It’s been awhile since I’ve been here (um… August 2010, really?), and there are many things to talk about. Picking a single topic from many is like choosing which jelly doughnut to eat first.

So let’s start with something simple. This is what I’d like to see from this year’s drum corps:

1. CLEAN DRUMLINES! An obvious request, sure. But if I continue to hear the barrage of dirty attacks and sloppy ends-of-phrases that I’ve been hearing for the past few years from the nation’s top drumlines, it will further convince me that licks and more emphasis is put on licks and cleaning inner-beats than basics and education. (I still remember hearing the 2007 Cadets snareline destroy eighth notes during warm-ups. Eighth notes!

2. FLAMS! Remember those? I believe they’re making a comeback, but remnants of the mostly-power-diddle battery book has still been seen and heard for the past few seasons. Yeah, yeah, yeah… I know: flams have been seen in contemporary battery books, but those battery books come from certain writers and they amount to only to a few drumlines from what I’ve seen in the recent past. Again, power-diddle-based books have been the trend for a number of years and I, for one, would love to see more than four or five flams pop up in more than a few battery books. Speaking of battery books…

3. It would be nice to hear less homogenized battery books. You know the books I’m talking about, where the snare, tenor, and bass parts are all pretty much the same save for the varying pitches in the tenor and bass lines? Yes, there’s a time and place for such writing, but when 90-99% of the battery book is the same, well… that’s not necessarily musical. It’s boring and, I suspect on many writers’ parts, lazy.

4. Less electronics! PLEASE! They’re so… distracting. Okay, so electronics probably aren’t going to go away anytime soon (or at all), but that does’t mean the shows have to be designed around them. With subtlety and careful design, electronics can be integrated into a drum corps show so that they’re a) not distracting, and b) not over-bearing but rather nuanced. But, this is a discussion for another time.

5. Let’s not go the narration route, okay? Vocals here and there to enhance what’s happening on the field, sure. Fine. Example: Carolina Crown’s horse race show, or Bluecoats’ criminal show. Good use of short vocal phrases to enhance the show concept. But if the show is built around a full narration, then, well, you’re not making the music and the visuals the main part of the show or the storytelling. If I wanted to see a live musical play, I’d go to Broadway. But, again, a discussion for another time.

Mostly, I want to be entertained with some raw energy, great show concepts and design (subjective, I know), and precision and artful performance from all sections. Good luck to all!