Welcome back to another episode of #LetsWatch! Thank you for your patience with me - I've been away with Marimbafest 2019 for the last couple of weeks, but it went really well and I'm grateful to everyone who helped make it happen! Anyway - today I'm doing what I promised you guys for so long, watching MARCHING videos on #LetsWatch with you guys! Let me know if you've ever marched in the comments below! Thanks for watching! #TheStudioFamily
At the beginning of the video, you pointed out how he was cheating with his thumbs while playing the octaves. Especially with DCI and Indoor percussion, we started using a variation of Stevens grip we call the octave grip. You move the end of the inner mallet to the fleshy spot at the base of your middle finger and pin it down with the side of your thumb over your index finger. With that grip, there isn’t a defined fulcrum because it’s meant to be fixed. Your “set positions” for octave grip vary between your hands just cause of the difference in wingspan needed for the octaves. You pointed this out on his left hand, but his right hand does the same thing, but just not as extreme because of the range.
I highly suggest watching this winter show: ua-cam.com/video/_BCFZPTlM9A/v-deo.html And also, I play synth for an indoor drumline (not the one in the previous video, I'm not that good lol). But synth is a very underappreciated instrument so if you have time, I would highly watch these next videos as they are synth cams of one of my friends who is an amazing synth player: ua-cam.com/video/o8hAJfd8YJA/v-deo.html ua-cam.com/video/hsvzV-0ZGqQ/v-deo.html There isn't much physical stuff involved in synth, but you have to multitask like dozens of things at once it's insane. Anyways, just happened to stumble upon your channel today. Love what I saw today and will definitely watch more of your videos and subscribe. Keep up the great work! (Sorry for the long comment lol, I just really love indoor percussion!)
as someone who got into marimba and percussion through a front ensemble and learned about the concert setting second, its definitely weird imagining this not being a thing in a whole country.
I'm pretty sure a lot of countries don't have front ensembles. I've only ever heard of front ensembles in the USA. Where I'm from, marches are not confined to a sports stadium, instead we march a circular route across town, playing music along the way. This style of march does not allow for front ensembles to play since the march is constantly changing locations. You would need to load the instruments on a truck following the other musicians to have a front ensemble!
I wish I could march front ensemble at a DCI level but geez, they’re inhuman. Might as well SCV’s 2018 marimba cam for Babylon, it is my favorite show so far.
You can do it! Maybe not start at vanguard but there's nothing wrong with starting with open class and gaining experience before going up to world class! Work hard!
Alberto Rodriguez I’m a sophomore in university lol. I have like one solo on marimba in my belt. I don’t have access to a marimba at all. So I only have drumline going for me, I’ll be trying out for Genesis next year.
Almost everyone in DCI starts at a "lower" corps, then works their way up to the big leagues. The people in the top 6 corps have been marching for 4-5 years at various different places. If you're almost at ageout age, you can still have a lot of fun and get a lot of value from open class and even DCA. My buddy marched Carolina Gold on Bass and loved it. He was 21 when he did it.
and then there is marching percussion of like 9 snares, 4 quads, 5 basses, and a few corps even have 4 marching cymbals. I am pretty sure they (pit and battery) all wear ear plugs, I got earplugs too late that even just after 4 years of high school, I feel like my ears have wore off pretty bad
@@Leonlion0305 (Front Ensemble kit player here) I don't wear earplugs because I need to hear the battery and the rest of the front, you don't realize how deaf you get until after a full run. I am looking for some that will let me hear everything though.
@@robertmckenna529 ohh I see, I usually just need to hear the battery (i have no problem hearing them with ear plugs since they are literally next to me lol) and look at the drum major at least you found out after a full run, for me it's 2 years lmao yeah, wonder how other pit players do it🤔
Max Ramos yeah it’s Winter Guard International which involves indoor ensembles in gaurd, marching percussion, and marching winds. Just look up wgi and you’ll find videos from the top world class independent groups or like i mentioned the top high schools
Leo Zhang yeah Dartmouth is close to my school and we go to the same competitions and it's amazing being able to see them every weekend, they're crazy good
I marched DCI last year with The Raiders in their front ensemble, and I aged out. I'm currently doing DCA, and its so fun. Honestly when you're in a show you don't think about how tired you are, until after the thing is done. Check out anything by the Bluecoats, or Blue Devils, and Cadets 2011 is one of my favorites!
What's doing DCA like? I still have one more year before I age out of DCI but it looks like I won't get the chance to march next year. I still want to be involved in the activity though
Hey Adam! First time seeing your channel. The title for this vid caught my eye because I grew up in drum corps-marched 14 seasons and aged out (many years ago) after 4 years in a world champion DCI front percussion ensemble. I enjoyed your reaction to seeing marching percussion for the first time. Hope you get to see more...it’s great stuff! Enjoy!
You have no idea how long I've waited for this day: Adam watches marching groups. Seriously though, my passion is marching and I love seeing the love for these incredible players even on the most classical of venues. Keep up the good work! Watching your videos is always a highlight of my day.
I'm a bit late but I actually went to Hoover HS and was part of the winterguard. The amount of work that drumline put in when all those people quit is the most extraordinary thing I've ever seen. Thank you for featuring their hard work. They DEFINITELY deserve it (:
Adam, if you're interested in learning more about indoor percussion, one of my favorite shows ever, and one I would very highly recommend, would be Pulse Percussion 2017.
being an old hornline guy....I never focused too much on the front ensemble....so now I'm totally blown away....loved this show too. Ouroboros SCV 2017
Yeah, the terms for quads quints and tenors are used pretty interchangeably now (technically different but percussionists don’t always care haha) but it is pretty common for them to just be called tenors :3
“SHE’S SURROUNDED” lol!!! I’ve been participating in marching percussion since my freshman year of high school. And now starting my 4th year out, I’m teaching 2 groups and preparing for my final season as a performer. I actually bought Lotus to use as my audition piece! Blue Devils and RCC 2011, 2012 and 2017 are my favorite front ensembles if you ever wanna see something different ☺️
Wow I didn't know you could use Lotus as an audition piece! Thank you for that! And congratulations on being such an awesome player to do so many seasons of DCI and WGI :)
I love marching percussion sooo much! I've been marching indoor percussion for 5 years. Yeah it can be demanding at times cause we compete but at the end of the day it's just band. We're just extremely proud and happy we're doing what we love and is sharing it with so many others
@@AdamTanPercussion I'm not even a percussionist (technically) I'm a clarinet player but I just love percussion so much. Wgi has given so many chances and it's really incredible to see it in person
This was fun to watch! I marched with Tyler in 2015! Incredible player. Finding a video of the whole show would definitely be worth your time for DCI front ensembles. The writing makes more sense in context, especially the cymbal rolls, etc.
I marched in Carolina Crown's 2017 Front Ensemble, Redline Percussion 17, and Legends 2016. Marching in a Front Ensemble is very different from playing concert percussion in terms of the repertoire, sound projection, and precision that are demanded in a competitive activity, but the most notable difference is the performance aspect; I can't put into words how amazing it feels to play with 149 other people in front of thousands, showing off a product that you have worked 3+ straight months on.
Thank you for taking the time to watch and listen to marching percussion ensembles. Kind of cool to see people experience and appreciate the amount of work which goes into the activity. I marched 2 seasons of DCI with the Boston Crusaders in their front ensemble. Those 2 years gave me the chops and stamina to take back to music school. I learned more about performing with 2 summers of marching than with 4 years of college. Some of the most amazing shows I have ever had were playing marimba and other percussion to tens of thousands of people LIVE in this activity. Thank you for shedding some light on a niche activity!
Currently a synth player for the Franklin Central HS Indoor Percussion Ensemble, made to top 10 of finals the past few years. It’s amazing not only seeing the independent ensembles and knowing those are the people that are playing in the top Drum Corps as well, but also getting to meet people who are my age who can be so in time with everybody else in their ensemble. I’d love to go into an independent indoor group as a synth player, and I’m planning on trying out for some Corps in the summer on trumpet.
Gotta see Babylon! As a high school marching student I can say marching band has been amazing and helped me grow so much! It’s very physically demanding but soooo worth it from the experiences you get!
Man, I loved watching your reactions to the marching style of music! Being a Front ensemble member of a Drum Corps myself, it was really fun to see what you thought and answer each thought/question you had! haha like how the endurance idea is pretty straight forward. It's not really that hard once you go through a few shows. Also, memorization is not hard at all. It is expected that you learn the music quickly, but once it's learned, you rep the measures for so long that it just becomes embedded in your muscles and memory. Because of this though, you must make sure that the music is learned correctly the first time, as it is harder to "erase" a learned lick/line than it is to relapse and solidify one. SCV has been known to be octave crazy and its so FRICKEN Cool! Honestly what you might find most crazy are the Timpani Cams. Those videos are the most ridiculous as they incorporate a ton of orchestral concepts meanwhile still keeping an intense marching feel. I'm surprised that you didn't mention how much the marimbists will dig into their instruments. For me personally, what has been a huge divider between marching and orchestra/band is the intensity of how one strikes the instrument. In the past, there were no speakers for marching, therefore the only way for a frontline to come out of a 150 person hornline + batterie was to dig into the instrument has hard as you could. This tradition stuck through the years, and although nowadays drum corps front ensembles are changing their approach to the instrument, you still find many students/corps digging into the bars with an excessive amount of energy (such as that shown in the winter drumline). This becomes an extreme learning curve when learning music outside of higschool. Also yes, most highschool lines will march synthetic marimbas due to the excessive abuse those instruments will receive through the years. There are a handful of rosewood marimbas being marched in highschools, but its just not as common. Summer Corps on the other hand will typically have boards that can either switch from synthetic to rosewood, or are either rosewood/synthetic as a whole. Those instruments face a ton of abuse and are easily prone to getting out of tune due to the constant direct sunlight they are exposed to (finding shade is always a blessing that tends to run out with time throughout the day). This was undoubtedly one of my favorite videos out there on youtube. You don't see a lot of professional musicians shed their own perspective on activities such as drumcorps!
Thank you so much for sharing with me your points! You confirmed a lot of what I thought and it's nice to hear from someone who is a front ensemble member themselves :) Definitely nothing but respect for marching musicians!
Wonderful to see someone with a different musical background watching and APPRECIATING what the marching arts does. No dismissal, no denigration, just appreciation for a different take on the arts. Thank you.
14:42 Yea we do a lot of cymbal rolls. Imagine the drumline and front ensemble practicing inside without earplugs. Your ears start ringing after awhile but its good
I am marching with The Troopers drum and bugle corps. I am a tuba player. It is very interesting to see your reactions to some of your first exposure to the marching arts and marching percussion.
Sandi Rennick is the Front Ensemble arranger and her husband Paul Rennick is the battery arranger. They have almost like a dynasty there because they kept winning percussion every year.
It’s a whole different experience watching marching bands live! The competition among the high schools in the Dallas/Fort Worth Area of Texas is off the chain. The talent and commitment is phenomenal. These 15-18yo kids put in 8 hour days 6 days a week for 4 weeks of their summer before school even starts! Bands of America competitions are so fun to watch! My son placed 2nd chair marimba for LD Bell Blue Raider Marching Band in Hurst, TX. I’m just a little proud! He has also purchased several of your solos and loves them.
I actually just got back from Perth! Such a wonderful place but I definitely was missing the marching percussion. I think it would fit in Perth very nicely. I believe the work you are doing is pushing the percussion more then anything else I had seen. Props to you! Much respect.
@@AdamTanPercussion I spent two years in WA just trying to go around and help people out. It's part of program that my church does. But again it was wonderful getting to know all the people over there. I see it catching up eventually. There is a whole lot of talent there.
Alternatively, a flo marching subscription is 30$ and you can see all competitions throughout the season, just don't forget to cancel sub after finals or they'll charge you with no refund
You should most definitely watch Chino Hills High School’s indoor percussion program. They are a world class high school group who participates in WGI. For the past 3 seasons, they have won first place. Their talent is unbelievable and the complexity of the show design is incredible.
While watching the second video you mentioned sticks/mallets a few times , how well placed notes are, or the "overhand" section. Stick Flips, etc. As you may have gotten some idea it is all choreographed. You really get a good idea for this in the first video, but not so much in the second since you are only watching one person play. But the stick flips are absolutely notated in the music. Playing the notes is only one part of marching band, you also all need to look exactly the same. From every lift(thats the name when they raise sticks/mallets up) to if you're hitting the middle of the bar vs the end on fast passages, how many inches/cm you raise the mallet for a MF vs F passage, it's all choreographed and planed, that's part of the fun I think
Haha yes I know about the visuals being highly scrutinized in the competition, so I'm just in awe as to how they are able to follow the choreography so tightly! Amazing :)
In marching ensembles, everything u learned about in concert ensembles, disregard that. It's all about runs, volume, and visuals. The stick height is because of the volume, we are outside and folks need to hear what u are playing since they are farther out on the bleachers. Everything in the music is mainly improvised. It really fun!
Hahaha, yes I've heard people fight about this comparison so much. But I think marching stuff is great! It's a totally different world to me but I love it all the same :)
My school has a pit coach who is only classically trained. It kinda sucks trying to get him to believe me on most marching techniques. Even worse is that I'm the coin and he thinks I'm just disobedient lol.
I've been able to work with The Academy for a year. And now they're asking me to try out, I might idk. I've been marimba one for 4 yeats of my last my last Marching Band and we had the Academy write our marimba parts and our band director also helped, because he was our former pit tech. Our show is mainly Pit heavy, because well our band director used to work with us. Our parts are more complex than what was shown in these videos, like our Mov. 1 is mainly mainly nineluts, sixteenths, and sixtuplets at 180. But it's not all about the complexity, these pits even with simpler parts have the execution down perfect. In the end it doesn't matter who plays a crazier part, but who executes is better
One more video you have to check out, and because a good amount of people here are recommending it, Santa Clara Vanguard 2018 is a must watch. There should be a good video that shows the whole ensemble with percussion
I did marching band in high school, xylophone for one year and marimba for 3. It's a real challenge!! Marching percussion music is its own beast and is normally focused around marimba in the front ensemble. Mallet parts are all about these really long crazy runs (usually constant 16th notes) and cymbal crashes are EVERYTHING! Everyone gets at least one cymbal. It takes so much stamina and strength to do, my hands were so beat up every season but being center marimba is SO WORTH IT for these wild parts. What annoys me about DCI though is that they never seem to utilize their front ensembles to their full potential! It's rare to get good mallet features and normally like all 20 people will be playing the SAME part that you can barely hear from the stands. There's a weird divide between the battery and front ensemble and battery gets all the attention sadly
Ayyy my boy Tyler is in a Adam Tan video 😂 Tyler is a BEAST at UNT. The 2018 cam everyone is talking about is also another UNT student, Ashley. Super nice and awesome people to meet!
I did marching band for four years in high school, one year as a wind player and three as a percussionist, as well as indoor percussion. My high school's indoor percussion program was only a concert ensemble, meaning we competed in the same circuit but we didn't do any of the marching. It was just a giant mallet and percussion ensemble. I also did marching band percussion last year as a freshman in college and hope to continue doig it as long as I can as well as get into some DCI and WGI ensembles.
YESS WATCH MORE DCI AND WGI TYPE STUFF, there’s crazy amounts of talent and cool runs and it’s funny to see you feel the same awe as people do when watching these world class ensembles and corps
I marched at Fort Zumwalt South and Mod Z for WGI. I'm so glad I stuck with Mod Z instead of baseball. It was the best decision I ever made in high school
Adam your videos are great and always give me a bunch of info for my marimba at school. Could you do a video about how you make your living as a percussionist for the people who want to play marimba for a career??
As someone in Marching Band who's been behind Herbt Hoover in competitions, i got so triggered when i saw the tornado and purple. It was honestly expect at how good they were
You should do a series of reacting to WGI scholastic world AND independent world groups they do some INTENSE stuff and very interesting shows!! Check out Dartmouth High School for example they’re crazy
I play the drumset for my school's front ensemble, as well as a competitive concert percussion ensemble in the spring. Its definitely a lot of commitment, but I couldn't think of a better way to spend my high school days!
I go to school with Tyler. Paul Rennick is the arranger for vanguard and the snare teacher. And Mark Ford is our marimba private teacher. UNT is a good school.
Hi Adam, I’ve been watching your videos and I find them extremely helpful and great (:D lol I’m a marimba player). I just want to ask one question... I know that you’ve made a video about warming up on marimba (4 mallets), but I really need some tips about “cooling down” on 4 mallets... (haha that means doing some exercises AFTER practicing, exactly opposite of warming up XD) Thanks so much!
Chirpy Beak Hi there! For this, focus mostly on playing things slowly and with larger motions. For example, blocked chords at 70bpm at forte, going into some double lateral permutations. So long as you’re relaxed, and don’t rush it, you’ll be fine.
Thanks for watching the show man! I think if you want to cool down then you should just ditch the mallets haha and get into some stretches - like putting your hands over your head and holding your breath, and then exhaling and throwing all your weight to the ground. Stuff like that helps you 'unload' :)
@@AdamTanPercussion I'd love to send you my marching band show from last season for you to review if you'd like, there's a percussion only video somewhere I can give you the link to. :)
Marching ensembles at high levels is extremely physically taxing. I only played in HS (didn’t have the chops to go out for DCI afterwards) but our school was one of the best in California and ultimately the country. We would spend a full month of 8 hour days in August (before school was in session, in southern Cali 100° plus weather) to learn the music and show, then a 3 month competition calendar with 2 hour daily practices before school started and an hour after school. The show itself was constantly evolving, with something new almost every week. It’s grueling work both physically and mentally (especially out on the field for us low/mid brass players lugging around their instruments) but worth all the blood sweat and tears for that 15 minutes of glory on the field and that feeling when the band hits a massive crescendo and the entire stadium erupts. I defy any HS sports team to put in the sheer physical exertion we did, and yet all the jocks still called us “band twinkie’s”. We just grinned and took the name as our own because we knew there was no way they could do what we did. Good times. :D
SCV is well known for their concert-style approach to the outdoor playing, and most would consider their technique pretty relaxed and less aggressive towards the instruments, with more varied techniques required. I played synth in the front ensemble for Carolina Crown and we had a more “east coast” approach which is geared towards fast runs, higher heights, and hitting harder 🤷🏻♂️ Sandi Rennick writes for SCV and I think she’s one of the best arrangers out there, but each group has their own style, and the style can even vary from year to year depending on the feel of the show. If you want to see nonstop inner mallet runs, the Cavaliers are at the top of the chops game.
You are so right, so far all the SCV videos have been pretty ok in terms of 'not too forceful' :) I didn't know that every corps has their own style to that level of detail, that's good to know!
Probably one of the most insane indoor percussion I've seen is the Indoor drumline from the University of North Texas. Their music school is definitely one of the best in the country, if not the world!
I marched The Marquis Drum and Bugle Corps (Disbanded) 1993 - 1995 and The Racine Kilties Senior Corps 1997 - 1998. If it wasn't for my Drum Corps experience, I wouldn't be the musician I am today. I played mostly Timpani, but played some Xylo and Vibes. Check out some of the drum, stick and mallet companies youtube pages. Pearl, Vic Firth, Promark, Innovative Percussion, Evans heads, and Remo have a good variety of different DCI and WGI ensemble to check out.
While watching the SCV video I don't think he realizes these people are living DCI for the season. Play, Eat, Play, Sleep, Travel, etc... When he said it would be a pain to memorize those runs, It's really not that bad you do it so much that you don't even really realize your learning to memorize it you just end up doing it.
To shed some light on the octave technique issues mentioned, Yes the SCV person isn't using "correct" octave technique for Stevens Grip. However, when you're doing so many octave runs at FFF, using the correct technique gets REALLY exhausting for your fingers. It's common in Marching percussion to put more thumb in between the mallets to add stability. This comes at a cost of slower interval changes, but if you're just locking in an octave for a bunch of bars, that's ok. Another thing to keep in mind is that typically in marching marimbas, the bars are a lot closer together and not as wide as concert marimbas. This means an interval that looks like an octave on these maribmas would only be a 6th or 7th on a concert marimba which makes this technique more viable in that arena. Keep up the good work!
Welcome back to another episode of #LetsWatch! Thank you for your patience with me - I've been away with Marimbafest 2019 for the last couple of weeks, but it went really well and I'm grateful to everyone who helped make it happen! Anyway - today I'm doing what I promised you guys for so long, watching MARCHING videos on #LetsWatch with you guys! Let me know if you've ever marched in the comments below! Thanks for watching!
#TheStudioFamily
Can you learn a duet that I transpose
At the beginning of the video, you pointed out how he was cheating with his thumbs while playing the octaves. Especially with DCI and Indoor percussion, we started using a variation of Stevens grip we call the octave grip. You move the end of the inner mallet to the fleshy spot at the base of your middle finger and pin it down with the side of your thumb over your index finger. With that grip, there isn’t a defined fulcrum because it’s meant to be fixed. Your “set positions” for octave grip vary between your hands just cause of the difference in wingspan needed for the octaves. You pointed this out on his left hand, but his right hand does the same thing, but just not as extreme because of the range.
ua-cam.com/video/gb3vyrrfv8A/v-deo.html this is a better marimba cam from 2014. Enjoy!
I highly suggest watching this winter show:
ua-cam.com/video/_BCFZPTlM9A/v-deo.html
And also, I play synth for an indoor drumline (not the one in the previous video, I'm not that good lol). But synth is a very underappreciated instrument so if you have time, I would highly watch these next videos as they are synth cams of one of my friends who is an amazing synth player:
ua-cam.com/video/o8hAJfd8YJA/v-deo.html
ua-cam.com/video/hsvzV-0ZGqQ/v-deo.html
There isn't much physical stuff involved in synth, but you have to multitask like dozens of things at once it's insane. Anyways, just happened to stumble upon your channel today. Love what I saw today and will definitely watch more of your videos and subscribe. Keep up the great work! (Sorry for the long comment lol, I just really love indoor percussion!)
ua-cam.com/video/qqLwcnS7NCo/v-deo.html The Cavaliers have the best marimba section period.
as someone who got into marimba and percussion through a front ensemble and learned about the concert setting second, its definitely weird imagining this not being a thing in a whole country.
Same. I remember the first thing I said apon seeing a full, five octave rosewood concert Marimba was: "where is the accessory bar" lol
Yes, I guess we are just really behind in Australia :(
Well, this is not a thing in entires continents though... US is just really in front.
I'm pretty sure a lot of countries don't have front ensembles. I've only ever heard of front ensembles in the USA. Where I'm from, marches are not confined to a sports stadium, instead we march a circular route across town, playing music along the way. This style of march does not allow for front ensembles to play since the march is constantly changing locations. You would need to load the instruments on a truck following the other musicians to have a front ensemble!
@@davidmichaelminyoungan9052 haha, a subtle yet great joke
I wish I could march front ensemble at a DCI level but geez, they’re inhuman.
Might as well SCV’s 2018 marimba cam for Babylon, it is my favorite show so far.
They are just too good! I've watched a lot of marimba cams since this video haha
You can do it! Maybe not start at vanguard but there's nothing wrong with starting with open class and gaining experience before going up to world class! Work hard!
Alberto Rodriguez I’m a sophomore in university lol. I have like one solo on marimba in my belt. I don’t have access to a marimba at all. So I only have drumline going for me, I’ll be trying out for Genesis next year.
Almost everyone in DCI starts at a "lower" corps, then works their way up to the big leagues. The people in the top 6 corps have been marching for 4-5 years at various different places. If you're almost at ageout age, you can still have a lot of fun and get a lot of value from open class and even DCA. My buddy marched Carolina Gold on Bass and loved it. He was 21 when he did it.
@@sergiosrandomco.362 genesis is a good idea. I started to march with DCA to gain experience before taking the step into DCI. Good Luck!!!
adam: “don’t they get like def?”
*yes*
:((( as someone who has a slight hearing loss I'd be too scared to stand close hahaha
huh?
and then there is marching percussion of like 9 snares, 4 quads, 5 basses, and a few corps even have 4 marching cymbals. I am pretty sure they (pit and battery) all wear ear plugs,
I got earplugs too late that even just after 4 years of high school, I feel like my ears have wore off pretty bad
@@Leonlion0305 (Front Ensemble kit player here) I don't wear earplugs because I need to hear the battery and the rest of the front, you don't realize how deaf you get until after a full run. I am looking for some that will let me hear everything though.
@@robertmckenna529 ohh I see, I usually just need to hear the battery (i have no problem hearing them with ear plugs since they are literally next to me lol) and look at the drum major
at least you found out after a full run, for me it's 2 years lmao
yeah, wonder how other pit players do it🤔
“That’s a high school?” *thinks about all of the World class high schools WGI groups*
I only know DCI and Dca. What's WGI?
@@MaxRamos8 winter guard
Max Ramos yeah it’s Winter Guard International which involves indoor ensembles in gaurd, marching percussion, and marching winds. Just look up wgi and you’ll find videos from the top world class independent groups or like i mentioned the top high schools
This video gave me war flashbacks.
-SCV front ensemble ‘17
For high school level try Dartmouth, Arcadia, and Chino Hills? They are some of the best high school level ensembles
Leo Zhang yeah Dartmouth is close to my school and we go to the same competitions and it's amazing being able to see them every weekend, they're crazy good
Dartmouth is so good their show this year was great
Erin Moloney we only compete against them at nationals but it’s crazy they’re just at another level
Leo Zhang exactly
Don’t forget Burleson Centennial. ;)
There’s still so much I want him to react to such at blue devils 2017 blue coats 2018 and Also SCV 2018
Also crown 2012, bloo 2016, cadets 2011, scv 2017, and crown 2016
Try bloo 2019
I want him to watch Rhythm X 2018
SCV 2016 Marimba is my favorite
Ghostlight is really good
This dude needs to watch Babylon from SCV last year
I've seen that!!
that show was WILLDDDDDD
The sustain is still going on from finals!
@@AdamTanPercussion The first 30 seconds of the marimba part is insane!
Every persons first marching percussion video is always the most magical. And I love it
I marched DCI last year with The Raiders in their front ensemble, and I aged out. I'm currently doing DCA, and its so fun. Honestly when you're in a show you don't think about how tired you are, until after the thing is done.
Check out anything by the Bluecoats, or Blue Devils, and Cadets 2011 is one of my favorites!
What's doing DCA like? I still have one more year before I age out of DCI but it looks like I won't get the chance to march next year. I still want to be involved in the activity though
4:00 Hey that’s my high school! So proud of those kids, they had such a hard year and I’m glad to be an alumni from Hoover
Hey Adam! First time seeing your channel. The title for this vid caught my eye because I grew up in drum corps-marched 14 seasons and aged out (many years ago) after 4 years in a world champion DCI front percussion ensemble. I enjoyed your reaction to seeing marching percussion for the first time. Hope you get to see more...it’s great stuff! Enjoy!
Recommended shows
Arcadia 2018
Chino hills 2019
Broken City 2019
Arcadia 2011
Ayala 2016
Blue Devils 2017?
@@bruhemianbobbert7136 No
Like I said in a previous comment many people see that performance as inferior and not deserving of winning but I still find it very intriguing
T Y Dartmouth 2018
@@bruhemianbobbert7136 it's not that great of a show but it is really a interesting one
You have no idea how long I've waited for this day: Adam watches marching groups. Seriously though, my passion is marching and I love seeing the love for these incredible players even on the most classical of venues. Keep up the good work! Watching your videos is always a highlight of my day.
Thanks man! I really can appreciate the passion of marching for sure!
I'm a bit late but I actually went to Hoover HS and was part of the winterguard. The amount of work that drumline put in when all those people quit is the most extraordinary thing I've ever seen. Thank you for featuring their hard work. They DEFINITELY deserve it (:
Barbara Contreras 💜
OMG! I didn't think the video I sent would make it into a video. I'm shaking. thank you soo much Adam, I'm so happy you enjoyed our show.
Thank you for sending it in, your show was so good!!! Hope you guys continue doing awesome shows :)
LukeHam hi
That wasn't Hoover, AL was it? I'm pretty close to there, that line is always spectacular.
@@huntercurrymusic No, that's Hoover, CA
Sending some love from CV
PLEASE check out more SCV. The technical skills displayed in that ensemble are absolutely incredible.
Adam, if you're interested in learning more about indoor percussion, one of my favorite shows ever, and one I would very highly recommend, would be Pulse Percussion 2017.
YESSSS or 2016!!!
2018 is perty lit too
Omg if you ever wanna chat about front ensemble in marching band I’ll literally talk your ears off😂
Hahaha join the queue of people who've said that to me!!
Front ensemble is great. I am now a front ensemble teacher and love teaching the kids.
I’m the section leader for two years in a row and it’s literally my life. Watching the other students grow is everything
Look at SCV 2018 marimba cam or the 2016 one
BABYLON ALL THE WAY
theres a part in the 2016 one where its like a run that starts slow and then goes into 32nd notes at like 160 bpm its insane
@@officialnovadrome Columbians did that this year also but it was at 190
The 2016 show (especially the opener) is GORGEOUS 🥰
being an old hornline guy....I never focused too much on the front ensemble....so now I'm totally blown away....loved this show too. Ouroboros SCV 2017
Btw quads are usually referred to as tenors now cause there are usually more than four drums (im in front ensemble percussion)
Yeah, the terms for quads quints and tenors are used pretty interchangeably now (technically different but percussionists don’t always care haha) but it is pretty common for them to just be called tenors :3
“SHE’S SURROUNDED” lol!!! I’ve been participating in marching percussion since my freshman year of high school. And now starting my 4th year out, I’m teaching 2 groups and preparing for my final season as a performer. I actually bought Lotus to use as my audition piece! Blue Devils and RCC 2011, 2012 and 2017 are my favorite front ensembles if you ever wanna see something different ☺️
Oh I forgot to mention... I’ve done 2 seasons of DCI and 4, going on 5 seasons of WGI!
Also SCV 2014 belongs on my list ❤️
Wow I didn't know you could use Lotus as an audition piece! Thank you for that! And congratulations on being such an awesome player to do so many seasons of DCI and WGI :)
You have finally reached my world!!! I’ve been playing marching mallet percussion since 2008, and I’m so glad you get to witness it.
It's a very awesome space! Thanks for sharing your music :)
I love marching percussion sooo much! I've been marching indoor percussion for 5 years. Yeah it can be demanding at times cause we compete but at the end of the day it's just band. We're just extremely proud and happy we're doing what we love and is sharing it with so many others
Definitely can feel the love from here!
@@AdamTanPercussion I'm not even a percussionist (technically) I'm a clarinet player but I just love percussion so much. Wgi has given so many chances and it's really incredible to see it in person
Yes finally!! I’m currently marching for the troopers drum corps and it’s so much fun!!
That is awesome man! Much respect!
Saw troopers in San Diego I really enjoyed your guy's show
do you happen to know Mitch Jones? He was your Tuba Tech during June, and he’s also my high schools assistant director.
Krish Shahidadpury I saw your show in Denton, it was great!
Colin Winkelmann yeah I met him! I didn’t really talk to him since I was in the pit, but he’s really cool!
This was fun to watch! I marched with Tyler in 2015! Incredible player. Finding a video of the whole show would definitely be worth your time for DCI front ensembles. The writing makes more sense in context, especially the cymbal rolls, etc.
He definitely seems like an impressive player! And I did watch snippets of the whole thing after this, it's awesome :)
I marched in Carolina Crown's 2017 Front Ensemble, Redline Percussion 17, and Legends 2016. Marching in a Front Ensemble is very different from playing concert percussion in terms of the repertoire, sound projection, and precision that are demanded in a competitive activity, but the most notable difference is the performance aspect; I can't put into words how amazing it feels to play with 149 other people in front of thousands, showing off a product that you have worked 3+ straight months on.
Thank you for taking the time to watch and listen to marching percussion ensembles. Kind of cool to see people experience and appreciate the amount of work which goes into the activity. I marched 2 seasons of DCI with the Boston Crusaders in their front ensemble. Those 2 years gave me the chops and stamina to take back to music school. I learned more about performing with 2 summers of marching than with 4 years of college. Some of the most amazing shows I have ever had were playing marimba and other percussion to tens of thousands of people LIVE in this activity. Thank you for shedding some light on a niche activity!
The jump of the drum set player at 8:56 is hilarious 😂
Haha that’s me 😂. Good times
Currently a synth player for the Franklin Central HS Indoor Percussion Ensemble, made to top 10 of finals the past few years. It’s amazing not only seeing the independent ensembles and knowing those are the people that are playing in the top Drum Corps as well, but also getting to meet people who are my age who can be so in time with everybody else in their ensemble.
I’d love to go into an independent indoor group as a synth player, and I’m planning on trying out for some Corps in the summer on trumpet.
I loved y'alls show this year! ♥
Sloths In central Indiana? If so, I go to greenwood and March!
Gotta see Babylon! As a high school marching student I can say marching band has been amazing and helped me grow so much! It’s very physically demanding but soooo worth it from the experiences you get!
Babylon kept us out of state finals. Band is pk younge,mother nature was the show
also Flower-mound high school. from texas.As a texas marching students we have never beat them because they're awesome.
Man, I loved watching your reactions to the marching style of music! Being a Front ensemble member of a Drum Corps myself, it was really fun to see what you thought and answer each thought/question you had! haha like how the endurance idea is pretty straight forward. It's not really that hard once you go through a few shows. Also, memorization is not hard at all. It is expected that you learn the music quickly, but once it's learned, you rep the measures for so long that it just becomes embedded in your muscles and memory. Because of this though, you must make sure that the music is learned correctly the first time, as it is harder to "erase" a learned lick/line than it is to relapse and solidify one.
SCV has been known to be octave crazy and its so FRICKEN Cool! Honestly what you might find most crazy are the Timpani Cams. Those videos are the most ridiculous as they incorporate a ton of orchestral concepts meanwhile still keeping an intense marching feel.
I'm surprised that you didn't mention how much the marimbists will dig into their instruments. For me personally, what has been a huge divider between marching and orchestra/band is the intensity of how one strikes the instrument. In the past, there were no speakers for marching, therefore the only way for a frontline to come out of a 150 person hornline + batterie was to dig into the instrument has hard as you could. This tradition stuck through the years, and although nowadays drum corps front ensembles are changing their approach to the instrument, you still find many students/corps digging into the bars with an excessive amount of energy (such as that shown in the winter drumline). This becomes an extreme learning curve when learning music outside of higschool.
Also yes, most highschool lines will march synthetic marimbas due to the excessive abuse those instruments will receive through the years. There are a handful of rosewood marimbas being marched in highschools, but its just not as common. Summer Corps on the other hand will typically have boards that can either switch from synthetic to rosewood, or are either rosewood/synthetic as a whole. Those instruments face a ton of abuse and are easily prone to getting out of tune due to the constant direct sunlight they are exposed to (finding shade is always a blessing that tends to run out with time throughout the day).
This was undoubtedly one of my favorite videos out there on youtube. You don't see a lot of professional musicians shed their own perspective on activities such as drumcorps!
Thank you so much for sharing with me your points! You confirmed a lot of what I thought and it's nice to hear from someone who is a front ensemble member themselves :) Definitely nothing but respect for marching musicians!
Wonderful to see someone with a different musical background watching and APPRECIATING what the marching arts does. No dismissal, no denigration, just appreciation for a different take on the arts. Thank you.
SCV’s front ensemble book is so good because of Sandy Rennick
14:42 Yea we do a lot of cymbal rolls. Imagine the drumline and front ensemble practicing inside without earplugs. Your ears start ringing after awhile but its good
I am marching with The Troopers drum and bugle corps. I am a tuba player. It is very interesting to see your reactions to some of your first exposure to the marching arts and marching percussion.
Colin Elmore troop a loop!!!
Im a proud parent of one of the frpnt ensemble’s marimba player .. 💜 Hoover!!
That's awesome! You must be so proud!!
What's even more nuts with the SCV stuff is knowing how heavy the mallets they use are. I use them myself and they are nothing to sneeze at
we use the Sandi rennick line too. They are indeed quite heavy but I honestly prefer it like that for front ensemble
@@dandrew8758 Oh I love them too. I mostly use them for concert settings and the soft mallets have incredible tone in the low end of the instrument
You should try writing a wgi or dci front ensemble part! It’s neat writing for large ensembles because there’s a lot more you can do :)
Sandi Rennick is the Front Ensemble arranger and her husband Paul Rennick is the battery arranger. They have almost like a dynasty there because they kept winning percussion every year.
Yesss I've met them! They are definitely the leaders of arranging!
It’s a whole different experience watching marching bands live! The competition among the high schools in the Dallas/Fort Worth Area of Texas is off the chain. The talent and commitment is phenomenal. These 15-18yo kids put in 8 hour days 6 days a week for 4 weeks of their summer before school even starts! Bands of America competitions are so fun to watch! My son placed 2nd chair marimba for LD Bell Blue Raider Marching Band in Hurst, TX. I’m just a little proud! He has also purchased several of your solos and loves them.
marching ensembles: *records and plays their show*
concert ensembles watching: *sweating*
"I love it when they do that thing!" Me too Adam.
I actually just got back from Perth! Such a wonderful place but I definitely was missing the marching percussion. I think it would fit in Perth very nicely. I believe the work you are doing is pushing the percussion more then anything else I had seen. Props to you! Much respect.
Thanks so much for visiting Perth!! What made you come here? Hahaha we definitely have a lot to catch up on over here...
@@AdamTanPercussion I spent two years in WA just trying to go around and help people out. It's part of program that my church does. But again it was wonderful getting to know all the people over there. I see it catching up eventually. There is a whole lot of talent there.
If wanting to see a show, DCI finals is August 8-10th in Indianapolis, IN!
He's in australia, so it would be quite a trip.
@@milesprower567 I know, but he said he wants to go so someone has to tell him! haha
@@rylandm1138 Haha I know man! Wish I could afford it!
Alternatively, a flo marching subscription is 30$ and you can see all competitions throughout the season, just don't forget to cancel sub after finals or they'll charge you with no refund
indoor percussion is something ELSE, man........
Herbert Hoover? Dude their marching band is hella good no lie
You should most definitely watch Chino Hills High School’s indoor percussion program. They are a world class high school group who participates in WGI. For the past 3 seasons, they have won first place. Their talent is unbelievable and the complexity of the show design is incredible.
I second this. I have seen them live at competitions multiple times and my school has nothing on them.
I have seen a bit of Chino Hills! Can't believe high schools can be so good...
While watching the second video you mentioned sticks/mallets a few times , how well placed notes are, or the "overhand" section. Stick Flips, etc. As you may have gotten some idea it is all choreographed. You really get a good idea for this in the first video, but not so much in the second since you are only watching one person play. But the stick flips are absolutely notated in the music. Playing the notes is only one part of marching band, you also all need to look exactly the same. From every lift(thats the name when they raise sticks/mallets up) to if you're hitting the middle of the bar vs the end on fast passages, how many inches/cm you raise the mallet for a MF vs F passage, it's all choreographed and planed, that's part of the fun I think
Haha yes I know about the visuals being highly scrutinized in the competition, so I'm just in awe as to how they are able to follow the choreography so tightly! Amazing :)
I hate how I saw the thumbnail and knew it was Tyler primeaux’s Ouroboros mArimba cam.
It's THAT famous right...!
@@AdamTanPercussion Maybe, but it's the video I watch and cry at my lack of skill with :)
Same! One of my favorite marimba cams
Check out (spelling?) Eric Eckstroms marimba cam with the cavaliers... Talk about chops!
that’s so weird to me that’s our marching tech
In marching ensembles, everything u learned about in concert ensembles, disregard that. It's all about runs, volume, and visuals. The stick height is because of the volume, we are outside and folks need to hear what u are playing since they are farther out on the bleachers. Everything in the music is mainly improvised. It really fun!
Hahaha, yes I've heard people fight about this comparison so much. But I think marching stuff is great! It's a totally different world to me but I love it all the same :)
@@AdamTanPercussion I'm with ya, our music culture is equal in many ways!
My school has a pit coach who is only classically trained. It kinda sucks trying to get him to believe me on most marching techniques. Even worse is that I'm the coin and he thinks I'm just disobedient lol.
I've been able to work with The Academy for a year. And now they're asking me to try out, I might idk. I've been marimba one for 4 yeats of my last my last Marching Band and we had the Academy write our marimba parts and our band director also helped, because he was our former pit tech. Our show is mainly Pit heavy, because well our band director used to work with us. Our parts are more complex than what was shown in these videos, like our Mov. 1 is mainly mainly nineluts, sixteenths, and sixtuplets at 180. But it's not all about the complexity, these pits even with simpler parts have the execution down perfect. In the end it doesn't matter who plays a crazier part, but who executes is better
You are so right! Definitely the execution is more impressive than the parts themselves :) You totally should try out!
One more video you have to check out, and because a good amount of people here are recommending it, Santa Clara Vanguard 2018 is a must watch. There should be a good video that shows the whole ensemble with percussion
I did marching band in high school, xylophone for one year and marimba for 3. It's a real challenge!! Marching percussion music is its own beast and is normally focused around marimba in the front ensemble. Mallet parts are all about these really long crazy runs (usually constant 16th notes) and cymbal crashes are EVERYTHING! Everyone gets at least one cymbal. It takes so much stamina and strength to do, my hands were so beat up every season but being center marimba is SO WORTH IT for these wild parts. What annoys me about DCI though is that they never seem to utilize their front ensembles to their full potential! It's rare to get good mallet features and normally like all 20 people will be playing the SAME part that you can barely hear from the stands. There's a weird divide between the battery and front ensemble and battery gets all the attention sadly
my guy you *have* to watch blue devils 2017
Ayyy my boy Tyler is in a Adam Tan video 😂 Tyler is a BEAST at UNT. The 2018 cam everyone is talking about is also another UNT student, Ashley. Super nice and awesome people to meet!
Can't beat them Argyle chops. Ashley was fun to watch in HS as well.
Seems like UNT pumps out all the marching beasts!
@@AdamTanPercussion shh...not so loud. We don't want it to go to Rennick's head.
@@briandarnell3224 😅😅😅
I did marching band for four years in high school, one year as a wind player and three as a percussionist, as well as indoor percussion. My high school's indoor percussion program was only a concert ensemble, meaning we competed in the same circuit but we didn't do any of the marching. It was just a giant mallet and percussion ensemble. I also did marching band percussion last year as a freshman in college and hope to continue doig it as long as I can as well as get into some DCI and WGI ensembles.
I think most schools use synthetic bars because most of the instruments also double as outdoor field instruments and are out in the rain often
YESS WATCH MORE DCI AND WGI TYPE STUFF, there’s crazy amounts of talent and cool runs and it’s funny to see you feel the same awe as people do when watching these world class ensembles and corps
I marched at Fort Zumwalt South and Mod Z for WGI. I'm so glad I stuck with Mod Z instead of baseball. It was the best decision I ever made in high school
"So much cymbal rolling, don't they go deaf?" yes
Adam your videos are great and always give me a bunch of info for my marimba at school. Could you do a video about how you make your living as a percussionist for the people who want to play marimba for a career??
Sure thing man! I'll think of a way to do it nicely haha
As someone in Marching Band who's been behind Herbt Hoover in competitions, i got so triggered when i saw the tornado and purple. It was honestly expect at how good they were
You should do a series of reacting to WGI scholastic world AND independent world groups they do some INTENSE stuff and very interesting shows!! Check out Dartmouth High School for example they’re crazy
Emily Baconaly Fishers High School’s scholastic world show is crazy
SCV 2018 marimba cam is also so worth watching
Tyler Primeaux (the marimba player for the DCI clip) was my high school’s tech my freshman year. Great player.
He's definitely awesome!
Dude, in America and especially in Texas, marching band is soooo serious. We have three weeks of band camp because this year is a state year :))
Haha you guys are on another level!!
the indoor line wasn't bad, but i really wish he had checked out a WGI show instead. Much love to my fellow HS indoor lines tho!
Our high school played this indoor show last year
Welcome to the world of Indoor Drumline, Adam, a magnificent spectacle indeed!!
Shadow Indoor Percussion and Shadow DBC!!!
I play the drumset for my school's front ensemble, as well as a competitive concert percussion ensemble in the spring. Its definitely a lot of commitment, but I couldn't think of a better way to spend my high school days!
Dude my arms hurt just watching the DCI 😂
there's soooooo much drum corps you have to see
Yesssss I've been watching a lot since then haha
Haha fun fact: dreams you dare to dream is my outdoor marching show this year.
3 days left marching with the Battalion this summer playing Euphonium
This video is awesome. You should make this a series.
Hahaha 'concert player reacts to marching episode 189'
If you like the 2017 Santa Clara vanguard front ensemble, I BEG you to check out the 2018 vanguard. Its absolutely AMAZING
I go to school with Tyler. Paul Rennick is the arranger for vanguard and the snare teacher. And Mark Ford is our marimba private teacher. UNT is a good school.
It’s really funny yet weird watching you react to Tyler’s SCV cam, I’m marching with him this year and he’s just on the other side of the gym from me
Ahahaha that's awesome :) you guys are so good!!
Thank you!!!
There’s a reason SCV gets a Stanford award very often
I want a reaction to SCV 2018 and Boston Crusaders 2019
Reason why I absolutely love indoor!
Hi Adam, I’ve been watching your videos and I find them extremely helpful and great (:D lol I’m a marimba player). I just want to ask one question... I know that you’ve made a video about warming up on marimba (4 mallets), but I really need some tips about “cooling down” on 4 mallets... (haha that means doing some exercises AFTER practicing, exactly opposite of warming up XD) Thanks so much!
Chirpy Beak Hi there! For this, focus mostly on playing things slowly and with larger motions. For example, blocked chords at 70bpm at forte, going into some double lateral permutations. So long as you’re relaxed, and don’t rush it, you’ll be fine.
Thanks for watching the show man! I think if you want to cool down then you should just ditch the mallets haha and get into some stretches - like putting your hands over your head and holding your breath, and then exhaling and throwing all your weight to the ground. Stuff like that helps you 'unload' :)
Thanks so much!
Marched vibes for Triple Crown indoor mere months after I learned the instrument, marched two seasons there
2018-19 seasons
That's awesome man!!
@@AdamTanPercussion I'd love to send you my marching band show from last season for you to review if you'd like, there's a percussion only video somewhere I can give you the link to. :)
“Wow they’re so good”
*me waiting for him to see dci*
Marching ensembles at high levels is extremely physically taxing. I only played in HS (didn’t have the chops to go out for DCI afterwards) but our school was one of the best in California and ultimately the country. We would spend a full month of 8 hour days in August (before school was in session, in southern Cali 100° plus weather) to learn the music and show, then a 3 month competition calendar with 2 hour daily practices before school started and an hour after school. The show itself was constantly evolving, with something new almost every week. It’s grueling work both physically and mentally (especially out on the field for us low/mid brass players lugging around their instruments) but worth all the blood sweat and tears for that 15 minutes of glory on the field and that feeling when the band hits a massive crescendo and the entire stadium erupts. I defy any HS sports team to put in the sheer physical exertion we did, and yet all the jocks still called us “band twinkie’s”. We just grinned and took the name as our own because we knew there was no way they could do what we did. Good times. :D
I’m going into my third year of high school marching band and my first year of marimba for front ensemble
I saw the thumbnail and immediately knew it was scv just from the mallets
SCV is well known for their concert-style approach to the outdoor playing, and most would consider their technique pretty relaxed and less aggressive towards the instruments, with more varied techniques required. I played synth in the front ensemble for Carolina Crown and we had a more “east coast” approach which is geared towards fast runs, higher heights, and hitting harder 🤷🏻♂️ Sandi Rennick writes for SCV and I think she’s one of the best arrangers out there, but each group has their own style, and the style can even vary from year to year depending on the feel of the show. If you want to see nonstop inner mallet runs, the Cavaliers are at the top of the chops game.
You are so right, so far all the SCV videos have been pretty ok in terms of 'not too forceful' :) I didn't know that every corps has their own style to that level of detail, that's good to know!
Ian grohms voice @8:25 👀😂
Probably one of the most insane indoor percussion I've seen is the Indoor drumline from the University of North Texas. Their music school is definitely one of the best in the country, if not the world!
I've been waiting for a video like this for so long
Thanks for waiting ahahaa
The 2019 blue coats show is one of the best, not just the front ensemble, but the whole group combined.
I’ve done marching band and indoor percussion for the past four years and plan to continue my next four years doing marching band at college
I marched The Marquis Drum and Bugle Corps (Disbanded) 1993 - 1995 and The Racine Kilties Senior Corps 1997 - 1998. If it wasn't for my Drum Corps experience, I wouldn't be the musician I am today. I played mostly Timpani, but played some Xylo and Vibes. Check out some of the drum, stick and mallet companies youtube pages. Pearl, Vic Firth, Promark, Innovative Percussion, Evans heads, and Remo have a good variety of different DCI and WGI ensemble to check out.
While watching the SCV video I don't think he realizes these people are living DCI for the season. Play, Eat, Play, Sleep, Travel, etc... When he said it would be a pain to memorize those runs, It's really not that bad you do it so much that you don't even really realize your learning to memorize it you just end up doing it.
To shed some light on the octave technique issues mentioned, Yes the SCV person isn't using "correct" octave technique for Stevens Grip. However, when you're doing so many octave runs at FFF, using the correct technique gets REALLY exhausting for your fingers. It's common in Marching percussion to put more thumb in between the mallets to add stability. This comes at a cost of slower interval changes, but if you're just locking in an octave for a bunch of bars, that's ok. Another thing to keep in mind is that typically in marching marimbas, the bars are a lot closer together and not as wide as concert marimbas. This means an interval that looks like an octave on these maribmas would only be a 6th or 7th on a concert marimba which makes this technique more viable in that arena. Keep up the good work!