Bluecoats uniforms were definitely my favorite uniform of the year. I think there’s something about the vulnerability and expressiveness of uniforms like that within the activity that elevate it far greater than just ramming notes or playing high notes- it’s an art. I know the older people prefer the traditional uniforms and ways and there are groups that continue to follow that path, but I’m so glad there is a group like bluecoats that are creating something new and in my opinion broadening horizons. I have to add too, that it is definitely interesting to see bluecoats coexist with other groups in these terms, because of the juxtaposition. Great vid- I love hearing your guys comments!
You guys should definitely react to Blue Knights this year. Fun and interesting book with a new staff; it will be interesting to see how they stack up against the BK of 2014-2019 by finals
8:40 Thank you. It's all a bunch of warm-up split variation. When I marched bass, we shrugged off the splits. It was moments like this one we salivated over.
The arounds pattern from the quads at 9:14 is my favorite flavor of quad drumming. Nothin crazy in terms of rudimental vocabulary and not really a crazy pattern around them drums either. Just a solid passage that you know just feels great in the hands and sounds cool. Makes you go “yeah quads.” 10/10
Just going to ask, can we have TJ as a regular Aged Out host? Also, Innovative just came out with a new video of the full book, and the real difficulty and drive does happen, but mainly at the ending in movement 3. They have the ability, but the demand is missing in the majority of the writing, and the book unfortunately seems unbalanced because of it
Commenting in advance before someone *rightfully* calls me out on my bass comments. Probably not the best time for my bass feature diatribe to compare bass line to bass line, because that specific bass thing by Coats was super simple and not really a "break" or comparable to other challenging bass breaks, but the point remains! More than just forte hand-to-hands please!
Yeah bass. I love that we’re in an age of foundational bass “rudiments” like hand to hands bc I feel like that contributes to players getting better earlier - since there’s a specific basic vocabulary to master. But there’s serious room to play with that vocabulary to evolve it. Right now decrescendo H2Hs seem to be popular. For the past couple years I’ve been introducing students to accented H2Hs (especially where the accented pattern doesn’t necessarily match for both players). Accenting the first triplet partial on the downs and 2nd triplet partial on the ups results in eighth note accented 6lets for instance. A lot of room to get imaginative with it.
As someone who has played through both Bluecoats and Blue Devils’ books, I can say without a doubt there is more overall difficulty, variance in rhythm, dynamic shaping, and textural nuance in Bluecoats’ book BD may be more gutsy (at times) but they often counter it with pretty simple stuff, realistically Tbh this year the filler stuff isn’t as simple as years prior, buttttt it’s still BD, most of the vocabulary is just about doing a certain thing with your hands several times in a row so like, once you lock in the skill set (which usually has very few variables like dynamic shaping) it’s not nearly as difficult as you might think
You guys are pretty much right on, the judges should watch these critics. The performance can vary but the book is obvious who has the hardest book, second, third , fourth and fifth are tough to figure.
So a few things: 1) Mike-I appreciate you going out of your way to explain Mac Rolls to me through PM! 👏😎 2) Evan-I LOVE the new Promark Mike Macs myself! I'm curious--what drum set sticks did you get? The best drumset sticks I've been able to get as of late are the Promark Carter McLean Drumsticks. So much so, I'm thinking about my snares using them in this year's ballad drum feature! 3)T.J.-you are SPOT-ON about basslines these days. Not enough dynamics being expressed from player-to-player like you would hear from legendary basslines such as '93 Star, '99 Blue Devils and 2013 Cadets! As for The Bluecoats using white drumheads, I believe the last years they featured the Evans MX Whites were on their solid '07 and '08 Drumlines (The Mac Salad Days!)
Yea, the McIntosh sticks have felt great so far. For drum set I recently bought the Promark Classic 5A Firegrain with the oval beads. So far I’m liking them. But I’ve also recently played with the Vic Firth Benny Greb signature sticks and like those a lot. Pretty much anything with a little bit more weight and thickness to them is my preference. I like to still be able to “feel” the sticks in my hands like a marching stick, just obviously not as big and heavy.
I actually think it’s worse from the box, personally. Because of how similar the corps color palette is to the guard and the props, to me it doesn’t read as well. -Evan
The pattern on the pants makes the clean moments in the drill pop so well. That’s by design, similar to the 2017 jagged line unis. And these uniforms are much better than the 17/18 unis that’s for sure
@@CarloBarlo69 You’re 100% entitled to that opinion, but in an activity where you’re trying to make clean lines and forms it doesn’t do them any favors. May not hurt, but certainly doesn’t help
@@ARZiehm but it does help, that’s exactly what I’m pointing out. Hornline blocks and widespread arcs look great from the box in the pants. Also, that horn feature with the rolling prop pops so well from the box visually, again from the pants. So I’d argue it definitely helps them show cleanliness in their drill. Especially compared to having white/ single colored trousers.
honestly, I think it depends on the section. Snares seem about on par, maybe a little watered, quad book is definitely harder imho and the bass book is def watered
Good calls overall with early rankings of these lines. I agree with Boston on top right now, they are really clean, solid and is pushing it with demand/execution. I have Bluecoats 2nd, Crown 3rd, BD 4th and SCV 5th. Vanguard to me is playing the same game with their familiar licks, sounds and Rennick approach. They are solid but it’s like the book isn’t as demanding with the level of players in the battery. Those kids could play much more involved parts IMO. Still, this is coming from a guy that marched in the late 80’s with Florida Wave Drum and Bugle Corps and 1991 Bluecoats. Still really impressed with the level of all of these kids and what they are performing. We were no where near the level of these battery’s “back in the day”.
Not invalidating your post at all, but I don't why everyone is saying that the difficulty of SCV's book isn't there? Every year they play just a touch lighter on difficulty than most other groups (Excluding obv ones like cadets or BD) and they play it extremely balanced and flawlessly. There is insane difficulty from the on field demands for their lighter parts of the show, and their park and blow parts are extremely interconnected from battery option to option with great demand. If BD is typically a 9, SCV is like a 7.5 or 8. Their demand is insane. Look at the Nirvana roll they do where they are circling portions of the hornline. COMPLETELY Exposed pianissimo roll with changing foot speed... idk. I feel like people just hear someone say that they don't play hard stuff and just ride with it.
@@kietey14 man I totally agree that SCV is extremely solid and the demand on that exposed roll is super hard to execute. My take is that interplay with more demanding rudiments (particularly hybrids) is not as prevalent as the other corps. I just would like to see them really push the envelope with more challenging music. Clean, YES!! But the others are really pushing it hard. Just my opinion. When they all reach San Antonio it’s going to be interesting with recaps. SCV could win drums again and if so I’d be content with that decision.
@@thecookingandcampingdrumme2245 yea just different schools of thought. A bit more challenging would be nice, but I love to hear that Rennick sound year after year
I agree that all of those groups are great this year, but betting that the top 2 drumlines from 2019 drop 4-5 spots to groups that rarely beat them is definitely a longshot.
While I would love to see it, I doubt blue devils will not place top three in percussion on finals. In fact, I would go so far as to predict they will be top two this year based off their recent history and track record. Of course, I realize your placements are as of now, based off videos, and only the drumline (not including the pit). And while the argument that blue devils drumline is young is valid, I think this season (correct me if I'm wrong) most dci marchers in general are marching only their first or second year in dci due to the pandemic. So since everyone is younger and less experienced, those things are less important. Just my opinion. 🙂
I have Boston above Vanguard for achievement; their book is insane. But it shouldn’t be understated just how clean Vanguard is, especially compared to these other groups with noticeable fuzz. I think Vanguard fatigue is setting in with a lot of people unfortunately
As things stand now, I think Boston's line is pure ❤🔥❤🔥❤🔥. Not only are they clean, but their book is balls-to-the-wall -- so much so, at least from appearance, seems to be one of the tougher books I've ever seen. To my sensibilities they're far ahead of everyone else and, despite being a long time BD fan, I wouldn't hate to see them win drums this year. From there, I like BD. While they definitely have some cleaning to do, I think the fact their book is so much more difficult than everyone else's (less speed than Boston, but far more technical rhythmically) needs to be given heavy consideration. Also, FWIW, you guys reacted to one of the dirtier videos of BD I've seen (but hey, it's far and certainly goes to your point of them lacking consistency. Still, they've cleaned up considerably since that video). I'm digging Crown this year too, but I think Vanguard and BC are playing simple, boring books, so the fact they're clean (which to me BC isn't that much cleaner than BD) doesn't really count for much. For contrast's sake, look at Vanguard's performance last year. I know it was a staged video thing, but at some point they actually executed those incredibly difficult lines with passion and finesse, and they were clean AF. I totally respect that. Based on what I saw in 2019, I'm confident BD will clean up. I watched them rehearse all day in Wyoming in 2019 and I honestly had serious concerns because they were surprisingly inconsistent. I was talking with Sean Parra during a break that day and he told me the staff was confident they'd have their stuff together by Finals, and lo and behold, they did - a perfect performance score! I was at Finals and got to hear it first hand. Anyway, I'm hoping to see the same with this year's BD line too. My only gripe is I wish they'd move the part they're playing on those plastic disks to the drums as, at least from the videos I've seen, you can't even hear all the crazy notes they're ramming on them from stands. I'll be checking BD's rehearsal out in WY in a few days and I'll definitely be shooting video of it. Maybe I'll get around to editing and posting it.
I totally agree Brock, the book is by far the most intricate, artificial groups with flams , with rolls, rolls changing speeds while rolling , physical demand, they got it all, plus they play it very well. Also sticking variations on 32 notes passages. Lots of threes and fours on a hand, paradiddle variations, etc, not seeing other lines doing this !!
Bluecoats uniforms were definitely my favorite uniform of the year. I think there’s something about the vulnerability and expressiveness of uniforms like that within the activity that elevate it far greater than just ramming notes or playing high notes- it’s an art. I know the older people prefer the traditional uniforms and ways and there are groups that continue to follow that path, but I’m so glad there is a group like bluecoats that are creating something new and in my opinion broadening horizons. I have to add too, that it is definitely interesting to see bluecoats coexist with other groups in these terms, because of the juxtaposition. Great vid- I love hearing your guys comments!
Thanks for the killer reaction vid! Definitely loving what coats are doing so far. With a month left, they’re going to be fire in Indy! Can’t wait!
Ben Mayton bass 2 my dog as well. I marched bass one and he was on two in 2016 at Atlanta CV. So proud of him. He's killing it.
I like how when it's a little dirty everyone in the podcast just does "oo" and tilt there heads
You guys should definitely react to Blue Knights this year. Fun and interesting book with a new staff; it will be interesting to see how they stack up against the BK of 2014-2019 by finals
facts!
8:40 Thank you. It's all a bunch of warm-up split variation. When I marched bass, we shrugged off the splits. It was moments like this one we salivated over.
The arounds pattern from the quads at 9:14 is my favorite flavor of quad drumming. Nothin crazy in terms of rudimental vocabulary and not really a crazy pattern around them drums either. Just a solid passage that you know just feels great in the hands and sounds cool. Makes you go “yeah quads.” 10/10
Back to back TJ? Giving us the golden treatment 👏🙌🙏
There’s one more coming!
Just going to ask, can we have TJ as a regular Aged Out host?
Also, Innovative just came out with a new video of the full book, and the real difficulty and drive does happen, but mainly at the ending in movement 3. They have the ability, but the demand is missing in the majority of the writing, and the book unfortunately seems unbalanced because of it
Commenting in advance before someone *rightfully* calls me out on my bass comments. Probably not the best time for my bass feature diatribe to compare bass line to bass line, because that specific bass thing by Coats was super simple and not really a "break" or comparable to other challenging bass breaks, but the point remains! More than just forte hand-to-hands please!
Yeah bass. I love that we’re in an age of foundational bass “rudiments” like hand to hands bc I feel like that contributes to players getting better earlier - since there’s a specific basic vocabulary to master. But there’s serious room to play with that vocabulary to evolve it. Right now decrescendo H2Hs seem to be popular. For the past couple years I’ve been introducing students to accented H2Hs (especially where the accented pattern doesn’t necessarily match for both players). Accenting the first triplet partial on the downs and 2nd triplet partial on the ups results in eighth note accented 6lets for instance. A lot of room to get imaginative with it.
I agree with what you said in the video. Sometimes less is more.
Can agree with your statement though, everyone can do h2h, I’m impressed by hand changes, rhythm changes, sound, etc
What drink is that on the lower right at 4:26? I assume it's whisk(e)y but it could also be brandy.
Old Forester Bottled in Bond Bourbon.
I'd love to see you guys react to COLTS this year. It's pretty good!!!!
Colts are playing really well!
As someone who has played through both Bluecoats and Blue Devils’ books, I can say without a doubt there is more overall difficulty, variance in rhythm, dynamic shaping, and textural nuance in Bluecoats’ book
BD may be more gutsy (at times) but they often counter it with pretty simple stuff, realistically
Tbh this year the filler stuff isn’t as simple as years prior, buttttt it’s still BD, most of the vocabulary is just about doing a certain thing with your hands several times in a row so like, once you lock in the skill set (which usually has very few variables like dynamic shaping) it’s not nearly as difficult as you might think
you've seen both books sheet music and played through them in full?
@@tjchoquette2902 Yes lmao
@@taylormcbride1558 lol how?
@@tjchoquette2902 being an alum and knowing the right people to ask, and r/drumlinesheets for the BD book
transcription might not be super accurate but does it matter if I’m playing it clean?
You guys are pretty much right on, the judges should watch these critics. The performance can vary but the book is obvious who has the hardest book, second, third , fourth and fifth are tough to figure.
Put music to that standstill and I’ll tell you what, it’s beautiful. One of their best performances and I happen to be a Blue Devils fan 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻🕺🏻
So a few things:
1) Mike-I appreciate you going out of your way to explain Mac Rolls to me through PM! 👏😎
2) Evan-I LOVE the new Promark Mike Macs myself! I'm curious--what drum set sticks did you get? The best drumset sticks I've been able to get as of late are the Promark Carter McLean Drumsticks. So much so, I'm thinking about my snares using them in this year's ballad drum feature!
3)T.J.-you are SPOT-ON about basslines these days. Not enough dynamics being expressed from player-to-player like you would hear from legendary basslines such as '93 Star, '99 Blue Devils and 2013 Cadets!
As for The Bluecoats using white drumheads, I believe the last years they featured the Evans MX Whites were on their solid '07 and '08 Drumlines (The Mac Salad Days!)
Yea, the McIntosh sticks have felt great so far. For drum set I recently bought the Promark Classic 5A Firegrain with the oval beads. So far I’m liking them. But I’ve also recently played with the Vic Firth Benny Greb signature sticks and like those a lot. Pretty much anything with a little bit more weight and thickness to them is my preference. I like to still be able to “feel” the sticks in my hands like a marching stick, just obviously not as big and heavy.
Tj hot takes are the best takes!
The uniforms are fire y’all are tripping 😂
And they look great from the box 🔥
I actually think it’s worse from the box, personally. Because of how similar the corps color palette is to the guard and the props, to me it doesn’t read as well. -Evan
Barlocarlo.... Come on....
The pattern on the pants makes the clean moments in the drill pop so well. That’s by design, similar to the 2017 jagged line unis. And these uniforms are much better than the 17/18 unis that’s for sure
@@CarloBarlo69 You’re 100% entitled to that opinion, but in an activity where you’re trying to make clean lines and forms it doesn’t do them any favors. May not hurt, but certainly doesn’t help
@@ARZiehm but it does help, that’s exactly what I’m pointing out. Hornline blocks and widespread arcs look great from the box in the pants. Also, that horn feature with the rolling prop pops so well from the box visually, again from the pants.
So I’d argue it definitely helps them show cleanliness in their drill. Especially compared to having white/ single colored trousers.
People need to smash that subscribe button! 😃
Am I the only one that feels like this book is watered compared to past Bluecoats books? Seems too easy for the members
honestly, I think it depends on the section. Snares seem about on par, maybe a little watered, quad book is definitely harder imho and the bass book is def watered
Good calls overall with early rankings of these lines. I agree with Boston on top right now, they are really clean, solid and is pushing it with demand/execution.
I have Bluecoats 2nd, Crown 3rd, BD 4th and SCV 5th. Vanguard to me is playing the same game with their familiar licks, sounds and Rennick approach. They are solid but it’s like the book isn’t as demanding with the level of players in the battery. Those kids could play much more involved parts IMO. Still, this is coming from a guy that marched in the late 80’s with Florida Wave Drum and Bugle Corps and 1991 Bluecoats.
Still really impressed with the level of all of these kids and what they are performing. We were no where near the level of these battery’s “back in the day”.
Not invalidating your post at all, but I don't why everyone is saying that the difficulty of SCV's book isn't there? Every year they play just a touch lighter on difficulty than most other groups (Excluding obv ones like cadets or BD) and they play it extremely balanced and flawlessly. There is insane difficulty from the on field demands for their lighter parts of the show, and their park and blow parts are extremely interconnected from battery option to option with great demand. If BD is typically a 9, SCV is like a 7.5 or 8. Their demand is insane. Look at the Nirvana roll they do where they are circling portions of the hornline. COMPLETELY Exposed pianissimo roll with changing foot speed... idk. I feel like people just hear someone say that they don't play hard stuff and just ride with it.
@@kietey14 man I totally agree that SCV is extremely solid and the demand on that exposed roll is super hard to execute. My take is that interplay with more demanding rudiments (particularly hybrids) is not as prevalent as the other corps. I just would like to see them really push the envelope with more challenging music. Clean, YES!! But the others are really pushing it hard. Just my opinion. When they all reach San Antonio it’s going to be interesting with recaps. SCV could win drums again and if so I’d be content with that decision.
@@thecookingandcampingdrumme2245 yea just different schools of thought. A bit more challenging would be nice, but I love to hear that Rennick sound year after year
@@kietey14 yep and I value your points very much. We will see in a few weeks from now.
I agree that all of those groups are great this year, but betting that the top 2 drumlines from 2019 drop 4-5 spots to groups that rarely beat them is definitely a longshot.
Bass 2 is sooooo handsome
Finally !
So is Roger Carter not the caption head anymore?
While I would love to see it, I doubt blue devils will not place top three in percussion on finals. In fact, I would go so far as to predict they will be top two this year based off their recent history and track record. Of course, I realize your placements are as of now, based off videos, and only the drumline (not including the pit).
And while the argument that blue devils drumline is young is valid, I think this season (correct me if I'm wrong) most dci marchers in general are marching only their first or second year in dci due to the pandemic. So since everyone is younger and less experienced, those things are less important.
Just my opinion. 🙂
Favorite book so far?
Mine would be Boston. -Evan
I know what the Judges look for and the Vanguards so far have impressed me the most,they will be in the top tear with Crown and Crusaders..
For the algorithm. ✊
I have Boston above Vanguard for achievement; their book is insane. But it shouldn’t be understated just how clean Vanguard is, especially compared to these other groups with noticeable fuzz. I think Vanguard fatigue is setting in with a lot of people unfortunately
I have not seen Boston C but the Vanguards are dynamic and a bit more refined this year.
As things stand now, I think Boston's line is pure ❤🔥❤🔥❤🔥. Not only are they clean, but their book is balls-to-the-wall -- so much so, at least from appearance, seems to be one of the tougher books I've ever seen. To my sensibilities they're far ahead of everyone else and, despite being a long time BD fan, I wouldn't hate to see them win drums this year. From there, I like BD. While they definitely have some cleaning to do, I think the fact their book is so much more difficult than everyone else's (less speed than Boston, but far more technical rhythmically) needs to be given heavy consideration. Also, FWIW, you guys reacted to one of the dirtier videos of BD I've seen (but hey, it's far and certainly goes to your point of them lacking consistency. Still, they've cleaned up considerably since that video). I'm digging Crown this year too, but I think Vanguard and BC are playing simple, boring books, so the fact they're clean (which to me BC isn't that much cleaner than BD) doesn't really count for much. For contrast's sake, look at Vanguard's performance last year. I know it was a staged video thing, but at some point they actually executed those incredibly difficult lines with passion and finesse, and they were clean AF. I totally respect that.
Based on what I saw in 2019, I'm confident BD will clean up. I watched them rehearse all day in Wyoming in 2019 and I honestly had serious concerns because they were surprisingly inconsistent. I was talking with Sean Parra during a break that day and he told me the staff was confident they'd have their stuff together by Finals, and lo and behold, they did - a perfect performance score! I was at Finals and got to hear it first hand. Anyway, I'm hoping to see the same with this year's BD line too. My only gripe is I wish they'd move the part they're playing on those plastic disks to the drums as, at least from the videos I've seen, you can't even hear all the crazy notes they're ramming on them from stands.
I'll be checking BD's rehearsal out in WY in a few days and I'll definitely be shooting video of it. Maybe I'll get around to editing and posting it.
I totally agree Brock, the book is by far the most intricate, artificial groups with flams , with rolls, rolls changing speeds while rolling , physical demand, they got it all, plus they play it very well. Also sticking variations on 32 notes passages. Lots of threes and fours on a hand, paradiddle variations, etc, not seeing other lines doing this !!
mandies reaction?🤝🐉
All of the drummers look like clones. Something is off!
This is gay satire right?
Hate to break it to you buddy, but everyone who designed and approved those uniforms is straight