The basic elements of a quality drum corps show...

I consider myself a drum corps connoisseur, and so would like to put out there what my favorite shows contain. As far as quality goes, every show should have tell a story somehow. Not just fill the music and percussion book with unneccessary notes and fillers. Sometimes, less is more.

I can often tell how elite a corps just by listening to the arrangement of the music and notes. A less established corps will often have more filler material: like snare drum rolls between phrases and passages, percussion booms coming out of nowhere and the all too familiar brass shoutout and blasts without reason.

I have seen that there is and can be a quality sound at all levels of drum corps, but
if the arrangement itself suffers, it is almost a lost cause. In short, a corps sound
is only as good as it's music book. 'Nuff said...

The next major element that has to be heard is the intonation. Those without "musical ears" can go ahead and skip this section, but intonation is key for me. When a particular section is out of tune, either in relation to the corps itself, or to the pit section (my biggest pet peeve), than you got trouble. It is distracting to say the least, and if not fixed may cause a drop in music scores or general effect. GE can be affected because the intended and appreciated nuances designed into the show are missed because of blatant intonation problems.

I remember one show in particular. It was a rising corps, trying to break into the top 12, and something happened during quarter-finals and their tuning went way off. They were actually in tune to themselves except for their pit instruments.. and so you can imagine, the clashing sounds heard all across the field...