Last Drum Corps message folks...or at least one of the last until World
Champioships,

Scenic went up two points to 49.5 in Dothan, AL. The downside is that the
"Teal Sound" from Jacksonville, FL beat us by .5 to move into first. The good
news is that Teal has their entire show learned and we only have 6 of the
required 10 minutes resulting in some penalties that would have pushed us well
over the 50 mark. Some asked what Scenic City's score from World Championship
Finals was for last year. The answer is 39.7. So you can see we are already
way ahead of where we were. We travel to Columbia, SC on Tuesday where we will
once again run into Jacksonville's "Teal Sound" as well as "Tar Heel Sun" from
Durham, NC. The majority of Division III's in the world are still in the 30's
so we have breathing room.

I guess I lead many of you to believe that the improvements were due to my
efforts. This is not so. I merely coordinate the staff and gave the initial
instruction to the students while we were still trying to get a staff
together. Our staff members include arranger David Pedigo (UTC Grad and middle
school band director), Jason Harvey (UTC Grad working toward a Master in Music
from USC, band director at Bradley Central, and former Drum Major of The World
Champion Cavaliers Drum and Bugle Corps). Percussion is headed by a band
director in Alabama that none of you would know, a band director from
Hiawasee, GA that none of you would know either (we marched Suncoast Sound
[Tampa, FL] together back in the 80's). Also recently added to percussion is a
graduate percussion performance student from U of Memphis (I forget his name),
the director of the World Champion Indoor Drum Line "Mystique" from Nashville,
TN (I forget his name too as we just call eachother by nick names) . For
Design and visual, as well as myself we have "James" the fantastic design
coordinator for Ooltewah High School. With him is an assortment of Colorguard
instructors from Florida and Wisconsin.

So do not give me the credit folks. After the basic instruction was done and I
handed them over to the tech staff all I have done is make sure the package is
going in the right direction and help EJ (corp director)however I can. In
fact, right now I am home while they are on the road. I do not want to be on
the road when my girl takes her first step.

Stuart