1985 Outstanding Drum Major Award

[From The Pressbox]

I just happened to catch this item scanning thru an old DCWorld.

1985 Outstanding Drum Major Award

1. Cadets------Richard Armstrong-------------86.0

2. Scouts------Craig Mason---------------------84.8

3. Regiment---Marcia Hansen------------------83.9

4. Vanguard---Jeff Pearson/Steve Escalara---83.0

5. Suncoast----Larry Clark/Michael Hyde------82.4

6. VK-----------Mark Kopang--------------------81.9

7. Devils-------Gary Zinter/Rod Dunham------81.0

8. Indiana------Karen Rushman-----------------78.4

9. Troopers----Tom Walsh-----------------------78.3

10. Cavaliers----Norm Dziedzic-------------------78.0

11. Atlanta-------Steve Sorrell---------------------74.6

12. Freelancers--Sam Walker---------------------73.1

Results were taken from the IDMA-International Drum Major Association.

There was no judges name listed however. I'm assuming they only did Finals.

No other results were given for Semi-Finals.

Go "Still looking for a copy of "History of Drum & Bugle Corps Volume 1" Devils,

Gregg

w/Stp:

[tommytimp]

I remember seeing those results. I still don't understand the criteria used to differentiate Marcia Hansen from Norm Dziedzic, say.

Didn't Mark Kopang start the IDMA? Or was that some other organization for DMs?

[uncle z]

I just happened to catch this item scanning thru an old DCWorld.

1985 Outstanding Drum Major Award

1. Cadets------Richard Armstrong-------------86.0

2. Scouts------Craig Mason---------------------84.8

3. Regiment---Marcia Hansen------------------83.9

4. Vanguard---Jeff Pearson/Steve Escalara---83.0

5. Suncoast----Larry Clark/Michael Hyde------82.4

6. VK-----------Mark Kopang--------------------81.9

7. Devils-------Gary Zinter/Rod Dunham------81.0

8. Indiana------Karen Rushman-----------------78.4

9. Troopers----Tom Walsh-----------------------78.3

10. Cavaliers----Norm Dziedzic-------------------78.0

11. Atlanta-------Steve Sorrell---------------------74.6

12. Freelancers--Sam Walker---------------------73.1

Results were taken from the IDMA-International Drum Major Association.

There was no judges name listed however. I'm assuming they only did Finals.

No other results were given for Semi-Finals.

Go "Still looking for a copy of "History of Drum & Bugle Corps Volume 1" Devils,

Gregg

w/Stp:

Wow, is that DCPs own ssorrell????

[Lancerlady]

I'd be really interested in the semi finals results..:)

[Walter]

I'd be interested in seeing their criteria for judging the drum majors and who judged finals in '85 !! B)

Hey Stef, how are things going !!

Edited February 25, 2006 by ODBC

[Lancerlady]

Hey Rob,

Everything is going FANTASTIC! I am now 6 months pregnant..woo hoo and the tests are looking good for the baby. :) God is truly answering our prayers on this one. Of course hubby has to put up with some weird cravings and wild hormones and God bless him, but I've been maintaining healthy eating so I haven't gained much weight, just the proper weight. :)

The baby is due on June 27th.. :P

[ssorrell]

Hi guys...allow me to give you the low down (from my personal perspective) on the judging of DMs from 1985...

The VK DMs started the "International Drum Major Association", which was very short lived.

It was announced in the middle of tour in 85 that we, the top 12 DMs would be judged at championships. We were indeed judged over a two night period...semis and finals. Most of us DMs were pretty good friends, and I know that most of us didn't care about being judged. We were all unique and obviously did a decent job of conducting or we wouldn't have had our jobs in the first place.

On semi finals night, we were judged during PRE-performance...the minutes leading up to the start of our show. We were judged on the corps warm up, how we bring the corps onto the field, etc. That immediately put me at a disadvantage as my staff conducted the entire warm up and brought the corps to the gate. I had very little, if any responsibility until the show actually started...that's the way it had been since Spirit started. So, my marks were LOW for semis.

In finals, we were judged on a number of things which I found to be ridiculous...podium placement, placement of the DM, "equipment" (which was described as "the placement of equipment should not interfere with the role of the DM'...to paraphrase what I can remember), uniform, and of course, conducting.

Get this...we had THREE judges. Yes...THREE. Some were DMs from VK all the way back from the 60s...none were anybody that I had ever heard of. Having three judges to judge a single person or a tandem of two persons at most was a little humorous to me and some others.

I can vividly remember some crazy things on my score sheet...I remember getting 2.0 out of 5.0 for "podium", a 2.0 out of 5.0 for my placement on the field, and again the same for "equipment". Sorry, but where else should I have been standing except on the 50?

In conducting we only got a total of 15 points averaged from the 3 judges. One judge gave me a 14.2 (I think that was the number, but I know it was over 14), while the older judge gave me a 4. I couldn't help but think that he had simply forgotten to put a 1 in front of the 4 since the other two judges had me scored high...but apparently his take on my conducting was not positive. Just a couple of weeks prior to championships, I had won Best DM at a show against Rich Armstrong, so I was confindent that I wasn't that bad!

Anyway, some of us felt the judging was a farce and was completely unnecessary. Some of the scoring was nothing less than stupid. 15 points out of 100 for conducting? Judging us on where the podium is placed and on the placement of equipment? The top DM in DCI only getting an 86? After finals were over, a few of us were quite outspoken about this judging of DMs. Craig Mason and I both wrote letters to the Editor of DCW asking for the removal of judging of DMs in this manner. For years, shows had had much more simple methods of choosing the best DM...many times one of the brass judges would choose his favorite of the night, which was fine with us. But having an elaborate system of numbers and a panel of three judges was overkill. Plus, IMHO, no one could accurately judge my performance except for my own staff and my own corps. All DMs approached their jobs quite differently and they are used in different manners by their respective staffs. And as far as conducting is concerned...on this level, every DM was a good conductor. What they did on the podium was their own emotional and musical interpretation of their corps' music and no one had a right to put a number on that. If our corps were happy with it...we've done our job. We didn't take the job on the podium to compete...we took it to help lead our corps into competition. Giving the DMs a set of criteria would only confuse their true objective.

The judging of DMs in this manner was dropped after 1985. Shows do still elect a Best DM by having either one of the Brass judges choose, or in the case at finals, many times they use of the other judges that aren't on the judging panel.

Edited February 27, 2006 by ssorrell

[jacquesb]

Wow, is that DCPs own ssorrell????

Yes, that's him. And much better than 11th place, IMHO!

[ssorrell]

Here's a group photo of many of us from 1985 as we met under the goalposts at Camp Randall at finals in 1986...

L to R: Michael Hyde (Suncoast), Marcia Hansen (Phantom), Steve Sorrell (Spirit), Larry Clark (Suncoast), Mark Kopang (VK), and Craig Mason (Madison).

Edited February 27, 2006 by ssorrell

[ssorrell]

Gee...thanks Jack. I didn't know anyone noticed!