass instruments, the third valve lowers the pitch a minor third. So, the old G bugles were like playing a B-flat horn with the third valve always pressed down. I suppose you could somewhat re-create the effect of the old G bugles by having all your brass players hold down their third valve. However, that would be so impractical that I don't think any corps would intentionally do that.